The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 1266

Chapter 1264
The Chain of Friendship

The Lords of Benevolence from all over the world were gathered in the Fourth Ring of Holy Spring City.
Their mounts and attendants were left outside, while only their true selves, via an elevator inside the waterfall, had quietly reached Aimel Nour’s residence.

In various minute details, the Anxi people were imitating the Eternal Holy Kingdom – the Fourth Ring of Holy Spring City, whether in structure, function, or even name, was built in imitation of the Eternal Holy Kingdom’s Twenty-second Ring.

“The Forgiver,” Aimel Nour, the last and only Grand Vizier of Anxi, had exiled himself to the top of a tower, higher than all beings, like a distant god detached from the mortal world, just like the Eternal Pope. In normal times, he was also someone no one could easily meet… just like His Majesty the Pope of the Church, relying on heralds to convey his will.

But from another perspective, the Fourth Ring had a significant difference from the Church… that was the degree of its luxury.

As the former capital of the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi, the gathering place of all wealth, the luxury of the Fourth Ring was sufficient to easily surpass any place in the world – this was not even the wealth accumulated since the birth of humanity, but also included the wealth taken away by the Winged Ones and Those with scales after the Sky-Piercing Tower collapsed.

The Church’s Twenty-second Ring basically only had a bed and a small room.

However, Holy Spring City’s Fourth Ring had a palace truly made of crystal.

Everyone here had only one purpose, one mission, one goal: to serve Aimel Nour, and to satisfy all of Aimel Nour’s needs as much as possible, provided he didn’t leave here.

The road surface here was even paved with gold, and every brick and stone was carved with dense patterns. It took a master gold craftsman five years just to carve one brick. Here, the painstaking efforts and lives of craftsmen were condensed, and their generations had contributed to the hollow prosperity of the Fourth Ring.

And that incomparably radiant palace did not even use mortal materials. That kind of luminous white crystal was the same material used by the Atlanteans when they built their underwater palaces. Not much of it could be found in the entire world, and Anxi was the largest reserve. And all of it was now used to build a palace for Aimel Nour.

If any Star Crystal People came here, they would find this palace almost identical to their old home underwater. There was only one difference – the “King of Winged Ones” originally carved on it had been replaced by the appearance of an Abyss Heavenly Envoy.

The King of Winged Ones was a long feathered serpent.

As a noble Sea God, His body was beautiful and elegant – the end of His slender snake tail had fair skin with eight-pack abs, scales on His body were of coral-like colors, His eyes were tightly shut, and His platinum-blond hair spread out in the water, looking incomparably magnificent.

Every scale on that beautiful body was like the most exquisite jewel, the dragon horns on His head formed a crown, and the feathers on His back were like shattered stained glass. If one could approach underwater, they would find that as long as they changed the distance and angle from the palace, the King of Winged Ones on the outer wall of the palace would seem to swim.

The same technique was replicated and used to build the palace of the Lords of Benevolence – in terms of craftsmanship alone, Anxi was worthy of the name of an ancient kingdom.

However, the appearance of the Great Abyss was far less magnificent and noble than that of the Sea King.

He was a giant and ferocious sea monster, resembling some kind of giant squid. Tough and powerful tentacles clung to the outer walls of the building, and every pillar was entwined with tentacles, as if parasitized.

And the most striking feature of the Abyss Heavenly Envoy was that he did not have a “head” in the traditional sense.

Where his head should have been, it seemed to have exploded outwards in all directions. The bursting flesh connected with each other, forming a tattered flesh prison. And trapped within was a black silhouette.

This little black man was pure black, with no discernible outline… it was constantly shifting, like an illusion.

And his hands tightly gripped the prison, as if he were locked inside, or as if he were operating a control stick.

This palace made of crystal, like a paradise, was thus entwined with the Abyssal Heavenly Envoy carved from crystal. Even with a slight turn of the perspective, one could feel as if the tentacles were moving; and at the very top of the palace, the little black man in the prison would also change his outline with the change of distance and angle.

