The first thousand one hundred and sixteen chapters are right and wrong
Xiling Empire 1116_Read the full text of Xiling Empire for free_Chapter 1116 Things are different and people are not from the same place
Except for some islands located deep in the ocean, almost isolated from the world, and small pieces of land that almost exist in legends and have never been touched by anyone, the mother continent is the only known and vibrant continent on the planet.
It is an irregular oval, running through the northern and southern hemispheres, and extending further towards the northern hemisphere - its northern part has penetrated into the ice and snow of the ice ocean, but its southern part can only cross the equator, and cannot even reach the temperate zone of the southern hemisphere. Therefore.
For a long time in history, scholars on the mother continent believed that they lived in a one-way world of hot and cold. The farther north you go, the colder it gets, until the sky freezes, and the farther south you go, the hotter it gets, until the earth is frozen.
It was melted by it, so in the old mythology of the mother continent, there is also the legend of the Ice King of the Far North and the Lava Tyrant of the South Abyss.
This is what Lilina told us when we were bored.
The place we are going to is located in the northern part of the mother continent, and is almost close to the frozen wasteland. If ordinary people want to come to this cold country without taking the portal, they have to cross the northern principality and then cross the northern wilderness that is divided by barbarians.
Countless scattered settlements have reached almost the last border that intelligent creatures in this world can occupy for a long time. Here there is a loose country called "Gudel". This is a country with almost no clear political power.
Small city-states and even towns are proclaiming themselves kings. However, the wonderful thing is that this is not the result of a long-term separatist war, but a delicate balance formed locally after a long process of civilization and mutual compromise. Countless city-states, large and small, have their own
They follow their own laws and have their own lords. At the same time, they are nominally ruled by the Northland royal family "Gudel". This Northland royal family does not seem to have the intention to strengthen their centralization, and is even happy to see the princes under their name form such a loose organization.
In the state of a country, they only need their nominal subjects to do two things: worship and worship gods. In addition, they must fulfill the most basic obligation of protecting the kingdom when foreign enemies attack, and then completely let it go.
It has flowed by itself. Such a governance method and national structure are difficult for outsiders to imagine. Anyway, I can hardly imagine how the Goodale royal family here could have not been replaced for so long without an accident. However, in fact, for a long time,
For a long time, the entire northern kingdom "Gudel" has been extremely stable, with almost no internal friction.
After checking the information collected by Lilina, I realized that this was all because of the "Storm Giant".
In the far north of the continent, although there is no Ice King, there is a powerful ancient spirit. That is the storm giant. This powerful creature revered as the God of the North is considered the most powerful
One of the ancient spirits, according to research, he appeared in front of the mortals when the mortals of the mother continent first arrived in the northern ice plains and established towns on the border, and its true existence time will naturally only be longer than that. Storm
The giant is described as an incorporeal cold creature. Legend has it that he lives in the deepest part of the northern ice sheet, a place that even the most advanced alchemical airships on the mother continent cannot reach. The storm giant is an endless mass of...
A male ancient spirit of ice, snow, clouds and lightning, only when a mortal arrives in front of him. And when this ancient spirit happens to be interested, the storm will take on a human form. When he stands up, he can cross the northern ice field in one step.
The widest ice abyss and the highest mountain range, when he is angry, he can freeze all the mortal towns on the entire border in one breath, and the only way to communicate with this storm giant is in the hands of the Goodel royal family.
This is the cornerstone of the stable existence of this loose state in the far north of the continent: the backstage of the Goodell royal family is the storm giant. In fact, the three words "Goodell" mean "server" in the local language, which means storm giants.
of servants.
However, it is difficult to explain why the Goodel royal family, who have mastered such powerful power, took the initiative to keep their kingdom in such an unseemly state, and even seemed not to care much about their royal power. They are
A group of very mysterious guys, living in their own frozen castle, barely living in the world. All information about them on the mainland except legends is nonsense...
Well, basically nonsense.
There are many trivial mountains and hills on the border of the Northland, which shows a very intense but short-lasting period of geological activity. The towns with human settlements here are basically built on the mountains. It can be effective to hide in the mountains.
