Chapter 673: Chapter 673. The Holy Mother
A week before departure, Amon was invited by Xan Chi to the old mansion of his tribe, which he had reclaid. Fen Nu accompanied him.
Entering the mansion, he noticed that all the servants were chained and naked. They also have bruises all over their bodies. Even old people and children were among these abused servants.
Fen Nu chuckled after seeing Amon’s gaze. She explained, "These servants are those who used to dwell in this mansion. They are the families of the ex-slaves who frad Xan Chi’s father and gained high stations in Shou Zou’s court."
"What about the two ex-slaves?" Amon asked.
"They are down in the basent. They can barely speak now, but Xan Chi still visits them every day with a pill master at the ready to keep them alive. You know, speaking of ex-slaves, I found the process of reimplenting the slave trade to be smoother than usual. We took all those who used to be slaves in the past. Unless they could prove they had properly bought their freedom, we reinstated their status. I was expecting heavy resistance from the locals, but other than the slaves themselves, we didn’t receive much backlash."
"I don’t find that surprising. We have seen how the ex-slaves behave after gaining their freedom," Amon said. "They were freed thanks to the growing tolerance and sympathy of the populace, influenced by the teachings of the Temple of Divinity. So were even elevated to important positions. But instead of being grateful and reconciled with the people who used to bully them, they turned into bullies themselves. Those ungrateful attitudes and the unceasing demand for gaining more privileges for their past sufferings must not have sat well with the general public. Now that they have lost their power, no one pities them. It is their own fault."
They heard Xan Chi’s booming voice greeting them. "Now, here are my two favorite people, haha! Welco to my humble abode. Co, let’s have so tea."
"I’m not here for pleasantries," Amon said. "I am to tell you directly that my army will depart next week. If your army is not ready by then, I will leave you behind."
"Ouch! Do you have to co here like this just to tell
that?" Xan Chi asked.
"Do you prefer I send a ssenger or tell you this in front of everyone during the conclave eting?"
"Well, now that you ntioned it. No, I don’t prefer those," Xan Chi said.
"That’s all," Amon said. He was about to turn and leave, but stopped halfway. "One more thing... You may treat those children as your slaves, but let them wear clothes and do not abuse them. The next ti I co to this place, I don’t want to see them naked or have bruises on them."
Amon left after saying that.
"The hell...," Xan Chi uttered. "Does he think he is our superior?"
Fen Nu shrugged. "Looks like he does."
"Damn! I should have felt angry, but I don’t. Do you think that’s strange?"
Fen Nu shrugged again.
Xan Chi called his head servant. This head servant wasn’t a slave. He wore proper attire and was not chained. "Give the children clothes and tell the guards that they are no longer allowed to touch them."
*
A day before the First Demon Army departed from Bulo City, Amon received shocking news from the battlefield in Oredolia. Without Kazhan’s interference, Gyleth Marx could penetrate deeper into Oredolia. Farghous also attacked from the opposite side. With the pincer assault, Oredolia was forced into a passive and defensive position.
Everything seed to be going well for the assailant until they made a forceful push toward Oredolia’s capital, Saint’s Rest. That’s when they encountered obstacles.
Saint’s Rest was not originally a settlent. It was where the headquarters of the Temple of Divinity was located. It grew into a city after many believers perford a pilgrimage to the place and decided to stay in its surrounding area. All the inhabitants were devotees of the temple.
For one to perform a pilgrimage, one must be a cultivator. Otherwise, one wouldn’t survive the travel. Most of those who dwelt in Saint’s Rest were pilgrims or descendants of pilgrims. Hence, almost every city inhabitant was a cultivator.
As devotees and cultivators, these inhabitants wouldn’t just stay on the sidelines when the enemy of their faith arrived outside the city. This provided Saint’s Rest with a massive army that would fight to the death to protect the place.
However, the main obstacle Gyleth Marx encountered was not these devotees, even when they posed a difficulty for Gyleth Marx’s army. The main obstacle ca from two individuals.
One of them was the known leader of the Temple of Divinity, Hierophant Zhang Daofeng. For the general public, he was the only known person to have reached the cultivation level of the Peak Lord Stage. Gyleth Marx’s strategy was to have their two Interdiate Lord Stage cultivators face him, while their army destroyed Saint’s Rest.
