The battle of the Five Armies is over.

The stable and peaceful north has entered a period of stability and rapid development, and both dwarves, humans, and elves have united around their leaders to run and grow their homes.

Sauron also returned to the base camp of due south Mordor with his surviving subordinates, and gathered Mordor and countless subordinates from all over the country, and began to develop personnel in a planned and step-by-step manner, accumulate forces, and rebuild the fortress of Barador in the Ash Mountains to the north of Mordor.

Now, both the free people who believe in the gods and gods and the dark forces that believe in Morgoth are seizing the time to develop their power and prepare for the ultimate battle of the Third Age.

Gollum, the former owner of the Ring, was captured by Sauron while wandering around the world in search of the Ring, and the spies of the dark forces and the men of the white-robed mage Saruman, the leader of the White Way Society and one of the wise men, were all searching for the whereabouts of the One Ring.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, fifteen springs and autumns come.

Fifteen years later, as the dark forces of Mordor grew stronger, Sauron's spirit regained its mana, and then transformed into Sauron's Eye, monitoring the world and searching for the One Ring.

Gandalf came to Anduin Bay one day to visit Zhang Sanfeng and Xian Yutong.

The black male leopard, who had heard the voice earlier, came out to greet Gandalf, and after greeting each other with one leopard, Gandalf asked, "What about Beorn and Reke and Baggins?"

The black male leopard twisted his neck and said, "Old Bei and Reek built a city in his hometown to the north, and Beorn became the lord of Great River City. ”

"To the east of the Misty Mountains, to the west of the Dark Forest, there should be a city, and now that the dark forces in the north have been expelled, the good days of the free people have come. ”

Gandalf pointed to the thatched hut and said, "Aren't the two Taoist chiefs at home either?"

"The eldest lord is in retreat with Gargamel, and my lord is not at home. The black male panther said.

"Brother Gan is here?"

Gandalf was about to speak when he suddenly heard Zhang Sanfeng's hearty laughter, and then the originally empty courtyard suddenly appeared in a white-robed Zhang Sanfeng.

Gandalf arched his hand and asked, "Daochang Zhang, are you out of the customs?"

"Brother Gan is here, how can the old Taoist not welcome him?" Zhang Sanfeng returned the salute, and then asked, "What is Brother Gan doing here?"

Gandalf laughed: " The year before last, several wise men of our Middle-earth continent reconvened to discuss the search for the Ring and the elimination of Sauron, President Saruman said that the One Ring has washed into the sea, I originally thought it might be true, but in the past two years, Sauron's men have reoccupied the fortress of Dolgodo in the south of the jungle under the leadership of the Ringwraith, and are looking for something nearby, I think only the One Ring will make them so concerned, the One Ring is related to the victory or defeat of light and darkness and the fate of billions of creatures, I am worried that Baggins's magic ring is the One Ring, and I want to come and ask again。 ”

Zhang Sanfeng smiled and said: "It turns out that this is the case, that ring is indeed the Supreme Demon Ring, but it has been asked by Brother Xianyu Dao." ”

According to the original track, Gandalf also had to take Aragorn to capture Gollum more than ten years later, and then go to the White City of Gondor to find ancient materials to determine that the ring in Baggins' hand is the One Ring.

Now that Zhang Sanfeng directly told him the true situation, Gandalf suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, and then arched his hand: "Dare to ask where the immortal brother is now? This Supreme Demon Ring is not trivial, and the demagogic magic power is difficult to resist even extraordinary life, I want to ask the Immortal Weng to destroy the magic ring with me." ”

Zhang Sanfeng waved his hand and said: "Brother Gan, don't worry, Brother Dao, he knows that the magic ring has Sauron's soul mark, so naturally he will not take it for himself at will, now that Sauron's strength has recovered, he can already detect the location of the magic ring, but do you think they may find Brother Xianyu Dao? Hehe, he has gone to a secret realm to refine the magic ring, I believe that he will be able to refine Sauron's magic power soon, and it will be almost the same as destroying the magic ring." ”

Gandalf frowned and said: "It's not that I don't believe in the strength of the Immortal, it's just that the Supreme Ring is indeed a first-class dark magic weapon, and those who come into contact with him will be corrupted by their souls and become servants of darkness if they are not careful, I think it is best to see the Immortal Weng in person, please tell me the location of the Immortal Weng." ”

Zhang Sanfeng said lightly: "Brother Gan is too worried, I have also seen the true appearance of the Demon Ring, although the magic power is powerful, but after all, without Sauron's control, he can't hurt Brother Xian Yu Dao, and besides, he is at the critical juncture of refining treasures in the secret realm, I can't wait lightly, according to the poor Dao, let's wait for a few decades, and wait until Brother Xian Yu Dao refines the Demon Ring and will come out, and then Sauron has no hope and can be eliminated in one fell swoop." ”

Gandalf's face was solemn, his eyes flickered several times, and finally he sighed: "Now that this is the case, I hope that Brother Immortal Weng will refine the Ring safely as soon as possible." ”

Declining Zhang Sanfeng's invitation, Gandalf made a special trip to the valley to report the news to Elrond, a member of the White Dao Society, and soon, the few wise men with peak magic power in Middle-earth knew that the Supreme Ring had fallen into the hands of the Great Martial Mentor Linton Immortal.

The white-robed mage Saruman, who was bent on obtaining the One Ring to improve his strength, appeared to be indifferent, but secretly strengthened his defenses in the territory given to him by the Gondor Kingdom, trained his subordinates, and even included orcs in order to quickly improve his strength.

