Chapter 146
"You mean, that person single-handedly defeated your entire tribe, but didn't kill you. Instead, he wanted you to follow him, and he even told you that there is no Dendro Archon in Sumeru City?"
"Yes, that's right. Not only that, that lord also plans to lead us to unify the desert, returning it to the great era when the entire desert was united under the King Deshret's rule!"
"What about conquering the rainforest?"
"Because the rainforest people have always looked down on us desert people, our chieftain asked that great man to teach the rainforest people a lesson. That great man agreed and said that after unifying the desert, he would also unify the rainforest, so that Sumeru could become a whole again."
In a small alley in Caravan Ribat, Cyno stood with his arms crossed in front of the kneeling desert mercenaries, his face full of disdain.
"Hmph, how could he be that powerful all by himself?"
Cyno didn't believe it. He didn't know who this so-called "great one" was. He was probably Original God who had mastered Elemental Power, which was why he was able to defeat this entire tribe. But who did he think he was to want to rule the entire Sumeru? Was he a god?
"No, there was another person with him."
"Oh? Who is it?"
"It's a man named Alhaitham. I heard he used to be a member of the Akademiya of the Church. That's all I know."
The desert mercenaries explained helplessly that they were just as happy during their discussion as they were now frustrated because they had been thoroughly beaten up by Cyno.
Although excited to follow that lord, the desert mercenary still revealed what he knew when his life was threatened. After all, the Grand Disciplinary Officer, Cyno, was capable of violence and killing people. If it weren't for the need to extract more information, Cyno would have killed him directly.
To save his own life, he chose to betray that official.
After all, what that great man has said so far is just empty talk; nothing has actually come of it yet. If that great man could truly unify the desert, he would definitely become that great man's loyal follower, because that would allow the desert people to reunite and become a powerful nation. But that's not the case yet.
"Hmph, I didn't expect that Alhaitham would have entered the desert before me, and that he would have such ambitions."
Upon hearing Alhaitham's name, Cyno's expression turned cold. He hadn't expected to hear Alhaitham's name here either. However, hearing Alhaitham's name only confirmed his suspicion that his previous guess was correct. This guy was indeed a deserter before, and somehow managed to clean up his act, join the Akademiya, and even become a scribe.
However, what Cyno didn't expect was that Alhaitham had planned to return to the desert and sever ties with the past, but now it seems that he didn't sever ties with the past, but instead went back to the past, joined the desert tribe, and even thought about helping others unify the desert and then conquer the rainforest.
Although it differed slightly from his own predictions, Cyno no longer cared about those things. He only needed to know that his general predictions were correct. And most importantly, although he hadn't caught Alhaitham yet, he had discovered clues about Alhaitham even found something even bigger!
"You two, come here!"
With two desert mercenaries by his side, Cyno found the Fatui that was in charge of guarding the Caravan Ribat.
Because it was far from Sumeru City, the guards at Caravan Ribat were not the Thirty-Three Group from Sumeru City, but the Fatui.
After handing the two over to the Fatui, Cyno left Caravan Ribat and headed deep into the desert.
Now that he had found Alhaitham's location, he would go and capture Alhaitham directly. Although he was a little curious that Alhaitham had entered the desert even earlier than him, it didn't matter. He had already found Alhaitham's location. Now, he was going to capture Alhaitham and, incidentally, see what kind of person this "master" the two desert mercenaries were talking about really was.
With this in mind, Cyno set off into the desert, where a battle for control between desert tribes was underway.
This is the first time this tribe has initiated a war against a neighboring tribe, and the goal of the war is to annex the entire tribe. What is even more surprising is the rules of this annexation war.
The rules of the battle are simple: everyone is a desert dweller, and there should be no pointless bloodshed between desert dwellers. In this situation, each tribe sends its strongest warriors to fight, and the losing side must submit to the winning side and join the victorious tribe.
If you feel that one win or loss doesn't represent everything, you can send a few more soldiers to fight together, it doesn't matter.
The tribe that initiates this battle will only ever send one person!
That's the lord the desert mercenaries of this tribe mentioned, the savior of the desert, Li Yue! Oh no, he should be called Aizen Sousuke!
