Mount and Blade Central Asia

This is a very dangerous signal. The result that Li Rufeng least wants to see is that he will end up with another empty dead city.

He had seen a lot of death and enough desolation along the way. Li Rufeng was fed up with it all. He was not completely unaware of the signal sent by Diobiya when he fired the cannon.

This world is not without the ability to resist the power of miracles. Humanity has carved deep traces into this world over thousands of years of civilization development. This world still belongs to mortals. The Eagle of Order's theory on the power of miracles is consistent with that of the old shaman to a certain extent.

They respect this mysterious power hidden beneath the world order, and even give it the beautiful name of miracle power. The reason why miracle power is called miracle power is that it is rare enough and cannot be obtained.

But the emergence of the God of the Four Winds has led to the abuse of this power. Not only is hidden beneath the miraculous power provided by the God of the Four Winds, but there is also more malice from another world.

Li Rufeng had realized this as early as the first time he saw the God of the Four Winds. It was a vicious beast that was chased all the way by Haishar. You only need to take a look at that thing to easily judge how much malice it has towards the world by its appearance.

"I am sure that this will work. This is not the first time I have done this. In my hometown, people have been doing this for generations." Li Rufeng waved his hand and wrote dense, tiny characters on the yellow paper with his unskilled brush calligraphy.

"This is our world. They should be like rats in the gutter, hiding in the shadows, not daring to show their heads." Li Rufeng said as he wrote, "It is the nobles of this land who have caused so much slaughter and weakened the power of mortals, which has led to the wielders of these miraculous powers acting so recklessly."

Speaking of these yellow papers, fine wolf-hair brushes, and very pure cinnabar, these things were all gifts given to Li Rufeng by the Jinyiwei.

It's just that the way they gave the gifts was a bit scary. These things were sent to Li Rufeng along with the supplies escorted by Princess Parisa, but obviously no one from Princess Parisa to the officers and merchants who specifically purchased these supplies knew when these things were placed among the personal belongings that should have been given to Li Rufeng.

Moreover, the Jinyiwei will use this method to "consolidate" the friendship between themselves and Li Rufeng, and it is also a demonstration. To those Jinyiwei, this mess that Li Rufeng temporarily set up is like a sieve, with no secrets at all.

On the other hand, the Jinyiwei also demonstrated the excellence of their intelligence network. They had anticipated what kind of trouble Li Rufeng would encounter here long before Li Rufeng arrived in Moswell City.

So they prepared some things that Li Rufeng might need in advance, showing that they knew what Li Rufeng had done before and what kind of power he had used.

Li Rufeng couldn't complain about the Jinyiwei, after all, this was not their war, but he was still a little dissatisfied with the Jinyiwei's domineering way of "making friends".

Damn it, he found out what kind of industries those Jinyiwei had in Aleppo, and he had to increase their taxes by three times.

"I need an hour to prepare. You don't need to wait for me here all the time. Maybe the soldiers of the Malikiya League need you more." Li Rufeng glanced at Muheya and ordered him to leave.

He did not want to share his secrets in the field of miraculous power with such an Islamic Imam. It was not that Li Rufeng was avoiding it. After all, he himself did not really understand what kind of power he possessed.

Until now, he still did not completely trust this imam who came to him on his own initiative. No matter what the other party said or did, both parties still needed a process of mutual trust.

"I understand, Shaman Rufeng." Muheya hesitated for a moment, but finally maintained his humble attitude.

The great conqueror he had served before did not make much achievement in the field of miracle power. Although he had many talented people in this area under his command, he himself was a complete mortal.

Therefore, Muheya did not have much experience in dealing with the current situation. He did not know whether he should carefully avoid Li Rufeng's secret or take the initiative to lend a helping hand.

As an Imam who once held a high position in the sect, Muhaya did have a few tricks up his sleeve that could be used to counter the power of pagan miracles.

Back then, the ascetics under the Sufi sect were serious users of miracle power, and Muheya also had a small group of ascetics who were secretly loyal to him.

