Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 1176 Slave Knights of Paradise City
The ancient kingdom of Parthia, the city of heaven. Twenty miles outside the city.

A group of scattered civilians, wearing long robes and wrapped in cloth on their heads, were trudging through the desert with difficulty.

They were accompanied only by two camels, which were heavily laden with luggage, which also slowed their progress.

"Uncle, I'm so tired..."

A child with a dusty face and a childish voice said tiredly: "I want to drink water..."

No matter her appearance or voice, it was impossible to tell whether she was a man or a woman. Her dark skin and skinny body made her look as ugly as a little monkey.

"Hold on a little longer, Kasan!"

The man leading the camel whispered: "We are almost there..."

He looked around and carefully took out a palm-sized black flat clay pot from the camel's saddle bag. It could hold about one liter of water, but now it was swaying and a clear sound of water like rain could be heard - it was obvious that the water in it had run out.

Pairs of eyes were staring at them. The man leading the camel straightened up as much as he could and used his body to block the sight.

The little girl had just taken a sip when the man snatched the kettle away. He was reluctant to drink the water, but just used the water marks on the bottle mouth to scrape and moisten his dry lips, and then put the cork back in.

After getting the water, the girl calmed down.

The convoy continued to move forward silently in the whirlwind of yellow sand.

In the desert, it was very hot at noon and very cold at night. There was not much time to walk comfortably, and the early morning was one of them. They had gotten up from the camp at four in the morning and had been walking until now.

"The oasis is just ahead, what a great oasis. An oasis of this size... Praise to the generous Adil."

A middle-aged woman said mysteriously: "Everything will be fine when we get to Paradise City."

Her clothes were the best in the crowd, and she even had several gold chains around her neck, and gold bracelets and jeweled rings on her hands. Obviously, in another city-state, even among the free people, she was considered a wealthy person with a good life. Even in the new city-state, she was confident that she could redeem her fate.

But a skinny man in the corner of the convoy didn't think so.

His name was Jaber, and he was the most humble man in the group.

Of course, he was a free man, not a slave - when they first fled the ruined city-state after the defeat, they actually brought slaves with them. But soon, these slaves died of starvation and thirst one after another.

Although the price of a slave could buy half a camel, not to mention the food and water, in the desert, nothing was more precious than food and water.

When Jabir got up at night a week ago, he clearly saw... some people sipping blood in the dark.

They were thirsty, but there was not much water left. They had to drink blood to moisten their mouths.

They soon spotted Jabir, who was watching from the dark, and invited him to come along.

Jabir agreed.

He dare not disagree.

When they woke up the next day, no one cared about the slaves who died in their sleep, and they were on their way again.

But at least he was alive and opened his eyes.

From then on, the surviving slaves were given a gift: a mouthful of water and urine, but Jabir knew that was only for the purpose of keeping the animals alive before slaughter.

The number of slaves decreased by two to three per day, and occasionally he could drink a sip to quench his thirst. It was then that he realized that blood was salty, and the more he drank, the thirstier he became.

That was the curse in his blood. He was even thirstier.

The bad news is... since yesterday, all the slaves have died. When all the slaves are dead, he is the lowest status in the team.

Jabir had no job. He was a beggar, or a swindler. He used a tortoise shell that his grandfather had passed down to him to tell fortunes for people, but in fact he didn't know how to tell fortunes at all, because his grandfather died early and he didn't learn it at all. And almost everyone knew that he didn't know how to tell fortunes.

Because of this, Jabir's divination was more of a performance than a divination - and later he simply added more performances, such as spitting out a sharpened stone to pierce the cake he threw into the air, or shooting arrows with his backhand to smash the pottery jars containing different tortoise shells.

But Jabir was very smart. No matter what the result of divination was, he would interpret it as ambiguous good news. Because of this, people loved to listen to his divination, so his business became better and better.

One day, he felt that he was in the right state. So he excitedly said the same words to the 30th person, solemnly guaranteeing that he would be safe.

And after that, the city-state was suddenly destroyed.

That's the Dry Water Army!
After some good leaders of their own city-states were killed by the rebels and lost their water sources forever, they retaliated by attacking and looting bandits in other city-states!

They hate the civilians and slaves living in the oasis. Although they will capture and kidnap some slaves and sell them to the goblins in exchange for supplies, they will try to kill everyone they see because they are jealous of these people who can live in the oasis, and also because the rebels who dare to rebel against the good master are born among these people.

