Chapter 828: The Secret Competition Between Priests, Bell's Ambition

"There are no clouds in the sky today, no mist in the fields—it's a fine day for traveling!"

Bell-Sasi sat on the driver's seat of the lead carriage of the caravan he managed, smiling as he spoke to Jier, who was riding a horse beside him. Beside Bell, the driver was quite nervous, his hands gripping the reins without moving a muscle. Fortunately, the two horses pulling the carriage were old pack horses; they didn't need the driver's guidance, just following the last carriage of Jier's caravan ahead.

Hearing the Baron Heir's words, Jier rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to complain: "As a Knight, can you put on your armor helmet? You should know that where we are now is not your safe and comfortable Baron's Mansion."

Seeing the other person about to say something more, Jier continued: "And aren't your priorities wrong? The weather has been great these days, but look at the fields on both sides—they are all good land left fallow and uncultivated. With the farmers missing, what will happen to this year's grain harvest?"

The carriage wheels rolled, emitting the well-lubricated sound of axles turning. Unlike the poorly maintained, creaking vehicles in Jier's caravan, the makeshift caravan from Yemei Town had quite good vehicles. Clearly, with the Shanglu blocked, the local merchants had not forgotten to prepare for the maintenance of their caravan vehicles.

Bell waved his hand dismissively: "Don't worry, I understand the problems you mentioned. Fields not cultivated this year naturally don't need to pay grain taxes. And as for everyone's rations, the warehouses at home are piled up like small mountains. In fact, although Sasi County is a grain-producing area, this grain simply cannot be sold."

He shrugged: "Borisfa City is also a grain-producing area, and the roads to other parts of the province are much easier to travel than here." Shaking his head, Bell finally explained: "Although farming can feed people, it is far from enough. Where in the world do wealthy places rely on grain production to become rich? Nowhere, right? That's why my father has always been developing the county's specialty pigments and opened a dedicated trading post for it. If it weren't for the 'Bandits' cutting off the Shanglu, the town's situation would not be nearly this bad."

Jier snorted: "Is that so." He looked ahead, then kicked the horse's belly to accelerate forward: "But sorry, I have to spend a little time getting rid of the few bad guys blocking the road ahead."

But just as Jier picked up speed, Bell-Sasi on the carriage beside him blocked him: "Wait a moment, let the caravan slow down. Leave the guys blocking the road to my people."

Jier didn't speak, and their gazes locked for a moment. Seeing the other's persistence, Jier said indifferently: "Since you and your people want to show off, then I'll just watch. I'll watch your performance."

After speaking, Jier shouted forward: "The whole caravan, slow down! Slow down! Prepare to stop, prepare to stop!"

Hearing Jier's shout, the entire caravan from front to back gradually slowed down and stopped. The lumberjacks wanted to jump off the carriages to knock down the parasitic monsters approaching from the front, but were stopped by Jier as he came over: "Save your energy. We're in luck today; someone is fighting to take care of those guys."

As soon as he finished speaking, the ones running past on the dirt road were the ten elite soldiers led by Apprentice Knight Bell-Sasi, along with ten Church Priests.

These people's steps were scattered, but their momentum was strong. Jier scanned them and found that the elite soldiers were actively gathering around Bell to protect him, looking quite combat-ready. As for the temporarily gathered Church Priests, although they had known in advance that the so-called bandits were monsters with human bodies parasitized by Flesh Demons, many had never dealt with them before and perhaps had never even heard of them, so they were all a bit worried.

The worry was written all over their faces; they were frowning, their hands and feet stiff.

But to be honest, these Priests didn't need to be like this at all. There were ten of them! The parasitic monsters approaching from the front were only five; no matter how you looked at it, they couldn't be a match for this group of Priests.

Jier followed the walking Bell and the others to the front of the caravan. He kept his position behind, not joining the combat formation, and watched them go up to fight with his arms crossed.

The lumberjacks on the carriages behind him whispered, discussing whether these people from Yemei Town could handle the parasitic monsters ahead.

After listening for a moment, Jier felt it was much like what the lumberjacks were discussing. With only five monsters, they could never be a match for the local forces; fifty might have been a different story.

"Advance! Follow me and advance—"

Bell-Sasi shouted loudly, commanding the elite armed forces of Yemei Town behind him.

