The cold white moonlight soaked the earth like mist, covering the grassland and the mountains with a hazy, temperatureless cyan.

The nearby tribes had already poured out, and hundreds of warriors and war horses of the Fang Kingdom roared and galloped on the banks of the endless river, and the sound of fighting was stirred up by the distant mountains to echo thousands of times. No matter how much sweat and blood was spilled, when the night wind blew from far away from the depths of heaven and earth, it was still cold to the bone.

The alien race intercepted by Stuka was no match for the Fangnation warriors in terms of number and force, and after a moment of fighting, they left behind a place of corpses and limbs.

The most difficult question now is how these aliens crossed the barrier mountain range, and how many of them came, but they dispersed before the Fang tribes arrived—no one knew how many more aliens were groping for the depths of the continent under the cover of the night.

Except for a few who stayed behind to clean up the battlefield, the tribe of the Fang Kingdom was soon on the road again: they lit torches and beacon smoke, blew horns, and sent warriors to deliver messages to the major tribes and defense theaters, while the rest were tasked with searching for and chasing the scattered aliens. The sound of their horses' hooves faded down the endless river, into the darkness of the night.

Lin Yuqing didn't follow up again.

He glanced at the fragments of the alien limbs around him, and spat several times in succession, still feeling that there was still mucus and blood in his mouth, and he couldn't spit it out cleanly - he had just smashed open an alien with his long knife, and the shell and internal organs were shattered together, and the mucus mixed with human blood splashed his head and face.

He sat on the floor retching a few times and wiped his face with his sleeve before he gasped and looked up.

Not far away, Stuka's shadow carried an alien tail on his shoulder, dragging it step by step to the bottom of the tree, and Lin Yuqing saw it, jumped up and ran over with weak hands and feet.

"There is only one left alive on the battlefield. ”

As he ran closer, he heard Stuka's voice fall, and he grabbed the alien's tail and threw it in front of Ada, who screamed and struggled and fluttered, and then suddenly reached out and struck her—and before it could get closer, a knife slammed into its palm, piercing deep into the earth, and pinning it to the ground.

The shrill cry of the alien race pierced the night like an awl, making people's ears tingle.

But the little girl sat under the tree, her face flushed and tear-stained, as if she had no idea what was happening around her. She cried so much that even her facial features were deformed, and she only opened her mouth, like a fish out of the water and on the verge of death, but she cried silently.

Amid the constant screams of the aliens, Stuka looked at her and said, "If they hurt your fallen spirit, they will pay with their lives." ”

Ada didn't seem to listen to him, shook her head wildly, still clinging to the blood-stained white fox in her arms, and curled up in a ball.

Ever since she fell from the tree with Baijiu in her arms, Ida had been sitting here for the entire battle, not moving. She had already been injured and badly injured along with Baijiu, and it was amazing that she was still sane and was still trying to wake Baijiu up.

It's just that no matter how she summoned, Lin Yuqing never saw the white fox move again. After a few moments, Ada's voice slowly faded - she was really hurt herself.

Lin Yuqing silently sat down beside her and glanced at Stuka.

The latter pursed the corners of his mouth, and suddenly drank in a low voice: "Look!"

Then he grabbed the back of the alien's bulging neck and dragged it up half of its body.

The alien still had a knife on the ground in the palm of his hand, and as he got up, his palm was pulled up the knife alive, and slime and scales splattered from the cracked wound, and Stuka turned a deaf ear to its howl and lifted one foot.

Lin Yuqing's heart jumped, and he suddenly understood what he was going to do;

Stuka slammed his foot on the alien's head, slamming its head to the ground, his other hand still clutching its neck—even after so long of being wounded, the young warrior of the Fang was still incredibly strong. With a hiss, the alien's head and neck were torn alive by two forces, and the blood-red flesh and fascia were torn long, and finally a piece of mucus was thrown out when it cracked.

Lin Yuqing couldn't dodge, only to feel a heat on his face, but he didn't expect that he had just wiped himself clean, and he was splashed with a fishy smell. Ida let out a half-sharp whimper beside him, and then there was no sound.

The boy hurriedly turned his head to look, and found that she had been planted limply on the ground.

She ...... She fainted with excitement?"

Stuka threw the alien corpse and crouched down.

