Azur Lane: I Crossed the Graduation Port Area

Chapter 1235 Dongzhou Longmen Festival

"What the commander said makes sense. We should indeed unify our dress style!"

When Fushun heard what he said, he immediately raised his hand excitedly to express his strong support:
“Going to the Siren Base to open the blind box is scheduled at the end of the itinerary, so I strongly recommend that everyone change into Natlan style clothes before going to the Dragon Palace!

"Don't forget that today is the Dragon Gate Festival held every five years in Dongzhou. We have to accompany the Commander to watch the Lantern Festival in Xianluo City tonight!"

Lin Lan was amused by Fushun's words and reached out to rub the energetic girl's head:

"What the hell is opening a blind box... But I have heard of the Dragon Gate Festival. No wonder you are so anxious to bring me out."

On his way from Duanzhou River to the Donghuang temporary port area, he learned some Dongzhou folk customs from the offline database of the experimental agency, which naturally included the Longmen Festival.

This is a traditional festival in Dongzhou since ancient times and is held every five years.

Just like the Lantern Festival in Donghuang of Blue Star, on the day of Longmen Festival, the people of Dongzhou will decorate the city with colored paper, calligraphy and paintings, and handmade lanterns. It is even more lively than the Chinese New Year because it is only held every five years.

"Commander, don't you find it strange?"

Hu Ben suddenly came up to him, looked up at him with a wicked smile and asked:

"Why do the Natlan people name this festival the Dragon Gate when they clearly reject foreign races?"

“Now that you mention it, it does seem a little strange.”

Lin Lan admitted that he was stumped by Huben's question.

He knew very well that because of the beast tide, the Natlan people were extremely hostile to non-human races.

Even foreign humans, such as the Orlans or the Jiaozhi people, are stereotyped as untrustworthy in the eyes of most Natlan people.

It is indeed somewhat unreasonable that the Natlan people in Dongzhou named this grand traditional festival the Longmen Festival.

"Hehe~ I'm sure the Commander won't be able to guess the answer to this question."

Haitian's gentle voice sounded just right, and the well-read Donghuang Light Cruiser girl smiled and announced the answer for him:
“Because in the myths passed down by word of mouth in Dongzhou, the ancient great power who opened up the Natlan Heavenly Path was actually an ancestor dragon.

“The Zulong is also recorded as Yinglong in Dongzhou or our Donghuang mythology.

“According to rumors, among the four ancient powers who opened up the world and created all things, the first power born from the vast void was an ancestor dragon.

“After it was born, it saw that the two great powers born in the void were not of the same race, so it used its blood to create the Grand Void Dragon Gate, allowing the last great creator to be born with the body of the Ancestral Dragon.

"The ancestor dragon that was born later is the one believed in Dongzhou mythology to be the ancestor of all things who created and opened up the Natlan Heavenly Dao.

"In order to distinguish itself from the First Ancestral Dragon that regarded it as its own flesh and blood, it chose to cut off one of its wings. Its single-winged image was recorded on some heavenly-level spiritual artifacts of the East Province Azure Dragon Clan... Commander, are you stunned by what you heard?"

Hai Tian was halfway through talking about the folk myths they had collected in Dongzhou when she noticed that Lin Lan's expression became a little subtle.

"Ahem, it's okay."

Lin Lan coughed twice, took a deep breath and continued to ask Hai Tian:
"So... the one-winged ancestral dragon that the people of Dongzhou believe opened up the way of heaven and created the world, is it the real body of the goddess Natlan?"

"This is just a myth about the Dragon Gate Festival in Dongzhou. Commander, how can you take a myth seriously?"

Haitian didn't know what he was thinking at the moment, and patiently answered for him:
"Myths can trigger endless associations in people. It is natural that you want to combine the myths of the Natlan goddess and the Zulong together, Commander."

After Haitian finished speaking, Long Wu pulled on his clothes and pointed to the pavilion next to the swimming pool. He suggested:

"Commander, we can go there and sit down to listen to Haitian's stories. I also brought a lot of snacks."

After hearing what Long Wu said, Lin Lan noticed that there was an open-air swimming pool on the deck of the flying spirit weapon where he was.

Not only that, there are many entertainment facilities and artificial turfs on this spacious flying spirit weapon deck, which is no different from a rooftop park.

"Well, let's go over and sit down and talk."

