Chapter 611: A Cruel Choice
When Zhang Lisheng saw that the calvary around him had formed an investigative battle formation, he who was sitting on the soil platform looked around and said in a deep voice, “Depart.”
At that instant, all the troops guarded four demon-like soil creatures, and like a giant beast that had a tail stretched out to a thousand meters long, they began to gallop towards the plateau under the moonlight.
From the satellite map that Zhang Lisheng obtained from the Shrimp World No. 2’s garrison general from Earth, the highest altitude of Hardstone Plateau was 4,800 meters. However, since all four sides of this plateau were a flatland that gradually rose up to the towering point in the middle, the average altitude of this unusual topography was only about 3,200 meters.
Even so, the harsh climate and natural environment unique to the plateau was enough to prevent rational creatures from surviving there.
The Wizard Li surrounded their god and galloped on the slopes all night long. The surrounding vegetation gradually became sparse, and there was no longer any full stretch of lush vegetations there. Only clusters of low trees and lichen plants decorated the endless desert.
At dawn, the massive stars that were unique to the plateau slowly receded from the sky while the outline of a red sun slowly loomed from the distant barren horizon. In this rising sun, a deserted barbarian tribe camp entered Zhang Lisheng’s sight.
At this time, it was only less than a day since the troops attacked the barbarian tribe. The animal leather tents that were scattered messily on the ground after their scaffold were cut down were still emitting green smoke, but there was already a group of hungry wolves gathering around, chowing down on the bodies scattered all over the ground.
Not far away, there were also many greedy small animals like hyenas and wild leopards running around anxiously around the camp, waiting for the wolves to be filled, so they could taste the leftovers.
“Is this the camp of those captured barbarians?” Zhang Lisheng stood upon the soil platform and asked, as he pointed forward.
The winds of the morning sun blew on the young man’s body, causing his hunting robe that was made of clay to flutter loudly. The sun was slowly rising behind him while giving off infinite brilliance. As the sun shone down on him, it gave him a kind of indescribable, impressive, and dignified demeanor. Before the Wizard Li troops approached the deserted camp, the hundreds of hungry wolves had already fled while howling lowly.
“It’s here, Great God,” The scout troop chief who had already taken out his gun, ready to shoot the wolves was astonished when he saw that this group of gregarious ‘hunters’ that were also called as the most greedy and cruel in the Hardstone Plateau hastily fled away. Even so, he still replied reverently.
As he was speaking, the troop had already guarded the soil platform and charged into the deserted barbarian camp. Looking at the rough stone pots on the ground, the dried meat chunks that had half of it burned into charcoal and the giant axes and sledgehammers that were forcefully made from grinding stone, Zhang Lisheng could not help but mutter, “What a terrible living environment…” as he jumped down from the soil platform.
Stepping on the body remnants and rubbles unscrupulously around the camp, he came to an old statue of three-meter-high in the middle of the camp. He stretched out his hand and touched this old mannequin that was no different from the mummy on Earth before flexing his fingers to snap at its tough shell as he asked, “Is this the so-called ‘ancestor idol’ of the northern border barbarian’s god?”
The ancestor idol was the symbol that the northern border barbarian tribe’s ancestor continued to worship. The requirement for this idol was very harsh. Only the most powerful chief warriors of the tribe who had heroically sacrificed themselves to defeat strong enemies whose corpses remained intact would possess the basic requirements of becoming an ‘idol’.
After the war, the tribal elders would personally soak the hero’s body in the blood of the barbarian warrior who had died in the battle as well. When it had naturally dried, they would wrap the body in animal skins cut from the dead’s leather armor before erecting it in the center of the tribe for the people to worship.
Since it was not subjected to any anti-corrosion treatment, most of the corpses would become skeletons in a short period under the weathering of the wind and the sun. The animal skins would naturally fall off, and the remaining skeletons would be given to nature according to the Hardstone people’s simple ideology of a ‘ nature circulation.’ In other words, the body would then be washed with water before being thrown to the wilderness for the animal and bugs to eat.
If the hero’s corpse could be preserved forever and gradually become as hard as a stone under the worship of the tribesmen, then it would be considered as having succeeded in becoming an ‘ancestor idol.’ Its soul would gradually recover as the years go by, and it would possess the profound spellcasting power the gods bestowed to the tribal elders progressively.
Looking at the peculiar figure that was not pushed down because of an inexplicable reverence that it elicited from not far away, the scout chief jumped down from his mount and walked up to the young man in just a few steps. Lowering his head, he said with respect, “Your Majesty, this is the ancestor idol of the Geguda Tribe.”
“Only this one?” Zhang Lisheng retrieved his hands and stretched them out in front of his chest before asking.
“Your Majesty, when we attacked the Geguda tribe, there were less than two hundred barbarians in the camp. This tiny Hardstone tribe that could be naturally destroyed by a natural disaster can only have one ancestor idol at most,” The scout chief explained.