Chapter 570: Eternal Advice

"Lord Muhe Yamian, we can't tell what type of miraculous power that shaman is using. This is not the power under the Changshengtian belief system." A mendicant monk looked at the talisman paper that Muhe Ya "accidentally" took out, his face full of confusion.

These mendicant ascetics were the main force that ultimately helped Islam defeat the Tengri faith in this land, and they were well aware of the power that the shamans could wield.

This mendicant monk had even met the old shaman several times. When the great conqueror attacked the Eastern Chagatai Khanate, he was one of the mendicant monks accompanying the army and had exchanges with the old shaman.

In the field of miracle power, the Tengri shamans are better at changing the weather, performing vague witchcraft divination, and blood therapy, etc., while they are more focused on abilities such as thought guidance and sleight of hand.

There is no distinction between high and low. The mendicant monk beside Muheya can provide ideological guidance for several hours every day, making believers more pious and soldiers braver, or use tricks like sleight of hand to easily capture the trust of those unbelievers and then spread the doctrine.

But even a shaman of the old shaman's level would need several years of preparation to change the climate environment for a short period of time, or to expand the scale of upcoming weather phenomena, such as making the rain heavier, the snow more vigorous, the wind more violent, and so on.

The two sides are on completely different tracks. There is only one shaman in a tribe. Today, when the belief in Changshengtian is declining, several tribes cannot even find a shaman.

If Li Rufeng had not appeared out of nowhere, the old shaman himself might have been the last swan song of the Changshengtian belief.

But it is different for mendicant monks. In some big cities, there are even special mendicant temples that can steadily pass on the miraculous powers of the mendicant monks.

Hearing the beggar say this, Muheya frowned. He could actually recognize that the pen and words used by the shaman came from the far East. He just wanted to confirm it again.

Muheya was a man of quick thinking. He had always suspected that perhaps after the great conqueror's unwise expedition, the vast Eastern Empire began to try to extend its influence to this land, and Li Rufeng was just one of their pawns?

Timur always called himself the son-in-law of the Golden Family in order to make full use of the prestige left by the Golden Family. At that time, the most powerful branch of the Golden Family was defeated by the Ming Empire.

That completely failed expedition undoubtedly irritated the nerves of the Emperor of the Eastern Ming Empire.

"You and I know this matter." Muheya instructed carefully. He had no intention of getting involved in the game at this level. No matter who would be the ruler of the Khanate in the future, he would need to rely on the power of religion. It would be enough for him to invest carefully in his future.

Mendicants have always been the best keepers of secrets, so the mendicant just nodded silently, turned around and walked towards the city of Mosul while the artillery was silent.

Muheya was not a spectator. As an "authority" in the religious field, he hated the evils in Mosul more than Li Rufeng, and he understood the essence of the faith in the Four Wind Gods far better than Li Rufeng.

You know, in Timur's time, his son Miransha was even an open believer in the Four Winds God, and his invincibility became part of the Timur family's fame.

However, the great conqueror could no longer tolerate the "strange things" happening to his son, and finally chose to seal the power he had obtained in a sword.

The sword was now in Li Rufeng's hands, and the shaman could use the magic sword at will without suffering any consequences...

Therefore, Muheya not only had to meet the needs of the believers of the Four Wind Gods, he also needed to prove to Li Rufeng that he had this ability. In Timur's huge family, Prince Milansha was definitely not the only one who believed in the Four Wind Gods. He was just the most conspicuous one.

There were many more believers who secretly believed in the faith, but before they could do anything to anger the great conqueror, they were secretly dealt with by religious figures like Muheya.

Now Muheya needs to use his own way to warn Li Rufeng not to indulge in the power of the Four Wind Gods...

At this time, Li Rufeng was still working hard to write those talismans. He had always deliberately kept a distance from the power he possessed, and tried not to over-interpret the principles behind it.

Because in Li Rufeng's view, this is a very "mythical" power, and he can use certain rituals as a carrier to achieve the result of breaking the miraculous power of the Four Wind Gods.

