Chapter 1159 Snake Man
"——Sir, please come in!!"
"Don't worry, sir, we will keep the carriage safe for you!"
"I swear by the scales of the ancestral snake that no property will be lost!"
Anar was greatly shocked by the unusually respectful, almost flattering, attitude of the snakemen guarding the temple.
...Is this a snake man???
Are these the snake people who always have stern faces and cold and unkind attitudes?
Anar felt like she was dreaming at the moment.
She was originally very reluctant to bring Aiwass and his group to the Snake Temple.
It feels like meeting a big shot who's on an incognito visit, and he's in the mood to see your home - and you just happen to have a relative at home who's impolite, tactless, and obviously dissatisfied with the big shot.
At times like this, I'm really afraid of something happening. It's not right to bring it, and it's not right not to bring it...
When I got there, I saw that it was an acquaintance.
This foul-mouthed family member is actually a close friend of the big shot, a buddy!
Before entering the temple, Anar looked back outside with a sense of melancholy and confusion.
At this moment, all you can see outside is the yellow sand that covers the sky.
It was said that the texture of the sand was like warm snow, but Anar had been to the planet many times and had never seen snow.
The only thing they have in common is probably that there are countless corpses buried underneath them.
Anar had lost count of how many people she had seen disappear into the sand. Many of them had nothing to do with her, but some did. Sometimes, as she walked on the sand, she would have the illusion that a hand suddenly emerged and grasped her ankle.
The wind wasn't too strong today, and the sky was clear. The town in the distance was already faintly visible.
She turned around and walked into the temple as usual.
Although the snake people of the temple invited everyone to stop and rest for the night, not many people actually did so. For example, Isabel did not come down to play it safe, and Ligeia was protecting her closely.
Apart from Anar, the only ones who followed Aiwass down were Lily hiding in the shadows, the ritualist Iben, Zhu Tang and Mu.
In the dark, tomb-like Serpent Man temple, dim candlelight burned on both sides. As soon as I entered the temple from the scorching sand, I could feel a faint, cold breeze blowing through my chest and back.
Shadows flickered with the candlelight, and everyone's figures were reflected on the wall. It looked like some kind of shadow play.
Two snake people walked slowly in front.
They were all lean, dark-skinned men. Their rough, bronze-colored skin was covered in dense, black snake scales. Where the skin wasn't protected by scales, it bore visible scars, bleeding marks, and wrinkles. Their upper bodies were clad only in leather vests. Their exposed arms were protected by snake scales, and below their waists lay a massive snake tail.
Their faces were not handsome, and were even somewhat ugly—they generally had high cheekbones, thin and square cheeks, and a protruding chin. From the front, they looked like an elongated hexagon, and from the side, they looked like the moon.
——Specifically, it is the shoe-horn-faced version of Zhu Yuanzhang.
Lizardmen are very similar to snakemen. They both have scales, tails, cold pupils, and rough skin.
But lizardmen are much taller and stronger than snakemen, and are closer to strong elves; while snakemen have only human upper bodies and snake tails in their lower bodies.
Lizardmen, both men and women, are ferocious and ugly, resembling crocodiles. Lizardmen lack their own written language, using the writing and language of the Snakemen. They typically live alongside Snakemen tribes, but some also exist independently. Among the Lizardmen, exceptionally intelligent mages and ritualists occasionally appear, much like trolls.
Generally speaking, intermarriage between snake people and lizard people is a taboo of varying degrees.
Because the upper elves in the snake-men society cannot accept offspring with legs, and the half-bloods are too thin for the lizardmen, so both sides do not like them very much... This is different from the dilemma faced by half-elves. After all, it is really difficult for snake-men and lizardmen to survive.
Unlike lizardmen, snakemen have faces that resemble those of ordinary humans, but are generally more shriveled and darker—this isn't because they're weak, but simply because they're hungry. Snakemen have large appetites and possess the ability to "overeat," becoming stronger through excessive consumption.
Only those priests who are able to eat enough will have taller bodies, straighter backs, and fair, soft and elastic skin.
Therefore, unlike the Lizardmen, half of whom are bandits and worship force and muscle; in the snake people's society, the more beautiful, taller, and more human-like you are, the higher your status.
