CHAPTER 1511: CHAPTER 1511: ERA OF THE GREAT CATACLYSM

The howling wind and snow passed by the two of them.

Then He Ao watched as Kela slowly raised her hand, a faint white light gathering at her fingertips.

Under He Ao’s gaze, the edge of the sleigh, purely made of ice, quickly extended upward, forming a transparent, crystal-like ice cap that completely covered the entire sleigh.

Soon, the dense wind and snow covered this ice cap, placing a layer of blur over it.

He Ao reached out and touched the ice crystal on his face.

Kela seemed to have noticed the ice crystal on herself and deliberately created a protective shield.

"You don’t seem to be afraid of the cold," He Ao looked at Kela in front of him and asked softly.

"I don’t feel the cold; the cold wind is my friend," Kela shook her head slightly, gazing at He Ao, and smiled, "I haven’t asked your name yet?"

"He Ao," He Ao answered directly.

"Hein?" Kela hesitated and repeated.

Indeed, it was a problem of language, as the pronunciation of Central Earth’s language differed from that of the dungeon world.

However, He Ao did not intend to correct the pronunciation; "Hein" was an acceptable transliteration of "He Ao."

But soon, Kela corrected her pronunciation, softly saying, "He Ao, hello."

Her pronunciation still had some deviation, but it was clearly recognizable that she was saying "He Ao," and not "Hein."

"Hello, Queen Kela."

He Ao was slightly surprised but eventually nodded to respond.

Then his gaze fell on the side door of the sleigh, where a simple camellia insignia was outlined.

"This is the emblem of the Xiqilelan royal family," Kela noticed He Ao’s gaze and introduced softly.

Vaguely, He Ao recalled the soldier phantoms he had seen earlier, and those soldiers also seemed to have a similar insignia on them.

"Do you know Dawn City?" He Ao withdrew his gaze and asked softly.

"It sounds like a city in the south," Kela replied softly, "but among Xiqilelan’s trade partners, there is no such city."

That means she didn’t know.

Vaguely, He Ao already had some guesses about his location.

Even though the guess sounded a bit fantastical, it seemed to be the most reasonable explanation at the moment.

This was a dungeon world, but not the dungeon world he was familiar with.

Rather, it was a dungeon world from hundreds or even thousands of years ago, during the Era of the Great Cataclysm.

However, He Ao couldn’t figure out if this was a real ’crossing over’ or if he had just entered a large ’historical illusion’ similar to a Relic of the Bygone Days.

"Is the city-state we are going to the northernmost one?"

He Ao did not continue questioning about Dawn City but instead asked softly.

Here, it’s already a thousand kilometers away from Xiqilelan.

Further to the north, even in the dungeon world a few hundred years ago, there shouldn’t be many cities.

"Yes, that city-state is on an island in the north," Kela said softly, "it is the richest city-state in the entire northern city-state alliance."

"Then don’t we need to cross the sea?" He Ao pondered.

"We are crossing the sea right now," Kela said softly.

He Ao was slightly taken aback, looked up, and saw the vast, flat snowfield around them.

This was not a snowfield, but a frozen strait.

So the nearest city-state was two hundred kilometers to the south and fifty kilometers to the north. These were two city-states across the sea from each other.

"Is this snowstorm so big?" He Ao was slightly surprised, "Or is it that the strait freezes over every winter?"

Such a huge strait was directly frozen.

"This is the first time the entire strait has frozen," Kela said softly, "the further north you go, the stronger the snowstorm."

"Is that northern city right by the seaside? What’s its name?" He Ao asked softly.

"Yes," Kela nodded slightly.

She turned her gaze, her eyes penetrating the snow piled on the roof, looking ahead, and said softly, "They call it the Rock City State."

He Ao: ?

——

Rock City State

The howling cold wind blew past the foot of the mountain, and a galloping ice-carved reindeer pulled a rushing sleigh, soaring over the vast ’ice surface,’ carrying surging snowflakes scooped from the earth, charging forward.

In that intense snowstorm, a wide shadowy silhouette gradually revealed itself.

The ice cap on the sleigh gradually melted away, and the howling snowstorm blew into the faces of the two inside the sleigh.

The galloping ice reindeer stopped its steps, bringing the sleigh to a complete halt as well.

He Ao lifted his head and looked towards the field of view ahead.

This city-state, deemed the ’most prosperous’ in the northern city-state alliance, was quite different from what He Ao had imagined.

