Chapter 878
Wizard Zhu Tang
“Not seeing, not speaking…”
Eivass nodded with interest. “Mr. Mu and Wizard Zhu Tang… May the Candlemaster protect you.”
These were memorable characteristics, but he didn’t recognize either of them.
Based on this, they were at least not BOSSes, and therefore unlikely to be particularly dangerous individuals.
Zhu Tang closed his eyes, placed his right hand on his chest, and gave a slight nod as a casual greeting. He spoke in a somewhat unpolished Star Antimony Language, “Thank you, sir.”
This was not a Taichu person’s etiquette, but rather etiquette from within the Hrasal cultural sphere.
Eivass, however, switched to Taichu Language. “Did you two come from Anxi?”
This was his first time seeing Taichu people, which made Eivass very excited.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Tang’s face immediately showed astonishment.
His eyeballs shifted as if he wanted to open his eyes. But in the end, he maintained his posture of closing his eyes and not seeing, and his tone became surprised and raised, “Sir, you can speak Taichu? You are quite learned.”
His Taichu was less standard compared to Eivass’s, with a hint of Nanjing dialect mixed in.
Eivass listened but smiled and said, “I understand a little, but I’m afraid my pronunciation isn’t very standard.”
He also mixed in some dialect, which made Zhu Tang chuckle, clearly more relaxed.
As he relaxed, he exuded a faint arrogance—the confidence of someone from a big city within the same cultural sphere.
But just as he was about to say something, he suddenly shivered and paused.
He tapped his right thumb on his other fingers a few times, then cautiously said, “May I touch sir’s antlers?”
Despite not opening his eyes, he knew Eivass had antlers.
Hearing this, Cardinal Galatea suddenly turned to look at Eivass.
She could clearly understand Taichu. At this moment, she was asking Eivass if this was appropriate.
“It’s fine.”
Eivass reassured Galatea, then lowered his head slightly. “Why not.”
He then lowered his head slightly. Wizard Zhu Tang, although blind, seemed to have some perception. He fumbled a bit and confirmed the antlers on Eivass’s forehead, their strange temperature… and the peculiar sensation of his body being healed upon touching them.
This seemed to startle him. He stood up abruptly as if electrocuted and bowed to Eivass—this was not the chest-touching bow popular in Star Antimony and Narcissus but a proper, upright bow with both hands in front, followed by kneeling three times, kowtowing three times each time, and murmuring something in a low voice.
This was the Three Bows and Nine Kowtows ceremony—a grand ritual rarely performed even for monarchs, only reserved for the Emperor and deities.
Eivass did not stop him.
This ritual perfectly matched the Sacred Number of the Candlemaster. This was clearly proper etiquette for the Candlemaster.
As the Child of the Candlemaster now, he could indeed receive it.
After all, the Nine Pillar Gods were universally recognized. Except for the Silver Crown Dragon, all Pillar Gods were born before humans, and every ancient civilization that had survived to this day had at least one Pillar God protecting it. It was just that different countries used different names for Them… Their True Names and titles were not fixed from birth. For instance, “Candlemaster” and “Twin” were names given by the Elves, and they had different names in different places.
For example, “Hourglass” was a name given by the Elves, while the Hrasal people called it “Sandglass,” and the Taichu people referred to it as Zhuanxu. Although, based on Eivass’s understanding and speculation, the Path of Devotion was not likely to be very popular in the Taichu Empire… Taichu was purportedly a nation that primarily practiced the Path of Balance, but that was still a Pillar God.
Within the Hrasal cultural sphere, the Candlemaster was considered the supreme deity primarily not because the Candlemaster created the Nine Origin Rivers… but because the Elves revered the Candlemaster as the supreme deity. The reason for this was that Elves were the children of the Great Tree, and the Great Tree was an envoy of the Candlemaster.
The Hrasal Empire was too close to the Church, and the entire Hrasal civilization was largely dependent on the Elves; hence, their naming conventions, language, culture, and beliefs were similar to those of the Elves.
Outside the Church’s sphere of influence, the Candlemaster was not necessarily the supreme deity.
However, one thing was constant—Nine was the extreme of numbers, and Nine was the pinnacle of numbers. The principles of Sacred Numbers brought by the Nine Pillar Gods were universally applicable.
