Chapter 575 – Forbidden Land
After the group arrived at the Dining Hall, Zhao Hai discovered that although there were still people in the hall, it wasn't as many as yesterday. Moreover, the hall before had young Dwarves in it, but this time, only old ones were present.
After Billy introduced them, Zhao Hai understood that they were the elders of the race. Zhao Hai didn't dare neglect their presence, so he immediately gave them a salute.
The other elders were also very polite to Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai, Billy, and the others were sitting on one table. On the other hand, Laura and the others sat on the another table along with similar aged Dwarves.
This Dwarf custom of also inviting the companions of a guests to a dinner was something that Zhao Hai liked very much.
While the group sat down and ate, the elders kept urging Zhao Hai to drink. However, Zhao Hai didn't want to, drinking during the day was something that he doesn't do. But since he was been given hospitality, he couldn't help but drink a few glasses.
Juno has been watching Zhao Hai getting along with the Dwarf elders. Although Zhao Hai had given the Dwarves a huge favor, there was no change in Zhao Hai's temperament. He was still very respectful to the elders, just like how he acted before. It was as if nothing happened.
This made Juno settle on Zhao Hai. There were very few people on the continent that were like Zhao Hai. One must know that the Dwarves were viewed by other Humans as a different type of people. Because of this, every time a Human interacts with a Dwarf, they would always fish for huge benefits from them. At the same time, Humans were also looking down on the Dwarves. [1] Therefore, general Humans, even if they benefited from the Dwarves, wouldn't act the same as what Zhao Hai was doing.
After eating their meal, Zhao Hai didn't go to the Forbidden Lands along with Billy immediately. He first returned to his room and drank one cup of Spatial Water to sober himself up. Only after that did he come out of his room.
Billy and Juno were currently sitting inside Billy's cave. When a Dwarf led Zhao Hai to the cave, the two who were chatting immediately stood up.
Zhao Hai quickly asked the two to sit down, then he bitterly smiled and said, "I'll be frank to you two, my alcohol capacity is too limited. Since I drank some glasses, I needed to return to my room to drink something in order to sober up.
Drinks for sobering up was quite common in the continent, especially to the Nobles. Offering and receiving hospitality in the Human lands also involved some sort of drinking. Since being drunk is uncomfortable, the people in the continent asked some potion masters to make them something that can sober them up.
Billy didn't care about it, he just smiled faintly and said, "it's no big deal. We Dwarves are already used to it. Haha. Mister, let's head to the Forbidden Land."
Zhao Hai nodded and said, "Alright."
Billy nodded, and then he stood up, Juno stood up as well. It seems like he intended to come along with Zhao Hai. Seeing Billy's expression, it seems like there was no problem. This was understandable, after all, Juno was an extremely trustworthy person, and he already knew quite a bit about this matter. Even if one doesn't tell him anything, he would still know of it sooner or later. As the matter stands, it's much better to just tell Juno everything in order to not lose his trust.
Billy led Zhao Hai and the others out of the cave and then walked towards another underground river channel. They sat on a boat and then proceeded to travel along the Iron Mountains.
The Dwarves' Iron Mountains was quite big, but the Dwarves were smart. As soon as they discovered this underground river system, the immediately utilized it to be their transportation channel. When they came to know that this underground system spanned the entirety of the mountains, it became an important line for the entire Dwarf race, which made their travel much more convenient.
The speed of their boat was very fast. After two hours, the group disembarked on a pier. This pier was quite empty and wasn't as busy as the others. There weren't any other ships present here at all. After Billy got of the boat, he had a Dwarf wait for them here and went towards the area where the pier was connected to.
The mountain that the pier was located in was just like any other Dwarf Mountain. It seems like this was where the Forbidden Land was, otherwise, there wouldn't be much absence of Dwarves here.
Zhao Hai was now very amazed at these Dwarves. The map of the Dwarf Mountains were now almost mapped out in the Space. Seeing the display made Zhao Hai feel how extraordinary this race was.
