Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 1179 Lord of Hope, City of Dawn

When the dim petrified light faded from the Rock Cellar City, the entire city was covered with black thorns.

In fact, it was Sinthorn who had been "castrated" by Aiwass.

He used his ability to control Sinthorn as a sinbeast to almost completely drain Sinthorn's power, leaving only an empty shell. He then used a blessing ritual to stab the original body of this "detoxifying Sinthorn" into the stone tablet used for the transaction, mixing the power of nothingness into the power transmitted by the amber, polluting and degenerating it, thus losing its original characteristics.

Then, the power of nothingness disintegrated the petrification, just like sprinkling salt on a leech.

However, although Aiwass has tried his best to filter out the "toxicity" of the Sinthorn through the consecration ceremony, its harmfulness to the extraordinary people is still inevitable.

It will manifest itself in a feeling of weakness - just like after a serious illness, the body will become weak and powerless.

The diluted Sinthorn power that was mixed into their bodies through the petrification power would continue to dissolve their extraordinary power. This would require several nights of sleep and constant replenishment of mana to gradually alleviate the pain.

This process is like the immune system killing foreign pathogens, and the host will experience severe discomfort. Along with the feeling of weakness and inability to exert strength, they will also experience fever, hunger, thirst, and sleepiness until the power of nothingness is completely eliminated.

But for ordinary people who have no extraordinary powers at all, they would not feel uncomfortable at all.

Based on this feature, it has a novel quality - allowing Aiwas to easily distinguish those extraordinary people hidden in the crowd.

Anyone who has been petrified before will inevitably undergo this kind of judgment.

Lily lurks in the shadow of Sinthorn, jumping around the city and recording everyone's status.

Their memories stayed at the moment before they were petrified. But because they were not completely petrified, they still had vague perceptions and dream-like hallucinations.

When they woke up from the dream, they found that the water in the city was no longer flowing... The fear swept through people's hearts. It was much clearer than the fatigue caused by long-term petrification and the pain of fighting against the power of sin in their bodies.

Any Sabbath person knows how this happens.

——Their good master is dead!

Not only did the good master die, but he also did not pass on his power before his death.

In other words, Rock Cellar City has lost its qualification as a city-state. All of them either become refugees and slaves of other city-states; or are forced to join the rebels, living in the depths of the desert outside the city-state, struggling to survive and trying to fight against all good masters; or become the Dry Water Army and turn to plunder other city-states with water.

No matter which future they choose, it means they have already lost their future.

But just as people were in chaos, the big bell in the city was rung.

That is the "thirst stone bell" used by the benevolent master to summon citizens. Generally speaking, it is used to announce important events or to summon people to watch an execution - the latter is generally used more frequently than the former.

It is made of a rare material called "Thirst Stone". It can make anyone who hears the sound feel thirsty, and only by approaching it can this unreasonable thirst be relieved.

In this way, no one can refuse the call of the bell.

In Sabbath, thirst is the most ubiquitous yet unbearable suffering.

At this time, the residents of Rock Cellar City had completely fallen into panic and chaos. In confusion, they could only follow the sound of the bell to rush to the central square, like a group of lambs driven by a whip.

When they arrived at the square, they saw the body of the former good leader "Honest Afshin" hanging on the gallows.

People may not know the Good Lord's name, but they certainly know what he looks like. Not to mention, the fat man is wearing a gorgeous knitted robe that only the Good Lord would wear.

And those who stood next to the good master must be the ones who killed the good master.

Some foreigners, and a ritualist.

"What did you do!"

"Murderer! Sinner!"

"Look at those black thorns, they must be servants of the Sand Devil!"

People shouted in despair, uttering hysterical, shrill, painful, and passionate curses: "You will all fall into the quicksand together!"

"I'm going to kill you!"

"Kill them, they must be rebels!"

"Offer their heads to other good masters, and they may let us into the city..."

"What are you dreaming about, idiot! Throw them into the salt pond and die together!"

It wasn't just the free folk who cursed Aiwass and his crew.

Even the slaves cursed together.

At first glance, there was no one who felt happy about being liberated by the killing of the good master.

But even so...

