Your war hammer is too fake

The girl turned around. "The mess outside the Eternal Peak is not led by the ratmen. The real force leading the attack on the Eternal Peak is actually the earth elves," An Jiyue waved her hand, and steel nails covered with blood and brain matter emerged from the ratmen corpses lying on the ground. "A great earth elf wolf khan named Ke Shuzhan managed to persuade the ratmen of the Grinning Clan and the Chaos Dwarves of the Black Fortress to form an alliance with him. Their coalition swept across the entire southern part of the Dark Land, and it seems that they also fought a fierce battle with the ogres, and then fought their way into the World's Edge Mountains from the Death Pass."

"Keshuzhan? I remember this name," Oakley scratched the back of his head, trying hard to recall. "Merchants passing by said that in recent years a powerful wolf Khan has emerged on the eastern grasslands. His tribe has conquered the east and the west, defeated all the earth elf tribes on the grasslands, and forced them to surrender. However, Keshuzhan's rule is not stable. It is said that he has been trying his best to avoid conflicts with your people, and even tried to reach a certain degree of peace with you. This makes his subordinates very dissatisfied."

An Jiyue was stunned for a moment, then realized that "your people" referred to the Zhendan Dynasty.

"That's why it led its army and allies to invade you," An Jiuyue said. "The fame and wealth brought by conquering a dwarven fortress is enough to make most restless guys obedient. But there is one thing that is strange. Why did it choose to attack Eternal Peak? It must be possible that it didn't know how difficult it was to attack Eternal Peak. Why not attack Iron Peak Fort? Since the fall of Eight Peaks Mountain, Iron Peak Fort has been strategically isolated, and Iron Peak Fort's defense capabilities are much worse than Eternal Peak."

In the original history, it would have been conquered by Gorya and E'dan in a few years, An Jiyue thought.

"Don't try to figure out what the greenskin is thinking. The greenskin is not a fool, nor is it a normal person," Oakley thought there was nothing to worry about. "It still wants to live in peace with your people. Ha, is it still a greenskin?"

The concept of "peace" is impossible in the brains of greenskins. Other races may start a war for wealth, power, fame or some other benefit, but greenskins are different. Greenskins fight for the sake of fighting. War is not a means for them, but an end in itself.

An Jiyue thought about it for a while and then gave up. There was too little information for her to judge Ke Shuzhan's true intentions. Just as the girl was about to speak, she suddenly felt the ground beneath her feet vibrate very slightly, with a very low amplitude, and it disappeared immediately.

"Oakley, what was that just now?"

"I don't know." He answered immediately.

"..."

Until An Jiyue entered the Eternal Peak, she did not encounter this strange tremor again.

Chapter 14: Bing Ruolan (Part 1)

An Jiyue and Oakley entered Eternal Peak two hours later.

Just as the girl had expected, there was a lively battle on the surface of Eternal Peak, and there was also a fierce battle underground, one could even say it was a bloody battle: every tunnel was filled with sinisterly grinning hobgoblins and noisy Skaven, who jumped up and down in any passable place, trying to find a passage to the main city of Eternal Peak.

Most of the time, these noisy invaders either got lost or ran into a dead end, busy for a long time but gained nothing. However, their numbers effectively made up for their abysmal efficiency. Even though the defenders of Eternal Peak blew up some tunnels in advance and set up solid defenses on the main roads that could not be easily abandoned, there were still hobgoblins and rats who accidentally found a remote fork that could bypass the defense line.

Keshuzan's battle strategy was obvious. The newly-risen Wolf Khan did not make any complicated action plans, but made full use of the greatest advantage of the two races, the greenskins and the ratmen: numbers. While maintaining a tentative attack on the surface, Keshuzan sent out a huge number of cannon fodder to continuously attack the dwarfs' underground defenses, forcing the dwarves with limited manpower to be unable to withdraw troops from these places; then it sent those relatively more elite troops to find loopholes in the dwarfs' defenses.

Underneath the Eternal Peak lies what is probably the most complex network of tunnels in all the dwarven strongholds. Add to that the tunnels and holes that were haphazardly dug by the Night Goblins and Skaven during the turbulent years of the past, and the destruction caused by the war. Even the oldest dwarves on the Eternal Peak today do not dare to say that they have a complete picture of the tunnel network.