With how long the Dwarves have lived in these mountains, the mountains seemed to become their own underground world. The underground water system looks like an enormous spider web, connecting Dwarves from various mountains together. How much work was needed to do this? Yet the Dwarves were able to accomplish this task, it was unfathomable.
The people came out of the mountain and was placed outside a small canyon outside the mountain. The Dwarves has built some fences made of wood around this canyon. It seems like they didn't want people to go and enter the canyon.
Zhao Hai investigated the canyon. It wasn't very big, about a thousand square meters. The middle of this canyon was a several square meter pool. But the water in this pool was actually blood. Moreover, this canyon didn't have any plants, the stones in this canyon seemed to turn reddish due to the pool's liquid.
Whether it was Zhao Hai or Juno, both of them felt a massive pressure coming from the pool. Zhao Hai even felt that this pressure was something much stronger than Iron Hammer's.
Billy stood at the mouth of the mountain's cave and stared at the canyon before he sighed and said, "I didn't know when this mountain canyon has started to exist. When we Dwarves came here, this place already existed. We immediately named it as a Forbidden Place not just because of the blood pool, but also because of those red stones. Once someone touched those stones, their bodies would turn violent before they died. We also intended to study this place, but our findings always turn out nothing."
After introducing the place, Billy turned to Zhao Hai and said, "Mister, I'll be clear to you. We've dug the places around this canyon and found that there are large volumes of high yield iron ore present here. It's enough for our race to use for centuries. But because of this place, we didn't dare to exploit that resource."
Zhao Hai stared, he didn't think that the blood of a God-ranked expert would have such a huge energy. Even the stones cannot be touched. Zhao Hai immediately said, "Good, good, this is very good."
Zhao Hai opened the wooden fence and then walked towards the canyon. Billy also followed behind him and said after a while, "Mister, as long as you don't touch those stones directly, you will be alright. However, the pool isn't good. Even if you wore gloves, you would still perish. I ask mister to be very careful."
Zhao Hai nodded, he stood at the canyon and then looked around. The position that he was standing in right now was something like a cut-off point. If one proceeded for one step, they would be stepping on red stone. But as long as his skin doesn't touch it, he would be alright.
Zhao Hai took a deep breath, and then with an intention, he absorbed the land in front of him into the Space, including the stones. He made a margin in his action, just in case the stone can influence those around him, so he also dug up about a meter deep.
Since the canyon was almost composed of Iron Ore, he didn't dare to dig any deeper. Upon seeing that there were no traces of red stones on the ground, Zhao Hai nodded in satisfaction.
On the other hand, Billy and Juno were staring at Zhao Hai with shock. They didn't think that Zhao Hai would be able to do this. Both of them had seen the big world, and they both arrived at the same conclusion, Space-related Divergent Ability!
Divergent Abilities were already very strange things in the continent. But there was one kind of ability that was very difficult to ponder over, and those were Space Divergent Abilities. It wasn't only because this type of ability was very rare, it was also because this ability was far too different from the other abilities, people weren't able to research it.
Sharing this fame with Space Divergent Abilities were Space Magics. Although Space Magic had its own systematic method of practice, people with aptitude for it was extremely rare. Therefore, both Space Divergent Techniques and Space Magic were very mysterious to the people in the continent.
Zhao Hai's method was naturally due to a Space Divergent Ability, this was because Space magic would need incantations in order to use it. Even an 8th rank Space Mage would need to mutter incantations in order to cast a spell.
Billy and Juno looked at each other and saw the shock from the other's eyes. On the other hand, Zhao Hai didn't pay attention to the reaction of the two. In fact, he had the ability to absorb the entire canyon in one go. But since he didn't want a huge reaction from the two, he decided to do it by parts.
After absorbing a part, he took a few steps before he waved his hand and took another piece from the canyon. He did this action for quite some time.