Lin Yuqing raised his head and was just about to speak, when he saw the sparse pieces of flesh and blood and scales on the ground, mixed with mucus, slowly flowing out of the broken neck of the alien race, and suddenly felt sick to his stomach: "What are you doing here, this is too disgusting!"

"Disgusting what?" Stuka asked in a daze, "how happy! In order to give her a look, I didn't even leave her alive. ”

"She's such a girl, so bloody and blurry-"

Stuka snorted, "What's wrong with the girl? Besides, before you came, she helped me fight a lot of aliens. Don't look down on the girl, I saw her faint because of the injuries on her body and her emotions were affected again. ”

Lin Yuqing opened his mouth and looked at him for a while, but he was speechless. He sighed and helped the unconscious Ada to her feet—a clump of soft white hair slid from her arm and fell to the ground with a thud, looking lifeless.

"It'...... Is it really dead?" the young man gently picked up Bai Jiu, and his voice couldn't help but tremble a little. The spear pierced the white fox's belly, and the blood glued its white fur together, turning it dark black, and it was impossible to see how big the wound was.

"How could a fallen spirit be wounded like this by a spear?" Stuka frowned and examined the white fox, "Is this really a falling spirit?"

Lin Yuqing knew it, but it was difficult to explain, so he could only say: "It's ...... Its strength has not been restored, and it is very weak. ”

Stuka put down the white fox, opened Ada's eyelids and looked at it, and said to Lin Yuqing: "Her problem is not big, because I have seen a lot of additional damage from the falling spirit, as long as I raise it." ”

"What about her legs?"

"Probably a cracked bone, a little problem!" Stuka pressed Ada's injured leg, and even though she was unconscious, she still frowned and let out a groan—"Now this fall of hers is a problem." ”

Lin Yuqing hurriedly stopped his hand and didn't let him press it anymore, and asked, "What's wrong with Baijiu?"

"Generally speaking, it can't be saved. Stuka looked at the white fox on the ground, and showed a rare hint of hesitation: "If you take it to Valhalla, maybe Yue Kai will have a way to ......"

"Valhalla?is the place where you want to send Old Man Lan there?" Lin Yuqing was stunned: "Who is Yue Kai?"

"He's the High Priest of Valhalla. Stuka spat out only a few words, frowning again. After a few seconds of silence, he cast his gaze on the sparkling waves on the surface of the river—in the embrace of night and distant mountains, the endless river was like a flowing and glittering silver-gray silk, and the waves rolled and finally fell into the dark and silent distance.

"What's wrong?" Lin Yuqing observed his expression and asked, "If there is still hope, let's leave quickly!"

Nodding, Stuka let out a long breath: "I was thinking, maybe this is really a sign from the god of war...... After all, the last time the alien crossed the barrier mountain range was hundreds of years ago. What's more, they came silently this time, and the front-line defense area was unaware of it, which is really incomprehensible. ”

"Yes, this must be a signal from the god of war!" Lin Yuqing hurriedly replied, and added: "Didn't I tell you? ”

But I was too stupid to understand God's intentions. Stuka shook his head, as if swallowing a sentence without saying anything, but changed the subject: "Now that my divine sentence is over, I'll take you to Valhalla." This little girl and her falling spirit can just be seen by Yu Kai together. ”

"Okay, where is Valhalla?" Lin Yuqing's eyes lit up.

Stuka didn't say anything, just raised his arm and pointed at the mountains in the distance. There, the night intersects with the mountain peaks, merging into a towering darkness that overlooks the land in a distant silence.

Lin Yuqing's face turned ugly: "In ...... On the top of the mountain? so far?"

"On the peak of Ulu Mountain in the Barrier Mountains, we rode over on horseback, and it was less than two days' footsteps, and before entering the mountain, it was easy to walk. ”

Lin Yuqing looked around, and everywhere he looked, there was an empty grassland: "That...... Where can I find a horse?"

"The brother of that tribe just left us a few horses. Stuka replied.

Lin Yuqing looked around again, but still didn't see anything. Just as he was confused, he saw Stuka put his finger between his lips and suddenly let out a long, clear whistle—

The whistle suddenly swept into the night, stirring up a misty echo, and as it faded into the night, the sound of horses' hooves sounded out of nowhere.