What's worse is that the Everlasting Peak had a population of 35 at its peak, but now only has about 9 residents. In other words, there are large areas of abandoned urban areas inside the Everlasting Peak, which makes it very easy to hide people and do things. In addition, the dwarf strongholds are multi-layered structures, and the core urban areas are often divided into five or six floors, connected to each other by stairs, sky bridges and lifting platforms. Each floor of these urban areas is very open - in other words, a large number of troops are needed to support the defense line.

As long as they can find a way to bypass the outer defenses of the dwarves, the enemy can directly rush into the main city of Eternal Peak. At that time, all the pots and pans that the dwarves have accumulated over the years, those precious factories, workshops, warehouses, breweries, and halls will be exposed to the enemy's front. Fighting in these places, whether they win or lose in the end, is a loss-making business for the dwarves, because all that is destroyed are the dwarves' own property. As for the possible losses suffered by the enemy?

The lives of greenskins and ratmen are worthless.

"It's magnificent," this was An Jiyue's first words after entering the main city of Yongheng Peak, "and it's also desolate."

As the most important and largest fortress of the dwarves, and also the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Mountains, the main city of Eternal Peak reminded An Jiyue of Erebor in The Hobbit trilogy. The two looked surprisingly similar at first glance, both of them had huge spaces artificially carved out of the mountain, and neat and simple giant support pillars supported this underground city, and the ground of the city was extremely flat, covered with a layer of tightly fitting stone slabs.

The difference between the two is that the interior scenes of Lonely Mountain in the movie give people the feeling that the house has been vacant for a long time, resulting in an atmosphere that is too cold and desolate, and there is nothing special about it; while the empty city area of ​​Eternal Peak gives people the feeling of being at the end of the road.

Apart from the giant supporting pillars that were clearly well-repaired and maintained, this deserted city was full of traces of war, including collapsed houses, remnants of walls, floors ploughed open by shells, charred marks left by smoke and fire, and the inevitable pale bones. Every inch of land here was soaked in blood and sacrifice.

"This should be the lowest level of Eternal Peak," Oakley stared at everything in front of him, his tone full of uncontrollable anger, "Follow me. We need to go to the upper city area..."

"careful!"

As she shouted, An Jiyue instantly released her spell. The ground in front of Oakley suddenly bulged upwards, and the rough rocks pushed open the stone slabs, popping up like bamboo shoots after rain. With a crisp "ding" sound, the arrow shot from the darkness was bounced away, and the sharp arrowhead scraped a few sparks on the rock.

"Don't attack!" Oakley shouted, "I am Oakley Phillipson of the Copper Hoe Clan. I have been ordered to come to see His Majesty Thorgrim the Grudgebearer!"

"The length of the arrow is wrong, the opponent is not a dwarf!" An Jiyue interrupted the dwarf chief's self-introduction. There was a brief silence in the darkness, and then a dense rain of arrows came towards them.

"[Dwarf swearing]!" Oakley cursed. "Little Moon, can you see them?!"

An Jiyue did not answer immediately. As the rain of arrows came, she clearly sensed the unnatural flow of the magic wind. The girl subconsciously wanted to break the spell, but she suddenly realized that something was wrong: Why were there multiple types of magic winds disturbed at the same time? ?

The girl was confused, but she didn't stop moving her hands. The spell she was about to cast was replaced with [Shrink the Earth into an Inch], and An Jiyue and Oakley disappeared from their original positions at the same time.

Some amorphous blue-purple phantoms emerged from the position where the two were originally, swaying blankly. Oakley was stunned for a moment, and just as he was about to speak, An Jiyue quickly covered his mouth.

The two of them huddled behind a broken wall and waited quietly for a while. A burst of dense footsteps sounded from a distance, mixed with the friction of armor leaves from far to near. "Sir," An Jiyue heard a middle-aged man's voice, speaking in her mother tongue that she was very familiar with, "They ran away."

Then, another female voice that sounded much younger said, "They can't get far. Chase them! Also, send two men to report to the dwarf King of Vengeance that rats have sneaked in. They may have found a secret path."

