Fairy houses were all made from wood, and were fairly small. This was so for the Fairy Chief’s house as well. The feeling Ling Chen experienced when walking into this house was one of freshness and elegance. When Ling Chen walked in, Greenwood was standing at a table, as if he had been waiting for a long time. Seeing Ling Chen walk in, Greenwood smiled, “Come, young human, please take a seat.”
After greeting each other, Ling Chen and Greenwood sat down facing each other. Ling Chen directly asked, “Fairy Chief Greenwood, did you call me here to tell me if there was any way of leaving?”
Greenwood sighed and shook his head, “I am ashamed to say that none of us know any way of leaving the Fairy Realm except through the Nature’s Ring. To be honest, when I saw that you appeared here, I knew that you would be like us, unable to leave.”
Ling Chen deeply frowned, “There’s really no other way?”
Greenwood became extremely serious, stood up, and paced around as he replied, “There are some matters that are extremely secret that have been passed down from Fairy Chief to Fairy Chief. Although you’re not part of our Fairy Clan, I’ll still tell you, otherwise you’ll be unable to accept things as they are.”
“What things?” Ling Chen stood up as he earnestly asked.
Greenwood turned around, and looked at him, “Do you know why we have a barrier around us that doesn’t allow us to leave?”
Ling Chen thought for a while, then replied, “Cai’Er told me that it was because the ancestors of the Fairy Clan didn’t want the Fairy Clan to enter the outside world again.”
“Indeed,” Greenwood nodded, “This was the original intention for setting up the barrier. Our clan is a prestigious one, and overall, we are quite powerful. I’m sure that you’ve heard that what our clan hates the most is conflict and war. However, there has never been a period of time in the Forgotten Continent when there wasn’t any battles or war. In order to maintain the peace of the Forgotten Continent, our ancestors joined the war against the demons, and used their power and lives to destroy those evil beings. However, our clan paid a heavy price, and has been in decline ever since. Despite this, our ancestors did not regret their decision, as they had exterminated one of the biggest threats to the Forgotten Continent. Our ancestors believed that without those demons, the Forgotten Continent would be able to return to its peaceful days, and there would not be any more warfare.
“However, they were proven wrong. Although there was not the threat of the demons anymore, but the humans started to fight among themselves. Every single battle, countless creatures would be injured or die. The humans even started to try to manipulate and use the Fairies’ powers for their own selfish gain. At that time, the Fairy Clan had taken a massive blow, and did not have even one tenth of the power they had at their peak. The humans that had been kind and friendly to us began to try to take advantage of our clan…”
Ling Chen: “……”
“Our ancestors completely lost faith in humanity, and apologised to the Moon God Clan for what they were going to do. They retreated to this place, the origin of our Fairy Clan, and set up the Bewildering Formation, so that no human would ever find us. They also created a barrier to seal the Fairy Realm, so that Fairies would not be able to leave… because they believed that if Fairies interacted with the outside world, they would also be contaminated with the greed, pride, cruelty and immorality of the humans. If that happened, our Fairy Clan would be finished.
After giving a historical overview, Greenwood looked at Ling Chen, “Young human, do you think our ancestor’s actions were too extreme, and that they shouldn’t have imposed their decisions on their descendants?”
Ling Chen thought for a while, then nodded.
“Ai,” Greenwood sighed, “Facing the situation of our clan having suffered great losses, as well as their utter disappointment in the humans, they made a rash and extreme decision. They sealed off the Fairy Clan in hopes that the Fairies would not be polluted by the outside world, but they never would have thought that this would one day result in the Fairy Clan truly perishing.”
“What do you mean?” Ling Chen asked, astonished. There was no warfare here, no pollution and Fairies had much longer lifespans than humans. How could the Fairy Clan perish in such an environment?
Greenwood looked downcast and his voice became heavier. He deeply sighed, “It’s because Fairy Clan has low reproductive abilities. In our clan, six out of ten Fairies are males, and only four are females. Moreover, out of ten female Fairies, around two will not be able to give birth, and out of those who can give birth, they can only give birth once. Also, Fairies only give birth to one child- there are no twins or triplets as you humans have. You can see what the problem that our clan faces is.”