Several horses trotted all the way as if they had suddenly appeared in the heavens and the earth, and they came close from the waves of grass and stopped beside a few men. Lin Yuqing had never seen such obedient horses, and touched their manes in a daze.

"You get on the horse first," Stuka instructed him, "and I'll pick her up again." Be careful on the road for a while, don't let her slide down. ”

"What about Baijiu?"

"It's a big thing, I'll just carry it. Stuka replied, untying a leather bag from his horse, "Wait for me." ”

He uncorked the leather bag, and a strong, spicy smell of wine wafted out. Stuka took a few sips of wine, raised his arm, and revealed a deeply cracked, rolled wound on his side waist, and poured all the wine in the leather bag - Lin Yuqing couldn't help but gasp, as if his side was also burning with the heat.

"Healed," Stuka said, re-fastening the empty wine bag, "let's go." ”

Lin Yuqing stared at the blood oozing out of his wound again, and suddenly stammered a little: "Heal, cure ......?"

Stuka flipped on his horse and slipped Baijiu into his coat pocket, revealing only its unconscious head. He glanced down at his waist: "It's too much, it's wasted." ”

With that, he turned his horse's head and walked in the direction of Ulu Mountain. Thinking that this trip was to find someone to heal, Lin Yuqing still swallowed the words in her throat, held Ida in her arms, let her lie on her shoulder, and followed.

Amidst the pillars of fireworks and the echoing sound of horns, the fang country quickly maneuvered. As the two men marched, more and more warriors galloped past them with torches—the sound of their horses' hooves waking the earth, the drums of war and the trumpets rising one after another, and the distant lights lit up against the thick darkness of the night, as if the stars were projected on the earth.

Occasionally, someone asked about the identities of the two, and Stuka also came forward to answer. The tribe he came from seemed to be quite famous, and often the other party recognized his clan first when they saw the silver moon-like blade tattoo on his shoulder. However, after a few conversations, Stuka felt as if an ant had gotten into his clothes, and even if he didn't say a word, he could be perceived to be awkward and uncomfortable.

After Lin Yuqing asked again, the tall warrior with a scruffy beard finally let out a long sigh.

"The other tribes are on their way to search for the aliens," he said with a bit of frustration, "I'm from the Blade tribe, but I'm heading to Valhalla. ”

"So what's the matter?" Lin Yuqing asked casually.

Then, he spent half the night regretting this sentence - because then, Stuka told him the honor of the Blade Tribe's eternal indomitability, and the yearning of every Fang nation to die in battle.

It wasn't until the east was white that his voice gradually stopped along with the horse's hooves.

Before they knew it, the two had ridden their horses closer to a small tribe. If it weren't for Stuka's reminder, Lin Yuqing would have almost not seen it—the wind swept through the seemingly endless grassland, lowering the grass, revealing dwarf white cupolas, like the breasts of the women of the fang country who usually show their clothes.

"Let's get some water here," Stuka said as he got off his horse, grinning at the wound, "Come down too, little girl...... What's her name? Ada, there are people like this in the Holy Alliance, I didn't expect that—we're going to have to feed her some water and see if we can wake her up. ”

Ada seemed to be completely overdrawn, and she didn't wake up after walking all the way on the horse. They carried her into the tribe, and after walking for a while, they didn't see anyone. The animal skin curtains hanging from the round houses were rustling in the wind, and Stuka shouted a few words, but no one was heard.

"There are not many aliens found this time, and there is no need for even women and children to go into battle. He frowned, pulled up a curtain of animal skins, and looked into a round house for a moment: "Why are the people gone?"

The wind blew between the roundhouses, whistling and whining, the only response to him.

The two of them were full of doubts and walked around the tribe.

The tribe was small, and in the center of the round houses was a small stone square, with a pile of tall, blackened wooden shelves, where it seemed that someone had once made a bonfire. Stuka looked at the small square, and his expression gradually sank.

"What's wrong?"

"It's a small sacrificial ritual within the tribe," Stuka frowned, "it looks like they've prepared the ritual, but somehow they didn't go ahead, and instead hastily extinguished the fire." ”

In this way, there are people in this tribe who, like Stuka, have just received the newly fallen spirits and are going to be returned to Valhalla - but it is not known what their sacrifice ceremony is.