Li Rufeng didn't know whether it was because of himself, a special time traveler, who played a major role in this, or because the old shaman's last words, which seemed to say nothing but also seemed to say everything, passed on some power that originally belonged to the Changshengtian shaman to him for inheritance.

Of course, it's also possible that the two blended together, sparking some unscientific, unmagical "chemical reaction." A primitive shamanic religion that believed in animism and inherited power through "my thoughts" met a unique time traveler with a head full of random thoughts, and something sparked...

In addition to those rituals that carried the conventions of thousands of years of human agreement, Li Rufeng also knew a power that could gain more individuals and spread across a wider area, or should we say, a kind of thought. So, what Li Rufeng wrote on the talisman paper was -

“We know that individuals are weak, but we also know that the whole is strong.” - Karl Marx

“The essence of man is not an abstraction inherent in the individual; in its reality it is the sum of all social relations – Marx”

"Our thoughts will take us to paradise or hell, depending on whether they are good or evil; paradise and hell are not in heaven or on earth, but here, in the very life we ​​live now." - Lucy Mallory

"Religion maintains the existing ruling order by controlling the thoughts and anaesthetizing the minds of the masses. The root of the alienation of human nature lies in... the dual enslavement of people by nature and society is the real source of the emergence and existence of religion! - Marx"

...

There is a lot of content in the middle, and Mr. Li has almost forgotten it, so he can only use ellipsis to replace it. But it doesn’t matter. Li Rufeng believes that his powerful ellipsis is just like Zhou Shuren’s homophones, full of thoughts and power, enough to express his emotions.

Human will, cannons and gunpowder have shattered the closed circle of those dark wizards once, and now, human thoughts, the theories for which countless people have risked their lives, will turn into even more deadly shells, once again shattering the evil power of witchcraft!

"Stick these on my flag." Li Rufeng handed a thick stack of talisman paper to the guards beside him.

The guards and surrounding officers looked at the blood-red characters written on the yellow talisman paper with awe, as if they saw some unspeakable power in them.

The soldiers surrounded the three-yuan flag spread out on the ground. The flag represented the great conqueror's life's achievements. Countless cities and generals in this land would open their gates and surrender, and prostrate themselves when they saw the flag approaching from afar.

And now, when the mysterious talisman paper was pasted on the flags one by one, the sacred feeling made it difficult for people to breathe.

These soldiers were not unafraid of the dangers in the darkness of the city, they just respected Li Rufeng more. The belief in Changshengtian had gradually spread along with the words and deeds of the Mongols in the army and Li Rufeng himself. The longer the soldiers followed Li Rufeng, the more devout they became.

Even if some people still maintain their original religious beliefs, they will privately maintain a certain degree of awe for the sky above their heads and the shaman in the distance.

Especially those non-Mongol soldiers recruited from areas near Aleppo were as devout as fanatics.

Not only did they witness Li Rufeng's brilliance on the battlefield, they also personally experienced the changes that Li Rufeng brought to their lives. He eliminated famine in the city of Aleppo and ensured that everyone could have enough to eat.

Even when the grain harvest had not yet arrived, Li Rufeng bought enough grain from overseas at high prices and sold it at a fair price in the city. Every once in a while, greedy merchants were hanged on the city walls for buying grain in Aleppo.

Some veterans had seen how Li Rufeng exorcised witchcraft on other battlefields, and they were full of confidence in Li Rufeng's "ritual."

Li Rufeng wrote for more than an hour. Although his handwriting was ugly, his speed was not slow. Several personal guards could not finish pasting all the talismans. The soldiers who were grateful and in awe took the initiative to share these sacred talismans.

Li Rufeng had previously collected blood from several famous warriors in the army to dilute the cinnabar. Now these soldiers also used their own blood as adhesive to stick the talisman paper on the flag one by one.

The Sanyuan flag was soon dyed black and red, but the magical thing was that when this big flag was raised and fluttered in the wind, not a single talisman paper was shaken off. They seemed to have merged into one with the flag itself, and made a magnificent rustling sound with the wind.

