Chapter 188: The Echo in the Valley
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The mountain people were kind. They prepared a lot of local specialties for Hao Ren and company before they set off on their journey. Despite the oversize backpack on Y’zaks’ back, which suggested they would not be short of supply, the mountain people insisted that they accept the gifts, saying it was their custom of bidding farewell. Overwhelmed by friendliness, Hao Ren gave in.
However, thanks had to go to Becky, who had formed a good relationship with the mountain people. The mercenary was highly respected among these foreigners. Her explanation was simple. "It’s easy to understand the mountain people—kindness for kindness, hatred for hatred. It’s very much similar to who I am. So, after a few times of doing them favours, we became friends."
Never thought she possessed such a rustic and simple side to her mercenary life.
After leaving the village, the group kept going without further delay. They went ahead at full steam for several days.
Going on a journey night and day across the vast steppe was torturous but, the beautiful, alien scenery along the way was a comforting distraction. It was like a journey of a life time; even the well-travelled Vivian and Nangong Wuyue were in high spirits not to mention Lily—she was absolutely like a duck taking to water. She would ride on the horse one time, and run together with Y’zaks at the rear of the convoy with the horse on her back some other time. What a journey!
Hao Ren felt that if they did not manage to find places with humans, Lily was going to regress into her pre-evolution state—she got down from the horse's back and ran on her four limbs, trying to outrun her horse.
It was a scene too unbearable to watch.
"You lot are interesting." Becky looked over her shoulder, seeing Y’zaks running at full-steam, and the werewolf maiden racing against her own horse. She witnessed the weirdest things she had ever seen before in her life during these few days. "Just asking: are you guys really wizards?"
"Totally." Hao Ren had answered the same question for a thousand times, he could basically lie to your face, and you would think it was the truth. "Lily took the wrong drug during an alchemical experiment..."
"Didn’t you say that she was struck by lightning during an experiment?"
"Err... yes, she was struck by lightning while having the drug. Her head was pinned to the door too."
Vivian spoke to Nangong Wuyue as she breathed heavily. "I suddenly feel like I shouldn’t have bullied Doggie. I’m going to treat her nicely."
Lily had no idea what these heartless fellows were discussing about. She gamboled happily for a while before she pulled up beside Hao Ren. She then leapt onto the back of the horse again in an agile manner. She grabbed and shook Hao Ren’s shoulder. "Landlord! We’re reaching the bottom of the mountain!"
Like an overexcited child, Lily yelled cheerfully before getting down on her feet again. She pulled up alongside the horse and hopped back on it. The entire action looked frighteningly dangerous but to her it was just a piece of cake. No doubt she had a weird personality as well as amazing blood-line, and her kenetic ability was second to none among the group of five. Although Y’zaks won hands-down in terms of brute strength, the title of most skilfull fistfighting belonged to Lily.
Unfortunately, this maiden had not been able to apply her talent in the right place.
Hao Ren almost got shook off the horse's back but, he managed to stabilise himself. As he looked up, he could already see the mountain range ahead of them—in fact, the mountain range had appeared in the horizon some time back. However, it still took them a few more hours before they reached the foot of the hill.
The mountain range was the famous Dragonspine Ridge in the western part of the Kingdom of Holletta. It got its name from its endless spine-like formations, stretching from the west of the Kingdom of Holletta to the steppe. The range was a natural barrier, which was impossible to go around if they were to go to the Beinz Blood Lake.
As the sacred Beinz Blood Lake was located on the other side of the moutain range, the people of Holletta spent enormous amounts of effort and resources, boring tunnels as well as building highland highways to connect both sides. Expensive, always-operational teleportation points were installed in a few critical places—mainly, to connect the sacred buildings such as cathedrals on both sides. The Church and the royals spent a fortune just to ensure they had constant access to the sacred place. Hao Ren and the gang initially planned to circumvent the mountain range at the south of the Kingdom, and pass through a newly constructed tunnel from there. However, in order to catch up with the "alien woman", who was two days ahead of them, they made an impromptu decision while they were in the village of the mountain people. They would cut across the barrier through the ancient trail near the edge of the steppe.
The latter was a shorter route but, it would take an equal amount of time to get across. This was because, even though taking the tunnel meant they had to go around the range at the south of the Kingdom, it was relatively easy; conversely, in spite of the ancient trail cutting across the range, the terrain was rugged and complicated, it was not a shortcut in reality. Anyway, both routes had little difference in the eyes of mercenary veterans.
Becky was a Tier-Two mercenary. Although young, she had already passed various tests. She was naturally skilled. Before the lock-down of the Beinz Blood Lake, she had scaled the mountain range several times—mostly for money. Hence, she was taking the lead in this expedition. She led the group to a col, which was inconspicuous and could have been easily missed by rookies. There, she found the ancient trail that went up the slope.
"Be careful here." Everyone got down and walked. Becky was pulling her horse and walking in front. "It’s said that this place is a historical site of an ancient civilisation. And there are some very weird monsters in these mountains. While they’re not hard to deal with, it won’t be fun to meet them here. This place isn’t ideal for any kinds of engagement."
"It seems like ancient civilisations were everywhere," Nangong Wuyue muttered. The barren mountains blocked the warm air from the steppe. And at that altitude, there was not much humidity present. The siren was in bad mood because of the dry air. "What wrong did they do?"
"Something that angered the goddess." Becky laughed. "Legend has it that Dragonspine Ridge was created by Eloken, a human mage-emperor, who used a forbidden incantation. That’s why the abrupt rise on the steppe. My grandpa said the creation of this mountain range disrupted the creation blueprint created by the goddess. He created this barrier because he disliked the cold wind from the West plain. That’s how much of an... Err—"
"A**hole?" Hao Ren interrupted.
"Yeah, that’s how much of an a**hole these ancient mage-emperors were." Becky nodded. "It’s a very apt word. My grandpa said that the mage-emperors of all the ancient civilisations were an arrogant lot. All of the wizards or mages during that time were arrogant; Sanur, the werewolf mage-emperor created the Volcano of Dusk; Lorissa, the elf queen—also a mage-emperor—trespassed into God’s territory and created a semi-eternal tree of life, which kept itself alive for eternity by sipping nutrients from the holy spring of the goddess; Darian, the mage-emperor of the Blood Clan was the one who originally incited the encroachment of God's authority to create a perfect life."
"Whoa...that's crazy." Hao Ren marvelled at the creativity of the mage-emperors. He began to think, what could have happened if these "crazy scientists" appeared before Raven 12345. He thought about it for a long time and inevitably came to a conclusion that Raven 12345 would have left it to her subordinates to clean up the mess because it was too troublesome...
"Dragonspine Ridge was the creation of Eloken and the power of this king still remains." Becky was foaming in the mouth as related the stories her grandpa told her. She continued, "Legend has it that the strange rocks that attack people are possessed by the broken spirit of Eloken. We better not bump into them; although they aren’t a threat, they’re very annoying and hard."
Boom!
As Becky’s voice trailed off, a thunderous sound came from the mountains.
The one-thousand-eight-hundred "early-warning indicators of a hoax" in Vivian's body went off at once. She was afraid that bad luck was coming her way again.