Chapter 809
Chapter 809
Only after Shen Lang felt his skin had completely healed did he put on a disguise and go up on deck. What did he disguise himself as? He’d rather not mention it in the slightest. But for some reason, a blonde beauty, even more stunning than Hill, appeared on deck, captivating the hearts of countless pirates and wandering warriors. Subsequently, everyone began to speculate that Black Widow Hill was not interested in men, but in women. That was the only way to explain why the Black Widow had killed her husband.
* * *
The time that followed was not particularly pleasant. This was because Shen Lang witnessed several naval battles—astonishingly large-scale naval battles. Their scale far surpassed the battle he had fought against Xue Che's fleet. Hundreds of warships fought madly at sea, and the flames of war ignited the waters for hundreds of miles around. One side flew the flag of the Third Seiren Empire, and the other, the flag of the Witch Empire. Shen Lang was finally able to see what the Witch Empire’s flag looked like. It depicted the head of Medusa. So this was why they were called the Witch Empire.
The battlefront stretched for nearly a thousand miles across the sea, a scale that was truly unprecedented. The naval forces on both sides numbered well over several hundred thousand. The sheer scale of this war, far exceeding his expectations, left Shen Lang stunned and dizzy. Shen Lang had sailed upon the sea for a full month to get here. Though they had stopped and started, the total distance traveled was over nine thousand miles. For half of that month, he saw battles break out almost every day. There were countless medium and large-scale naval engagements, and Shen Lang felt that the scope of this war was constantly escalating. He was extremely puzzled.
*Why aren't the two sides' super-fleets engaging in a decisive battle at sea? Why are dozens of fleets from both sides scattered and fighting all over the ocean?*
Black Widow Hill explained it to him. The Third Seiren Empire was not yet unified and consisted of only dozens of allied forces. The Witch Empire, too, was not a complete empire but was composed of over a hundred liberated city-states, which was why battles were breaking out everywhere. Both Shen Lang and Hill could see that this war was extremely disadvantageous for the Witch Empire. Although the Witch Empire had numerous fleets and armies, they were like scattered sand, lacking unity, and their personnel were not professional naval combatants. The dozens of city-states fought their own battles without a unified command, and since the slaves had only recently been liberated, the army's combat effectiveness was severely diminished.
“The Witch Empire’s army is mostly made up of liberated slaves. Dypas also created a large slave army, so why don’t his slave troops betray him and defect to the Witch Empire? That side is practically the motherland of slaves, after all.”
To Shen Lang’s question, Black Widow Hill replied.
“Most of the slaves liberated by the Witch Empire are brown-skinned people. There are also some white and yellow-skinned people. But the slaves hired by Grand Duke Dypas are all black. They are extremely strong and fierce, but they have no concept of freedom and possess absolute obedience. Furthermore, the Fire God Cult controls this slave army through divine authority, faith, and drugs.”
Shen Lang now understood why Dypas was so closely tied to the priests of the Fire God. Soon after, the ship stopped heading east and changed course to the north. The orders from the Third Seiren Empire's army were constantly changing. Because the war was proceeding more smoothly than they had anticipated, the intended landing point for these merchant ships was constantly being pushed back. Finally, the last order was delivered, and Hill's merchant ships were to land at Seowa Castle.
“Even Seowa Castle has fallen?”
Hill said with a complicated expression. Seowa Castle was the most prosperous city-state on the east coast of the Witch Empire. To think that the second-largest city of the Witch Empire had been captured by the armies of the Seiren Empire.
“We are to land at Seowa Castle, unload all our supplies, and immediately return to Bigeum Castle. The allied forces of the Third Seiren Empire are already preparing to launch their final, all-out assault on the capital of the Witch Empire.”
*Has the situation already reached this point? The fighting has gotten so bad that the Witch Empire's capital is about to fall?*
Shen Lang finally asked the question.
“What is the name of the queen of the Witch Empire?”
He wanted to hear the three words, “Qiu Yao’er.”
“Medusa!”
*Ugh! What kind of name is that? Is the queen of the Witch Empire Qiu Yao’er or not?*
“Have you ever seen the queen of the Witch Empire?”
At Shen Lang's question, Black Widow Hill shook her head.
“No. The rumor is that anyone who sees her either becomes her subordinate or dies!”
That did sound like something Qiu Yao’er would do. So, was this Queen Medusa Qiu Yao’er or not? Would Shen Lang have to go and verify it himself? Before long, the ship neared the coast, and preparations were complete to land at Seowa Castle, the largest city-state on the east coast of the Witch Empire.
“Let's go, my love! After we return, we'll immediately leave Bigeum Castle far behind and go to an island where Grand Duke Dypas can't reach us. We’ll live there. On Paradise Island, I have a huge manor and many servants. There, we will have sons and daughters and live happily ever after. As soon as we arrive at Paradise Island, we will marry immediately. I won’t sail anymore; I'll sell all my ships. From then on, we will be the masters of Paradise Island.
It has numerous vineyards, many hunting grounds, and farms. There, you can live a life of wealth and splendor. If you agree, our second child can take my surname, and all the rest will take yours. But all our children will have the right to inherit our fortune. My love, I have more money and property than you can imagine. I don’t want you to wander aimlessly anymore.”
That morning, Hill had tumbled in bed with Shen Lang once more, and afterward, she pleaded in his ear. Shen Lang sighed and replied.
