The Glory of Noxus

Rocklund, a bustling trading street.

Huo Jixing sat alone on the second floor of the tavern, with several plates of side dishes and drinks in front of him.

His strange eyes crossed the wooden window sill and looked at the bustling and busy streets.

"The Chamber of Commerce of Frost Harbor, the Avarosa Tribe?"

Turning his eyes, he saw a group of Freljordians wearing fur robes, purchasing food at the shop opposite, bargaining with the boss in broken Noxian.

In the past month, in addition to training, Huo Jixing would often borrow books from the Trifali Council's collection and compare them with the information in his past life memories.

Most of the information can reflect each other.

Among the Freljordians in front of him, he saw the logo of the Avarosa tribe.

Loklund is rich in radishes, which are durable in storage.

Even in the cold winter weather, the taste will not be affected.

Very beloved by the people of the Freljord, it is a must-have item for every purchase.

Among the street shops, Huo Jixing also saw shops run by Piltover merchants.

Perhaps at the time of delivery, many Chamber of Commerce guards carrying gunpowder and spears were unloading wooden boxes. Judging from their light movements, the boxes should contain spices and colored glaze.

Boom! Boom!

The bell rings.

Huo Jixing heard the news and went to see a tall and majestic clock tower in the center of the city of Rocklund, with the hands at six o'clock.

"It's a bit slow!" Huo Jixing whispered softly.

He is waiting for Tai Lung's arrival. The Reese Guard Secretariat is just a foothold where he can trade some intelligence information about the mission.

"Are you coming?"

With his eyes lowered, Huo Jixing took out the rune token from his arms, its dim light flickering.

Then he paid and left the restaurant.

Rocklund, plain wilderness.

In the dark woods, Huo Jixing saw Tai Long wearing a silver cloak.

"It has a tail, so it took a while." Tai Lung explained in a slightly stiff tone.

It was during Operation Darius.

As he left the capital of Noxus, he attracted the attention of those who cared.

Even if you use [Noxtra] to teleport to other cities, there are still people who will follow you.

"fine."

A red-golden light flashed dimly in Huo Jixing's eyes, and when he saw that there were no clouds rising around him, he nodded.

"Let's go."

The two walked along the edge of the plain in silence.

Their mission location is on the west side of Rocklund——

Rocklund Plains.

It is an important resource point for the Noxian Empire.

There are many natural sulfur deposits buried under this seemingly barren hill, which is the main ingredient of black gunpowder.

But recently, rebel forces have appeared deep in the Lokronde Plains, interfering with and destroying the empire's production workshops.

Secret mission content: Investigate the cause of the rebellion.

A biting cold wind hits.

Huo Jixing and Tai Long hid themselves and moved forward with all their strength, arriving at the Lokronde Plain before midnight.

"Something's wrong." Huo Jixing stopped.

Tai Lung, who was beside him, also noticed something unusual. The air was filled with an almond-like smell and a strong smell of blood. The two mixed together and filled the sky above the plain.

The two looked at each other silently.

Then we found a hilly high point and looked out over the Rocklund Plain in front of us.

Against the backdrop of the dusty, blood-colored sky, the undulating hills are no longer fertile and green. Instead, the ground is turned yellow and stained with bright red blood, as if they have experienced the baptism of war. Occasionally, wild beasts can be seen in search of food.

[Suzaku·Red Eyes and Fire Eyes]!

A red golden light glowed, and in the hilly area near Huojixing's patrol, there were almost no clouds rising.

He looked at Tai Lung beside him and waved.

The two of them paused their progress and carefully sneaked into the plains and hills.

After going more than ten kilometers deep.

Huo Jixing saw that this place was completely different from the fertile plain outside the city of Rocklund.

The undulating hilly terrain in front of us has been severely excavated.

The once verdant mountain peaks have been carved out and destroyed, and the deep and peaceful valleys are littered with garbage. Large areas of ferocious traces are spread inside and outside the hills, leaving a feeling of desolation and desolation.

Continue for more than half an hour.

Huo Jixing saw towering camps rising one after another in the hilly areas.

"Noxian Chapter!"

The blazing light of fireworks illuminated the hills, and the crimson imperial flags fluttered high in the dark sky.

"Go around." Tailong saw Huo Jixing's hesitation and spoke bluntly.

"The missions we carry out are accountable only to the Noxian High Command."

Huo Jixing nodded slightly to express his understanding.

Then he followed Tyrone, bypassing the Noxian camp, and moved forward cautiously.

The night is getting darker, and there is no light.

The hilly terrain is relatively complex, and sometimes you need to climb steep slopes and sometimes you need to cross long and narrow valleys.

Ordinary people, if they lack understanding, may just retreat.

But Huo Jixing and Tai Long were not ordinary Leise garrison soldiers.

