Once upon a time there was a greedy snake

Is that all there is to it?

Just to get some seasonings? Is it really necessary to call them all over for such a small matter?

Can't we just call on any random person?

Besides, they were merely captured and imprisoned in this serpent god temple; they never actually lived there properly. How could they possibly know where old Bhutto had hidden all those seasonings? No matter how you look at it, this kind of thing should be asked of the old man.

After a moment of silence, one of the priests voiced his doubts.

"It's just a small matter, yet it still bothered old Bhutto..."

"No, you can do it."

Seeing that these people actually showed signs of not wanting to participate, Du Yi immediately shook his head.

"That old man has his own things to do. What you need to do is help me find all the seasonings you can... You can't even do this small thing properly, can you?"

Of course, we can't say we can't do it well. If we can't even do this little thing well, we might lose our lives.

As prisoners of war, they should at least demonstrate that they have value in surviving.

"Besides, what I want isn't what's in the kitchen."

Recalling how he used to collect seasonings after waking up, Du Yi explained his needs in detail.

"First of all, there needs to be a variety of things. Find everything you can find so I can judge which ones are good and which ones aren't... Then there also needs to be a certain amount. You all know the size difference between us. If I use your portions, I'm afraid I won't even be able to taste anything."

This was already quite detailed, and at least in Du Yi's view, these priests had fully understood his meaning.

This made Du Yi nod in satisfaction.

"I'm giving you a month to do this. Don't even think about running away. I'll be keeping an eye on you the whole time... Of course, I won't let you work for nothing. If you do well, you'll get some benefits."

As for what the benefits would be, Du Yi hadn't figured it out yet. However, as prisoners of war, the priests, facing the possibility of being killed at any moment, didn't dare to ask any more questions.

However, this matter itself doesn't seem to be a difficult one.

"That sounds pretty simple."

Just as Du Yi turned his back and was busy repairing the barbecue grill, a priest couldn't help but speak up.

"It doesn't sound like it's that difficult. It's just about buying the seasonings you can find in the market, like salt, garlic, onions, pepper... It's like going to the market instead of the kitchen, right?"

Upon hearing this, the priests were somewhat puzzled, since it seemed to be true – although the giant serpent's demands were more than they had imagined, it was still ultimately just a errand-running job.

However, that's where the problem lies.

If it's just a errand, is it really worth calling them all over, and even giving them a whole month?

"This... is very likely a test."

It was at this moment that the leader, the priest who had once used the golden scarab, spoke.

"This must be a test, a test of our abilities."

At that moment, the priest leader felt he understood everything.

"What that ancient serpent wants to do is definitely not just to go to the market to buy things."

Chapter 127 The History of the Priests

Being a priest who serves the gods is not an easy job.

Perhaps in the eyes of many ordinary people, priests represent the majesty of the gods, carry out the will of the gods, use the power of the gods, and manage the believers of the gods... In short, priests must be majestic and a symbol of glory.

So, how can an ordinary person become a priest and an agent of the gods on earth?

Most ordinary people naturally don't have this opportunity, since papyrus and writing materials aren't cheap. But for priests, learning to read and write is the most basic thing in the world—if they can't even recognize all the prayers praising the gods, they don't even have the qualifications to serve the gods.

This means that to become a priest, one must be wealthy enough. Of course, ordinary people are not entirely without a chance. There are a few people who may not be that wealthy, but they may be exceptionally talented, lucky enough to be favored by the gods, or simply learn to read and write by chance... all of these can give them the opportunity to become priests.

However, this is only the beginning.

Beyond reading and writing, a priest has much more to learn.

Such as how to pray, how to compile articles praising the gods, how to preside over gatherings on various occasions, how to get ordinary people to be willing to give everything for the gods... But in addition to these complicated and headache-inducing knowledge, as a priest, one must also master one of the most important skills.

That is, to speculate on the meaning of the gods.

