Qi Ji expressed his understanding:
"You want me to tie up the pirate leader tightly, so that he won't take advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble when he is handed over to the Iron City officials?"
"Yes, if he causes casualties among the city's bureaucrats... that would be a big problem."
Faced with such a request, Qi Ji would certainly not refuse. He immediately went to the bottom floor of the cabin under the guidance of Meili, and started to provide a bondage service to the pirate leader who was tightly tied up with thick hemp ropes.
"It should be fine. The restraints are very strong. It is basically impossible for a righteous warrior to break free by brute force."
After finishing his work, Qi Ji clapped his hands, without even glancing at the pirate who was in a trance due to Meili's spell. He turned around and went back to the deck to continue admiring the spectacular scene of thousands of sails gathering.
About an hour later, the two ships entered the anchorage and lined up, approaching the pier used for landing at a fairly slow speed.
It was almost dusk when the tax collector, paddling a small kayak, stepped onto the deck of the Challenger with a serious and upright face, escorted by a fully armed soldier in armor.
Qi Ji leaned on the railing in the distance and watched Meili and the first and second mates approach them a little nervously, trying to get close to them and stuffing red envelopes into their mouths, then he took the two of them to inspect the cargo and personnel in the cabin floor by floor.
Then, while explaining, he led him to the black paddle boat parked behind and repeated the previous operation.
It took almost an hour to finish everything.
"What a big mouth you have..."
After seeing off the tax collector who had returned with a "full load", Meili wiped the cold sweat from her forehead and complained in a slightly depressed tone while waiting for the ship to dock at the pier:
"Since I had money, they took away more than one-third of the goods. If it were in the past, I would have gone bankrupt and disbanded..."
Even though she made a lot of money on this trip, this expense was not particularly exaggerated in comparison, but it still made her instinctively feel painful.
"Oh yes, speaking of money."
Meili slapped her forehead, smiled at Qi Ji, and walked quickly into the ship's building. A few minutes later, she came out trotting, holding a heavy cloth bag in her hand, which made a tinkling sound as it shook:
"Here's your reward!"
Qi Ji took it expressionlessly, without counting it, and put it directly into his cloak.
"It was originally supposed to be 80 El, but you've done so much for us along the way, so this is too little, so I increased it a bit... Now it's 150 El, if you think it's too little, I can add a little more."
"No thanks." Qi Ji did not bargain.
Soon, the Challenger docked steadily beside the pier. Under the command of the first and second mates, the sailors began to go in and out of the cabin, carrying box after box filled with cotton and sugar off the ship. It seemed that it would take some time to finish the work.
So Qi Ji said goodbye to them:
"I still have some things to do, so I'll leave first."
"Ah, are you leaving now?"
Seeing her in such a hurry, Meili felt very reluctant to leave:
"Are you really not going to wait any longer? We can go out for a drink together tonight!"
The sailors were also reluctant to see this:
"Wait a little longer! We can unload the goods quickly."
"That's right, we've known each other for so long, shouldn't we have a meal together?"
"..."
Although it was hard to refuse such a kind invitation, Qi Ji also had her own things to do. She looked around, thought for a moment, and said with a smile:
"Aren't you going to stay in the Iron City for three days? I have things to do, so I can't play with you for now. But when you go back in three days... I will probably have time."
She pointed to the pier at the port:
"How about this? I'll come back to you in three days and continue to be the escort of the Challenger. How about that?"
Meili's eyes immediately lit up:
"Of course! There's no better guard than you!"
After saying goodbye to everyone, Qi Ji left the port and plunged into the steel city with its bold and sturdy architectural style.
After spending a week on a boat drifting in the wind and rain, I felt a little uncomfortable after going ashore. I always felt that the solid land was shaking, and it took me a while to recover.
Not long after, she found a relatively tall building, and she teleported to the top of the building in a flash. She looked over the layers of houses and buildings and gazed towards the distant east.
Most of the territory of the Star Confederation is plains, with few hills and mountains, so the view is extremely broad.
The sky is cloudless, the air is clear, and the sky is bright and crystal clear. Even the scenery dozens or hundreds of kilometers away can be seen at a glance.
What blocked her sight was a gray-black mountain range that stretched from north to south in an unknown distance, with one end extending north to the end of her sight and the other end plunging directly into the ocean.
