abnabooks Chapter 2640 Starling Plains
Chapter 2640 Starling Plains
Chapter 2640 Starling Plains
Yeah, that's been too long.
Today, the sky is clear and the Starling Plain is as peaceful as ever. Occasionally, an eagle circles overhead, startling the flocks of birds on the ground.
Despite the approaching winter, the Womi River on the plains still has abundant water, and occasionally large fish leap out of the water. At its widest point, it is nearly two hundred zhang (approximately 600 meters), and its average depth is three zhang (approximately 10 meters).
This great river flows from northwest to southeast, passing through five countries and powers in succession, and finally empties into the sea in the country of Chong.
However, it did not pass through the Panlong Wasteland.
More than ten years ago, when the spiritual energy of heaven and earth had not yet recovered, Zhong Shengguang once lamented that it would be great if the Womi River flowed through the Panlong Wasteland, so that it could inject powerful vitality into the wasteland and make it no longer barren.
The Vomi River ends at the northern end of the Starling Plain, where the beggar-ticks forest lies.
These ghost pines are dark all year round, and the forests they form are so dark that even under the midday sun, the depths of the woodland remain dimly lit.
The Womi River glistens like a jade ribbon across the Starling Plain, but it narrows considerably in the Beggars' Needle Forest, barely four or five zhang wide, its surface often covered by the branches and leaves of towering trees. Here, the water is still and deep, so much so that even the surface no longer reflects light.
In a shallow bay, several wild boars were drinking water by the river, casually nudging some tender shoots of aquatic plants.
During this season, only *Hydrilla verticillata* can still thrive.
But just as they were engrossed in arching, a dark, indistinct thing suddenly emerged from the river directly in front of them.
The wild boars were startled and jumped back two meters away, because there were crocodiles at the bottom of the river.
But what emerged from the water wasn't a crocodile; crocodiles don't have such long, round heads.
Then, the creature slowly made its way ashore, finally revealing its full form—
A giant tortoise.
Its entire body is brownish-gray, almost the same color as the riverbed. Its shell is larger than a round table that seats fifteen people, and its surface is engraved with many runes, which are now emitting an inconspicuous faint light.
Seeing that it posed no threat, the wild boars surrounded it again, grunting and swearing filthyly.
The giant tortoise tucked its neck in and remained motionless.
A dozen or so breaths later, there was no further movement in the woods. The wild boars finished cursing and turned to leave when the tortoise shell suddenly flipped upwards, and two arrows shot out.
With two quick swift movements, the two largest wild boars fell to the ground.
The other wild boars cried out in alarm and scattered.
People began to emerge from under the tortoise shell, one after another, a total of twenty-four people.
After they went ashore, they dispersed and patrolled the area to make sure it was safe before returning to the backwater and making a few hand gestures towards the water.
Then, one giant turtle after another emerged from the river, slowly landing on land, lifting their shells, and releasing the living people beneath them!
There were a total of twelve giant turtles, each capable of carrying about twenty people, so in the end, nearly three hundred people safely landed!
These large creatures are called Curved-Shell Turtles, and they are inhabitants of the Bega Demon Kingdom and the Bolang Kingdom. They are amphibious. Don't be fooled by their slow movements on land; they are a different story in the water. Using water-escape techniques, they can swim faster than sturgeon and migrate long distances.
Young dwarf turtles cannot dive, so when adult turtles take them out, they often hide them under their shells. The space under the shell is large, and air can escape from the water, preventing the young from suffocating.
Of course, this skill is now being used much better.
More than thirty monsters leaped out of the river. They had human bodies and fish tails, with dark blue skin, but their tails turned into legs after they came ashore.
This is the Merfolk.
They were slender and very agile on land; they were warriors of the Merfolk.
The human scouts who had gone to scout the area returned and bowed to one of the merfolk.
"Your Highness, there is nothing unusual in the surrounding area, nor are there any signs of enemy troops."
"Go back and send the next team over as soon as possible." The merman turned around and gestured with his chin toward the group of giant turtles, who then slowly turned around, swam back into the river, and sank out of sight.
“Go straight north,” the prince said. “It’s another fifteen li to Luoyuan.”
There is only one branch of the Womi River leading to Luoyuan, and the water is too shallow for the giant turtle to swim across.
The group left the riverbank and, under the cover of the dim light of the beggar-ticks forest, quickly marched north.
Yes, this was the second team that Bega had infiltrated south of the Panlong Wasteland. However, they only traveled through remote wilderness areas and were few in number, so none of the various factions noticed their passage.
The Womi River flows through the Starling Plain and eventually meanders into the sea, so the Quke turtles of the Polang Kingdom can travel upstream from the sea mouth all the way to the Starling Plain.
The Bega army rode on tortoises to enter the water and silently crossed the entire Starling Plain along the river without being exposed on the ground.
Given the depth of the Womi River, the bird demons in the sky cannot see through the riverbed. Even if they occasionally catch a glimpse of a few giant turtles, why would they think much of it?
So these three hundred-plus people quietly crossed the last barrier, and now only a dozen or so miles separated them from their destination, Luoyuan.
“Further north of Luoyuan lies the Panlong Wasteland. That town only has a little over eight hundred people, mostly civilians; they can't stop us.” The Panlong army has never marched south before, so there's no need to station a large force in Luoyuan. “But its location is excellent; it's a natural stronghold. Our best option is to break in from the south…”
The conversation ended there, because an arrow suddenly appeared in the throat of this merman's confidant.
A bloodstained arrow.
"Enemy attack!" The Bega people were shocked and drew their weapons.
Their response was a sudden barrage of arrows from all directions.
These are all special weapons with strong penetrating power.
The Bega people drew their shields, tightened their formation, and flashed various supernatural lights: "Escort the prince south, quickly!"
The river to the south is where they landed.
Logically, they should have launched a counterattack during the lull in the enemy's arrow barrage. But as soon as the sound of clattering against their shields could be heard, several dark figures suddenly rushed out of the forest, the leader directly ramming into the deputy commander's large shield.
The deputy commander was not alarmed but delighted. He thrust his spear out from the shield formation, intending to pierce him through the heart.
Unexpectedly, the opponent struck first, swinging out his halberd and sending him flying along with his shield and spear, causing him to stagger.
Before he could even stand properly, the sharp spikes on the halberd pierced his heart!
The enemy lifted him onto their halberd and charged left and right, forcefully creating a gap in the shield formation.
The other Bega soldiers roared and rushed forward, trying to kill the black-armored warrior, but the Tiger Wing Army behind him swarmed in and broke through the gap.
With coordinated efforts from both inside and outside, the Bega people's defenses were breached in the blink of an eye.
Several teams tried to break through separately, but they were cut off and eliminated even faster.
The battle in the dense forest ended quickly; it was intense, bloody, but swift.
The outcome of a battle between a thousand Tiger Wing soldiers and three hundred Bega soldiers was a foregone conclusion.
The Mermaid Prince's right arm was severed at the shoulder and he was pushed in front of He Lingchuan, his blood staining the path.
Only twenty prisoners behind him were still breathing; the rest had turned into corpses on the ground.