Out of hatred and jealousy, these civilians who had seized the property of the good man and were armed, mercilessly wielded their machetes at the civilians of another city.

On his way to escape, he saw corpses everywhere. All the thirty people he had blessed were lying on the ground, not one was left alive.

As they regrouped outside the city, word spread - everyone knew that Jaber had promised to kill all thirty safe men.

So he became a trickster. Jabir the Trickster... and some people call it a curse. It was because of his curse that the Dry Water Army was attracted, causing their families to be destroyed and stranded here.

The only way they could choose was to go to other city-states.

Almost all city-states would capture refugees from other city-states and make them slaves. Every Parthian knew that there was such a truth in the world - today's free people could become new slaves tomorrow. And once you become a slave, you will always be a slave.

There are very few city-states that accept outsiders, and Paradise City is one of them.

Many travelers and merchants passing by the Paradise City would praise the sacred splendor of the Paradise City. Many free people came from other city-states. They lived peacefully in a clean and beautiful city full of green trees and springs, enjoying endless delicious food. And they only had to do one thing, that is, to praise.

——Can money buy holiness?
If this question were in a foreign country, it might be debated: Money can buy happiness, peace, success, prestige, but can it buy true holiness? Can a rich person become a saint who is truly worshipped by people?
And in Rest, the answer is self-evident - only money can buy holiness.

Anything that cannot bring them a good life is considered "false holiness" in the eyes of the Parthians.

Jabir couldn't help but have a simple doubt in his heart -

...Where does the money of the benefactor of Paradise City come from?
He is good to everyone, so why can't other good people do the same?
Is it really true that he doesn't need to pay any price to do these things?

And just then.

A group of camel cavalry suddenly rushed out from the oasis ahead.

There was a cloud of dust behind them, and voices of surprise appeared in the crowd: "He's here to pick us up!"

"wrong!"

The man leading the camel had better eyesight, so he noticed the details and his expression suddenly changed: "It's the slave-catching team!"

There was a sudden chaos among the crowd, but the mysterious middle-aged woman said firmly: "This is to welcome us! Praise the generous Adil - you also come to praise Adil, he will not attack us!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the cavalrymen rushed to them at an extraordinary speed.

The middle-aged woman immediately shouted at the top of her voice: "Praise the generous Adil! Praise the merciful Adil! We are here..."

Before she could finish her words, a pair of transparent dim yellow shackles were wrapped around her neck!

——Those are soul shackles.

The spells that slave hunters would use when capturing slaves or performing sacrifices could directly bind the soul, thereby suppressing and sealing the opponent's mana pool. Even if a transcendent was unable to use his mana, he would be as fragile as a mortal.

She grabbed the shackles with both hands in fear and was dragged violently in the desert. The words she spoke were choked back by the dust.

"Hahahaha! I'm a rich guy!"

The one who caught him was a man wearing fine leather armor.

He boasted to another person, "All the mutton fat is mine!"

"Sir, we are all free people!"

The man who was watching the camels called out, "We have come to the generous Adil!"

"Oh," the man said lazily, dragging the middle-aged woman back violently like a fisherman pulling in a net, with a cruel smile on his face, "Who knows."

"The generous Adil blesses the free people—"

The man felt a strong sense of uneasiness and fear, but he still protected the little girl and tried his best to straighten his chest.

The next moment, he was caught by the throat by a chain flying from the hands of another camel rider.

"I don't see any free folk."

The dark-skinned slave knight showed his white teeth: "Aren't these all the slaves we captured?"

The slave knights moved quickly through the crowd, and chains flew out amid exclamations and screams.

And they soon surrounded the slave knight who was the leader at the beginning.

"Huo, you are rich. These big gold chains."

"This fat woman can't be sold for a good price anyway, so just kill her."

"No hurry, let's go back to the city. It's a shame to waste all this mutton - do me a favor and chop off her fingers. They're too fat, and the ring can't be pulled off."

"Hahaha, then you have to give us some!"

"Brothers, you really believed me when I told you that everything belonged to me!"

The slave knights burst into laughter, and as their knives chopped off, blood-stained severed fingers and golden rings flew into the yellow sand.

But the moment Jabir was entangled in the chains, his mood became extremely peaceful.

He finally understood why so many people came to seek refuge with Adil, but Paradise City didn't burst...

If the free people arrive at the City of Paradise, they will naturally enjoy Adil's protection and kindness.

But the question is...can they get there?
They can't get there.

(End of this chapter)