Standing on any street or alley in Greenway, even in the deepest and narrowest place, as long as you look up at the border of the city in the direction of the black pine forest, you can see the glowing green.
That is the enchanted high wall known as the "Green Forest Barrier". It is based on the unique gray-white clinolite in the southern border of the empire, inlaid with 30,000 rune stone bricks from the hands of elf craftsmen, and protects the city from being swallowed by the forest. A marvel of engineering, it forms a unique and exclusive life cycle to ensure that the land on which Greenway stands is completely isolated from the land of the black pine forest, and such a spectacle is the most unique scenery of Greenway.
Hao Ren and his party, who visited here for the first time, were of course also attracted by this majestic high wall that can be seen from anywhere, but now listening to Aiwenna's description of the city and the black pine forest, their curiosity is even greater. .
"The black pine forest is one of the biggest mysteries in the Dragon Empire. Even the empire's own polymaths can't explain this vast forest. No one knows what is the dense jungle equivalent to several provinces. Since the empire expanded its territory to the south, it has been entrenched in this land anyway," Awenna looked at the scene outside the car window, and introduced while admiring, "The vitality of this forest makes those who claim to be The elves who are the children of the forest are puzzled: Whether it is cut down or burned, the black pine forest can recover within a few days. Sometimes you cut down a big tree, and it will even start to sprout and regenerate under your eyelids, and the more The more you go deep into the forest, the more obvious this abnormal vitality... "
Speaking of this, Aiwenna paused for a while, and raised her finger to point to the city buildings in the distance: "Have you seen this city? Greenway, it was originally part of the black pine forest, but because it is located on the edge, the life cycle is relatively slow." Weak, the imperials succeeded in isolating and stabilizing it after making great efforts, but if it goes deeper, even the runestone bricks made by the elves can't stop the forest from eroding and counterattacking."
Charlemagne added: "That's why the empire gave up on the development of this forest - this forest is like a stubborn dragon, clinging to its own territory, and humans can only spend generations and countless financial and material resources from it. Picking out a little ash from under the claws is not worth the loss."
Vivian laughed: "It seems that the emperor who claims to have a dragon soul will also give in to this forest dragon."
On the other side, upon hearing such a description, Hao Ren's first thought was of course - the eldest son.
Those epic creatures living in the interior of the planet will occasionally poke their tentacles out of the surface, and when they do, they will evolve the protruding tentacles into something like a forest or a giant tree for camouflage, and those grown by the firstborn tentacles Evolved plants have similar super vitality, the most notable example being the twisted woodland in Holleta.
But this was Lahrien, a place far from the Dream Plane, where there could be no Firstborn—and Nolan's planetary scan confirmed it.
Then the strange vitality of the black pine forest seems a bit interesting.
"Speaking of which, since the vitality of the black pine forest is so strong, why hasn't it covered the entire empire after so many years?" Lily asked curiously, "And I also saw the green forest barrier just now, and it just blocked it. This section of Greenway, where there is no barrier, the forest has not spread out."
"This is the second incredible place in the Black Pine Forest," Aiwenna smiled lightly. She seemed to be happy to introduce these things to people. If she hadn't been born a princess in this life, she might be a five-star tour guide. "The black pine forest is very strong in vitality. If a piece of it is destroyed, it will recover quickly, but otherwise it will not continue to expand at all - its range is fixed, regardless of the weather and geology for thousands of years. Changes, it neither expands nor shrinks. Of course, the few pioneering points that the imperial people forcibly built on the edge of the forest are the only "defects" in this forest, but compared with the entire forest, this kind of defect is really insignificant. Not even one-thousandth of its total area."
"The so-called forest sprawl is actually just what the Greenway people themselves said. The land they occupied originally belonged to this forest." Charlemagne shook his head, as if he had a bit of disdain for the locals on this point.
"It neither expands nor shrinks..." Hao Ren rubbed his chin with a thoughtful expression.
"I really don't know how your 'World Tree Temple' usually lives. The degree of isolation from the world is too serious, and you don't even know the famous black pine forest," Aiwenna shook her head and sighed. "When I first heard your names, I thought you were hiding in the black pine forest. After all, the name of your temple is somewhat related to the legend of the black pine forest."
Lily's curiosity was aroused again immediately: "The legend of the black pine forest? Tell me, tell me..."
"It's all made up by adventurers and third-rate scholars," Charlemagne waved his hand disdainfully. Although he had received the orthodox education of the royal family since he was a child, he knew about these rumors and legends, but he never bothered to believe them. The abnormal vitality of the forest cannot be explained by common sense, so many people speculate wildly. There is a saying that there is a "spring of the world" in the center of this forest. That spring water is the origin of all life in the entire world, and its power spreads The black pine forest was formed after it came out. It is said that as long as you drink a mouthful of the water from the fountain of the world, you can live forever—so there is a supporting legend for this legend, that is, His Majesty Brentin is not the soul of the dragon, but drank the water of the fountain of the world. Only after the spring water can you live forever."
