Shadow Trails in Azeroth

The noisy night passed quickly.

When the dawn came, Qinglong Temple had returned to its former peace. Of course, the traces of the war were still there. The most conspicuous ones were the corpses of demons in front of the temple and scattered all over the foothills.

In fact, a careful count showed that there were not many demons that actually entered the material world last night. This is because the monks of Qinglong Temple took very decisive measures.

Before the demons' front was fully deployed, they called on Yulong Tianzun to join the battlefield forcefully, destroying the portal through which the demons entered the material world with a devastating gesture.

Facts have proved that this tactic is absolutely correct.

It effectively avoided the casualties of the Qinglong monks. With the benevolent and wise Yulong Tianzun personally in charge, no matter how serious the injury was, it would not be life-threatening.

But although no one died, the damage to the monks was still considerable.

Almost all the monks and warriors who retreated from the battlefield were injured, but the sense of mission of defeating the brutal demon and protecting the holy land made Yuan Gungun very happy.

They even discussed holding a grand banquet to celebrate the victory.

This is also the "civilized characteristic" of the panda people.

They will try their best to hold a banquet no matter what happens, and then get drunk with their friends and companions to share the joy or pain with their compatriots.

Banquet culture is a very important part of Pandaren civilization.

Of course, there are disadvantages to this, such as the "wine table culture" of the panda people. For people who don't like or can't drink, it's simply terrible torture.

It's a good thing to attend a Pandaren banquet, but as long as you take the initiative to pick up a glass of wine once during the banquet, the result waiting for you is to be drunk by the enthusiasm and fall unconscious until you open your eyes with a splitting headache the next morning. .

These passionate black-and-white guys are all heroes of alcoholics, and even the gentle Pandaren women are famous for their ability to drink.

Of course, before holding a banquet in the name of victory, everyone in Qinglong Temple had more important things to do.

For example, collecting the corpses of demons and purifying them to prevent them from polluting the land of the Emerald Forest, or uncovering the mastermind behind the demonic invasion.

"Snapped"

After eating a hearty breakfast, a bag of things was placed on the table in front of the Lorewalker Shi Bu and the Jinyu Prophet Mali. The female warrior monk Liu Yanxin, who still had bandages on her face and arms, looked ugly. said to his companions:

"I asked the old hunters from Podong Village to search the mountains and forests, and they found these things. They are evil things that we have never seen before.

I heard the wailing of a mutilated soul. "

The well-informed traveler opened the small bag in front of him, picked up an irregular soul stone and looked at it in front of his eyes. This purple crystal-like thing gave off an aura that made him very uncomfortable.

The Jinyu prophet next to him touched his beautiful fish tentacles and waited for his big eyes to carefully observe the soul stone. After a few seconds, he said:

"This is very similar to some of the magic materials used by the magicians of the Mogu people in the ancient records of our Jinyu people. If I remember correctly, this should be a stone specially used to store souls.

It is used in many evil rituals.

It is well known that the souls of living beings are often attracted to evil things.

The reason why the demons attacked Qinglong Temple so ferociously and resolutely last night was probably because they were tempted by these soul stones, just like...

Meat bait sprinkled during hunting. "

"But the Mogu people in the Emerald Forest are all concentrated in the ancient ruins in the north. It is impossible for them to overcome the obstruction of Tianchan Temple and come to Qinglong Temple to cause trouble."

Liu Yanxin shook her head, looked at the traveler Shi Bu again, and asked:

"Elder Shibu, apart from the Mogu people in the Jade Forest, are there anyone else who would use such evil spells?"

"there is none left."

Old Pandaren Shibu thought for a while and said:

"There is an old widow in the Jade Forest. There is news that she will use witchcraft to punish those who disturb her life, but even she will not touch other people's souls.

This is an unforgivable sin in our Pandaren culture.

Jinyu people have always hated the power of darkness, and they will not take the initiative to learn such spells, let alone hozens. Those stubborn people have no talent for casting spells.

Forest spirits.

It's also unlikely. Those guys who are less courageous than hozens can only play pranks and rarely hurt people, let alone have anything to do with evil beings like demons. "

At this point, the three of them fell silent at the same time.

Liu Yanxin looked around, lowered her voice and said:

"So, those outsiders?"

"Well, it's very possible."

Shi Bu nodded, then shook his head and said:

"But it's definitely not the naval warriors from Kul Tiras who are housed in Qinglong Temple. They helped us fight against the demons last night. Their hatred of demons is not false.

Moreover, they have been living in Qinglong Temple for the past two months without going out. They have no opportunity, no power, and no reason to arrange all this.

It must have slipped through the net.

Or maybe someone new from outside the fog has arrived.

By the way, Ms. Liu, why did the demon leader Tianzun suppressed last night escape unexpectedly? Didn't Tianzun express any opinion on this matter? "

"Tianzun was already preparing for her reincarnation in this life. Her strength was weakening. After the battle last night, she went back to rest in the temple and closed the temple door as before."