After absorbing land for a few dozen times, Zhao Hai finally arrived at the blood pool. Zhao Hai inspected the pool, it wasn't very big, moreover, it wasn't deep either. However, it still gave people a very strong pressure. Zhao Hai took a breath and then waved his hand, making a Spatial Rift appear. The pool, as well as the ground it was in, was sucked in. Zhao Hai was taking his time with the pool, he even absorbed the ground two meters beneath it. But even with this, Zhao Hai can still see red stones on the pool's floor. After digging for another meter, Zhao Hai can no longer see any of them.
In the end, Zhao Hai had absorbed the pool as well as the canyon's walls. The current canyon was much different than it was before. Zhao Hai seemed to clean the valley up. There were no red stones that can be seen anymore.
Literally and figurativelyChapter 576 – Suspicion
After Zhao Hai completed everything, he finally relaxed. Although he hasn't heard a prompt from the Space, he also knew that this was because he placed the things inside the warehouse. As long as he released them in the Space, a prompt should be heard.
However, Zhao Hai wasn't prepared to do it this time. When the Space detects these things, the prompts would be extremely disturbing. Therefore, Zhao Hai plans to take them to the Space this evening.
Zhao Hai was given a scare when he turned around. Billy and Juno were looking at him as though they were looking at a monster. Zhao Hai recovered and smiled bitterly and said, "Did the two of you guess it?"
Billy and Juno nodded simultaneously. Zhao Hai forced a smile and then said, "Don't worry, I'm not afraid of the two of you knowing. As you have guessed, that was my Space Divergent Ability. But this ability is strange as it doesn't have any attack power. It can only be used like Space equipments, so I didn't bother to tell anyone about it."
Billy and Juno nodded, they didn't hold even a trace of suspicion to Zhao Hai's words. They only knew that most offensive attacks didn't belong to the Space element. If Zhao Hai can use his Space to attack, he would certainly be able to contend against 9th rank experts. In that case, his fame should have been larger than what he had right now.
But Billy and Juno knew that even if Zhao Hai cannot use his Space to attack, he still held a huge advantage compared to the others. However, the two didn't care about any of these. They were now Zhao Hai's friends, it was much better for them if Zhao Hai was stronger.
Billy laughed and said, "Mister can rest assured. Apart from the two of us, nobody would be hearing about this matter. As for this old guy, you don't have to worry a lot about him. He's already this old, so he knows what he should and shouldn't say. For him, having you as a friend is much better than being your enemy. At the same time, Mister has helped us with cleaning this place up. Now, we can mine this huge lode of iron."
Zhao Hai bitterly smiled. For the Dwarves, acquiring new mineral loads was the most important thing. This has become a core principle of the entire race.
Juno also smiled bitterly, Billy said that he was old and experienced. Although it was true, age wasn't really an important factor. In any race, Patriarchs would surely not be simple characters. Otherwise, the current existing races wouldn't have survived.
The three inspected the valley, and when they did not spot any red stones, they left. All this time, the smile on Billy's face was unbroken, Zhao Hai had surely given them a huge hand in eliminating this scourge.
The three returned to Billy's place and after having sat down, Billy turned to Zhao Hai and said, "Mister, get us some good liquors. Today is a very happy day, we need to share a cup of two together."
Juno laughed and said, "You old drunkard, you really are quite shameless when it comes to drinking. Do you really think that Mister Zhao Hai would provide you liquor just like that? Right, since we arrived at this matter, how big is mister's Space? Why do I feel like you have never been on full capacity before?"
Zhao Hai forced a smile and said, "You're quite right, my Space is very big, I really don't know its full capacity. I only know that I can store a lot of things inside. Moreover, I can also carry out some Teleportations. Aside from that, then there's nothing else."
Juno and Billy almost simultaneously asked, "Teleportation? You said that your Space can do Teleportations?"
Zhao Hai nodded and said, "Yes, but it's quite difficult, I need to do a lot of preparation in advance. Currently, my Teleportations can only send me back to Golden Island, I still can't go to other places."
The reason why Zhao Hai revealed this was because he knew that he would be doing a lot of teleportations in the future. Therefore, it's much better to just reveal it right now.
