For Ashe, witnessing Sejuani's death was a relief.
In the future, she might find the little guy named Nunu, tell him the story of Sejuani, and then let him take this story throughout the Freljord, so that this cold land will remember that there is a person who has never been there.
A surrendered soul.
After repelling the Lost One for the second time, Ashe and Lux's trip to the ancient frost mouth became much calmer - no one with no eyesight came to disturb them. Not only that, they didn't even see a single traveler.
However, this "important passage connecting Rakstak and Northern Freljord" in Ashe's words had no pedestrians at all during this season.
And this kind of calmness itself is an abnormality.
"I'm afraid something has happened to Onkar." When she was about to arrive at the north entrance of Gushuangkou, her expression gradually became serious, "Now it's time for livestock breeding, and when raising cubs, it's very common for no tribe to enter Gushuangkou——
But now this place is close to the north entrance, and many wild vegetables are not even picked..."
"What tribe lives on Ornkar now?" Following Ashe's finger and glancing at the lichen-like Freljord special wild vegetables mixed in the weeds, Lux took the initiative and asked, "What do you mean?
Yes, it was once the birthplace of Avarosa and Winter's Claw."
"Yes, that's the place where I stayed when I was a child." Ashe nodded, "After Avarosa left, it became the headquarters of Winter's Claw until Sejuani entered Rakstark."
"Like passing the Nueskara Pass?"
"Any Freljordian who wants to prove himself must go to Rakstark City to meet the three sisters." Ashe seemed to be talking about Sejuani, and she seemed to be talking about herself, "And in her case
After we left, this place was supposed to be the birthplace and rise of the new tribe."
"but?"
"But from now on, this place has completely become a hunting ground for the lost." Ashe looked serious, "Only on the territory of the bear people, wild vegetables can grow and wither naturally like weeds."
As he spoke, Ai Xi stretched out his hand and grabbed a handful of a plant that seemed to be a little wilted. Then he spread his palm and put the grass seeds in his palm under his nose.
"Yes, this is the taste of amaranth seeds."
As she spoke, she took the initiative to hand the grass seeds in her palm to Lux, but before Lux could get closer to smell it, a sudden gust of wind swept over and blew the grass seeds in her hand away.
Thanks to the wind, Lux smelled this rather rich, fleeting aroma similar to oil.
This smell is different from any plant seeds that Lux has smelled in the past. If I have to say it, it should be regarded as the smell after "fried wilted green leafy vegetables", which is not very refreshing.
"As soon as you smell it, you will have the talent of extracting oil."
Lux shrugged, remembering the oil plant cultivation project being carried out in Forsbarrow. There might be some kind of plant with a similar smell in Fouquelin's group's experimental greenhouse.
"Extracting oil?" Ashe repeated the Freljord phrase coined by Lux, "You mean, pressing out oil from amaranth seeds?"
"It smells like oil."
"No, no, no, if you want oil, you don't need to squeeze its seeds." Ai Xi leaned down with a smile, and soon found a wilted amaranth plant, then took out his dagger and dug around it carefully.
He got up and said, "I haven't dug amaranth for a long time, so my skills are a little rusty..."
After all, a few minutes later, Lux saw a perfect swollen tuber of amaranth in her hand.
"This is the essence of amaranth." Ash put the tuber on the sled, "You will know when dinner is served."
Lux blinked and secretly guessed how to eat this thing - maybe it was minced as a spice and spread on the meat to roast the fat?
These Freljordians have excellent barbecue skills. They can always use all kinds of strange ingredients to perfectly neutralize the lingering fishy smell in the meat of Freljord's wild beasts, and even remove it.
Transformed into some exciting flavor.
"Let's go." After putting away the football-sized amaranth tuber, Ai Xi grabbed a handful of floating snow and wiped his hands, and finally returned to the driving position again, "There should be a resting point ahead. Today
After staying there for a night and recuperating, we will leave Gushuangkou tomorrow!"