"Lord Aizen, are you sure it's alright, just you alone?"
The tribe's chieftain Camus, couldn't help but ask Li Yue a question.
Li Yue simply smiled gently.
"It doesn't matter, Camus. Have you forgotten how I defeated your entire tribe all by myself?"
"Indeed, my thoughts were unnecessary."
Camus's tribe is the same tribe that the two desert mercenaries that Cyno captured earlier belonged to. A day ago, Li Yue brought Alhaitham to the desert and found Camus tribe, which was almost the weakest tribe in the desert. Then, he defeated them all with one hand and became a person above the tribe leader Camus, who is the "master" that the mercenaries in the tribe talk about!
After becoming that great man, he made his tribe follow him and promised his tribe members that he would make the desert great again. The entire tribe immediately became Li Yue's followers and even sent people to Sumeru City to inquire about the existence of the Dendro Archon.
While sending people to inquire about the existence of the Dendro Archon, he also led this tribe on the path of annexing other tribes.
"This is our tribe's most powerful warrior, Kasa!"
From the tribe opposite, a very strong-looking man drew a scimitar and stepped forward, while behind him, his chieftain arrogantly introduced the tribe with his arms crossed.
"Kasa once nearly killed a Scarab Beast."
"To be able to fight Scarab Beast, this guy is terrifying."
The Scarab Beast is a terrifying monster in the desert. If a desert mercenary encounters Scarab Beast alone, it is almost certain to die. This Kazui almost killed the Scarab Beast. Is this person really that strong?
Who are the people over there?
The tribal chief, arms crossed, looked down at Camus with his chin held high.
"Our entourage is Lord Aizen!"
Li Yue pushed up her glasses and Yuyuko walked forward.
"I am Aizen Sousuke, nice to meet you."
"Huh? He's even wearing glasses. Could this guy be a scholar?"
Kasa couldn't help but laugh when he saw Li Yue's expression.
"Hey, are you guys serious? Sending a rainforest scholar to be my opponent? Do you just want to kill him?"
"Shut up! You're not allowed to talk about Lord Aizen like that!"
Chief Camus couldn't help but lash out at Kasa was somewhat puzzled.
"Hey, seriously? You're really going to send a scholar to fight me?"
"Kasa Warrior, how about giving it a try?"
Li Yue wasn't in a hurry. She simply adjusted her glasses and spoke calmly.
"Since you're so eager to die, don't blame me!"
"Go to hell!!!"
After the battle began, the desert mercenary swung his blade down, but it was easily blocked by the opponent with a single finger.
"It's fake... it's fake, right...?"
The surrounding desert mercenaries stared wide-eyed at what had blocked the blade—not any weapon, but just a finger. A single finger had so easily stopped the blade.
"This..."
Under the watchful eyes of the desert mercenaries, the finger slightly bent, then gently squeezed, and the scimitar that had accompanied the desert mercenaries for many years was broken in two.
Pfft—
The mercenary wielding the scimitar also had a huge wound on his chest, and then he collapsed, spitting blood.
Having completed the kill, Li Yue simply flicked the blood off the Enma's Blade in his right hand.
"So, is there a next person?"
244. Lord Aizen, please accept our allegiance!
"Are you kidding me?! Kasa is the strongest warrior in our tribe. He can even escape from the Scarab Beast."
The surrounding mercenaries cheered and exclaimed in amazement, while the mercenaries from the opposing tribe were completely incredulous at the situation before them.
"It's alright. If you don't want to believe me, you can send more people. I'll stand right here and wait for your challenge."
Having successfully caught the knife with one finger and instantly killed the enemy, Li Yue, beaming with joy, issued a new challenge to the opposing mercenaries.
"Go! I don't believe he can actually catch a scimitar with his fingers!"
The tribal chief gave the order to attack, and two warriors beside him immediately drew their swords and charged toward Li Yue.
But the result was the same as with the strongest warrior before. One of their scimitars was caught by Li Yue with his fingers, while the other slashed at Li Yue's shoulder, but it didn't even tear his clothes.
Then, under the shocked gaze of the desert mercenaries, Li Yue swung his sword and killed the two warriors instantly.
