Chapter 100: Illusory?

The World Tree still stood tall on the land of Li State, piercing the clouds.

The Red-clothed Devil looked at the World Tree, smiled, and said, "Old timer, I know you've come, so you should show yourself now."

That tree was very conspicuous; how could Aoding not have seen it? Aoding had already prophesied that these things were a trial for adventurers. But just as he wanted to continue predicting future events correctly, he found he could no longer predict anything, Aoding felt strange, then looked at the tree, then sighed and said, "Forget it, since we can't know the answer, let the youngsters play by themselves, but still, some of these matters still need me to settle."

Aoding said that and vanished into the night sky. The firelight made the dwarves' faces glow red; looking in their direction, they were remodeling the weapons originally used by Li State's soldiers, and now it was nearly finished. Feng Yan and Chen Hao watched the dwarves as they poured molten iron into the molds, waited for it to solidify, then poured cold water over it, instantly sending up white steam and making a hissing sound.

"Hmm, this finished product looks good!" Chen Hao walked up to the dwarves, looked at the first batch of weapons they had forged, and said.

The dwarves said to Feng Yan and Chen Hao, "Sirs, this is only the first batch of weapons; there are still many more to come!"

"Hmm." Chen Hao nodded, then asked, "I ask you, how did you handle that iron rod earlier?"

"That iron rod still seems unusable now." the dwarves replied.

"Why?" Chen Hao, puzzled, then asked.

"That iron rod hasn't undergone its final refinement; it will probably take a few days." the dwarves explained.

Chen Hao understood; there were still aspects of that iron rod they couldn't comprehend. He recalled when he first started, the rod had knocked him unconscious with a single blow, and when Feng Yan drew his sword, it was also difficult to deal with.

"It seems we should do something." Chen Hao turned to Feng Yan and asked.

Feng Yan nodded and said, "Indeed, we should do something."

Together they entered Li State, returned to the original inn; the innkeeper, seeing them arrive, immediately smiled, went up to them and said, "Sirs, you're here! Please, the two rooms we kept for you are still available!"

Now Feng Yan and Chen Hao were a bit puzzled; Feng Yan asked, "It's not that I'm telling you, innkeeper, but we've left—why are you still keeping two rooms for us?"

Hearing this, the innkeeper hurriedly replied, "No, sirs, your deposit hasn't been refunded yet, so I can't give your rooms to anyone else."

The two laughed, then found a table to sit; the innkeeper asked, "Sirs, would you like something to eat?"

Feng Yan took out a gold coin from his pocket and tossed it to the innkeeper, saying, "Boil me a pot of tea and bring some snacks."

The innkeeper acknowledged, then called out to the attendant: "Attendant, hurry and brew a pot of tea for the sirs, then bring the finest snacks!"

The attendant hurriedly replied after hearing the innkeeper's words.

After the tea was ready, the attendant brought it to the two, then prepared to bring the snacks, but Chen Hao called him to stop.

Chen Hao took out a gold coin from his hand and asked, "Attendant, lately a big tree has appeared in the city; do you know what's going on?"

The attendant slipped the gold coin into his pocket, then whispered, "Let me tell you, sirs, this giant tree was created by the Red-clothed Devil!"

"What!" Chen Hao widened his eyes, hearing this news, feeling extremely surprised.

"Shh, keep it down!" the attendant hurriedly glanced around; even though he knew there were no customers nearby, he still adopted a hushed manner.

Chen Hao nodded, signaling him to continue; the attendant exhaled and went on, "No one knows when that tree sprouted, but by the time everyone saw it, it was already enormously huge!"

Chen Hao nodded, then told the attendant, "Attendant, you've worked hard; go attend to your duties."

Chen Hao sipped his tea and began to think, pondering the relationship between the World Tree and the Red-clothed Devil.

Feng Yan sipped his tea, watching Chen Hao think, couldn't help laughing and said, "Actually it's not that complicated; the thing we need to do is quite simple, right?"

With that remark from Feng Yan, Chen Hao understood; they really didn't need to overthink, they just needed to get one thing done.

"Let's go." Chen Hao said.

As soon as the words fell, the two left; the attendant cleared away their leftover snacks and tea, the tea still giving off a faint fragrance.

Smelling that tea aroma, the attendant was even more reluctant to pour out the good tea; he picked up the clay pot and gulped it down heartily, then let out a pleased sound.

"Good tea." the attendant said, looking at the snacks on the table, he didn't bother with anything else, grabbed them and stuffed them into his sleeve.