Chapter 1498: Chapter 200: To Hear the Dao at Dawn, and Die at Dusk

The night of the Parthian Ancient Country is quite cold.

Unlike the winter in the Narcissus Duchy, which is always rainy… This is a dry and solitary cold.

It’s not easy to hear the incessant howling of the wind, quiet enough to seem like you can hear the heartbeat of a lizard crawling in the sand. The moonlight overhead also falls onto the sand, making the yellow sand appear like silver frost.

Unlike the day, sandstorms are not common at night.

According to the Parthians, this is because the wild Desert Spirit has ended its day’s patrol—those who disrespect the desert, waste water, or don’t show enough reverence for Parthian traditions, once discovered by the Desert Spirit, will be consumed in rage.

If such a person appears in a caravan, they could even bring disaster to the entire convoy; if a settlement outside a city has such a blasphemer, the entire village could be destroyed. Only those who offer piety to the Benevolent Lords and revere tradition can receive the protection of the Desert Spirit and survive each sandstorm unscathed.

—Of course, according to Hassan’s studies in the Mage Tower, this phenomenon should be related to the heat brought by The Sun. The Sun can continuously heat the surface of the sand to nearly eighty degrees, causing the near-ground air to rise and form a strong thermal convection.

Another reason, indeed, is related to the Benevolent Lords—the air humidity in the oasis areas can even approach coastal areas, and this humidity creates temperature differences, leading to significant air pressure differences. As for why sandstorms don’t easily occur within Oasis City… it’s because the oasis near the city is relatively moist, and the sand grains clump together, making them difficult to be blown away.

“Ha…”

Hassan sitting by the bonfire let out a mocking laugh.

Truly ironic.

He had once been a devout believer in those “traditions.” It wasn’t until he learned more knowledge and touched upon the truth that he realized how ignorant he had been in the past, and… how hopeless his compatriots were.

Every time, Hassan would once again feel heartfelt gratitude towards Mr. Grangai.

Even though Hassan now fully understands that Mr. Grangai’s sending him to the Mage Tower to study was not out of pure goodwill. Rather, it was to use him as a pawn to expand the Goblin Commerce Association’s influence within the center of the desert—

The influence of the Goblin Commerce Association is closely tied to the water veins. The more coastal the area, the more it must succumb to the Goblin Commerce Association’s control. The various grains, resources, industrial goods, luxury items, and specialties they bring are essential for a country’s production and development.

And the goblins have long controlled the entire world’s sea routes.

They even wiped out the pirates… or rather, they controlled the pirates belonging to them. It’s a degree that even a nation’s power finds hard to contend with.

In the depths of the sea, there is Taboo Power, even if a Transcendent falls into the deep sea, it is hard to escape death, and the randomly appearing Sea Monsters would cause fatal damage to ships.

And without nautical charts, random sailing makes it too easy to get lost, and the more ships brought along, the more supplies needed to be consumed.

Not to mention, after landing, they must communicate with others in unfamiliar foreign lands. Avoid being robbed, deceived, obstructed by local authorities in trading, while also ensuring that even if the first wave leaves, subsequent trade agreements can continue uninterrupted… Furthermore, they must ensure that the maritime routes remain unbroken and not robbed.

It’s exceedingly difficult.

The economic cost alone of opening such a route far exceeds the cost paid when cooperating with the goblins. Not to mention the time cost and human resource cost… One also needs to consider whether, when in conflict with the goblins, they will hinder the trade itself.

As for exacting revenge on the goblins, attacking their countries directly—this tactic is also ineffective. They had long anticipated this scenario, so they simply hadn’t established any country. Like the Sons of the Moon, dissipated and dispersed across various nations.

But unlike the Sons of the Moon—the Sons of the Moon want to have a nation of their own, but the goblins have no such desire.

Unlike the Sons of the Moon, they do not have a unified culture or history. These goblins had grown by parasitizing other countries, learning their traditions and cultures, each faction of goblins is vastly different from the others, united merely in name by their race.

They have no real faith, nor do they have any obsessions. Even the languages they speak are different—trying to establish a country under these circumstances would only lead to internal strife.

