This dense forest was very big. Sui Xiong and Gerrard had been going for several days until they saw the border of the forest.
This was a wild and deserted mountain range named the "Barren Mountain". It was located in the northwest side of the main continent in this world, adjacent to the Ash forest on one side, and adjacent to the meteorite desert on the other side. It was like a high and very thick wall, separating the two sides. Both ends of this mountain respectively connected to the North snow field and the West Sea.
On this side, the mountain was high and steeply sloping. It rarely had rain, therefore the vegetation here were extremely little. 'Barren hills and wild rivers' nurtured all kinds of brutal and ferocious beasts. Ordinary people were only adventurers who were more brutal than beasts.
Perhaps it was because 'Heaven never bared one's way', there were several jags among this towering precipitous mountain. Although the road was rugged and was hard to pass, it didn't completely isolate both sides from each other. There were also a few mountain roads in the west, some small towns adjacent to the Ash Forest. This was exactly the mainland civilized world of the northwest pole.
There were rarely any productions here. The number of productions was very small. It was also very precious. Therefore, some adventurers that self-claimed to be outstanding came here to try their lucks. The majority of them couldn't come back alive. If anyone could make it out alive, they would get quite a big number of admirers. And some of them became rich over night.
There were adventurers who wanted to make some money. Of course, there would be businessmen who wanted to make money out of them. All of this formed into an industry. Therefore, this small town couldn't be underestimated. It could be counted as 'a sparrow may be small but all of its vital organs are whole'. All the luxurious things from east and west could also be found here. And because they were far away from their majestic emperors, who were staying in countries that were very distant from here, the situation here was pretty disorderly as well. There were a lot of wanted criminals fleeing here, which made things here get even more chaotic. This place gradually became a hiding place for wicked deeds.
In this place, Kindness Churches were just reluctantly maintained. The Sinister Churches were 'like a fish back in water'. They even had an abundant force of refugees from the mainland, which allowed them to exploit the Ash Forest and build a solid rear for their church.
In other words, the White Leaf Forest was one of the bases for the Gods under the Night God System. If it wasn't the case, how come the farmers didn't worship the harvesting blessing from the Earth Goddess or the health blessing from the Life Goddess, how come time and time again these religions and the agriculture had nothing to do with the Night God Kingdom's gatekeeper?
"So it turns out like this..." After hearing Gerrard's explanation, Sui Xiong was drowned in his thoughts, "So isn't it very appropriate for us to come to these towns?"
"It is not like that. These towns are like iron cages, which are being guarded by cats and dogs. Only you, my Highness, Giant Dragon can properly walk in! With one strike, you can easily trample them and crush these iron-cage guarding cats and dogs into pieces!" Gerrard laughed out loud, "Moreover, judging from your personality and standpoint, you originally want to have a fight with those evil god churches. If we develop a battle here, we can drag the Kindness Churches in, gather supports from other neutral gods, it is killing two birds with one stone!"
His words really made sense. Sui Xiong also nodded his head constantly, which looked a small mountain swaying along the breeze.
"However, it will be a little bit troublesome for your over-sized and mighty body to directly enter the village. I think you should find a place outside to take some rest. Let me go in first to explore the way." As a loyal believer, Gerrard was very eager trying to do something for his worshiping God.
Sui Xiong couldn't decline him either when he saw he was acting enthusiastically like this. But he was really worried about this Gerrard. He always felt that this bald rascal ----no, now he was no longer a bald man. His head was full of hair-----was weak. He might die along the way tomorrow if he acted alone. As being an absolutely loyal person to his partners, in addition to being a good person, he thought it was necessary to give Gerrard another insurance barrier.
After thinking carefully, he took out a big piece of a whale bone, used his mighty dark power to compress this bone pieces, which was more than half feet wide, into a finger-wide one, bent it into a bracelet, carved some layers of black art formations on it, finally extracted a small amount of the spirit power and put in it, completed a stuff which could somewhat be considered a black artobject.
"Wear this; it is like having me by your side. If the situation gets urgent, I will personally make a move."
Gerrard kneeled down, respectfully received Sui Xiong's gift. The little bone bracelet was icy cold. When it was put on his wrist, his mind immediately became clearer and clearer. His vision and hearing became much more sensitive as well. He could feel Sui Xiong's formidable will power stay beside him, making him feel more secured.
"Highness, what should we call this precious thing?" He asked.
Sui Xiong thought for a while then said, "Let call it 'Hollow Gaze'. Its most basic effect is equivalent to my vision expansion anyway."
Gerrard nodded his head, bowed once more, then fixed his ragged hand-made robe, carried a parcel, then walked towards the town.
Sui xiong saw him walking away. He then found himself a flat ground, swung up his tentacles, quickly dug a big hole and laid in it. As soon as his body sank entirely into the hole, he once again displayed his black art to reinforce the soil around, came back from the muddy soil once again, and turned into a head with a thick layer of soil which was at least two meters thick.
His giant jellyfish body was definitely not convenient on the ground. Making use of this period, he wanted to transform this body again.
