173: Chapter 173 Nyarlathotep's Little Script

The middle-aged Cultivator stated his background, bearing the surname Han and the single given name Han Zheng, representing The Fourth Generation of the Han family from Qingzhou. His ancestors had come to the Northern Continent with the expeditionary force back then, stationing at several outposts along the southern foothills of the Igelofian Mountains.

By his generation, only this single outpost remained, and there were only these few people left by his side.

He turned slightly and pointed out the several Cultivators behind him to Xie Feng one by one.

One of them surnamed Sun had ancestors who were the head guards of the expeditionary force; the young female Cultivator surnamed Liu had ancestors who were the military doctors of the expeditionary force; the archer surnamed Bai had ancestors who were the hunter guides of the expeditionary force.

Besides the four of them who could still stand, two heavily wounded individuals were lying on the ground. One was Han Zheng's biological younger brother, and the other was the archer Bai's uncle. Both had their abdomens and left legs pierced by the javelins of the Hilichurls, and their bleeding had been simply stemmed with tundra herbs, but they needed to find a safe place to recuperate as soon as possible.

After listening, Xie Feng glanced at the Third Princess.

The Third Princess had already untied the money pouch from her waist and instructed Han Zheng: "This money is enough for several of you to live in the New Capital for several months. After arriving at the New Capital, settle down first. Once the matters here are finished, we will skirt around the mountains and go to the New Capital to pick you all up back home."

Han Zheng's fingers were trembling when he took it.

"The Zhou imperial family owes your Han family and all the descendants of the expeditionary force, and we will definitely make it up to you after this trip back."

Only then did Han Zheng realize that the person in front of him actually came from the imperial family, and immediately bowed, only to be interrupted by Zhou Jinglan.

"There is no need for this; it is we who should apologize."

The people behind him clearly showed looks of surprise, which was also normal. Given the extent to which the current imperial family failed to act like human beings, princes and princesses like this obviously didn't look like they were born to them.

"Your Highness, there is no need for this. We can live in the Old Capital for a few days, and it's also cheaper."

Hearing this, Xie Feng shook his head.

"Forget it, the Old Capital won't last many more days; you'd better go to the New Capital."

Han Zheng looked at Xie Feng with the gaze of someone looking at a terrorist.

"No! That's not what I meant. It's just that some accidents have happened in the Old Capital recently, so you should go to the New Capital."

Xie Feng explained, and Han Zheng properly lifted the wounded onto the stretchers, bowed to Xie Feng and the Third Princess once more, and then led the team toward the trail leading to the New Capital below the southern foothills.

The two groups slowly separated; Xie Feng faced the direction of the Ivory Throne, while Han Zheng and the others walked toward the direction of the New Capital.

"Sigh, ever since I was a child, my father told me to cherish the common people. Why are the emperors of the previous generations like this..."

The Third Princess sighed helplessly.

"You don't look like an adult right now either."

Xie Feng casually chimed in.

"Scoundrel! I will have your entire clan executed!"

Xie Feng found that the Third Princess was really sensitive about her height, which was quite interesting.

"Then you're going to be disappointed, as I have severed my own family ties completely."

On the ridge, two pale sorcerers lay prone on the edge of the ice rock, taking in everything that happened in the valley before their eyes.

The tall sorcerer spoke: "Those people are heading south, and those Noph-Keh sentinels are all cowering in the mountain col, not daring to move. Now those people are isolated."

The short sorcerer stared at the faint figures below the southern foothills who were struggling along carrying stretchers: "Since they are isolated, don't let them reach the New Capital. These people are descendants of the Jiuzhou expeditionary force and know quite a bit of ancient intelligence about the Northern Continent, especially that leader! The intelligence stored in his brain can be sacrificed to the Lord of Immortality, or we can simply turn them into people like us, letting them go back to act as spies for the Lord of Immortality."

The tall one slowly clenched his fingers into fists: "Strike right now. Those wounded cannot walk fast being carried; catch up and kill two first, leaving a few to take away for a slow interrogation."

At this moment, the heroic sorcerer behind the two slowly stood up. He had constantly been using divination arts; whether it was mud divination, water mirror divination, or viscera divination, everything was in complete chaos.

He could not figure out what these two people and the freak ahead of them were trying to do.

The heroic sorcerer originated from the Northern Cities and had fled here as a refugee.

Back then, he lived near Senges. Day after day throughout the midsummer, local fishermen would venture out to sea for fishing in small round boats made of elk skin and willow wood.

However, what they hauled up were entirely dead fish, which looked as though they had cracked and died from extreme heat or severe cold.

They also hauled up some bizarre living creatures, such as terrifying things with three heads, tails, and wings; black amorphous creatures whose bodies were like flowing liquid, capable of escaping through the holes of the fishing nets; swollen, headless things resembling the moon, emitting a green cold light; and creatures with bulging eyeballs and soft, mucus-covered tentacles.

Then one day, on the northern horizon, along the route of the ships traveling from Senges to trade with the Arctic islands, a directionless sailing boat with no one rowing drifted toward the coast, running aground among the fishermen's fishing boats.

By this time, the fishermen were too terrified to venture out to sea again, instead hiding on the beach below the sorcerer's residence.

Filled with awe and curiosity, the fishermen inspected the ship and found that the rowers were still beside the oars, and the captain was still at the steering station.

But their faces and hands were as stiff as bone, as pale as if they were suffering from leprosy. Their pupils strangely exhibited a faded appearance, being pale white.

A terrifying hollowness lurked within them, like the bitter ice frozen at the bottom of an abyss.

Later, the sorcerer personally came to the beach, inspected the crew on board, and pondered what this ship had encountered. (——Clark Ashton Smith, "The Coming of the White Worm")

With the arrival of the moving castle of the White Worm—the iceberg Igils—the sorcerer performed several spells, but his familiar had fled during the night, abandoning their dwelling, and no Soul came to answer his divination.

All the knowledge mastered by the sorcerer could not help him understand any information about the iceberg, nor could it help him guess any of its secrets.

Fleeing to the Old Capital, he learned that such people were called 'The Chilling Ones', symbols of being enslaved by the White Worm, just like the two sorcerers currently before him.

This heroic sorcerer's brain began to spin rapidly, and then he gently dyed his complexion white using magic.

"Two gentlemen! Are you perhaps The Chilling Ones?!"

That sorcerer stood up and greeted them.

The two sorcerers were startled, and the shorter one shouted.

"Who are you! How do you know our names?"

The taller one stood up.

"I am Duni, and he is Uks Lodhan. Who are you!? State your name!"

The heroic sorcerer gazed directly at the two pale Chilling Ones, wisdom flashing in his eyes.

"I am a native grand sorcerer of the Old Capital. Are you two also believers of the great Lord of Immortality?"

The two of them relaxed somewhat because the White Worm promised that as long as one became its follower, one could obtain the supreme knowledge bestowed by it. Therefore, besides the mages of the Northern Cities, quite a few mages voluntarily worshipped the White Worm.

Looking at his complexion, the two felt even more at ease.

Because ordinary people could not see their kind of pale complexion; only extremely powerful sorcerers could see the paleness on The Chilling Ones.

Just like how none of the three could see the faceless lion behind the heroic sorcerer right now...