We agreed to set sail, so you'd become the ruler of the deep sea?

Chapter 241 The True Face of the City of Giant Trees!
After throwing himself into the sea.

Xiange frowned slightly, her bronze eyebrows furrowing.

With her keen instincts, the bronze dragon sensed a hidden, mysterious power permeating the seawater, which made her feel slightly uncomfortable.

Then, Xuan Ge looked down at the [City of Giant Trees] below, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes.

There is such a lush and vibrant forest underwater?

have to say.

Judging from appearances alone, the scenery of the City of Giant Trees can be described as spectacular.

It was like a miracle of the Creator.

Even though Xia En had already given Xiange a brief introduction to the city, Xiange couldn't help but gasp in surprise upon seeing this scene.

However, Xiange certainly hadn't forgotten the task Xia En had given her.

After a brief moment of surprise, she became serious and began to murmur in a mysterious elven language.

This ancient language has now been lost.

Just like those even older dragon languages.

Even when Xiange was reciting incantations, he seemed a bit slow and awkward, mostly because he was worried about mispronouncing certain syllables and causing the spell to fail.

Beside her, Xia En listened silently to the chanting of the stringed instrument, feeling both familiar and strange.

It seemed that each individual syllable was understandable, but when put together, it became a completely unfamiliar language.

Shaen suspected that he hadn't actually completely forgotten the Elvish language skill.

It cannot be used normally only because of some unknown limitation.

As for why the String Song can still cast spells in Elvish, it's probably related to its race as an ancient dragon.

While Xia En was pondering, a strange change had already occurred in Xiange.

A dark golden light gradually appeared in her eyes.

Deep within the light, it seemed as if an ancient rune was turning, profound and breathtaking.

This also gave Xiange's face a mysterious air that was different from usual.

"Rune?"

Xia En's heart skipped a beat.

He knew from a very early age that language and writing possessed a mysterious power.

Moreover, compared to ordinary spells, runes seem to be closer to the essence of arcane power.

For example, when Shane was plundering the [Magnetic Thunderstorm], he vaguely came into contact with runes that seemed to represent "thunder".

However, at that time, the time spent with runes was too short, and before Shane could study them more deeply, the runes disappeared.

But now, looking at the rune in Xuan Ge's eyes, Xia En inexplicably understood its meaning—

【reality!】

The existence of this rune is the cornerstone of the [True Sight] spell.

Realizing this, Xia En couldn't help but think more deeply.

Could the special feature of Elvish be that it is closer to the essence of mysticism than ordinary languages?
But that's it.

The expression on Xiange's face suddenly changed; her face turned pale, her pupils dilated, and her whole body trembled violently.

"Xiange, what's wrong?"

Xia En frowned, immediately realizing something was wrong, and quickly asked, "What did you see?"

As Xiange's face grew paler, she murmured something through her mouth.

"Run...run! This city..."

Seeing this, Xia En immediately made a decision, grabbed Xiange's little hand, and swam quickly towards the sea.

……

……

After a while.

The two returned to the deck of the Black Swan, but Xuan Ge still looked shaken, as if she had been greatly frightened.

Xian Ge's nature has always been unconventional; to put it nicely, he is unrestrained and optimistic; to put it bluntly, he is arrogant and conceited.

Even she showed this expression, which can only mean that Xiange was really scared.

Upon seeing this, Joey immediately asked with concern.

"What happened to Xiange?"

"Captain, what happened to you at sea?"

Xia En was also puzzled.

If you really want to put it simply, String Song only glanced at the City of Giant Trees with the Eye of True Sight.

Could it be that just a glance from afar has frightened the usually bold Xian Ge to this extent?

At this moment, Joey softly began to sing an unknown ballad, using the mysterious power of the song to soothe the frightened soul of the stringed instrument.

After acquiring the [Deep Sea Singer] profession, Joey gained more authority over the Storm Goddess.

This includes calming the mind, a fundamental ability that a Storm Priest must master.

As the gentle, soothing sound of the waves reached Xiange's ears, her flustered mind quickly calmed down.

Xian Ge reopened her eyes and spoke seriously.

"Captain, that city... is definitely more terrifying than you imagined?"

