Chapter 103: The Mysterious Phenomenon of the Starry Sky

  Let's just ignore everything that happened on the ice field for now, such as avoiding the wind needle, the dragon clan chasing and killing, etc.

  Three days later, on the eve of the 960th National Day of the Roland Empire's founding.

  Imperial Capital

  This is the largest city on the continent of Roland, and the Grand Canal of Lanzhou in the north has been repeatedly excavated by the emperors of the empire for generations. Originally a moat that only served as a defensive function, it became a river that traversed the eastern and western territories of the empire, with the western border of the empire's northwest Oslia mountain range and the eastern border of the sea, also a dividing line between the south and north of the empire.

  Just before nightfall, the sunset shines on the Grand Canal in the north of the Imperial City, and slowly, the residual glow of the sunset drags on the majestic city wall. The city walls on the north and west sides of the Imperial City are about 20 meters high on average, with the highest city gate reaching 30 meters. This was built hundreds of years ago during the imperial turmoil, that is, the era when the Augustus dynasty rose to power. In order to resist the rebellion of the ethnic minorities in the northwest and the warlords in the north, the empire spent a huge price to strengthen its defense forces on the northwest side. Standing on the 30-meter-high city gate, you can even see the garrison town ten miles away from the Imperial City on the north bank of the Grand Canal.

  Tonight, on the eve of National Day, according to tradition, the President of the Roland Continent Magic Association will be accompanied by the Imperial Court Astrologer on the highest tower in the north to perform divination, gazing at the starry sky, predicting the future fate of the empire... Of course, it is also necessary to invite a few famous scholars to write two articles that are both elegant and ornate to welcome His Majesty Emperor Augustus VI.

  At this moment, under the city gate tower, two teams of royal guards replaced the city guards to guard the city gate tower. On top of the city gate tower, surrounded by countless shining armor of the royal guards, on the highest tall tower, stood several of the most prominent nobles in the imperial capital. Several people dressed in courtly attire were whispering to each other, anxiously waiting for the court astrologer who was observing the stars above - although the result every year was always the same, it was inevitable that some grandiose words would be spoken, just going through the motions, but on each noble's face, a worried expression about the fate of the empire was put on, otherwise, how could they show how much they loved their country?

  The only one who looked somewhat uncomfortable was an old man standing beside the stargazing tower with a indifferent face.

  The old man wore a black long gown made of the rarest golden silkworm silk produced in the southern part of the empire. This golden silkworm is a kind of silkworm that grows in the south of the empire, and its whole body is pure black. The annual output is less than 200 kilograms, making it more expensive than gold on the market, so it's called "golden silkworm". This silk is only for tribute to the palace, and very few can circulate in the market, unless it's a top-level aristocratic family or someone with an extremely prominent status, who has the financial resources to wear clothes made of this silk.

  Although this old man looked extremely old, his hair and beard were still black, especially a pair of eyes that were as dark and bright as the night sky, which was different from the blue and green eyes of most people on the Roland continent, but such strange black eyes added a few more mysterious flavors to the old man.

  About two steps behind the old man stood four or five people of varying heights and weights, all with serious faces, their eyelids lowered, standing quietly behind him. Everyone was wearing a standard white robe for magicians on the mainland, and looking at the magician badges on their chests... these few were actually wearing gold three-leaf clover badges symbolizing high-level magicians! These people were actually all eighth-level or higher magicians

  And on the old man's robe, there was a circle of faint golden edges, just like a flame map, and on his chest, he wore a small gold badge.

  This is an olive leaf, although it's made of gold, but the pattern looks very ancient, under the night sky, shining with a faint luster.

  Across the entire continent, there is only this one badge! And this badge, in the Roland Continent, from a certain perspective, can even be more majestic than His Majesty the Emperor's scepter.

  Roland Continent Magician Guild Chairman, Yago-Dorgen, wearing this expensive golden silk mage robe, wearing the Magician Guild Chairman badge, looked bored at the court astrologer in the observatory tower, who was pretending to be mysterious with his eyes closed, holding a bunch of messy things, muttering to himself, looking up at the sky with those narrowed eyes, chattering and whispering about something unknown.