To their surprise, another Peak Lord Stage cultivator dwelt inside Saint’s Rest. This individual was a woman. When she appeared, the mbers of the Temple of Divinity treated her with even more deference than the Hierophant. They called her the Holy Mother.
During the confrontation, each of Gyleth Marx’s Interdiate Lord Stage cultivators was forced to fight against one Peak Lord Stage opponent.
While weaker, the Gyleth Marx’s empress, Hou Huang, could still cross swords with Hierophant Zhang Daofeng and kept him occupied. This feat was possible due to several Spirit Stage soldiers supporting her.
The other Gyleth Marx’s Interdiate Lord Stage cultivator was Hou Huang’s cousin, also the main commander of her army. His na was Hou Buxu. He faced the Holy Mother, supported by Spirit Stage soldiers.
Although his condition was the sa as Hou Huang’s, his battle didn’t fare as well as hers. Hou Buxu was defeated by the Holy Mother in only a few exchanges. His corpse dropped to the ground, where his army was, drawing shock and disbelief from every Gyleth Marx’s soldier.
In that short instance, all Gyleth Marx’s soldiers understood that the Holy Mother was their biggest obstacle. Her power surpassed even the Hierophant, who had the sa cultivation level as her.
Hou Huang imdiately issued a retreat. Her army withdrew to its main camp and remained there for so while. Hou Huang didn’t make another attempt on Saint’s Rest.
Farghous, upon receiving news of Hou Buxu’s demise, also halted its offense. They sent ssengers to Gyleth Marx’s camps to discuss the situation. Since they heard that Echos’ force was on its way, they decided to wait before mounting another offense.
The weird thing was, Oredolia didn’t make any attempt at pushing its advantage. They stayed inside Saint’s Rest, waiting for their opponents’ move.
*
"Brother, what do you think?" Xin Wuming asked. He was the one who brought the news from Oredolia to Amon.
"Two Peak Lord Stage... This is concerning. Even if Huang Ti joined the battle, which I suspect he won’t, the chance of defeating those two was still slim. Most troubling is the Holy Mother. To be able to defeat an Interdiate Lord Stage cultivator in such a short ti ans that she is top-notch even among Peak Lord Stage cultivators."
"Did brother learn anything about this Holy Mother from Xin Wuyun?" Xin Wuming asked.
"She didn’t tell
much," Amon answered. "She said that the Holy Mother is the holiest person in the world. The weird thing is, she didn’t even know the Holy Mother’s na. She said that only the Hierophant and a handful of her most devout followers had the privilege of knowing her na. When I asked about the Holy Mother’s cultivation level, Xin Wuyun claid that she was not even aware that the Holy Mother was a cultivator."
"She clearly lied. Perhaps she wasn’t tortured enough?"
"I doubt that. I can tell she is telling the truth. She didn’t say the Holy Mother was a non-cultivator. What she said was that she couldn’t sense the Holy Mother’s cultivation at all."
"A concealnt art?" Xin Wuming asked.
"One that is very powerful," Amon said. "Normally, a concealnt art only lowers one’s cultivation level. Even my concealnt art needed full concentration to fully conceal my presence. Xin Wuyun claid that the Holy Mother was undetectable all the ti, even when she was doing mundane things."
"... How should we face her?" Xin Wuming asked. "Perhaps we can ask the Tribe Mother if she still has another talisman that summons the Earth Elental?"
Amon shook his head. "The Tribe Mother is gone."
"Gone?" Xin Wuming asked.
"Xan Chi sent soone to her abode to ask her guidance regarding their plan to follow us to Oredolia. She was no longer in her hut. It was empty. All the flowers in the garden outside her hut were gone, and so were her On Crows. She had moved away without anyone’s knowledge."
"That’s a pity. Should I send people to track her down?" Xin Wuming asked.
"She is known for her prophetic ability. If she didn’t want to be found, we won’t be able to find her. Not that I believe it, of course, but we can’t rest our hope in uncertainty like her. Even if we managed to find her, she may not have a solution to our current predicant. No, forget about her. We shouldn’t rely on her. We will continue with our plan and march to Oredolia. We will et with the other country leaders, then we will formulate a plan on how to deal with the Holy Mother."
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