The two crossed valleys and narrow roads and came deep into the hills.

“The flavor is getting stronger!”

Huo Jixing smelled the smell of sulfur and blood in his nose, and his expression gradually became serious.

The footholds and villages seen along the way seemed to have been massacred indiscriminately. Cold and stiff corpses were scattered everywhere, and only the remaining and collapsed walls told the fresh atmosphere of the past.

There were also corpses piled up on the official roads that were built, and the ground was stained red with blood.

There are some discrepancies with the information about the rebels recorded in the intelligence.

"There are people ahead!"

The red-gold eyes flickered, and he saw twelve dim clouds appearing in his field of vision, about one kilometer away from him.

In silence.

Huo Jixing and Tailong blended into the dark night, approaching a low and complex hill.

On the back of the uneven hill, in the pile of rocks, a dim fire was seen.

Looking over, Huo Jixing saw a group of twelve people hiding in the rocks, relying on the flickering campfire in front of them to keep warm.

"Rebels? Refugees?" Doubts arose in his heart.

In his field of vision, the people he saw were ragged and hungry.

Under the torn linen clothes, they were completely unable to resist the invasion of the cold wind. They curled up like tree trunks in the hope of slowing down the loss of body temperature.

In the stone pot next to the campfire, there was some food cooked with soil mixed with bark and grass.

It looked like swampy mud, and it smelled extremely bad.

Huo Jixing squatted on the top of the hill, and after thinking for a while, he gestured to Tailong, indicating that he would come out to check, while he stayed in the dark.

Seeing Tailong nodded.

He stood up and walked towards the pile of rocks, deliberately stomping on the ground to make a noise.

"Who is it?"

Huo Jixing looked surprised.

Although it was a bit difficult to pronounce, it was indeed pure Noxian.

Under the dim firelight, a 'refugee' came out, and when he saw Huo Jixing's tall body, his face suddenly changed.

"Enemy attack!"

With a roar, the 'refugee' who should have been sleeping quickly got up, picked up the simple wooden weapon beside him, and rushed towards Huo Jixing.

"Damn Noxian scout!"

"Kill him!"

"Can't let him leave alive."

The chaotic shouts broke the tranquility of the night, and a thin 'refugee' like a rice stalk, with red eyes, approached him.

Huo Jixing took a step back and was about to speak to stop them.

Clang!

A silver-white cold light flashed, like a flash of lightning, rising and falling, passing over the crowd of "refugees".

The night returned to tranquility again, and the strong smell of blood disappeared with the wind.

Tailong came over, the silver-white dagger dancing lightly on his fingertips, looked at Huo Jixing coldly, and disappeared into the night.

Seeing this, Huo Jixing sighed and followed.

When he left, he looked at the corpses piled up among the rocks, and doubted the identities of these people, whether they were rebels or refugees.

Unfortunately, these people were like crazy when they saw outsiders, and they didn't care and rushed forward to kill.

Perhaps they had reached the area where the rebels were active.

After a cup of tea.

Huo Jixing and Tailong found another team of targets, with the same number of twelve people, and they were also pale and thin, and they struggled to move forward against the cold wind.

The dim starlight fell, soaking the gloomy red haze sky.

The two landed not far behind the rebels silently.

Carefully observing the movements and habits of these rebels, it seems that the scouts who went out on patrol would place some black things on the ground from time to time.

"Is it black gunpowder?"

Huo Jixing's heart moved, thinking of the natural sulfur mines buried under the Rocklund Plain.

Although some of these rebels in front of him did not seem to be able to make black gunpowder by themselves, they were poorly dressed and hungry, and sometimes they would eat bark and soil when they were too hungry.

It was far worse than living in the slums at the bottom of the Noxus capital.

But if there was black gunpowder, it was understandable why they could stop the Noxus war group from advancing.

Huo Jixing and Tailong avoided the black gunpowder on the ground and silently followed the rebels to a majestic mountain that had been excavated.

Looking from a distance, a relatively well-preserved workshop stood halfway up the mountain.

On the wall outside the workshop, you can see some traces of battle and dried blood, as well as several damaged Noxus Empire flags that were trampled.

Even in the middle of the night, there were still roars in the workshop, and groups of dark gray scorching mist emerged from the top of the workshop.

When the rebels passed the city gate, a row of soldiers in chain mail set up posts. Only after all the problems were solved could they enter the workshop.

The red-gold light filled his eyes.

Huo Jixing looked at the workshop that once belonged to the Noxus Empire. There were clouds rising, dense and countless.

"So many people?" He whispered softly, looking a little surprised.

At the same time, there were secret guards hidden in key positions of various traffic arteries around the workshop.

After Huo Jixing and Tailong communicated silently, he pointed to the secret guards around, and then sneaked into the workshop in front of him with the help of the dark night.

