"Of course not!"


    The great sage of crusoen shouted to the prophet Peipu who fell to his knees.


    In the center of the temple is a statue of Artuso made of corundum. The statue is dignified and deep. It is a serious looking villostian race. It has a straight nose, thin lips and sharp eyebrows. It has a sense of being close to mortals. Artuso''s left hand hangs down naturally, and his right hand holds the handle of the long sword. A dark red gem is embedded in the grid.


    Around Peipu, the prophets in black stood in silence, their faces shrouded in wide hoods, and waited on both sides of the statue with low eyebrows and eyes.


    From the perspective of Peipu, the cold attitude on the great sage''s face was no different from that of the stone statue. He was silent for a while and said, "but that''s igon, the destroyer of the world."


    "Stupid judgment! Igon is not a common thing. It appears to open a new reincarnation. It is a supreme existence worthy of your awe." the great sage looked into Peipu''s eyes: "and the monster in your mouth is just another sea beast that distorts the filth."


    "If it''s not igon," Peipu said, "then why doesn''t the great God King lower his divine power and crush these evil sea families?"


    "Blasphemy!"


    The scepter hit the ground hard and made a loud and dull noise: "do you think God is our servant? God created us, let us speak and walk, and gave us life and wisdom. Now, you blame God for the incompetence and failure of mortals. Are you blaming the gods?"


    Peipu trembled violently, realized his problem, and immediately bowed his head to repent.


    "I know the Golden King won''t agree. Why should we obey the orders of the alien?" said the great sage. Then he relaxed his tone and poked his upper body in advance: "I know that the powerful power of the beast shakes you. You feel fear, don''t you?"


    Peipu didn''t dare to answer, and his forehead touched the ground.


    "Fear is a good thing." the great sage said, "you are not the first, nor will you be the last. Mortal thought is based on barren flesh, so it is easy to be afraid of those powerful and fierce. This is also the reason why the temple exists. We sublimate on the road of pursuing Artuso. When God bless us, fear is impossible to talk about."


    "So, are you not afraid?" Peipu asked in a tentative tone.


    "Of course." the sage nodded, "the road of pursuing God''s blessing has never been cut off, but only the most devout and tenacious prophet can pass the test and receive the supreme power."


    Peipu raised his head and opened his eyes. He had served in the temple for half his life, but he had never heard of anything similar. He asked in a trembling voice, "can I accept the test of the God King?"


    "You?" the great sage shook his head. "Why? Why do you want Artuso''s protection? You have shamed the prophet, lost the dignity of the temple, and despised the whole golden city."


    Peipu bowed his head and didn''t speak. In fact, he was not as pious to the God King as he thought. However, he saw the black dragon destroy the whole tribal legion with his own eyes, and Peipu''s spiritual world was greatly impacted. He was afraid of such monsters, but in his heart, he yearned for that kind of power.


    The great sage looked at him kneeling on the ground and said, "mortals who are not tough enough may lose their lives in the test. Have you realized that you don''t care about life and death?"


    "I..." Peipu didn''t speak, and his longing for power seemed to be magnified countless times in the words of the great sage. That desire almost made him tremble. He paused and said loudly: "I think no prophet present is more firm than me."


    "Stand up."


    The great sage of crusoen said that when the prophet got up, he looked at him meaningfully for a while. It seemed that he could see through all the thoughts of the prophet and half a ring before he said: "because of fear, so desire, which is the case for all mortals."


    The great sage suddenly raised his voice: "are you willing to pursue the path of supremacy, even if you pay all the price, your blood runs out and your flesh and blood turns to ashes, do you want to accept this test?"


    "I will!"


    "Step down!" the great sage drank.


    This sentence was not said to him, Peipu knew, because when the great sage finished, the black robed prophets on both sides immediately retreated into the shadow on both sides of the temple, as if they no longer existed.


    At the same time, some will came.


    It was an unspeakable experience. The surging force penetrated from the outside to the inside, squeezing the soul to the edge of the body. At the next moment, the invisible steel needle seemed to attack from all directions, stabbed from the skin, stirred in the body, from the brain to the internal organs, from the muscles to the bones.


    "This is what you want - strength." the great sage said faintly, "at the same time, it is also a test."


    With the greatest will and patience, Peipu tore his chest with his hands, and his throat made a dull sound similar to drowning. Powerful force poured into his body. The sudden blood vessels turned from green to red, and finally burst. Peipu couldn''t help howling.


    The prophet''s skin began to peel off block by block, exposing his bluish black muscles. The prophet was like a suffocating fish, and his body shrank into a ball until his eyeballs burst and his gray mud like tissue covered half of his face.


    ——He has lost his voice.


    "Peipu failed."


    The great sage stood up with his royal staff and looked at the group on the ground indifferently. He could not recognize the human body: "the mortal whose flesh was not strong enough and whose will was not firm enough did not complete the supreme test, so he died."


    "..." a faint sigh came from the temple, like the whisper of a ghost.


    The great sage took two steps forward, put his hand on the top of the pool of flesh and blood, and suspended a virtual grip: "but you have proved your piety and won my respect. Peipu, you are on the road of pursuing Artuso, and I will finish the journey for you."


    He withdrew his hand, stood in front of the vague flesh and blood, closed his eyes, opened his arms, and the turbulent holy power poured into his body from all directions.


    For a long time, the great sage took a deep breath and reopened his eyes. His skin was as tender and smooth as a baby, with warm brilliance flowing on it.


    ……


    The sound of the horn floated into the temple from far to near.


    Today, it was the day of execution of Garon nefadithus, the sea tribe. On the central square, the soldiers had put it in a cage. The detestable beast twisted wildly, covered with blood. The chain restrained it from making a sound, and hundreds of slaves shouted and pulled it into the air.


    Crusoen came outside the temple and watched the cage rise slowly.


    When the horn rose higher and higher, everyone focused on the central square. Some were well-dressed, nobles in the Golden City, and some were ragged, refugees from other tribes.


    The gold king was guarded in the army layer by layer. He was wearing gray armor, cut and embroidered with gold thread. The leather wind hung down from his broad shoulder. A roaring lion was embedded in his breastplate, and a crown made of red gold was wrapped around his eyebrows. The top of the crown seemed to be intertwined with fire.


    In the cage, Garon nefarious tried to tear the chain around his neck with his claws, but in vain, he roared and cursed what he saw in front of him.


    "Forget it."


    The report of Peipu was vivid. The great sage of crusoen thought for a long time and finally opened his mouth: "inform the Golden King that the temple wants to keep this beast alive."


    "Now?"


    The prophet next to looked at the high-profile scene in the central square. Everyone was waiting for the moment when the firewood pile was lit. At this time, stop the Golden King. The scene would be very ugly.


    "It is more useful to live than to die," said the great sage.


    "But didn''t you say that the monster outside is not igon, and we don''t have to succumb to it?"


    "Did I say I''d succumb to it?" crusoen turned his head. "I just said to leave the beast, not to send it away."


    "This......" the prophet didn''t understand.


    "I will personally go to myrne and wipe out the alien for veloster," crusoen said. "But if I fail, I don''t want the golden city to disappear."