Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1101 - 1094: Arriving at the Shrine

Chapter 1101: Chapter 1094: Arriving at the Shrine

Walking over the long stone bridge, the group arrived at the more imposing noble district. After reaching the shore, Falei turned around, bowed slightly, and then smiling, said to the group, "You have all worked hard, please rest at the inn. We need some time to prepare, and we will set off tomorrow for the pilgrimage site. What do you think?"

"Oh, that’s fine," Luo’er nodded and politely replied.

"Then I shall take my leave first," Falei bowed again and then turned to leave, while Luo’er and the others followed Talis to their lodging to rest.

Before departing, Baiyue overheard the conversation between Falei and the female captain. Although she couldn’t understand everything, she caught the gist of it.

"High Priest, why must you be so courteous to those foreigners, especially that half-breed..." the female captain said discontentedly.

"I hope you understand, this is the will of the gods... As the High Priest, I must unconditionally execute the will of the gods... Please refrain from making those arrogant remarks..." Falei answered.

"Pfft..." Hearing her words, the female captain snorted in disdain and turned to give Luo’er a glare.

Of course, such an incident did not disrupt Luo’er’s plans, for he simply did not care about such discrimination.

By now, he had completely understood the attitudes of Antenisivia and the Night Elves. The Night Elves did not like him and even shunned him; this was an objective reality. However, because it was the will of the gods, the High Priest Falei was very polite to Luo’er.

And within the Night Elves, Falei held extremely high esteem, as most did not show their dissatisfaction with Luo’er in her presence.

Unlike the Wood Elf priests, the position of High Priest among the Night Elves can be said to be the most powerful within the Night Elf hierarchy. Essentially, Xia Yue Island is still a theocratic nation. The king ranks below the religious leader.

In Ilanadale, the queen is the highest ruler, and even priests must swear allegiance to the queen. However, on Xia Yue Island, the High Priest is the highest ruler, and Falei is somewhat akin to a Brahmin, with the king below her as a Kshatriya, and so on down the line.

Therefore, as long as Falei did not show hostility towards Luo’er and the others, the Advance Team was essentially safe and need not concern themselves with the opinions of other Night Elves.

After a day of rest, by the next day, Falei had everything arranged and organized an impressive pilgrimage group waiting in the plaza for instructions.

The members of the Advance Team arrived at the plaza, and Falei sent someone to deliver to them white robes adorned with intricate black patterns.

To show sincerity, the members of the Advance Team donned the long robes. Hu Daoke was somewhat excited because these robes could be considered luxury crafts. If the Night Elves intended to gift them, they could turn around and take them to Earth as gifts.

After putting on the long robes, which covered their tactical vests and the rifles on their shoulders, the members of the Advance Team were arranged to sit in a huge carriage. There were only three such carriages in the entire pilgrimage procession, and one being allocated to them was quite prestigious.

Aside from the carriages, there were also Night Elf warriors riding horses accompanying the group, but despite the many modes of transport, nearly half of the Night Elves had to go on foot. Most of these Night Elves were commoners and servants going on the pilgrimage, some of whom even had to bring their own provisions.

After preparations were complete in the plaza, led by the cavalry at the front, the procession grandly progressed along the stone pathway by the riverbank upstream.

The river beside them was the mother river of the Night Elves, known as the Trace Source Stream. Of course, in the translation by Earthlings, it was directly named the Trace Source River.

This river originated between two mountain chains of the Yiniya Mountain Range, and the relic mentioned by the Night Elves was located upstream along the river.

The word "Yiniya" might sound unfamiliar, yet it is just a transformed version of the ancient Elf name "Ilanadale." The Yiniya Mountain Range, which is essentially the Elf Mountain Range, when translated directly. Combined with the description of Trace Source River and the Ancestors, this place is believed to be the origin of the Elf Race.

In the beginning, the Ancestors chose this mountain range to preserve the lineage of the Elf Race, to be hatched by Tana once humans reappeared on Earth.

At the same time, this was also the site of the grudge between Tana and Xiapei Kam. According to the information they had, Tana had sealed Xiapei Kam here and then fled Xia Yue Island with the Wood Elves and Snow Elves, arriving on the Continent.

However, it should be noted that according to the investigations of Earth scientists, the Snow Elves are very likely a subspecies of the Night Elves. This is because, based on their analysis, there are actually only two types of Elves: one with drooping ears and the other with pointed ears.

Although it’s on an island, the distance from Antenisivia to the relic isn’t short. Based on the experience of the Advance Team in traveling, this team would need at least ten days to reach the relic.

What amazed Luo’er immensely was that the roads they traveled were almost all paved with stone or hardened concrete. Seeing all this, he truly admired the Night Elves for having built a modernized hardened highway between Antenisivia and the relic.

With the improved roads, their speed could increase somewhat, so according to Luo’er’s analysis, they should be able to reach the so-called relic in about a week, rushing faster or slower.

Thus, led by the grand marching troop, the Advance Team moved toward the relic deep in the mountains. When resting, these Night Elves simply camped on the road and started cooking.

Although many ordinary people brought their own dry food, many wealthy families would bring pots and pans, joining the journey as if on a picnic.

The Advance Team ate with these Night Elves, but Luo’er couldn’t stand their diet. Perhaps due to the hot weather of Xia Yue Island, these Night Elves especially liked sour and cold foods. Not just Luo’er but even Hu Daoke, who was not particular about food, also found the taste too sour.

Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Cheng Ziang called Hu Daoke to negotiate and exchanged their spices for raw meat, which they grilled over a fire.

The Night Elves were not picky eaters, though most preferred sour and cold vegetarian dishes, they also ate other meats. However, they did not eat much stewed meat, mainly because they lacked the appropriate spices to suppress the smell of rotting flesh.

After a journey of about eight days, the massive troop finally entered deep into the mountains and arrived at a waterfall, which was the site of the so-called relic.

This was a waterfall almost thirty meters high, with the river around ten meters wide. On the riverbank next to the waterfall was a Circular Plaza with a radius of about ten meters.

Walking forward from the plaza, one could see an ancient pyramid embedded in the stone wall, right next to the waterfall.

In the center of the plaza was a circular staircase with a stone altar on top, which looked like a place for performing rituals.

Although the relic was hidden in the mountains, Night Elves still guarded and took care of it. On the edge of the plaza, several houses blended naturally with the surroundings. If not for the smoke coming from the chimneys, Luo’er would not have noticed they were actually houses.

The hardened roadway stretched all the way to the plaza, running for hundreds of kilometers. Luo’er could not help but admire the perseverance of these Night Elves and their profound reverence for the divine.

Outside the plaza, there was an even larger open space where the arriving Night Elves set up camp, devoutly waiting for the ritual to proceed.

Upon reaching their destination, the members of the Advance Team alighted from the carriage, rubbing their loosened limbs. Downstream of the distant waterfall, some Night Elf girls were playing joyfully in the river, completely oblivious to other people’s stares, which made Hu Daoke’s eyes widen.

Noticing his expression, Cheng Ziang also turned to look for a while. After seeing Luo’er’s resigned look, he awkwardly coughed, then slapped Hu Daoke’s head forcefully, saying with a mix of frustration and admonishment, "Look at you!"