si-mexico Chapter 648 A New Center in the Desert
Chapter 648 A New Center in the Desert
The burly man carrying two blades was the first to arrive.
When the group of them saw the devastation in the Tanit tribe from a protruding spot above the canyon, they were all utterly shocked.
Especially when they saw that only two people had wiped out the entire tribe, they were at a loss for what to do.
One of the old men was as pale as paper.
"Buhanu, Tanit is dead. Get out of here quickly, or we'll all die here too."
The tribal chief named Buhanu ignored the old man's words and instead stared intently at Jade, who shone like the sun in the killing field.
“Tanite is indeed doomed, but a new tribe will take its place. And who will ultimately own the oasis? Who will be our future king? Don’t you want to know? Of course, if the carnage below extends to us, then we’ll just have to push you out!”
Desia's Blazing Beast Hunter Mercenary Group was the second to arrive.
"Hey, Xu Ning! What a huge firework display! We wouldn't have been able to find you otherwise. Did you run into some trouble... Oh my god, Dina Zede, don't come any closer."
Just as Dixia was about to walk over, she suddenly saw confetti scattered all over the ground and immediately had her men stop Dina Zede, who was about to approach.
"Looks like someone else is in trouble. What are you doing, Xu Ning?"
Xu Ning hadn't expected to meet an acquaintance in this place; it was hardly a joyous reunion!
Dina Zede's body seemed to have become much stronger, running around with the little lion Dishia, and her fair skin had turned a bit wheat-colored.
Xu Ning didn't want her to see the tragic scene below, so he decided to leave some peace for this pure-hearted girl.
Walking towards the two, Xu Ning greeted them with a smile, "You've gone a bit too far, haven't you, Dina Zede? I know you want to wander around, but is there nothing left to see in the Sumeru Rainforest? Why do you have to come here to eat sand?"
Although Dina Zede was stopped from passing, she keenly heard several screams carried on the wind.
Hearing Xu Ning's question, she forced herself to calm down. "I don't like coming here at all, although I did see completely different scenery. But we came here for you."
This surprised Xu Ning. "For me?"
Dixia explained with a smile, "We spent a few days playing with Candice in Aru Village. When we heard about the appearance of the Eternal Oasis, we were planning to come and see it. But when we were halfway there, a caravan suddenly sent word that Jade of the Tanit tribe had fled after harming her people, and the Tanit tribe had put up a high bounty."
"It seems that this Jade is the person you mentioned to Candice last time. We thought we could lend a hand since we were on our way, but we didn't expect you to be here as well."
Hearing this, Xu Ning couldn't help but feel moved.
After parting ways with Jade last time, I made a special trip to Aru Village, Kawan Post Station, and the Order Academy to make sure that Jade would be in trouble and had no one to rely on. I hoped that they would lend a hand when they heard her name. I didn't expect that Dixia would come directly with her mercenary group.
Xu Ning thanked Dixia very sincerely.
Dixia laughed and said, "If we had known you were with her, we wouldn't have come. But what's going on now... Hey? Have you noticed that some sand seems to have drifted into your gourd?"
Xu Ning lowered his head and watched as specks of dust-like matter slowly drifted to the dragon claw on his Dust Concealment Gourd and then disappeared.
It looks as if it was swallowed into the gourd by a dragon's claw.
Xu Ning had no way to explain this situation to Dixia, since even he himself had only accidentally discovered this strange phenomenon in the past two days.
Later, after asking Qingyi, I learned that these were actually spirits.
After losing their physical bodies, the desert people did not re-enter the earth's vein cycle. Instead, they followed the call of the Golden Dreamland and drifted towards their own hidden grotto.
After obtaining the authority over the Golden Dreamland and placing it in his gourd, it was hidden deep underground by Qingyi through the veins of the World Tree.
For a long time, Xu Ning failed to notice these scattered specks of light.
However, perhaps due to the excessive killing today, many ghosts simultaneously tried to enter through the dragon's claws, which is why I noticed something amiss.
"My gourd is fine, that's normal. But the battle below is almost over."
Xu Ning and Dixia walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the people below who were about to perish in this canyon for fame and fortune.
"My Tanit... Enough, aren't you satisfied yet!"
Babel was nearly driven mad. She emerged from a corner of a tent and yelled at Jade, "I loved you so much, and look what you've done!"
Jade coldly replied, "It was just cleaning up a doghouse. Are you ready for battle now?"
Xu Ning stopped watching their fight; the outcome was already decided.
What Xu Ning cared about was whether the people watching the ceremony could accept and condone such a massacre.
The group of people over there, resembling a bunch of beggars, clearly showed their fanaticism just by looking at their eyes. They had seen through Jade's Crimson King bloodline and would never harm her; rather, they had come to attach themselves to their faith.
The other group of desert tribes seemed to be more intelligent than the group of beggars from before, but their leader's eyes were still fixed on Jade below with the same fervor, as if his eyes never left her.
The only one who suddenly appeared with lightning-streaked emerald eyes and a longbow placed his hand on the longbow several times, but ultimately refrained from making a move, and finally just sighed deeply.
Only after Jade killed Babel did her anger slowly subside.
"Is it all over? It's all over!"
Jade seemed to be asking a question, yet also seemed to be affirming what she had done.
Following behind her, Tadera slung her longbow over her shoulder and nodded. "End it, then start again!"
Xu Ning walked over to Jade and smiled, "Tadra is right. What follows is naturally a new beginning."
Xu Ning stood in front of Jie De, facing her just as she had faced her after she lost her father.
Xu Ning asked earnestly, "Perhaps it is my fault that I brought you misfortune. This encounter seems to have caused you to lose your home again. Before all this ends, I want to ask you one more time: do you want to leave this desert with me?"