That night, in a small mountain col, Lux saw for the first time a plant whose tubers contained oil - yes, when Ash used a knife to cut the amaranth mustard tuber and roasted it slightly on the fire.
After that, thick vegetable oil gurgled out from the V-shaped incision, as if this was not the wild vegetable tuber that Ai Xi had dug out before, but an oil gourd.
The oil inside the amaranth tuber looked like flowing amber, and the smell was quite rich, better than the seeds. Lux stared at Ashe's movements and found that when the oil dripped to the ground, it would move at a speed visible to the naked eye.
It solidified immediately, turning from an amber liquid into a drop of amber.
When this kind of fat is mixed with animal oil, the amber color will quickly dissipate and turn into a slightly bluish transparent color. Ashe is holding on to the hind legs of a wild blue sheep (Lax's prey yesterday)
, after patiently and carefully coating the surface with a layer of water, the leg of lamb looked as crystal clear as if it had been sealed by ice!
If you were in Ionia or Shurima, this dish would be called Crystal Lamb Shank, but this is the Freljord, so its official name is "Sheep Ice Cube."
"This is the ice cube." After Ashe roasted the leg of lamb, she let it cool down a little. When the mixed fat outside looked more like a layer of ice, she handed one to Lacus, "
Mix it with amaranth and mustard oil and bake it, and whatever you bake will be the ice cubes."
Well, the naming method is very Freljordian, and it is also very appropriate. When Lux took the leg of lamb, it did look like a leg of lamb frozen in ice.
"This is the delicacy eaten by heroes before setting off for the battlefield in many legends." Ashe explained to Lux while tearing the leg of lamb, "More often, amaranth will be dug up by the roots and then transplanted to the tribe.
Even if it snows heavily around you, you can still pick off the leaves and eat them."
"So, we may have another battle tomorrow?" Lux pulled off a piece of mutton, "Or are webears?"
"If there is a battle, there is a high probability that it will be." Ai Xi nodded, "So, eat more today."
The next day, Lux and Ashe finally drove the exhausted Jukar out of the north entrance of Gushuang Pass - when the howling wind became quiet, Lux subconsciously looked back towards the Crampon Mountains.
The mountains are towering and the snow-capped peaks are continuous.
……………………
Leaving the Crampon Mountains and heading north, you will find the seaside area of the Ice Sea.
To the east of Gushuangkou, a branch extending from the Iceclaw Mountains extends all the way to the depths of the Sea of Ice, forming a small peninsula. The name of this branch is Ornkar Mountain - Ai
The place where Nozomi grew up.
Due to the existence of the Ornkar Mountains, the breath of Anivia coming from the large glacier in the northwest has been slightly weakened, so the eastern foothills of the Ornkar Mountains are one of the few areas in the North Freljord where the climate is okay.
A good climate means rich resources, and rich resources mean that this is a place that all tribes in the Freljord crave.
In the Northern Freljord, only tribes that are strong enough are qualified to gain a foothold on the eastern foothills of the Ornkar Mountains!
However, when Lux and Ashe walked out of Gushuangkou, followed a winding path eastward over the Ornkar Mountains, and arrived at the eastern foothills, what they saw was deathly silence.
On the hillside, the flowers were blooming, but along the way, there were no tribesmen.
In contrast, they saw many altar-like things on the tops of many small hills - these simple altars were made of animal sinews and bones bound together, covered with animal skins, and then decorated with animal symbols.
From a distance, it looks like a lost person standing on the top of a mountain and embracing the sky.
And it seems that because of these altars, the eastern foothills of Ornkar, which was originally clear and clear in Ashe's impression, have been covered with clouds for several days in a row, and there will be thunder from time to time, which is like thunder but no rain.
"This place has completely become a hunting ground for bear people." After destroying another altar, Ashe couldn't help but sigh, "Those reckless beasts seem to be afraid, and they don't dare to come directly, but we also
Can’t clean all the altars.”
