After several more hours on the boat, everyone managed to eat a quick meal onboard. The shores on either side were still enveloped in green trees, and further off loomed snow-white mountains, looking like jade, with the river water as green as emeralds. The surrounding greenery was mirrored on the water’s surface. While perhaps not quite a paradise, such scenery was truly rare compared to the mundane world of Earth, captivating most of the Reincarnation Squad members, who stared into space.

One of them was intently watching the strangely shaped trees along the bank when he suddenly shouted, "Hey everyone, look at the shore! I think I saw a group of people running by."

Instantly, everyone looked in the direction he pointed. The woods there were dense, obscuring anything beyond the immediate trees. Aragorn, paddling the boat, said, "Don't make such a fuss. Those are Uruk-hai... they are tracking us along the bank, which is precisely why we must reach Rauros Falls before they catch up. Only there will we find some measure of safety."

Thus, for the rest of the journey, they constantly glimpsed traces of the Uruk-hai. It wasn't until they passed several sharp bends in the river, which would delay the Orcs' crossing, that they finally made camp on a flat, treeless bank near dusk.

"We'll maintain continuous watch in teams of three, each team taking an hour shift. The Hobbits are exempt. This way, after one hour of duty, we get five hours of rest until we set off again at dawn. On the boat, we can rest in rotation while paddling. This gives us a much better chance of shaking off those Uruk-hai." Aragorn said, poking the campfire.

The Reincarnation Squad members naturally had no objections.

The other primary characters were similarly compliant. However, an unexpected event occurred during the rest period. Boromir proposed a different destination to Aragorn: he wished for the Fellowship to head to Minas Tirith, a city in Gondor and a crucial outpost guarding against Mordor. He suggested they rest there until fully recovered before making a concerted push into Mordor.

Yet, Aragorn flatly and clearly rejected the proposal. The two nearly became entangled in a heated argument, with Aragorn even voicing his distrust of Boromir.

Of course, these were minor disruptions. The night passed in silence. The next day, they set off as soon as the sun appeared, continuing down the river. Days passed in this routine: moving at dawn, sleeping at dusk. After several days, the banks were no longer as heavily forested; instead, they were punctuated by ancient stone structures, and the terrain had shifted from plains to deep ravines.

On this day, the small boat steadily moved forward on the main river channel. The banks slowly transitioned from uneven, rocky terrain to winding gorges. After only a few more tens of minutes, Aragorn suddenly called out, "Look, everyone! Those are the Argonath. The kings of men of old. Those are... my ancestors!" At the end of the gorge, two colossal stone statues materialized—a sight that could only be described with awe. In a Middle-earth world like this, two massive figures, carved directly from the rock faces flanking the cliffs, hundreds of meters high, made anyone standing before them feel utterly insignificant. These two statues were now revealed to the company.

"It truly is... magnificent!" Zheng Zha exclaimed loudly, echoed by gasps of wonder from the other Reincarnation Squad members and the narrative characters.

Consider this: when the boat passed between the two statues, the combined height of the vessel and its occupants didn't even reach the statues' toes. This carving, a miracle of engineering, now dominated their view. As each person passed the statues—flying through the fictional novel text—they held their breath, gazing upward until the boat had sailed far beyond them. Even then, many looked back, unable to fully process the scene. Such overwhelming grandeur could only be understood by being there; words failed to capture even a fraction of it.

Aragorn then spoke, his voice filled with reverence. "Yes, so majestic. These men, noble and brave, my ancestors, yet they were corrupted by the temptation of the One Ring. This is also the nature of Man..." With that, the company passed through the long canyon and the miraculous statues symbolizing humanity's great power. Ahead of them lay an immense, roaring waterfall: Rauros Falls.

They disembarked where Aragorn directed them on the bank, but instead of immediately marching, they set up camp right there.

"We cross the lake under cover of darkness. Remember to hide the boats well; the patrolling guards must not know we crossed here. Then we head east until we reach Amon Hen. We enter Mordor from the north," Aragorn instructed, organizing the gifts and weapons gifted by the Elves, along with the team's food supplies.

Gimli the Dwarf suddenly interjected, "Amon Hen? Are you certain it's that Amon Hen? That place is a labyrinth of jagged rocks, virtually barren wasteland—and that’s putting it mildly. Do you know what lies beyond Amon Hen? It’s an endless expanse of bottomless marsh, shrouded in suffocating smoke year-round. Are you sure you intend to descend into Mordor from there?" Aragorn glanced at Gimli and nodded. "That's right, that's where we enter Mordor..." Just then, Legolas, the Elven prince who had been keeping watch, approached. "I believe crossing the lake now is guaranteed to lead to an encounter. While we don't fear small bands of Orcs, and Zheng Zha and his companions are extremely powerful, raising an alarm now would be counterproductive, yielding nothing but trouble."

Legolas spoke with grave seriousness. "No, my concern isn't the east bank. I sense danger on this western shore. While I don't yet know what the danger is, I can feel something approaching—something extremely perilous and terrifying. We should leave this place as quickly as possible!" Before his words fully settled, the Hobbit Merry cried out, "Wait—where is Frodo? Mr. Frodo is gone!" Sam, the other Hobbit, reacted fastest. He instantly sprang up from where he had been sleeping on the ground and began searching frantically. Aragorn and Legolas also rushed toward the trees lining the bank.

The Reincarnation Squad members knew the original film narrative progression: Boromir, unable to resist the Ring’s temptation, was about to try and seize it from Frodo when the Uruk-hai legion attacked. Boromir would then die while defending the Hobbits and the others from the assault.

Zheng Zha quietly looked at his squad members. Everyone nodded silently; no mobilization speeches were needed. The three mental controllers had already scanned the Uruk-hai's numbers and positions, linking the images via a psychic chain directly into the team members' minds. Thus, as Zheng Zha drew the Tiger Soul blade and vaulted onto his skeletal warhorse, the others simultaneously readied their weapons or rose to their feet.

Zheng Zha looked at those beside him. "Zhang Heng, Chu Xuan, you stay here to protect the mental controllers. One person from the North Continent Team and one from the South Flame Continent Team will remain to guard everyone else. The rest of us, prepare for battle!" At that moment, Aragorn had found Frodo, who was offering the Ring to him. However, Aragorn fought the temptation and did not reach for it. Frodo then declared he would go alone to Mount Doom in Mordor to destroy the Ring with his own power.

"How wonderful—goodness and courage, innocence and dreams. Although the present is cruel, without these beautiful sentiments, destruction would be far less satisfying. It is better when there is beauty to ruin," a voice suddenly interrupted Aragorn and Frodo's conversation. Aragorn reacted fastest, whipping around to draw the long sword at his hip. Simultaneously, his battle qi began to faintly surge, because the moment the voice sounded, he felt a cold sensation like a knife pressed against his back, raising goosebumps all over him.

On a high, rough-hewn stone pillar behind them, a handsome, long-haired man stood, smiling down at the pair from mid-air. His expression was utterly benevolent, his smile radiating no discernible threat, yet his eyes held a profound coldness. The pillar was about seven or eight meters tall, and there was nothing nearby—no terrain or structure—to explain how the man had ascended it silently. Aragorn felt a chill spread across his spine; if this man had intended to assassinate him moments ago, he wouldn't have had the strength to resist.

"Ah, they've arrived. Then continue holding onto that courage you fight with for your comrades. We shall meet again, both of you." The long-haired man smiled, moved slightly, and suddenly vanished as if he had never been there.

At that precise moment, not far away, Zheng Zha, riding the skeletal warhorse, charged forward rapidly and leaped towards—