“The academy has ordered three times and repeated …… that you still want to break the rules of Sand City!”
“Tell me! What is the first lesson of the Forest Academy?”
The tall tree man looked down at the three squirrels at his feet.
“We praise Yao God and life!”
The squirrels said in unison, “We guard the desert and the sea of clouds!”
“Then look what you’ve done! You fluffy fools who can’t always remember!”
The Tree Man’s voice was like muffled thunder, and all the leaves in the umbrella-shaped canopy snapped open under its fury, making its already stout body seem a whole lot bigger.
The three squirrels were so frightened that they all huddled to the ground, their heads buried in the grass, revealing only their fluffy tails.
“Sorry, Mr Tree, didn’t hold back ……”
“What did you guys put up with? You won’t have any food today!”
The squirrels all hung their heads.
They couldn’t help but mutter in whispers.
“Our clan already likes planting trees, ah, when we see such a desolate desert, we would definitely want to plant something, otherwise how unfortunate ……”
“That’s right, it’s hard to look at such a big piece of land that’s deserted.”
“How nice it would be if there were pine trees or sour raspberries planted there too, and some roses.”
“All shut up!”
The tree man was outraged.
It raised its twig arm and pointed at a few pine gopher on the ground and roared, “Do you know what you’re doing? That’s the last desert area in this world, a key reserve for the entire Cloud Temple!”
“If we hadn’t made sure that you’ve only just arrived, all of you would have to go out to the gravel world to dig for coal just for destroying the local ecological reserve!”
Hearing about coal digging, the several pine gaiters couldn’t help but shiver.
They bravely said, “We thought it was …… there.”
“Don’t want you guys to think! Want you guys to comply!”
Tree Man interrupted their defence and said sternly, “This is the last time, tomorrow all of you go to the desert to work as sand guards for me, when enough is enough for a month.”
“The Forest Academy has been under great pressure this time, and your behaviour has brought ridicule to the entire academy …… Next time all of you will be expelled!”
The pine track squirrels listened and then let go of their hearts.
Teacher Tree had scolded them notoriously, but had ultimately bailed them out.
A few of them were also a bit confused.
In other worlds, deserts were planted with trees and gradually transformed into oases and places suitable for living. But it was in Sand City, where a large part of the desert was deliberately preserved and forbidden for anyone to destroy it.
“I’ve repeatedly said, spend your time frolicking and playing on reading, read more …….”
The tree man was a bit hateful.
It sighed and could only explain, “Fifteen epochs ago, this was still a vast desert. There were sand dunes everywhere, and the entire world was nothing but clouds and sand, dry and barren, with almost no life existing.”
“This was originally a world that was about to be destroyed, traces of the epoch ago disappeared without a trace, there were only Cloud Transformation Monks who turned into cloud illusions, and the world’s rule power and order had collapsed for many years, it was only a matter of time before it was completely shattered and annihilated.”
“But God Yao decided to rebuild the place. He recast the rules and repaired the shattered world, allowing rain and soil to be born again, and life began to sprout again as He saved this ancient and terminally ill world.”
A squirrel tracker couldn’t help but ask, “Teacher Teacher, why did God Yao rebuild this place? Since it’s already broken, wouldn’t it be good to find another good world?”
The other companions beside him chimed in, “That’s right, Lord Yao God is omnipotent, what’s so good about this world.”
“Most gods are indeed as you all say.”
The tree man’s tone calmed down, “Since they are already damaged, they should be thrown away.”
“But the reason why Lord Yao God is great and is revered and followed by all the gods is not only because of His incomparable power and omniscient wisdom, but also because of His compassion and kindness to the weak, and His tolerance and importance to all races and civilisations.”
“Before the Era came to a standstill, Yunzhong Temple had also given birth to a splendid culture, with the god Yun Cui Ke and all kinds of beings existing, and the gods and people worked together to make this world perfect …… until the very end, when only Lord Knowledgeable Monk was left to guard here alone.”
“Lord Yao Shen believes that for any race, to create a civilisation is a very difficult thing to do.”
“For a civilisation, even if there is only one person left in the end, it means that the flame of civilisation has not been extinguished. That’s why Yao God used Lord Knowing Monk as a spark, trying to bring this place back to life and bring back the splendid civilisation bloom of the past.”
The tree man looked towards the clueless students at his feet.
“If there is that day, I mean if …… you are the only ones left in the world you are in, live by all means, as long as the fire of the past is preserved, there is a future of revival once again.”
The squirrel-crawlers, who had been chattering, seemed to understand something at this point, and they all nodded their heads earnestly.
The tree man changed to a lighter topic, “Who can tell me who the first mayor of Sand City was? For the correct answer, a pine cone is rewarded.”
“I know! It’s the Apostle Lord Slymod!”
