Chapter 1 The Shining Green

Standing on any street in Greenway, even in the deepest, narrowest places, one could see a glimmering green hue by looking up towards the city's boundary near the Black Pine Forest.

That was the enchanted high wall known as the "Greenwood Barrier." Built with the gray-white plagioclase unique to the empire's southern region and inlaid with 30,000 rune-engraved bricks crafted by elven artisans, it was an engineering marvel that protected the city from being swallowed by the forest. It formed a unique and repulsive life cycle, ensuring that the land occupied by Greenway was completely isolated from the Black Pine Forest. Such a spectacle was Greenway's most unique scenery.

Hao Ren and his group, who were visiting for the first time, were naturally drawn to this magnificent high wall, visible from anywhere. Now, listening to Awenna's description of the city and the Black Pine Forest, their curiosity grew even more.

"The Black Pine Forest is one of the greatest mysteries within the Dragon Empire. Even the empire's own scholars cannot explain this vast forest. No one knows when this dense jungle, equivalent to several provinces, was formed. Anyway, it has been entrenched in this land since the empire expanded its territory to the southern region," Awenna said, admiring the scenery outside the car window as she introduced it. "The vitality of this forest baffles even the elves who call themselves children of the jungle. Whether it is logging or burning, the Black Pine Forest can recover within days. Sometimes, when you cut down a large tree, it will even start sprouting and regenerating right before your eyes. And the deeper you go into the forest, the more obvious this abnormal vitality becomes..."

At this point, Awenna paused slightly and pointed to the city buildings in the distance: "You see this city? Greenway. It was originally part of the Black Pine Forest, but because it was located on the edge, its life cycle was weaker. The empire successfully isolated and stabilized it after a great deal of effort. But if you go deeper inside, even the rune-engraved bricks made by the elves cannot stop the forest's erosion and counterattack."

Charlemagne added: "That's why the empire gave up on developing this forest—this forest is like a stubborn dragon, guarding its territory. Humans have spent generations and countless wealth and resources, only to scratch a little ash from its claws. It's simply not worth the loss."

Vivian laughed: "It seems that the emperor, who claims to have the soul of a dragon, would also yield to this dragon of the forest."

On the other side, after hearing such a description, Hao Ren immediately thought of course of the First Born.

Those epic creatures living inside planets would occasionally extend their tentacles to the surface. When they did, they would evolve their tentacles into things like forests or giant trees to disguise themselves. And those plants evolved from the tentacles of the First Born possessed similar super-vitality. The most prominent example was the Twisted Woodlands of Holleta.

But this was La Hire, a place far away from the Land of Dreams. There couldn't be any First Born here—Nolan's planetary scan also confirmed this.

Then the Black Pine Forest's eerie vitality seemed a bit interesting.

"Speaking of which, since the Black Pine Forest's vitality is so strong, why hasn't it covered the entire empire after so many years?" Lily asked curiously, "And I also saw that Greenwood Barrier just now. It only blocked this section of Greenway, right? The forest didn't spread out where there was no barrier."

"That's the second incredible thing about the Black Pine Forest," Awenna said with a slight smile. She seemed very happy to introduce these things to others. If she hadn't been born a princess, she might have been a five-star tour guide. "The Black Pine Forest has extremely strong vitality. If a piece of it is destroyed, it will recover quickly. But other than that, it actually doesn't continue to expand at all—its range is fixed. Regardless of how the climate and geology change over thousands of years, it neither expands nor shrinks. Of course, the few development points that the empire forcibly built on the edge of the forest are the forest's only 'defects', but compared to the entire forest, these defects are insignificant, less than one-thousandth of its total area."

"The so-called forest expansion is actually just a saying among the people of Greenway. The land they occupy originally belonged to this forest," Charlemagne shook his head, seemingly a little disdainful of the locals on this point.

"Neither expands nor shrinks..." Hao Ren stroked his chin, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"I really don't know how you people at the World Tree Temple usually live. You're too isolated from the world. You don't even know about the famous Black Pine Forest," Awenna shook her head and sighed. "When I first heard your name, I thought you were hiding in the Black Pine Forest. After all, the name of your temple seems to have a lot of connections with the legends of the Black Pine Forest."

Lily was immediately piqued with curiosity again: "The legends of the Black Pine Forest? Tell me, tell me..."

"They're all things fabricated by adventurers and third-rate scholars," Charlemagne waved his hand dismissively. Having received orthodox education from the royal family since childhood, he had some understanding of these rumors and legends, but he never bothered to believe them. "The abnormal vitality of this forest cannot be explained by common sense, so many people speculate wildly. One theory is that there is a 'World Spring' in the center of this forest. That spring is the origin of all life in the world, and its power spread out to form the Black Pine Forest. It is said that as long as you drink a mouthful of the World Spring's water, you can live forever—so this legend also has a配套传说, that His Majesty Bolentin is not a Dragon Soul, but became immortal after drinking the water from the World Spring."