The reason why gods are gods is because they are extraordinary and otherworldly. Every move they make carries unparalleled majesty, and every word they say has profound meaning—and understanding this profound meaning becomes of paramount importance.

After all, the consequences of misunderstanding are far too severe, but if you can understand it correctly, it's almost like achieving instant success.

For example, there is a very typical case that is passed down among priests.

Legend has it that once, the sun god, in order to test his priests, cast a spell on the lake outside the temple. Any priest who crossed that lake would inevitably lose the hand axe he wore at his waist. At that moment, a holy spirit would appear in the lake and ask the priest who lost his hand axe whether it was a golden hand axe or a silver hand axe.

Some priests, driven by greed, thought that losing a bronze hand axe in exchange for a piece of gold or silver was an excellent deal.

So the Holy Spirit sank them into the lake and they drank their fill of water until the bronze hand axe was brought ashore, at which point they were allowed to come ashore.

A few priests, however, thought they were being clever and believed that this must be a test from the gods, a way for them to demonstrate the virtue of honesty.

After they revealed that they had lost the bronze hand axe, the Holy Spirit indeed gave them the bronze hand axe, as well as the gold and silver hand axes. This led everyone to believe that this was probably all the tests the gods had to give them.

Until a burly priest appeared.

Compared to the other priests, this man named Matt Perry was more like a warrior, and his behavior was as wild and brutal as most warriors. This directly led to the fact that after Matt Perry's axe fell into the water, he not only did not answer the Holy Spirit's question, but also rushed into the lake and grabbed the Holy Spirit by the neck.

"Damn evil spirit! How dare you walk in front of me!"

At that moment, Matt Perry roared at the Holy Spirit, and fifty-four divine tattoos shone brightly on his body. Judging from his fierce appearance, he seemed to be treating the Holy Spirit as an evil spirit and wanting to kill him on the spot.

Just as the Holy Spirit was about to be strangled, the Sun God appeared, healed the Holy Spirit, and rebuked Matt Perry for his recklessness.

But just when everyone thought Matt Perry would suffer divine punishment.

This burly man was quietly promoted to the position of High Priest of Sun City.

It was at that time that the priests realized that this trial had nothing to do with any hand axe from the beginning. The real test was whether they could maintain absolute loyalty to the gods.

This made those self-righteous priests regret their actions.

But such examples were not isolated; one case after another lay before them—which gradually made all the priests realize that, often, what is said and what is intended to be done are two completely different things.

"Strictly speaking, it's actually three things."

In the backyard of the Cobra Temple, the leader of the group spoke these words to the other priests.

"First, what did the snake say?"

"Secondly, what does that snake really want?"

At this point, the priest leader, who was using the golden scarab amulet, paused.

"Finally... that ancient serpent isn't a god, so why should we wholeheartedly serve it?"

"So we also need to think about something called, what we can do in this matter."

After he finished speaking, the other priests nodded in agreement, and their gazes toward the priest leader were filled with more respect.

That's why they're the ones leading the team; their thinking is just different. In such a short time, they've already organized everything perfectly and even spotted the crux of the problem at a glance.

That is, this ancient snake is not a god.

After all, no matter how you look at it, this ancient serpent has nothing to do with gods. It only has a huge body but no divine power. Of course, if we're talking about brute force, this ancient serpent does have plenty of it, but no matter how you look at it, compared to gods, this ancient serpent is more like some kind of giant beast.

This is why they initially mistook the ancient serpent for a servant of the Cobra Goddess, since such a massive beast was considered one of the gods' favorite servants.

Just like the famous Grim Reaper, who kept a huge monster with the head of a crocodile, the body of a lion, and the hind legs of a hippopotamus to devour the souls of sinners.

Of course, now they all know that, at least in the ancient serpent's own account, the giant serpent has absolutely no connection with the cobra goddess.

"That's why we should treat this ancient serpent with the same respect we would show to the gods."

It was at this moment that the chief priest spoke again.

This statement was somewhat contradictory. He had just said that he should do things wholeheartedly, but now he was saying that he should adopt the attitude of serving the gods... The contradictory words left the other priests puzzled and confused.

