"Is this... Senluo?"
In the vast land of Senluo Kingdom, a group of people dragging their luggage walked out of the empty door and looked up at this strange yet familiar world. The sky was as clean as a blue lake, the wind was a transparent river, and the light was a warm rain curtain. Although the land was barren with only scattered green grass growing to the sky, compared to the dark and turbid wasteland that was cloudy all day long and looked like a mixture of black and white, the world in front of them was simply beautiful and intoxicating.
The earth magician knelt on the ground, listening to the heartbeat of the earth; the wind magician raised his hand and touched the skin of the air. The magicians felt the world in the way they were most familiar with. An old magician suddenly knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his face, and shouts came from all around.
"We're back!"
"We are back to Senluo!"
"We are really... home..."
Opposite the empty gate, in the wishing pool palace of the Thousand Wishes Heaven, Ash and his companions watched three thousand Senluo people pass through the empty gate one after another and return to their once lost hometown.
"There are obviously better countries to accept them, but they all choose to go back to their hometowns where they have nothing." Diya sat by the pool, not afraid that the wish power in the wishing pool water would have a violent reaction with the magic power. She put her feet into the pool water. Some magic spirits came close and circled around her feet. She tightened her arches and toes, as if she was soaking her feet in hot water: "The Senluo people are really strange."
"Indeed." Ash also said: "I don't know about the Abyss and Paradise, but if it is the people of Blood Moon, Gospel or Stars, they probably won't have such a strong sense of homeland, because the people of these countries live in a peaceful and prosperous era, with neither external enemies nor internal worries. Compared with grand narratives, most people are more concerned about their daily trivialities."
"But Senluo is different. Senluo entered the wasteland era two hundred years ago. Every Senluo person opens his eyes to see a fragmented wasteland world. They need to struggle for survival from birth. If they cannot become magicians, they will age and die quickly after their prime to reduce the population burden... Although the root cause of the war of faith is the guidance of Senluo Zhanzhu, in the wasteland era, faith does have its positive side. Living under the lead-gray sky, if there is no faith to guide, most people will live like zombies. They all need this little hope to persevere."
"Because of this, grand narratives are the civilized instinct engraved in the souls of the Senluo people. The difference between different sects is only in what kind of world Senluo should become, but making Senluo a better world is the consensus of everyone. If they can't survive and escape to other places, it's fine. Now that they can return to Senluo, of course they want to continue their unfinished business."
Sword Princess and Witch both nodded thoughtfully, and Weisser looked as if she had suddenly realized something: "So that's how it is?"
Ash spurted: "Don't you know you are a Senra person?!"
"Unless you have traveled to many countries in depth, how can a normal person extract the cultural characteristics of his own country?" Weisser pinched Ash's cheek: "Forget cultural characteristics, can you extract the most prominent characteristics of yourself?"
Ash pondered for a long time and finally came up with a word: "Loyalty."
Deya: "Veela."
Vichy: "Trash can."
Sonia: "... Lala Fei?"
"Why don't you have a single nice word?" Ash's mouth twitched: "Forget about Vichy, but why are you, Sword Lady and Witch, bullying me too!"
"Hey? Ash, are you serious?" Diya blinked her eyes with an innocent expression: "I thought you were joking."
As they were talking, two figures flew towards the palace on the side of the wishing pool. On the left was the Dream Awakening Spirit with five fox tails, and on the right was Black Crow, who was covered in black clothes and wearing a ferocious crow mask. When Black Crow landed, she and Ash looked at each other from a distance, and suddenly raised her hand to make a waving gesture, and then the two disappeared at the same time, and the next moment they were already staggered in the middle, exploding into a cloud wave that compressed the air to the limit!
Punch! Kick! Elbow! After three rounds of fist and kick fighting, Black Crow drew out his shield axe, and Ash did not give in and shook out two swords from his sleeves. Dozens of clashes occurred in a few seconds, shaking the spirits in the wishing pool to the bottom of the pool and trembling. The dream awakening spirits were so anxious that they circled around them, but they did not dare to disturb the two of them.
clang!
With a clear sword sound, this sudden battle finally stopped. The shield axe that Black Crow was about to transform was pressed to the ground by Ash's left-hand sword. He held the sword in his right hand to press down Black Crow's neck. The winner was decided.
"You are much stronger than you were a year ago." Black Crow let go of his hand and said softly, "Even if we fight, I can no longer beat you."
Ash smiled and shook his head: "This is only because the physical fitness of the soul body is far superior to that of ordinary people. When you become a demigod, maybe-"
"There is no need to be modest. The essence of skill is to give full play to one's physical qualities. There are many magicians in this world who have strength but cannot use it correctly." Black Crow retracted his shield axe and said, "Whether you have acquired skills through fighting or other means, strong is strong and weak is weak. I have already lost in the battle of skills that I am best at. If I still try to make up for it, I will lose twice."
Ash blinked, reached out and patted her shoulder, and smiled: "You really haven't changed at all."
"You really think so?"
"yes."
Black Crow lowered his head, his shoulders trembling slightly. "I have been practicing hard this year without slacking off for a single day. I have fought 256 battles in the Void Realm and won every one of them. I have summoned a four-winged death spell spirit on my own. But in your eyes, I have not changed at all. I have made no progress at all compared to a year ago..."
Ash was stunned: "That's not what I meant-"
"Don't explain. You are stronger now. I will remember this humiliation!" Black Crow clenched his fists. "Just wait. Although I may never catch up with you in the field of magic, I will definitely defeat you in the field of fighting!"
Ash scratched his head, feeling that Black Crow was like the fanatical player in a fighting game who would work hard to get back at the loser. However, all his friends seemed to be of this type. If he defeated Yin Gula and Harvey in mind games or necromancy research, those two guys would probably go crazy and be full of anger, wanting to get back at the loser.
However, he did not hate this kind of paranoia.
"Feel sorry."
Ash blinked, confused as to why Black Crow was suddenly apologizing.
"When you got into trouble a few days ago, I couldn't help you at all." Black Crow lowered his head, his voice full of shame: "If Freya hadn't told me, I wouldn't even know that I forgot you... I'm in the Seventh Heaven, but I can't leave it. I don't know what's happening outside..."
Ash thought for a moment and said, "Stretch out your hand."
As soon as Black Crow stretched out her hand, Ash threw her to the ground with an over-the-shoulder throw. Her head was dizzy. Then Ash reached out and pulled her up, saying casually, "Next time, if you still can't help, I won't apologize with an over-the-shoulder throw. At least I'll spank you."
Black Crow was not afraid of the shoulder throw, but when she heard the new punishment, she subconsciously protected her hips and hurriedly swore: "I will definitely charge for you next time!"