The Cornflower Witch

The train advanced against the wind and snow, charging forward without hesitation, unstoppable.

The dull steel body raced like a long dragon through the dim snowfields. The airwaves stirred up by its momentum tore through the swirling snowflakes, shredding and flinging them aside, revealing the tracks buried beneath the snowdrifts once more.

Connecting rods turned, black-red wheels ground against the steel rails. The heat waves expelled from the train melted the surrounding snow, making this cold, silent snowfield feel like a relic that had barged in, bringing with it roaring and scorching power.

"Hoooonk—" The surging whistle erupted along with steam, spreading across the wasteland and traveling far into the distance.

Inside the train, through the grimy glass windows, the crew gradually spotted a magnificent silhouette blurred by snowflakes in the distance. It was the northern great city, Candela—its walls and fortress ramparts standing hundreds of meters tall, exuding an overwhelming sense of pressure. Yet knowing this was the crystallization of countless predecessors' efforts, a surge of pride arose within them.

After several days of travel, experiencing all sorts of events large and small, the train had finally drawn near its ultimate destination.

Countless eyes from the great city and its towers converged, watching the train that had arrived just before the final deadline, keeping its promise. And the crew aboard looked up at the ever-closer silhouette of the endless walls, as well as the towering gates slowly opening.

Passing through the last ten kilometers, the train roared into the interior of Candela. It did not stop, driving straight into the most central area of the great city. Along the way, tracks and pedestrians had long been cleared. Soldiers and mages stationed here stood amidst the wind and snow, watching this moment unfold.

Finally, with a screeching friction sound, the train slowly came to a halt. Then, one by one, the carriages rapidly opened. Soldiers and support personnel from the crew immediately carefully unloaded the crates of Scorching Sun Crystals inside, transporting them to the massive furnace nearby that had already begun to slowly rotate.

On the inner walls of the colossal furnace, standing three hundred meters tall, slots were controlled by mages to draw in the opened Scorching Sun Crystals and secure them in place. Apart from this largest furnace, six smaller furnaces were distributed around it.

Everything proceeded with tension and order. As the Scorching Sun Crystals were loaded, the orange-red, translucent crystals emitted a faint glow from within and gradually heated up. Even before ignition, the temperature here could already distort the air, and it continued to climb.

Scorching Sun Crystals were 'fire seeds' bearing the power of the Scorching Sun Aspect. They had strict storage restrictions. If a critical threshold was exceeded, the overlapping Scorching Sun Aspect contamination would cause them to gradually heat up, activating the latent energy within. When transported by train, they had to be stored with 1-2 carriages of separation—they could not be all piled together. The intermediate carriages were a necessity, which also prevented the train from completely discarding useless parts and traveling fully unencumbered.

Storing them in spatial items also had certain limitations, because Scorching Sun Crystals were Fourth-Tier fire seeds. Once their quantity accumulated, the vast Scorching Sun Aspect power would destroy the stable structure inside the spatial item. Ultimately, either the latent Aspect power would activate and cause an explosion, or everything inside the spatial item would be lost forever in the chaotic currents of spatial fragments.

If small spatial items were compared to shelves built of wood, then Scorching Sun Crystals were like heavy metal blocks. Once their quantity reached a certain point, they would collapse the entire shelf (the small space).

This was also the reason why some high-tier treasures were difficult to store in spatial items—unless the storage space itself was extremely robust. For example, the 'treasure space' inside a high-tier True Dragon's belly, which dragons used to store their cherished possessions, was reinforced by the Dragon Eye Aspect, maintaining its stability and making it hard to destroy.

This was also why, in the Eighth Epoch, the Dragon Hunt War had erupted. So many people and factions coveted the treasures of the True Dragons—kill them, and the treasure space inside their bodies would shatter, spilling out the hoarded riches within.

As the Scorching Sun Crystals entered the loading phase, Candela's stationed personnel also gradually took their positions, beginning the process of starting the entire furnace. At this moment, the Ninth Train crew was finally relieved. Now they could rest for a while.

Sylutia, draped in a woolen shawl, followed Master Ge Zhen along with the rest of the crew into a hall not far from the furnace. This place had many seats, as well as hot water and simple food supplies, allowing them to sit and rest.

"You've all worked hard." After Master Ge Zhen brought everyone here, he turned around and spoke, his gaze much softer than before, no longer as stern as he had been on the train.

"The road was full of incidents one after another; my nerves were constantly on edge, and only now can I finally relax a little."

Before long, a relatively younger-looking mage approached with some people. Upon seeing Master Ge Zhen, he spread his arms in welcome, and the two embraced. Each carried emotions hard to put into words.

"Sorry, I came to receive you only now—there's just been far too many matters piling up to handle." The other party explained briefly, then turned to face the core crew members, introducing himself.

"Hello everyone. I'm Anvis, a student of Sage Kiran, and currently one of the three chief administrators of Candela. I've exchanged ideas with Master Ge Zhen on many occasions."

He appeared relatively young, probably around forty years old, dressed in robes primarily white with gold trimmings. His strength matched that of Master Ge Zhen, and he was a master from the Solar Furnace school, ranked 11th.

As for the teacher he mentioned, it was none other than the supreme leader of Candela and one of the 22 Sages of the Mage Alliance—the 'White Sage' Kiran.

Upon learning of his identity, the people present respectfully saluted. After all, his status was second only to the Sage within Candela. For him to personally come and receive us at such a critical juncture was not something to take lightly.

After a brief exchange, Anvis learned about the various events that had occurred during the train journey. He couldn't help but marvel at the difficulty of the trip, and also shared news about the trains on other routes.

"Originally, we had high hopes pinned on the western line, but unfortunately, a severe accident occurred. All three trains on that route were lost—every single person."

"Although the First Train on the eastern line arrived safely, the Seventh Train encountered an incident that delayed the entire route, making it impossible to arrive on time."

"If not for your arrival at the very last moment, the entire North Wind Defense Line would have fallen into a massive crisis." His gaze carried emotion as it swept over the crowd, lingering a moment longer on the black-haired young girl draped in the shawl.

Although he was curious about this black-haired, youthful girl, this was not the time for a chat. After a simple exchange, someone came to report.

"Lord Anvis, the furnace is ready." Upon hearing this report, he immediately stood up.

"I have to go now. Once everything stabilizes later, I will make up for it with a grand celebration banquet for all of you. Please forgive my haste at this moment." With that, he led his entourage and strode quickly toward the furnace's location.

At this moment, Sylutia and the others also heard a tremendous roar coming from that direction. The sound caused the very earth to tremble faintly beneath their feet, as if an ancient beast, long slumbering, was slowly awakening.

On the North Wind Defense Line, golden-red light streams, centered on Candela, extended to the wall defenses on both flanks. As energy flowed in, one by one the dormant giant wind turbines slowly began to rotate. The golden engravings inscribed on them lit up one after another. Seen from high above, they resembled glowing, orange-red runic rings.