A pinecone squirrel said in a very quick voice.
“Very well.”
The tree man tossed it a pinecone, which the squirrel took beautifully, peeling out a pinecone and stuffing it into its mouth.
“Next question, the reward is also a pinecone, listen up.”
“What is the purpose of the establishment of Sand City?”
Another Pine Crawler immediately said, “Me me me! Sand City was established to host the Martial Arts Conference!”
“Although the most important event of Sand City initially was the Martial Arts Conference, this answer is incorrect.”
The tree man shook his twig finger.
The third squirrel’s eyes lit up, “For the purpose of civilisation expansion, for the purpose of allowing the Yao civilisation to come into contact with the civilisations of other godly kingdoms, integrating other civilisations into the Yao cultural circle, and further promoting development, that one is called ……”
It scratched its ears for a while and finally thought, “Outer Civilisation Cycle! No, it’s the Outer Civilisation Cycle!”
“Correct. Here’s your reward.”
The Tree Man tossed it another pine cone.
“Last chance.”
The tree man looked at the pinecone that had answered incorrectly, “As a sign of the establishment of diplomatic relations, before the United Divine Kingdom of the Spectral Ghost Realm and the Bamboo Reed Kingdom sent a mission to Sand City, Sand City also officially sent its first emissary to the United Divine Kingdom in the name of the city, who is this emissary?”
The last squirrel shouted, “Ice Fist! It’s ‘Northland Ice Fist’ Ice Fist-san!”
“Wrong fool!”
The two best buddies next to him looked on dryly and couldn’t help but say, “It’s “Lonely and Highly Aspirational” Fishguy-san!”
“Ah yes, yes, yes, it’s Mr Fish Goo!”The squirrel with the wrong answer hurriedly changed its words.
The tree man glared at it, “Right is right, wrong is wrong.”
“If you didn’t seize the opportunity, you have to accept defeat.”
The other two squirrels couldn’t bear to see their good brothers go hungry, and each shared some pine nuts over, and all three squirrels ate a half-full meal, but none of them were hungry.
Tree Man suddenly saw that a sand dune that was moving slowly surfaced outside the city.
It immediately said to the students at its feet, “Lord Knowing Monk is here, you guys quickly go over there, arrive early to be able to ask for a lot of advice, it’s a rare opportunity, you guys have to seize it this time.”
“Okay, okay!”
This time the three squirrels panicked and ran all the way out of the city, also running wildly were the seekers of other races. It was not a common thing to be able to listen to an experienced apostle lecturing and solving problems.
Tree Man looked far away, only to see the tall Knowing Monk surrounded by many people. Behind it, as legend had it, followed eighteen disciples, all of whom were Calamity Beasts.
The Knowledgeable Monk tirelessly narrated and explained to the crowd, and there was no one who knew more about what happened before the Era than it did.
As the oldest personal witness of the Temple of the Clouds, and a watchman who never left after the Era, the Knowing Monk had an extraordinary significance to this world.
The tree man remembered that he was in this desert city when he opened his eyes, and that it was a species of tree that had been given life and a mission by the Yao God himself.
When it was still a small tree man, it was carried by its ice troll best friend all the way over to listen to the lecture, just like those young people outside.
It was the first Era after the reboot of this world’s Era, and Sand City was empty as hell, the sky was so hot that it could bake smoke out of the sand, and the gusty winds had scraped off quite a few of the leaves.
His own body was dry from the sun, and his best friend’s body was melting.
But the two young seekers gritted their teeth and persevered, asking the Knowing Monk for all kinds of knowledge. The apostle, who was shaped like a big fish, replied to each of them, and built a cellar out of sand to prevent them from getting too badly hurt by the sun.
That was all many years ago.
At that time, the tree man and his best friend said the most was that it was also too dry and too hot here, and how nice it would be to have an oasis if it rained more often.
Time flies, and in a flash half of the Cloud Temple has become an oasis.
Members of various races mixed in the sand city, there are Yao humans, cave monsters, sand worms, Wuzhi people, bamboo people, reed people, funerary races, ghosts …… Only the two wonders and the desert in the area where the old site of the Yun Cui Hak Divine Kingdom is located have been preserved, and are commemorated as a legacy of the civilisation of the pre epochal era.
Stone monuments and wooden plaques have been erected along the edge of the desert, all of which bear the stern slogans.
–The destruction of the desert is forbidden!
–Rainfall on such trees is strictly prohibited! Violators will be punished!
–It is everyone’s responsibility to protect the desert heritage!
The tree man stretched its branches.
It looked towards the sky above its head.
To Lord Yao Shen, transforming a world might be a casual task.
But to the beings living in this world, as well as the long-dormant Cloud Temple civilisation, this earth-shattering change was a miracle of resurrection from the dead.