“Beautiful Hill, the flames of Bigeum Castle failed to burn me to death, but you, like a blazing fire, have melted my heart. Of course, I long to go to Paradise Island with you. But I’m sorry, I must go to the capital of the Witch Empire.”
Hill asked, tears falling from her eyes.
“Why? What is your relationship with Queen Medusa? Don't tell me you love her? She is someone an ordinary person cannot approach. She’s not even a normal human being.”
Shen Lang sighed inwardly.
*I also think she isn't human. But she might be the mother of my child.*
In truth, Shen Lang still couldn't be sure whether Queen Medusa of the Witch Empire was Qiu Yao’er or not, because the myths surrounding this queen were so incredibly widespread. She had single-handedly destroyed over a hundred city-states and, in less than three years, established a great empire spanning four million square kilometers. But in any case, Shen Lang had to go and confirm for himself whether she was Qiu Yao’er.
“Goodbye, beautiful Hill. I must go to the capital of the Witch Empire to confirm something for myself.”
* * *
How should one distinguish between the Western and Eastern Worlds? It was a very complicated topic. First, the Great Yan Dynasty was definitively the Eastern World. The lands to the west of the Great Yan Dynasty were called the Western Regions Empire, but in fact, they were the Central World. The Central World was also immeasurably vast, far beyond ordinary imagination. This planet was also round, so logically, heading continuously west should eventually lead to the Western World, but no one had ever accomplished it.
West of the Great Yan Dynasty lay the Western Regions Empire, and further west from there was the Ten Thousand Li Desert. The name “Ten Thousand Li Desert” was no exaggeration; it was a forbidden zone for all living things. Its size was unknown, and it was impossible for anyone to know. No matter who they were, even a master who had reached the realm of a Grandmaster, and no matter how many people or how much water they brought with them, anyone who entered the Ten Thousand Li Desert failed to cross it.
The Western Regions Empire, and even the Great Yan Dynasty, had sent expeditions into this desert, hoping to find out where one would arrive if they crossed it, but all of them ended in failure. The desert stretched on endlessly, whether one headed south, north, or west. No matter which direction one entered the desert, a desert stretching over ten thousand li lay ahead. The reason it was called the Ten Thousand Li Desert was because humans could only ever map out a little over ten thousand li in any direction. In reality, the area of this desert far exceeded ten thousand li; it was highly likely to be over thirty million square kilometers, or perhaps even larger.
When Shen Lang learned of this, he was truly shaken. The Middle East and North Africa on Earth combined were only about twenty-three million square kilometers. Even though most of that area was desert, there were oases where people could survive. Otherwise, so many nations wouldn't have existed in that region from ancient times to the present, and powerful kingdoms like the Persian and Babylonian Empires would never have emerged.
But the Ten Thousand Li Desert of this world truly seemed unsuitable for any form of survival. The official records of the Great Yan Dynasty referred to it in very polite terms as the Great Ten Thousand Li Desert. But in the records of many other nations and in the words of many people, it was called the Demon Prison Desert. The Demon Prison Desert and the Devil's Great Triangle were both forbidden zones of this world. This Ten Thousand Li Desert, the Demon Prison Desert, completely cut off the Eastern and Western Worlds, leaving the sea—a sea route of over ten thousand kilometers—as the only passage between the two.
So where was the purely Western World? Strictly speaking, it would be west of the Ten Thousand Li Desert. It belonged to the same continent as the Great Yan Dynasty, but the distance was immense, over thirty thousand li in a straight line, and with a great desert in between, it was impossible to travel to the Western World in a straight line. The land Shen Lang was on now, the continent where Bigeum Castle and the Witch Empire were located, should strictly be called the New Continent, or perhaps the Veda Continent. The area of this new continent was over twenty to thirty million square kilometers, roughly equivalent to the area of North America. Strictly speaking, this new continent should not be called the Western World, but because it was conquered by the people of the Seiren Dynasty, it came to be called so.
Approximately seven hundred years ago, the Great Emperor Seiren led tens of thousands of people south from the northernmost continent and, in less than ten years, swept across the entire new continent, establishing the immensely powerful Seiren Dynasty. Now, hundreds of years later, the tens of thousands of people the Great Emperor Seiren had brought with him had grown to tens of millions. And though they were fragmented, the white-skinned people of the Seiren Dynasty remained the rulers of this continent, governing over a hundred other ethnicities.
During his time at sea, Shen Lang had read many books, but the history of the Witch Empire was too short, so there was almost no information related to it. However, there were countless books on the history of the Seiren Dynasty, especially about the Great Emperor Seiren. To put it simply, the Great Emperor Seiren was an incredibly powerful man, whose personal might and charisma were no less than that of His Highness Jiang Li. Shen Lang couldn't understand how this great man, in an age of cold weapons, had managed to sweep across a land of twenty million square kilometers with only about thirty thousand cavalry.
Of course, instead of books, Shen Lang heard many rumors about Queen Medusa from the lips of Black Widow Hill. Medusa was also an incredibly powerful person, having swept across a territory of four million square kilometers in less than four years to establish the Witch Empire in the southern part of the Seiren Dynasty's lands. This was why Shen Lang continued to doubt whether this Queen Medusa was truly Qiu Yao’er. The Qiu Yao’er he knew was also very strong, but she wasn't *this* formidable.