"Is it Selinda?" Xiao Chen looked at Li Jia seriously, this guy's eyes were flickering now, and he looked like he had a ghost in his heart.

"She didn't ask for it, I wanted to ask for him. Li Jia said.

Xiao Chen stood there, his hands crossed in front of his chest, staring at Li Jia with his eyes wide. Li Jia seemed to be suppressed by his gaze, her head was getting lower and lower, her back was bent more and more, as if she was carrying something heavy, and she was about to lie on the table.

He thought that Xiao Chen would scold him a few words or sneer at him, and he was prepared for these situations. But now, Xiao Chen didn't say a word, just stared at him, which made him fidget.

After a while, fine beads of sweat oozed from his forehead, as if the coolness of this autumn day had been dispelled away by Xiao Chen's imminent anger.

"You...... Don't you talk about me?" Li Jia raised her eyebrows slightly, and glanced at Xiao Chen like a child who had done something wrong secretly looking at the teacher, and found that there was no trace of emotion on the other party's rigid face.

"Alas......" Xiao Chen sighed, and his tense face relaxed, "As for me, I originally wanted to scold you fiercely." But when I think about it, who are you? Li Jia! You don't understand the truth? Woman, will you give up? So, I don't know what to say all of a sudden. ”

"I know, I know, didn't I hesitate too? If you hadn't pulled me in and asked me three times, I, I wouldn't have asked you. Li Jia's head was raised by half an inch.

"Heh, I'll give you ninety-nine points for kicking this ball, and one point will be deducted for your performance being too exaggerated. ”

"I know I'm wrong. First, "Knowing the Sea Shadow Scroll" is very important to us, it is our secret weapon for cultivating mages, and it should not be known to outsiders. Second, the Temple of Nature and other people with intentions might be staring at the heirs of the Seven Towers and letting them know that this would be in big trouble. Third, the husband is not guilty, but guilty. If the news of this treasure leaks out, maybe someone will come and grab it. Fourth, there doesn't seem to be a fourth. ”

Xiao Chen was about to laugh angrily, he suppressed his throat and scolded: "It seems that your head is not full of hormones?"

Li Jia's voice was extremely dry, he lowered his head and said: "I know all this, but I think Selinda can be trusted, sooner or later she will know a lot of things about us." ”

That means it's too early to talk about this, and it's not too late to talk about it in 10 or 8 years. Xiao Chen couldn't help but push Li Jia's head and pushed the other party to stagger, "Don't gamble with your school mates and my lives to test whether your woman is reliable or not! I really regret it now, I shouldn't have helped you make this happen in the first place!"

"No, I didn't bet on everyone! She will be my wife, and if my wife is not trustworthy, then who else do we trust?" Li Jia argued, "and I am not coveting the power of the Shadow Scroll of Knowing the Sea. I just think she's pathetic. If you've ever watched Selinda practice martial arts, you know how hard she works. But her dream is not to be a magic swordsman, but to be a magician. She has been studying magic at the Magic Tower in the royal capital since she was a child. However, due to limited talent, he can only use some low-level magic at all. She consulted several magicians and tried different meditation methods, but the results were still limited. But the inheritance of the Tower of Dreams is different, and this is likely to change her life! What's more, after she also becomes the heir of the Tower of Dreams, there is no reason to betray us, this is the same ship. It's better than the source of her power that she's been speculating and peeking at me. ”

Xiao Chen shook his head helplessly and said, "Have you ever thought that the "Knowing the Sea Shadow Scroll" is a very dangerous thing in the final analysis? Maybe the moment she opens the book, you'll lose her. ”

Li Jia raised her head, looked into Xiao Chen's eyes and said, "The final decision is in her hands." I think that if you like someone, you should create opportunities for her to gain greater freedom, instead of being a miser who guards treasures. ”

"Even if you might lose her forever?"

"Yes. Because it's me, not her, who suffers like that. ”

Xiao Chen chuckled, "I was almost touched by you." However, the answer is 'No!'. The reason is: 'She's going to die'. Master Icasa told me that if a mid- or low-level mage who has successfully concentrated his mind will have his divine sense reshaped by watching the "Shadow Scroll of the Sea of Knowledge", it will be a suicide. ”

Li Jia's face collapsed suddenly, he knew that Xiao Chen would never lie to him about this kind of thing, it seemed that there was really no hope. Dejected, he stood up and moved to the door.

"Be patient...... We are modern people, and the problems they can't solve don't mean that we can't. Xiao Chen said behind his back at this time.

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"You are the master of nature, and you are nature itself.

You are the creator of all things and the root of all things.

You are the vast sky, giving us air and sunshine.

You are a solid land that gives us food and shelter.

You are an unending river that gives us water and wealth.

We are your people, just like all things.

We follow your path and live in symbiosis with the spiritual things of the world......"