The dark mountain was extremely oppressive even though it was so far away. Its top, which was towering to an unimaginable height, was blurred and the clouds could only serve as its belt.
At the eastern end of the Northern Continent is the unpredictable, unexplorable, and eternally silent "Mountains of End".
If the current information is correct, as long as we cross it... we will reach the distorted land where the Last Kingdom exists, sandwiched between gray and lead black.
And that is exactly the destination of Qi Ji's trip.
"According to the initial estimates... the main force of the Saint Hydra Society should be about to set off by now, right?"
That day, when she eavesdropped on the mysterious meeting of Mr. Shatak and others in the "Mana Tide" in Lookout City, she learned that the Saint Xudra Society would officially march towards the End Mountains in about a week.
The timing is just right.
With his hands behind his waist, Qi Ji murmured in his heart as he looked at the steep mountains that stretched for thousands of miles.
"I just don't know what kind of scenery they will see after crossing this mountain range. And in what kind of situation will the divinity of the 'Eleventh Authority: Dawn' that they have worked so hard to refine be used?
"What purpose do these people have...
"Really, I'm looking forward to it..."
Chapter 436 Welcome
At the same time Qi Ji arrived at his destination, another group of people also arrived at their destination.
"We're finally here... I'm almost dying from the jolting of this carriage. My head is shaking all of a sudden."
Bernice jumped out of the carriage that was tightly wrapped in a cloth tent and landed lightly on the ground. While moving her joints, she turned her head and looked at a figure getting off the carriage behind her:
"Mother, can you... still hold on?"
Mother Lilith walked down the stairs and stepped onto the ground with graceful movements. Compared with Bernice's vigor and vitality, she looked a little tired.
She gave her daughter a soothing smile and said softly:
"I'm in good shape, I just need to take a rest."
After saying that, he reached into the dark carriage, quickly grabbed something, and pulled it out with force.
"Ah, I'll do this!"
Bernice rushed over to help, and soon the two of them lifted a coffin-sized wooden box out of the carriage and placed it carefully on the ground. There was a heavy thud when it hit the ground, which showed that the box was not light.
However, the two ladies, who looked slender, frail and beautiful, did not seem to feel any effort in carrying such a heavy object, as if the coffin was just a light feather.
"Huh... this guy really caused us a lot of trouble..."
Bernice clapped her hands to shake off the dust and muttered in a distressed manner.
Her mother Lilith stood by and looked at her with a smile, then turned around and looked around.
This is a lush green plain with sparse, short but tender weeds growing on the ground. Trees are randomly distributed on the plain at a very low density.
The inconspicuous wheel tracks zigzag across the lawn, forming a carriage path.
Occasionally a few birds fly across the sky, and various wild animals can be vaguely seen wandering leisurely on the earth. What a distant, tranquil and poetic pastoral scene.
The sound of wind, birds singing, insects buzzing, cows mooing...
In such a vast area, there were only three living people: Bernice, her daughter and the coachman. It seemed empty and the atmosphere was somewhat desolate and sad.
This is the plain of the "unfrozen lake" area of the Krestian Dynasty. It is a rare area in this northern country with thousands of miles of ice and snow that can maintain spring-like weather all year round and is full of vitality.
This plain occupies less than one-tenth of the area of the Krestian Dynasty, but provides more than one-third of the country's grain output, making it the most important heart of the entire country.
The dynasty’s capital “Sophik” is less than a hundred kilometers away. On the distant horizon, you can see a few wisps of smoke rising, which are traces of villages with thousands of acres of fertile land.
Since parting with Qi Ji in Twilight City, after more than a week's long journey, the mother and daughter have left the Glorious Plantagenet Empire, escaped across the border in a carriage, secretly entered the territory of the Crestor Dynasty, and arrived here.
During this period, Lilith continued to maintain the grace of the "Ancient Moon" on the vampire, so as to prevent the death of this guy who might have vital information.
Even though Lilith was a very talented "out-of-stasis" vampire, and her mastery of the power of divine grace was close to perfection, but using it for such a long time still exhausted her spiritually and mentally.
The face, which was already pale to begin with, became even paler, with dark circles under the lower eyelids, as if he had been staying up all night for a long time.