"You're the rat!" Oakley, who could speak plastic Zhendan, struggled to break free from An Jiyue's hand. The difference in their physiques meant that the girl could only watch the dwarf chief swinging his axe and jumping out of his hiding place in anger.

A dozen powerful crossbows were immediately aimed at Oakley Phillipson. An Jiyue couldn't help but sigh.

The next moment, the ground rolled, and the heavy stone slabs used to pave the ground deformed flexibly like plasticine. They moved up along the iron boots and trouser legs, and in the blink of an eye, they wrapped around the green-robed and silver-armored figures and trapped them in place.

"I advise you to give up struggling," An Jiyue stood up from behind the broken wall, "Your Excellency the Unknown Dragonborn Xiuyanqing."

The female Shugenqing on the opposite side lowered her head and looked at the rock shell that covered most of her body, leaving only her head and neck, which were covered by a helmet, free to move. "What kind of magical power is this?"

As she spoke, she silently dispersed the tiny bit of magical wind that had just gathered.

"The fifth of the Five Elements Controlling Techniques is the Earth Controlling Technique." An Jiyue replied.

"I consider myself to be well-informed, but I have never heard of such a miraculous skill in the world."

"Well now you know."

"...Who are you?"

"I won't tell you. Lululu!"

"..."

Chapter 15 Bing Ruolan (Part 2)

An Jiyue stayed there to guard the "prisoner", while Oakley volunteered to go find someone.

The dwarf chieftain didn't walk far before returning, followed by several Ironbreakers. The latter were originally staying at a nearby outpost, but came to take a look because they noticed the movement here. After the groups of people got together and talked to each other, they realized that they were all their own people, and the previous small conflict was purely a misunderstanding.

According to the Ironbreakers, more than one group of enemies had slipped in by mistake before, including hobgoblins and skaven. As the troops were too tight, Thorgrim the Grudgebearer placed the second line of defense of the underground battlefield at the second to last city. The thousand or so dwarf residents who originally lived on the bottom level had now moved to the higher city.

At present, there are only a few temporary outposts left in the lowest layer of the city, which serve as early warning for the defense line behind. As for Lord Shugen and her subordinates, the Ironbreakers said that this group of Chinese people had just arrived at the Eternal Peak recently, and they ran into the siege of the city as soon as they arrived. Out of disgust for the Destruction Camp, Lord Shugen took the initiative to express his willingness to fight alongside the dwarves.

As for why these people came up and attacked Oakley directly without even a warning...

"I led a patrol here and found that the flow of the wind of energy here is quite abnormal," the unknown Xiuyanqing said, his eyes behind the mask looking at An Jiyue, "The wind of energy should be unpredictable and unpredictable. However, beside you, the flow of the wind of energy is so docile and submissive. I have traveled all over the mountains and rivers, seen countless strange people, but I have only seen the same thing in a few of you."

As we all know, dwarves don't have spellcasters. Even runesmiths can only indirectly influence the wind of magic through runes. An Jiyue's strength caused this Xiuyanqing to make a serious misjudgment: due to the obstruction of the building, she only saw Oakley, but not An Jiyue standing behind. She mistakenly thought that Oakley was a warlock prophet of the Chaos Dwarves, and the most powerful one. Knowing how terrifying this level of wizard is, the Xiuyanqing didn't dare to give the other party a chance to cast a spell, and decisively chose to strike first - the arrow shot at Oakley's head was shot by this Xiuyanqing himself.

The misunderstanding was resolved, and Oakley, who knew the whole story, had no intention of pursuing the matter. The dwarf chief was anxious to meet Thorgrim. Although he didn't know what his grandmother and An Jiyue were planning, and even kept it from him, he knew that what could make Dagna so serious must be a world-shaking event.

An Jiyue followed Oakley and prepared to leave together, but before she left, the Xiuyanqing called her.

"Please stay. We are staying in the trading house for now," said Xiugenqing. "If you are free, can you come and have a chat? You and I are both overseas travelers. It is a kind of fate that we can meet here."

"If you want to find out about my origins, then I can tell you now that I am indeed from Zhendan," An Jiuyue replied, "Don't ask me more. I won't tell you even if you ask me."

