The river rose over his calves, and a prickling pain spread across his skin. He could not tell whether it was from leeches or merely the illusion of cold.
Lioz drifted downstream, taking forty minutes to finally crawl out of the river. Fortunately, he did not encounter any Shark Tooth Salmon or Fierce Crocodiles from Jingyuan. These were the most common freshwater killers in the cold lands. Small in size, they could easily slip through openings in the human body, enter from within, and wreak havoc.
Fwoosh—
Lioz used his heat-based qi to kindle a fire. After wringing out his clothes, he huddled around the flames for warmth. Judging from the rigid birch trees and coniferous forest around him, he estimated that the river had carried him into the Edva Kingdom. Thin snowflakes had begun to drift through the air, the Sun-Bearing Trees had long vanished from sight, and the temperature was extremely low. The damp moisture in the air only reinforced his conclusion.
Unlike Oshulia and the other northern kingdoms, the Edva Kingdom suffered from a noticeable shortage of natural light. Under normal circumstances, they had to import sealed stars from the Void and hang them from the branches of specially cultivated treants—Sun-Supporting Trees—for heat and illumination.
With cheap technical workers from the Layered Abyss as well, Edva could have lived quite comfortably.
But now, Edva's situation did not seem promising. Lioz spotted many wagon ruts and hoofprints, especially rocks scorched by Sun-Supporting Trees. Clearly, a large settlement had migrated away.
And judging by the direction, they seemed to be heading west through Edva—likely toward the capital or Harar Port, the largest northern harbor.
"I didn't expect the random teleportation scroll to send me west. And it looks like Edva is in pretty bad shape... Good thing I got