Not long after the dinghy sailed out of the inner city, it slowly left the water with a slight shaking, and with the sound of the water, it flew higher and higher to the astonished eyes of the people on the nearby riverbank.

The height gradually crossed the spire of the Sanctuary of Marland, where several priests were looking up in this direction in the courtyard. The courtyard was planted with tall plain flowers, as white as snow, and the uwa on the majestic building reflected the last faint red light on the horizon, and gradually faded.

The only thing left in view was Cuestak's clock tower, standing alone and there were a few workers checking the wall clock, but they didn't look in that direction.

In the twilight, two wyverns flew in the distance—

These creatures, with their huge claws and pointed beaks, manticore-like spikes on their tails, and their bodies covered in hard feathered scales, look as heavy as iron in the night, can be seen almost everywhere in Aitalia. They were cousins of the dragon, but the latter refused to acknowledge these intellectually inferior relatives - two wyverns with huge saddles on their backs and two knights sitting on them.

The other party seemed to have received the orders of Her Royal Highness the princess earlier, and came closer to them and went alongside them.

Then, without saying a word, he led them out of the city.

There was another airship above the distant course, and a huge shadow hung above it like a dark cloud, but the brisk boat, led by the Wyvern Knight, quickly overtook the former and left it behind.

Parker watched from the stern of the boat, whistled and cheered. He ripped off his belt and was about to throw it down, but Luo Hao's eyes were quick, he snatched it up, and glanced at the latter. Parker was so angry that he wanted to say a few dirty words, but for some reason he suddenly remembered the day before when he was locked up in a small dark room for a few hours.

He still doesn't know why he's been locked in.

It's about revenge.

Because someone is jealous of the King of the Night Thieves -

Parker thought to himself.

Nini sat on the side of the boat, looking at this side and blinking with wide eyes.

Alfond lit his pipe, and leaned back on the side of the ship with some pleasure, as if he liked the dull darkness very much. His pipe is different from that of the Big Cat Man, and somewhat different from the boatswain, with a long metal pipe, which is very common in the Istanian region. The halfling looked at the last light that faintly disappeared from the sky, and said:

"The key to making this kind of sailboat fly is the attitude of the ship—"

Luo Yu listened carefully.

"When you take off, you have to gather the wind element underneath the ship......"

"But you can't lose your center of gravity, otherwise you risk rolling."

"So how to distribute the finite elements so that they achieve the best balance between lift and stability is what you need to consider......"

"But all in all, this thing needs to be skilled, if you want to, you can try more."

"Can I try it too?" Luo Yu asked.

He had actually operated a ship like the Daoud, but that wasn't much experience at all, and the only thing he did was get the furnace in motion, and then let it float in the air and fly with the wind.

Finally watched the Daoud crash.

"Of course, I'll just watch," said the halfling, taking off his pipe and spewing a large smoke ring, which floated backwards and quickly disappeared by the wind blowing in front of him. But if it's a big ship, it will take several people to work together. ”

"I heard from Her Royal Highness that you are also building ships?"

Luo Yu nodded.

"What's your name?"

"Seven Seas Traveler."

"I accepted this information, and this is considered tuition."

The silver sails rose higher and higher in the night.

The neighborhood turned into a thin ribbon below, the lights turned into specks of light, the canal was like a band of light immersed in darkness, and the people on the riverbank turned into tiny black dots. Standing alone on the side of the ship, Afifa silently watched as the blocks turned into tiny squares, veins of light forming a tic-tac-toe like flashing currents, crisscrossing and filling the gap.

Suddenly, a silver meteor streaked across the sky, and it also caught her eye.

The little princess's dark pupils reflected all this, and for some reason, tears crossed her cheeks like meteors, and they couldn't stop falling.

"Princess Afifa."

Fang Yu came over at some point.

Afifa looked back at him with red eyes, and Fang Yu noticed that the other party was holding something in his hand, it was a wood carving, it seemed to be a young girl's wood carving.

When he looked closely, he found that the wood carving was exactly the same as that of the mystic maiden, but there was a slight difference in her demeanor - the knife work of the wood carving was not delicate, even a little rough, but lifelike. Fang Yu suddenly had an idea in his heart, and realized the identity of the girl on the wood carving-

And at this moment, Afifa is no longer the arrogant little princess she was when she first met, but just a girl who is worried about her father.

She clutched the statue of her mother, who had left her and her sister early, and the only one who cared about their sister was uncertain.

"I'm sorry, Captain Ed," her voice almost choked, tears rolling down her face.

Fang Yu suddenly felt that this little princess was a little pitiful.

Although she was born with a golden key, in a sense, she is no different from Pasha.

Wealth and status are not a substitute for everything.

People are still the same after all.

"Don't worry, it's not the worst yet."