More than a dozen men and women dressed in sackcloth camp overalls stood in two rows in front of a large tree, reciting these words in a subdued tone. They were young and old, the oldest being in their forties, and the youngest being two children of about seven or eight years old.

The tree was as thick as three people in a circle, with lush foliage and a canopy that could cover half a football field, and it was one of the tallest trees around Camp Three.

The sacrificial crowd was led by a slightly chubby middle-aged woman, who stood at the front of the crowd with her hands open and her palms forward, sitting in a gesture similar to a hug, which is exactly the etiquette of the temple of nature. The woman recited the prayer orally, her voice calm. The people in the back do the same thing, reading along sentence by sentence.

Morey had already left at this time, and Ji Yijun and Caterina were hiding behind the bushes not far away, from where they could clearly hear the words of the praying people and see their movements.

Caterina held the branch in her hand, observing the behavior of the men, and after a while she said, "It seems normal, the prayer is led by Aunt Carla, who is in charge of cooking in the camp, and she is nothing special except that she always likes to make people lick clean dishes." The others were very ordinary, they belonged to different camps, and I knew several of them, hunters, fishermen, and children in elementary school, not like the ones we were looking for. ”

"Well, children should stay in school. Don't these adults know how rare the opportunity to learn is in this world?" Ji Yijun was beside Katarina, also holding on to the branch and observing.

"For some people, the sacrifice of the god of nature is also very important. What's more, there are not enough teachers now, they only have half a day of classes. ”

"Cut!" Ji Yijun didn't bother to dwell on this question.

"Are we going to wait? I think it's a very ordinary sacrifice. ”

"Wait. He took a few chocolate chips out of his pocket and threw them into his mouth, then tossed two more to Caterina. He chewed it over and over again and said vaguely: "It's hard to find the right tree, and after watching this play in its entirety, let's take a look at it." ”

Caterina received the beans but did not eat them, but took out a piece of cloth, carefully wrapped them, and put them close to her clothes.

"Yes. Ji Yijun said.

Caterina blushed and took out the cloth bag and stuffed it into the bag that hung around her waist.

Ji Yijun snorted, "You really treat him as a younger brother, I don't know if he understands it or not." ”

He pulled out the packet of chocolate chips, stuffed a few more into his mouth, and tossed the rest to Katerina.

After seeing that everyone had finished praying, Kara began to ask people to sit down in a circle, and then picked up a branch from the ground that was more than a meter long, and held it in her hand as if she were holding a sword in both hands.

Kara walked around the crowd, outside the circle where everyone was sitting, her pace uneven, sometimes fast and sometimes slow, her body swaying slightly from side to side, a dance that followed a certain rhythm, like grass swaying in the wind and like a leopard pacing in the forest. Although she is just a middle-aged woman who looks very ordinary, such a ceremony gives people a sense of sacredness.

After a few laps, she began to speak: "The god of nature, he knows the world! He always watches our every move, and whenever we make mistakes, he already knows it." But he took pity on us and did not punish us immediately, but gave us the opportunity to find our own way. ”

"God of nature, insight into the world!" the others echoed.

"Today it is Duke's turn to adjudicate guilty. Carla said.

A bearded man in his thirties sitting among the crowd nodded.

"Let's start with me. Carla announced.

"I met more than 20 people who were wasting food this week. I only corrected ten, and the rest, I failed to make them realize that wasting food was blasphemy against the god of nature. Kara's tone was a little angry, not knowing whether it was to herself or to those who did not listen, "The god of nature teaches us that food is a sacrifice made by other living beings, and to waste food is to disrespect the creation of the god of nature, so I am just as guilty as these foolish people." Duke, adjudicate my guilt. ”

"Ten notes. The man named Duke said very succinctly.

"Do you think it's fair?" asked Kara.

"Fair. ”

"Fair!" the others said one after another.

Kara handed the branch to a young woman next to her, then lifted her clothes to reveal her back. The woman took the branch and began to whip Kara's back hard. And Duke began to count: "One, two, three......"

Ji Yijun could see clearly that Kara's back had a lot of old scars, although they were not deep, they were also dense and amazing. It seems that such punishments are a common occurrence. He turned to Catalina and asked, "Are the believers of the gods of nature so perverted?"

Caterina was also surprised, and she said, "These people are not ordinary believers in the gods of nature, I am afraid they are people from the Ascetic Society of the Children of Nature. I have heard that most of the members of the ascetic society use painful rituals to punish themselves for deviating from the teachings with branches, which seems to be called 'nature teachings'. But many people from other denominations don't like them, thinking they're asking for their own trouble. ”

Ji Yijun saw that Kara was pulled out of the red marks by the branches, and said with a cold face: "It seems that they have developed well, it has only been a few days, and such a group of masochists have gathered." ”

As the two spoke, the fight was over, and the woman helped Carrara pull down her clothes to cover some of her back, which was beginning to bleed. Kara put her hands on the ground, gasped for a moment, then took the branch from the woman's hand, and said to the group, "Next, Victor." ”