Chapter 1 Inquiries

When inquiring about the basic situation of the Dragon Empire before, Hao Ren had heard the place name Changfeng Mountains – this was a very short mountain range, located in the southern part of the empire near the Black Pine Forest and the Cliff Sea. The so-called Cliff Sea was a long and narrow sea area connected to the “World Rift,” and also the empire’s natural border. The Changfeng Mountains started from the Cliff Coast, extended a hundred kilometers into the empire's interior, and gradually flattened out, becoming part of the southern hills.

This very short mountain range was inconspicuous within the empire, but it had a considerable reputation because it was one of the most significant dividing lines of the Black Pine Forest. The south side of the mountains was a vast and fertile populated area, while the north side was the boundless Black Pine Forest. The vigorously growing giant trees in the Black Pine Forest extended to the halfway point of the northern foot of the Changfeng Mountains and stopped abruptly at a dividing line called the "Razor's Edge."

Those elves who were obsessed with studying the mysteries of the Black Pine Forest were curious about this, so they mined some stones from the north side of the Changfeng Mountains for research. They found that these stones had the magical power to interfere with the life cycle of the Black Pine Forest. Therefore, they engraved runes on these stones and made special rune bricks – the rune bricks inlaid on Greenway's green barrier came from this source.

But that was hundreds of years ago.

Because the elves mined a large amount of mountain stones to make runes, coupled with the instability of the Black Pine Forest itself, the “Razor's Edge” of the Changfeng Mountains has shifted on a large scale twice in the past few hundred years. This shift has caused the mountain itself to collapse severely several times under the erosion of the Black Pine Forest. The final result was that this mountain range became a natural barrier that was difficult for ordinary people to cross. Even those elves who could walk on the mountains and forests as if they were on flat ground did not dare to set foot there easily. In addition, the Black Pine Forest connected to the northern foot of the Changfeng Mountains belonged to the "Lost Woodlands," which meant that there were no roads in the forest, and ordinary people would get lost if they entered. Therefore, normally no one would try to enter the forest from there, and naturally the imperial legions did not set up any哨所 (gangshao – outposts) there.

In fact, except for those entrances and exits around the Black Pine Forest that have been explored and connected to the forest roads, the imperial legions have always been undefended against this vast forest – except for walking on the forest roads and near the roads, entering the dense forest from other places would only lead to death, so there was no need to defend against it at all.

Therefore, hearing Kaim's words, Hao Ren was quite curious: “Cross the Changfeng Mountains? How did you cross it? Aren’t you afraid of being trapped to death in the Lost Woodlands?"

“For the Broken Sword Knights, the Changfeng Mountains are nothing,” Kaim smiled, “Just walk directly up the mountain, and then jump towards the forest. As for being trapped in the Lost Woodlands... Don’t you know? The Broken Sword Knights will not get lost in the Black Pine Forest."

Hearing this, Hao Ren and the others exchanged glances involuntarily.

“You mean, the Broken Sword Knights can freely travel through the Black Pine Forest, right,” Vivian looked into Kaim's eyes, “That is to say... the paths you are taking here are not the 'forest roads' that ordinary people can see, but the real... roads.”

Kaim nodded slightly, and his eyes changed a little when he looked at Hao Ren and his group again: “I thought you would definitely know about this, after all... you are just like me, able to enter this lost kingdom."

Lilia blinked and looked at Kaim with interest: "So you call this place the Lost Kingdom, interesting... It seems that you are not affected by the various illusions in the Black Pine Forest."

Hao Ren took over the conversation: “We are from a hidden shrine organization and have some special methods to walk freely in the Black Pine Forest, but because we don’t care about worldly affairs, we don’t know much about the outside world, and we don’t know about the Broken Sword Knights. In fact, we heard the name Broken Sword Knights from these friends.”

As he spoke, he pointed to Aivanna and Charlemagne standing next to him.

"World Tree Shrine," Charlemagne nodded, "That's the name of their organization. My sister and I, as well as these soldiers, were rescued by them, so we are traveling together."

"Never heard of it," Kaim shook his head, "But it doesn't matter, there are always some secrets in this world that we don't know, especially when the whole world is divided into two. In any case, you saved my life. Without violating my knight's oath, I will help you as much as possible—if you need help."

Of course, help was needed. The information that a Broken Sword Knight could provide was the greatest help in itself, but Hao Ren didn’t want to say that directly yet, so he changed the subject and asked about Kaim's experience after entering the Black Pine Forest: “Let’s not talk about our affairs. What happened to you and your knight companions? Did you get attacked after entering the Black Pine Forest?"

According to Kaim, he entered the Black Pine Forest with several Broken Sword Knights. After that, they were equivalent to having escaped the pursuit of the imperial legions and the Black Sword Knights. But now he was alone and seriously injured, lying in the ruins of the "Lost Kingdom," and his knight companions were nowhere to be seen. Moreover, only some of the scars on Kaim's armor were left by black steel mechanical swords. The other scars were obviously not caused by swords. All of this indicates one thing: Kaim and his comrades were attacked by something else after entering the Black Pine Forest.

