"You are not the first human beings to come here!"
Just more than 20 years ago, there was a group of humans that came to this place and didn't have any conflicts with the Treant tribe. Just like now, they met Old Greenwood and decided to enter the Canyon in order to kill the Evil Eye Tyrant. The results.....
Old Greenwood very kindly pointed towards the stone sculpture located at the Canyon entrance….. Unfortunately, a Treant "Companion has already stepped on it earlier and caused it to shatter into pieces.
Du-Wei immediately recalled what Bienlich (the head of the snow wolf mercenary) said to him. According to records, the deepest place in the frozen forest that humanity has reached is this Canyon. About 20 years ago, a Grand Magician accompanied by a group of advanced level knights came to this place and was completely wiped out except the Grand Magician that escaped alone.
Du-Wei even suspected the gift given to him by Bienlich was in fact a map left behind by this wizard.
The way the Treants expressed themselves was awkward, but their meaning was very obvious. I have seen how powerful the humans that came to this place before, but they were all defeated by the Evil Eye Tyrant. So we don't believe you could defeat the Evil Eye Tyrant…..
"Thank you for this reminder, but the Treants have nothing to lose in this, right?" Du-Wei smiled, "We will go and kill the evil being. If we lose this battle, it has nothing to do with the Treants, and if we succeed, then we can think of it as compensation for earlier."
Du-Wei's remark gave no room for Old Greenwood to critique, but the Treant once again demonstrated its incredibly naïve and gentle nature. Old Greenwood slowly bent down its body, then plucked off a leaf after searching through its branches... Du-Wei noticed, the leaf was golden colored.
"If... You are in danger….. Put it….. In the... Ground, then maybe….. It will protect….You for a little while."
Du-Wei was shocked, you need to understand, they are currently still at odds against the Treants. Du-Wei could only sigh at the kindness and innocent nature of the Treants, as well as the speed they forget their hatred... Even if they manage to increase the population of their race, the likelihood of them surviving is difficult.
With a sigh, Du-Wei returned to the back of the rock and looked at his two companions. "Hey, you clearly heard right? I think we have something to do….. Who knows what kind of freak this Evil Eye Tyrant is."
Hussein spoke in a light tone. "Whatever it is, I don't believe this place has anything that could be of an opponent for me. I'm only interested in the spring."
"Oh, Yes." Du-Wei spoke with a smile, "The spring water should be able to cure you of your wounds."
"No!" Hussein sneered, "I don't care about my injury... But I must go and see this place that Aragon went before!"
"What about you?" Du-Wei gave Dadaneier a look, "What do you have in mind, my friend?"
With a straight face, he pulled his bow string a little to make a point, then sternly spoke. "Maybe the Canyon has the golden eye Python. Apparently that stone statue was caused by petrification magic, chances are the golden eye Python is in there."
"Well then," Du-Wei spoke these words to himself then laughed. "Then let us go in and have a look!"
Old Greenwood directed his "Companions" to move the stones blocking the entrance mouth into the Canyon. These mighty Treant "Companions" were able to easily remove the stones, revealing the entrance space. Afterwards, Du-Wei and his companions waved goodbye to Old Greenwood and headed off into the Canyon.
...
Du-Wei and his companions did not know how big this Canyon was. Although from the introduction of Old Greenwood, the Canyon was supposed to be "not much in size". But when measured against the height and volume of a Treant, Du-Wei felt this place was not small at all.
From entering the entrance to the Canyon, there was a turn about ten meters away that was covered in a thick fog, causing the three men to frown.
This is a real "thick" fog, Du-Wei can clearly feel the moisture in the air. Even by just freely walking through the fog, the water moisture would cling to the body.
Du-Wei has never seen such a thick fog. The visibility was pretty bad and the range is only about five-steps away.
This Canyon was inhabited by a powerful evil being and coupled with bad visibility in this area, there is no doubt this place was very dangerous, so Du-Wei tried a number of different approaches. At first, he tried to magically attract a small gust of wind to blow away the fog, but after the wind passed, the expanse of land was still foggy and white. Du-Wei was able to confirm one thing and it was that this fog was created by magic…..
Barely lighting up a torch, (This branch was torn off from a Treant by Du-Wei before they went into the Canyon) Hussein, the most powerful of the group led the way in the front. As for Dadaneier, he was in the back and Du-Wei was kept in the middle due to having the worst melee capabilities.
Walking for a while in this thick fog, Du-Wei always maintained a high level of alert as he carefully sensed the surrounding movements. But whether it was Du-Wei, or the quick to react Hussein, they were not able to sense any suspicious movements or things around.
