Drusillia was embarrassed; she should have warned ahead of time about the limits of questioning. Turning her head to look at her father, the Elven King's eyes instead looked at the priests. The princess understood and was instantly furious.
If Hora in a fit of rage put the questioner right through or left a hoofprint on his face, then the priests had achieved their goal. If Hora held her tongue, the unicorn's status in the hearts of the elves would fall. This tactic can not bring any substantial benefit to the temple, except to disgust the princess, purely to the detriment of others.
Hora leapt up, amazing bouncing power from the ladder to the stage, he faced the questioner and said: "You will ask your friend and say 'can I ride you? The questioner's face was full of embarrassment.
Hora let him go and went around the stage to the audience and said: "Tia, I think you still have a misunderstanding. Unicorns are not talking beasts, we are also intelligent creatures. The native language of the unicorns is Wood, and of course now with the addition of Tyrian. The elders teach manners and knowledge, and the parents teach combat and life."
"We have our own gods, the loving and wise Queen of the Gods, Lara, who is the patron goddess of unicorns. We have our own calendar and accompanying three festivals, representing reproduction, deities and life, and thanks to your king, the Midsummer Night Festival became the fourth."
"The greatest difference between the two races is not how many feet they land on or how many utensils they use to eat, but the trade-offs they measure in their approach to nature and civilization. The city is the cornerstone of the development of the elves, the jungle is the unicorn can not give up the home. In the same pattern, the Unicorn League is a vassal of the Crown of Garland, but physically and spiritually, we are your equals, as the sacred covenant stipulates."
Hora spun around and returned to the questioner, "I will now answer your question, no, just as a unicorn will never step on an ally."
There was silence at first, then applause built up as the questioner apologized to Holla with a face full of shame.
Drusillia asked in a low voice, "You came up with that on your own?" After half a month together, she knew that the unicorn is not easy to talk.
"No, Torchmage's 'after-sales service', he guessed that someone would ask such a question and taught me these words to counter it."
"So that's it." The elven princess saw the priests with dead faces and couldn't help but think of the divine birth ceremony two days later. The torch mage was as wise as he was powerful, and there should be no risk in coming to the appointment. If the pantheon mobilized troops on a large scale, the royal family would certainly be able to detect it. It would be ridiculous if it was a small assassination, did the pantheon have that kind of power?
"Of course we do!"
High Priest Opharsis said in a stern voice to the chief priests who had fallen to their knees. At this moment, the ceremonial hall was empty with only the two of them in it. In the center of the hall, there is a three-person tall statue of Nieron made of corundum, the master of the ceremony is a serious-looking middle-aged elves, nose, thin lips, with thin eyebrows look "do not approach" feeling. Nieron held a ceremonial cane in his left hand, his right hand pressed on the hilt of his sword at his waist, the blade of which was set with a large glowing stone.
From the chief priest's point of view, the high priest's cold and hard expression was exactly the same as the Lord of Rituals. With some doubt and expectation, he asked, "Then why doesn't the Great Lord send down divine power and just crush that evil dragon?"
"Elves are servants of the gods, not gods are servants of the elves! To blame the gods for your failure borders on blasphemy in your thinking!"
The chief priest shuddered violently and immediately bowed his head in repentance. Orpheus relaxed his tone: "I understand, the evil spell of the dragon and the unicorn has shaken you, has it not?
The chief priest did not dare to answer, his forehead touched the ground, and his confession became more eager.
"You are not the first, nor will you be the last. The minds of mortals are always easily confused by vain appearances, which is why our Lord refuses to easily bestow divine power on believers. Divine order and rituals should be maintained by believers with their lifelong efforts, rather than relying on the power of the gods to enforce them. The former is our arduous path to ascension, and the latter is the thorny gate to the prison of depravity."
"But," Ophasis' tone changed, "devout souls are offered before the eyes of the Supreme, and I, the Lord, mercifully leave a path where only the most well-versed in the rituals and persevering devotees can pass the test and receive the divine power of the Supreme.
The chief priest looked up with wide eyes, he had been reciting the rituals and precepts for most of his life, but had never heard of this. He asked in a trembling voice, "Can I receive the test of the supreme being?"
The high priest further enticed, "You? Why would the Supreme One grant you power? You have brought disgrace to the temple and stripped the commandments of their majesty."
The chief priest sobbed in grief, his half-collapsed nose emitting an out-of-tune cry.
Opharsis did not count his disorder, watched him cry for a while, and asked sorrowfully, "Are you willing to give your life for my Lord?"
