Chapter 93: The Great Prophecy Technique (Part 1)

  The giant spider was still crawling vigorously, unlike the demonic wolf's mount before. This giant spider looked more like a bulldozer in the snowy forest, and any large tree that blocked its way would be swung by its sturdy arms with scythe-like blades, making a cracking sound to cut down the tree, or it would simply charge forward and immediately create a path.

  This evil spider is accustomed to living in the lower ice layer, and can even drill through hard ice, let alone these trees.

  The old magician was lost in thought, his expression gloomy, standing on the spider's back, and didn't speak again for a long time.

  Finally, it wasn't Du Wei asking questions this time.

  "What happened next? What happened afterwards?"

  The one asking questions was surprisingly the quiet and silent Medusa Queen who had been listening to stories.

  The woman's face was apathetic, but with a hint of curiosity, and she asked in a calm tone: "May I ask, what happened afterwards?"

  Du Wei was slightly surprised and couldn't help but glance at Medusa, who was very calm: "I'm just curious, that's all. Isn't curiosity also a unique human trait? Is this also a part of human nature?"

  "Do you also want to continue listening to the story?" The old magician smiled very strangely: "Intelligent Queen Medusa, with your wisdom, should understand that listening to these stories may not be beneficial for you."

  "I am a born and raised one." Medusa said coldly: "What you say about gods or temples is meaningless to me."

  "Alright then." The old magician chuckled and immediately his tone turned solemn: "Anyway, these were also mentioned in the prophecy, this matter should also have something to do with you."

  The old magician shook his head, adjusted his hat which had been blown awry by the wind, and then pointed to the distance, laughing: "It's here, just ahead. In about another day, we'll be able to leave this forest! From ancient times to the present, there are hardly a few people on the entire continent who can cross the Ice-Sealed Forest and arrive at the northern end of the forest!"

  "As far as I know, the furthest anyone has ever gone into the Ice Forest is a magician named Az from the Imperial City twenty years ago. He brought a group of knights and made it to that canyon we passed through earlier." Du Wei said calmly.

  "Hmm, that's right. It was indeed Az who had the record. That sly little kid." The old magician sneered: "But 200 years ago, I had already crossed the Ice Forest and arrived at the northern edge! And my companion was Saymer, we entered the forest together, crossed the Great Circular Lake, walked through the forest, all the way to here, continuing north, finally reaching our destination... That was the last time I saw Saymer, also the last time she promised to help me!"

  "What's actually at the north of the Frozen Forest?" Du Wei smiled: "Could it be the Prison of Ice?"

  The old magician didn't smile, he looked deeply at Du Wei, then turned around and sat down, rummaging in his bosom for a while before pulling out a piece of sheepskin paper.

  He didn't hastily open the parchment, but instead cast a small windproof spell first, then slowly unfolded the parchment on his knees.

  This is a tattered sheepskin scroll that has been soaked in some unknown preservative liquid and can barely hold together. The edges of the scroll are gnawed with serrated lines as if mice had bitten into it, and on its surface, twisted and curved, are written several lines of strange characters.

  The handwriting is red, bright and vivid. I don't know what kind of ink it is, but after so many years, it hasn't faded at all, which makes Du Wei quite curious.

  It seemed that the old magician had noticed Du Wei's suspicion, and he smiled lightly: "This is written in blood... Aragon himself wrote it with his own blood, carrying a magical mark. Even after a thousand years, it will not fade. This was something I spent a lot of effort on, finding clues in a secret room in the imperial palace of the capital, adding to the sealed and confidential documents from the temple, and finally finding Aragon's last letter before his death in the tomb of a fallen noble family that had declined many years ago..."

  "Fallen minor nobility?" asked Hussein. This knight who was born into a humble family and raised by the temple didn't know much about the imperial royal family: "How could Aragon's will be in the tomb of a fallen minor noble?"

  The old magician gave Du Wei a glance.

  Du Wei sighed, he was a noble who had received aristocratic education, and had been treated coldly since childhood, spending most of his time living alone reading books, the knowledge in his chest was comparable to any famous scholar in the empire.

  He thought for a moment and explained to the knight:

  The Roland Empire was founded nearly a thousand years ago. After the death of Emperor Aragon, who founded the empire a thousand years ago, the throne was passed to his second son. Then, after the second emperor's fourteen-year reign, he died of illness and the throne was again passed to his eldest son... After nearly a thousand years of imperial succession, in fact, by around the four hundredth year of the empire, those who ascended to the throne could no longer be considered direct descendants of Emperor Aragon.