At this moment, he hurriedly put on the armor helmet in his hand, and with the help of a soldier beside him, connected the lower edge of the helmet to the chest armor of his armor using several fine steel chains with locks.

After he adjusted to the leather lining of the helmet, he opened his eyes to judge the contact distance of the monsters ahead and shouted: "Everyone halt! Combat formation. Priests, please provide the soldiers with Divine Art support. Use your specialties."

The elite soldiers stopped one after another, then spread out horizontally in pairs, holding square shields in their left hands and single-handed sharp axes in their right. The following Church Priests fell back a few steps, taking the lead before the battle to take out their respective deities' symbols, and began to pray to cast Divine Arts that would be useful at this moment.

Among the Church Priests, there were many Agricultural God Church Priests—four out of the ten. So at this moment, the four gathered together, half-squatting and scattering a small amount of wheat seeds and beans forward, chanting in unison as they had discussed over the past two days to cast a certain prayer Divine Art that granted warriors active energy.

"The tiller should not be exhausted, just as crops grow without ceasing."

"Those who defend the producers shall be protected, just as the gods protect us."

"The grain in our hands, may the warriors who touch it not be exhausted in this battle."

"Because they receive the gods' blessing, obtain the essence of grain, and after being satiated, exert their strength."

The four recited the prayer they had rehearsed in advance, collectively channeling the Divine Power within them into the grain in their hands. Then, the four scattered, throwing the grain in their hands toward the ten elite soldiers in front, and retreated immediately amidst the soldiers' surprised expressions.

Cyan Agricultural God Divine Power accompanied the falling seeds and was transmitted to these soldiers. Immediately, they let out burps, and a surge of temporary strength welled up in their bodies, their backs straightening up.

It wasn't just the Agricultural God Church Priests present. At the same time, two Church of the God of Wealth Priests walked out with a chuckle. They each took a few coins from the money bags at their waists, prayed in a low voice, and then flicked the coins from their hands toward the soldiers in the front row.

"Those who receive this gift shall increase in courage."

"Just as always."

"The Church of the God of Wealth promises that those who defeat the enemy shall be rewarded with gold and silver."

"Inspire courage, strive to obtain the gods' favor."

The prayer was short, but the effect was extraordinary. Every soldier touched by the golden Divine Power on the coins had their expressions change; hesitation, doubt, and worry were all swept away. Each gripped their shields and axes tightly, their breathing becoming heavy. The few parasitic monsters running over quickly from the front perhaps looked different in the eyes of these soldiers now.

Shiny gold, worth money!

That might have been an illusion, or perhaps not.

The two Priests of the Church of the God of the Dead on the side saw this display by the Church of the God of Wealth Priests. The two looked at each other with disdainful smiles on their faces. One muttered: "How can wealth shake the eternity of death? Hmph—"

So the two stood together. The one on the left held a metal long staff high with his left hand and extended his right hand as a palm, making contact with the left palm extended by the one on the right. At the same time, the Priest on the right raised the metal long staff held in his right hand. The two were of similar age and had worked in Yemei Town for a long time, so they were very familiar with each other. Their Divine Power of the God of the Dead merged highly, and without needing prior adjustment, they jointly released a Divine Art.

First, gray-black Divine Power bloomed in their eyes. Their Divine Power entangled and mixed, then was sent left and right into the tips of the raised metal long staffs. Although there were no Gems or other items inlaid there, the Divine Power of the Dead erupting from the staff heads was more dazzling and eye-catching than the most mysterious and profound Magic Power gems.

The Divine Power at the staff heads expanded, changing form with the prayers of the two Priests of the God of the Dead.

"Those who have passed, discard the flesh."

"Go away, do not stay."

"The body of the dead, shall not be occupied."

"Go away, do not stay!"

"The Eye of Expulsion has opened."

"Go away, do not stay—"

As the last shout was uttered, the Divine Power of the Dead at the tips of their staffs finally turned into two pitch-black human skulls, clacking their teeth as they flew forward through the air. Before the elite soldiers in the front row had even made contact with the parasitic monsters, they pounced on the bodies of the parasitic monsters. After a silent impact, the parasitic monsters rushing forward collapsed directly to the ground, and after a few twitches of their hands and feet, the seemingly vibrant human bodies rapidly rotted into pus and black mud.

The parasitic monsters that were attacked and fell only left behind a clump of plant roots that had been tangled together in panic, struggling in the pus and black mud left after the human bodies rotted.