  From the bottom of his heart, Yago-Dorogen was not impressed with this so-called astrology. He was an orthodox magician, and orthodox magicians had always looked down on two types of professions: one was the magic pharmacist, and as the chairman of the Magician's Guild, Mr. Dorogen had once proposed to expel the pharmacists from the ranks of magicians. The second type was the astrologer. In his view, this idea that by looking at the stars in the sky, one could obtain the will of the gods and predict the future, was all a scam. Only by studying magic, studying the various powers of this world, the forces of nature, could one truly understand the will of the gods.

  The last ray of sunlight finally disappeared, and the sky had completely darkened. In the east, a crescent moon had quietly appeared on the horizon, and as the daylight faded, the stars in the sky gradually revealed their outlines.

  That court astrologer wore a magnificent long gown and continued to tinker with his things with a serious face...

  It was a bit dull for Doug, although no one believed in the divination results, but it was a necessary ritual, and this kind of divination every year was just an opportunity to flatter the emperor. Although Doug disliked such things, he was the chairman of the Magician's Guild and had already put himself in this arena, coming to this occasion and participating in this ritual was a manifestation of respect for imperial power.

  And what's more, the Magician Guild receives a large sum of gold coins as expenses from the royal family every year.

  It's still very cold at night. Unfortunately, in order to show respect for the heavens, these powerful magicians cannot use even a small amount of magic to warm themselves up. The magicians are all quite old, and even Doug himself feels a bit chilly - he even maliciously wonders if this boring ceremony is just a small revenge by the Emperor against the Magician's Guild for not looking favorably on them? Intentionally letting these people stand here and freeze for a night?

  Doug puckered up his mouth and glanced at the underside of the castle walls.

  The temple servants have already been waiting there. According to tradition, the results of divination will be sent separately to the imperial palace and the temple, where the two "Your Majesties" of the Roland continent, one emperor and one pope, will simultaneously offer prayers in the imperial palace and the temple, thanking heaven for its guidance.

  However, this year's situation is somewhat different. The Temple's Council of Elders did not come, and only sent a high-ranking priest under the Pope. In previous years, the Holy Knights' Grand Master, who represented the Temple, did not come either. This year, the Temple only sent an eighth-level Holy Knight to make up the numbers.

  Three senior knights are gone, one defected and two were killed. The news has spread across the continent already. It seems that the Temple is in big trouble now. I heard that all members of the Elder Council have been sent out to hunt down the defected Senior Knight Commander Hussein.

  The Magicians' Guild and the Temple had always been on rather chilly terms, and Doug's heart was secretly a little pleased about it.

  I suppose the Pontiff in the temple is having a terrible time right now? With such a terrible mood, he still has to pretend that nothing's wrong and preside over the grand prayer ceremony... Doug smiled slightly, he didn't even realize that he had laughed out loud.

  According to the rules, no one is allowed to make any noise during this divination ceremony.

  But Doug's identity was placed here, who dared to accuse him? The Emperor's representative. A palace manager just took a careful look at the chairman of the magician's guild and didn't dare speak.

  "If a star were to suddenly fall from the sky right now, that would be quite lively." Doug thought to himself.

  About a hundred years ago in the empire, on the eve of National Day, during an astrological ceremony, something strange happened, and a star as big as a dipper suddenly appeared in the sky, with a loud tail flame cutting through the sky, as if it had fallen towards the horizon! The terrifying scene stunned everyone, and as a result, everyone thought it was an ominous sign. After the astrology ceremony predicted this scene, everyone thought it was a terrible thing. As a result of that incident, this extremely inauspicious omen triggered a riot in the imperial capital, and astrologers believed that it was the arrival of evil spirits to harm the empire's luck. This excuse was used by the bigwigs in the imperial capital as the best excuse to attack their political enemies, and for a time, even the emperor was deeply embroiled in it, watching those powerful nobles argue back and forth, and the emperor killed many people because of this.

  That was a hundred years ago. Now that the temple has had such a big incident, if the starry sky appears again tonight with the same phenomenon as a hundred years ago, will it cause some royal trouble again?

  With malicious speculation, Doug waited boredly for the ceremony to end.

  Finally, at midnight, the astrologer who had been pretending to be mysterious was exhausted as if he had run ten kilometers non-stop. He panted and sat down on the couch, his face covered in sweat, his whole body seemingly weakened. In front of him, a piece of sheepskin paper was filled with the results of his divination, those strange symbols that probably only he could understand.

  "It's done! Thanks to the blessings of the gods, the imperial fortune is prosperous." The exhausted court astrologer rolled up the sheepskin paper and solemnly handed it over to the palace administrator.