It resists the cold wind from the northern ice sheet, and it is also easier to obtain additional food from the mountains and forests. Our destination is such a medium-sized town hidden in a valley at the foot of the mountain. The town has a particularly straightforward and strange name: Ice Knife
.The reason why it is called this is probably because its shape is long and narrow, and it is located on the boundary line of the ice sheet. It looks like an ice knife piercing the boundary of the ice sheet. In such a cold and scarce place, it is slightly larger.
A small town rarely expands or changes its base. It seems conceivable to name it after the shape of the town.
This town called Ice Knife should be regarded as the larger "city" in this place. It is also very close to the area where the Goodel royal family lives. However, the main reason why we chose this place as our destination is the request of Sakina and Sona.
:They said they wanted to come here to find someone.
"Huh, this place is much 'cooler' than the Dragon Kingdom." Looking at the entrance to the town in front of me, I exhaled and said. The warm air brought from another space disappeared with the portal, and I was instantly overwhelmed by the cold here.
The wind has completely dispersed it. One second we were in front of the portal in the City of Angels, and the next second we were already in the subarctic zone. The temperature change was huge, but for me, this temperature difference is just a small amount.
The matter was over immediately, but the two cold-blooded creatures following him...
"Sakina, are you okay?" I turned my head and glanced at Sakina and Sona, who were closely wrapped in heavy clothes and were following behind me. These two claimed to be cold-blooded creatures more than once, and I
I did touch Sakina's tail. It was as cold as a snake. I really don't know if they can stand the low temperature here. How could they make any friends in a place like this?
"Don't worry." Sona smiled faintly, "Although they are cold-blooded species, half-dragons are not so extreme that they cannot survive in low-temperature environments. It's just that they will be less energetic if the weather is too cold. And I
And Sakina... we have lived here for a long time. We grew up on the border of the North, and this... can be considered our hometown."
"Ah?" I was stunned. "How come two half-dragons who are afraid of the cold live in a place where the mountains are covered with snow for seven or eight months of the year?"
"It's not something we can control." Sakina yawned, looking listless, and murmured while rubbing her eyes, "We were sold here by slave traders. Half-dragons will be affected by low temperatures.
Being less energetic is naturally easier to control, so some mages who do potion experiments prefer to put half-dragon slaves in low-temperature environments. Anyway, they don't need half-dragons to do much strenuous work. Half-dragon slaves are often sold.
There are two places, the extreme north and the extreme south. The half-dragons in the extreme north are used as servants or experimental materials like us. Because they are easy to control, and even at low temperatures, the physical strength of the half-dragons is stronger than that of ordinary races; in the extreme south
The half-dragons were used as hard laborers because they were strong and could work longer a day in warmer weather."
Sakina talked about these unfair things with complicated eyes, filled with sadness and anguish. She rarely brought up these topics on her own initiative. But it may be that we are already familiar with each other, and she has also seen the history of humiliation of half-dragons.
The dawn of the end. She would occasionally talk about these things in front of me. Listening to her mention that bitter past, I felt uncomfortable. I asked hesitantly: "Then... you are not coming.
Are you looking for the mage from back then? Are you looking for him to take revenge?"
"Ha, who has that free time?" Sakina smiled contemptuously and took the lead, "He was already old and almost dead back then, and half-dragons can live longer than humans. Now that guy's bones are probably rotten.
Come on. The other mage lived in another city back then, very far away from here..." Sakina said, looking in a certain direction in the wild: "It's really far away, I can't even imagine it now.
We were actually able to escape from there, escape so far, and still be alive in such a cold place..."
"Then you guys come back here..." I looked at Sakina with some confusion. This place was certainly not a homeland full of beautiful memories for her and Sona. Is there anyone or anything worthy of nostalgia? I
Thinking of the experiences of these two half-dragon girls - slave life, drug experiment, theft, prison, wandering - there was almost no hope in the first half of their lives.
"We are going to return something." Sona spoke in a low voice. She put her hand into her pocket and took out a thick handwritten note that had been read countless times, "Thirty years
It's time...it's time to give it back..."
I stared blankly at the crumpled notebook. Time had left traces of vicissitudes on it. The surface of the notebook was covered with a layer of dirty oil. Almost all the pages were uneven, and the spine had obvious scratches.