"This fellow is so rude!" An officer of Yuyong could no longer bear it and clasped his fists at Xiuyanqing and said, "Sir, there are so many talented people in the world, why waste your breath on this ignorant woman!"

"Higher or lower?" An Jiyue showed a somewhat subtle smile: "Between you and me, who has a higher rank?"

When she traveled through time, she was wearing a purple robe, An Jiyue thought. When she first traveled through time, she checked her belongings and found a copper seal with the words "Anxi Four Towns Jiedu Pass" engraved on it.

She didn't know what rank Xiuyanqing was. She thought that CA, a white-skinned ghost, probably didn't know what rank was. However, no matter how high Xiuyanqing's rank was, it was unlikely that he would be higher than her. After all, not just anyone could wear the purple robe.

This is a true frontier governor.

"It's okay," Xiugenqing raised his hand, signaling his men to stay calm. "Your Excellency is a great talent. If you serve the court, I think even Lady Zongji will treat you with courtesy. Although our Weibei Province is not as 'relaxed' as His Majesty's, as long as you are willing to serve the country, why should you care about some red tape?"

An Jiyue suddenly became interested. She handed the handwritten letter from Dagna to Oakley, then waved at the impatient dwarf chieftain, "You should go to see the High King first. We can't discuss the serious business until your grandmother comes. It won't matter if I go now or not."

"Then be careful," Oakley glared at a certain cultivator while speaking, "Go on."

The dwarf chief took off a rune-engraved oath gold ring from his hand and threw it to An Jiyue: "If you need it, take it to find the nearest Eternal Guardian (Note 1), they will provide you with help."

"Thanks."

The girl put away the ring and watched the dwarf chief walk away alone. After Oakley's back completely disappeared from sight and the Ironbreakers returned to their posts, An Jiyue said, "Are you sure you have the power to recruit a guy with an unknown origin and who uses unheard-of magic? Are you really not afraid that the Prime Minister will cause trouble for your Lady Zongji?"

"I have no right to confer titles," Xiu Yanqing said calmly, "but if it is just to recruit a retainer for my family, such a trivial matter does not require the approval of the Heavenly Court. As for the matters of the princes of the country, please..."

Xiugenqing's eyes suddenly became sharp: "...be careful with your words."

"Interesting," An Jiyue met Xiuyan Qing's gaze calmly, "Aren't you afraid of recruiting a Tzeentch sorcerer back?"

"When I return to Nangao," Xiuyan Qing replied, "I will have Black Jade Wuhou come to inspect and verify it."

"That sounds great, but I have my work to do," Actually, it didn't, "Anyway, I hope I can see you again after this battle is over, the unknown Shugen-King."

"My surname is Bing, and my given name is Ruolan," Xiuyan Qing suddenly said, "Bing means ice and snow, Ruo means Ruofei, and Lan means orchid."

"An Jiyue," the young Taoist pointed at herself, "An means peaceful, and Jiyue means clear moon and cool breeze."

"Master An," Xiu Yanqing, who called herself Bing Ruolan, considered her words carefully, "Since I have taken on the patrol, I will do my best. Although you have great magical powers, far superior to mine, you are alone and it is inevitable that you will lose sight of one thing while fighting. How about you stay with me for a while, eat and sleep together, and fight the enemy side by side?"

"Your people," An Jiyue glanced at the Jade Warriors behind Bing Ruolan, "don't look like they are willing to protect me."

"The soldiers of the Heavenly Army all understand the greater good," Bing Ruolan assured, "and will never do anything that goes against Ninghe."

"Okay," An Jiyue felt that the time was right, so she nodded, "I am willing to accept your invitation. But there is one thing I must make clear first. I have been hired by the Copper Hoe Clan before, and the work is not finished yet. After I finish the work there, I can accompany you to... Kislev."

Even with the mask blocking her view, An Jiyue could see the expression on Bing Ruolan's face suddenly change; the Yu Yong men behind her held their breath at the same time, and the knuckles of their hands holding their weapons turned white from excessive force.

Shugen-King shouted, "Who on earth are you?!"

"Me~" the young Taoist priest said with a smile: "I am your fellow villager."

