The figure holding the giant spear lost his footing and fell to the ground after Fisher’s thrust, and the giant spear, which had slipped from his grip with enormous force, spun in midair a few tis before sticking into the snow. Holding the Fluid Sword, Fisher took advantage of his victory and leapt up the stairs while hugging Dian Dian. Suddenly, the bright sky and landscape abruptly collided with his vision.
Unlike the ruins of broken walls they had seen on their way, the sight outside the staircase was a vast expanse of snow. Although they had just ascended to the highest peak of Sema Snow Mountain, it felt as if they were suddenly at the lowest point...
It was because, in front of Fisher, the mountains shrouded in clouds rose like a canvas folding up from the earth. In the white clouds that concealed and revealed intermittently, they ford a crisscrossing, lively tunnel with no visible end, as if so imnse power had curved the earth into undulations, constantly rotating in front of you like a kaleidoscope.
The dizzy sensation of the earth seemingly twisting made Fisher hesitate for a mont, but he quickly realized that these mountains appeared to be distorted by an invisible force that blurred the original sense of direction, creating a folded, patternless, magnificent landscape, like that of a celestial realm...
"The intruders... Eh, Captain, this man is quite handso. Why not spare him and take him back for ?"
"He’s too small, not quite suitable, and the Elder Council would bla us."
"He’s really quite dashing. I have a craving. Whether he’s small or not is..."
As Fisher was sowhat shocked by the twisted space and mountains before him, the soft conversation of two female voices nearby suddenly interrupted his observation. He turned his head with a stunned expression, only to find that the area around him was now filled with towering creatures, each standing four ters tall.
Now illuminated by the sunlight from outside, these tall figures surrounding them revealed their clear forms. The giant figures wore similar thick garnts, their faces were broadly human-like, but their skin was blue with several natural black lines across their faces, and two long fangs protruded from their mouths. Their long ears were wrapped with so white hair.
Their physique was robust yet did not lack the unique characteristics of won. The contradictory sense of both extres existing simultaneously on their bodies and the way their gazes kept scanning over him made Fisher raise an eyebrow,
"Troll Species?"
"That’s right, they’re Trolls. I’ve only seen them in records, but I didn’t expect to see such a large group today."
Emhardt peered out with just one eye from Fisher’s arms and looked at the surrounding Trolls, his belly flickering with golden light as if recording their appearance.
Valentina, who was on Fisher’s back, heard their conversation and suddenly sat upright, looking coldly at the surrounding Trolls as she said sternly,
"Filthy, watch your mouths!"
"Hm? There’s another one here... A cripple who can’t even climb Snow Mountain, do you even count as a woman?"
One of the Trolls wielding a giant spear slightly bent over and leaned towards Valentina, her blue face and sharp fangs alarmingly close. With each of her breaths, the hot steam hit Valentina’s face directly, but Valentina just stared back motionlessly, unyielding.
Although Fisher’s face was expressionless, his grip on the handle of the Fluid Sword tightened.
In the puzzling gaze of the Troll, Valentina’s pale silver eyes subtly twinkled, as if bursting forth with the dazzling light of a thousand shards of ice,
"Roar!"
Staring into Valentina’s pale silver eyes, the troll’s face suddenly changed, and with a roar, he took several steps back and hid behind another female who seed to be the leader of the group. While he was shockingly gazing at Valentina on Fisher’s back, he leaned into the female troll’s ear and started whispering,
"Hazara Captain, she looks like..."
The funniest part was that the group of female trolls, upon seeing their peer talking with the leader, couldn’t contain their curiosity and all crowded around, even squeezing together to get closer and listen in. This scene left Fisher and Valentina slightly stunned, and, as a result, he montarily lowered his guard from the battle-ready stance.
"Ah? Really?"
"But the elder said..."
"Hey, that woman is that one, but where’s the man, can I have him?"
"Idiot, ignore her, she’s gone crazy with desire because she didn’t marry a Male Demon, and now she’s not even sparing Humans; her strength is really sothing..."
Valentina’s face grew increasingly stiff as she watched the group of trolls chattering and even starting to laugh. She couldn’t hold back anymore and suddenly shouted,
"Enough, will you ever stop? You’ve all grown so big; are you really all such gossips? Stop talking now. We’ve co here from the base of Sema Snow Mountain, seeking the Wutong Tree. Please tell us where to find the decision-maker, I need to discuss matters regarding the last Seal!"
Compared to them, Valentina was quite small in stature, but at that mont, hearing Valentina’s voice made all the female trolls scratch their heads and back away, falling silent and ceaselessly casting glances at their leader. The leading troll looked left and right and realizing no one else would speak, she herself gave a soft cough, planted her giant spear into the ground, stepped forward, bowed her head, and said,
"Respected Phoenix Bloodline, our tribe has worshipped your command and has rooted and propagated here for more than five thousand eight hundred years. Today, we finally witness your return to Wutong... I am, uh, the patrol leader at the tree foot, Hazara, two hundred and seventy-one years of age, I love sleeping with Male Demons and bearing little trolls..."
Another troll behind her gave a soft cough, prompting Hazara, who was already struggling to speak clearly, to glare at her. After a brief one or two seconds, Hazara eventually realized and turned to face Valentina, pointing to the complex and layered mountain range behind them with unclear depths, speaking softly,
"Sorry, Lord Phoenix, these are all teachings from the elders in our tribe; I haven’t morized them very clearly. Whatever you want to ask, you should go ask her in the tribe... Oh, there is one phrase I do rember clearly, the elder told I must say it when I et the Phoenix... uh... let think..."
She touched her head, and despite the cold weather here making her sweat through her thick clothes, attempting to rember these few words almost overwheld her mind. She stared at the giant spear beside her for several seconds before seemingly having an epiphany and said to the small Valentina on Fisher’s back,
"Oh, right, I rember now. The elder said..."
"Esteed Phoenix, welco back to your holand, welco to shelter us under your wings once more."
Valentina opened her mouth, and though she didn’t have wings, she just stared at the circle of trolls bowing their heads in front of her. Behind them, a winding, twisted path stretched out into the distance, as if so power from her bloodline had been awakened by the words of the trolls in front of her, making her suddenly feel an inexplicable connection to both these trolls and to a distant place beyond them.
In fact, Heidlin and Fisher had both ntioned the Phoenix Bloodline in her body before, but she had always considered herself a Human at heart because after all, an identity and awareness forged over more than a decade cannot be changed overnight. However, as Fisher had said, the connection of blood cannot be severed, and, at least now, Valentina’s sense of self had shifted ever so slightly.
Inside her, the Phoenix Bloodline, which should have been extinguished long ago, truly flowed.
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