Wunu River

On Chen City's main road, ten wagons loaded with goods traveled in an orderly line, speeding toward the city gates.

Each wagon stood three people tall and looked immensely heavy.

Yet the convoy was moving far faster than the ordinary vehicles beside it, making it stand out on the road.

"Roar."

The eight horned horses pulling the wagons let out beastly roars, showing how different they were.

A closer look would reveal that they were all Ironhoof Horned Horses with Third Realm cultivation.

Unlike ordinary wild beasts, they were genuine low-ranking Beastfolk.

Even if they were only low-ranking Beastfolk, they were enough to demonstrate the Youhe Trading Company's strength.

The horned horses worked together in perfect harmony, and the protective barrier they formed together also shielded the wagons from the outside environment.

Lou Shisui sat at the front of one of the wagons, beside a professional driver hired by the trading company's owner.

The driver was young too. Seeing that Shisui was unfamiliar, he casually asked, "Hey, buddy, are you new?"

"Yeah, I only started two days ago."

"I'm Yan Xu. Just call me Axu."

"Sure."

With that, Shisui fell silent.

To be fair, he wasn't the kind of Ghoul who chatted with his food.

The caravan was headed for Demon Race territory, and it still had a long journey ahead.

Yan Xu found the ride dull and was afraid he would get sleepy after driving for too long, so he started rambling to himself.

"Judging by your accent, you're not a local, are you? There's a historic landmark just outside Chen City's gates up ahead. Make sure you take a good look!"

Although Shisui wasn't from Chen City, the Lou Family inheritance included a great many books on history, as well as plenty on human geography, so he naturally knew what Yan Xu was talking about.

"The Wunu Embankment."

The Wunu Embankment.

Two names, but they referred to the same place.

At Yan Xu's words, Shisui recalled the Lou Family's records concerning the Wunu Embankment.

In the broad sense, the Wunu Embankment was the collective name for a series of large-scale waterworks built by the Human Race along the Wunu River.

In the narrow sense, it referred only to the Wunu River dam spanning the river not far away.

But when Chen City's residents spoke of the Wunu Embankment, they really meant the more historically significant site of the old Wunu River dam, which was no longer in use.

The elderly people of Chen City often quoted the line, "The moon sets over the Wunu Embankment, frost fills the sky; by riverside firs and dying embers, one sleeps with sorrow."

More than 150 years ago, the Wunu River basin was still a disputed land, a legacy of history, and many races fought bloodily over this fertile, level territory.

Also more than 150 years ago, it was beside the Wunu Embankment that the three races remaining there—the Human Race, the Demon Race, and the Beastfolk—decided to cease hostilities.

The three races signed the Wunu River Treaty, bringing an end to the regional turmoil that had continued even after the start of this star calendar.

At last, the frequent struggles for control of the Ten-Thousand-Blade Plateau were brought to a halt.

The embers of war were finally extinguished by the waters of the Wunu River.

Only then did the Moonfall Continent truly enter a period of peaceful development.

"The Wunu River flows through the territories of all three races and is a symbol of harmony among them. She is the Wunu Star bestowed by heaven, and also a gift from the towering Ten-Thousand-Blade Mountain Range to the living beings of the Moonfall Continent."

Yan Xu spoke with feeling as he drove.

The caravan had long since passed slowly through Chen City's exceptionally grand and towering gates and continued onward. Now, it had reached the bank of a glittering river.

As they drew closer to the water, the fir trees in the forests lining both sides of the road grew more numerous.

Like a painting painstakingly crafted by nature, these tall, straight firs adorned the surroundings with dazzling colors, a sight of breathtaking beauty.

The vast fir forest before them stretched along the river and was the largest plateau fir forest on all of Ruolan Star.

At this moment, it was like a young woman dressed in a magnificent gown, slowly lifting her mysterious veil to reveal her astonishing true face.

Because of the distinctive plateau climate and the misty water vapor infused with Psychic Energy, the firs' once-deep-green needles had undergone a wondrous transformation, as though touched by magic.

Farther from the riverbank, the leaves gradually changed from green to brilliant gold, like glittering pieces of gold;

The firs shrouded in mist had taken on a delicate pale red, resembling a streak of magnificent sunset on the horizon;

And the trees closest to the Wunu River were a vivid, blazing crimson, like the morning sun breaking through the clouds and mist, the colors shining together with the dawn light in the drifting water vapor.

These leaves of different colors intertwined in layer upon layer, like a richly colored oil painting standing quietly in the morning mountain mist and spread out along both banks of the Wunu River.

As a result, the concentrated Psychic Energy was held back in the middle reaches of the Spirit Resonance River.

Beside this picturesque riverbank, a dense crowd pressed shoulder to shoulder, as large numbers of tourists from many different races gathered there.

The bustling crowd filled almost the entire riverbank and even spilled onto the broad road beside it.

The caravan was forced to slow down because of the crowds, inching forward with them.

Yan Xu glanced ahead and judged the situation.

"It'll be fine once we get past this stretch. There are lots of people who come to see the fir trees every year, but it's never been this jammed."

Shisui, who had spent the past two days wandering around Chen City and gathering plenty of information, knew why.

The Three Races Friendship and Exchange Conference was being held this year in Demon Race territory, and anyone traveling there had to cross the Wunu River.

So many people had decided to set out early and visit Chen City along the way.

That was how the crowds had built up.

The caravan finally came to a standstill not far from the Wunu River. It was still early, and the water vapor had yet to disperse. Shisui immediately caught the faint scent of Psychic Energy seeping through the mist.

Something's wrong. The Psychic Energy in this river water is oversaturated.

Ordinary people might not have been sensitive enough to notice, but Ghouls, whose perception of their surroundings was exceptionally keen, reacted at once.

After the long period of warfare, the Wunu River's Psychic Energy content had once fallen below the world record.

That was also one of the reasons for the ceasefire back then.

According to the books in the Lou Family collection, after more than a century of restoration, the Psychic Energy content of the river water had only caught up with that of the air in the past few years.

But the Psychic Energy mist swirling around them now was a sign that the energy was so abundant it was overflowing. It would not have been an exaggeration to call her a second Spirit Resonance River.

And judging by Yan Xu's behavior, this most likely hadn't been the case for just a day or two, but had become the Wunu River's normal state in recent years.

When something unusual happens, there must be a cause.

Something must have happened inside the Ten-Thousand-Blade Mountain Range, the source of the Wunu River, to make the Psychic Energy in the river water rise so sharply.

There's no way the various authorities in the three races' settlements haven't noticed.

That's probably part of the reason the exchange conference is being held in Demon Race territory, within the Ten-Thousand-Blade Mountain Range.

Shisui silently absorbed the Psychic Energy surging toward him from all around. It was cold and pure, as crystalline as snow on a high mountain.

He looked forward to this trip to Demon Race territory more and more.