"We can't help you much, only you can convince His Majesty the King of Sand."

"We'll only give you the opportunity, Your Highness the Little Princess."

The little princess nodded with tears in her eyes.

She looked at Pasha not far away, and for the first time she felt apologetic in her heart.

The ship sailed on the sea of sand.

A sea of silvery sand reflects the lights of the ship.

……

Babaltan, the Lord of Sand, watched as the last rays of sunlight sank below the horizon.

Then everything in this world fell asleep in darkness, the distant sand dunes glowed with a cold hue, and the stars rose and fell over the shadows of the northern mountains—another shadow in the east, and behind them the warm canyons, the greenery of the trees.

Two mountain ranges, thus insulating this barren land from the warmth and cold, rain and snow of the north—

Leaving the ancestors of the Istanians a cold sand.

They have lived here for generations, but in addition to the dullness, at least they have peace.

A few hours earlier, the Sentinels on the periphery had reported that there had been a gathering of sand pirates nearby, but there were not many of them.

Those people may have been disturbed by the actions of the Great Army—the desert is full of outlaws, and their numbers have increased rather than dwindled in the past decade. Not only because of the poor harvest in the richest land of Istania in the south for several years, but more importantly, because of the turmoil of that ancient kingdom in the north......

Even trade routes began to suffer.

The bandits on the empty sea are getting closer to the mainland day by day, and not long ago the Blood Shark air pirates even landed in Falbans and went inland to places like Idus.

He had to let his youngest daughter solve this matter, if it weren't for Fang Yuan, he might have to change his current plan and rescue his daughter.

And that's why he looked at the latter differently.

As for what Van Rik's hero is, that's just an argument to silence other people's mouths.

Of course.

And that thing—

At that moment, Nurman pushed the door open from the outside and walked in.

The King of Sand turned to look at the latter, and said lightly:

"Ready?"

Nurman nodded, but hesitated: "But ......"

However, several ministers were concerned about the empty defensive forces at the entrance to the valley.

The Garden of Illusions is located in a huge rocky canyon that was caused by a fall about a thousand years ago. There are four entrances to the valley, and generally speaking, each entrance is garrisoned, especially when the Sand King enters the canyon.

But there were traces of sand thieves to the north, and the troops that had been deployed to guard against them made the defense in the remaining directions appear to be visibly weak—a small loophole that seemed nothing in normal times, and even Babaltan himself seemed to have ignored it.

"Governor Chabir is worried about what happened to the King of the Sand Pirates a few months ago......"

"They think that for some reason, the sand pirates seem to have found the location of the Garden of Illusions......

"Then you should tell them that the location of the Garden of Illusions is uncertain, and that it is just a coincidence."

"Your Majesty, the ministers are not children either."

"It's okay, just let them know what I mean."

Nurman glanced at the Sand King and nodded.

"Anything else?" Babaltan asked again.

"Chief Camille thinks it is necessary to draw men from the Forbidden Army to supplement the perimeter defense."

"Tell them no, the sand pirates are in the north, just drive them away-"

Finally, he added:

"Nurman, you understand why, don't wait for me to tell you everything. Just calm the hearts of the people, and when it is all over, they will understand all this. ”

Governor Bein bent down and bowed.

"Go," said the King of Sands, "today you regard me as a brother, and as then, we fought side by side in Nogones against the Empire. I wasn't the King of Sand then, and I'm not the Governor of Bein, and I saw Alef and the little guy as if I saw us—"

"Your Majesty."

"Huh?"

Nurman was slightly stunned before he changed his words: "Babaltan." ”

"Very well, Nurman."

The Sand King straightened his robes and walked past his best friend.

……

Few people know when the Phantom Sea appeared, but perhaps it was the first time it had come into the sight of the Istanians since one of the ancestors of the princess's family came to this place. But it is recorded in the history of the kingdom, and it has to be pushed back even later—perhaps less than twenty years.

The huge canyon is made of brown mountain rocks, as if it were an incomparable force, tearing apart the earth and rising a canyon from here.

But under the boulders, there are lush plants, all kinds of exotic grasses, glittering fruits hanging down the mountain walls, fluorescent flying among the palm trees, and a sea of flowers on the ground that is rare in the desert oasis, but this is not an oasis, because there is no source of all life here - water.

Plants seemed to grow out of thin air from among the rocks, from the sand, and wherever the green crystal light shone, they came alive and spread in all directions, never setting foot beyond the canyon.

Not all of these plants are friendly, some of them are dangerous and aggressive, but over the centuries, the princess's people have understood how to deal with the dangers that lurk here.

Now that we are taking this road again, we have long lost the dangers of the past.

There are a few buildings in the forest, with white walls in between, and this palace was built over the last two decades, weathered but still looking brand new.