This was the ritual site originally intended for summoning the Abyss Heavenly Envoy.

And at this moment, a kind-looking old man was standing in the center of the room.

He wore a white headdress adorned with a string of jewels, and his loose golden-blue robe looked a bit like a bathrobe from a bathhouse. He had an extremely fluffy white beard that reached his chest. Chains of jewels hung from his shoulders, much like the long shoulder straps worn by clergy in the Church –

This chain was made of a series of rhombus-shaped jewels, alternating between light blue and pale gold, the same as what was wrapped around his headdress.

This was Aimel Nour.

His appearance looked like that of a great white wizard, or a white-robed wizard from Middle-earth.

But contrary to his kind appearance and demeanor, his slightly narrowed pupils were completely vertical, dim yellow pupils, and attempting to look directly at them would evoke an unbearable sense of fear – those were the eyes of a dragon.

Aimel Nour looked around and said in a surprisingly not-so-aged, booming voice, “We all know that this Pope, Grey, was still just a Saintess not more than half a year ago. Moreover, she was not chosen as Pope because of her own talent…

“We all know that the reason why ‘Hope Eivass’ could become Pope was due to the conflict between the Cardinals and the Saintess. It was precisely because Grey lacked the ability to convince everyone that the Cardinals each held their own opinions and harbored ambitions. And according to the prophecies of the Seers, at least when competing for Pope, Grey was far from reaching the extreme of the Path of Devotion.

“In other words, even if she wore the Supreme Holy Crown, she would not be able to reach the Sixth Tier like the former Eternal Pope. Brothers and sisters, we all know… the Supreme Holy Crown is not as powerful as rumored. It does possess the power to transcend energy levels, but only if the user has already reached the end of their Path. Otherwise, it can only slightly enhance the resonance of the Path – this is also a test left by the Heavenly Candlemaster Envoy.”

At this point, Aimel Nour lightly caressed the jeweled strap on his shoulder, “Compared to this… this is the true treasure.”

“—The Chain of Friendship.”

Aimel Nour said solemnly and slowly, “As a token jointly crafted by the King of Winged Ones and the King of Winged Ones back then, this is the true Divine Artifact.

“Now, the King of Winged Ones has become the Abyss Heavenly Envoy, and the King of Winged Ones has also become the Fallen Heavenly Envoy. As an ancient jewel that houses the power of the Winged Ones and Those with scales, its power must far surpass the Supreme Holy Crown.

“As the heirloom of Anxi, I am here today to show you its power and strengthen your confidence in victory.”

Amidst the astonishment of the surrounding Lords of Benevolence, Aimel Nour publicly displayed this power –

As mana from the Transcendent Path and the Twilight Path were injected, it floated up on its own, forming a sun-like ring behind the head.

The golden jewels echoed with sacred radiance, while the blue jewels reflected the ripples of water.

The vast and pure power was surging – making it impossible to look directly at. Brilliant, rainbow-like radiance flickered behind Aimel Nour, making him appear even more sacred than a descending true god, irresistibly inducing a desire to prostrate oneself!

“It has two functions, bestowed with divine power by the King of Winged Ones and the King of Winged Ones respectively –

“The first is ‘Faith Barrier’, which can obtain material power through the user’s mental power. As long as the heart is firm and pure, like a still pool, a barrier of light that blocks all material attacks will spontaneously form – while the barrier is maintained, even the full force of a Heavenly Envoy’s strike cannot kill me. All destructive power will be transformed into disturbances of the mind… even a Pillar God, before killing me, could only drive me mad first.”

“–Yes, every generation of Aimel Nour residing in the Fourth Ring for a long time, staying away from people all year round and avoiding all unnecessary social interactions, is precisely to maintain a pure state of mind for using this Divine Artifact.”

Aimel Nour’s expression was solemn, his eyes clear and peaceful.

He looked around and continued, “The second is ‘Heretic’s Heart’. As the inheritance of the King of Winged Ones, it is also a forbidden spell, capable of transforming tangible power into intangible power… whether it is the damage resisted by the ‘Faith Barrier’, the destruction avoided by using the Preservation Technique or barriers, or any form of sacrifice, it can be converted into pure mana.