Located in the southernmost valley of the Misty Mountains, Isengard is a fortress that has long been a military stronghold for the Gondor kingdom against the Barbarians of the East.

Later, Saruman demanded this land from the Kingdom of Gondor, and then helped the kingdom defend itself against the invasion of the Black Barbarians, so this area of hundreds of miles became Saruman's private domain, and the Eisengard Valley was also nicknamed "Saruman Valley" or "Wizard's Valley".

The white-robed mage Saruman learned from Gandalf that the Linton Immortal who lived in Anduin Bay had obtained the One Ring, and immediately sent his own cultivated fine works and brown-robed Radagast birds to Anduin River Bay to wait for investigation.

At the same time, in order to completely dominate Eisengard and lay the foundation for the capture of the One Ring, Saruman began to woo the black barbarians in the east, and used them to attack Gondor, harass Mordor, and test the reality of Zhang Sanfeng's cabin.

The kingdom of Gondor was suddenly attacked and lost a large number of people, even if an army was sent to expel it, it also lost a lot of money, and finally spent a lot of resources to ask Saruman to intervene to temporarily repel the Blackland barbarians.

The mighty Mordor was not afraid of the Blackland barbarians at all, and after several battles, he captured many Blackland barbarians as rations for the orcs and the spider demon Xirob in the Quilisugo Pass.

As the spies and birds and beasts sent by Saruman observed the Anduin Bay, the fog slowly began to rise here, and it became thicker and thicker, and it continued to disperse all year round, so that every person and animal that entered it would always appear in the four directions of east, west, north and south, and there was always no thatched hut by the river.

In the year 1377, 36 years after the battle of the Five Armies, the situation in the world remained largely unchanged, but the kingdom of Gondor gradually declined, and the speed and strength of Mordor made every person with lofty ideals tremble.

There are more and more people of various ethnic groups in the northeastern region of the Misty Mountains, and there is the forest kingdom of elves in the dark dense forest that has changed back to the name of the Great Green Forest, the kingdom under the mountain with lonely mountains and iron hills in the northeast, and the tall and majestic human city-state on the shore of the Long Lake, the city of the river valley.

In the west of the big green forest, there is also a new city with a history of more than 20 years - the "natural capital".

Located in the upper reaches of the Anduin River, the city was formed by the people of all ethnic groups attached to Beorn and Rek, and thanks to the hard work of the people, the town has been expanding in recent years, and now it has surpassed the city of the valley to become the largest city in the north, and there are tens of thousands of inhabitants in the city.

In the royal palace of the natural capital, Beorn, dressed in a gold silk robe, sat on a huge wooden chair, his hair and beard trimmed neatly and beautifully trimmed by the servants, and he no longer looked like the primitive man of the past.

On a high stool on the side of the table in front of Beorn sat an old hobbit in a red army trench coat with a short knife at his waist, none other than the undead Count Rick, who was now the marshal and chief of police of the "City of Nature".

The two seemed to be enjoying a leisurely afternoon tea time, and Rek took a sip of cheese beer and asked, "Lao Bei, I heard that the king of the mountain, Solin II, led a hundred elite soldiers to recover the old capital of Kazador in the Misty Mountains, and it is said that the Dulin Buster entrenched in the underground of Kazadåm is an ancient fire demon, far more powerful than Smaug, will Thorin be their opponents?"

Beorn picked up his favorite green juice cake and took a bite, and muttered: "It's hard to say, I heard that this group of dwarves have all cultivated the magic skills taught by our old man, and each of them is a master of a thousand, although the fire demon is powerful, I heard that it is not as indestructible scale armor as the Shi Ge spear, maybe the dwarves may defeat him in a hurry." ”

"Let's hope they succeed......" Rek nodded.

While the two bigwigs were tasting refreshments in the Natural Capital, a sudden sound of imperceptible footsteps came from outside the door, and then the door was pushed open with a creak, and Baggins, dressed in military uniform, walked in with a serious face.

"Master, Master, I just got the news that the king of the city-state of the River Valley, Bad, has passed away, and his son Bad has been enthroned as the second king, and this is a document from the city of the River Valley. Jumping up and handing the parchment roll to Rick, Baggins said in a deep voice.

Rick unfolded the paperwork and hurriedly handed it to Beorn, both of them sighed after reading the letter, Beorn asked, "How old is Bud?"

"He was not yet forty years old at the time of the Battle of the Five Armies. Rick frowned, "I'm only in my seventies." ”

"The old man said that human life is as cheap as grass, which is really true. Beorn got up and said, "Dragon Slayer Bard, how famous is it?, just waiting for the hero to say that he will die, not even a hundred years old, hey, I know why the two old men in our family say that the avenue is endless......"

Although Rick, who is more than 400 years old, feels strong and energetic, he can live three times the age of a hobbit all because of the effect of the divine skills passed on by his master, but no matter how good the divine skills are, he has begun to dream again in recent years, and he has a premonition that his longevity seems to be running out, so he has been trying his best to adjust Baggins's martial arts ability, preparing for him to replace him as soon as possible.

Listening to Beorn's words, Rick felt something in his heart, and sighed: "Human life is as cheap as grass, the avenue is endless, life is short, the avenue is long, how can people pursue the avenue? Only by living all the time can we have the opportunity to know the secrets of the avenue, the avenue ......."