What met his eye was not a majestic city, but a rudimentary city wall piled up with large stones.

The entire wall was about ten meters high. Strictly speaking, compared to human height and the height of ancient city walls, it was not considered low.

But for He Ao, who was accustomed to the wonder-like tall walls of the dungeon world, this wall seemed somewhat ’short.’

He could even easily leap over it with a gentle jump.

However, compared to the wall over ten meters high, the city gate of this wall was even more ’short and stout.’

It was only about three meters high, but its width was about four or five meters.

The entire city gate was made of some kind of heavy timber, appearing broad and stable.

Perhaps it was because this city wall blocked the wind that the snowstorm wasn’t as intense upon reaching the wall.

And at this moment, the guards on the city wall also saw the shadow of the two people.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" A loud shout came from above their heads.

Upon hearing this voice, Kela was slowly stepping down from the sleigh.

Her movements were slow and orderly, calmly walking to the city gate.

She did not look up at the guard who spoke but gazed steadily at the city gate ahead. Her voice, elegant and rhythmic, rose softly, "I am the Queen of Xiqilelan, here to see your governor."

Her voice was gentle but successfully pierced through the wind and snow, clearly reaching everyone’s ears.

"Queen?" Upon hearing this, the guard on the city wall was momentarily stunned, then looked down and laughed heartily, "You’re a queen? Then I’m a king!"

His voice carried a certain mockery and disdain as he laughed, "Where is your army? Your attendants? Surely there is at least a fine horse? Xiqilelan is probably over a thousand kilometers from here, right? How could a queen travel such a distance alone? Where did this wild girl come from, trying to bluff and freeload her way into the city!"

Facing the guard’s words, Kela’s expression did not change at all; she merely gazed calmly at the city gate.

He Ao stood behind her, watching this scene with interest.

At this moment, he was trying to activate the Trapped Destiny Plate.

To his surprise, the Trapped Destiny Plate seemed unable to replace the region of this world and directly descend into this world.

It appeared to be some sort of ’compatibility’ issue; perhaps this ’world’ itself was not real but some kind of ’illusion’?

Or maybe it was due to some powerful interference that prevented the Trapped Destiny Plate from successfully interfacing with this world?

However, the good news was that he could still enter the inner world of the Trapped Destiny Plate, though it would take some effort and time.

Retracting his thoughts placed on the Trapped Destiny Plate, He Ao lifted his head and glanced at the guards on the city wall.

There were quite a few guards on the wall who were indeed looking down at He Ao and the other person.

The one who just spoke seemed to be a leader among the guards.

At this moment, he was gazing at the calm Kela below, his expression uncertain.

He Ao could roughly sense his thoughts.

Although he didn’t believe a queen would travel alone through a snowstorm to come all this way, thinking Kela was lying.

But Kela’s demeanor made him feel that she was most likely a true noble.

He Ao narrowed his eyes slightly and gently stirred the thoughts of this leader.

At that moment, the leader of the guards made a decision, turned around, and ran toward the back of the city wall.

With He Ao’s current power, affecting an ordinary person’s thoughts no longer required marking; a single thought was enough.

He lowered his head, looking at Kela who was still standing quietly in the snowstorm.

To be honest, Kela’s approach seemed quite effective. As long as she stood here and exhibited her bearing, those guards would eventually doubt and then go call someone higher up.

It’s just that without He Ao’s intervention, it would take a bit longer than expected.

At this moment, Kela seemed to sense He Ao’s gaze. She turned slightly, lightly raised her fingertip, and pointed at the sled.

The ice-made sled extended upwards once again, forming a simple dome.

Then, she smiled at He Ao.

Clearly, she also realized that they might need to wait for a while, so she made a place to shield He Ao from the storm separately.

Upon seeing this manipulation of ice and snow, the guards on the city wall immediately changed their expressions.

Some more guards left, heading towards the back of the city wall.

"It seems the city gate is about to open," He Ao looked at the somewhat panicked guards on the wall and said to Kela with a soft laugh.

"Hmm," Kela withdrew her hand, nodded slightly, turned around, standing straight up, with hands folded in front, once more looking at the city gate ahead.

"Is there any clue about this snowstorm within this city-state?" He Ao walked to her front and asked softly.

"Rock City State has a Storm Priest who is very sensitive to weather," Kela turned her head slightly, gazing at He Ao, and said softly.

