Parker expressed skepticism: "That bad-tempered little girl might actually like someone, ouch—"

The Papalarian took a heavy hit on the head from a tin can that flew from who knows where.

...

Mr. Greyrock seemed to move forward slowly, but the scenery around him retreated quickly.

As they walked in the direction of the Ash Woods, the surroundings became increasingly desolate, a barren land, with only a black rock wall protruding from the snow in the distance, forming a valley. The beasts of burden were slowly entering the valley, and in the distance, there was not a trace of vegetation, only the white snow and steep, strange rocks rising and falling.

According to local legend, a hundred years ago, the Dragon Slaying Hero Yoshude killed the Evil Dragon here, and dragon flame burned everything, resulting in the formation of the Ash Woods.

Fang Hong raised his head and looked around, clearly smelling a sulfurous scent in the air, which the thick snow and howling wind couldn't mask; the smell seemed to have deeply permeated the rock walls—it was as if the dragon blood had burned out, flowing down from the rocks, drying layer by layer, forming that dark color.

He looked at these odd stones, almost able to imagine the scene from a hundred years ago.

Nikopolas, spreading his huge wings, fell from the sky heavily into this valley, and dragon blood flooded, forming a sea of fire, burning everything, leaving only the curse lingering on the earth today.

And the distant howling north wind was its wailing sound on that day, echoing long, as if for a hundred years, the soul of the giant dragon remained lingering here.

"Bellborg Valley," Hilveld told them: "Before Nikopolas died in this place, that was the original name of this valley."

"Was there originally a valley here?" Parker rubbed the bruise on his forehead and muttered softly, "I thought it sprang from the ground."

But no one paid attention to the Papalarian's nonsense.

"Perhaps it's true," except Xiangzi, who seriously nodded. "This place must be special, otherwise why would Nikopolas choose to die here?"

"I think you've got the cause and effect reversed." Parker replied.

Xiangzi answered unfazed: "I just saw no one responding to you, so I wanted to comfort you."

Causing Fang Hong to look at these two people, not knowing who was the more foolish.

However, he then placed his hand on his chest, since entering the valley, he vaguely felt the Ring of Golden Flame heating up a little. It seemed the old gentleman had not lied to him; the Ring of Golden Flame indeed reacted to this place—

He remembered the previously abandoned ancient castle. What place was Aimumu Fortress then? History did not mention any connection between that place and Nikopolas, yet in the crypt beneath that castle, the Ring of Golden Flame clearly had a connection with the bones.

And the broken Mo'ya Holy Sword, along with the mysterious Rogsel family, were also shrouded in mystery.

He reached through his garment and touched the ring within his bosom—the ring was slightly warm. When he killed that Undead Wizard, the ring was the same way. At that time, he heard a strange voice, seemingly urging him to approach.

Fang Hong understood the voice should be from that peculiar force, obviously strongly coveting the heart held by the Undead Wizard and the vast dark forces upon it.

But he did not comply because the power within the ring itself originated from such forces, whether it was Nikopolas's origin power or the dark deities' power from Lizard People—they were considered of the same origin.

Because he feared that absorbing too much such power would cause the force within the ring to undergo some unwanted changes, beyond even his control.

However, that force seemed to be quite dissatisfied with him for this reason, ignoring him ever since, until this very moment.

Fang Hong raised his head, looking at the surrounding rock walls.

And just as he was lost in thought, the woodcutters seemed to have made a discovery below.

Lady Kuisu climbed up to the deck from the soft ladder, bringing them a piece of bloodstained cloth, and said: "My workers found this in the valley."

Sophie immediately recognized the origin of the cloth piece, its color and shape identical to those used by the Dulun City Guards they previously encountered: "It's a tunic from Dulun City Guards."

Fang Hong took the piece of cloth and asked, "Where did you find this thing?"

"In the valley below, there seem to be signs of a battle there, but I'm not quite sure..." Lady Kuisu admitted she wasn't adept at analyzing these things; she merely managed a logging team and was not the captain of some adventure group.

Fang Hong understood this and had Miss Atira stop Mr. Greyrock before leading the group into the valley.

While releasing the Clockwork Fairy, he also inspected the place where the cloth was found—the cloth had been taken from a sharp piece of rock, precisely at a sheltered spot. The rock there, unlike other areas around it, was stained with a considerable amount of blood.

The surroundings indeed bore traces of combat; at least Fang Hong recognized several distinctive signs left by various skills, such as the Ranger's Piercing Shooting and the Crossbow Shooter's Explosive Crossbow Bolts—

And the Papalarian crossbowman, following his instructions, searched ahead and found a broken arrow among the scattered stones.

Additionally, there was a deep crisscross mark on the rock wall, likely from a Swordsman's Great Cross Slash, and several burn marks were left by spells—though in this icy and snowy environment, it was hard to tell if there were any signs left by Ice Magic.

But this already indicated that at least one side in the combat included Crossbow Shooters, Rangers, Swordsmen, and more than one spellcaster. Generally speaking, if it were an army or some native force, there wouldn't be such a variety of professions.

This suggested that one of the sides in the combat was likely adventurers, and possibly even Invokers.

Fang Hong tossed aside the broken arrow. The bloodstains had dried to the point of nearly being black, forming a thin crust on the rock. The battle clearly didn't happen too recently.

However, the commander of Tulip Fortress said this team had been missing for almost two weeks, which didn't seem entirely accurate. At least judging from the traces here, the battle couldn't have happened more than a week ago—and traveling from Tulip Fortress to this place obviously wouldn't take much time, just half a day.

He exchanged a glance with Sophie.

Their opponent's intention to mislead was within their expectations. Even if the mission was real, it didn't mean the information provided by the opponent was true, as these details weren't within the Goddess's protection range.

But what was the point of this lie, to mislead them about what?

Sophie followed the traces forward, examining something in the valley. Fang Hong also looked in that direction. The battle marks stretched further, and were not confined to a single spot—only in this sheltered part of the valley were the traces preserved relatively well.

Elsewhere, the previous blizzard had already erased all traces.

After a while of observing, Sophie returned and said, "They went deeper into the valley." Fang Hong nodded at her words, as he could naturally see that himself, and even further, through his Clockwork Fairy.

Suddenly, he remembered something and adjusted the Magic Buoy on his reinforced gloves, letting the Clockwork Fairy spread out in the snow winds—

And it was at this moment that Hilveld returned with the results from another search. Miss Ship's Officer tightened her cape collar and handed him a scruffily drawn piece of paper. Fang Hong received the paper in the howling wind, flattened it with his hand, and took a glance. It depicted the battle sites and the rough terrain of the valley.

"Although a Ranger might be more adept at this task, Miss Elisa seemed capable enough," Hilveld said, looking at Fang Hong, her light blue eyes holding a hint of challenge, "Based on some traces left on the scene, one can roughly infer which were the attacking and defending parties—Lord Captain, why don't you guess who the attackers were?"

Without thinking, Fang Hong replied, "I guess the attackers were probably people from the City Defense Force."

Hilveld displayed a curious look: "How did Lord Captain deduce that?"

But Fang Hong adjusted his Wind Goggles and shook his head: "I didn't deduce it." It was as if he was looking into a particular direction in the snowy storm, and he answered, "I merely saw..."

"You saw them?" Sophie caught on.

But Fang Hong looked at the two ladies, put a finger to his lips, and made a shushing gesture. He saw more than just these signs; another Clockwork Fairy also sent back some unusual images.

"I saw a little tail."

Fang Hong said in a low voice.

"They're behind us, already in the valley."

...

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