"Move my horse here!" Li Rufeng held the big flag in one hand, watching his white horse being moved here, and then with a beautiful one-handed saddle move he jumped onto the horse, and just like that, in the torches held by the soldiers, he galloped towards Mosul!

I don’t know if Li Rufeng added too many buffs to this flag, which already had a lot of stories. In any case, when his speed gradually began to increase, the entire flag emitted a dazzling light along with the night wind.

Both the soldiers under his command and the people of Mosul who were still worried about their relatives and friends in the city witnessed the scene where the Wind Shaman rushed towards the city gate like a knight of light, carrying the banner of eternal advice.

Chapter 571: Inside the City

At this time, Fatma was following the Sleepless leader Fakhr and the tavern owner Jebala through a long underground tunnel. Behind them were six "elite" Sleepless people and twelve Sleepless people who had been injured before.

They had originally mobilized a group of awakened family members, but those who had been sleeping for a long time fell asleep again halfway. Fakhr immediately realized that the city of Mosul had fallen into the hands of those dark wizards again, and decisively ordered to temporarily abandon those family members.

The purpose of their trip was a drainage ditch that could pass through the city wall. The drainage ditch had existed for hundreds of years and would only be noticed when it rained and the Tigris River swelled sharply, causing flooding in the city.

The exit of this secret passage is near the drainage ditch.

The last time Mosul experienced such heavy rain was sixty years ago, so theoretically there shouldn't be many living people who know about this secret passage. Fakhr learned about this from a sleepless man who used to be involved in smuggling.

The sleepless man had slipped away through that secret passage as soon as things started to go wrong in Mosul.

"Do you know what the price is to get people out of the city now?" Jebala said indignantly. He has never given up the idea of ​​making a big business, but it's a pity that he is now a prisoner and is not allowed to express his opinions at all.

"Shut up. If you hadn't helped us so much this time, I would have skinned you alive." Fahr turned around and gave Jebara a cold look.

Those dark wizards need the help of local people to find suitable people to come out of the dream and work, and Jebala is one of them. They are the lackeys of the dark wizards. One of the obsessions of the sleepless people is to kill these lackeys. Many of them have their relatives betrayed by these lackeys.

Those sleepers who were betrayed would be placed by dark wizards in buildings closer to the wizard tower and guarded by dream demons. This was also the reason why many sleepless people did not escape from the city on their own.

"I didn't have nothing better to do than reveal your identities. Instead, you often ask me for help. You owe me!" Jebala spoke with confidence because he had never done such a bad thing. He had better channels and didn't bother to do such a thing.

"Don't think I don't know that you are the largest labor agency in the city. One-third of the workers who built the tower for the dark wizards were introduced by you!" Fahr had a wooden prosthetic leg. He was walking through the low tunnel and was panting as he spoke.

"Come on, even without me, those dark wizards would know whatever they wanted to know in their dreams. No one can keep a secret in their dreams." Jebala looked at the secret passage in the light coming through a vent. "This doesn't look like something you guys dug out in the past few months. Where did you find this passage?"

"Who knows? Suddenly one day we discovered it." Fahr didn't want to explain in detail how he discovered this secret passage, so he said perfunctorily.

But Jebala was different. He actually had several secret passages dug outwards from his tavern, so he knew very well how much manpower and resources were needed to dig a tunnel that was hundreds of meters long.

Jebala felt that this secret passage was too close to the city wall. The soil nearby was tough and not suitable for digging secret passages. Moreover, after walking two or three hundred meters along the way, he did not feel any stuffiness and did not see any additional supporting structures. Something seemed wrong no matter how he looked at it.

"In this situation, you found such a long secret passage of unknown origin in the city, and you dare to go in?" Jebala's face became more and more ugly. He was not like this group of sleepless people who knew nothing about the dark wizards. He was the "lackey" of the dark wizards.

He knew the abilities of those dark wizards, and he had also seen many things that were not in line with common sense. He knew that what those dark wizards had always wanted was to erase the wall between the real world and the dream world, so that they could distort the world at will.

"Fahr...Have any of the people you sent out this way ever returned?" Jebala's voice was so small and thin, as if it came from his stomach. "Did any of you go out with them?"