"Rather than being afraid, I think those monsters seem to be brewing some conspiracy." Hearing what Ashe said, Lux snorted softly, "I'm afraid they are on Bearman Island, waiting for us to deliver the goods to our door."
"So do you think we should cross the Sea of Ice somewhere else?" When it came to this topic, Ai Xi was also a little helpless, "Except Bearman Island, the seaside of other places in the Great Glacier is the Wanren Glacier.
Even if you can take me up there, what will happen to our sled?"
"The worst thing you can do is fly a few more times." Lux obviously had her own plan. "I agree that you abide by the traditional trial style, but plunging into the Bear Island like this is not a good choice!"
"Did you find something?" Ashe looked directly into Lux's eyes, "We are companions and should remain honest about the trial."
"It's a conjecture, a very likely conjecture." Lux rubbed her eyebrows, organized her words a little, and explained in terms that Ashe should be able to understand, "From my previous contact with the old god, I judge that
His current condition is not very good."
"That's a good thing." Ai Xi nodded, "And although we couldn't clean out all the altars, we demolished a lot along the way. This should make Him weaker, right?"
"Maybe, I don't know much about this." Lux shrugged, "But in addition to being in a bad state, I also found that he may be in a certain demiplane."
The word demiplane has no corresponding translation in the Freljord, so Lux chose "another little Runeterra" instead.
But this description is a bit abstract for Ashe. She has no idea what Lux is talking about. For this reason, Lux had to give a brief introduction to space magic, mainly plane knowledge.
Ai Xi had a vague concept.
"If we are in Runeterra, I am not afraid of that beast." After explaining the demiplane, Lux returned the topic to Volibear, "But if we are in a certain demiplane, that matter
It's completely different. Think about it, Volibear doesn't need to take any action in that world, the sky and the ground are connected by thousands of thunders..."
According to the appearance of the fire element demiplane that Kalya described to herself, Lux tried to build a place where the thunder and the spirit world overlap. And listening to Lux's words, Ashe finally realized that if in the demiplane
Seeing Volibear in person, I'm afraid that he and Lux wouldn't even have a chance to escape.
"So, can we avoid the demiplane?"
"Unfortunately, we can't." Lux sighed, "Although there are entrances and exits to the demiplane, unless someone specially builds it, there can't be a door there - and look at these altars, if Volibear's
Believers use this thing for ritual magic, and I don't know if they can completely cover the entrance to a demiplane and use it as a trap."
Ash blinked.
Without being awakened by a plane journey, even Ashe would have a hard time imagining what Lux said out of thin air.
However, she quickly changed her mind.
"So, what if it's you?" She looked at Lux, "If it's you, can you hide a small world through the magic of the posture you mentioned?"
"Yes." Without any hesitation, Lux gave an affirmative answer. In order to increase credibility, she even revealed a piece of news that was theoretically a secret, "There is such an entrance near Forsbarrow.
.”
Ash was silent.
If this is the case... then continuing to land on the Great Glacier from Bearman Island sounds like going to die.
She does have to hone herself through trials and prove her survival wisdom to Anivia...but don't forget that making careful choices when facing unknown dangers is also a kind of survival wisdom.
"Okay." With a sigh, Ashe finally gave up the idea of going to Bearman Island. "If we go directly to the Great Glacier, we might have to spend more time and hunt more prey."
"As a food reserve?"
"No, we need to prepare enough leather to make a big raft that can hold this stupid Jukar." After a pause, Ashe added another sentence, "It just so happens that it also needs to keep fat."
In this way, with Lux's persuasion, they reselected their route and decided to land on the Great Glacier from the west.
As for all this, Volibear had no idea about it on the Bear Island - Lux guessed correctly, he was indeed waiting on the Bear Island, waiting for his prey to fall into the trap.