"I am willing!" The chief priest responded at first.
"Are you willing to endure my Lord's trials? That is a more painful path than lying on a bed of needles and bathing in lava." Opharsis drew up his tone.
"I am willing!"
"Are you willing to give everything to clear the obstacles to the spread of faith, so that the teachings of the supreme being can be walked throughout the earth!" The High Priest asked with a loud bellow
"I am willing!" The chief priest replied with a near roar, "I am willing to give everything, even if my blood runs out and my flesh and bones turn to dust, to destroy the enemies of my Lord!"
The high priest nodded in satisfaction, "Your soul will be forever bathed in holy light in the divine kingdom of the supreme being. Adjust your state and prepare for the test."
The chief priest wept with joy, but immediately wiped away his tears and dressed himself in a dignified manner, so that the gods would see his strict grooming.
The tightly textured book case of yagi was adorned with precious stones and silver, and Nieron's ritual precepts were very heavy. But the high priest held it in his thin hands, without shaking or shaking. He opened the title page and looked at the divine emblem of Nieron and meditated, "My Lord, Your servant offers an offering.
"There is only that Holy Spirit in the world, saith the Lord, that can receive my grace. Tyria is the name I have given, and it symbolizes purity, order, and decorum."
The chief priest immediately heard that this was the outline of the ritual precepts, and he could recite it backwards every time he prayed. But this time it was different. After the first quotation of the high priest, a certain presence descended and the idol of Nieron "came to life".
The test subject, for once, remained calm and did not fall to his knees in confusion and cry. He read the holy words of the Lord of Rituals and slowly knelt down, during which every time he raised his hand and every time he bowed his head, he was completely in line with the dogma. The Kaguya Light Stone shot out a ray of light, and the divine power of Nieron was poured into the chief priest's body.
It is difficult to describe the wonderful feeling of this moment, which is an experience beyond sex. The raging holy power from the inside out pushed the soul to the peak of the senses, resonating with the gods. The broken nasal bone automatically corrected and reset, the scar came off completely, and the chief priest almost screamed out in ecstasy.
"I give you nobility, says the Lord, that is the sign of the Word of Faith; I give you manners, that is the solid stone of sharpening."
The next moment he really screamed out, thousands of sharp knives and steel files churning inside his body, from his brain to his internal organs, from his muscles to his bones.
Opharsis' voice was reciting the commandments as usual, but his brow was furrowed.
The chief priest held back with the utmost willpower, his hands tearing at his front lapels, his throat muffled with a strangled cry similar to that of a drowning man. A dark and tyrannical force rushed back and forth, but the divine power was also present in the body, and the mixture of the two reacted extremely violently. The blood vessels on the storm turned from green to black, then ruptured and opened up, and were instantly healed. The chief priest no longer had the energy to pray and could only barely keep from howling out until his right eye burst and mud-like soft tissue glued half of his face.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa ..."
"The Lord said that the kings of the world construct dignity with power and will eventually turn to dust; the prelates of the faith override power with dignity and step into the kingdom of God after death."
The skin of the sufferer began to peel off in whole pieces, revealing greenish-black muscles, and then heal again, and the cycle continued, and the dead skin that could not fall off in time mixed with the newborn skin, turning into a dark keratin. Like a suffocating fish, the head priest's body shrinks into a ball and then opens up violently. The cries had fallen low and switched to a ghostly whimper, the eerie, low tone more like a beast.
"All glory to my Lord, guardian of the elves, vector of the nobility, defender of traditions, teacher of manners. Praise be to You! All holy and all knowing Nieron!" The chief priest made his concluding remarks. He closed the preceptor and looked indifferently at the humanoid body on the ground.
The chief priest's body had two distinct colors, the left half of the body had a warm glow with skin as tender as a baby. The right half of the body was covered with a layer of pitch-colored keratin that looked like scales.
"You failed to maintain the ritual to the end, half of the ugly is the punishment of our Lord. But you have finally completed the test, stand up and experience the power of the supreme being."
The chief priest braced himself with his beastly claw-like right hand, and the stone slab crackled and shattered. He froze, and with another rake of his hideous claws, the hard stone was grasped up like mud and sand. Looking again at his left hand, a cloud of unshaped divine magic coalesced in his palm, glowing brightly.
"Two days, you only have two days to familiarize yourself with this power. At the divine birth ceremony, you must clear the shame of the temple."
The chief priest was grateful, the left face filled with tears of joy, while the right face pulled a cruel and tyrannical smile.