As he was speaking, the soil that was filled with dry blood in front of him beneath Zhang Lisheng began to surge, transforming into dark red clay and rising into the air along with the delicate water current condensing in the air. Slowly, it flowed into the barbarian ancestor idol’s head that was wrapped with strips of animal leather.
As the red soil that was filled with divine power gushed into it, yellow and blue brilliance gradually emitted out of the idol’s body. That stone-like head began to move stiffly and dryly. In the drifting dust, a vague but mad frenzied voice began to resonate faintly, “Light, light, life, wind, life…”
That voice was originally so faint that it could not be heard at all. As time passed, it became louder and clearer as it echoed in the desolated barbarian camp that was filled with wretched corpses. It sent chills down the spine of even the bravest Wizard Li warrior, making him feel as though the sun above their heads seemed to have lost all its warmth.
Only Zhang Lisheng had a happy and tense expression on his face as he echoed, “Yes, life. I can grant you a new body full of vitality as long as you can offer me sincere piety.”
First, it was its head, then followed by its neck, then its chest, and finally, its limbs. As though it did not hear the young man’s words, the barbarian idol shook his body with his might as he continued to shout loudly, “Life, light, wind, life…”
“Hey, big fella, there’s nothing good that would come to you if you continue playing like a fool in front of me,” If Zhang Lisheng had not crossed the final barrier and become a true god, he would have to stop casting the spell at the moment. However, as he stared at the idol that was becoming more and more agile, his expression turned grave as he hissed in a low voice, “A god can grant you life, so he can also snatch it away from you!”
The Wizard Li God was enraged but did not cause an uproarious scene. Instead, the yellow and blue light enriching the barbarian idol’s body began to dissipate. Its energetic and soft body started to stiffen once again.
“No, no, no…” At that instant, two lifeless eyes and distorted facial features appeared on the idol’s face that was wrapped with dirty clothes as it shouted shrilly out of the blue, “Darkness! That darkness! I won’t go back! I’ll never go back…”
At that moment, it actually tilted his body and waved his palms to hit Zhang Lisheng.
A ferocious glimpse flashed across Zhang Lisheng’s eyes as an aqua blue palm consolidated behind Zhang Lisheng abruptly to grip onto the barbarian idol’s waving hands before turning them into a grey puddle of meat.
After that, the young man answered sarcastically, “You can maintain your soul by the power of faith, so you should be able to see how stronger I am than anyone else. However, you’d rather choose to devote yourself to destruction instead of succumbing to my feet or to return to your stone statue. Unfortunately, I am not as kind as you think, so you must choose between these two: whether to offer your piety or to continue to become a statue forever. Now tell me which one your answer shall be?”
The face appearing on the barbarian idol showed that he was struggling. He was sacrificed thousands of years ago, and at that time, Geguda was still a large tribe of more than 10,000 people with more than 50 idols in it. After dying in the battle for its tribe, it relied on the piety it had towards the ancestor spirit when it was still alive and successfully avoided the calamity of turning rotten, before finally receiving a cruel, eternal life.
After that, by absorbing the faith of the tribesmen, it managed to reunite with its dissipated soul but had lost many memories, leaving behind only the imprint of him protecting his tribe that was deeply carved in his consciousness.
Although he was worshipped by thousands of barbarians, as a barbarian idol, he was nothing but a prisoner who was locked in a dark cage without a trace of light and sound. What was more miserable was that it could not even see and talk; it had lost all of its senses completely.
Only when the tribe summoned him could he hear some whimpering sounds and pass on his power to the summoner by instinct.
However, once one had undergone the same life for a thousand years, even the bravest and most fearless warrior who was willing to be sacrificed would deteriorate. If it was not for the fact that it had lost a lot of its human desires after turning into a barbarian idol, it would have long been tortured to become insane.
However, the Wizard Li God renewed its vitality in its already rigid body by manipulating ‘soil’ and ‘water’ and allowing him to regain its senses and ability to move after 1000 years. Thus, despite its unclear consciousness, and that all it could smell was a disgusting, rancid stench, and all it could see was a blurry light when it opened its eyes, it was still enough to make him feel ecstatic to pay any price for this.
However, when Zhang Lisheng asked him to contribute his faith, a vague taboo elicited a strong resistance from the depths of his soul.
In the final dilemma, the ‘idol’ chose to swat at that brilliance of yellow, red, and blue that was even more brilliant than the sun reflected in his soul to seek redemption from his destruction.
However, to his surprise, the Wizard Li God did not crush him to pieces just because of his offense. Instead, he brutally gave the idol only two choices: either to submit or to fall into endless darkness again.
For this reason, when its body gradually stiffened again, when the light in its eyes slowly disappeared, and when the wind in his ears vanished again, an inexplicable sense of fear washed away the taboo imprinted in the depth of the barbarian idol’s soul.
“No, no, no, wind, light, no, I don’t, darkness… darkness, light, no…” He stretched out his remaining arms painfully and desperately, shouting vaguely as he knelt in front of Zhang Lisheng.