"Others legend that there is a temple standing in the Black Pine Forest, called the Temple of Life. The content is similar to the World Spring, but the saying is that you need to pray quietly in the Temple of Life for one night to gain eternal life," Awenna laughed. "But everyone thinks that praying in the temple for one night is more troublesome than drinking a mouthful of spring water, so more people think that the World Spring theory is more reliable."

Hao Ren covered his forehead: "Just based on your last sentence, I don't think either theory is very reliable..."

"Anyway, they're all legends, none of them are believable," Charlemagne snorted lightly. "Although the Black Pine Forest is a bit dangerous, it's not absolutely insurmountable. In fact, after so many generations of effort, the empire has long found several relatively stable paths in the Black Pine Forest. Occasionally, brave adventurers will go to explore the unexplored areas of the Black Pine Forest, and many people come back alive, but no one has ever discovered any Spring of Life or Temple. In addition, there are many airship flights that regularly fly over the Black Pine Forest. From above, you can see the forest at a glance. Where are any temples or springs?"

Hao Ren was previously curious about how his group would pass through that forest since the Black Pine Forest was so miraculous. Hearing Charlemagne mention that there were roads in the forest, he suddenly understood, but then he became a little curious: "There are roads in the forest? Didn't you say that the deeper you go into the forest, the stronger the life force, and the traces left by humans will be erased almost instantly?"

"Those roads were not artificially developed, but originally existed in the forest," Awenna explained. "This is also an unsolved mystery: those roads have very obvious traces of artificial construction, paved with stone slabs, with lights on the side of the road, and even stone houses and other things appear on both sides of some roads, but those were all things that existed before the empire discovered this forest. Some people speculate that those are relics of the previous era, but this speculation is even less reliable than the Spring of Life theory... and there is no way to explain why those roads are not swallowed by the forest..."

Hao Ren couldn't help but exchange a glance with Vivian.

This statement... may be the most reliable one.

"The story about the Black Pine Forest is endless," Charlemagne noticed that the convoy was approaching the Greenwood Barrier, so he prepared to end the topic. "There are many forks in the Black Pine Forest. I have planned the best route to the north. If you are really so curious about that forest, then wait until you go inside and see it with your own eyes."

Although Greenway was a wonderful city worth visiting, the group obviously didn't have much time to stay here. The convoy went straight through the central avenue of the city and headed directly to the northern exit after completing the formalities.

In this direction, the magnificent Greenwood Barrier blocked the forest out, and at the bottom of the giant wall were twelve magnificent gates. These gates had a distinctive elven style, and the towering and elegant doors were engraved with the glorious deeds of the elven artisans and humans working together to build this miraculous city—now, the city's first human pioneers had long been dead for many years, but the elves who had inscribed the "Oath on the Gate" were still working for the city. Their main task was to monitor the changes in the Black Pine Forest on the other side of the wall, and to jointly guard these gates with human soldiers.

Elves with a thousand years of life are very loyal to their duties.

These elegant creatures with pointed ears are distributed all over the world, and it is said that they once established a strong dynasty, but now the ancient elven empire has become a legend. Apart from a few small kingdoms that continue to hide in the forests and live in seclusion, most elves have long been integrated into various human countries. The elves of the Dragon Empire are the most thoroughly integrated. Perhaps because this country has an immortal emperor, who can understand the various thoughts and living habits of the longer-lived elves, the elves in the Dragon Empire are doing pretty well.

There were very few people waiting in line to enter the Black Pine Forest in front of the gate. Even only three of the twelve gates were opened. It seemed that although the Black Pine Forest had abundant resources, the mystery and danger of the forest itself still made many people hesitate.

Basically, there are only three types of people who dare to enter the forest: The first type is the locals of Greenway, who are familiar with the edge of the forest and rely on mining minerals or rare herbs in certain fixed areas for a living; The second type is skilled adventurers, who will go a little deeper, along the existing roads in the Black Pine Forest to find those beast dens and monster haunts. They will not leave the forest roads 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 type is travelers or caravans, who plan to take a shortcut through the forest roads to the north or west. The main reason for doing this is to save on the high airship ticket prices. After all, unless you are unlucky enough to encounter a monster migration, it is relatively safe to travel along the forest roads.

Hao Ren and his group, disguised as a caravan, 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 wearing black light armor standing in front of the gate, as well as elven rangers wearing green ranger coats. But the most eye-catching among the gate guards were the Black Knight swordsmen wearing heavy armor and black mechanical swords around their waists.

After all, it was an important town in the south, so it was expected that the Black Knight swordsmen would personally serve as gatekeepers.

There wouldn't be too many guards boarding the car for inspection. If they encountered trouble, they could let Leah use the same trick again to let the soldiers pass. So Hao Ren didn't feel any tension, just peered out the window curiously looking at the scenery on the street outside.