"I suggest you don't go exploring there again in the future."

Xia En raised an eyebrow: "What's going on? What exactly does the City of Giant Trees look like in the [Eye of True Sight]?"

"Wait a moment, I also have a spell called [Memory Sharing]."

Xiange tried to calm her mind and cast another spell, saying, "Please look."

Immediately, a thin screen of light appeared before everyone's eyes.

The above presents the scene as seen by the stringed instrument from a first-person perspective.

The first scene shows the car entering the sea.

Then came the endless, lush, and vibrant underwater forest.

Joey exclaimed in slight surprise, "What a huge forest!"

"The vitality here is almost as great as that of the [Rhine Secret Realm], isn't it?"

Shaen had long regarded the crew members as partners who would share life and death, so he naturally told them about the existence of the [Rhine Secret Realm].

In fact, during their free time, the crew members would also venture into the [Rhineland Secret Realm].

On one hand, it helps Shane explore this vast and mysterious realm.

On the other hand, it was to pass the time during the boring voyage and, incidentally, hone one's combat skills.

—Sometimes it's not a good thing for a captain to be too capable; sometimes naval battles are over before they even have to lift a finger.

The training exercises between crew members did not involve that sense of life-or-death crisis.

Fortunately, the [Rhine Realm] contains many unknown and exotic species, which can serve as a whetstone for them.

Faye, standing next to her, looked at the underwater forest on the light screen with a look of surprise.

"Strange...how could such a large forest survive in the sea?"

Tracy asked curiously, "What's so scary about this forest?"

Xiange didn't explain further, but simply sighed and said...

"You'll understand soon enough."

As time progressed within the memories of the string song, a faint dark golden light appeared on the screen, and the scene in the field of vision immediately began to ripple like water.

Clearly, this is the memory of String Song using [True Sight].

As the image cleared, everyone present stared wide-eyed.

There is no life there, and no forest there.

In the depths of the sea below, a layer of filthy material resembling a fungal carpet was spread out, constantly emitting a putrid odor.

On the fungal carpet lay the withered and decaying tree-men. To put it bluntly, they were practically mummies.

The tree-man corpses' branches resembled distorted flesh and blood, their eye sockets sunken, their faces twisted, seemingly telling tales of endless suffering.

And the deity at the center of the city, known as the "Giant Tree God," is not a giant tree at all.

And a huge, rotting, fleshy heart!
Countless red and black flesh transformed into tentacles, suckers, mouthparts... and the surface was covered with various pulsating internal organs, such as stomach, heart, liver, and kidneys.

A solid, pitch-black liquid slowly flowed from those mouthparts, dripping onto the seabed and instantly spreading into a twisted carpet of flesh.

This caused the jungle of flesh and blood to continue to expand outwards.

With each beat of this heart, the tree-man corpses on the flesh carpet were stimulated to let out a frenzied and painful silent roar.

"This……"

Upon seeing this scene, not only the crew members, but even Shane was deeply shocked.

"Is this the real [City of Giant Trees]?"

Even though he had seen the true form of the Seed of Life and had some expectations in his mind.

Yet this city, made of rotten, filthy flesh and blood, still brought him a strong spiritual shock.

The thought of spending so much time in this city of flesh and blood sent chills down Xia En's spine.

And this is the scene after [memory sharing], so the impact of the scene has been greatly reduced.

One can imagine how terrified Xiange was when she saw that scene.

It's no wonder it became so flustered.

The crew members were also greatly impressed by the changes in the scene displayed on the light screen.

The main issue is the stark contrast between the before and after; it's just too obvious.

One second it was a vibrant forest, the next it became filthy, desecrated flesh and blood.

Joey asked with concern, "Captain, do you really want to explore this city?"

"I think... we'd better leave as soon as possible."

Shane shook his head: "I have reasons to explore it."

"But don't worry, I have a unique way of exploring, nothing will happen."

By now, most of the crew members had a vague idea of ​​Shane's [Deep Sea Diving] secret, but neither side revealed it to the other.

The crew members simply regarded it as Shane's special secret technique and did not pursue it further.

As captain, Shane wields unlimited power on the ship.

By this time, he had made up his mind, and the crew naturally wouldn't try to persuade him any further.