  It's hard to put on a show for him every year... President Doug secretly sneered, but still maintained a happy expression on his face as he watched the palace manager bring the parchment to him. The president of the magician's guild was solemn, then drew a few strokes with his hand and cast a permanent preservation spell. This spell could keep the parchment from deteriorating for over a hundred years. And this ridiculous ghost painting would be solemnly preserved in the secret archives of the palace...

  In fact, this permanent fixation technique can be performed by any fifth or sixth level land magician, and it doesn't need Chairman He to do it personally - it's just for show, going through the motions.

  Having finished his last task for tonight, Doug let out a sigh of relief, finally able to head back home. It's really quite chilly up here in this castle tower.

  It seems as if it's destined. This night is unlikely to be peaceful!

  Just as everyone was about to leave, suddenly, a sound like the rumble of summer thunder seemed to come from the horizon. As people looked around in search of the source, they saw on the northeastern edge of the sky, a bright light rapidly expanding, and then a star, its entire body fiery red, with a long tail of flames trailing behind it, like an inverted broom sweeping across the sky, leaving a scar of red fire as if the sky itself had been burned. The star streaked across the sky, falling towards the west...

  Everyone was stunned, staring blankly at this strange phenomenon in the sky...

  After a long time, the palace manager suddenly changed color and revealed a panicked expression on his face. He opened his mouth wide and shouted loudly: "The stars have fallen! The stars have fallen!!! Comet!!!"

  This cry immediately resonated with everyone, just like a stone thrown into the calm water, suddenly, a loud noise, people's voices surged up, and everyone's faces were different, some were shocked, some were thinking, some were secretly delighted, and some were worried...

  In short, everyone has different thoughts in their minds, worrying about the country and the people for this terrible astronomical phenomenon, and some people know that a hundred years ago, secretly thinking that this matter may cause what kind of waves, and even more people start thinking about how to take advantage of this momentum...

  The only ones who remained silent were Mr. Doug, the president of the Magic Guild, and that court astrologer.

  It's different for Doug, who feels a bit absurd and laughable - he is a magician, but doesn't believe that this phenomenon of the stars is some kind of divine guidance. Just now his heart had just risen with such thoughts, and it happened, can't help but feel a bit ridiculous - could it be that he's more suited to being an astrologer?

  And that court astrologer had completely frightened silly!

  A broom star has appeared! This is clearly a very bad omen! Clearly this is a very inauspicious sign! But I had just divined that the country's fortune would flourish, and then this broom star immediately appeared. Isn't this slapping myself in the face?

  Losing face is a small matter, but since this incident has occurred, Your Majesty will be enraged, and I'm afraid I'll be in big trouble.

  With a thud, the court astrologer fell to the ground, but not one person nearby reached out to help him up. Instead, people looked at him with pitiful and sympathetic eyes...

  A hundred years ago when a comet appeared in the sky, the emperor immediately had the imperial astrologer beheaded!

  This guy... looks like another unlucky one.

  It doesn't matter if it's the Broom Star or whatever. Chairman Doug won't bother participating in such a boring thing, so let those royal nobles mess around themselves, the Magician Guild won't get involved in this dispute.

  Thinking of this, President Doug nodded at the already pale-faced palace manager and was about to leave.

  Just then, a man wearing a mage's robe rushed up to the city wall, knocking over several nobles along the way. If it weren't for his high-ranking mage badge and his illustrious reputation in the imperial capital, many people would have recognized him and he would have been stopped by the royal guards long ago.

  The monk rushed to Doug's side and, without regard for etiquette, looked serious and whispered a few words in his ear in front of so many people.

  The original president of the Magic Association was still somewhat dissatisfied, thinking that whispering in public was a very undignified move, but before he could say anything to rebuke him, after hearing the other person's whispered words, his face suddenly changed!

  Doug's body trembled slightly, and the people around him couldn't help but wonder what had caused the leader of the continent's mages to change color?

  "Is he... really dead?" Doug's face was as gloomy as could be: "Are you sure?"

  "It's certain." The magician who had burst in was sweating profusely: "He himself left behind the original stone of his life, which has already shattered..."

  Several people standing nearby heard this last sentence and couldn't help but feel surprised.

