In the early morning, the morning light gradually brightened, and a little light shrouded the empty field. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

However, at this time, on the uninhabited path in the wilderness, a group of people in a hurry were rushing forward, apparently fleeing.

The next moment, a rain of arrows gradually scattered, and suddenly several people snorted on the spot, fell directly to the ground, and were shot through by several arrows.

"It's not good, it's the knight of the Duchy of Adisus!" In front of him, the leader was horrified, looking at the figure in front of him that was gradually revealing his figure, and there was despair in his eyes.

However, for their exclamation, the knight in front just sneered, and then in the next second, a little divine power fluctuation gradually sounded, and in front, countless fireballs shot out in all directions, instantly submerging more than a dozen people in front of them, and then exploded in an instant.

When the violent explosion gradually subsided, on the field ahead, I saw that most of the dozen people who had been standing well had already lay down, and the fire was burning on their bodies, igniting the surroundings.

There are also a few survivors, because they are knights, so their vitality is tenacious, and at this time they are struggling frantically, and their bodies are constantly eroded by a divine power, almost turning into a humanoid torch, which is burning wildly.

The scene was very bleak.

Seeing this scene, the knight who led the team couldn't help but secretly complain: "Since walking on the battlefields in various places a few times, these sacrifices have become more and more violent, and they are almost a fireball. ”

While he was thinking like this in his heart, in the next moment, countless light blue ice blades gradually condensed, with a rapid momentum, and the sound of whistling through the air, they directly shot through the surviving people.

"Wouldn't it be nice to do this earlier, what fireballs are sent, and I'm not afraid to set this grassland on fire. ”

The leading knight looked at the flat ground in front of him, which had almost turned into a sea of fire, and complained a little, and then urged the priest next to him to extinguish the fire.

When the lit fire was extinguished, the knight stepped forward and cut off the head from the corpse, which had become a blur of flesh and blood.

The whole process seems to be simple and smooth, and it seems that this is not the first time that this has been done.

"Fortunately, although the corpse was almost blown away, I was still able to recognize it. The other knight looked at the head in front of him and nodded in satisfaction.

Behind them, several priests looked at each other, looking a little embarrassed.

However, they have long been accustomed to this kind of scene and have not taken it seriously. After a while, when the knights were done, they piled up the corpses and burned them, and then silently prayed forward under the guidance of an old priest.

This is a ritual, a tradition, a natural sacrifice to the loss of life. In the legend of the sacrifice, the soul of the deceased can be brought to the heavenly kingdom of the god of nature to receive the judgment of the gods.

And in fact, with the gentle ripple of the divine power of nature, it seduces the newly condensed soul in front of him along the thread of faith. In front, more than a dozen souls that had just passed away were also slowly being pulled, and gradually ascended to the divine domain where the nature god body was located, and was blocked.

When the ceremony was over, everyone evacuated.

At noon, the knight who led the team led the group to a large camp and began to handover.

"Are the rebellious heretics near Cecil almost cleaned up?" a voice rang out in place.

Everyone looked forward, and saw a big man with thick hair and a rough voice, wearing the armor of a legion commander, standing in front of him, but it was Carter.

At this time, Carter stood in front of him, looked at the many knights in front of him, and nodded: "Your Majesty has ordered that all efforts will be made to strangle these ancestral god believers of the former city-state throughout the country. ”

"If you find it, immediately send someone to arrest it and hand it over to the local bishop, and if there is resistance, just kill it. ”

This is a legacy of the old days. With the occupation of the Three Regions by the newly established Principality of Adius, the many city-states that were originally entrenched in these places were naturally wiped out, leaving only the dust of history.

But even though the city-state perished, the ancestral god beliefs of the past remained.

You must know that in the past, various city-states have been entrenched in the earth for hundreds of years, and the belief in ancestral gods has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people and is full of people everywhere. At this time, although the city-state perished, those people of the old era still existed, although they no longer dared to openly worship the original ancestral gods, but in private, there were still sacrifices.

This is contrary to the interests of Artis.

As a god of nature, faith is still an extremely important source of strength at this time when the divine fire has not yet been ignited. If he loses his faith at this time, Artis will not say that he will be knocked to the dust immediately, but it is certain that he will fall to the fifth level, and in this turbulent moment, he will almost die.

Therefore, at the beginning of the establishment of the Principality of Adisus, Artis explicitly abolished those original ancestral god sacrifices, and arrested those who still worshipped, and severely cracked down on this behavior.