  Around the time of the empire's founding four hundred years ago, Aragon's direct descendants, a short-lived emperor died without leaving behind even one son. The royal Roland family's Aragon line couldn't find an appropriate heir to the throne either.

  The last emperor to inherit the throne was actually no longer a direct descendant of Aragon.

  Descendants of one's younger brother

  Historically speaking, at that time, historians believed that the true direct descendants of Aragon had become extinct. There is a saying in historical books about this event called "The end of the Thorny Flower Dynasty" (the Thorny Flower Dynasty was considered to be the orthodox dynasty held by the direct descendants of Aragon), also known as "The Dried-up Bloodline Era".

  Afterwards, the descendants of Aragon's brothers held the throne. It was called the "Glorious Dynasty", but after about two hundred years, the dynasty began to decline, and then the empire fell into a severe crisis (as mentioned earlier, it was also the era when the Rolin family rose in Duwei). The northwest ethnic groups rebelled, the mainland warlords were divided, although the empire did not truly collapse. However, that crisis almost led to the downfall of the empire.

  Fortunately, at that time, the royal family went through a period of turmoil and emerged with an outstanding emperor who was not a descendant of the Aragon brothers, but claimed to be a descendant of Aragon. In fact, the direct line of Aragon's descendants had already been severed, but during the "era of withered bloodlines", although there were no male members in the Aragon royal family, there were still a few daughters. And this emperor was a descendant of one of the Aragon princesses from that era.

  At that time, the succession was also a fierce struggle. On the one hand, the empire was in crisis and almost on the verge of collapse. The other imperial princes were unwilling to take the throne, thinking it was a volcano mouth.

  Finally, the emperor who succeeded to the throne was actually pushed onto the throne by others, because from the genealogy, he couldn't be considered a true descendant of Aragon at all. It's just that his great-great-grandmother was an Aragonese. Before becoming emperor, he was only a duke of a collateral branch of the imperial family (not even a prince).

  But it was this emperor who was a rare outstanding figure. He promoted the Rolin family with one hand and revived the empire, also making the Rolin family start its brilliance!

  This piece of history is a bit complicated, but the royal bloodline of any empire has always been very large and scattered. Du Wei made a comparison, roughly similar to the Han Dynasty in Chinese history in his previous life: although both Western Han and Eastern Han are considered part of the Han Dynasty, after the fall of the Western Han Dynasty established by Emperor Gaozu of Han Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu of Han Liu Xiu, rebuilt the empire. Strictly speaking, the bloodline has already become very distant from that of the Western Han royal family, and is considered a collateral line.

  The history of the Roland Empire is similar to the alternation between the Western Han and Eastern Han in Chinese history in Duwei's previous life.

  However, the emperor of that Roland Empire seemed to have a strong "Aragon complex", and was apparently an ardent admirer of Aragon. He always claimed to be a descendant of Aragon, even calling his own dynasty the "Thistle Flower Dynasty", although historians do not recognize this. Moreover, after he died, no one called the dynasty he founded by that name anymore, and it is now known as the "Augustinian Dynasty". This was because before the emperor ascended to the throne, his title was "Grand Duke of Augustin".

  It is ironic that the Zhongxing Emperor considered himself a direct descendant of Aragon all his life, but his descendants seemed to think otherwise. In later official historical records, they were recorded with the name "Augustine". For example, the current emperor's public name is: Augustine VI.

  This also explains why Aragorn himself left behind a handwritten letter and why it was found in the tomb of a declining royal noble family. Because the real descendants of Aragorn had already declined hundreds of years ago.

  Afterwards, the royal house could only be considered as descendants of relatives from Aragon, and no longer his own bloodline.

  "To put it simply, from the founding of the empire to the 400th year, the Aragon line held imperial power and was known as the 'Thorn Flower Dynasty'. Then, from the 400th to the 600th year, the Aragon brothers' line held imperial power and became the 'Glorious Dynasty'. And then, from the 600th year to now, it's been the 'Augustin Dynasty', which has an even more distant blood relationship with Aragon. Got it?"

  Du Wei smiled bitterly.

  "Alright, quickly tell us, what did you find in the tomb of that small noble, Aragorn's own will, this sheepskin scroll in your hand?"

  "To be precise, this is a prophecy!" The old magician chuckled to himself, as if intentionally lowering his voice: "You know, Aragorn was almost invincible on the continent back then, everyone knew he was incredibly strong, but what level his actual strength had reached, no one knew. There were even rumors that his strength had almost reached the realm of being a god! Although many people thought this speculation was absurd... I don't think so! I believe it's very possible! His strength has indeed reached the realm of being a god! So... he may have grasped a legendary ability that only gods possess: the Great Prophecy Technique!"