On the other side, Gerrard headed to a small town called "Pyroxene" while wearing the "Hollow Gaze" bracelet.
After bypassing a few groups of merchants that were camping on an empty land outside the town due to tax evasion, he arrived in front of the main gate of the busy town.
At the gate, there were several soldiers in leather armors in charge of guarding and collecting entry tax. If looking closely, their bodies were not much different from the high-as-wall Gerrard's body. After hesitating over and over again, these giant tax collectors only reminded him of not making a fuss in the town, and then let him in.
"Such a treatment like this is much better than the one I got that one year when passing though this town." Gerrard couldn't stand but laugh, "Remember that time when I was living in exile and came here, I was wounded and sick. I had a hard time getting in. After bribing a decent amount of money, I finally got the pass."
"Oh? Do you want to take revenge on those hateful mates?" Through the bone bracelet, Sui Xiong could sense the situation around Gerrard, as well as also using his mental power to communicate with him. He smilingly asked after hearing that.
Gerrard shook his head, "In the past, I always thought I would make them one day, regret their past actions, when I succeeded. Now I think it is not necessary. After all, they are just a group of little people. They are doing a dangerous job but don't earn much. They just simply want to make a little extra to feed their families. They are not worth it for us to get angry at."
"Your realm is really high."
"At this moment, I don't dare to think about fighting. Even though I have a great God get my back, there is no need to be bothered by a group of little people who are trying to make a living." Gerrard scratched his head, and beamed a kind smile.
Both he and Sui Xiong didn't pay attention to a middle-aged man who was walking by his side. He was looking at the bone bracelet on his wrist. His eyes were a little concerned. The pupils also slightly shrank a little bit.
He acted like nothing had happened, walked shoulder-to-shoulder with Gerrard, passing him. Right after Gerrard turned at the corner and disappeared, he then quickly turned around, hastily rushed to a humble small yard door, and knocked on the door urgently.
"Who is it?" Through a small hole on the door, a gatekeeper peeked out, hurried and opened the door, "Vice President? Aren't you rushing to town to handle some matters?"
"There is something more important." The middle-aged man answered neatly, "call some skillful robbers here immediately, also call the 'Fast Knife' brothers here----no, don't call them, get me some small thieves."
The big-built man, who was standing in the middle of the door, was dumbstruck. His face was serious. He didn't dare to question except obeying, and hurriedly passing on the order.
The middle-aged man closed the door, directly went inside the room, circled two laps, and went to a small unremarkable room.
This room was pretty simple, looked average and normal. But he knew there were at least twenty dangerous formations hidden here. Even a group of adventurers had no way to break in.
One person, who looked very ordinary, like an old small roadside hawker, was sitting upright on his bed and reading a book. He furrowed his brows when seeing him hurriedly marching in, then asked, "Gray Eyes, you should have gone to town to pan for gold, join forces with other partners, and prepared the auction under the ground next month now."
The old man's tone was not heavy, but it made the middle-aged man frightened, his forehead was drenched in sweat. He hurriedly explained, "President, I've found a treasure on the street! A big bargain!"
"Oh?" The old man's eyes lit up. He put the book down. He knew his assistant's skill very well. Even though he didn't excel in stealing or murdering, this punk's personality was pretty chicken-hearted and careful, not fierce and decisive enough, he somewhat felt embarrassed about this punk in front of the "Robber Union", this punk's vision was exceptional, never failed in examining any treasure. On the contrary, he usually found lots of gems among those ragged adventurers; he definitely lived up to his reputation, "Eyes"
The thing that could make him excited like this was obviously a genuinely good one.
"Sit down, and slowly talk."
"Yes!" Gray Eye sat down, sighed deeply, then described Gerrard in detail in one go, especially emphasized his bone bracelet.
"President, I use my eyes to guarantee with you that bracelet is absolutely not an ordinary treasure!" His tone couldn't help but get excited again, "It is at least a high-level black art object... I doubt it may be some legendary treasure!"
"A legendary treasure?!" This time, the president of the Robber Union couldn't stay calm anymore, he stood up and asked, "Are you sure? Which type is it?"
"I am sixty or seventy percent certain about it. I temporarily can't identify its type. But I can vaguely sense that there is a formidable will power condensing above that bracelet. It must be a sacrificial sacred object of the successive generations from that giant tribe."
The president nodded his head nonstop. Giants were originally a powerful tribe. A sacred object that they were passing generation to generation to pray and offer to the God's must be a legendary treasure.
As soon as he thought of these words "legendary treasure", his mood immediately fired up.
Although this world was big, a legendary treasure was not common. There was a deeply impressive history behind almost each legendary treasure. They mostly fell into the hands of big influences, in other words, high aristocracies, or famous shamans, or big organization's leaders...for instance, rumors had it that the big character that controlled the whole Ash Forest's Robber Union had something similar to that.
This treasure was that big person's wild card. Not only once did it help him turn danger into safety, failure into victory, if I have such a treasure...
When thinking about it, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.