After these two pitch-black skulls knocked down two parasitic monsters, they passed through them, their figures dimming slightly. Then, they changed direction in the air and quickly pounced on two other panicked parasitic monsters that had jumped up on the spot.

These two parasitic monsters were the same as the previous two; when they jumped up, they were still monsters parasitizing human bodies, but when they landed, the long-dead human bodies had already rapidly rotted into viscous, foul-smelling pus and black mud.

Two clumps of plant roots struggled and tangled in these things, the core human faces screaming in terror.

The last parasitic monster knew it was doomed and turned to run, but how could two legs outrun flying units? Before it had run a few steps, it was bitten by the light-black skulls flying over, turning into a clump of pus and black mud.

The two skulls, whose power was clearly depleted, turned around in the air after solving the last parasitic monster, flew back to the staff heads of the two Priests, turned back into Divine Power of the Dead, and returned to the Priests' bodies.

A lot was said before, but in reality, the black skulls released by the Priests of the God of the Dead were extremely fast. From the release of the Divine Art to the return to their bodies, it took no more than two breaths, only eleven or twelve seconds.

Before most people on the scene had even reacted, the enemies had been wiped out.

The two Priests of the God of the Dead shrugged, chuckled, and said nothing more.

The others were all dumbfounded.

Ten Refining Qi soldiers of the Sasi Family turned their heads to look at the two Priests of the God of the Dead, their eyes full of surprise and a hint of dissatisfaction. It was not indignation that the enemy had been dealt with early, leaving them with nothing to do, but simply dissatisfaction at losing the extra income promised by the Church of the God of Wealth for killing enemies and performing meritorious deeds.

But they could only silently express this in their eyes; as for these grunts opening their mouths to curse, they absolutely dared not. These brawny soldiers were terrified of annoying the two Priests and having themselves turned into a puddle of foul mud.

The two Priests of the Sun God Church shrugged and retreated a few steps, falling behind Bell-Sasi with the look of people watching a good show.

Meanwhile, the two groups of Church Priests, who had each released their Prayer Divine Arts, stared with ill intent at the two Priests of the God of the Dead, who appeared motionless but were actually feeling quite smug.

The fury in their eyes could practically melt a person.

It was clearly agreed to be a competition of showing off one's talents to resolve the crisis in Sasi County, yet you two actually resorted to a sneak attack, releasing a one-hit-kill ability without any martial virtue; hmph, I advise you to take care of yourself and not play any clever tricks.

Just as the situation reached a stalemate, Jier coughed twice and said loudly, "Knight Sasi, those monsters are not dead yet. If I am not mistaken, the two Priests of the God of the Dead have only dealt with the bodies of the innocent people the monsters were parasitizing. Hmm, that's right, the parasitized people don't even have brains anymore; they clearly died long ago, and their bodies were merely being controlled from within the abdominal cavity by the terrifying monsters using root systems."

Upon receiving Jier's reminder, Bell-Sasi immediately reacted and waved his hand to order the family's Refining Qi soldiers: "That's right, that is the case. Soldiers, move forward and use your sharp axes to chop the monsters to pieces! Approach with caution during the fight!"

Once the order was given, the soldiers breathed a sigh of relief and immediately charged forward in pairs, selecting the monster bodies struggling in the pus, black mud, and rot, holding their Shields cautiously in front of them, raising their one-handed sharp axes high in their right hands, and then crouching down to swing and hack.

Black mud splattered everywhere, and the Core Human Face of the monster whose roots were hacked emitted a sharp, strange cry. But without the human body as a host, the large mass of plant roots that fell to the ground did not have much mobility and could only flail the black mud about, striking and slapping in all directions.

But these were useless; the Refining Qi soldiers of the Sasi Family had enhanced strength and were full of Yongqi, and they had been discussing how to deal with the bodies of these monsters these past few days. Therefore, hand up, axe down; hand up, axe down—don't ask if their eyes were dry, just ask, and it was cold, it was professional soldiering.

Working in pairs, they continuously swung the axes in their hands. Most of the parasitic monsters were chopped into segments of plants in less than twenty seconds, and soon the Core Human Faces were smashed and died. The lucky ones only held on a bit longer; their final counterattacks at most struck the soldiers' Shields, and other than being a bit smelly, they had no other effect.