Rather, it was the experienced adventurer Dadaneier, that raised a question. "Did you notice the ground here has less and less snow as we continue walking?"
Once said, it reminded both Du-Wei and Hussein of this fact. The two men suddenly noticed there was less snow on their feet. Sniffing the air, Du-Wei frowned as he spoke. "It's not just the snow getting less, but rather, the Canyon seemed to be warmer than the outside." Du-Wei pointed to the ground and slowed squatted down to dig his hand into the soft and wet earth. "If it was in the frozen forest, even a knife would have a difficult time cutting into the frozen earth."
Continuing to walk for a while, almost all of the snow on the ground disappeared. Once the snow on the ground melted away, the soil became very muddy and cause the three men to feel very uncomfortable from the slippery mud. Fortunately, further in they went, the terrain becomes higher and drier.
In a quick flash of his eyes, Du-Wei once again stopped. "You guys noticed?"
Hussein and Dadaneier also stopped and nodded.
Du-Wei touched the ground with his hand, then smiled. "The ground is hot, damn, could this Canyon be a giant geothermal area?"
Dadaneier laughed, "So this is why the snow melted."
Du-Wei thought for a moment, then suddenly figured out one thing about the thick fog!
This fog is due to the cold air outside and the warm air in the Canyon colliding together, then amassing in the Canyon's mouth. As the snow melts, the water vaporizes into the air and forms the fog…. It also seems to be that the other party is determined to use magic to solidify the mist, creating a special zone that doesn't allow the wind to evaporate the fog.
Walking into the Canyon, the ground becomes even drier and the temperature in the air also rises.
From the beginning till now, since coming into the Canyon, Du-Wei has been feeling helpless. The group of three has been traveling on a small pathway filled with different turns and curves, similar to that of a maze. This situation continued until the fog started to gradually clear up. Now they could feel the ground below their feet was dry and from observation, they could see some weeds and green mosses on both sides of the mountain rocks!
Compared to the outside filled with ice, snow and cold wind, the temperature in the Canyon was much more comfortable.
"It seems that the Evil Eye Tyrant robbed a good place." Dadaneier couldn't help but laughed, "For there to be such a place in this hellish forest, I would definitely be reluctant to return this place to others. It is freezing out there!"
Sensing the warmth in this area, Du-Wei already unbuttoned the upper area of his fur coat so that he could stick his neck out for some air. Despite his effort, Du-Wei could feel sweat forming on his body. In the end, he even took off his fur hat and held it in his arms while he carefully surveyed the area.
Feeling somewhat better now, Du-Wei could almost ignore the fog entirely because of how thin it was now compared to before. Earlier, the fog not only affected the eyes visibility, it was also thick with humidity, causing Du-Wei to have coughing fit. There was no doubt in his mind that many terrible moistures were forcibly contained in the misty fog for a long period of time. If a person were to breath this into their very lungs, they would receive pulmonary edema. (Excess water accumulates in the lungs).
At this moment, there was no fog to hinder their sight, thus allowing the three men to have a good look at this place.
From observation, the road leading into the deeper part of the Canyon was gradually getting wider and the mountain on the side was still exposing a rocky surface. Occasionally on the blueish and grayish rock crevices, there would sometimes be clusters of unknown little plants. At the same time, Du-Wei could also see on both sides of the Canyon valley, there were countless numbers of rotting woods and the ones with corrupted roots, Du-Wei could not guess how many years it has been since they were like that.
"Hey look, there is something interesting." Hussein, the person in the lead suddenly uttered a strange cry after he spoke.
Du-Wei and Dadaneier at once ran up to him and saw Hussein standing beside a "stone tablet".
Calling it a "stone tablet" was somewhat pushing it. From its look, it was clearly a big rock by the roadside, only a part of it was cut off to show a neat section. On the surface was a few words carved into it and the text was clearly that of the Empire!
"Kingdom of the Evil Eyes notice: Please note that you have already set foot on the territory of the Kingdom of the Evil Eye. This piece of land is under the rule of the great king of the Kingdom of the Evil Eye. According to the decree promulgated by the great evil eye king himself, any organism, whether magical beast, human, Treant, or anything else, must dedicate and pay taxes to his majesty if they are passing or crossing the territory of the Kingdom. Every living creature in transit is to offer one of their eyes! This notice is the supreme law of the kingdom, if any outsider do not abide by this royal decree, they are to be killed on sight!"