Her mother looked obviously unwell. As a daughter, Bernice was worried. However, with her current strength, she was unable to share the pressure for her mother. So she could only say in a comforting tone:
"Don't worry, mother. Our bloodline compatriots must have received the request for help we sent out and will definitely arrive on time... We can probably wait for another hour at most and then relax."
Over the past week, they have not just been busy traveling by car. During this period, they have tried many times to send messages for help to the "Guige" bloodline family of the Moonlight Empire through various methods, including but not limited to carrier pigeons, letter delivery, spell broadcasting, blood resonance, etc.
Finally, two days ago, a giant bat with a wingspan of one meter fell from the sky and threw the reply of Guige bloodline to the two in the form of a letter.
It said above that the Guige bloodline already knew about the situation of the mother and daughter, and had sent a team to greet them. The meeting place was here, and the time was two days later - that is, today - around six o'clock in the afternoon.
The wax seal of the letter dropped by the giant bat bears the mark of the Guige bloodline. The envelope, paper, writing format, language style, signature content, letter paper pattern and other details of the letter all meet the requirements of the Guige bloodline. There are also spiritual traces left for verification, so it is impossible to be a forgery.
In other words, the mother and daughter, who had suffered for several months, were finally going to return to the family's power!
Bernice couldn't help but feel excited at the thought that she could finally escape from such a hard, dangerous, poor and tiring life. All the anguish, depression and fatigue that had accumulated over the past month were swept away!
Her scarlet eyes were half-closed in a lively manner. She couldn't help humming a song while jumping happily and easily on the grass, and her long and smooth black hair swayed and jumped along with it.
Although she appears to be a tall, fair-skinned, and proud ice-type beauty, her expression and actions are like a lively little girl.
Seeing her daughter's happy face, Lilith relaxed a lot. She straightened her long skirt which had become dark and messy due to the long journey, and sat on the wooden coffin with a soft and doting smile on her face. She looked at Bernice as if she was appreciating a beautiful painting.
Time passed minute by minute, and soon it was six o'clock in the afternoon.
The first person to notice the convoy appearing on the horizon was Lilith. She stood up, squinted her eyes and looked into the distance. She saw three carriages approaching this side along the path. The family crest of the Guige bloodline could be vaguely seen engraved on the side of one of the carriages.
Almost at the same time, Bernice also saw this convoy from afar, which symbolized liberation, and immediately cheered:
"Great! They are here!"
Ten minutes later, three four-wheeled carriages drove up to the two men with the sound of horses' hooves and stopped. The door of the smaller carriage opened from the inside, and a man in a tuxedo got out.
"Mr. Congressman, Miss, I am sorry for the trouble you both have caused."
He bowed deeply to the two ladies, then walked to the largest carriage, opened the side door, and said respectfully:
"Please get in the car. I will take you back to your country right away..."
"brush!"
Before he could finish, Bernice rushed into the carriage like an arrow and threw herself hard on the spacious cushioned seat:
“Ahhhh, I almost forgot how this feels! It’s so comfortable!!…”
Seeing her loss of composure, Lilith did not reprimand her. She shook her head helplessly, then straightened her face, stood up and said to the man in the tuxedo:
"Let me take over first... I'm a little tired."
In the letter she sent to her family, she detailed their current predicament, including the fatigue caused by the long-term activation of the "Ancient Moon" grace.
Naturally, she asked the family to send another "Out of Mud" recipient to take over Lilith's job.
Otherwise, even if the two sides returned to their country immediately after meeting, it would take at least another four or five days to return to the castle of Guige Bloodline. With Lilith's current mental state, it would be difficult for her to hold on for that long.
Unexpectedly, the man in the tuxedo was slightly stunned by her words and asked in confusion:
"Members, what kind of manpower?"
Lilith was also stunned, her eyes slightly widened:
"Didn't the bloodline tell you to ask for another 'out of stasis' favored person to help?"
The man in the tuxedo could tell something was wrong, but he still looked confused:
"Sir, I was ordered by the Speaker to come here to welcome you back...but the order did not mention asking for additional support from the dependents."
Hearing this, Lilith's pupils shrank, and she said in a very solemn tone:
"Is this... an instruction from 'Blood Speaker' Nasdaq?"
Chapter 437 The lingering ghost
The next morning, just as the eastern sky was beginning to turn pale, Qi Ji arrived at the foot of the End Mountains.
