Chapter 456: Entering Big Tree Cunzi, the Old Big Tree

Jier, riding on horseback, heard the call of Priest Bata'er from ahead, so he raised his hand and waved.

The various drivers, who had been keeping an eye on Jier, raised their horse whips and cracked them in the air, letting the horses hear the sound of the whip-cracks so they would lift their hooves and move forward.

Afterwards, Jier looked at the dense crowd of villagers on the village walls and behind the open gates ahead; he lowered his head to look at the old clothes he was wearing from last year and shook his head.

The old clothes were certainly fitting and comfortable, but they were not suitable for his attire at this moment.

Although whether the villagers of Big Tree Cunzi recognized his skills or not would not hinder him and his team from rescuing the villagers of Changmai Cunzi, he was, after all, representing the Nongshen Church to rescue the faithful, so he could not be dressed too shabbily, lest the villagers of Big Tree Cunzi look down upon him, the 【Nongshen Warrior】!

Thus, while the caravan was starting up and moving slowly, Jier let the Licking Blood Grass Horse approach his own carriage at the front of the line, stepped on the stirrup, and vaulted onto his carriage driver's seat.

"Why did you jump over?" Xueya Site, who was driving the carriage, was somewhat surprised, but as a man with rich life experience, once he saw Jier's movements of diving into the carriage and the old clothes Jier was wearing, he guessed Jier's intentions.

"Oh, that's right. Isn't there a saying like that? Even if a king wears rags, someone will still give him a reward. Even if a beggar wears fine clothes, he can still enter the best Red House! It is indeed necessary to dress formally at a time like this." Xueya Site said, shaking his head.

But by the time the caravan approached Big Tree Cunzi, Jier had climbed out of the carriage wearing his full-coverage Hard Cowhide Armor.

"Eh? Jier, where is your Metal Armor? Such a majestic moment, it is precisely when you need that Metal Armor of yours to hold the scene!" Xueya Site asked in surprise.

Jier closed the Faceplate on his Helmet; his voice sounded somewhat distorted through the obstruction of the Faceplate, which made him feel as if he sounded more mature.

"I used it frequently a while ago, and some moving parts rusted, making it hard to move, so I am dealing with it. Let's just wear this set of armor for now."

To look more majestic, he also wore the cleaned 【Night Ambition】 cloak over this set of armor. With the valuable cloak as decoration, the ordinary-looking Hard Cowhide Armor also became majestic and good-looking.

He hung the Hunting Sword on his left belt and the Magic Dagger 【Heart Fire】 on his right belt; once he was mounted on the Licking Blood Grass Horse, which was covered in Horse Armor, he looked truly majestic.

Jier straightened the weapon rack behind him and the various weapons and equipment on his back, throwing the 【Yueshui Skull】, which lacked an axe handle, back into the carriage; it was tossed aside by Jier and flew back into the carriage of its own accord, obediently hanging on a hook on the carriage wall panel. As for the Elven Metal Shield, which had not yet been repaired after being damaged, Jier threw it back into his carriage, disliking that it looked ugly.

However, this thing had no Spirit; after he tossed it into the carriage, there was a clattering sound, and finally, it got stuck between two Wooden Boxes and stopped moving.

"Hey, why do you treat your weapons and equipment like that? You have to handle them well for them to trust you," Xueya Site said.

Jier chuckled: "Forget it, do you think I don't know you rarely wipe your Long Sword? On the contrary, you carefully maintain the crossbow I lent you every day. Why don't I just give it to you?"

"Really? *Cough, cough*, I mean, because it's borrowed, I have to maintain it properly. How could I take your weapons and equipment? Jier, I owe you too much." Xueya Site coughed lightly and hurriedly changed the subject.

Jier also took the opportunity to change the subject to avoid embarrassing his friend: "Not anymore, Siter. Thanks to your assistance and company along the way, Bataer and I were able to continue toward our destination after so many things happened, instead of being left in a sorry state by other matters on the road."

"Ha, if you ask me, you two brought it on yourselves."

Xueya Site shook his head and commented: "Mind your own business less and focus on your own goals, and things might have been solved long ago. You go chase your Kendall Army, I'll find a Caravan to return to the Western Province, and Priest Bataer can take care of those rescued villagers. The matter would be perfectly solved! Perfect! Fast!"

But Jier just smiled; he leaned out while riding on the Licking Blood Grass Horse and punched Xueya Site with his left hand: "Ha, but I know you wouldn't leave the Refugees at White Stone Pass alone, right? You aren't that kind of person! After all, when Bataer and I couldn't manage the Refugee Team, I knew it was you who were directing the entire group that had fallen into chaos."