  In the Magician's Guild, those high-ranking magicians who have reached a certain level of seniority can receive great honor and even direct assistance from the guild. This is because any powerful magician is a valuable asset to the guild. Unfortunately, all strong individuals are eccentric by nature and prefer freedom and unrestricted movement, often enjoying traveling far and wide. To address this phenomenon, the Magician's Guild uses a "Life Origin Stone". This is a life-marking magic that each great magician will leave their own life mark on the Life Origin Stone, and once the magician passes away, no matter where they are in the world, the Life Origin Stone will shatter, allowing the guild to at least know whether these high-ranking magicians are still alive or not.

  "Is that his?" Yaggo-Dogg, the leader of the Roland continent's land magicians, had a deep gaze flashing in his black eyes, and if one was close enough to him, they could even see that the chairman of the magician's guild was trembling with rage, even his fingers were shaking.

  "It's confirmed." The monk reported in a low voice: "It was the oldest original stone in the storage place... it really shattered."

  After all, he was the chairman of the All-Continent Magicians' Guild, Yagodogg immediately realized that this was not a place to show emotions. He made an effort to calm himself down and quickly gave orders:

  "Go investigate immediately! Find out where he died and how he died. I don't think there's anyone on this continent who can kill him! Good heavens, he's actually dead... We must get to the bottom of this! And that female apprentice he brought to the Magic Guild for assessment all those years ago, that little girl, that stuttering 8th-level magician! We must find her! Ah yes, most importantly, remember this: last month, didn't he take away that young master from the Rolen family's Lantern Fire Bookstore? Find him! Find that young master from the Rolen family! At least we need to know what happened! Why did such a powerful magician die?! Maybe when he died, that young master from the Rolen family was by his side! Go investigate! Go find out!!"

  After finishing speaking, the monk who delivered the message hastily retreated. Yaggo-Dogg struggled to smile at the people around him who were staring in surprise, then let out a sigh: "Nothing, everyone doesn't need to be surprised, it just seems that today is destined to be an unlucky day... The Magician's Guild has lost a legendary great magician! My and the previous chairman of the Magician's Guild shared mentor, the great legendary magician... Gandalf, has passed away."

  The words had barely fallen when the whole room erupted into a commotion.

  Just this night, all the emperors were shocked by that unexpected celestial phenomenon, just as Mr. Jagodzinski was pale with shocking news.

  In the northernmost part of the Roland continent, across the Lancang River, spanning thousands of miles of northern plains, all the way to the vast ice-encrusted forest, in the dense forest, the snow accumulated as thick as a person's knee.

  A group of people were walking with difficulty in the woods.

  Du Wei took Hussein's place and walked at the forefront of the team, opening the way. He held Hussein's long sword in his hand, originally a hundred-refined steel long sword, with terrible cracks all over it, and the blade was full of dense gaps.

  Du Wei's situation was not good, he walked with a limp and his long sword in hand was mostly used as a crutch except for occasionally slashing through the thorns blocking his path.

  Behind Duvie, the Holy Knight Hussein's situation was even more miserable than Duvie's. Hussein had a cloth wrapped around his head, and his left eye was also covered. Underneath the cloth, bright red blood seeped out, staining it. The knight looked extremely weak, gasping for breath, and constantly coughing up blood mixed with saliva from the corner of his mouth. His chest and back were severely injured, and one arm hung limply in front of his chest, making him walk very unsteadily as he struggled to follow behind Duvie.

  And behind them, a beautiful woman who was almost frighteningly so, naturally Her Majesty Queen Medusa. Only Her Majesty Queen Medusa's face was pale to the point of being almost transparent at this moment, her eyes were still closed, and she seemed expressionless, but what was surprising was that she couldn't even walk on her own. Beside her, a giant rat over one meter tall, Gege Witch, was supporting her with great effort, Queen Medusa's body was soft as if it had lost half of its bones, almost half of her weight was pressed onto the poor old mouse prime minister's body.

  But Gigi Wu, heaven pitied him, his whole body of grey fur was almost all charred black, his long rat-like tail was cut off halfway, and even one ear was almost shaved off.

  In this row of people, it seems that only Mr. QQ, the elegant penguin, is intact and unharmed.

  Duvie Hussein, Medusa, Gigi Wu

  In this small team, whether it's a person, snake, mouse or penguin, everyone is hanging their heads in despair, with solemn faces.

  But only one person was missing.

  The old magician, that old undead, is no longer in the team.

  It's extremely difficult to walk in the frozen forest, Du Wei and others, each of them carrying injuries on their bodies. This team, which has several top-notch experts on the continent, is now almost crippled, and even walking in the frozen forest is very strenuous.