Even with such hatred, such madness, such hysteria, and such curses.

But no one dared to step forward and take action.

——After all, being able to kill the good master means that they are far stronger than themselves. So why would they attack the strong?

If they had dared to resist the powerful, they would not have been ruled by the good master until now.

Watching this scene, Aiwass was silent, and his heart was heavy.

It was not because he was being cursed or rebuked... but because he now had a deep understanding of what the Parthians were thinking and how their understanding of the Good Lord and Parthian culture came about.

"Sherlock." Aiwass called softly.

Although he inherited the contract, he did not master the power of the good master. Because of this, the contract signed between Afshin and Yuan Tiansi was naturally terminated.

And the sinthorn itself absorbs water.

When the city recovered from petrification, the water in the waterways had been completely sucked away by the Sinthorns, and no new water was flowing out of them, and the entire city had become a dry city.

So Aiwass also understood why they were so angry and so desperate.

In this situation where there was no water storage, they couldn't even leave the Rock Cellar City - they needed water to trek and travel in the desert. But if they couldn't take water with them, it meant that they would not be able to survive and rush to the next city.

They are not even qualified to become slaves, they will only become mummies buried in the yellow sand in the desert.

That is the real deal... the end of the world is upon us.

It was no wonder that they had a mental breakdown and wanted to die together. For them, this was indeed their only future. The thirst awakened by the Thirst Stone Bell tortured their will and reminded them of their future all the time.

"Ah, I understand."

And Sherlock obviously understood this.

His heart was heavy as well. It was only then that he truly understood the happiness of Xingti and the people of Avalon.

Before he left Avalon, he felt that Avalon was full of gangs and criminals, and the whole society was rigid and full of crime.

When he went to the Theocracy, he discovered that the elves were also crazy and had their own conspiracies and terminal illnesses.

But when he came to Xingti, he learned that a country's unemployment rate could exceed 50%, and a local leader could even print counterfeit money for hundreds of years. He also learned that a country's factions could be so chaotic that everyone is an enemy of each other, and a country's royal family could have no reliable members.

When he came to Iris, he realized that in some countries, the security at night was so bad that if you went out, you would die. The Son of the Moon directly controlled the entire country, and the country turned into a blood bag and sheepfold.

...But it was not until Sherlock came to Anxi that he realized that those people were so happy.

They actually have food to eat and water to drink - there is actually a country where people have a hard time surviving until tomorrow. Even if they lose their dignity, freedom, future, and everything, they still want to live one more day, one hour, or one minute.

With an inexplicable emotion surging in his heart, Sherlock tightly grasped the staff in his hand.

He whispered, "Leave it to me."

So he faced those distorted faces, hysterical screams, and citizens who were so confused that they attacked each other.

Summoned an endless stream of clear springs.

At that moment, the cursing, cussing, roaring, crying, shouting, and fighting sounds... all stopped abruptly.

People's faces suddenly changed.

They fell to their knees in a mess, crawling on the ground and cheering.

They laughed, praised...and worshipped devoutly.

"Good Lord! Good Lord! Good Lord!" people cheered.

"Give us new water!" people flattered.

It was as if everything that had just happened was just an illusion. It was as if the person hanging there was not the kind master they "loved", but a wild dog that no one knew about.

Hundreds and thousands of people knelt on the ground, like a group of domesticated dogs.

But Aiwass didn't think they were pitiful.

——At least, there is nothing wrong with wanting to live.

The problem is this cursed land.

And Aiwass looked at them, raised his right hand and showed them the most sacred "Seal of the Good Lord".

"I am your new master."

There was no smile on Aiwas's face.

He declared seriously, solemnly and solemnly: "I am Aiwass..."

At that moment, Aiwas was stuck.

According to the custom of the Parthians, the name of the good master should be preceded by a simple and easy-to-understand word.

How would he describe himself?
Countless words flowed through Aiwas' mind.

Sun, light, shine, warmth, justice, fairness, liberation, forgiveness, perfection, holiness…

And in the end, Aiwass settled on that title.

"…I am Aiwass, Aiwass of Hope."

He declared:

"——From now on, this place will be called the City of Dawn."

(End of this chapter)