Ling Chen was shocked. There was such a disparity between the ratio of males to females, and they had such poor reproductive abilities. If this was the case, the Fairy Clan would lose a significant number of Fairies every generation, and in not too long, perhaps a few thousand years, they would go extinct.
“This is something that we have no control over. In the past, Fairies would marry humans. Because there are always more male Fairies than female Fairies, many male Fairies would marry human females, and give birth to more Fairies through their human wives. In those times, the Fairy Clan was actually increasing in number. However, after being sealed… ai.”
Greenwood once again deeply sighed, his heart full of anguish and frustration. He slowly continued, “Apart from what I just said, there is something else… although it is much purer and more beautiful here than the outside world, but because of the barrier, it is simply a beautiful prison. No matter how beautiful it is, a prison is still a prison.”
Ling Chen stayed silent and waited for Greenwood to continue.
“No matter how beautiful a place is, anyone would become sick of it and want to leave after staying there for a long time. All of us want to leave here and see the vast outside world. However, we have no way of escaping here, so we can only tell each generation how dirty and polluted the outside world is, as well as slander the humans so as to reduce their curiosity and desire to go to the outside world. Only through this method can we keep the peace in our clan. However, although most of the younger Fairies are fearful and apprehensive of the outside world, it’s still impossible to completely eliminate any curiosity they have. It’s just that with that barrier there, all we can do is hope and dream of the outside world, though we can probably never leave.”
Greenwood deeply breathed in, and continued to talk, “Young human, I told you these things so that you would understand that we have always wanted to leave here. Even if it’s because of the certain peril that our clan faces staying here, we simply cannot remain in this sealed realm. It’s just that, like I said before, even if every single Fairy attacked with their full strength, we would be unable to unable to destroy the barrier. According to our ancestors, the only beings powerful enough to destroy this barrier would be the Moon God Clan. However, it was our ancestors who told the Moon God Clan that they wanted to separate themselves from the rest of the world forever, and now that we are sealed in here, there’s no way to even contact the Moon God Clan. As such, we can only stay here, generation after generation.”
The main reason Greenwood told Ling Chen these things was to tell him an important truth- that after entering, he could never leave. Even the Fairy Chief himself wanted to leave, but it was simply impossible.
“Don’t you have the Nature’s Ring? Couldn’t you all use that to send you out?” Ling Chen thought of the skill that had sent him 500 kilometres away.
“The reason’s very simple- Nature’s Ring doesn’t affect us Fairies. Because it randomly teleports the target to a random place 500 kilometres away, the target could be sent to an extremely dangerous place, or a place where they could be stranded with no food or water. As such, when the Nature’s Ring was made, it was made so that Fairies would not be affected by it. However, it is effective for humans like yourself.” Greenwood explained.
Ling Chen became even more confused, “But when I was transported out, I also took Cai’Er with me. Isn’t Cai’Er a Fairy? She’s your daughter as well.”
“No,” Suprisingly, Greenwood shook his head, “This is one of our Fairy Clan’s greatest secrets. I can tell you, but you must not tell anyone else. Cai’Er isn’t a ‘pure’ Fairy, and she’s not my daughter either… you must not tell anyone, especially not Cai’Er.”
Ling Chen was shocked, but thinking to Cai’Er’s appearance, she was indeed different to the other Fairies. When he had first met Cai’Er, he had noticed how incredibly small she was. He had thought that all Fairies were that small until he met Ying Xue, as well as the other Fairies of the Fairy Clan. Moreover, it wasn’t simply because Cai’Er was young- Fairy children were about as big as human children, and there were no other Fairies who were as small as Cai’Er.
So if Cai’Er wasn’t a ‘pure’ Fairy, what was she?
At this moment, someone knocked on the door, and Ying Xue’s cold voice sounded out, “Father, grandmother and the 10 Elders are here now.”
Greenwood turned around, looked towards the door, and calmly said, “You can all come in and begin the ceremony.”
Ceremony? What ceremony? Ling Chen was filled with questions.