Lin Yuqing looked at the wooden shelf and said, "Maybe they were about to hold a ceremony, and at this time they found the signal of an alien invasion, so they interrupted it." ”

"No way, it's because of the alien invasion that they will temporarily advance the ceremony. Stuka shook his head, "Originally, we who were new to the fallen spirit were supposed to go to Valhalla to complete the sacrifice ceremony, but now that the alien race has crossed the barrier mountain range, and the matter is urgent, such a simple sacrifice will be held in the tribe - only the god of war can arrange each fallen spirit to the most suitable warrior for it, so before the war, we must hand over the fallen spirit to Valhalla." ”

Speaking of this, he suddenly lowered his head, as if faintly ashamed: "I...... God won't let me die, but I still have a fallen spirit with me...... I was so stupid that I didn't understand the will of the god of war. ”

Lin Yuqing was a little confused when he heard this, and asked with a smile: "How do you know that this ceremony has not been carried out?" Maybe the ceremony has been completed and everyone has gone to the battlefield...... There happened to be no women or children. ”

Stuka glanced at him suddenly, "The reason why I know is because there is not a single charred corpse here." ”

After a few seconds, Lin Yuqing finally reacted, and his face suddenly turned pale.

"Your sacrificial rites...... Is it to burn the person who got the fallen spirit to death?" he asked in a trembling voice, and suddenly remembered that Stuka had said that after his death, the fallen spirit would return to Valhalla—Lin Yuqing didn't think much about it at the time, but now he understands.

When Stuka dies, the fallen spirit will be taken away by Valhalla, and for everyone else, of course, it will be the same.

"Yes," Stukari replied, "to return to the arms of the god of war in the gift of fire is an honor second only to the death on the battlefield. ”

"You, you-" Lin Yuqing opened his mouth and stammered for a while, and suddenly understood again: "The divine judgment didn't let you die, but you were worried about sacrifice, so you struggled and hesitated, didn't you?"

Stuka didn't move, and acquiesced.

"You fangs!" the young man paused, but finally swallowed the second half of the sentence back into his stomach. After thinking about it, he sighed and asked, "What about ...... What's going on with this tribe?"

"I don't know. But the warriors of the Fang Kingdom are all brave, and maybe they all really go to the battlefield. Stuka looked around, "On the route to Valhalla, this is the last tribe." Let's see if there is anything we need, we can take some first, and I'll come back to compensate them later. ”

With some uneasiness, Lin Yuqing laid Ida flat in the square, followed Stuka into the nearby roundhouse, filled a few bags of wine and water, and loaded some air-dried beef. There was no pen and paper at home for the ordinary people of Fangguo, so Lin Yuqing carved a few crooked words on the ground with white stones, and Stuka also left a signature - as long as the family could understand the words of the continental lingua franca, they probably wouldn't steal it.

Valhalla is still more than a day away, and it will be enough to take so much. The two of them found a bowl, filled half a bowl of water, added some salt and honey and mixed it evenly, and then Lin Yuqing took it in his hand, and walked to the square in small steps, intending to feed it to Ada.

Stuka was about to follow him out of the roundhouse, carrying several leather bags in one hand, when suddenly his eyes lit up and he crouched down in front of a low cabinet.

Since the young and strong people of the fang country hardly produce and defend against aliens outside the barrier mountain all year round, most of the supplies and food and clothing are all supplied by the countries of the mainland. Autumn is the most abundant supply, so the people of Fangguo have developed a custom - every autumn, every household will soak different fruits in honey, light wine, and a small amount of white sugar juice, soak them and then wrap them in a layer of honey, until the outside forms a crunchy and sweet sugar husk, and when you bite down, several layers of different sweetness mixed with slightly wine-scented juice flow into the throat and eyes.

This is the only hard currency in the Fang tribe that is more popular than wine.

Stuka looked at the pot of golden red peach in front of him, which was as bright as topaz, hesitated for a while, and finally gritted his teeth, added a sentence on the ground, "double the return", and quickly took one from the basin.

As soon as he held the golden hearts, Stuka looked happy, and suddenly looked a little like a teenager.

He hurriedly lifted the curtain and ran a few steps in the direction of the small square, and already saw the back of Lin Yuqing, who was somehow standing upright on the edge of the small square, motionless.

Hearing Stuka's footsteps, the boy turned around stiffly, still stunned.

"No," he said, gesturing to the empty feet, "Ida is gone." ”