Yan Yan, draped in a long robe, suggested, "Captain Xia En, why don't I accompany you down there?"

"Let me burn this forest to the ground!"

Yan Yan's expression was cheerful and sunny, but what she said was a little scary.

However, Yan Yan rarely volunteers for battles on ordinary days.

After all, that mysterious and powerful flame, while scorching the enemy, was also burning his own body.

Yan Yan has finally managed to control her flames a little, and she doesn't want to fall back into that hellish state of being tormented by flames every day.

Therefore, Xia En was somewhat curious about the reason why he volunteered for the battle.

Yan Yan said frankly, "I don't know why, but I feel really uncomfortable looking at that huge heart, and I always want to burn it."

accurate?

That is indeed a reason.

However, Xia En couldn't help but think of Yan Yan's mysterious past.

Yan Yan's origins are also extraordinary; Xia En could only vaguely guess that he might have some connection with the legendary "King of Cinder."

Perhaps, in his lost memories, he had contact with the [Giant Tree God]?

Xia En's gaze swept over Yan Yan, Xiange, and An.

To this day, these crew members still harbor deeply hidden secrets that have yet to be uncovered.

Each of them has an extraordinary background and possesses a unique bloodline.

It seems I've come this far solely through my own efforts and a little help from the [Eye of the Secret Sea]...

Xia En gathered his thoughts and decided to bring Yan Yan with him on the next dive mission.

It wasn't that he really wanted to burn down this decaying city.

—Although most of the tree people in the city have converted to the [Giant Tree God], a small number of tree people still cling to their faith and are barely surviving.

We can't just burn them all to death, can we?
Xia En decided to use Yan Yan as a "backup hidden energy source".

If it really comes to the worst, we'll unleash Yan Yan and explode against those treants.

At this moment, Xia En remembered something else and asked Xiange about it.

"Could you take a picture of this memory?"

"If we have a recording stone, it should work, right?" Xiange said uncertainly.

A photographic stone is a special alchemical product that can temporarily record a portion of an image.

Most of the time, they are used by federal law enforcement officers to collect evidence.

It is sometimes used for certain erotic purposes.

Coincidentally, there is indeed a photographic stone among the Duke of Nova's estate.

Thinking of this, Xia En took out the recording stone and handed it to Xiange.

String Song immediately began operating.

Xia En wanted to record this footage for a simple reason.

At this time, there was still a group of conservatives in the City of Giant Trees.

It was only because of the growing strength of the reformists and the overwhelming allure of "rejuvenation" that they were forced to embrace the [Giant Tree God].

If the truth could be revealed to them, it might not change the minds of all the tree people, but it would at least change the views of some of them.

Of course, Shane didn't forget that his ultimate goal was to find the Elf Temple.

With the help of this video, we might be able to get some of the help from the Tree People.

"We need to have another talk with that old Hunter."

……

……

"Grandpa Hunter has been taken away by the executioners!"

The next day, Xia En and Yan Yan arrived at the underwater forest and had just found the tree spirit Mu Mu when they heard this news.

Mumu's face was full of anxiety, and her voice even sounded like she was about to cry.

“Yesterday, I had only just told Grandpa Hunter about Uncle Fana’s betrayal when the executioners arrived!”

"Grandpa Hunter took the initiative to confront them so that I could hide."

"The result... the result..."

Xia En frowned and reassured her, "Don't panic."

"What was the charge against which it was taken away?"

Having learned about yesterday's experience, Shane now has a better understanding of the Tree People's little kingdom.

He knew that the "Executioners" were actually similar to "law enforcers," used to maintain order within the [City of Giant Trees].

However, with Elder Fana's defection, the executioner gradually became a sharp knife for persecuting the conservatives.

Mumu stared at Xia En and whispered.

"It's...it's harboring outsiders..."

Xia En raised an eyebrow. Had he been exposed?

But on second thought, this was probably a baseless frame-up.

Regardless of whether Hunter was involved with him or not, once he was taken away by the executioner, the initiative would be in the other party's hands.

Whether Hunter actually hid something from himself is irrelevant; what matters is whether the executioner thought he was hiding something!
(End of this chapter)