“The efficiency of gaining power through sacrifice is far superior to that of witchcraft. In any case, when the Great Abyss descends, its ripples will destroy all mortal lives… therefore, before that time, I will sacrifice the entire Holy Spring City.

“The mana produced will be sufficient to drive a god-slaying ritual spell. This ritual spell, I have also been preparing for a long time. It requires at least ten powerful Ritualists, and an almost impossible amount of mana to complete. Its power is enough to sink continents – replicating the strike that ended the Atlantean civilization in the past.

“The reason I am informing you of this is because I do not want you to terminate the ritual at that time due to panic about insufficient mana.

“Ritual spells require witches to maintain them, and the best witches are all of you. This means that we already have a solid barrier capable of resisting the power of the Great Abyss, and an endless supply of vast mana.

“That young Pope has not even mastered the power of the Sixth Tier, yet we already have it. Her Divine Artifact is of no help in dealing with the Flame Heavenly Envoy, but our Divine Artifact can cleverly target the two main characteristics of the Great Abyss – its near-invincible destructive power and its vigorous life force. According to intelligence, she has gone alone to the Dwarf Mountains without any reliable help, but I have you.

“She can seek the power of the Pillar Gods through High-Tier Divine Arts, and we also have the help of Calamity Red—”

“—Calamity Red?”

Upon hearing this, “Brave” Isma’i could no longer help but speak, “Isn’t that the new Pillar God of the Path of War? Isn’t He the supporter behind the Red Hand?”

“No, what He seeks is war. A more grand war, a more sacred war—after all, He has not fully defeated the Silver Crown Dragon yet. Just as the Silver Crown Dragon did not fully defeat Supreme Heaven back then.”

Aimel Nour shook his head, “And compared to the ‘war of slaves defeating the Lords of Benevolence,’ the ‘war of mortals defeating gods’ undoubtedly suits His taste better. I have already contacted Calamity Red, and He has promised to provide us with blessings at that time.”

“…Then what else are we missing?”

Another Lord of Benevolence asked doubtfully, “Why are we gathered here?”

Upon hearing this, “Brave” Isma’i’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.

He vaguely realized something.

As expected—

Aimel Nour said solemnly, “Because we still have one enemy that we must defeat – Eivass. Eivass Moriarty, Hope Eivass, the Lord of Rock Cell City and Heaven City.”

“You’re not afraid of the Great Abyss, but you’re afraid of a kid who hasn’t grown up yet?”

A strong, dark-skinned Lord of Benevolence scoffed, “What, are you afraid he’ll morally condemn you?”

The other Lords of Benevolence also laughed.

But only Mahidifran and Isma’i did not laugh – they had witnessed Eivass’s powerful strength not long ago.

Although they didn’t know which was stronger, Eivass’s power or the Divine Artifact held by Aimel Nour, it was undoubtedly a divine power capable of ending all wars.

“The eternally living who crave death shall forever be the king of kings.”

Aimel Nour softly recited an Anxi proverb.

It meant that if a person had everything, yet was willing and even eager to completely abandon it, then their will was unstoppable.

But few people knew… this sentence was also a prophecy of the Anxi people.

“He is that king of kings, and the savior in the prophecy. He is here to destroy us.”

“The Forgiver,” Aimel Nour said slowly, “to destroy the history of Anxi, to destroy the future of Anxi. From this unprecedented opportunity, we must truly seize our own power and freedom, and break free from the fate bound by the Great Abyss. Only in this way can we truly become our own masters, the masters of this desert, this land.

“Thus, Anxi can be considered truly revived – I will become the new King of Anxi, and you will all be my Viziers! The ancient kingdom descends into the present and flourishes in the future, only then can fate be broken!

“He wants to destroy slavery, which means destroying our common future. But, unfortunately…”

Aimel Nour looked around and said word by word, “Among us, there is a traitor.”

Isma’i’s heart leaped in shock.