The traces of repeated repairs indicate that it has fallen apart more than once. Sona's hand holding the notebook was trembling slightly, and the expression on her face seemed to want to laugh but couldn't: "We almost forgot the name of this town, but
Sakina accidentally overheard your conversation before departure, and we remembered this place that we escaped from thirty years ago... This place has hardly changed at all, and it is as cold as when we first left..."
I blinked and remembered the origin of this notebook: it was this notebook that started Sakina and Sona's career as explorers, but it was a stolen thing.
The two half-dragon girls had no skills after escaping from the terrible poison laboratory, and wandered around to make ends meet. In order to fill their stomachs and avoid the cold winter, they were even deliberately arrested and imprisoned. It can even be said that they
The only people I knew in the first half of my life were homeless people and jailers who were also sheltering from the wind and snow in prison. This note comes from a young jailer, maybe out of sympathy, or maybe he just hasn't had time to be recognized by reality.
Contaminated by life, the young jailer showed too much softness towards Sakina and the two. He even took the initiative to talk about his father's experience as an explorer, and even took out this precious family heirloom in front of the two half-dragons.
Displayed in front of the girl.
Sakina and Sona took this notebook when they were released from prison for the last time, and then walked away from home and embarked on the path of explorers.
This time, is... thirty years? I really didn't expect that the story Sakina and Sona told me that day was already thirty years ago. In thirty years, half-dragon people
For human beings, it may not be a long time, but for human beings, it is almost half a lifetime.
"I don't know if he is still a jailer," Sakina suddenly smiled, as if she was full of expectation that she would be relieved of her heavy burden, and she became happy. "He was still a young boy when we left. This
He should have already had a family and a career by then - he might even have become a grandfather... Huh, I hope he doesn't kill us both with a knife, Sona, what do you think?"
Sona carefully put away the notes and smiled: "No."
For these scattered cities on the border of the North, outsiders must be very uncommon. The most eye-catching ones, Alaya and Alleria, have become invisible and are following everyone. But just like that,
The appearance of me, Qian Qian, Lin Xue and the half-dragon duo still attracted the attention of many passers-by. However, I soon discovered that the focus of their attention fell more on the two half-dragon girls. The passers-by's
There was some uncertainty in the eyes, and there was a vague fear. It suddenly occurred to me that this might be the result of the recent large-scale activities of the half-dragon cultists - we have been busy studying the ruins and have never paid attention to the ordinary society of the mother continent.
There is a movement, but if you think about it, you should know that the entire race of half-dragons suddenly became dragonborn. The impact on the world must be quite large - anyway, the most direct impact is that all half-dragon slaves in this world will definitely be free.
Now, most of the half-dragons in the world have migrated to the south, and no external force can stop their movements. But now there are two half-dragon girls who look so young appearing in a remote city in the north. It is estimated that
It would make people very curious.
However, Sakina and Sona turned a deaf ear to the gazes of the people around them. They just looked around the passing streets and houses with a look of reminiscence, while introducing us with a smile: It seems that the low temperature cannot freeze this place.
The passion between the two was now burning. Sakina's memory was really good, and she could even blurt out the name of a tavern that was about to appear at the corner ahead. Although the name was wrong, at least there was a tavern there.
"The owner of this tavern is a henpecked guy, and he's a very nice person," Sakina pointed to the old but lively tavern on the roadside and told us, "He often prepares leftovers for the homeless people nearby. He
There is also a daughter, she is a beautiful girl... Of course, I am afraid she is the mother of the child now."
During Sakina's introduction (there were several mistakes made, after all, time has passed, this place is no longer the same as Sakina remembers), we gradually walked to a highland at the northern end of the town, where there are
A solid stone building is the prison facility of this border city called Skate - it is closer to the bustling area of the city than imagined, and it is only a two-story simple facility. The guard at the door is very energetic, but very
Obviously, in such a remote, poor and miserable place, even the prison probably doesn't have many criminals in it. Most of the people locked up here are just sneaky gangsters. The warden's office here may have the same heating system as our police station.
The tablets have the same function.
