Chapter 49: After-Effects
"Are you really going there?" Paigon Toast sat on the ground, looking very small and pitiful, he had been a shrewd, capable, ruthless and vicious head, but in the past few days, he had experienced nothing that could be compared with his sword, nor by his wealth and eloquence. He had heard of several priests who had died madly, who had escaped from a house well guarded by their own magic weapons and charms, and died alone in the barren mountains and wilderness where ordinary people would not go, and when they died, they all had terrible signs on their bodies, these were originally made up to him by the slaves who took care of him growing up, at least, he thought it was made up for him, the slaves were not qualified to participate in most of the rituals of the Gruul gods, only they were promoted and became warriors, Only in the position of overseer or steward are they allowed to kowtow before the gods and recite the name of the Guru god. How could they have known about the priests' practice? Perhaps they were jealous of the priesthood's status, which led to the tragic fate of their attainment of the Gruul's powers.
But now he knew that the words were not made up, and that the mad priests must have seen the same things as he saw, and that they might have struggled as best as he could, but not as good as he had! At this moment, he could still feel the voices of the priests singing to the Gruul whirling around him, the long tunes that were undulating, obscure, and merciful, and they came from every cave in the vicinity, whistling through every hole in the leaves, through the cracks of every branch, and the eyes, the eyes of the Gruul, were still watching him.
His body still hadn't returned to its normal temperature.
Hua Lin nodded and signaled that he had to go, and gestured again that he should temporarily manage Gala Cave before he returned, after all, no one knew how to retrieve and use nearby resources better than the original owner of Gala Cave.
Pai Gang was keenly aware that Hua Lin deliberately did not speak, it was indeed not a good idea to speak while the wind of the Gruul God surrounded them, but how much better could it be to gesticulate? He thought desperately, the eyes of the Gruul God were watching them from every crevice in the heavens, the earth, and the vicinity.
He didn't speak.
Hua Lin took out a thick piece of black paper and blew on it, and a black donkey wine with a full saddle cage appeared in front of Pai Gang Toast, Pai Gang rode up, and it was not surprising to find that this donkey was taking him back to Gala Cave - the nearby grass, trees, mountains and rivers, all of which he was familiar with, alas, he thought that he knew enough about Yishan, he knew which beasts could be hunted, and he also knew which plants could be used, but now even a small finch began to speak to him in the voice of a group of people, he would not be surprised!
The conjured black donkey was far more stable and swift than the real horse, and the exhausted Paigon Toast soon fell asleep on the donkey's back, and then, the shouts of a group of people woke him up, and he found himself back in the Gala Cave, next to a black donkey cut out of thick paper.
He coughed twice and told them that Hua Lin was away for a few days, and that he would be in charge of the Gala Cave during this time, this announcement did not make a big wave, after all, Hua Lin had cast enough shadows in the hearts of this rabble before this, and he still had enough cronies in the Gala Cave to come on a paper donkey to provide credibility to his words. But before arranging everything, Pai Gang opened the warehouse with the power that Hua Lin had given him, took out a jar of wine stored there, warmed it with hot water for boiling salt, and then dried three or four bowls in one go.
In his current state, he was not allowed to drink, but without the heat of the spirits, he almost felt like he was going to freeze to death in the gala cave.
He knew that the priest who had spoken to him was dead, and he was not surprised by it, and the other Yiren, well, what did they know! They were so lucky, their eyes had not seen terror, their ears had not heard terror, their hearts had not been in contact with beings beyond all else, and Pagang had experienced all of this, so he knew that all people, including those outside the mountain, their lives were more fragile than the morning dew, and the irresistible sun had risen above the horizon, and Paegon had left the scars of the sun on his eyes, and he would see anything now with an illusion that did not exist.
"O kingdom of God!" he thought, "I wish they would all see what the priests said about the great god Gruul!"
He knew it was worse than falling under the claws of a beast and tearing it into seven or eight pieces, terrible.
At this moment two Yi people came up to him, and Paigang Toast, who had never been mistaken by wine, sat up and tried to tell why they had come.
Both men, both old men from Gala Cave and his cronies, brought him "good" news that Ujida, the daughter of Paikon Tusi and the most powerful priest under him, had returned.