Liu Yanxin sighed and said with worry:

“Tianzun doesn’t seem to care about this, he just reminds us to be vigilant.

I have communicated privately with colleagues from White Tiger Temple, Zhuhe Temple, and Niuzao Temple, and it seems that after the first batch of outsiders entered Pandaria, the Four Gods fell into collective silence.

The gods should be thinking about the fate of this continent.

They haven't given any revelation yet, presumably because of the aftermath of the large-scale fog shock event nearly two years ago. "

"yes."

The Jinyu prophet, who was naturally good at prophecy, sighed deeply when he heard Liu Yanxin's words. He stroked his fish whiskers, with a serious expression on his solemn fish face.

He said:

“Since the mist shock triggered visions across Pandaria, all the elders of our Jinyu people have used their own methods to make prophecies in various holy places in history.

The future we see given by the water flow is vague and full of possible wars, death and destruction. This reminds me of ancient legends from ten thousand years ago.

The last emperor of this continent, the great Shaohao, also embarked on a rescue journey when we Jinyu people predicted that the end was coming.

That time our emperor sacrificed himself to save our land and life. If the end comes again this time, we will have no one to rely on.

We can only use our own strength and will to get through it, or be buried in the sea of ​​​​fire at the end of the world.

The mass arrival of outsiders was a revelation.

Perhaps Pandaria's ten thousand years of peace will soon end. The Golden Lotus, Lorewalkers, and Shado-Pan have all taken action. Even the black guards stationed at Panlong's Spine are recruiting new soldiers.

Alas, such troubled times. "

While the three temple elders were discussing the issue, a Pandaren monk suddenly walked in and reported to Liu Yanxin:

"Chief Priest, we caught a group of hozens at the edge of the mountain forest. They took advantage of the chaos of the demon attack to sneak into Qinglong Temple and steal food and supplies. They were responsible for the damage to the armory.

We interrogated and those hozens admitted that they were responsible for the demonic invasion last night! "

"Um?"

This bizarre truth made the three elders' eyes widen in disbelief.

With the hozen's chaotic mind and funny personality, how could they summon such a large-scale demonic invasion?

The monk who came to report the news probably realized the problem in his words, so he scratched his head and quickly explained:

"What I mean is that the hozens said they summoned the devil under the leadership of a 'bad boss'. The bad, bad boss they said asked them to scatter purple stones all over the mountains, and he was responsible for turning on the devil. door.

The hozens we captured were all the most stubborn ones who were unwilling to obey the bad boss's order to retreat. The hozens that really obeyed the orders fled southwestward under the leadership of a hozen named Kenken before the end of the battle.

He is probably hiding in the mountains now, making it difficult to hunt him down. "

"The hozens are already good at activities in the mountains and forests. Now that they have been taught by evil people, they will only become more difficult to deal with. The Emerald Forest is mountainous, and now they have fled into the mountains. Even if the Dragon Knights patrol every day, it will be difficult to catch them. Traces.”

Lorewalker Shi Bu frowned and said:

"Moreover, those hozens stole the spare weapons and armor in the temple, which greatly increased their danger. I now suspect that the 'bad boss' of the hozens is probably still somewhere in the Emerald Forest.

Last night our friend Zhou Zhuo helped us see through his conspiracy, but the 'bad boss' may be planning something more dangerous, and we must find him immediately!

But the Azure Dragon Monk must guard the holy land and cannot leave easily.

I think this should be left to real professionals. "

Chief Priest Liu Yanxin nodded. Elder Shibu was right. Being able to single-handedly bring about such a large-scale demonic invasion last night was obviously no longer an ordinary bad guy.

Although the Azure Dragon Monk is brave and brave, he is not professional in hunting. He still has to let someone more powerful come.

"I will send a message to the Shado-Pan Monastery right now and ask the head of the Shado-Pan, Talan Zhu, to send out the most powerful trackers."

The chief priest clenched her furry paws, wagging her fox-like tail, and a cold and menacing expression appeared on her cute panda face.

She stopped the soul stones scattered on the table and said in a deep voice:

"At any cost! This hateful 'bad boss' must be caught!"

——

"Oh, things are about to change in Pandaria."

On the way home from Qinglong Temple, Lorewalker Zhou Zhuo thought about the demon battle last night, and his feet felt a little weak. While sighing, he added the external information he had collected from the Kul Tiran sailors. Take it out and look through it.

He is an old traveler.

He is still the most orthodox kind of traveler who is only interested in novel things, various stories and the wisdom he can glean from them.

Unlike the elder Shibu who can read books to seek wisdom and the martial arts can open his head with a fist, the Lorewalker Zhou Zhuo is a typical Pandaren "literati". He knows nothing about guns, sticks, swords, etc., but he is very knowledgeable.