Even Sakina, who is usually a bit nervous, couldn't help showing some nervousness at this time, then she pressed her hair that was blown up by the cold wind, and walked forward to negotiate with the guard soldiers, while I
I asked Sona casually: "What impression do you have of that jailer?"
"That's right," Sona forced a smile, "It's not easy to meet a good person in a place like this, not to mention that the good person is a jailer. He is a young man who is incompatible with the surrounding environment. He just met us when we met.
Just a few days after he became a jailer, he was completely different from his rude and violent colleagues. At that time, he was even a little naive." Sona shrugged as she said: "He even said that his future dream is to become a judge and maintain skates.
The order of the city. At that time, he loved to laugh very much, and often chatted with me and Sakina, and even secretly brought us his lunch. If it hadn’t happened later, maybe he would have become my and Sakina’s first
A true friend."
Lin Xue protracted her voice: "Oh... you are a middle school boy in the budding period of youth."
At this time, Sakina had completed the negotiation and came over. It seemed that she had obtained permission to enter, but the expression on her face was a bit strange. Sona couldn't help but asked with concern: "What's wrong? The guards are making things difficult for you?"
"No," Sakina shook her head as she led us across the suspension bridge in front of the prison, "these soldiers thought we were going to bribe the prison warden's family members - Veer is already the warden here."
Will. It seems that this is the name of the good boy in middle school back then.
"Warden?" Sona's voice rose slightly, "He is really not simple. This can be considered a step closer to his dream."
Sakina shook her head noncommittally: "Who knows, I always feel uncomfortable... maybe it's because it's too cold here."
After walking through the suspension bridge and the narrow stone passage in front of the prison, there is an inner courtyard surrounded by a high stone wall. This is where light-duty prisoners usually hang out. Under the leadership of a sloppy veteran, our group was beaten.
The specially labeled "visitors" entered the guard area next to the inner courtyard. The light inside the stone building was a bit dark, and cold white light slanted in from the tall and narrow windows. The brightness was not even as bright as the torches in the corridors on both sides.
There was a slight musty smell in the air, and a warm brazier was burning quietly at the corner of the corridor. The veteran took us to a heavy nailed wooden door and left without saying a word. Sona
He and Sakina stared at the door for a while, before the latter cautiously stepped forward and knocked.
"Bang - bang -" The iron ring hit the heavy wooden door, and the muffled sound echoed in the long dark corridor. The sound was much louder than expected. Sakina stuck out her tongue, and after a moment.
A thick and slightly hoarse man's voice came from behind the wooden door: "Come in. Did the bastard speak?"
Sakina was stunned for a moment and pushed open the door. A strong smell of low-quality tobacco immediately came from inside. We entered the room one by one and saw the scene inside: a small room of more than ten square meters, with roughly carved walls.
It was built directly from old stones, and a large bunch of keys and old locks whose color could no longer be seen were hung on the wall. There were also two lanterns used for night patrols, and a large heavy table was placed in the center of the room. The table was full of things
Behind the desk sat a bald, middle-aged man. He looked about fifty, wearing a wrinkled prison uniform, and had no beard on his face, but because of this
Looks a bit fleshy.
The middle-aged warden was a little surprised when he saw a group of people coming in, and they were not the guards who came to report as he expected. He shook his shiny forehead and said in a rough voice: "Who are they? Visiting the prison? Why?
No one reported it?"
He didn't recognize the two half-dragon girls in front of him at all - although I think with the relatively long lifespan of half-dragons, Sakina and Sona's appearance today should have limited changes from thirty years ago, but the other party still didn't
Recognize them.
"We...are here to find you." Sakina didn't know how to speak. The expression on her face was quite stiff, and in the end she just stammered this sentence. It was obvious that even though she had made all kinds of mental preparations before
, the bald middle-aged man who appeared in front of him now was also far different from the shy and somewhat naive young jailer in her impression, so that all the lines he had prepared before were useless at this time.
"Looking for me?" The middle-aged man who had already put on weight came out from behind the table, "Ha, which prisoner are you interceding for? I've seen this trick too much, it depends on your sincerity and the weight you can bring - well,
Half-dragon?" He seemed to finally notice the restless tails behind Sakina and Sona, and raised his eyebrows, "You have been making quite a lot of noise recently...wait a minute!"