With the increase of this intensity, the ordinary people in various places are better, especially after the gradual establishment of churches in various places, they have abandoned the original ancestral gods and chose to believe in the gods of nature.

After all, although they lived under the original city-state before, they were not taken seriously, and in the original ancestral god sacrifice, they often served as victims, and as blood sacrifices to the ancestral gods, they were already resentful among the people. Naturally, most of them will not be very religious. The few devout people were converted after being sent to church.

What is really difficult is actually the large number of nobles left over from the old city-state era.

These nobles are deeply rooted, almost all of them have a history of hundreds of years in the original city-state, and they were originally blessed by the ancestral gods, so the number of fanatics for the ancestral gods is very large. Even if the ancestral gods were suppressed one after another at this time, there were many diehards who never changed, sacrificed in private, and even called on the surrounding nobles to rebel together.

This was something that Artis could not tolerate, especially since most of these sacrifices were blood sacrifices.

It's just that before, because of the continuous war for many years, there was really no extra energy to clean up, and after freeing up his hands at this time, he immediately ordered a thorough investigation and suppressed these people.

And with Artis making up his mind, these nobles were originally found out, and for a while, there were more and more rebellions all over the country, so that Nadir and others had to suppress them everywhere before these rebellions were slowly quelled.

However, as these rebellions were suppressed, a large number of the nobles of the old era were slaughtered, the altar statues of the ancestral gods were destroyed, and the belief in the gods of nature spread much faster.

At this time, in the palace of the city of Artisus in the distance, Artis was also talking to people in a garden.

Barton, along with Bill and the others, were reporting to him.

"Your Majesty, here is the list of heretics that have been captured by churches everywhere. ”

Beside him, Bill handed the thick stack of heralds in his hand to the guards in front of him, and then to Artis in front of him.

Ahead, Artis took a look, swept it lightly, and frowned at the shocking numbers on it: "There are so many?"

"Yes!"

In front of him, Bill smiled bitterly: "Almost half of the noble families in our country are involved, which is why the great rebellion in the early days was caused. ”

"Then it's no wonder. Artis smiled with relief, and then said: "A few months ago, the Eastern Regions rebelled, and countless nobles responded, and the momentum was very great, and they were all about to hit the Northern Regions. ”

"If such a large number of nobles are involved, then it is understandable. ”

Hearing him say this, Bill could only continue to smile bitterly, and then said: "However, despite this, there is actually a large part of these lists, which were reported by these families on their own initiative, and even cooperated with us to arrest them. ”

"Those nobles who believe in evil gods are actually only a part of these families, and they are far less than they imagined. ”

"This is also normal. On the side, Barton silently interjected.

At this time, after seven or eight years, he looked older, but still very strong, and after some sacrifices baptized him with divine powers, his health was even better.

"These families put their interests first, and it is normal for them to give up a few clansmen under the threat of the survival of the entire family. In fact, this is not necessarily the case. ”

He said silently, looking deeply touched.

In this regard, Artis nodded, did not continue to get involved in this topic, but said: "Bill, how is the construction of churches in various places." ”

"The progress is good. ”

Bill responded: "At this time in the Northern Regions, because of the active cooperation of believers from all over the country, almost half of the churches have been built, and only a few places are still under construction. ”

"In the Eastern and Western Regions, because the local rule is not long, and there is no cooperation from the believers, the speed of establishment is much slower, but at this time, it is also slowly being built, and it is expected to be successfully built in two years. ”

Speaking of this, he hesitated, and then said, "However, what is more serious than this problem is the number of sacrifices. Because of the construction of a large number of new churches, there was simply not enough qualified sacrifices at this time, and in many cities, there were even vacancies for bishops, and only white-robed priests could preside over the prayers. ”

This is also a serious problem.

Originally, in the case of only occupying the Northern Regions, with the believers accumulated in the previous decades as a foundation, it was naturally enough to use. But now that the Three Domains have been occupied, this serious problem has been revealed.

However, there is nothing Artis can do about this problem. After all, a qualified sacrifice does not come about overnight, and requires not only the long-term cleansing of divine powers, but also a deep understanding of the authority of the gods. Unless it's the kind that is directly brushed with huge divine power, it will take a while.

Artis thought silently in his heart, and then thought for a while, and said: "Adjust it first, first build the churches in those places, and then let the Holy See collect a number of potential sacrifices from the people as a supplement." ”

Hearing this, Bill smiled helplessly, and then nodded slowly.