The Sand King walked out of the palace and across a stone-paved avenue, looking at the familiar sight before him as if he had traveled back in time to a dozen years ago—but he had not walked the road alone then—and he couldn't help but look at his left side, which was now empty.

He was slightly stunned, and a hint of gloom flashed in his eyes.

He remembered that his daughter was only a little taller at that time, and she was still there—

Nurman followed behind the king, silently watching this scene, and couldn't help but sigh.

The two of them walked silently through the courtyard, which had a name that had long been passed down - the Garden of Illusions.

At the other end of the avenue, there was a tall circular building, with a white dome, supported by countless stone pillars, and after passing through the gate, Barbartan saw the courtiers waiting in the hall. But his gaze passed over the crowd and landed on a crystal as tall as a mountain and as green as a dream in the center of the hall behind it.

Maybe it's the largest emerald star in the world.

It has escaped the alchemy of yesteryear and is now one of the best-preserved Emerald Stars in the world, and Babaltan could not imagine why Afifa's ancestors faced this Emerald Star, but he must have been careful.

In that era, in various kingdoms, alchemists organized four ways to compete for the dominance of the Emerald Star, and even did not hesitate to wage war for it. In the midst of that chaotic era, it must have taken a lot of effort to preserve this crystal mountain so well - of course, there must be a credit to the Phantom Sea itself.

Together with the Grand Canyon, it changes its position every few years, and only a few people have the rules in their hands.

"Your Majesty." An old, hoarse voice rang out.

Seneman took his staff, separated the crowd, walked out, came to the king, and bowed.

In terms of status, he is the left minister of Istania, second only to the two - and now that the old patriarch of the Oath Keeper clan is not here, then he is the existence of the King of Sand under one and above ten thousand. Even Nurman had to turn sideways for the sake of the left minister.

The ministers even avoided it.

However, Babaltan only looked at his left minister indifferently.

Seineman met this gaze very calmly and replied, "Your Majesty, everything is ready. ”

"Just wait for Your Majesty to personally preside over the ceremony."

Barbartan withdrew his gaze and looked back at the crowd.

The people who can come here are at least his cronies, who have been involved in the first phase of the plan to a greater or lesser extent, so they also know some insiders. Of course, the deepest reason is that the Lord of Sand has only told Nurman alone, and if anyone else knows, there are probably only a few mystic sorcerers who are involved in the plan.

Soon, though, these people will understand all this.

There was silence all around.

The people who came here were not unaware of the taboos of alchemy, but for various reasons, probably related to power and status, they still chose this path. Anyway, nothing is more important than having the trust of a king, is there?

But Barbartan only nodded, then withdrew his gaze and walked through the Seneman towards the crystal. And the servant of the blind follower only turned around and silently watched the king walk forward.

The King of Sand came to the foot of the Crystal Mountain, looked up, and took a look at the 'Monolith'.

Then he took another step forward and reached out and pressed his hand against the crystal.

The palm of the hand responds to the cold touch.

The moment he pressed the crystal, for a moment, he seemed to be in a trance, and he felt that he was back in time again-

It was a somewhat gentle, but lively voice:

"Babaltan, I'm going to tell you a secret—"

"Do you know about the Third World, about the Bridge to the Sky?"

He smiled dumbly, and his young eyes looked at the beloved woman in front of him: "Afifa, I am the future king of sand and the lord of Istania. I am destined to stay on this land for the rest of my life, what do those illusory things have to do with me? ”

"Fool," the girl laughed, "of course it has something to do with you, not only with you, but also with our kingdom." ”

"How?"

"Do you know why I'm going out on adventures?"

"What do you mean about that tulip adventure party?"

"That's just the adventure group I've joined, but the leader is a good person, but it's a pity that she's the chosen one of the gods, otherwise I'd have introduced you to her."

"I'll just have you enough, Affa."

The girl smiled slightly.

"You know, Babaltan, I love this land too."

"And that's exactly why I'm going to do it."

"Do you know the legend about the elven relics......

"My brother gave me a notebook ......"

He didn't understand it, and I guess it was because he didn't have much contact with the Chosen One. Well, I happen to know something......"

……

The illusion in front of Barbartan vanished.

But the voice didn't go away.

"I don't know much about the contents of that note......

"The elves forged a holy relic from the Emerald Star, and that relic is the only clue and key to that new world......

"Holy relics? Of course we don't have any relics, what are you thinking, Babaltan......"

But what is written in the note ...... It seems that we can find the only way by doing the same......"

"You know what, Emerald Star...... My family owns ...... too."

"As for that method......

"You must remember, Babaltan."

In places that no one else can see.

The King of Sand pressed one hand on the crystal mountain, his face already stained with tears.

He then whispered to himself:

"Of course I remember clearly, Afifa."

……

Wonderful Book House