Having hacked to death the parasitic monsters that came to attack, Young Master Bell of the Sasi Family was quite pleased. Although the process was not as intense as he had expected before the battle, this crushing momentum made him feel even more smug.

Looking at Bell-Sasi, who raised his eyebrows at him, Jier curled his lips under his Faceplate and then complimented: "Truly impressive, your soldiers and Priests. It's just that I don't know why such a powerful combat force would shrink inside the town, instead letting the people outside the town dig trenches and build earth ramparts to resist these monsters?"

Bell-Sasi smacked his lips, finding it hard to explain to Jier. He couldn't exactly say that after confirming the Bandits outside the town were Flesh Demons in disguise, they had all been scared out of their wits, could he?

How embarrassing that would be; it wouldn't be good to let the commoners and out-of-town Merchants see a joke, as it would damage the family's prestige.

"These were just a small number of monsters. Moreover, after the last attack incident in the southern part of the town, my men have actually encountered parasitic monsters with powerful skills and martial arts. These..." Bell pointed at the monster fragments in the mud ahead and waved his hand: "... are just ordinary units of the monster swarm. We don't know exactly how many parasitic monsters are in the wild, so we still have to be cautious."

After finishing, Young Master Bell stepped forward to encourage the few Priests who had contributed, and finally looked at the Priests of the Sun God Church who had not contributed, but in the end, he said nothing.

After hastily clearing a wave of blocking parasitic monsters, the people brought by the Sasi Family returned to the town's carriage convoy.

Perhaps because the commotion caused by the Priests was too intimidating, they did not encounter any small-scale obstruction from parasitic monsters on the way to the Lumber Yard in the west of the town.

But this was not good news. Jier used the Divine Art granted by the Great Bird Deity to enhance his vision, and relying on the wide view from horseback, he saw other parasitic monsters in places others could not see.

These guys were climbing up from abandoned farmlands in twos and threes, or stumbling out of deserted villages while adapting to new clothes, or striding over from the distant Shulin with the heads and furs of beasts on their heads, or gathering together while dragging the severed limbs of Human bodies.

Gathering in the distance where the average person's line of sight could not reach, they were sneakily discussing something.

Jier knew with his heels that it was definitely them.

After all, within a radius of dozens of kilometers outside the town, it was estimated that no other people could be found besides their group.

Regarding this, Jier cautiously told Bell-Sasi what he had seen. The trusted driver sharing the carriage with the Heir was terrified, trembling, and his carriage-driving skills plummeted. But Bell-Sasi crossed his arms over his chest, looking confident: "This is a good opportunity. You saw just now that my men defeated them very easily. If—and I mean if—we want to launch a counterattack in the near future and completely defeat the Flesh Demons, instead of silently waiting for nearby towns to gather Church forces and eventually dragging it out and losing quite a bit to resolve the Flesh Demons, then this battle comes just at the right time!"

Jier snorted: "You are too arrogant. The battle just now, if that can be called a battle, has made you full of confidence, even so confident that you are somewhat arrogant; then you will definitely take a tumble. And the price will be one living life after another."

The other party stared at Jier with ill intent: "I smell a scent of jealousy. Who is it coming from? Hmph, can your words just now be considered a Curse born of jealousy?"

"That was merely a warning."

Jier shook his head and said, then he complained in a low voice: "You have been planning this for a long time, right? I shouldn't have agreed to you before I set off to come along. Yemei Town definitely needs to cut wood for fuel; for this, I really shouldn't have hitched my people to your chariot."

"You and your people came at just the right time."

"Heh, to answer the previous question, yes, I have considered the current situation. My father taught me that those who blindly retreat often only meet with failure, while those who constantly attack are often accompanied by success. The thoughts and methods of the elders in the family are too conservative. Perhaps if we did as they said, the final result for the territory would be the same—sooner or later we would defeat the rebellious Bandits and the evil monsters—but the process would be different, and the evaluation that follows will be vastly different."

Jier squinted at the young Noble Heir sitting steadily in the driver's seat of the carriage: "What do you want? No, have you considered the risks and losses?"

The other party did not answer, and Jier laughed at himself: "Consider it as if I didn't ask. The Lumber Yard is ahead."

"Please, this is my family's Lumber Yard; I know we've arrived without you telling me."

Bell-Sasi said finally.