The middle-aged man finally stopped, with a look of surprise on his face. His eyes were fixed on Sakina's face, and then he quickly turned to Sona, as if the barrier of memory had finally been broken, and there was a sound in his throat.
A strange sound: it is the subconscious strange sound made when many words are blocked together and cannot be spoken.
"You remember," Sakina smiled dryly, waved her hand, and took Sona's arm, "Wil, it's us..."
"You... you!" The middle-aged man named Weir shook violently, slowly raised his arm, pointed here, and said intermittently, "It's you?!"
"We want to..." Sakina had just said three words when she was interrupted loudly by the other party: "Why are you here?!"
Weir's voice was very loud, and when he opened his mouth, he sprayed out a strong smell of low-quality tobacco. He was obviously so excited that the flesh on his face trembled, and his eyes bulged with the intense emotion, but such an expression
It didn't last long before he suddenly walked quickly back to his seat, sat down heavily and said, "Say!"
"We...are here to return your things..." Sona seemed to have gathered her courage for a long time, and then took out the thick notebook that had been away from its owner for thirty years, and placed it on the warden's desk.
His eyes suddenly widened, and he stared blankly at the black book in front of him, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. He slowly picked up the book and opened it carefully.
Inside was a small piece of paper that was yellowed and brittle.
"Look, the original bookmarks are all there," Sakina said quickly. "We have always protected them very well, and not a single page has been lost. There are also leaves you picked, which were made into specimens with cloud wax and palm oil.
On the last page..."
Weir quickly flipped through his notes, and on the last page he found the leaf that had long lost its original color and had been made into a specimen. His movements were frozen at this moment, and he remained silent for a long time, lowering his head as if it had turned into a stone sculpture.
Sakina looked at us uneasily and took two steps closer: "Well... right..."
"Let's go." A low and hoarse voice came from the other side.
"Ah?" Sakina asked without hearing clearly.
"Let's go!" Weir suddenly raised his head and said loudly, "The things are here, let's go quickly!"
"We haven't talked yet..." Sakina always has some rough lines. She stubbornly took another half step forward, but was grabbed by Sona, who looked deeply at the middle-aged woman.
Vere, who had turned into a rude old warden who was addicted to smoking, glanced at her and whispered, "Goodbye, Vere." Then he pulled Sakina out of the room.
I walked at the end, and when I was about to step out of the door, I heard a hoarse voice from behind: "Wait a minute."
I looked at Will in confusion, and the other person opened his mouth, and finally forced out a weird smile, as if he was not used to such an expression: "Help close the door, and give them a message by the way, these years... In fact, I
It’s going well.”
The heavy nailed wooden door made a squeaking sound and slowly closed. I deliberately paused at the door for a while before catching up with the others. Lin Xue also deliberately lagged behind, waiting for me to catch up before turning around.
He replied: "Just cry inside."
"You're right."
"What's wrong with him?" Qian Qian is probably the least enlightened person among the people present when it comes to similar things, and the questions she asks are certainly not very enlightened - to be honest, I sometimes envy her simple mind.
"To commemorate one's own youth," Lin Xue looked back at the door of the warden's room, which had been hidden in the darkness, and then looked at the two half-dragon girls walking in front, "By the way, I might also be commemorating a piece of history thirty years ago.
His first love - I guess he must have had a crush on one of Sakina and Sona back then, a woman's intuition."
After coming from the dark prison corridor to the bright outdoors, Sakina and Sona couldn't help but take a deep breath. In any case, they may have really put down the burden of thirty years. I will tell Will
After telling them what she had conveyed, Sona finally had a smile on her face, facing the wind blowing from afar: "It seems... the wind has become a little warmer."
Sakina looked at her friend inexplicably, then shrank her neck after blowing a gust of wind: "Oh, it's just as cold. If it keeps freezing like this, I might actually hibernate."
"Your Majesty," Alleria, who was following along in the invisible state, suddenly interrupted everyone's thoughts. She pointed in the direction of the ice field in the distance, "I sensed Odysseus calling, his condition...
…It’s weird.”
Xiling Empire 1116_Read the full text of Xiling Empire for free_Chapter 1116 Things are different and people are different. Updated!