Chapter 1203 The Kind Lord
The style of the palace where the Good Lord of Paradise City lives is different from that of the one in Rock Cellar City.
——It can even be said to be the exact opposite.
The benevolent lord of Rock Cellar City, the "Honest Afshin", could actually be considered an artist—although his art was somewhat bloody and cruel, it was actually quite good in Aiwass's opinion.
The most important, or perhaps the most highly regarded and prestigious, art form in Anxi is called miniature painting. Unlike the popular Iris style, which focused on realism, harmony, and light and shadow, it emphasizes delicate brushstrokes and vibrant colors, using color rather than light and shadow or line as its core.
Miniature painting can be either realistic or abstract. Generally speaking, it deemphasizes light and shadow, or even spatial perspective. Its primary purpose is flat-surface decoration. The subject matter is typically recognizable figures, almost all depicted in profile, reminiscent of picture book illustrations. Alternatively, it features evenly spaced runes, flowers, animals, clouds, and water, reminiscent of meticulous brushwork.
Afshin's work perfectly conforms to all the rules of miniature painting and aligns with the aesthetics of the Parthians. No wonder he proudly displays it in the hall for all to see.
With this purpose in mind, his palace was designed entirely to showcase his artworks to the fullest extent possible—in a sense, it wasn't really a palace, but rather a gallery for exhibiting paintings. Therefore, it didn't have many functional rooms. The ornate yet uncomplicated decorations served as a "seasoning" to complement the artworks.
The gold ornament is essentially a picture frame, and the water curtain is the screen that protects the treasure.
And the Palace of the Good Lord in the City of Heaven...it's more like a temple than a palace.
That style reminded Aiwas of the giant temple on the ancient island of Avalon.
Cylindrical, pure white boulders connected together formed a temple as flat as a cake. Atop it stood a strange device—a clock tower, with a massive, complex mechanical structure. From within the temple, one could clearly hear a subtle, watch-spring-like sound.
But generally speaking, the clock on the clock tower should at least be visible to people.
But the dial of the temple built by Adil is facing the sky.
No one can see time unless they fly directly above the palace.
It was as if... he had built an alarm clock tower for the gods in heaven.
The white robe he wore looked as simple as an ancient Greek philosopher, and he looked more like a priest than a benevolent leader.
That's why Aiwass says they are polar opposites.
Because here, it is not the palace that serves the people, but the people that serve the palace.
Once you enter this palace, this feeling will become clearer and clearer——
The slaves who served the good master were all dressed in neat and simple white robes. The temple did not have many flashy decorations, but there was a lot of lead and gold. The floor, walls, and ceiling of the temple were all made of pure lead, with reliefs and etchings made of gold. The walls were covered with praises of the Huantiansi.
——Evans looked quite uncomfortable.
There is an extremely embarrassing feeling...
Adil, the benevolent lord of Paradise City, took Aiwas into the inner room.
While Paradise City was significantly larger than Rock Cellar City, the palace where the Benefactor resided was only a third of that size. According to Aiwass, this wasn't because Afshin was excessively extravagant... quite the contrary. Afshin was considered a frugal and practical figure among the Benefactors. He spent most of his wealth on building the underground sewers and purchasing various goods from other places.
A large portion of Afshin's money was given by Adil, the philanthropist of Paradise City.
But Adil's own reception room wasn't even as large as Aiwas's bedroom in the Temple of Silver and Tin. It was only about thirty square meters, and for someone like the Good Lord, whose status was higher than that of a king, it could even be considered cramped.
In this reception room, the largest area is occupied by a statue of a god.
As he looked at the statue, Aiwas' pupils suddenly focused.
——Because that is the holy image of Huantiansi!
Its appearance was identical to the Ring Celestial Master Aiwas had seen during the ascension ceremony—even the ring behind it was restored. That upright, divine face bore at least a 70% resemblance to Aiwass... This was probably why Adil had been stunned the moment he saw Aiwass, and why he had politely addressed him as "you."
He was probably trying to confirm whether he was the incarnation or apostle of Huan Tiansi.
Although they look very similar, Aiwass and Huan Tiansi have completely different temperaments after all.
However, this level of similarity also possesses power in this world. The twin mirrors of the Path of Beauty allow similar things to gain similar power. Conversely, if they were completely unrelated, they would not be able to become so similar through pure coincidence.
It's similar to Huantiansi to a certain extent, and even has the same inheritance of the Shepherd's Secret Sutra...
A quite reasonable thought popped up in Aiwas's mind: He wouldn't think of me as Huanhuan's direct descendant, right?
Then he really had to be polite to Aiwass.
It's like the general manager of a branch company suddenly discovering that the son of the chairman of the head office is visiting. Naturally, he would be surprised and then treat him well.
The statue was built on a slightly elevated platform, and it looked like a bed, except that it didn't have pillows or a quilt, but instead had some futons.
Adil was sitting cross-legged on a cushion, and only one meter behind him was the statue of Huantiansi.
Originally, this room had six futons of various colors. Now, to accommodate Aiwass and his "daughter" Leviathan, a table and two sofa chairs were specially brought in. One of the chairs even had a raised platform underneath, allowing Aiwass to be almost eye-level with Adil.
"I'm very sorry for the poor hospitality."
Adil spoke in a gentle, even humble tone: "My city is different from other city-states... I care more about the happiness of those who follow me. Therefore, I use most of my resources for construction and charity."
"...You mean, the free food and water?"
"That's part of it. When I eat meat, I give them meat; when I drink pomegranate juice, I give them pomegranate juice; and if I want wine, I give them wine. I have slaves to serve me, so I give them slaves. They eat and drink with me, wear the same clothes, and eat the same food. That's how we can understand each other.
"As for the slaves living underground, their food and drink expenses are actually quite a large expense. Even if we feed them with the cheapest food, it's still difficult to keep them alive. Even if some of them can be used for sacrifice... but just in case, I will still prioritize purchasing slaves from the outer city.
"I will also equip my legions with better equipment so they can survive longer and fight for me. This investment is worth it. A good slave knight is worth fifty slaves, and if he is equipped with equipment worth fifty slaves, his value can easily surpass a hundred slaves.
"As for myself, I don't really like excessive luxury. It dulls my spirituality and numbs my devotion. So I usually practice austerity here, eating only two meals a day without sugar or salt, and only half full. So I don't really have anything very good here, I'm sorry.
"But I'll have someone prepare some food for you. Someone recently sent me a batch of very good fish sauce, a special blood sauce made from the blood and viscera of tuna. It's a specialty of Avalon and I like it very much. Would you like to try it?"
——Although it sounds funny for a person who lives in a truly "magnificent" palace, has more than three hundred slaves serving him, eats food that is several times more expensive than gold, and says that he is practicing asceticism.
But Aiwass knew... for the good master, this could really be considered as penance.
This is even more ironic.
There is still one chapter to go at around one o'clock. I was so sleepy that I accidentally fell asleep just now, and now the second chapter is not finished yet!
Uh wow, the cycle has begun again——
(End of this chapter)
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