Having been exposed, Xueya Site scratched his hair, let out a breath, and said with a hint of pride: "Can't help it, who knew I had the ability to manage a team of hundreds of people? Although the main things were handled by Mr. Bafute and Mr. Fentijia and the others, I just gave simple orders."

"Too humble, right? That's not your style!" Jier pretended to be surprised.

This made Xueya Site laugh out loud: "Alright, alright, I'm really happy to be able to help so many people in need! That's enough, we're about to arrive at this Big Tree Cunzi, you better get serious quickly."

Jier put away his smile and deliberately asked in a deeper voice with confusion: "Big Tree Cunzi, but I don't see any particularly tall big tree inside or outside the village?"

"I don't know about that, you can ask the villagers, they definitely know."

The north gate of Big Tree Cunzi opened, and the platform above the gate was full of people; at least a hundred people had gathered behind the open gate. These villagers, who had gathered in an emergency, held all kinds of 'weapons', which made Jier feel somewhat ashamed.

He did not think that using these 'weapons' could defeat any group of over a hundred people who had received military training and had relatively complete weapons and equipment, even if they were a defeated army.

But if they relied on the obstruction of the village's wooden walls and the advantage of this rough terrain, it looked quite intimidating.

At the very least, this speed of gathering quickly after hearing the alarm was quite tricky.

Seeing the caravan approach, Priest Bataer did not enter Big Tree Cunzi first, but waited until Jier and the others arrived, then rode side-by-side with Jier, walking at the very front of the caravan to enter the village gate on horseback.

"Hey, you are the warrior Jier that Luosa mentioned? A young Knight?" Priest Feilina on the gate observed Jier after he approached, then asked.

Jier tapped his left chest with his right fist and answered casually: "That is indeed the case. I was once awarded a Sixth-Rank Protection Badge by the Nongshen Church in the town where I was located, but unfortunately, it was damaged in an extremely dangerous battle. If you wish to verify its authenticity, I still have the fragments after it was damaged; you can view them yourself later and make a judgment."

While speaking, Jier passed through the small north gate of the village, and Priest Feilina's voice came from above his head again; the female priest walked from one end of the platform to the other: "I do not doubt your identity; after all, compared to you, Bataer is much more devout than I am. I am a doer; I am not questioning your identity, warrior. I just wonder, can your strength rescue those poor villagers of Changmai Cunzi?"

When the surrounding people heard this, they all felt that Priest Feilina made sense; many had heard Priest Bataer describe the horror of that group of defeated soldiers and knew that an ordinary team could not beat those bad guys.

The young Knight riding on the Armored Warhorse before their eyes could indeed be identified as a young man just by his voice.

And he might be very young; although everyone could not see his face through the Knight's Helmet Faceplate, most people could feel that Jier was a young man of about twenty just by listening to his voice.

Little did they know, Jier was only seventeen years old; he had deliberately disguised his voice to sound more mature, and with the obstruction of the Faceplate, everyone felt he was about twenty.

Before Jier could say anything to prove his strength or make any move, Priest Bataer hurriedly explained for Jier: "Do not doubt it, Filina-Brisiman. I have accompanied Warrior Jier all the way from Mengtuoka City, and I have learned enough to know his strength. Warrior Jier's strength is fully capable of defeating those defeated soldiers and rescuing the captured villagers of Changmai Cunzi."

After hearing Priest Bataer's words, Priest Feilina looked Jier over carefully again, then nodded: "Then please stay at the Nongshen Church in the village for the night; Luosa, you know the place. Enter from the large wooden gate at the back, and the carriages can be parked in the backyard. I have clothes drying there; remember to collect the children's clothes and hang them somewhere else before parking the carriages."

Priest Bataer waved his hand to indicate he had heard. He was very familiar with Big Tree Cunzi; every time he passed by, he would stay for an extra day or two, ostensibly to catch up with his fellow priest classmate Feilina, but in reality, he was secretly learning how Feilina directed the village people and managed the entire Big Tree Cunzi.

You must know, Big Tree Cunzi had its own set of Cunzi Chief and Elder management teams before this. But after Feilina replaced the old, aging priest who used to be stationed in Big Tree Cunzi, it only took her a year or two to make the original management system of Big Tree Cunzi revolve around her.

