Welcome to Dragon Island, summer has arrived! It's the era of the storm...
On the day of the leaders' oath, Jiang Yunlan, as the chief leader, led the other twelve leaders in taking the oath to all the people of Xia.
But the leaders behaved as she had guessed; they liked to observe her reaction before making any decision. If she showed even the slightest sign of disagreement, they would withdraw their proposal and instead discuss the problems with it privately with the other leaders.
In Jiang Yunlan's view, this was similar to the meetings she often held with the main city/village chiefs in various habitats before the establishment of the Xia Kingdom.
She stayed on the mainland for more than a season, visiting villages she hadn't yet been to, and only after confirming that the leaders remaining on the mainland could manage the Xia Kingdom well did she raise the issue of leading the giant beasts on a sea voyage again.
Xia's leaders and people were well-prepared and readily accepted Jiang Yunlan's plan to go to sea for two or three years.
"I've written down all the problems you might encounter in developing your nation in the 'Xia Development Plan.' If even this book can't help you, then have Sylph and the others come to me," Jiang Yunlan carefully instructed the Maple Sugar and the other orcs who had become leaders before boarding the ship.
She will be taking 022, the elven leader, and Zelanlolelai, the half-elf leader, with her on this trip. But the continent also has Xiaoqiu, the intelligent beast leader, and the remaining orc leaders. She believes that Mo Rong and the others can manage Xia well, just as she did when she left the habitat before.
Back then, they also developed the Xia clan/Xia tribe based on the plan.
The orcs, including Maple Syrup, responded and watched as several Xia ships set sail on the water, wondering to themselves how many new subjects Xia would have by the time Lan returned from her trip.
Since the sea beastmen are more accustomed to living in the sea, it would be good to build a few villages by the sea. With this in mind, they turned their attention to the unicorn beastmen, amphibious beastmen, and coral whale beastmen, patiently inquiring about their habits. Then they took out paper and wrote down the differences between the sea beastmen, land beastmen, and sky beastmen.
Lan said that if different beings want to live together, they should respect each other's habits.
"The habitats of the elves and behemoths also need improvement; they mentioned the problems with their current settlements earlier," Maple Syrup said to the other leaders from the council chamber.
Little Chirp, being an intelligent beast, was the first to agree. Nowadays, Xia has other beast guardians besides it, but because the beastmen are used to treating them as war beasts, they have plenty of trust and friendliness towards them, but not enough respect.
“At least treat us as intelligent beings like you,” Little Chirp protested.
Mo Rong noted down the question, and subconsciously opened the plan left by Lan. She first told all the leaders about the methods written in it, and then added some of her own ideas.
Lord Senhu accepted Lan's proposal in its entirety and immediately stated that after returning to the city, he would encourage the orcs in the city to view intelligent beasts as equals.
The leaders all expressed their agreement, and the topic moved on to the next item.
Their discussion was lively, and Jiang Yunlan and her group successfully entered the ocean and sailed on the surface. Orcs, water beasts, and ice beasts from the ocean swam and turned on the surface, occasionally playfully spitting out a jet of water.
Today the sky was clear, and Jiang Yunlan felt the wind blowing against her propelling the ship toward the place where the giant beast had awakened.
"I feel like this voyage will go very smoothly." She looked extremely relaxed, much more composed than on her last voyage.
022 also sensed the direction of the wind and nodded in agreement, "Our last voyage to capture Jianying went very smoothly, and we didn't encounter any danger."
The biggest crisis they encountered at that time was torrential rain, but they had never encountered danger at sea.
"Perhaps the ocean is protecting us," Jiang Yunlan said with a smile.
Many days after she said those words, her party unexpectedly discovered and rescued the sea monsters still living in the ocean.
From that day on, Jiang Yunlan and her group encountered other ocean clans intermittently. Sometimes they were met with hostility and driven away, and sometimes they received requests for help from them.
She would proactively lead her troops away from clans unwilling to engage with unfamiliar orcs. She would do her best to help orcs who sought her assistance, and for this reason, she once sent a ship to escort sea orcs to the mainland, allowing them to temporarily settle there.
Seasons change, and the hot season arrives once again.
This hot season marks Jiang Yunlan's fourth year at sea. Wearing short sleeves and shorts, she leaned on the deck railing, counting the marine orc clans she had encountered. She said to 022, who was squatting on the railing, "We've been sailing for almost a year, and we've only encountered five marine orc clans. That's about one per season on average. That's so few."
When she was exploring the continent, she would encounter five orc clans at once in a new area.
“Because many sea beastmen have gone to the mainland, right? Among the beastmen we rescued from the Apocalypse Tribe were sea beastmen,” 022 replied.
Jiang Yunlan understood this and found it even stranger, saying with considerable puzzlement, "But judging from this situation, the ocean should be very dangerous. However, we haven't encountered many dangers, and the newly met ocean beastmen also said that they feel the ocean has become more peaceful recently."
"Could it be because the ocean crisis has been resolved?" she wondered.
This hypothesis could not be verified at the moment, so she could only continue sailing on the sea with doubts in her heart.
The place indicated by the black object is getting closer.
A small island appeared before Jiang Yunlan and her group. Ilovian, who usually stayed alone on the ship's roof, suddenly became excited. She spread her wings, glided to Jiang Yunlan's side, left a message, and then flapped her wings and flew towards the island.
"Lan! I'm going to see my clansmen now, so I'll be going now."