Even if Zhao Hai's tone seemed to express the simplicity of his ability, Juno was still quite envious of Zhao Hai's teleportation. He smiled bitterly and said, "No wonder Mister can have a lot of things while appearing and disappearing every time. For mister to have these abilities, it was no wonder that the Buda Clan can develop to be what it is right now."
Zhao Hai forced a smile and said, "There's no other way. The Buda Clan already had a weak foundation. When my Buda Clan was exiled to the Black Wasteland, my family's housekeeper sold off all of our valuable stuff in exchange for grain, daily necessities, as well as equipment in order to survive in the wasteland. At that time, I was unconscious. When I woke up, I discovered the situation that the Buda Clan was in, which isn't very good. We planned to live like the Hurricane Family, planting Bamboo Rice and Oil Trees in order to survive."
Juno and Billy knew about the Buda Clan's past situation. When they heard Zhao Hai right now, they can imagine the hardships that the Buda Clan had encountered.
Then Zhao Hai sighed and said, "We didn't know that since the Black Wasteland was right beside the Carrion Swamp, magic beast invasions were quite common. Beasts and undead would run out of the swamp and wreak havoc on the wasteland. Because of that we cannot do even a little bit of farming. Because of that, we have to leave the place."
Juno and Billy also heard about the Black Wasteland, but they haven’t gone there before. The Dwarves had already left the Black Wasteland for a long time, therefore they don't have any recent information about that place.
Zhao Hai then continued, "Luckily, we managed to leave the place early. Who would've known that the Carrion Swamp's fog would actually invade the Black Wasteland. We wouldn't have been able to get out alive." Then Zhao Hai sighed and then said, "We're also quite fortunate. Back when we were in the Black Wasteland, I've become so depressed that I decided to kill myself. When I went to the Carrion Swamp, I unexpectedly came upon my Magic Staff. The staff not only cured the Water of Nothingness in my body, it also allowed me to use Dark Magic. Even if my Divergent Ability isn't able to attack, the Dark Magic provided me with offensive power, making me create countless undead. Due to this, I was able to establish my reputation in the continent as being a Dark Mage."
The other matters were also known by Juno and Billy. They knew that after that, the Buda Clan started chiseling their name into history. Because of this, they came to admire Zhao Hai even more.
Although, Zhao Hai didn't say where he got his 9th ranks from, they didn't ask him about it. After all, 9th ranks are the Buda Clan or any other family's trump cards. Nobody would want to reveal information about them easily. What Zhao Hai told them today was already giving them enough face.
Juno coldly snorted and then said, "The Asku Empire is indeed made up of fools. Before being controlled by the Radiant Church, they were already the second most powerful nation in the continent. But now, they had actually placed at the bottom of the rankings. I must say, they deserved what they got today."
Billy also coldly snorted, "The Radiant Church gives birth to those mad men. Just because they deem themselves as messengers of God, they wanted to control everything, even the affairs of the Dwarf Race. They didn't know about Sir Artifact's influence in our race. They actually sent someone to preach here, they seem to be unafraid of death."
Zhao Hai forced a smile and said, "Not only the Dwarves, this happened to the Beastmen as well. Last winter, when I was doing business in the Prairie, I met the current Patriarch of the Herculean Bull Tribe, Wales. I met him at that time when he received news that a Prince of their tribe had rebelled and killed the old Patriarch, competing with Wales for the seat. Wales was out when he received the news, so it was too late for him to respond. But who could imagine that the Fighting Bulls would actually take the throne away from him, casting him away after using him. In the end, the Herculean Bulls had no other place to go other than seeking refuge with the Mastiff Tribe."
Juno and Billy weren't aware of the matters in the Prairie. They don't have any way to get information regarding the Beastmen. The grain and fruit oil that Juno produces was mostly given to the Dwarves, therefore they didn't have any contact with the Beastmen.
Not only them, even if other Humans had businesses in the Prairie, it would be quite difficult for them to hear about the matters of the Herculean Bull Tribe. Because of this, when they heard Zhao Hai talk about the affairs of the Beastmen, the two's ears immediately straightened out.