Thus, launching an equal measure of reprisal against the goblins is nearly impossible. So, these coastal countries ultimately have to accept a goblin faction into their borders, establishing a cheap and reliable overseas trade system.

—However, the goblins’ tricks are utterly ineffective on the Benevolent Lords.

Say these resources are useful for national development? Doesn’t matter, if I don’t want them, I won’t take them, might as well not develop at all.

Say they bring cheap grain? What does it matter to me, a shortage of grain won’t starve me to death.

Say luxury goods? Overseas specialties? Can’t I just buy them from the Holy Nation?

Say you want to sanction us from overseas? Do I look like someone who can even reach the sea?

The Benevolent Lords only need to look after themselves and are completely unconcerned with the “country” they have established. In such a situation, the goblins’ usual tricks are simply unusable.

And Parthian Ancient Country happens to produce a lot of gold, rare ritual materials, almost extinct alien slaves from other places, and rare minerals that can be forged into Extraordinary Equipment—all of these make the cities neighboring Parthian Ancient Country overfull.

But when it comes to doing business with them, these Benevolent Lords are just insufferably arrogant… you have to kneel to negotiate with them, treat them like pampered infants. Moreover, the Benevolent Lords are very capricious, easily breaking contracts when in a foul mood, even if they weren’t provoked by this particular group in the first place. They are mostly Transcenders, or their capable subordinates include Transcenders, for whom breaking a contract isn’t difficult.

On top of that, the Parthian Ancient Country is essentially a loose confederation of city-states with contracts not applicable across each other. The relationships among the Benevolent Lords are even antagonistic; in many places, hearing that you have reached an agreement with a Benevolent Lord from another place, they will tear up the already signed deal or even go out of their way to sabotage it without any gain…

Barbaric, truly barbaric!

It’s as if they have become as savage as trolls—

In fact, the goblins privately call the Benevolent Lords “Chieftains.”

That’s a title used by the Troll King—hereditary leaders serving as heads of judiciary, commerce, religion, military, and politics, with such sacred power derived from a God. From this perspective, the city-states founded by the Benevolent Lords can indeed be called chiefdoms.

And because of that…

The ones most dissatisfied with these Benevolent Lords are precisely the sly, deceitful, thieving, and villainous goblin merchants that bring nations to ruin.

The saying “It takes a villain to deal with a villain”—

Of course, Hassan knows the goblins are not good beings. He personally witnessed how Star Antimony was brought to ruin by the goblins’ schemes, and he harbors great vigilance against those short, cunning, and ugly fellows… Yet that does not affect his respect for Mr. Grangai.

Ignorant survival… or death upon touching the truth.

“Heard the Way in the morning, one could die in the evening…”

Hassan murmured a saying from the Oriental people under his breath.

If it were his former self, he would surely choose the former. Back then, he would do anything to stay alive.

But for him now…

Death is no longer a fearsome taboo.

It’s the inevitable endpoint, the moment every flame burns out.

Before that…

He slightly clenched his left hand.

The ruby embedded on the back of his left hand suddenly emitted astonishing heat, burning his left arm. If it weren’t for his left hand being a prosthetic similar to a Magic Wand, he would have died from the pain long ago.

This was the price of forcibly using Celestial Marshal Shards.

Hassan, although barely considered smart, does not meet the criteria to use Geometric Celestial Marshal Shards.

Because the true user of the Celestial Marshal Shard… is an apparition only he can see.

“—What do you say, Hassan?”

A lizardfolk brute with deep red skin suddenly appeared next to him, enthusiastically hooking an arm around his shoulder.

“When are we going to burn Holy Spring City to ashes? It’s about time we let him witness what divine power truly is, buddy!”

Today, he appeared in the form of the “passionate lizardfolk”…

Hassan thought to himself, coldly saying, “We will go, but not now.

“First, we need to find clues of the Ring of Ouroboros ritual… simply burning it all to the ground solves nothing. It’s better to let the Abyssal Celestial Envoy descend upon this sinful land, for Him to see the sins committed by those Benevolent Lords who have contracted with Him…

“—Isn’t that right, Ottolucus?”