Dark night, forest, fog.
Within the thick fog, a figure slowly walked out from the forest. She wasn't tall, and her figure was on the thin side. She wore simple villager clothing, but in the dark night, the girl's eyes were like two shining stars. They were extremely moving.
Ding Meng had already walked up to greet her. "Big Sister Wenhe!"
Ding Wenhe's expression was also somewhat excited. "Brother Ding Meng, you've finally come. I haven't seen you in a long time."
Ding Meng sighed. "It's been three years."
Ding Wenhe looked around. "Why don't I see Brother Zheng Ming?
Didn't he come with you? "
Ding Meng's sigh became even heavier. "Brother Zheng Ming died a year ago."
Ding Wenhe was immediately stunned. "How is that possible?"
Ding Meng couldn't help but recount everything that had happened along the way. Only then did Ding Wenhe's gaze fall upon Long Yao, who was sitting cross-legged under a tree. "Mr. Yu and his wife are righteous. Wenhe greatly admires you!"
Long Yao opened her eyes. "Miss Wenhe is too polite. The Great Wei Dynasty is currently at war with the Dark Firmament Empire, and the border has already been completely sealed off. There is no way to return to the Devil Nation. By bringing Ding Meng here and handing him over to you, my mission can be considered complete. Please take care of yourselves."
She stood up and looked like she was about to leave. Ding Wenhe immediately went up to support her. "Madam Yu, please wait. Your injuries aren't light. Please come to my place to recover first."
The fog at the end of the forest was even thicker, but there was a truly towering tree growing within the fog. If one could describe it, this super tree's scale wasn't inferior to that of a mid-tier starship. It was several hundred meters tall, and all kinds of branches and leaves were intertwined. It was connected with countless strange flowers and plants, and its entire body was suffused with an emerald green color. From a distance, it looked like a green mountain. In the Great Wei Dynasty, this kind of tree was called the Holy Tree.
The sacred tree was the foundation of the Great Wei Dynasty. This kind of tree contained a huge amount of energy, nourishing the nearby land, regulating the air, soil, climate, and environment. Origin ability users could also absorb origin energy from the aura emitted by the tree. Thus, the sacred tree was a truly supreme existence within the kingdom.
In normal times, the Holy Tree was almost always worshipped, but in times of war, the Holy Tree was usually a shelter. No matter how fierce the battle between the enemy and their side was, it would rarely affect the Holy Tree. If anyone touched the Holy Tree, it would be regarded as a great taboo and would not be tolerated by the heavens.
Before dawn, the huge open space under the sacred tree was packed with people. These were all refugees. The chaos of war, plague, famine, and injuries had caused most of them to be on the verge of death.
Ding Wenhe explained: "This is the only shelter left in the main city at the border"
Long Yao exclaimed in shock, "Did the Firmament Empire's army destroy the other holy trees?"
Ding Wenhe nodded with a heavy expression.
Long Yao was even more shocked, "In my impression, the Firmament Empire has always been friendly and peaceful. How could they destroy even the Holy Tree? Are they not afraid of suffering the wrath of the heavens?"
Ding Wenhe said, "It's different this time. Two years ago, the Emperor of the Dark Firmament Empire passed away, and the successor Emperor invited a prophet from somewhere. This prophet went on a campaign everywhere, and his goal was the Sacred Tree. The Extraterritorial Devil Nation and Immortal Travel Nation were invaded, and many Sacred Trees were destroyed. And this time, they targeted our Grand Flourishing Kingdom, and their goal was also the Sacred Tree."
Ding Meng was also puzzled, "Could it be that they don't know that once the Holy Tree is destroyed, the surrounding land will rot?"
Ding Wenhe said: "It's impossible that they don't know!"
"This … …" Ding Meng and Long Yao both felt that this was inconceivable.
"With the border in such a state, our kingdom can't be indifferent, right?" Long Yao was a bit worried.
Ding Wenhe said: "The emperor has already sent reinforcements here, and the leader is our kingdom's Great General Tian Qing."
Hearing the name Tian Qing, Ding Meng and Long Yao's hearts immediately became gloomy. Once Tian Qing arrived at the border, it would definitely not be a good thing for Ding Meng.
Ding Wenhe seemed to know what they were thinking, and took the initiative to wave his hand: "Ding Meng, come with me, big brother is waiting for you."
The Holy Tree's central trunk was like a starship. It was divided into many regions and countless spaces, and the passages were also connected in all directions.
In a small and simple room, a colorful energy ball was floating in the air. A man and a woman were standing next to the energy ball, and they seemed to be carefully observing its changes.
The man was tall and had an extraordinary bearing. Although his face seemed to have experienced the vicissitudes of life, one could still vaguely see the bravery and handsomeness of his youth. The woman was obviously younger than the man, but she was beautiful and had a graceful bearing. It was obvious that she was not an ordinary person.
These two were the first owner of the Hero's Dagger, big brother, and his wife, the princess.
Ding Meng hurried forward and bowed his head respectfully: "Big brother!"
Big brother turned his head to look at him, and there was a gentle smile in his eyes: "Brother Ding!"