After entering, he found that the workshop in front of him was more like a refugee camp.

The narrow streets and claustrophobic houses were filled with rebels of all ages.

Their bellies were swollen and they drooped to the ground, like the dead branches of old trees, leaning on each other without any movement.

The cold wind blew, and occasionally someone would open his lifeless eyes, struggle for a while, hug his arms tightly, and fall into a deep sleep.

Except for the inside of the workshop, there was no light anywhere else.

The rebels who had just entered returned to their houses, took out the grass and tree bark from their arms, added some soil, and swallowed it forcefully, and then closed their eyes to rest.

Huo Jixing looked deeply at the rebels.

The living environment was almost like that of a primitive society, and resources were also extremely scarce.

It was hard to imagine that they stopped the attack of the Noxus regiment under such difficult conditions and entered a state of anxiety.

Suppressing his inner thoughts, he and Tyrone followed the light and approached the inside of the workshop silently.

"There is a warning trap."

Tyrone, who had remained silent all the time, spoke, his eyes fell on the walls and the ground in the passage, and traces of subtle changes came into his sight.

"Go in."

The silver-gray figure disappeared into the darkness, and Tyrone avoided the traps around him skillfully.

Huo Jixing followed the pace, and with the help of [Suzaku·Red Eyes and Fire Pupils], he detected the hidden sentry in the workshop.

In cooperation with each other, the two quickly went deep into the core area of ​​the workshop.

"Turn right in front." Huo Jixing spoke.

In his red vision, there were many clouds gathering, and it seemed that there were many people.

And there were several clouds that were extremely eye-catching, suspected to be extraordinary people.

After crossing the winding passage, Huo Jixing and Tyrone stopped.

In the corridor in front of them, runes were shining, and small runes were intertwined in the air, preventing anyone from approaching.

Seeing Tyrone shaking his head, Huo Jixing understood that the corridor in front of him was not easy to sneak into secretly.

"So careful?"

He looked at the many clouds that were close at hand, and he was a little hesitant in his heart.

It's possible to force your way in, but it will definitely disturb the people inside.

He looked around, and suddenly an idea came to him. He pointed to the empty house nearby and went in to find a hidden corner.

"Steel, it's okay." Huo Jixing knocked on the wall, and the Nanli Fire danced on his fingertips.

Then, the red-gold flames burned fiercely, and the steel slowly melted under the extremely high temperature.

Huo Jixing asked Tailong to be on guard outside, and he bent in.

Not far ahead, he extinguished the Nanli Fire, and under the extension of his spirit, there were waves of hazy sounds.

"I can't stand it anymore. People are starting to starve to death frequently in the workshop. If we don't fight back, we will be completely trapped in the Rocklund Plain." An angry voice sounded.

"Maybe we can try to let some old people and children return to the noble territory." A gentle voice suggested.

"Go back? Let's not talk about the harsh taxes of those damn nobles. What identity can they use to go back?"

"Also, don't forget the noble blood on your hands. We have become rebels!"

"If you ask me, let those damn nobles taste the power of black gunpowder."

"We can't get close to the Noxus Warband." The gentle voice struggled.

"I have contacted in advance, and someone will cooperate with us then!"

"Now vote, do you agree to raid the Noxus Warband." The furious voice eased and continued.

"Our supplies can't last for half a month!"

"Agree!"

"Agree!"

After a while, they ended the internal meeting and the sound of messy footsteps sounded.

Huo Jixing subconsciously held his breath and tried his best to suppress his own breath.

"Nobles, harsh taxes, black gunpowder?"

Thoughts surged in his heart, until there was no cloud in front of him, he slowly withdrew.

Looking at the hole in front of him, Huo Jixing melted a thin layer of steel sheet and covered the infiltration position, perfectly covering the traces.

He turned to look at Tyrone in the dark and nodded gently.

Although it was the first time for the two of them to carry out a mission, they cooperated well, and he did not abandon his scout duties.

"Black gunpowder?"

Hearing Huo Jixing's description, Tyrone's emotions fluctuated for the first time, and he spoke in surprise.

There are many controlled items in the Noxus Empire, and black gunpowder is one of them.

It has long been clearly prohibited that no one and any force are allowed to trade.

The two were silent for a while and decided to leave the workshop temporarily and return to the Raiser Guard Secret House to report the information.

Perhaps the cause of the rebellion is hidden under the black gunpowder.

The dark and gloomy night filled the sky.

The thick red haze lingered for a long time, like a stubborn ringworm, clinging to the sky.

Huo Jixing and Tyrone followed the way they came and left the workshop quietly.

"Huh?"

When he stepped onto the hill, Huo Jixing raised his eyebrows slightly.

Under the red-gold eyes, a striking cloud came into view and sneaked into the winter night.

"Superhuman? The one who appeared in the rebel meeting?"

