SFS Chapter 518 Don't fall into his hands
Chapter 518 Don't fall into his hands
"Oh, I'm quite curious."
Xu Ning stepped forward, carrying a gourd of wine, and laughed, "What can you get from the Order of the Church with these mad scholars?"
"Judging from your clothes and appearance, you don't seem to belong to those hypocritical fellows in the Order of the Fathers. Who are you?"
Xu Ning shook his gourd, "Xu Ning, a Liyue native."
"Coincidentally, I also have some grudges with the Church Council, and to be honest, I'm not particularly concerned about the life or death of those people. But if your so-called bargaining chips can harm the Church Council, I wouldn't even mind standing with you against them."
Rahman is not stupid.
He noticed that from the moment Xu Ning came out and started speaking, none of the others, including Dixia, showed the slightest unusual emotion, as if they tacitly agreed that Xu Ning could represent everyone's opinions. This made him suspicious of Xu Ning's identity.
“I don’t trust you because you’re hanging out with these people from the Order of the Church. But…”
Rahman then changed the subject, "I wouldn't mind letting people from other countries learn about that hypocritical grass god."
A hypocritical grass god?
That's a novel adjective.
Xu Ning had never actually seen anyone use the word "hypocritical" when mentioning the Grass God, whether it was the previous Great Kindness Tree King or the current Little Auspicious Grass King.
"We, the people of the desert, worship the Red King. Many years ago, when disaster struck, the previous Grass God broke his covenant with our king, killing him and nearly destroying our civilization. And the Church, as His lackey, regards us, the people of the desert, as enemies, monopolizing the dissemination of knowledge, forcing children who have lost their faith to live humbly here, even choosing a life of licking blood from the edge of a knife..."
Xu Ning raised his hand to stop Rahman's excited rant, "What you're saying is too ancient, and there might be some inaccuracies in it. I can't completely believe anything that hasn't been verified. But..."
"...I have a deep understanding of what you mean by the Council's monopoly on knowledge and its selfishness. It is indeed unbelievable that two Sumerian people can have such drastically different lifestyles. So what do you think these mad scholars can get from the Council in return?"
Upon hearing Xu Ning's question, Rahman's eyes immediately blazed with fanaticism.
"Naturally, it's to bring about the resurrection of Lord Crimson King. Once we complete the great task of awakening the Crimson King, the ancient king will return to this land, and everything will naturally start anew."
Huh? These people, just like the leader of the Eye of Ahmar, did receive this message from the Church Council.
Everything really is as El-Hysen said; it seems there's no point in discussing it anymore.
Xu Ning curled his lip and helplessly advised, "So you guys heard about that prophecy of the Red King's resurrection too? Let me tell you, that's just fake news released by the Council of the Church to trick you desert people into testing those divinely packaged knowledge so they can provide you with data. Don't you know the leader of the Eye of Akhmar in Port Omos? He's already tried it and gone mad. You don't want to try that kind of thing too, do you?"
Rahman chuckled, "But what the people of the Council extracted from the minds of those scholars was indeed the knowledge of the gods, wasn't it! People of Liyue, you don't understand our faith. Resurrecting the great Red King is our lifelong wish. Even if there is only a one in ten thousand chance of success, we will give it our all."
Xu Ning sighed.
"I didn't expect your obsession to be so strong. It seems you won't release these mad scholars anyway. Rather than waiting for them to extract divine knowledge and then go insane one by one, it's better to deal with you now..."
Rahman sneered, but before he could speak, he suddenly felt his feet go weak and he was instantly sank into the soft quicksand.
Two screams came from behind him at the same time, and his two companions who came with him also fell in before they could even take out their weapons.
As Rahman and his two companions were buried up to their chests in the yellow sand, the ground suddenly began to solidify again.
Then an elemental entity with a cold, stone-like surface slowly rose from the ground behind the three of them.
It was the rock elemental body controlled by Xu Ning.
"I must say, this tactic is really effective on this kind of sandy ground!"
Xu Ning squatted down and said leisurely to Rahman, who was almost spitting blood with anger, "I used this method to capture the three of you, and I'm sure you're not satisfied. I won't say any more. Let's go to your hiding place together. I won't take advantage of you. When we get there, we'll trade three for three. As for the others, you can bring your own people and have another fair fight with us. Whoever loses can leave, how about that?"
Rahman sneered, "Desert people are not afraid of death, nor will they be manipulated by others."
Xu Ning pulled Yinglangwan's head close and mocked, "See this dog? I don't need to do anything to you. Finding your hideout will just take a little more time. It's so hot, why don't you just let my dog go cool off for a while?"
Rahman eventually agreed to Xu Ning's conditions.
In his words, even if one is less skilled than others, one should die with dignity.
Xu Ning told Yinglangwan to rest at Chenyin Cave, and took a rope to symbolically tie Rahman's and his two men's wrists together.
Rahman and the others gathered next to a ruin buried in yellow sand. Only a few sections of broken city walls were visible. It was unknown what this place was like hundreds or thousands of years ago.
Rahman's men were also fierce. When they saw their boss being escorted over, they didn't panic at all; instead, they all took out their weapons.
Several people dragged out a few mute, mad scholars from a nearby tent, placed blades against their necks, and forced Xu Ning and the others to release the people.
Xu Ning casually untied the ropes binding Rahman and the other two. "Keep your promise, desert man. Three for three, just for... um, that kid's grandfather, what was his name again? And two more subordinates of the Order of the Church. I also want to ask what the real story behind this is."
Rahman flexed his wrists and turned to give Xu Ning a deep look.
Then he instructed his men, "Send three people over to him."
Dixia recognized Isaac's grandfather, pointed him out, and took him.
However, those two subordinates of the Order of the Fathers caused some problems.
When those two guys first heard that someone was coming to rescue them, they clearly couldn't hide their joy.
But when they saw that Seno was among the people standing behind Xu Ning, they all screamed in agony.
"Grand...Grand Disciplinary Officer? No, no, no, I absolutely refuse to go back! Thieves, please, just kill me..."
"Just give me a quick stab, I won't resist. I don't want to fall into his hands, I don't want to die like an animal..."