Fortunately, the priest continued speaking.

"Right now, we are still in the hands of that ancient serpent. If we don't do our work seriously, we might even lose our lives... On the contrary, if we do our work seriously, we can survive better and serve the gods better."

The priest emphasized the pronunciation of the word "serving the gods".

The other priests finally understood what the other party meant.

Yes, even if they were captured by this ancient serpent, even if they worked diligently for this ancient serpent, it did not prevent them from still adhering to their faith in the gods.

Furthermore, as they improve, when the gods truly need them, when the gods come to conquer the evil ancient serpent, they will be able to accomplish even more.

"Even in darkness, the light of the sun still shines in our hearts!"

Immediately, the priests began to rub their hands together in anticipation.

Chapter 128 Deeply Cultivating Darkness, Serving the Light

First, let's hear what the ancient serpent said.

Secondly, what does the ancient serpent truly want?

Finally, there's what you need to do.

After a brief discussion, the priests had solved the most difficult problem. They had realized that although they had to work in the darkness to survive, the light of the sun still remained in their hearts.

Then the remaining two are much easier to do.

The ancient serpent said it wanted seasoning, but in reality, it was testing them in various ways—as long as the ancient serpent was brought into a godlike position, the priests would naturally understand everything.

"It must be done quickly! It must be done well!"

In order to survive, and also to leave a better impression on the ancient serpent, the priests decided to carry out the serpent's orders twice as much.

After all, only by exceeding the target, or even exceeding it by several times, can they prove their ability and prove that they are capable people.

Staying under the ancient serpent's nose might seem like a constraint, but for these priests, it was no big deal. Only ordinary people would see such a thing as an obstacle; for them, as priests, it was a great opportunity to demonstrate their abilities.

Two days later, the grand festival began.

The festival was held in the name of worshipping the snake god, and the previous battle was also glorified as a test of the Butuo people's faith. As for their attack on the ancient snake, it was even transformed into a worship of the god.

"This is to help the great serpent god stretch his muscles."

They gave this explanation.

As for why the snake god appearing in the snake god temple is not the cobra that has been worshipped locally for many years... that's easy to explain. They simply say that the snake god is two-faced, being a cobra in the previous era and a giant python in this era.

In any case, it's impossible for ordinary people, let alone the priests themselves, to truly verify such matters.

Since there's no way to verify it, then whatever they say is fine, as long as we can clear up the doubts left behind and prevent the locals from thinking about it too much.

If they really wanted to think about it carefully.

"Are you trying to question the great serpent god?"

No one could withstand such a charge.

Even so, there were still people who questioned the great serpent god. One of them was the town's spice merchant. Although the spice merchant repeatedly said that he had never said such a thing and that he was extremely devout to the god, several priests, under the pretext of disrespecting the serpent god, ordered the able-bodied men who had begun to obey their commands to send the merchant's entire family to meet their demise.

Of course, some priests raised questions during this process, feeling that it was going too far to forcibly send a devout believer's entire family to meet the Grim Reaper, which was clearly an evil deed done by followers of evil gods.

So, what do you think we are now?

Faced with such doubts, the leader who used the scarab amulet frowned.

"You don't actually think we're serving the sun god right now, do you?"

Upon hearing this, the other priests also remembered that they were supposed to pretend to be working diligently for the ancient serpent.

Since they are working for the ancient serpent, not for the righteous god, the methods used are naturally less important.

Moreover, didn't they do such things when they were serving the true gods?

"But that amount is still too small."

One of the priests expressed his feelings.

"That ancient serpent could have simply stolen all the local spices on its own. If we only do what that ancient serpent can do, how can we demonstrate our abilities?"

Upon hearing this, the chief priest shook his head, indicating that this was not the end of everything, but rather the beginning.

After all, after raiding the spice merchants' homes, they obtained more than just a large quantity of spices.

There is also the vacancy left by the spice merchant.