He turned around and followed him secretly.

Under the rugged hills, the target seemed to be very familiar with the surrounding terrain. He circled around and changed directions several times before leaving the hills and running towards the predetermined track.

Behind him, Huo Jixing's eyes flickered and a faint smile appeared on the corners of his mouth.

In terms of tracking ability alone, he, who possessed [Suzaku·Red Eyes and Fire Pupils], was undoubtedly much stronger than Tailong.

In the complex mountains, the target had strong anti-reconnaissance capabilities and would stop to observe from time to time.

But in Huo Jixing's eyes, these were like child's play and full of flaws.

"Have you stopped?"

Huo Jixing hid in the tree canopy and looked at the target he was tracking.

A dim bonfire was lit, and a middle-aged man in a thick robe stood there.

He looked yellow and slightly thin, but his mental state was okay, completely different from other rebels.

"Noxian Strategist?"

Looking at the Noxian soldiers with visors appearing in the distance, Huo Jixing's expression became solemn.

Wearing dark gray armor, a red cloak, and a double-edged axe logo engraved on his chest, he silently revealed his identity--

Noxian Strategist!

They are the high-ranking non-commissioned officers who are indispensable to every Noxian warband, assisting the leader of the Noxian warband in command, planning strategic decisions, and launching the correct strategy.

"Sir, we have persuaded the rebels to attack the Noxian warband." The middle-aged man with a yellow face bowed and said respectfully.

"But our bodies."

"Don't worry, we will deal with the erosion caused by the rune magic power after the matter is done." The Noxian strategist said softly.

"Besides, I think you still enjoy the feeling of power brought by the rune power."

He looked at the middle-aged man in front of him with interest: "With the help of rune items, you can occupy a high position in the rebels and easily change your own destiny."

"Sir, we just want to eliminate the negative effects of rune magic." The middle-aged man with a yellow face smiled flatteringly.

"If we can use the rune magic power without hindrance, can't we serve you better?"

"Hehe!" The Noxian strategist laughed softly.

"Where is Rivian?"

"He needs to go to the front line to lead the rebels to fight, and arrange for me to come alone to report to you." The middle-aged man's eyes turned, as if he wanted to continue to say something.

"Well, so your solo action brought a tail?"

The middle-aged man looked up at the Noxian strategist in front of him, and his expression suddenly became horrified.

"Uh tail"

Puff!

The robe was torn and blood was splattered.

The middle-aged man spat out blood and lowered his eyes. He saw the arm that pierced his chest and wanted to pull it out. In the end, he fell to his sides halfway.

"Come out!"

The light of the campfire reflected on the visor. The Noxian strategist pushed down the corpse in front of him, shook his arms, and looked at the treetops with a cold expression.

"Tsk, very decisive!"

Huo Jixing was shocked and then jumped down.

He held the long knife in his left hand and walked to the campfire, carefully measuring the Noxian strategist in front of him.

"Selling out the intelligence of the war group and colluding with the rebels, this is a serious crime."

"Who are you?" The Noxian strategist leaned forward slightly, as if questioning Huo Jixing's identity.

"A scout of the Assassin's Guild!" Huo Jixing said casually.

"I will report everything I saw just now."

"Heh, Assassin's Guild?" The Noxian strategist laughed sarcastically.

"I hope you can report the news."

The scout of the Assassin's Guild in front of him is very powerful. The long sword hanging on his waist is a rune item. It is not advisable to get too entangled.

The Noxian Strategist looked gloomy and slowly retreated into the darkness, ready to leave.

Huo Jixing wanted to continue asking questions and testing him with words.

But seeing the Noxian Strategist retreating, he shrugged his shoulders and stood still.

"Huh?"

Seeing Huo Jixing not blocking him.

The Noxian Strategist frowned, and a sense of danger suddenly rose in his heart.

Puff!

Silently.

A silver-white knife light emerged in the darkness, instantly suppressing the dim starlight and bonfire light, and attacked the Noxian Strategist's neck.

"No"

The armor was broken, and black mist rose.

Like a blooming flower, it intended to entangle the body of the Noxian Strategist.

But before it could bloom, the silver blade fell and easily destroyed the black mist.

Plop!

The headless body fell, twitched a few times, and then completely stopped moving. The blood gushed out, like a stream, dyed the mountain red.

"I'm waiting for someone, what are you waiting for?"

Looking at Tai Long who was hiding in the shadows, Huo Jixing squatted down and began to search the corpse in front of him, and took away the rune items on the middle-aged man.

"This is a token.!"

He reached out and touched a cold token on the body of the Noxian strategist and took it out immediately.

With the help of the bonfire that had not yet been extinguished, he looked at the black token in his hand.

A blooming black rose was engraved on the front, and a rune mark similar to petals was on the back.

"Black Rose!"