……

Note 1: There are two Eternal Guards in Warhammer: one is the shield-bearing spearman of the Wood Elves, who is also the only line-carrying infantry of the Wood Elves besides the wooden men; the other is the exclusive guard of the successive Dwarf High Kings, who is actually a group of enhanced Hammer Warriors.

Chapter 16 Bing Ruolan (Part 2)

Between the Old World and the Cathay Empire, there was an overland trade route called the Ivory Road.

This is not a specific route, but a general term for multiple trade routes. If you are heading to the Old World from Cathay, you can either take the sea route, detour through the southern hemisphere, and head west along the overseas colonies of the high elves; or start from Shangyang and pass through the Mountains of Sorrow, the Dark Land, and the World's Edge Mountains in turn.

If you choose the latter, there are two routes: the northern route and the southern route. The northern route requires you to go all the way north after entering the Mountains of Sorrow, turn west after entering the Chimaira Pass, and finally arrive at Blackfang Town. Blackfang Town is the last supply point for caravans and travelers who choose to take the northern route before leaving the Mountains of Sorrow. From here, continue west and cross the Ruins River to enter the Dark Land - more precisely, enter the Zar Plains, a desolate country ruled by Chaos Dwarves.

The Zhar Plain is located in the northeast of the Dark Land. It is vast and rich in minerals. It is called a plain, but in fact it is more like an oversized meteorite crater. In theory, this is the territory of the Chaos Dwarves, but due to the Chaos Dwarves' even more worrying population than the Dwarves, these bad guys have very limited control over the Zhar Plain. Therefore, bold caravans often cross the Zhar Plain directly or drill through the southern border of the Zhar Plain.

Many caravans would encounter patrolling hobgoblin cavalry, wandering monsters, or something worse during this process; those who successfully passed this section of the road would continue westward, heading toward the World's Edge Mountains, and finally follow the Peak Pass to Karak Kadrin, commonly known as Butcher's Fort. Usually, caravans would reach their destination here, because further west was Sylvania, which was even more terrifying than the Dark Land.

This is one of the routes on the northern route. The other route starts from Blackfang Town, but instead of crossing the Ruins River, it follows the natural boundary between the Dark Land and the Mountains of Sorrow, goes north on the east side of the river, bypasses the Zhar Plain, makes a big circle into the Skeleton Plateau, and finally reaches the mountain pass at the northernmost end of the World's Edge Mountains. After passing through the mountain pass is the Daheris Forest. In theory, the caravan has entered the territory of the Kingdom of Kislev at this time.

Of course, theory is theory, but the reality is that the caravan has to continue moving forward until it passes through the Daheris Forest and enters the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Kislev. The first decent town encountered by the caravan along this route is Vosgrad, a prosperous town by Kislev standards. The next stop for the caravan is the Cursed City of Parag, a magnificent city that still retains the corruption of Chaos and is the end of this route.

The above is the northern route of the Ivory Road.

If you choose to go the south route, there are two routes after entering the Mountains of Sorrow. One is to continue forward after reaching the Gate of the Maw, passing through Stumbling Town, Lost City, and the Hall of Greysu, heading west along the Bighorn Valley, then crossing the Ruins River to Giant Rock, and continuing west to reach an ogre stronghold called the Outpost. From here, going west is the famous Silver Road. Following this famous trade route, you will eventually reach the capital of the Mountain Kingdom, Everpeak.

Another route is to turn south at the Gate of the Maw and enter the Dragon Pass, avoiding the sphere of influence of the ogre tyrant Greysu Big Goldfang. After exiting the Dragon Pass, you will reach the Kingdom of Gnobula. Go west through the Haunted Forest and cross the Ruins River to reach the Swineherd Town, a strange settlement where humans, greenskins, and ogres live together. From here, turn north and you will also reach the outpost. The subsequent routes are the same as above.

The above is the southern route of the Ivory Road.

"Since you have appeared at Yongheng Peak, it means you are taking the southern route," An Jiyue crossed his arms over his chest, and the two lumps of fat tightly wrapped in the sheepskin coat trembled, which made Bing Ruolan's eyebrows jump. "So the question is, why did you take the southern route? Oakley told me that Ke Shuzhan has been showing goodwill to the Celestial Empire. Even an ordinary dwarf chief in the Old World knows about it, which means that this matter is public and has been going on for several years."

