Chapter 2625: Cloudtop Palace, Wind-Chasing War

However, the giant Element Lord before him was clearly not an enemy; Xia Duo just habitually thought about how to respond, then flew directly out from Hengchun Square.

The closer he got to the Element Lord, the more Xia Duo could feel the other's degree of control over the surrounding wind elements; in terms of intensity, it might not be as good as his own 【Wind Control】 at close range, but if it came to the range of influence, he couldn't catch up to the other even with a whip.

Almost five New Li away, he could already feel an expanding, constantly rotating super-giant aura; this was actually not entirely Wind Element Control, but rather control over the physical air itself.

And when Xia Duo entered within the five New Li range, everything changed again; it was no longer the violent scene seen from the outside, but had become calm and breezy.

If he hadn't known in advance that he was entering the domain of an Element Lord, he would have even thought this was the normal environment near the surface.

Of course, at this moment he could still see the scene of the giant Element Lord's lower body with rotating dark clouds and entwined lightning, but this did not affect the calm and breeze of the upper part.

Moreover, the calm and breeze Xia Duo saw was only within the five New Li domain near the Element Lord, not the entity itself; the entity was still a rapidly rotating cyclone in his Perception.

It was just missing the staining of dark clouds and water vapor, existing as a nearly pure transparent entity.

Xia Duo flew all the way, arriving at the top of the Element Lord, level with the high-domed building supported by colonnades carried above, and at this time, Talafu also came out to greet him.

As soon as the two met, a look of shyness appeared on Talafu's face; while inviting Xia Duo into the building, he explained:

"Father attaches great importance to this trade and had me come personally to escort it; please do not take what was said before to heart, Lord Xia Duo."

"I won't."

Xia Duo nodded indifferently, then began to examine this building constructed on the head of the wind element; in terms of style, it was similar to the Kuangfeng Baolei that the Mairide Family had given him previously, but not exactly the same.

Overall, it was still Calimshan style, just with an extra layer of atmospheric and dignified charm; it seemed this wind element and the building above it should not be Talafu's private property.

Here, seeing that Xia Duo was interested in this building, Talafu casually introduced: "This is Grandfather's Cloudtop Palace; because he was worried I might have an accident on the road and delay the trade with Lord Xia Duo, he temporarily lent it to me."

Talafu's grandfather was a Pasha of Calimshan, equivalent to a Lord here in Netheril, with a more lofty title, but slightly less actual power.

The true rulers were the Syl Pasha and the Grand Vizier, equivalent to the Empire's Emperor and Chancellor; although the latter existed in reliance on the former, they were not someone an ordinary Pasha could contend with.

In fact, the Grand Vizier was also a Pasha in his own territory.

Subsequently, Talafu introduced further, "The carrier of the Cloudtop Palace was a war trophy the Mairide Family obtained when participating in the Wind-Chasing War three hundred years ago; to obtain it, the family paid a huge price at the time, and didn't recover for one or two hundred years afterward."

"So that's how it is; I thought such wind elements were very common in Calimshan!"

"How could that be? Except for the families of the Syl Pasha and the successive Grand Viziers who are confirmed to possess Lord-level Elemental Creatures, very few other families can possess them; the Mairide Family's previous misfortune might not have been without this reason—too many people were jealous."

Regarding the Mairide Family's previous involvement in the conspiracy of the Elf Prince's death, Talafu did not discuss it in detail; on one hand, this matter was sensitive, and on the other, it was because Xia Duo was also an insider and knew no less of the inside story than he did.

And Xia Duo did not want to delve deeper into this topic, turning instead to ask about the Wind-Chasing War, "Was that a war with the Wind Elemental Plane?"

"Yes, whenever the Empire discovers a new Wind Elemental Plane, it is possible to start a Wind-Chasing War, calling on Pashas from all over to participate; the Mairide Family participated in the one three hundred years ago, and although they paid a huge price, they also gained quite a bit. And the most recent one—"

Mairide paused, and said with a slightly regretful look in his eyes, "The most recent one was ten years ago, but at that time the Mairide Family was tied up by other matters and couldn't respond to the call; I didn't expect this Wind-Chasing War to be surprisingly smooth, and all participating families were allocated quite a few Element Ranches."

Speaking of this, Mairide seemed to have remembered something and hurriedly added, "By the way, the Wind Elemental Plane I mentioned refers to a large Plane, while an Elemental Plane usually has many small and medium or even micro-planes with similar attributes around a large Plane; only wars targeting large Planes can be called Wind-Chasing Wars, and a complete Wind-Chasing War basically lasts for a century."

So that's how it is!

Xia Duo had truly broadened his horizons; if Talafu hadn't taken the initiative to mention these, he might have had to wait a long time to learn about these situations from other channels.

And according to Talafu's description, Calimshan's strength was likely much stronger than they appeared; however, this was not hard to understand, as the Southern Four Kingdoms had been bumping into each other for thousands of years and had almost never stopped.

If they really didn't have some foundation and some strength, it would be impossible to continue for so long.

Of course, Xia Duo had also seen some of the situation within Calimshan with his own eyes; the evil consequences brought by long-term war were dragging this country into the Abyss.

It was not just Calimshan; the other three kingdoms were about the same, otherwise the murder of the Elf Prince in the south last time could not have been quelled so easily.

Although it had not been completely resolved yet, compared to similar events in past history, the impact of this incident was definitely much smaller.

Kaitemier was currently at war with Zhamu Dasi, but the intensity was maintained at a low level; such a situation might continue until the Crown King of Kaitemier stepped down or the pain of losing a son subsided.

In addition, there was Zhamu Dasi, which chose to assassinate Xia Duo because he was involved in the murder of the Elf Prince, but as a result, Xia Duo destroyed one of their main cities, and later this matter ended there.

If it were in the past, there would inevitably have been a big fight.

"The South is declining!"

This was the result Xia Duo concluded from his field investigation in the south last time; although he only came into contact with the three countries of Calimshan, Zhamu Dasi, and Kaitemier during this process, it was enough to draw a preliminary conclusion.

And the Northland, although it had experienced a tragic war in the past, the establishment of the Northland Alliance signaled a brand new atmosphere in the Northland, plus the reforms and efforts of various countries, it could be said that the Northland was slowly rising.

Perhaps because of this situation, Calimshan was actively seeking contact with the Northland; for example, this time, the importance attached to the Elemental Essence trade, and the previous stationing of Observers in the Northland Alliance, and so on.

Today's Calimshan had initially extricated itself from the quagmire of past wars; if it could not seize this historical opportunity before Kaitemier and Zhamu Dasi went to war and the Northland rose to quickly wash away its chronic illnesses and become great again, I am afraid there would not be such a good opportunity in the future. End of chapter.