Kaim hesitated after hearing Hao Ren's question, but still said: "We encountered Gorgon demons."

"Gorgon demons?!" Charlemagne was taken aback. "In this Black Pine Forest?"

"Yes, although it is difficult to understand, it is true," Kaim sighed softly, "We originally planned to go directly through the center of the forest and go north, but we suddenly encountered an attack by Gorgon demons when we approached the northern end of the Black Pine Forest, and it was a Lord-level Gorgon—I and my comrades were seriously injured in the sudden attack. In the end, only I survived and escaped, but after returning here, I lost consciousness myself, and when I woke up again... I saw you."

Hao Ren and the others looked at each other. Lily curiously asked Aivanna next to her: "That Gorgon demon... what is it?"

"You don't even know this?" Aivanna blinked in surprise, but still explained, "At the northern end of the world, there is a space channel that spans the World Rift. We call the large area behind that space channel the Gorgon Abyss. The Gorgon Abyss is a broken wasteland burned by flames, with countless broken and twisted giant stones inside, and Gorgon demons are monsters that live in that wasteland. They have bodies cast from steel and rock, covered in thunder and energy flames. Even the lowest-level Gorgon demon has a fighting power surpassing hundreds of soldiers."

"But although the channel of the Gorgon Abyss is open, only some demons will pass through the channel into this world, which is a blessing in misfortune," Charlemagne continued, "In addition, although the entrance and exit of the Gorgon Abyss spans the World Rift, it is not in the center. Most of it is located within the Dragon Empire, and only a small part extends to the White City Federation in the Eastern Hemisphere, so the Dragon Empire bears several times more pressure than we do. On the White City Federation side, Ys established the 'Sentinel Fortress' to monitor the Gorgon Abyss and resist those Gorgons that occasionally run out of the space channel. And on the Dragon Empire side..."

Before Charlemagne could finish speaking, Kaim took the initiative to say: “The fortress complex established by the Northern Legion, and the Broken Sword Knights led by the Princess are also assisting in the garrison. In fact, the final test to become a Broken Sword Knight is to fight a low-level Gorgon demon bare-handed. Only by passing this test can we graduate from probationary knights and obtain the qualification to travel around the country and perform tasks."

Hao Ren nodded slightly, while comparing it with the information scanned by the previous reconnaissance probe. The reconnaissance probe did find an unstable space fault at the northern end of Laerhein, but this planet was covered and transformed by divine power from the inside out. Unstable space faults and special energy bursts were everywhere, so he didn't care, but he didn't expect that the space distortion point in the north of the planet was such a special place.

But mentioning the northern border of the empire, he suddenly remembered something: "Wait, Kaim, you said that the Northern Legion of the Empire is responsible for guarding the Gorgon Abyss, right? Is that the Northern Six Provinces? They have now followed Princess Constance and started an army south, so what about the fortress complex in the north?"

Lily also suddenly reacted: "Could it be that because no one is guarding the fortress complex in the north, the Gorgon demons ran out, and even ran into the Black Pine Forest?"

Hao Ren nodded while listening to Lily's words, and at the same time thought that if this was the case, the sudden rebellion of Princess Constance was really a big pit for everyone. The Northern Legion of the Empire was used to guard the Gorgon Abyss, but now it followed the "rebel army" led by the princess to go south to fight the imperial legions and the Black Sword Knights. So what about the demons running out of the abyss? Let them sweep the world?

No... that princess should not do such a stupid thing.

Sure enough, Kaim immediately shook his head: "The Princess would not be so reckless. She had already considered the defense of the northern fortress complex when mobilizing the Northern Legion. As far as I know, she has used some special means to temporarily stabilize the Gorgon Abyss, at least for one to two years..."

"She can stabilize the Gorgon Abyss?" Charlemagne's expression was like hearing a fantasy, but a Broken Sword Knight said this so confidently that he couldn't help but believe it, "Okay, even if it's true, the Gorgon demon that appeared in the Black Pine Forest... is not a good sign."

Kaim was obviously also very worried about this. He frowned and paced back and forth in place: "That's why I have to go north as soon as possible to find out what happened... But there is a Lord-level Gorgon in the forest going north, and I don't know if there will be more demons lurking in this forest, it's really..."

"Then let's go together," Hao Ren suddenly interrupted Kaim with a smile, "You take us on your originally planned route, and I can also see what the Gorgon demon looks like."

Kaim was taken aback and stared at Hao Ren up and down: "What did you say? You know there are Gorgon demons there, but you want to go 'see'?"

"It can't be helped," Vivian sighed, "Because we happen to be going north too."