North of Fenghua Town, in front of the city gate.
The bustling city gate in the past has now become much deserted. In addition to the fact that the newcomers from Greenstone Village have gradually matured and left the small town that took them on their journey, there is another very important reason, that is, because the city The guards from the capital of the principality standing at the door have strictly guarded all the gates of Fenghua Town, including this gate.
Due to reasons well known to everyone, Fenghua Town has entered a temporary state of martial law.
The town's city guard has been temporarily banned, citing "many improper actions", and many of the town hall officials have been stripped of their hats and temporarily isolated in several different locations. Many Fenghua Town residents who have never seen the world will hide in the corners of those places every day, looking at some "noble officials" from the capital of the principality wearing top hats and gorgeous clothes, holding a pile of documents in their hands every day , going in and out of the places where the members of the original town hall of Fenghua Town "lived", seemed to have been asking about something.
However, some of their more famous townspeople have organized a team to protest to the investigation team from the principal's high-level officials. The specific content of the protest is unknown, but they are now almost always stationed on Huawu Street. While discussing with each other every day what to do, they are also harassed by numerous adventurers - in the eyes of players, these people are already one of the most accessible sources of quests in this situation, but they can The players who snatched tasks that have an impact on the future of Fenghua Town from them are basically the forces of large guilds with key members here, such as some guilds that were originally hidden here but lacked strength, and those like Red Most of the local gangsters like Hun, who were originally local gangsters in Fenghua Town, have now moved to the guilds in the capital, and are now unable to snatch and complete these tasks that will change the future of Fenghua Town. As time went by, some of the newcomers who stayed here were lost, and more old players were sent over. However, it was still a bit difficult for them to enter the city, because the entrance and exit of the city gate had been taken over by the guards from the capital of the principality. , each time needs to go through strict inspection to pass.
In the past few days, not only the aborigines from various parts of the principality, but also players from various parts of the principality, and even players from all parts of the world have learned about what happened in Fenghua Town through various channels. In addition to those who are interested and related to the forces, Most players have gradually begun to develop a strong interest in this place where such strange stories happened. Some of them who are relatively close also came to this place, wanting to enjoy the beautiful scenery and scenery of this small town. its future. However, players who recently came to this town discovered a more beautiful landscape in the direction of the city gate in the north - a female player, standing quietly on the road not far from the city gate every day, as if she was waiting for something.
The main reason why it is called a beautiful landscape is because of the woman's dress and attire: short black hair, a blue and white maid uniform, a pair of women's unique black pointed shoes, and ruddy On her round face, those slender eyes were tightly closed every day with her calm smile, as if she was permanently smiling at the road leading to the north of the principality. Every morning, players and passers-by can see the woman holding her hairband, clasping her hands in front of her belly, waiting quietly facing the north of the road, unaware of it until night falls. Players with nefarious intentions have even come forward to strike up a conversation, but in addition to curious and appreciative looks, all they received were warnings from the official guards of the principality to "not cause trouble."
Today is the third day that this maid has stood here waiting.
The far end of the road gradually disappears into the horizon as it continues to bend, and the passing vehicles and people also continue to disappear and appear at the far end. Some are still dressed as novices, and some look like they are from somewhere else. Some of the veterans who came here even brought their own horses. Just like the four or five galloping horses that passed here nearly a month ago, they were transportation tools that the players tried their best to get from the NPCs. This kind of thing can prove a certain player's strength and identity to a certain extent, so players usually keep a respectful distance towards people holding horses in the crowd, but the aborigines of the Free Continent may There are differences. For example, the guards guarding the city often check people like them with more vigilance.
On the far side of the road, a man leading a horse appeared again, appearing in the sight of the Fenghua Town gate as usual. It seemed to be a female swordsman with long flowing blue hair. Judging from her clothing and equipment, it seemed that she was the same as usual. She was a person who should not be underestimated. The principal guards guarding the city came early. They focused their attention on the woman who was walking slowly towards this side, but to their surprise, that person was stopped early by other people.
"Long time no see, Miss Lou." The blue and white maid figure walked up to her: "How have you been recently?"
"It's you." The female swordsman looked up at the name above her head. After a while, she nodded with some sigh: "You actually..."
"Alive?"
The ID on the maid's head reads: Code Word Ninglan.
"Service is my duty." The maid's voice was very pleasant, but at this time it showed a little calmness: "So after hearing the news, Ninglan rushed here as soon as possible."
"Hmph." To everyone's surprise, the blue-haired female swordsman pressed her sword with one hand and looked at the other party with cold eyes: "You are still looking for me so actively?"
"Ninglan has never had the idea of giving up." The maid player in the special dress put her hands forward and saluted without realizing it, and then looked at the other person with her big eyes: "So... please don't I continue to misunderstand Ninglan.”
The female swordsman frowned and said nothing. She looked around at the crowd of onlookers who seemed to be growing in number nearby, and wanted to leave the place impatiently: "Forget it, since he is still here, I won't pursue it. Wherever he is, I want to see him.”
"This is exactly what Ninglan wants to tell you." The maid bowed her head again and said, "He... seems to have left this place."
"What?" the female swordsman asked in surprise: "Left? When?"
"Ninglan doesn't know either." The maid tilted her head and smiled cutely again: "When Ninglan arrived here, the master... he had already left, and Ninglan seemed to have not caught up. "
"Where did he go?"
"Ninglan has also investigated. It is said... that he seems to have gone to Tania."
"You didn't lie?" The female swordsman looked at the other party with suspicion: "It's not...that person wants to use this reason to let me leave, right?"
"Ninglan knows you will think so, so..." The maid's tall figure lowered her head again: "If you don't believe it, Ninglan will accompany you..."