He can also play the piano well and write well. He has lived in the Emerald Forest for generations, but he has a family background that can travel around the world.

Of course, the "world" in the eyes of the Pandaren refers to the continent of Pandaria.

This place has been blocked by fog for ten thousand years, and they can't go anywhere else if they want to.

But even this piece of land can bring a lot of wisdom to wanderers. However, even if you stay in a good place for ten thousand years, you will get bored. Therefore, wanderers like Zhou Zhuo are also very interested in the outside world.

They had tried many methods, including looking for the old fishermen who were fishing in a boat, looking for the mysterious Jinyu sage to use teleportation magic, etc., to try to leave the misty continent, but none of them succeeded.

The seal left by Emperor Shaohao is too strong and cannot be passed through by ordinary people.

This is very disappointing.

After outsiders entered the Misty Continent not long ago, Zhou Zhuo, who received the news, immediately ended his journey on the Mantis Plateau with excitement, rushed back to the Emerald Forest as quickly as possible, and ran to Qinglong Temple to borrow the help of his fellow travelers. Because of his relationship as a traveler, he got a temporary job under Elder Shibu so that he could get in touch with people from "outside".

Zhou Zhuo is not the only one who has the same behavior. At least a dozen scholars are gathered in Qinglong Temple, but Zhou Zhuo is the one with the fastest legs and feet.

He has collected a lot of information and is preparing to return to his home to sort it out.

The Lorewalkers are really amazing. They learned the pronunciation and writing of human language in a short period of time. Zhou Zhuo, who was walking on the mountain road, looked at the written stories while imagining the human language. What kind of scenery should the country look like?

It is said that mankind established an empire after a great emperor named Thoradin defeated the savage trolls. Later, there was an accident and was divided into seven, and they continued to conquer each other. Until seven or eight years ago, they encountered the barbaric orcs who invaded from another world, and fought for a whole time. After seven years of fighting, hundreds of thousands of warriors were killed and injured before the orcs were defeated.

Gee, for the Pandaren, this kind of large-scale war is just like the mythical story of their resistance to the Mogu Empire more than 10,000 years ago.

Hundreds of thousands of people died tragically.

Zhou Zhuo pursed his lips.

He couldn't imagine such a cruel scene, but he always felt very uncomfortable. Why fight?

If we have any conflicts, wouldn’t it be nice to just sit together, eat and drink, and talk things out?

Just as he was thinking this, the little purple-red Xianglong Mishi floating next to Zhou Zhuo suddenly roared, waking up the traveler, and he looked up.

Oh, there is someone lying under the road ahead of you? He looked like he was sleeping. He was wearing a strange mask and had several empty wine bottles beside him.

Who is this, so unethical!

The well-mannered Pandaren Lorewalker was about to step forward and scold him, but he suddenly shrank his eyes. This guy has no hair on his body!

This is an outsider!

Good guy!

Big fish caught!

He immediately thought of what Elder Shibu had told him when he left the temple just now, about how the hozen had a bad boss who was suspected of being an outsider, and it was he who caused the demonic invasion last night.

Shouldn't it be.

Is this the guy in front of me?

Zhou Zhuo's heart started to beat loudly. He tried his best to slow down his steps and backed away bit by bit without disturbing the guy sleeping under the tree. After taking more than ten steps, he turned around and ran towards Qinglong Temple.

While running, he shouted:

"Master Mi! Master Mi, go and report the news!"

The little purple-red Xianglong next to him responded, spinning his body like a flexible snake and about to rush out, but in the next moment, a whistling shadow flew in and turned into a cage to trap the Xianglong in place.

A figure turned around and kicked the running Zhou Zhuo's legs.

With a bang, the helpless Pandaren Lorewalker was kicked to the ground, and the books in his hand were scattered. He didn't care about his injured wrists and knees, and reached out to collect the papers he had recorded.

As a result, when he looked up, he saw the masked guy crouching in front of him.

Blake reached out and took off the mask on his face, shook his long blond hair, looked at the familiar Pandaren in front of him with a smile, and said:

"Oh, we meet again. My dear Lord Zhou Zhuo, won't you invite me to sit in Huangliang Pavilion? I have nowhere to go now."

He stretched out his hand again, picked up the scattered papers in front of his eyes, looked at them, and said with a sneer:

"What kind of story do you remember? It's all hearsay! It was originally groundless. If you tell it again, you are also responsible.

Don't listen to the nonsense of those marines. How could there be so many people participating in the Battle of the Burning Plains?

I am a true witness, and Orgrim was not killed by Daelin himself. These Kul Tirans will put gold on their admiral's face.

Bah, shameless. "

Black looked disdainful, but Zhou Zhuo was now filled with fear.

It's over, it's over!

I have seen the face of this "bad boss" and I am going to be silenced!

Isn’t that what the stories say?