"There are also rumors that there is a temple in the black pine forest, called the Temple of Life, which is similar in content to the Fountain of the World, but it is said that one needs to meditate and pray in the Temple of Life for one night to obtain eternal life," Evanna laughed, " But everyone thinks that praying in the temple for one night is more troublesome than drinking a sip of spring water, so more people think that it is more reliable to say that it is the spring of the world."
Hao Ren covered his forehead: "Just based on your last sentence, I don't think the two statements are old and reliable..."
"Anyway, they are all legends, none of which are credible," Charlemagne snorted softly, "Although the black pine forest is a bit dangerous, it is not absolutely insurmountable. In fact, after so many generations of hard work, the imperial people have long been in the black pine forest." I have found a few relatively stable paths. Occasionally, there will be bold adventurers with high skills to explore unexplored places in the black pine forest. There are many people who come back alive, but no one has ever discovered any path of life. Springs and temples. In addition, there are many airship flights that fly over the black pine forest regularly, and it is clear to look down at the forest from above. There are no temples and springs.”
Hao Ren used to wonder how his group would pass through the forest since the black pine forest was so magical. It was only when he heard Charlemagne mentioning that there was a road in the forest that he suddenly understood, but he was a little curious after that: "There are roads in the forest. Road? Didn’t it mean that the deeper you go in the forest, the stronger the life force will be, and the traces left by humans will be erased almost instantly?”
"Those roads were not artificially developed, but existed in the forest," Ai Wenna explained, "This is also an unsolved mystery: Those roads have obvious traces of artificial construction, paved with stone slabs, and there are lights on the roadside , and even some things like stone houses will appear on both sides of the road, but they were all things that existed before the imperial people discovered this forest. Some people speculate that those are the civilization relics of the last era, but this guess is better than that of the fountain of life. The human argument is not reliable... and it doesn't explain why those roads are not swallowed by the forest... "
Hao Ren couldn't help but exchanged glances with Vivian.
This statement... might be the most reliable one.
"The story about the black pine forest is endless." Charlemagne noticed that the convoy was approaching the green forest barrier, so he was about to end the topic. "There are many forks in the black pine forest. I have already planned the best route to the north." Route, if your curiosity about that forest is really that strong, then wait until you go in and take a good look with your own eyes.”
Although Greenway is a wonderful city worth visiting, the group obviously didn't spend too much time here. The team went straight through the avenue in the center of the city, and went straight to the northern exit of the city after completing the clearance procedures.
In this direction, the majestic green forest barrier blocks the forest, and at the bottom of the giant wall are twelve magnificent gates. The glorious deeds of human beings working together to build this miracle city—now, the first batch of human pioneers in the city have been dead for many years, but the elves who engraved the "Oath on the Gate" are still working for this city. Their main task It is to monitor the changes in the black pine forest on the other side of the city wall, and to guard these gates with human soldiers.
Elves with a thousand-year lifespan are very loyal to their duties.
These elegant creatures with pointed ears are distributed all over the world. It is said that they once established a powerful dynasty, but now the ancient elf empire has become a legend. Except for a few small kingdoms that survived, they still hide in the forest and live an isolated life. In addition, most of the elves have already integrated into various human kingdoms, and the elves of the Dragon Empire are the most thorough wave of integration. Probably because there is an immortal emperor in this country, who can understand the various thoughts and living habits of elves with longer life spans. The elves in the Dragon Empire are doing quite well.
There are very few people waiting in line in front of the gate to enter the black pine forest, and even only three of the twelve gates have been opened. It seems that although the black pine forest is rich in products, the mystery and danger of this forest itself still make people feel uncomfortable. Many people stay away.
There are basically only three types of people who dare to enter the forest: the first type is the locals of Greenway, who are familiar with the situation on the edge of the forest and make a living by mining ore or rare herbs in the forest in certain fixed areas; the second type is skilled adventurers Or, they will go a little deeper and follow the existing roads in the black pine forest to find those beast dens and monster-infested strongholds. They will not leave the forest road too far, but they can still hunt a lot of precious Prey, a successful adventure can bring back enough wealth for everyone to squander for half a year; the third category is travelers or caravans, who are going to take shortcuts from the forest road to the north or west. The main reason for doing this is to save expensive money. Airship fare, after all, unless you are unlucky and encounter monsters migrating, it is relatively safe to just follow the forest road.
The caravan disguised by Hao Ren and his party used the third reason to obtain a permit to enter the black pine forest.
Since there were not many people in line, the convoy quickly approached the towering gate. Hao Ren saw imperial soldiers in black light armor and elf rangers in green ranger coats standing in front of the gate. The most striking of the gate guards were the black sword knights in heavy armor and black mechanical swords on their waists.
