Free Web NovelChapter 250: Chapter 249: Liquid Spiritual Spring, Priest Nais
’Joy, nervousness, do-or-die desperation... but no malice...’
The silver ring trembled slightly.
Su Ye used the power of his Divine Sense to perceive the young Priest’s emotions.
The Caster’s cultivation kept his surface thoughts quite focused.
Relying solely on the silver ring without alerting the boy made it difficult to listen to his innermost thoughts.
However, perceiving his emotions was enough!
’If there’s no malice... I can make use of him for now,’ Su Ye mused.
As members of the city-state’s upper class, Priests certainly had access to far more information than the common folk...
Su Ye thought for a moment, then sent a message to Muer via voice transmission.
"You can cooperate... He means you no harm."
Su Ye’s words dispelled Muer’s worries.
He stepped forward and coordinated a complete story with the young Priest.
The city guard leader gave the two of them a deep look, then grit his teeth. "Let them pass!"
Even though they were both of the first tier.
But a Priest’s status was clearly much higher than a Warrior’s.
Casters had always been revered!
Besides, the temple stood behind him!
The city guard had no choice but to let them go.
He watched as Muer and the young Priest departed.
"Damn it!" The city guard leader spat, furious.
A commotion arose among the city guards, and one asked anxiously.
"Sir, what about the next round of sacrificial offerings?"
"Are we going to have to participate in the God’s Martial Tournament?" The guards’ faces turned pale with fear.
"We’ll use slaves to make up the numbers!"
The city guard leader’s face was grim. "I’ll put up fifty slaves," he said, swallowing the pain of the loss. "You all can scrape together the rest."
"Ah, but... I don’t have any slaves left at home..."
"Me neither..." a guard said in a low voice, looking troubled.
The city guard was considered a lucrative post; they could fleece passing merchant caravans, so their financial situation should have been good...
But years of war had caused the trade routes to dwindle.
Coupled with the increasingly frequent sacrifices this year... the city guards didn’t have much left to spare either!
"Quiet!"
The city guard leader took a deep breath, rubbed his temples, and said in a heavy voice.
"Tally up what you’re short and give me a number... I’ll figure something out..."
"Sir..."
At his words, the guards were all moved, their eyes glistening with unshed tears.
...
They entered Aino City.
The flowing Spiritual Qi was thick in the air, making one feel refreshed and clear-headed.
The Far South Continent naturally had Spiritual Qi as well; the Cultivation System of the local natives also used Spiritual Qi as its source.
Of course, they called it ’Natural Source Energy’.
But in reality, it was just Spiritual Qi!
This could be confirmed by the fact that Navasen had also cultivated his Bloodline True Form on the Yaoguang Islands.
The Spiritual Qi was universal between the two worlds’ supernatural systems.
Therefore, the Far South Continent also had ’Spirit Veins’.
However.
It seemed that due to the differences between the worlds, the nature of the Spiritual Qi in the Far South Continent was slightly different from that in Yaoguang.
—It was more condensed, but lacked a certain lightness and agility.
’So, the Spirit Veins in the Far South Continent mostly manifest as liquid ’Spiritual Springs’.’
’Compared to Gaseous Spirit Veins... the Spiritual Spring Water produced by a Liquid Spiritual Spring can also be used for cultivation. The only difference is that it’s probably easier for rulers to control and monopolize, right?’
Through Muer’s eyes, Su Ye glanced at the most conspicuous building in the city.
A pyramid whose above-ground portion alone was forty meters tall!
’The Fertile Pyramid.’
’Beneath this temple lies a peak third-tier Spiritual Spring... but the free-roaming Spiritual Qi within Aino City can only be considered a Non-tiered Spirit Vein.’
’Cultivation is much harder for the lower classes in this world, and the social hierarchy is far stricter...’
...
Muer and the young Priest walked along the streets of Aino City.
The city was quite bustling. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
As they passed through the market, the shouts of merchants and commoners haggling, arguing, and clamoring merged into a wave of lively noise.
However, Muer perked up his ears and listened for a moment before clicking his tongue.
"So expensive... Compared to usual, prices now are at least five times higher, right?"
He had lived in Aino City before and was familiar with the prices.
Hearing this, the young Priest replied without turning his head.
"Aside from a small amount of supplies coming in from near the King’s domain, everything else has been almost completely cut off. How could prices not rise?"
"Doesn’t His Majesty the King do anything about it?" Muer asked with a frown.
"He did."
"Just two months ago, His Majesty the King took three merchant associations that were hoarding goods to drive up prices... and blood-sacrificed them along with the nobles backing them."
"As a result, prices dropped by thirty percent."
"But even so, they’re still high... Every day, large numbers of commoners go bankrupt, their wealth exhausted and their livelihoods unsustainable."
"So where did they go?" Muer asked, curious.
After all, the city streets were very clean, completely devoid of beggars or vagrants.
Wait a minute...
Muer’s eyelid twitched, and his expression changed slightly.
The young Priest glanced at him but didn’t answer.
...
After passing through two city blocks, the young Priest stopped in front of a mansion.
"We’re here."
He pushed open the main gate.
Muer was a bit surprised. Weren’t there any servants to greet them?
For a mansion this size, even thirty servants would be a small number...
But Muer didn’t say anything.
He followed the young Priest into the reception hall.
The boy poured two cups of plain water and sprinkled in a few dried camellia flowers, passing it off as a beverage.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Nais... Heh, as you can see, I’m a Priest from a fallen family."
The young Priest, Nais, said with a wry smile.
"Muer. A wandering Warrior of no renown."
"So... what do you want me to do?"
"Forgive my bluntness, but you don’t seem like you can afford to hire a Warrior."
Muer got straight to the point.
"That is indeed the case."
Nais didn’t deny it.
"However, Sir Muer..."
"When the city guard was giving you trouble just now, you must have noticed the unusual atmosphere in the city, right?"
"Because of the God’s Martial Tournament?" Muer said unexpectedly.
"Eh..." Nais froze for a second, then said, "Precisely." frёewebnoѵēl.com
"Please explain it to me in detail..."
Muer asked. This was not only his own idea, but also Su Ye’s will.
"Of course." Nais nodded and began to explain.
Five years ago, the Goddess of Fertility stopped responding to her believers and bestowing Divine Techniques.
This terrified the royal family and the temple.
After some investigation, they concluded that the Goddess of Fertility had fallen into a deep slumber... Thus, out of both faith and the practical need to fight against Tewa Kan City,
the royal family and the temple held numerous grand blood sacrifices, in accordance with the traditions of the Far South Continent!
But... it was useless!
The Goddess of Fertility showed no signs of awakening.
According to the temple’s High Priest, the quality of the sacrifices was insufficient... So, after consulting with the royal family, they revived the ’God’s Martial Tournament.’
"In other words... they are using the blood of Warriors to try and awaken the Goddess of Fertility!" Nais said.
Over one thousand official Warriors, and over twenty times as many slaves, offered up their lives in this year’s God’s Martial Tournament.
"But even so, the Goddess of Fertility still hasn’t responded..."
"So... they’ve set their sights on the Priests."
Nais gave a wry smile.
’Blood-sacrificing Priests?’ Muer’s expression changed slightly.
"But Priests are Priests, after all... So, the High Priest established a rule and gave us a chance. The Warriors belonging to each Priest would duel each other before the gods."
"The victor will be spared."
"But the loser, along with the Priest they serve, will be sacrificed to the goddess!"