  "Canyon! Look! It's a canyon! We've arrived at the territory of the Tree People!" Du Wei, who was walking in front, suddenly shouted loudly.

  In the distance, through the dense forest's gaps, you can see the low mountain peaks stretching out on both sides, it is indeed the valley that was originally occupied by Medusa.

  "Inside, there's a Spring of Eternal Youth that can heal your wounds, Hussein." Du Wei sighed.

  The knight's face was gloomy and he muttered something under his breath.

  He suddenly puffed out his chest and strode past Du Wei with a firm step, though somewhat unsteady, yet with an air of defiance. Du Wei sighed and gazed at the back of Hussein's figure, about to say something.

  The knight suddenly turned around and looked at Du Wei with his only remaining eye: "Remember, one day I will come back to kill! And that is the old dragon's head, to sacrifice that dead but not dead guy!"

  "I agree." Du Wei nodded, his face no longer had a hint of joking tone, his eyes shone with determination: "Although I also don't like that old guy very much, but we will definitely take revenge on the Dragon Clan! Definitely!"

  "Hou Saien's body swayed suddenly, and he finally couldn't stand still. He stretched out his hand to lean against a big tree beside him, and the remaining eye stared at Du Wei: "Listen, that old dragon killed him, so now you and I are the only Aragon bloodline left in this world. I don't care if you're willing or not, we must undertake this mission! Especially you! So, I hope you won't hesitate anymore, the current situation doesn't allow you to have any chance of wavering! If we want to avenge the dragon clan, then you must grow into a strong man like Aragon! Otherwise, neither of us will be a match for that old dragon!"

  So what exactly happened during those three days?

  Years later, Du Wei would occasionally mention to people around him the first adventure of his life, from the ice-sealed forest to the Dragon Clan's Divine Mountain. He mentioned the events of their escape and return, and finally, the hunting game agreed upon with the Dragon Clan's patriarch, after which Du Wei would always harbor a hint of resentment towards this experience.

  "At that time, we had already found a way to deal with the ice plain magic array, but no one expected that the dragon tribe's patriarch, that old dragon, would arrive so quickly! I originally thought that we would leave two days earlier and wait for him to catch up, which would give us at least three days to escape. But unexpectedly... That old dragon arrived too quickly, in less than two and a half days it had already caught up with us...... If not for Gandalf..."

  Alright, let's turn back time between three days again.

  The point: being forgotten in the ice field.

  The time is three days before the 960th National Founding Day of the Roland Empire.

  A terrifying storm swept in, several tornadoes forming a massive and almost frightening storm system that enveloped an entire party of adventurers. The magical array was at risk of being broken through at any moment...

  "An umbrella? Is this an umbrella?" Du Wei looked at what QO was holding in his hand.

  Because, after QO opened it, inside was a long sword with an ancient and simple design!

  On the scabbard were inlaid seven gemstones the size of eyes, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet! The seven-colored gemstones were inlaid on the scabbard, and the hilt was densely covered with strange flower patterns, making it feel very tight and comfortable to hold in hand.

  This sword doesn't know how many years of history it has, but... this is clearly a sword!

  "This is the windbreak needle." I won't remember wrongly.

  Behind him, the old magician stared blankly at the object, and suddenly shouted: "This... this is the Sword of Aragon!"

  "What?" Du Wei turned his head and took a look at the old man.

  "On the scabbard are seven-colored gems, which are actually the magic cores of the seven high-ranking magical beasts that Aragorn killed during his travels across the continent! This is a sword with the most powerful magical enhancements recorded in literature! Moreover, it's extremely sharp and can cut through anything!" The old magician suddenly became excited:

  "This... this is the Sword of Kings! The Sword of Kings left behind by Aragorn!"

  Is it an avoidance needle? Or... the King's Sword?!

  "Alright!" Du Wei bellowed loudly: "No more nonsense! No matter what this thing is, the King's Sword or whatever Wind-Defying Needle! As long as it can protect us from being harmed by this damned storm, that's all that matters! Otherwise, we're done for! Now, QO, quickly tell me how to use this thing! Quickly!"

  "Hurry up!" Du Wei had no patience with this penguin's dawdling.

  "Alright." OQ sighed and told me that the master of Aragon would tell me, as long as his envoy could pull it out from this scabbard...