After all, it was an important town in the south, so it was expected that the Black Sword Knight would personally serve as the guard.
There will not be too many guards boarding the car for inspection. If there is any trouble, Lia can repeat the same trick to let the soldiers go. Therefore, Hao Ren didn't feel nervous. He just stood in front of the window and looked out at the street curiously. scenery.
His sight was suddenly attracted by several imperial officials who were hurrying.
Those imperial officials were walking past the guard post in the distance, and their attire should look like military attaches, and judging from the way the nearby soldiers saluted them respectfully, their identities should not be low.
These calm and proud imperial officers in the past now look worried. They hurried past the outpost while discussing something fiercely. It seems that an emergency has occurred. Seeing this situation, Hao Ren immediately couldn't bear it. Try to pay attention to hear the conversation between them.
But just as he was about to do this, Lily, who was sitting further inside the carriage, had already recounted the voice she had heard: "The black sword knights sent to Gray Mountain City have all lost contact... Earl Nahum refused to respond The imperial capital's conscription order... It can be confirmed that Huishan City's position is on the side of Her Royal Highness... The signal of war... That's about it."
Charlemagne and Evanna looked at Lily in surprise, not knowing what the other party meant by what she said suddenly: they neither noticed the imperial officials outside, nor could they hear the whispered voices in the distance.
"The civil war seems to have finally spread to the southern border," Hao Ren explained in a low voice. "Lily heard the conversations of several imperial officers over there. Just as you expected, Earl Nahum of Gray Mountain City supports Kang. Princess Stans—may have even killed the Black Sword Knight who went to Gray Mountain City to negotiate."
"Hiss—" Charlemagne took a breath subconsciously. He didn't expect the situation to change so quickly, and his next move was to look at the gate of the green forest, which was already close at hand: the convoy has already begun to be inspected, and it only takes one In two minutes, three caravans can pass through this gate and enter the black pine forest.
But suddenly there was a throbbing in his heart. The door that was already close to him seemed to be moving away from him. He felt that a certain crisis had come quietly, and this journey that had been smooth so far seemed to be about to lose control.
Hao Ren also noticed the change in the prince, and his intuition was far stronger and more accurate than Charlemagne who was a pure mortal. A cold feeling made him immediately pull the cover at the back of the car, and looked towards him. direction of time.
A group of knights with black swords in black armor are galloping towards this side on horseback.
The imperial soldiers guarding the gate of the green forest have already checked the caravan. Accompanied by two soldiers, a tall black sword knight walked into the caravan. Everything in the car.
People near the gate—including soldiers and civilians waiting to pass—involuntarily turned their gazes to this ordinary-looking small caravan. Attracted by the black sword knight, he immediately noticed the target of the ten knights.
One of the galloping knights stepped forward, with two red lights shining from under his visor. He suddenly pulled out the black mechanical sword at his waist. A hoarse roar came from inside the helmet: "Stop those three cars! Everyone in the car, shoot to kill!"
In the compartment of the caravan, the body of the black sword knight who was performing inspection tasks suddenly paused, and then the eye sockets on the visor lit up with a red light as if burning, and a strong hostility and murderous aura suddenly spread.
Liya, who was squinting and pretending to sleep, suddenly opened her eyes, staring at the two red lights on the knight's mask: "Let go!"
The black sword knight in the carriage trembled violently. He tried to use his willpower to resist the sudden force, but after resisting for less than a second, he still struggled from under the visor as if he was dying. Voice: "Let's go..."
The soldier standing beside the knight had already noticed the strange situation, and immediately questioned: "My lord?"
The roar from outside the car became clear: "... everyone in the car, shoot to kill!"
The Black Sword Knight, who was struggling under Lia's control, seemed to gain infinite spiritual power after hearing this voice. After a violent tremor like a spasm, he pressed the hand that had been put down on the waist around his waist. On the mechanical sword, following the buzzing sound of the activation of the magical mechanism, he pulled out the sword suddenly, hissed and roared at Hao Ren and his party: "Execute... the order!!"
The reaction of the two imperial soldiers who had already entered the carriage was only less than half a second slow. After the knight launched an attack, they immediately raised their weapons and rushed over with roars!
Charlemagne stood in front of Awenna with one hand, and the other hand was already holding the saber around his waist: "Stand back, I..."
Everything happened in a blink of an eye. Faced with the sudden loss of control, Liya could only sigh softly: "Oh..."
With a sigh, all the weapons pointed at her—including the black mechanical sword and the two imperial longswords—disintegrated into flying ash without a sound.
The black sword knight fell straight down, and one of the two imperial soldiers was blown out of the carriage by the lightning ball thrown by Vivienne, and the other was violently thrown down by Lily, who broke several bones and was thrown out of the carriage.
Hao Ren patted the rear panel of the carriage: "Rush over!"