Ding Meng immediately took out the dagger that he always carried with him. Big brother took the Hero's Dagger and looked it over and over again, and said with a sigh: "From Huzi to Wenhe, and then to you and Zheng Ming, I didn't expect this dagger to have gone through 15 generations. Everyone has sacrificed so much for it."
Ding Meng said: "Mr. Yu can also be considered as its successor."
Big brother looked a little emotional, and he murmured: "Yu Xingyang, I really didn't expect you to be such an indomitable man. Look at the heroes of the world today, if you are not the number one dagger, then who is worthy?"
Long Yao hurriedly bowed her head and thanked him: "Thank you for your praise, big brother."
Big brother then returned the dagger to Ding Meng, and said seriously: "Brother Ding, actually, even if you didn't send a signal to Wenhe, Madam already knew that two descendants would arrive here tonight."
"Oh?" Ding Meng and Long Yao were shocked again.
The princess then took two steps forward and said softly: "To be honest, I am also a prophet, and I know a little about the art of divination."
For the Da Sheng civilization, prophets were very powerful. They did not have any martial arts, but they could predict the past and the future. If it was in the Holy Splendor civilization, prophets were equivalent to high-level data masters. Data masters could use all kinds of equipment, techniques, methods, data, and patterns to calculate, calculate, simulate, and analyze, and from there, come up with probabilities and results. But in the Da Sheng civilization, prophets could directly come into contact with the Holy Tree and use the power of the Holy Tree to do all this.
Sure enough, the princess gently touched the surface of the colorful energy ball, and the air immediately rippled, forming a circular mirror. From the mirror, they could see Ding Meng and Long Yao moving through the wilderness under the night sky. Long Yao was waving Ling Xian's Dagger to fend off the kingdom's soldiers who were rushing over from behind. Geographically, the two should be at the outskirts of the border city.
Big brother said respectfully: "It is said that the Celestial Ling Sect's Dagger Technique is unparalleled. Seeing it today, it really lives up to its name."
Long Yao lowered her head: "I wouldn't dare!"
The Princess gently swiped her hand across the mirror, and the image on the mirror changed again. On the vast plains, a mighty army of the kingdom was marching towards the border. On the other side of the border, there was also a tide-like army. However, if one looked closely, they would discover that the Dark Firmament Kingdom's army was mixed with many monsters. The only thing the two sides had in common was that they were extremely terrifying in numbers. They had completely submerged the ground below them.
If an army of this scale were to fight, it would bring about an apocalyptic catastrophe.
The princess waved her hand again, and the mirror disappeared. Ding Wenhe said gloomily: "Big brother, are we going to lose this Holy Tree?"
Big brother sighed: "Yes, this place is surrounded from all sides, and the civilization estimates that it will be razed to the ground by the day after tomorrow at the latest."
Ding Wenhe said: "Then what do we do with so many refugees?
Do we just leave them alone? "
The princess suddenly paced slowly in the room, and after a long time, she looked up and sighed: "When I was young, I heard my father talk about the Holy Tree."
Everyone listened quietly.
"The Holy Tree originally did not belong to our world, and it is said that the gods could not bear to see the common people suffer, so they planted the Holy Seed, and finally grew into the Holy Tree, to protect the people of the land."
The princess explained unhurriedly, "Every sixty to seventy years, the Holy Tree will foretell peace or disaster."
"Foretell?" Everyone felt very curious.
The princess nodded and said: "That's right, to be precise, the Holy Tree represents the will of the gods, whoever it chooses will be the key clue to this peace or disaster, and is also the chosen one. So the armies of the two kingdoms rushing here and Brother Ding and you two appearing here, this is not a coincidence, it is predestined."
This saying was very mysterious, but when it came from the princess, everyone had no choice but to believe it.
Back then, after you were captured, you met me, and when I released you, I returned the knife to you, and you passed it to Miss Wenhe, and then Wenhe passed it to Ding Meng. During this time, it defeated Yu Xingyang in the martial arts conference, and the one Yu Xingyang defeated was Tianqing, and Ding Meng died at the hands of Tianqing … So, I firmly believe that this knife is destined to be a cycle of karma among you people, and this knife of destiny has returned to the starting point tonight, it is bound to be reincarnated. "
Although her words were short, it made everyone feel the mysteries of the world, as if there really was a god in the unseen world.
Just as the princess said, big brother, the princess, Tianqing, Yu Xingyang, Ding Meng, Ding Wenhe, and Zheng Ming were all directly or indirectly related to this hero's knife, there would always be people living and dying under its knife, this seemed to be an inescapable fate.
Big brother hesitated and said: "You mean …"
The princess immediately interrupted him, her expression solemn: "Yes, the end is near, it will be very difficult for us to escape."
Big brother hesitated for a long time, and his expression became firm: "No matter what, the tens of thousands of people here cannot die, they cannot become sacrifices."
The princess suddenly said: "The honored guest has arrived, maybe this guest can take this group of people away."
Big brother was shocked, his perception was very sharp, he immediately sensed that there were people outside: "Let's go out!"