As they spoke, faint footsteps sounded behind the wide city gate ahead.

Kela looked down at her clean palm.

Some white glow gathered at her fingertips, forming a pair of pure white snow gloves, tightly adhering to her skin.

Though made of ice and snow, the gloves were imbued with a texture and pattern of silk.

Crack—

At that moment, the heavy solid wood city gate opened from the middle.

A stout and corpulent man, clad in simple armor, seemingly a general, slowly appeared behind the opened door slit.

Beside him stood the guard leader who had spoken, a slender, pale-skinned soldier.

Upon seeing Kela at first glance, the armored general immediately walked over, "Your Majesty, please forgive my neglect."

He bowed and walked to Kela’s front.

Kela naturally extended her hand for him to kiss her gloved hand-back.

Then Kela withdrew her hand, and the general also raised his head, smiling, "We never expected that one day you would grace us with your presence. Your arrival makes the whole city-state shine brightly."

He Ao watched the general with interest.

This general was a Transcendent but only at a D-level. At such a close distance, He Ao could roughly feel his thoughts.

This general didn’t actually know Kela. He had only seen a portrait of her from when she was young.

He noted some resemblance between Kela and the portrait, but felt someone with such a demeanor was likely a big figure.

Whether she was truly the queen or not, it was better to acknowledge her first.

Just in case.

As He Ao observed this general, the general also lifted his head to look at He Ao, "And who might this be?"

It was evident that he noticed He Ao’s distinctly different appearance.

"A guest from the South," Kela introduced softly.

"Hello, esteemed visitor from afar," the general immediately extended his hand enthusiastically, "I am Kaster, the military leader of Rock City State."

"Hello, I am He Ao." He Ao extended his hand and shook hands with him.

"Mr. Hein, it’s a pleasure to meet you." Kaster lifted his hand, warmly shaking He Ao’s hand.

It seems I can’t get away from this name.

He Ao made no correction but instead smiled naturally, "Mr. Kaster, a pleasure to meet you too."

"It’s my honor," Kaster nodded,

"Oh, there is one more thing," at this moment, Kaster seemed to remember something, raised his hand, and pointed at the emaciated soldier who had led him to open the door, speaking softly, "Arrest him."

The surrounding soldiers surged forward, pinning the emaciated soldier to the ground before he could react.

Kaster turned, bowing slightly and smiling at Kela, "This person dared to insult the esteemed Majesty just now,"

He glanced coldly at the still somewhat dazed emaciated soldier, the fawning smile on his lips turning frosty, his serene eyes outlining bloodthirst, "Take him away and boil him."

At that instant, the soldier suddenly realized, crouched on the ground, trembling and crying, "I didn’t mean to, please have mercy, General, please have mercy, Your Majesty, don’t boil me, don’t boil me—"

Kaster’s expression didn’t change at all, speaking calmly, "Take him away."

"No need," at this moment, Kela who had been standing there spoke softly, "He doesn’t deserve to die."

Hearing this, Kaster’s expression subtly changed, the side of his face turned away from Kela seemed slightly displeased.

But he quickly resumed his smile, turning to Kela, fawningly said, "Your Majesty is kind, yet he’s not free of guilt,"

Then he swiftly commanded, "Take him away, give him thirty lashes, and expel him from the guards."

This time, he didn’t give Kela a chance to speak and directly signaled the soldiers to drag the guard leader away.

He then looked at Kela, smiling, "Your Majesty, I sincerely apologize to you once again."

Kela glanced at him, her expression unchanged, "This wasn’t your fault."

"Your Majesty is kind," Kaster smiled, glancing at Kela and He Ao,

"Your Majesty, esteemed guest, please follow me," then turned around and walked forward, "I have arranged a carriage to take you both to the palace to meet the governor. I believe he will be very pleased to see both of you."

Saying so, he lifted his foot and proceeded straight ahead.

He Ao looked at Kela beside him.

That Captain Kaster was genuinely intending to cook that guard. Saving him a bit ago slightly agitated the general.

Therefore, when it was later changed to whipping, though Kela still thought it was heavy-handed, she didn’t speak again.

If saved again, although the guard would appear forgiven in public, he would likely die even worse after Kela left.

This is, after all, someone else’s territory.

Beside him, the Queen seemed not as impulsive as she appeared.

Kela lifted her foot and followed General Kaster.

He Ao withdrew his gaze and quietly watched ahead, following Kela slowly forward.