"Whether you go to Aru Village to learn martial arts from those who share your bloodline, or enter Sumeru to study with Tirzad, or form a mercenary group in Omos Port to do missions, I have friends who can help you no matter what you do..."
Jade's answer remained the same: "I'm sorry, Xu Ning, I think I still want to stay in this desert."
"But I no longer need anyone to give me a name and a home. I am myself, and I am free."
Xu Ning smiled. This girl was always stronger than he had imagined.
"Since you still want to live in this desert, a home for rest is essential, and you also need enough power to protect yourself from being coveted by others. So let me be willful this time and help you one more time."
Xu Ning turned to the people "watching the ceremony" around him and loudly announced: "The Tanit tribe has a delusion of becoming the center of the desert and the only divine oracle. For this, they have even gone so far as to slander a person with the bloodline of the great Red King as a traitor. So it is not surprising that they have been killed and their tribe exterminated under divine punishment."
"Jed Yufi Hindi will rebuild a new tribe in the desert oasis, and the new tribe will no longer be homeless wanderers, no longer abandoned by the gods, no longer without divine protection, but will regain its former glory in this desert through the bloodline of the gods."
Xu Ning had barely finished speaking when all the ragged mercenaries rushed out and prostrated themselves at Jade's feet.
"Willing to follow in the light of the God-King and serve the new tribe."
Seeing this situation, the old man in the group of the man carrying two swords said anxiously, "Buhanu, if you want to keep your position as leader, you'd better leave now, otherwise, once these people set their sights on your power, you'll end up like Babel..."
Buhanu glanced at the old man, a sneer that was all too obvious on his face.
“Great lineage of the God-King, matriarch of the new tribe, Buhanu is willing to lead the entire Tanit tribe to your command and offers you gifts.”
Tanit tribe? A gift?
Xu Ning, Jiede, and Tadella all noticed the two sensitive words at the same time and looked towards where those people were standing.
Although the tribal chief seemed unfamiliar, the old man behind him, who appeared to be being held captive, was a very familiar face.
Xu Ning greeted him with a smile, "Long time no see, Elder Ma. I accompanied Tadra on her first hunting mission that day, but I couldn't find you when we came back. I've been thinking about who to ask to complete the mission these past few days. If I can't complete the mission, I won't get the reward. It's really a difficult situation."
Marcela seemed to be trying hard to force a smile, but it looked worse than crying.
“Honorable town…master,” Marcela probably meant to address Xu Ning as the town spirit master, but upon seeing that the town spirit was no longer by Xu Ning’s side, she hesitated and mumbled the words “town spirit” indistinctly, making it sound to the surrounding people as if she was calling Xu Ning “master”.
The people around her looked disgusted, as if they had swallowed a fly, and stared at Marcela with disdain.
"If the tall, beautiful woman next to him called him 'master,' that would be one thing, but you old geezer, you've lost all sense of shame just to survive?"
Marcela had no time to consider the feelings of those around her, and explained to Xu Ning, "Because after you left, that bitch Babel started to target me, the last elder, so I quickly fled to a nearby tribe to seek their protection... Now that I can see you returning with the bloodline of the God-King, I am sincerely willing to continue to contribute to the new tribe and train more falcons for you..."
It would have been better if Marcela hadn't mentioned the Falcon; the moment he brought it up, Xu Ning felt his killing intent surge again.
Xu Ning ignored Marcela's loyalty and turned to Tadella, saying, "You should handle this old man."
Tadella seemed to have known Xu Ning would say that, and without the slightest hesitation, she picked up her longbow and walked straight toward Massera.
Marcela trembled all over.
“My Tadella, a falcon won’t turn against its hunter, right? I’ve given you all my love and hope, training you to be a qualified falcon…”
Seeing that Tadella's steps did not stop at all, Marcela couldn't help but want to find a way to escape.
But Buhanu's men surrounded him, giving this "gift" no chance to escape.
“A falcon should obey the hunter’s orders; this is the iron law of the desert. I command you to kneel down, obey my orders, and take me away from here. Do not take another step forward, you lowly slave, who once…”
Before Marcela could finish her angry words, Tadella made her move.
In that instant, his figure moved with the speed of a hawk, appearing directly behind Marcela, the iron string of his longbow already looped around Marcela's withered neck.
One pull, one twist, one support.
The immense elasticity of the longbow transformed the iron wire into an extremely thin and swift longsword, which almost effortlessly severed Marcela's head.
The whirring of the taut bowstring shook the spurting blood into a bloody mist.
Tadella, completely unconcerned about the blood splattered on her body, whispered, "No one can make me kneel or force me to do something I don't want to do, or I'll have to twist their head off."
The people surrounding Marcela couldn't help but take a step back when they saw Tadella's expression, and some even unconsciously began to nod.
As Tadella turned to go back, she suddenly turned back again and said to the corpse, "I'm sorry, Xu Ning forced me to do this."
This remark drew everyone's attention back to Xu Ning, who awkwardly touched his nose.
Yes, I did say that. I'll take the blame for this.
Xu Ning watched as the golden light emanating from Jiede began to fade, and then glanced at the people in front of him who had sworn allegiance to Jiede.
“You have undoubtedly chosen the right path. Although I cannot decide for Jade whether you can become members of the new tribe, I can let you experience the glory of the miracle in advance to prove how correct your choice is.”
Xu Ning closed his eyes and pressed his hands down lightly. In an instant, the wind in the entire desert seemed to disappear.
The surroundings suddenly became completely silent, so silent that even the sound of the sand rubbing underfoot could be heard clearly.
Moreover, the onlookers clearly saw that not only did the sand become quiet, but even the year-round raging storms on Mount Dama were slowly subsiding.