Fakhr was silent. This passage was the safest one he controlled, so he and a few trusted confidants would lead the way every time, and few other people knew about it.

He and his trusted confidants were all people with strong beliefs. They never thought of leaving the city with those civilians. They believed that they still had a responsibility to the city.

So Jebala's question is... no, none of them ever actually left the city through that passage, and no one ever returned to the city through that passage.

Just by looking at Fahr's expression, Jebara understood everything. He opened his mouth and finally said only one sentence: "Fahr, you killed me..."

Fatma listened to the conversation between the two people in a daze. He was tall, so like Fatma, he was out of breath walking in this low tunnel and could not keep up with their conversation at all.

But the next second, Fatma understood. The straight passage in front of him suddenly squirmed and turned a corner in front of everyone.

"Welcome to the kingdom of dreams, sleepless ones..." Jebala had a resigned expression on his face. He straightened his clothes, pushed aside the others, and walked in front.

After turning the corner, the passage was only a few meters long, replaced by a long staircase, at the end of which was a blue door with intricate decorations.

Jebala sighed as he walked up the stairs, moving towards the wooden door step by step, his face dark and uncertain, as if every step was a judgment that would determine his life or death.

In fact, it was true. When Jebala was only five steps away from the gate, he suddenly trembled, and then two wounds suddenly appeared on his broad back, and a pair of wings popped out...

"No! No! I'm still useful. I know a lot of people in the city. You still need me. I can find the people you need as quickly as possible!" Jebala wailed loudly at the unknown existence, but no one responded.

Fatma's eyes suddenly widened, but she realized that Jebala in front of her was being transformed into a nightmare.

But obviously, the dark wizards were far more evil than he had imagined. Jebala's body was so huge, while the incubus was much smaller, and the dark wizards would not waste his material like this.

As Jebala wailed, another pair of wings shot out from his chest, followed by two thighs. He was torn into pieces in front of everyone, transformed into four nightmares of different sizes, shaking off the blood on his body on the steps.

Fatma was horrified by the scene before him. He knew the risks of this mission and that he might die, but he didn't expect it to be such a tragic death.

He was unwilling to accept such a fate, and Fatma had only one way to resist fate. He pulled out his only weapon, the dagger.

However, this only weapon was like his second brother who had just finished his work. It hung limply in his hand along his fingers. The weapon was unwilling to help him resist his fate.

"Don't panic!" Fahr, after all, was a veteran of many battles. He grabbed the collapsed outsider and said, "If this is a dream, we still have a chance. Don't go up those stairs!"

Fakhr was not a philosopher or a scholar, and he had not read Aristotle's philosophical works on dreams, such as "On Dreams", "Sleeping and Waking", and "The Prophecy of Sleep". But as an experienced and sharp soldier, the observant Fakhr realized that the steps were highly symbolic.

The accident happened after Jebala stepped onto the stairs, and the dream demon that split out of him was also staring at them on the stairs.

But behind them, the passage they came from was slowly disappearing, squeezing their space bit by bit.

The few sleepless people at the back were being pushed forward by the completely disappeared passage. The scimitar in Fahr's hand did not become limp, so he slashed at the wall behind him that had become a dead end.

The scimitar was embedded in the wall, as if it were made not of stone and rock but of the flesh of some living creature.

The few remaining passages suddenly squirmed, causing several panicked insomniacs around Fahr to fall directly to the ground. One of them accidentally stepped on the stairs in a hurry, and in the blink of an eye, he walked up the stairs in a daze as if he was possessed. The others just watched as that person "ascended" on the stairs and turned into several dream monsters.

Fahr continued to chop and smash the wall behind him regardless. He didn't know what was special about him, but he was a very stubborn person. He felt that since those dark wizards failed to pull them into the dream at the beginning, they must need some restrictions if they want to do so now.

And just as Fahr thought, Ali is currently unable to directly pull these sleepless people into the dream world. They are classified as unenlightened people in the judgment of the Azure Wind, and they are naturally insulated from the power of the Azure Wind.