"Go to the city and take another look."
***************
Just when the two women were planning to enter Fenghua Town and conduct a comprehensive investigation of the town, the person they were looking for was hanging on the cliff of Falling Star Mountain, rippling in the wind with the biting wind and snow.
He grabbed a protruding rock with all his strength, opened his eyes hard, looked in the direction to his right, and then at a certain moment let out a dull cry.
"Hey-hey!"
He jumped over, grabbed another small sunken hole buried in the ice and snow, and steadied himself again.
"Hey!" Nan Tieshan's loud voice came from his left hand in the snow and wind: "Is there anything?"
"No!" Duan Qing gritted his teeth and said loudly: "If you don't want to come... just stay there honestly!"
The process of advancing along the "mountain road" that may not exist is not smooth, but since Duan Qing started climbing, he has never thought about going back. This is not only driven by his determination to move forward, but also because of his determination to move forward. Because he did find many abnormal traces during the climb.
For example, the small hole in the cliff that he is currently holding in his hands.
"I have opened a way for you!" Duan Qing shouted in the direction he came from: "Climb over those small holes...you will find it!"
He rubbed his hand hard around the small hole for a while, then groped around to make sure there was nothing strange before he continued to look for the next place to stay.
The cliffs here seem to have gone through a long period of time, and the small holes in the walls have been blocked by snow. Regardless of the snow blocks that have been frozen hard inside, they are just blocked by snow. The color after application makes it difficult for people to detect the existence of these small holes in the wind and snow, not to mention that if people want to use force to scratch on them, they still need to use their hands to overcome the obstacles of those cold snow blocks. Fortunately, Duan Qing can still overcome this difficulty. The more troublesome thing now is that these small holes are not easy to find.
So he felt that he had found so many small holes for his companions behind him, and if they didn't come through... he would really be sorry for the path he had pointed out.
Once again, he found a new small hole. Duan Qing touched it carefully, then cleaned up the snow inside, retracted his aching hand, and suddenly turned around and looked behind him - Po Kong The sound was coming from there, it seemed to be the sound of something flying in the air.
Then, intermittent urging sounds traveled along the wind and snow to Duan Qing's ears.
"...Don't be afraid...young man...dare to fight..."
"Ahhhh..."
"You...in front, I'm walking..."
"Because...just in case..."
I don’t know what you are doing... Duan Qing shook his head, and then continued to grope forward with his right hand - in front of him, the cliff had begun to turn along a certain arc, so from his angle, It was also difficult for him to see what the situation was like in front of the cliff. Without protective measures, all movements of stretching the body forward may bring danger to oneself. Although adventurers in this world are not afraid of death, if they fall like this, they want to find their way back. The place has really become a long march.
In order to maintain the results of his adventure, Duan Qing had to continue moving forward - he fumbled back and forth about the situation ahead, and then... pulled out his dagger and suddenly jumped into the air ahead. .
There was a harsh friction sound in the wind and snow, which was the sound of a dagger being inserted into a crack in the stone.
"What are you doing?"
"...You actually caught up?"
Duan Qing, who was holding the hilt of the sword in one hand and hanging in the air, looked at the direction in which he came. There, the black cloak had been tied around his waist by the woman, and the hood had been taken off. The woman's hands were on a certain small hole, her feet were staring at the cliff below, and she was looking at herself with a faint smile and tilted her head.
The long black hair was flying in the air, flying randomly along with the wind and snow.
"Anywhere you can crawl over, of course I can crawl over too." The woman's cold voice followed the wind and echoed very clearly in Duan Qing's ears: "Unless you used some cheating method."
"That makes sense...but the credit still belongs to me."
"It's up to you." The woman looked around and said, "I have no intention of arguing with you."
"Really?" Duan Qing laughed in mid-air, but judging from his situation, there seemed to be nothing worth celebrating here: "But maybe that's the end of it. According to what I just checked, Look, there seems to be no place to stay on this stretch of road..."
"So you...do it this way?"
"Isn't it great?" The man laughed heartily: "As long as we can get around this detour..."
"You can reach the place ahead."
"What's ahead...?"
"Of course...it's the New World I'm talking about." Duan Qing lowered his head: "What a pity for my dagger..."
"...You want to give up your weapon?"
"Of course, otherwise how would you come here? The cliffs here are extremely smooth. I can't let you leave your Holy Light Sword here, right?"
"Don't you have any other weapons?"
"There is also a black one-handed sword, but... that thing should be worth much more than the one I have now, so..."
"Wait a moment."
The woman suddenly stopped Duan Qing from speaking. She lowered her head, as if she was silently brewing something. The next moment, golden light suddenly lit up from around her, and then went out again in the blink of an eye.
But the effect that followed was astonishing.
Amidst the deafening friction sound, a neat sword mark appeared from her position, and then extended straight out along the arc of the cliff, following the golden light that had flown out to an unknown distance. Due to the arc of the cliff, the sword mark gradually deepened at the bend, and then gradually became shallower again along the straight direction of the sword mark, and finally disappeared on the cliff on the other side of the arc. The rustling stone chips fell toward the bottom of the cliff accompanied by the wind and snow, and at the same time hit Duan Qingduo in the face.
"Pfft...are you going to kill me?" The man in the air took a deep breath, and then yelled at his back: "I almost let go!"
"You didn't seem to behave like this when you jumped just now, did you?" Slowly retracting her long sword, the woman said narrowly: "It's better now..."
"Young adventurer, continue to develop your adventurous spirit along this new path."
She pointed at the deep sword mark on Duan Qing's head: "If you are not satisfied, I can make two new marks."