Just like before, the two warriors were completely powerless to resist and were instantly killed with a single blow, collapsing while spitting blood.
"Impossible! Those were the three strongest members of our tribe, and all three of them have fallen!"
The tribal chief on the other side was greatly shocked; he hadn't expected that his strongest trio would all fall.
Although what he previously claimed to be the strongest trio was false, these were indeed the three strongest men under his command.
That's right. What he said before about almost killing the Scarab Beast was a lie. The three of them encountered the Scarab Beast, didn't kill it, but escaped from its clutches. Escaping from the Scarab Beast is a skill in itself, isn't it? But to appear more skilled, the tribal chief didn't say they escaped, but instead said they almost killed the Scarab Beast.
3yichabayisisiyiⅢcorrection
No problem. They almost killed the Scarab Beast, but the Scarab Beast had a little bit of health left.
"So, does anyone else want to come up and try? If no one is willing to continue trying, then I will conclude that your tribe has conceded defeat."
Li Yue adjusted her glasses and asked with a smile.
"Just kidding, don't think you can make me... ugh!!!"
Before the tribal chief on the other side could finish speaking, he suddenly collapsed to the ground; to be precise, all the members of the tribe on the other side fell to the ground.
"I can't move... I can't move."
They all looked at Li Yue in horror.
"Could it be you...?"
"As you can see, I can control all of you in an instant, and then it will only take a little time to kill you all in a moment."
Li Yue spread out her left hand, flipped it over in front of everyone, and then pressed it down slightly. Everyone lying on the ground instantly felt their bodies become heavier, as if they were about to be crushed in the next second.
"Because for me, it makes no difference whether there is one or two dust particles to sweep away."
The tribal chief immediately shouted.
"No! Don't kill me! I surrender! We surrender! We admit defeat!"
"Is that so? It seems you've come to your senses quite quickly."
Li Yue withdrew her left hand, and all the people lying on the ground suddenly felt their bodies become lighter. They immediately got up, panting heavily, and looked at Li Yue in fear.
"So, do you want to follow me, follow behind me, and witness me conquer all the tribes in the desert?"
Li Yue looked at the clan leader opposite her, who was also very surprised after hearing Li Yue's words.
"You want to subdue all the tribes in the desert?"
"That's right, the desert has been silent for long enough. I want to make the desert make its voice heard."
Li Yue started making grand promises, while the clan leader on the other side hesitated.
Can I trust you?
"Believe?"
Li Yue smiled slightly.
"So-called trust and dependence have the same meaning. They are both behaviors of the weak. Between you and me, trust is unnecessary."
"Because it wasn't you who chose me, but me who chose you."
3yichabayisisiyiⅢcorrection
Although shocked by Li Yue's bluntness, the clan chief still understood what Li Yue meant.
Whether he believed it or not was irrelevant, because faced with the opponent's overwhelming power, he had no choice but to believe. Should he lead his entire clan to die at the opponent's hands?
Faced with such a powerful Li Yue, the clan leader chose to bow his head, just like the previous clan leader Camus.
"Lord Aizen, please accept our allegiance!"
"Then follow me, and I will take you to see the view from the top."
"Yes, Lord Aizen!"
"Oh!!! Long live Lord Aizen!!"
Chief Camus, who had been watching from the sidelines, immediately led his tribe's mercenaries in cheers.
Amidst the cheering mercenaries, Alhaitham stood quietly, observing Li Yue effortlessly slay three enemy warriors and then nearly wipe out the entire opposing force with a single hand.
After leaving Sumeru City, he followed Li Yue closely, but the closer he got to Li Yue, the less he could understand how strong Li Yue's true power really was.
The Portal could easily traverse terrain, the ability to manipulate trees, the power to render everyone instantly immobile, and the illusions that could transform into anything—the more Alhaitham looked, the more desperate he felt.
While feeling desperate, he also questioned what Li Yue had done.
Why would Li Yue do such a thing? Wasn't he going to become the god of Sumeru? He could have simply used his transformation ability to infiltrate the Akademiya, kill the Sages, and then transform into one himself.