The direction Pandora pointed was the direction of the town after leaving the Black Holy Mountain Kingdom. After confirming this, Richard rode back the same way without hesitation.
On the return journey, compared with before, we encountered no trouble and went extremely smoothly—no wild beasts, traps, broken bridges, giant hogweed and other messy things.
Therefore, in one day, we completed the distance that we had covered in the previous two days.
In a blink of an eye, it was dark.
The light of the day gradually faded from the west, and the dark night slowly came up from the east like a tide, with many shining shells in the water - the bright stars in the starry sky.
"Da da da… "
On a remote road, Richard walked from far to near.
After riding for a day and a night, the horse under Richard's lap was already overwhelmed. Even if he rested for a long time and was fed very expensive concentrates, it had reached its physiological limit.
You can see that the hair on the horse's body is wet with sweat, and white steam is constantly spraying out from its nostrils, while making a "plop, plop," sound.
Richard cracked the whip with an expressionless expression. The horse felt the pain and sped up for a few steps. Then his whole body collapsed and fell to the side of the road like a mountain - sudden death.
The moment the horse fell, Richard raised his eyebrows and reacted quickly. The No. 1 ring on his hand was activated, and the "Light Spirit of Wind" spell was released. The air gathered and wrapped around his body. He jumped up from the horse's corpse, slid a certain distance in mid-air, and landed gently on the ground.
Turning around and taking a look at the dead horse, Richard looked a little regretful, but not surprised - he had thought about this outcome when he drove the horses continuously.
In fact, the current situation should be considered the best - although the horse is dead, he has reached the place he wanted to go.
Turning back, Richard looked to the side of the road.
On the side of the road, a tree with almost fallen leaves was growing, looking very pitiful. This was the place where he first saw the white crow. It's about a day's journey from the previous town. If your guess is correct, the special place the clown mentioned should be here.
but-
Richard frowned slightly, looked at the trees, and saw that there were no white crows on the bare branches. Looking around, it was also quiet, and there was nothing special.
Wrong idea
Richard frowned deeply and couldn't help but think.
As a result, at this moment, there was a "crash" sound in the pile of withered grass nearby, and a figure stood up. Who else could it be if he wasn't a clown!
"Mr. Clown!" Richard immediately looked at the clown and shouted.
"Ha, passer-by!" The clown responded with laughter and said with some admiration, "You found here so quickly. It seems that my gift must be given to you."
"Rather than gifts, I came here because I wanted to get an answer." Richard looked into the eyes under the clown mask and said quickly.
"Oh, the answer? What answer?" the clown asked slightly curiously.
"Huh-" Richard took a deep breath, and then pointed at everything around him, "That is... is the entire world now real? What is the illusion you set for me along the way?"
"Ha!" The clown laughed again after hearing this, and waved his hand as if to appease, "Passers-by, don't worry, I can assure you that where you are now is in the real world.
I understand your feelings after discovering some 'truths' - full of confusion, doubts about what you have been experiencing, and feeling that it is an illusion, but it is much more real than an illusion. In fact, what you experience is not an illusion, but a higher-level existence than an illusion. "
"A higher-level existence than illusion? What is that?"
"The spiritual world." The clown said.
"The spiritual world?" Richard was confused.
"Yes, the spiritual world." The clown nodded, "I won't tell you any more. You just need to understand that this method is very complicated and not many people in the world know it. In fact, if it weren't for the test, I will never use it on you.
You don't have to worry about encountering similar methods in the future, because this method is not too aggressive and has more special uses. It is its special use that allowed me and my companions in the organization to survive the catastrophe and allow me to talk to you here. "At the end, the clown's voice was slightly sad.
Then the clown's tone changed: "Okay, let me give you the gift, and then let's have a real farewell. Passers-by, you will have to rely on yourself from now on, come on!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the clown's figure twisted and turned into a white crow under Richard's gaze. It spread its wings and flew high into the sky, quickly disappearing.
Leaving now? Where's the promised gift
Richard couldn't help but think that although he didn't covet a gift that he didn't even know what it was, the clown's behavior still made him feel a little baffled.
Just as he was thinking this, he heard a sharp sound of breaking wind coming from above his head.
Um
Richard looked up and saw a black dot falling rapidly from the sky where the white crow transformed by the clown disappeared, getting faster and faster, and finally stuck in the soil with a "whoosh" sound.
This is-
Richard lowered his head and squinted at the thing that fell, and saw that it was a white crow feather.
Is this what is called a gift
Richard raised his eyebrows and reached out to pull the feathers out of the soil. Then his eyes flashed and he noticed the specialness of the feathers.
The feathers are not ordinary crow feathers at all. First of all, they are not light at all, they are heavy and weighty. Secondly, they are soft to the touch and yet tough, making them difficult to damage. Observing the surface of the feather carefully, I don't know if it's an illusion, but I can see an extremely weak glow.
Although it is not clear what the use of this white crow feather is, it is obvious that it is an extremely unusual thing.
With his eyes fixed, Richard took the feather into his arms and looked into the distance, thinking about the current situation.
In order to figure out the clown's "psychic illusion", he spent a day and a night. Instead of making half a step forward, he returned to where he was three days ago and exhausted his horse to death.
So what's the next step
Walk with your legs
Or, simply return to the Black Sacred Mountain Kingdom on foot, buy a new horse in the border town of the Black Sacred Mountain Kingdom, and then start again? After all, the sharpening of the sword never wastes the time spent chopping wood.
Just as he was thinking this, Richard suddenly heard the sound of numerous horses and carriages. When he heard the sound, he looked around and saw a large convoy driving quickly in the night.
"Huh? What kind of convoy would travel all night?" Richard thought a little doubtfully, standing on the roadside and watching the convoy approaching slowly, and then looked at the two people on the carriage at the front of the convoy.
After a brief silence, Richard spoke up: "Captain Bard? Um, and Harvey?"
"Are you Mr. Richard?"
"Richard?!"
Two surprised voices responded quickly.
…