Lin Lan smiled and said to Long Wu, and then added to the Donghuang ship girls:

"Everyone should do as Fushun said, and when we get close to Xianluo City, everyone should change into Natlan style clothing."

The Donghuang ship girls and the two Antiks girls had no objection to this matter.

They had all brought Natlan-style clothes with them, so they could just change into them when the time came.

Lin Lan's mind was now on the Dongzhou myth about the Longmen Festival that Hai Tian had told him. This myth... gave him a vague idea that he was not sure about.

But even if he said this idea now, he couldn't verify it.

After all, the little sword spirit is just the sword soul of the brave sword created by the goddess Liaozhou. It is definitely not aware of ancient things that happened before the chaos in the other world.

So Lin Lan quickly decided to keep this idea in the back of his mind and planned to confirm it after returning to the home port.

"Green tea, biscuits, iris-flavored cakes, and candies, take some fruit candies first..."

Long Wu said that he brought a lot of snacks, but this "a lot" can be said to have completely refreshed his definition of this word.

The storage space of Xiaolongniang's ship was like a bottomless pit. Soon, it was filled with all kinds of snacks and desserts to fill up the table where everyone was sitting.

"Alright, Long Wu, that's all for now. If you take more, the table won't be able to accommodate them all!"

After Lin Lan stopped Long Wu from taking more snacks, he watched the naughty kids start fighting for the candies. He thought for a moment and said with a smile:

"I'll take this opportunity to show you the Sword of the Brave."

He planned to use the fire element and grass element sword spirits to reshape the Lihuo Divine Tree before arriving at Xianluo City.

"Sword of the Brave! Commander, take it out and show it to us!"

As he expected, Fushun, Feiyun, Huben and Changchun all looked at him curiously, and Fushun even shouted excitedly:

"The sword of a real hero... Just thinking about it makes me feel so powerful and cool. Commander, I also want to be a real hero!"

"There's a virtual amusement park in the harbor. Fushun, you can go there and experience it. You can be any kind of hero you want."

Lin Lan finished speaking to Fushun with a smile, then stood up and walked to the artificial lawn next to the pavilion to unfold his military equipment.

He also took the Power Brave Sword made by the little fox girl inventor Yubari from the Edo period from the armory.

The nine-colored Liaozhou sword soul representing the nine elements also surrounded the blade of this power sword.

"Wow!"

As expected, he successfully received the surprised and admiring voices from Fushun and Lord Yunfei.

Even Anshan and Harbin were all attracted by the new commander's weapons that he officially displayed for the first time.

"It's really good. This greatsword matches the commander's uniform very well. The craftsmanship is also top-notch. I have to say that the guys in the Sakura Empire are quite good at sword forging."

Harbin finished commenting on the workmanship of the Rubik's Cube Power Sword with a smile, and Haitian asked him thoughtfully:

"Ah, the new sword spirit companion that the commander introduced at the banquet yesterday, does he usually live in this brave sword?"

"That's right! This power sword is where I rest!"

Without waiting for Lin Lan to answer, the little sword spirit's triumphant voice rang out from the small metal speaker on the hilt of the sword in his hand.

Hearing this childish loli voice outside the fleet channel, all the Donghuang ship girls on the deck were stunned.

And when they all saw that the source of the sound was the speaker on the hilt of the Brave Sword, which was a superfluous addition to the perfect workmanship, they all couldn't help laughing out loud.

Fushun and Feiyun were the most excited among them. They held their stomachs and laughed so hard that they rolled on the ground.

“Pfft, pfft hahahahaha, who installed this speaker? The shape is so funny!”

“Lord Feiyun guessed that it must have been done by someone from the White Eagle camp, hahahahaha…”

Well, Feiyun, who was rolling on the ground laughing, really got it right.

Lin Lan also smiled under his military uniform.

This loudspeaker, welded on by the girls of the White Eagle ship and used to speak to the little sword spirit, completely destroys the domineering and mighty image of the Brave Sword.

But there was nothing we could do about it. Who asked him to come to Natland from the port area so suddenly?
Fortunately, although Harbin laughed, he still comforted him and the extremely aggrieved little sword spirit:
"Hey, it's okay, I understand. This speaker must have been welded on by the White Eagle companions at the Xinghai Base as a temporary communication tool for the little sword spirit, right?
"When the commander arrives at the Northern Union Temporary Port and asks Chkalov and Nakhimov to upgrade the weapons, we can also change the design of the trumpet."

(End of this chapter)