All affairs in the village had to be known to her and had to be judged and handled by her, and she did an excellent job; at least everyone thought so. This included the people in the village, the original Cunzi Chiefs and Elders, the Caravans and peddlers passing through, and other Nongshen Church priests who occasionally came by.

Priest Bataer could only chase after his old classmate in the past, falling further and further behind; the strength and population of Changmai Cunzi and Big Tree Cunzi gradually widened, but this time, he declared that he would not lose, because the Babotali Valley behind Huitou Forest would become his parish, helping him succeed in surpassing his old classmate.

"Hey, what are you thinking about? You look quite happy?" Jier said to Priest Bataer.

Priest Bataer's expression quickly returned to normal: "Is it that obvious?"

"The corners of your mouth can barely be suppressed, and you say you don't look happy?"

"Alright, I was just thinking about how I was always surpassed by my classmate, oh, that is the Priest Filina-Brisiman from just now; I studied under an old Pastor with her for several years. I was always surpassed by her in every aspect in the past."

When Priest Bataer spoke of this, he had a lot to say: "Writing, knowledge, farming techniques, the ability to communicate with the people, the ability to manage a place, and later the population, scale, income, and so on of the village—all were far better than mine."

"But this time, with the New Hope Town in Babotali Valley and Tuolituo Cunzi, the population and village scale I manage have finally surpassed hers for the first time!"

Jier shrugged: "That's a good thing, so you have to work harder in the future, don't let her surpass you again. And Bataer, I have a question."

"Go ahead."

"Do you really have the ability to manage the population of a new town and two roughly complete villages well?"

With this, Jier had used one question to strike at Priest Bataer's weak point, leaving him with a dejected, loser-like expression until they reached the Nongshen Church in the center of the village.

Why Big Tree Cunzi was called Big Tree Cunzi—Jier hadn't had time to ask the local villagers this question before he found the answer at the Nongshen Church in the center of the village.

The Nongshen Church here was not a single towering building, but a courtyard complex with several yards in the front and back. Right in the middle of all the buildings, and even in the middle yard of the irregularly diamond-shaped village, there was a thick, old, but not tall ancient tree.

This was a big tree that anyone who saw it would comment on as being old.

It was not tall, the highest branches had not yet exceeded the roof tiles of the surrounding courtyards, but its trunk was wide enough that it was estimated seven or eight people could not embrace it.

The surface of the trunk was covered in various marks left by time: ancient, unknown claw marks, significant scars from lightning strikes and fires, the "houses" left behind by various tenants that once lived upon it, and thick, terrifying bark like burls, painstakingly repaired after being eaten by insects.

The harshness of time seemed truly conquered by such a magnificent life, or rather, in its long confrontation with time, it had won a small victory to this day.

The gullies on the surface of the big tree's trunk were deeper than the wrinkles on the face of the oldest farmer in Big Tree Cunzi, yet its small, dense branches and leaves filled more than half of the courtyard, making everyone who saw it realize at first glance that this old fellow's vitality remained vigorous and flourishing.

"It is called Bio, an old tree that has existed here since who knows how long ago. It is said that when the first migrants arrived here and saw it, they knew they had found a safe location."

Priest Bata'er led the group through the back gate, and after simply parking the carriage in the spacious backyard, he walked with the curious Jier to tour this Nongshen Church. Perhaps knowing the confusion in Jier's heart, his first step was to bring Jier to the courtyard in the center of the church to introduce him to this old tree.

"It is not just a place that signifies safety; this old tree is also a small holy site for the Nature Sect." Priest Feilina's voice rang out from behind the big tree ahead. Clearly, this female priest had entered through the front door, so although she was slower on foot than Jier and the others who were riding horses and carriages, if one subtracted the time spent parking the carriage in the backyard, both parties had arrived here at just about the same time.

"Nature Sect?" Jier had never come into contact with this organization before, but it sounded like it could not be separated from the elves.

But Jier had overthought it.

"You don't know about the Nature Sect? They are an ancient human organization among us humans that holds the God of Nature as their Faith. They have persisted from ancient times to the present, and they have great influence in areas with large forests everywhere. Of course, our Southern Province has many mountains, so naturally, there are many forests. You rarely encounter them in the Bolisi-fa Ling region, but if you go to the Monta Valley City region, you will often have to deal with them. However, there is little arable land there, so our Agricultural God Church doesn't operate much there either."

Priest Feilina knew more than Priest Bata'er, and she spoke right out about things Priest Bata'er did not know, or perhaps once knew, had been taught by teachers, and had read in books, but had forgotten himself.

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