These two guards are obviously of lower status.
Although the lower half of a snake person's body is a snake, it is not easy to determine how to calculate their height.
But at least these two temple guards were shorter and thinner than almost everyone else present. Without their tails straightened, they were only about 1.6 meters tall.
Their faces bore peculiar markings. They didn't resemble slave brands, but rather religious symbols. They looked like battle scars in the form of tattoos, possessing a strange intimidating power that made one hesitate to gaze at them for long.
This branding is actually a form of "beauty" for the snake people. Because they become temple guards, they are allowed to be branded with religious symbols, which symbolizes a higher status than their peers of the same appearance and height.
In their hands, they held a strange weapon that resembled a spear, but it was closer to an "umbrella" or "mace" than a spear, as it was made of a metal cone that made up nearly half of the weapon.
As they gradually walked deeper into the temple, the candlelight around them became dimmer.
"That should be enough."
Aiwass suddenly spoke, his tone very calm: "We are already far away from those people.
"——What's going on?"
Hearing this, Anar was startled and looked up.
What, what does it mean?
"We need to go a little further, my lord."
The temple guards' tone remained polite and respectful, but lacked the initial enthusiasm and frenzy. Instead, it was filled with a hint of impatience and haste.
Anar's heart skipped a beat, and she felt a distinct sense of unease.
——Because she has seen similar situations.
Or rather, almost every Parthian person has seen it.
Ritualist Iben sighed deeply, somewhat sadly: "What a familiar feeling..."
Anar glanced at his fellow tribesman and thought to himself that it was indeed true.
Indeed, almost every Parthian had felt this way—it was like the feeling of betraying a rebel.
When the resistance groups went to restock supplies or return to see their families, they were greeted with unusual hospitality. Then, they were led somewhere, drugged in their muddy tea, or left where they were. Eventually, they were captured by the benefactors or slave traders.
The person who betrayed them could be a close friend of decades, the boss on the roadside who always gave them an extra half cup of muddy tea, or even their own relatives - their father or mother, or their brothers and sisters.
Betrayal is the underlying color of this desert.
No integrity could withstand the test of being a freeman and a slave. The more they struggled on the edge of survival, the more they envied and envied the freemen who could freely draw water... and the feeling of being served by slaves and having their lives manipulated at will.
Everyone hated slave owners.
But everyone also wants to be a slave owner.
And now these snake people, perhaps they haven't done these things for a long time...their intentions are too obvious.
If the methods of these desert people were so crude, they would have been discovered long ago.
"Why not just stop here?"
Aiwass's voice was gentle but unyielding.
When the two snakemen heard this, they turned around in shock and anger, looked at Aiwass and clenched their weapons.
"Don't blame them, it's me who's looking for you."
As the complex snake-man language sounded, a female snake-man with a gorgeous appearance, who obviously did not belong to this remote temple, swam out.
She had long black hair, fair skin, and a prominent chest. She looked about two meters tall, with a silk veil covering her face, obscuring the upper half. She also wore a dark red dress adorned with many gold ornaments.
These gold ornaments collide with each other as the female snake person swims, making sounds like wind chimes.
"I'm a little disappointed."
Aiwass stared at her and spoke softly, "I thought it would be someone taller who would come looking for me."
"for example?"
The female snake person asked.
"For example, Ah Huan."
Aiwass said with a chuckle.
“Bold!”
"Trespass!"
The two snake guards immediately looked at Aiwass with great anger.
They obviously didn't know Aiwass's identity.
But the female snake person seemed to know something.
She just raised her hand slightly, and the two snakemen dropped their weapons painfully, silently curling up into two spicy strips like bicycle locks.
"--presumptuous."
Her voice was hoarse and soft, yet held an inexplicable majesty.
She bowed respectfully and nodded slightly to Aiwass: "Are you satisfied with the punishment of these blind people?"
"May I have your name."
Aiwass did not answer, but asked instead.
"Tongya."
The female snake person replied.
"Do you know who I am?"
Aiwass asked again.
“You are a descendant of the Prophet Jacob.”
Dongya said respectfully and politely, "Honorable...Sacred Entity."
Update completed meow!
(End of this chapter)
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