To meet one's own kind? Jiang Yunlan was stunned, quickly realizing that Ilovin meant the island before her was Dragon Island. She belatedly realized that she had arrived here much earlier than she had originally planned.
It is now the 13th year of the lunar calendar, the second month of the hot season. They have only been at sea for three seasons and one month.
"So that's how it is. This island was a self-moving island." Jiang Yunlan suddenly realized and finally understood why Dragon Island had disappeared.
But she still felt something was strange; she couldn't figure out where the original dragons of Dragon Island had gone. If only the location of Dragon Island had changed, then the other dragons would surely have left messages for Gracia and the others.
The other dragons had vanished without a trace, leaving no message, and Dragon Island had suddenly become the place where giant beasts awakened. Jiang Yunlan found it hard to believe that nothing strange had happened on this island.
Dragon Island was getting closer. She saw the beach at the edge of the island being lapped by waves, took a deep breath, and together with the elves, used the power of nature to propel several summer boats to the shore.
She was somewhat worried about Ilovian.
Many of the giant beasts on board, knowing the ship was accelerating, still seemed to dislike its speed and jumped into the sea to swim ashore. Once ashore, the furry giants shook their bodies on the beach, expelling the seawater.
"Lan, let's go first." Albero called out to Jiang Yunlan on the deck, then turned and followed his kind into the forest.
The moment its silhouette was obscured by the trees, the summer boat docked.
Jiang Yunlan stepped off the ship via the gangway and led a group of Xia beastmen to set off with the remaining giant beasts.
The island was very quiet. Jiang Yunlan realized that, apart from the sound of the wind, the only other sound was their footsteps, as if no other living beings existed there.
She carefully observed her surroundings but found no trace of any creatures left on the island.
"Lan, don't overthink it. Perhaps your questions will be answered by the elves." 022 reached out and gently patted her forehead, comforting her serious expression.
She relaxed her brows and nodded, saying, "You're right, maybe things aren't as bad as I think."
However, when Jiang Yunlan crossed the forest and arrived at the scorched earth, and looked up at the mountains in the middle of the scorched earth, she heard the wind carrying Ilovin's sad and anxious voice.
The dragon's voice echoed in the air, coming continuously, as if trying to awaken something.
"Lan, why are you suddenly crying?" 022 asked, puzzled.
Jiang Yunlan snapped out of her daze, wiped away the tears blurring her vision, and gently comforted the bewildered Freya and the others before slowly explaining, "It's not me who's sad. It's the creatures on this island who are sad. I heard their voices."
“Sounds? But we don’t hear any other creatures. Isn’t the only sound here Ilov’s calls?” Freya forced herself to quiet down and listen to the sounds around her, but still heard nothing.
Upon hearing this, 022 suddenly felt that this scene was very familiar. It was the same when Lan resonated with the unborn Zelan.
It softened its tone and reached out again to gently pat Lan's forehead. "It must have been the spirit that awakened the giant beasts that allowed you to hear their voices. Don't feel bad, don't feel bad, let's go see them now."
Jiang Yunlan blinked, calmed herself down, and instructed the orcs beside her to go with the giant beasts to find the energy stone.
She said, "The dragons and the Mimans will need to eat after they wake up. Albero and the others have already gone to look for food, but I feel that if they go alone, they definitely won't be able to find enough energy stones before dark."
The giant beasts gave an approving "whoosh," signaling them to follow. Freya and the other elves hesitated for a few seconds before also choosing to go find food for the dragon and Miman.
They hadn't received the message from the spirit in the mountains; it probably didn't want to see them yet.
The creatures surrounding Jiang Yunlan dispersed, leaving only her and 022 at the cave entrance. 022 looked at her, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "I'll wait for you here. I didn't hear its voice either; you were the only one invited."
As soon as it finished speaking, a light and lively sound came from the cave entrance.
"Hahaha, please come in. My silence doesn't mean I'm refusing you. The Tongyuans have misunderstood; I've simply never spoken before, and I'm only now learning how to speak."
This was spoken in the Xia language. Jiang Yunlan was surprised and asked curiously as she walked into the cave, "You know us?"
In this world, even elves need to learn to master a language.
“Of course! I’ve been looking forward to your arrival for a long time, and I’m so glad you came,” it said.
Jiang Yunlan used the flame in her left hand to illuminate the dark cave passage and walked towards the direction from which the sound came, chatting with it in a light tone, "You've been here all this time, haven't you ever thought about leaving?"
"I do want to, but I can't just abandon my kind and leave on my own," it said, its voice still full of energy, not at all like the creature the behemoth spoke of.
Those of the same origin? Jiang Yunlan was puzzled. She had only sensed the aura of one elf.
Before she could even figure out why, she had already reached the exit. She instinctively extinguished the flames and looked up ahead.
Light appeared in her field of vision.
A ray of sunlight pierced through the mountain pass and shone on the elf. The translucent elf looked up, its one blue and one white eye curving slightly, and greeted her happily, "It's the first time I've seen you, and it feels so magical. You really are just as we thought."
The translucent sprite swayed its tail and flapped its dragon-like wings as it flew towards Jiang Yunlan. But after flying only a meter, it changed course and landed on all fours, slowly running towards Jiang Yunlan.
It trotted a few steps, as if it were tired, and many different lights began to leave its body, slowly swaying in front of Jiang Yunlan.
The translucent elf with the appearance of a beast has disappeared.
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