After all, the speed of information flow in this world cannot be compared with that in [hometown], An Jiuyue thought.

"No matter what Ke Shuzhan is planning, at least on the surface, it will definitely not make things difficult for the people of Zhendan," the beautiful girl with silver hair and red eyes stared at the silent Xiugenqing in front of her, "If you want to go to the Old World from Zhendan, in addition to the routes I mentioned above, there is actually an unconventional route, which is to set out from Nan Gao, go out of the border, and enter the Eastern Prairie. As long as you say hello to Ke Shuzhan in advance, you can get their protection throughout the first half of this route."

"Entering the Sorrow Mountains from the Eastern Prairie, the road behind is relatively the safest of all the land routes. The ogres can be bribed with money, and there are also a large number of nomadic tribes of earth elves entrenched in the Skeleton Plateau. As long as Ke Shuzhan is willing to help, you can even enter the mountain pass under the escort of a large army of wolf cavalry."

"So why didn't you do it?"

Silence. An Jiyue could feel a slight disturbance in the magical wind around her, but under her half-smiled gaze, Bing Ruolan bit her lip tightly and reluctantly gave up this suicidal attempt.

"You are trying your best to avoid Ke Shuzhan," An Jiyue revealed the reason, "You are not a caravan at all. At least you, Lord Bing, you are not here to sell silk, and the Heavenly Court will not send a Xiuyanqing to do this job. It is not strange to have a dragon descendant in the caravan, but it is quite suspicious to have a Xiuyanqing. There is a reason why you are here, right?"

"…This matter has nothing to do with you," Bing Ruolan knew she had to speak up, "We are both citizens of the Celestial Empire, why do you have to keep pressing us?"

"Before coming here, I dealt with some rats. From them, I learned some interesting things," the girl took a step forward, and this action made all the Jade Warriors raise their weapons in unison, "After conquering Black Rock Castle, Ke Shuzhan immediately ran to attack Eternal Peak. Greenskins fight for the sake of fighting, but Ke Shuzhan is different. Even though I don't know much about it, I can see that it is a guy who is not greenskin at all. Its actions are very purposeful, so why Eternal Peak? Why didn't it attack Iron Peak Castle, which is easier to deal with, first? I have a guess about this, just a guess. I guess it is actually chasing someone."

"Don't!" Bing Ruolan shouted. However, she was a step too late, as the Yuyong crossbowmen had already pulled down their swords at the same time.

Then, they saw more than a dozen crossbow arrows all stopped in mid-air as soon as they left the bowstrings.

"I have a question. If you tell me the truth, I won't mind your men's unfriendly behavior." An Jiyue stretched out her hand, and her green fingers casually pushed away a crossbow arrow that was fixed in the air. "Has the winter in Kislev lasted for several years?"

"That's right. So," Bing Ruolan stared at An Jiyue, "you too, 'fellow countryman'? How did you figure that out? I've only been in contact with you for a short time, you shouldn't have revealed any flaws."

"I just suspected this possibility before, so I deliberately tricked you," the young alchemist replied, "and your reaction confirmed my guess."

"Wei Beitian Army, listen up, everyone leave here and retreat two hundred steps. No, three hundred steps!" Bing Ruolan shouted to her men.

The Yuyongs carried out her orders without any hesitation.

"I still don't quite understand," Bing Ruolan took off her helmet, revealing a heroic yet gentle face, "How did you know that I'm also a time traveler? I've lived in this world for fifty years, so there shouldn't be any flaws in my words and deeds."

"I have suspected that Ke Shuzhan is also a time traveler. Either there has been a time traveler in this world before, otherwise it is impossible to explain why a greenskin warlord would take the initiative to show goodwill to Zhendan. This kind of behavior is simply not something a native greenskin can do," An Jiuyue looked at the fellow in front of him, "Since I can travel through time, then others can too. So I first assumed that Ke Shuzhan was a time traveler, and analyzed it based on this, and then found that you also seem suspicious."