Zhao Hai then added, "When Wales got the news, the Fighting Bulls were chasing after him. At that time, I had a lot of grain in my hands, so I accompanied him to the Dog Race's domain. Using my food, they managed to reinforce their strength inside the Mastiff Tribe's place. When the winter started, the Herculean Bulls started their counterattack, eradicating the Fighting Bulls in one fell swoop and reclaimed the position of the Royal Tribe of the Cow Race. Because they were grateful to me as well as me having a Beheading Blood Oath with Wales, I managed to become the Herculean Bulls' Foreign Prince."
The two never imagined Zhao Hai to be a Foreign Prince of a Beastman Tribe, so they were puzzled before as to how Zhao Hai has a good relationship with the Beastmen. Now that Zhao Hai revealed his identity to them, they now understood Zhao Hai's standing in the Prairie.
Then Billy looked straight at Zhao Hai and said, "Beheading Blood Oath? Did you really have a Beheading Blood Oath with a Beastman?". Zhao Hai nodded.
Juno looked at Billy in confusion as he asked, "What is a Beheading Blood Oath? Why does it sound so ruthless?"
Billy forced a smile and said, "A Beheading Blood Oath is the most sacred pledge that Beastmen can settle on. Beastmen generally won't use it easily. As long as two people have a Beheading Blood Oath with each other, betrayal would cause them to get punished by the Beast God. This pledge is not a joke."
When Juno heard Billy, he felt relief. Now he was fully convinced of Zhao Hai's position among the Beastmen.
Zhao Hai looked at their expressions and then nodded, "Right, it is because of this Beheading Blood Oath and the position of Foreign Prince that I was able to get relationships with the Beastmen. In the end, i managed to get contact with the Beast King and have him agree to having a milk wine partnership with me."
Juno sighed and then said, "You say it like it's easy, but it's actually very difficult. It seems like you don't look down on the Beastmen when you interact with them, this might contribute to how easily they managed to trust you. Most Merchants would want to get more benefits from their transactions with the Beastmen. And the Beastmen weren't fools either, so how can they not notice this aspect? In this case, the Beastmen would surely distance themselves from those Merchants."
Billy sighed as well, "Actually, our situation is fairly similar with the Beastmen. The things that we produce are in demand with the Humans. So every Human Merchant that comes here would want to profit as much as possible, squeezing every mid of benefit that they can get from us. This explains why our Dwarf Race didn't have a lot of friends among Humans. Except this old fellow, the only other person is you, Mister Zhao Hai."
Juno coldly snorted and then said, "Actually, the cause of this matter is the Radiant Church. From what I can remember, the Humans didn't think differently about other races. There were even some Dwarves that would open up blacksmithing shops in major cities in the continent. And their businesses were very good. At the same time, Beastmen would prosper in Human lands, hiring themselves as mercenaries as well as forming a party with Humans in order to hunt Magic Beasts."
Zhao Hai was startled at Juno's words, he didn't know about any of these. Billy then added, "Exactly. I don't know when it started, but the Radiant Church had started to preach that the other races were lower forms of beings and were not worthy to live along the Human race. Their priests didn't treat other races whenever they get wounded, claiming that it would be blasphemous to the Radiant God. Because of these actions, the other Humans slowly started to think that the other races were truly of lower status, slowly driving them away from their settlements. The Beastmen suddenly weren't able to become mercenaries, while the Dwarves were banned from opening up shop."
When Zhao Hai heard Juno and Billy, he couldn't help but stare blankly, then his face changed as he thought about Iron Hammer's words. In the Divine Realm, the Human gods started to wage war with the Gods of the other races. In the war, the Humans wanted to send people down in order to eradicate the other races. And if the Radiant Church really did what Juno and Billy said, then wouldn't that be like the moves by the Human Gods? If that's the case, then thing had become more complicated.
But Zhao Hai didn't express his suspicion. He had just linked all of these in his head and found some connections between them. If he really guessed correctly, then the Radiant Church would be a huge problem. Their background might be very difficult to deal with.