After performing the grand ritual, Wizard Zhu Tang became noticeably more subdued.
His eyes remained closed, and he dared not open them. Instead, he lowered his head and spoke slowly, word by word, in the most standard Taichu language possible, “Mr. Mu and I met in Anxi, but neither of us are Anxi people.
“The Anxi people… live very hard lives, especially recently. It seems there’s a drought there, and water is scarce, so they don’t have much food. I’ve seen people starve to death and their bodies become desiccated and terrifying in the desert. I’ve also seen people cannibalize each other. Even during times of great disaster, it wasn’t this bad, yet the Lords, they even built fountains in the city center… but if anyone tried to drink or steal the water, they’d be arrested, sold into servitude, or made into ritual sacrifices.
“In Anxi, the Lords’ words are the only law. If you disobey a ‘Lord,’ you might be arrested and sold like goods; if you obey the Lords, you lose your dignity and have to do immoral things.
“I couldn’t stand it, and neither could Mr. Mu. So, we wanted to help these civilians, at least to let them survive. But we offended the local Lords, and were thus besieged. Fortunately, we both had skills, which allowed us to break through. However, we chose the wrong direction in the desert, and it’s not easy to go back… so we can only continue westward.”
“Do you want to go back?” Eivass asked.
Zhu Tang gave a wry smile. “A falling leaf returns to its roots. Who wouldn’t want to go home… Besides, if I don’t go back, my family might be in trouble. That’s why I wanted to come here… With enough money, I can hire a team to cross the desert and send me back.”
Upon hearing this, Eivass suddenly fell silent.
Zhu Tang continued, “To be honest, I was a banished official. Exiled three times by the Emperor, I ended up in a small border town adjacent to Anxi. During the winter solstice, Anxi celebrates its ‘Night Festival.’ On this day, they stay up all night together to get through ‘the longest night of the year.’ Because after this day, each night is shorter than the last, thus ‘everything is getting better.’
“I was invited by an Anxi friend to witness the ceremony. It was precisely because I meddled in other people’s business… that I ended up like this.”
“If you were given another chance,” Cardinal Galatea suddenly spoke, asking in a rather archaic Taichu, “would you still meddle?”
“…Yes,” Zhu Tang said firmly after a brief silence. “A gentleman in the world knows what to do and what not to do. To turn a blind eye is also injustice!”
Although Eivass didn’t know what he had encountered, he had a general idea.
“I understand,” Eivass nodded. “I will help.”
He might not have the time to travel to Taichu, but he did plan to visit the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi later.
Wizard Zhu Tang’s primary concern was whether he would be ambushed by the Lords he had offended when he returned. This was a very real concern. After all, although the Lords fought each other, they were fundamentally of the same class. Such “rebellious citizens” who openly opposed the Lords were likely to be publicly targeted and jointly attacked.
Even if he were a Grand Wizard of the Transcendent Path, it would be the same. The Ancient Kingdom of Anxi had deep foundations, and there was no shortage of Fifth Tier powerhouses.
Let alone Fourth Tier… even Fifth Tier, it wouldn’t be that simple to resist the malice of an entire country.
Not to mention he was a man of morals. A moral person would be even more constrained in their actions.
…But it had to be said, if he wanted to earn money to hire a team to send him back, he probably wouldn’t be able to return even if his family died. With all the Lords potentially being hostile, it would at least require multiple Fifth Tier individuals to escort him safely.
The Pope’s words might be effective, or they might not be. Especially since Eivass had told Cardinal Belisarius to “do as you see fit,” the relationship between the Church and the Ancient Kingdom of Anxi was likely to deteriorate.
It really was only Eivass who could help him with this.
However, all of this depended on the ruins being developed normally…
But seeing how the people Master Amber was recruiting were becoming increasingly impressive, Eivass realized these ruins were probably not simple.
He had already made up his mind—
What purple equipment he might dig up from these ruins this time was secondary.
The main mission was to protect these people… not to lose a single one of them.
This seemed to be a very difficult task.
But for the Eternal Pope, this matter was not difficult.
“We depart tomorrow,” Eivass looked at the people and cast a calming blessing. “Get a good rest tonight, everyone.”
Unknowingly, Eivass, the last to join, had become the leader of this team.
(End of this chapter)