His sight was suddenly attracted by several imperial officials who were hurrying by.

Those imperial officials were walking past the sentry post in the distance. Their attire suggested they were military officers, and judging from the respectful greetings from the nearby soldiers, their identities should not be low.

These usually steady and proud imperial officers now looked worried, and were discussing something fiercely as they hurried past the sentry post, as if an emergency had occurred. Seeing this situation, Hao Ren couldn't help but concentrate his attention and try to hear their conversation clearly.

But just as he was about to do so, Lily, who was sitting further back in the carriage, had already casually repeated the sounds she heard: "The Black Knight swordsmen sent to Gray Mountain City have all lost contact... Earl Nehm refuses to respond to the conscription orders from the imperial capital... It can be confirmed that Gray Mountain City's position is on Princess Constance's side... The signal of war... that's about it."

Charlemagne and Awenna looked at Lily in surprise, not knowing what she meant by suddenly saying these things: they had neither noticed those imperial officials outside, nor could they have heard the low voices talking in the distance.

"It seems that the civil war has finally spread to the southern region," Hao Ren explained in a low voice, "Lily heard the conversation of those imperial officers over there. Just as you predicted, Earl Nehm of Gray Mountain City supports Princess Constance—he may have even killed the Black Knight swordsmen who went to Gray Mountain City to negotiate."

"Hiss—" Charlemagne immediately gasped subconsciously. He didn't expect the situation to change so quickly, and his next action was to look at the Greenwood Gate, which was already close at hand: the convoy had already begun to be inspected, and in just a minute or two, the three covered wagons would be able to pass through this gate and enter the Black Pine Forest.

But his heart suddenly palpitated. That gate, which was already close at hand, seemed to be moving away from him. He felt that some kind of crisis had quietly arrived, and this journey, which had been smooth so far, seemed to be about to lose control.

Hao Ren also noticed the prince's change, and his intuition was much stronger and more accurate than Charlemagne's, who was just a pure mortal. A cold feeling made him immediately pull open the rear cover of the carriage and look in the direction they had come from.

A team of Black Knight swordsmen in black armor were galloping towards them.

The imperial soldiers guarding the Greenwood Gate had already inspected this covered wagon. Accompanied by two soldiers, a tall Black Knight swordsman walked into the carriage, two cold eyes gleaming under that black mask, scanning everything inside the carriage.

The people near the gate—including soldiers and civilians waiting to pass through—couldn't help but turn their eyes to this seemingly unremarkable small caravan. More precisely, their eyes were attracted by the ten Black Knight swordsmen galloping towards them, and they noticed the target of those ten knights at first glance.

One of the knights galloping towards them straightened up, two red lights gleaming under his mask. He suddenly drew the black mechanical sword around his waist. The blade radiated enough heat to melt steel in the high-speed vibration. A low, hoarse roar came from inside the helmet: "Stop those three cars! Everyone inside the cars, kill them all!"

Inside the covered wagon, the Black Knight swordsman who was performing the inspection suddenly stopped. Then, the eye sockets on his mask seemed to burn, lighting up with red light, and a strong sense of hostility and murderous intent suddenly spread out.

Lia, who had been half-asleep with her eyes narrowed, suddenly opened her eyes and stared intently at the two red lights on the knight's mask: "Let them pass!"

The Black Knight swordsman in the carriage trembled violently. He tried to resist this sudden and overwhelming force with his willpower, but after less than a second of resistance, he still made a dying, struggling sound from under his mask: "Let them pass..."

The soldiers standing next to the knight had already noticed something was wrong and immediately questioned: "Lord?"

The roar coming from outside the car became clearer: "...Everyone inside the cars, kill them all!"

After hearing this sound, the Black Knight swordsman, who was struggling under Lia's control, seemed to gain endless mental strength. After a convulsive and violent tremor, he actually forcibly pressed the hand that had already been lowered back onto the mechanical sword around his waist. With a whirring sound as the magic-guided mechanism was activated, he suddenly drew his sword and roared hoarsely as he pounced on Hao Ren and his group: "Execute... the order!!"

The two imperial soldiers who had entered the carriage reacted in less than half a second. After the knight launched his attack, they immediately raised their weapons and rushed over with a roar!

Charlemagne stood in front of Awenna with one hand, and had already gripped the sword around his waist with the other hand: "Back, I..."

Everything happened in a flash. Facing the sudden loss of control, Lia could only let out a soft sigh: "Alas..."

In the sigh, all the weapons pointing at her—including that black mechanical sword and two imperial standard longswords—silently turned to ashes.

The Black Knight swordsman fell straight down. One of the two imperial soldiers was blasted out of the carriage by a lightning ball thrown by Vivian, and the other was pounced on by Lily, who broke several bones and threw him out of the car.

Hao Ren patted the rear guard plate of the carriage: "Charge through!"