The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 1237

Chapter 1235
Sweet White Mist

This all happened in an instant.
Eivass made his move too quickly—they had been having a friendly conversation, and hadn’t even argued. In the blink of an eye, Aziz suddenly let out a scream, and by the time he looked up, the man had already dissolved.
Even though everyone knew how tyrannical and capricious the Lord of Goodness was, no one could have reacted to the atmosphere suddenly turning like this from being friendly.
But from another perspective, it was fortunate that Eivass now held the identity of the Lord of Goodness and that this was the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi…
Although many passersby were startled, they didn’t have much of a reaction. If this were anywhere else, this kind of street murder and transformation into a demon would have caused passersby to scream and flee, even if it didn’t trigger any regional chaos.
But the psychological resilience of the Anxi people was truly excellent.
Except for the jump of alarm when Aziz screamed, drawing people’s attention… no one was surprised by this. Instead, many people who had previously dismissed this “Savior in the prophecy” with disdain—especially when Aziz and Eivass struck up a conversation—now had their eyes light up, respectfully bowing or kneeling to him.
And others showed ironic smiles at the brutally murdered Aziz.
A person’s personality largely determined their circle of friends. Aziz’s popularity here was originally not good. A petty person with no ability or virtue, who climbed up only by flattery, constant wavering, stabbing friends in the back, and fawning, was not someone anyone would like.
When they saw Aziz shamelessly forcing his way into a conversation with the “King of Indigo” and the Savior behind the scenes, they felt uncomfortable, even a little uneasy.
Now, seeing Aziz meet such an end, they all felt refreshed. Instead, they felt a bit more favorably towards Eivass.
Therefore, seeing Eivass kill someone on the street, people were not only unafraid… but some even friendly approached, kneeling beside the carriage and respectfully introducing themselves.
“Great Savior, I praise your just act…”
“Eivass of Miracles! Great Lord of Goodness, I shall offer you a gift!”
“I have heard your name, Eivass of Miracles, the Pope of Humanity! I am an Alchemist from Star Antinomy, and I thank you for all you have done for my homeland…”
People gathered around, bustling.
A few people offered gifts—things that could be bought with money. Although they were not precious in Eivass’s eyes, they were just right as gifts for a first meeting.
Eivass also spoke with everyone gently and patiently, so more and more people gathered around. Some were there to watch the spectacle, while others were surprised to find a Lord of Goodness with such a good temper… and came out of curiosity.
Because he responded to everyone, his carriage was almost stuck in place and could not move forward for a long time.
Just then, a surprised and somewhat hesitant voice came:
“Pope… Your Excellency?”
Eivass immediately recognized the owner of the voice—
It was the Dream Traveling Monk “Encyclopedia,” who had gone on an archaeological expedition with him and Zhu Tang!
To meet an acquaintance here!
As a Horus person, why did “Encyclopedia” come to Holy Spring City?
Eivass looked over curiously, only to be surprised to find that he was not wearing his usual simple white robe… but had changed into very gorgeous clothing.
It was a monk’s robe woven from consecrated linen. Its style looked somewhat similar to the popular women’s slip dresses of the Iris Flower—even a long pleated skirt. The upper body was white, and the lower body was ochre brown-red.
Over the robe, he wore a breastplate inlaid with a large number of gold flakes, agate pieces, and lapis lazuli chips. On his chest hung a golden scarab beetle, like a giant heart protector. It was probably larger than an adult male’s fist, a flat sun disc with five-colored jewels of red, green, black, purple, and brown. Around his waist was a belt woven from soft silver threads.
He wore a cape of some sort of deerskin material on his back—the cape was black, with golden sun patterns. It was like golden light seeping out of the cracked night sky. In his hand, he held a short-handled ankh scepter, like a baton, about the length of his forearm.
Even the open-toed strapped sandals he wore on his feet were made of gold! And all his exposed skin was stained with gold powder, making him look like a moving golden statue.
He wore a long black wig on his head—the wig was likely mixed with a large amount of crushed lapis lazuli, appearing dark blue in the blackness and reflecting a fine divine radiance under the sun.
—Eivass, of course, recognized this attire.
Not to mention that he himself had studied archaeology and had learned High-Tier Divine Art in the Church… Master Janis’s painting, “Golden Dawn,” a National Treasure of Avalon, was now hanging in his living room!
It was when Janis traveled the world and saw the grand scene of people worshipping the sun in the Horus Empire. It was this shocking beauty that allowed her to achieve enlightenment and truly grasp the power of The Path of Beauty.
In the original timeline, in the dungeon where Janis’s path went out of control, one had to enter the activated “Golden Dawn” to kill a boss. That boss was one of the three high priests presiding over the sun worship.
“Encyclopedia’s” current appearance, apart from some subtle differences, was almost exactly like that of the high priest!
Even behind him, two Nephthys Guards stood on each side!
Their skin was tanned dark brown, with gold threads embroidered on their skin, wearing reinforced armor inlaid with red and gold, decorated with many bird feathers. On their chests hung amulets consecrated by a Disciple of Xi Tian Si, Nephthys, which constantly absorbed the power of the sun. In their hands, they held halberds shaped like eagle claws, their posture like Fang Tian Hua Ji split vertically.
The most iconic feature was that the pauldrons of their armor were two red bird heads with open mouths.
The Nephthys Guards were an elite troop of the Horus Empire, similar to Avalon’s Arbitrators and Gryphon Knights. They were solely responsible for closely protecting the temples eligible for sun worship rituals, the Nine High Priests, and the ruler of the Horus Empire, the “Pharaoh,” and his family. They had no other duties and obeyed no one else’s orders.
Except for the Pharaoh himself, they did not need to bow to anyone. They were silent and extremely reliable guards. According to Eivass’s understanding, they all possessed the “Secret Art of Burning Life”… now it seemed, that was likely the Art of Dawn Fire.
With Nephthys Guards protecting him closely, “Encyclopedia’s” current identity was self-evident.
… But would it be imprudent to just pull Encyclopedia into the carriage and leave?
Thinking this, Eivass looked at the other people gathered around.
He thought for a moment, extended his left hand, and used the index finger of his right hand to slowly cut open his left palm, drawing a horizontal slash.
Using his Dissolving Soul ability, he dissolved about 5% of his sacred soul into his blood.
Hot and bright blood seeped out, and Eivass opened his left hand and offered these drops of blood to the Envoy of Mist as if swearing an oath.
“I praise the Envoy of Mist, the Heavenly Envoy without eyes or words, the Heavenly Envoy without sun or moon…”
As Eivass spoke, his slowly dripping blood fell into the void.
“Grant me mist, let drops of blood condense into dew, and heal all beings.”