frightfiction Chapter 520 The Red King's Advanced Technology
Chapter 520 The Red King's Advanced Technology
Xu Ning glanced around and saw that, apart from Paimon still struggling with the empty scarf, almost everyone else was already stuck above the waist and had no way to struggle.
Since I can't use the power of the wind element right now, and opening my wind wings would break them under the weight of the sand and gravel, I might as well just let myself fall naturally.
But behind him was Isaac's grandfather, the old man was frail and probably couldn't withstand the strain.
Xu Ning suddenly flicked out the Dust Concealment Gourd in his hand, which wrapped around one of the old man's arms. "Qingyi, pull him into the cave."
"How could it be shaking like that?"
As soon as Qingyi uttered her complaint, Xu Ning saw a flash of green light on the old man's body, and a grass-green circular shield suddenly opened up around the old man.
The people around were instantly enveloped.
The green ball fell along with the entire sand dune, and hundreds of tons of yellow sand crashed down with terrifying force.
"If it weren't for this grass-green light shield protecting him, many people would have been injured, and the old man might have gone straight to see the Crimson King."
The circular shield of grass element disappeared, and everyone stood up unharmed, then quickly surveyed their surroundings.
No one expected that this place would actually be a magnificent... mausoleum?
Xu Ning turned to look at the old man who was still not fully conscious, and was quite surprised by the grass element power that had appeared on him.
"Was this a hidden plot planted by the Little Auspicious Grass King? Including the collapse just now, it was all intentional to make us discover this place. Is there some important information in the tomb that we need to uncover?"
Just as I was pondering this, I suddenly heard Rahman burst into wild laughter.
"This is a building left behind by the Red King. There must be treasures he left behind inside. Liyue boy, didn't you just say that the Red King couldn't manifest any miracles? Now you've witnessed it, haven't you?"
These words made Xu Ning feel a little uneasy.
It was just too much of a coincidence.
He had just mocked the Red King for dying many years ago and abandoning his desert people, and then a "sandstorm funeral" sent him straight to the entrance of the graveyard, almost sending him inside to lie down with the gods.
Before he could think of any rebuttal, Elhesen, who had already straightened his clothes and was standing to the side, spoke up.
"Even if this is the tomb left by the Crimson King, why is it filled with the aura of life? The power flowing here is clearly the elemental power of grass."
Rahman's laughter paused, but he immediately snorted.
"Whether I have the Eye of God or not is up to you to say. I believe this is a miracle of the Crimson King, guiding me to the temple. There must be information about Him inside."
Surprisingly, everyone agreed on the point of exploring the tomb.
Especially Elhesen, while everyone else was rushing inside, he strolled leisurely behind, even stopping occasionally to look at the symbols carved on the pillars beside him.
Xu Ning also activated his elemental vision and exchanged a glance with Kong, whose eyes glowed with a bright green light. Both of them couldn't help but look on in astonishment.
It has to be said that the grass element here is so dense it's almost unbelievable; it's so dense that it even seems to have a flowing direction.
Xu Ning followed the flow of grass element forward. There seemed to be wires or pipes in the cracks of the stones beneath their feet, which gradually lit up as the group went in.
"Is this the mechanism of Sumeru? If it could be arranged like this in the Dust Song Pot, it would be very beautiful."
Paimon flew far away in amazement following the blue light. "Come quickly! There are lots of flowers here, and a statue that looks like a big dog."
Xu Ning walked over and looked at the coffin surrounded by flowers in the center. "This is indeed a mausoleum. I just don't know who is buried here, but judging from the scale, their identity must be extraordinary."
Rahman walked over and pointed to a symbol on the ground, saying, "This is the symbol representing Lord Red King, so it definitely doesn't have any Grass God aura as you say..."
Xu Ning shook his head helplessly. This guy seemed unwilling to have any connection between his Crimson King and the Grass God, convinced that the Grass God had killed the Crimson King.
However, based on my observation of how the grass elemental power flowed smoothly through the mechanisms of the tomb, I fear the relationship between the previous Grass God and the Crimson King was far from simple.
Fortunately, at this moment, Elhesen, who had been wandering around at the back, came up, bent down to look at the words on the stone slab, and said: "A memorial written in ancient script. Here lies our loyal priest, Kassar. His wisdom was like a miracle among men, and he deserves praise and eulogy."
Rahman stared wide-eyed at the pile of incomprehensible symbols on the ground and couldn't help but ask, "You understand the ancient Red King script?"
Al-Hysen nodded and said, "It's nothing. Every young person should learn at least twenty languages before graduation, shouldn't they?"
Rahman seemed to have been struck heavily by a hammer, and looked up at the others around him with a blank expression.
Xu Ning quickly picked up the wine gourd and took a sip, trying to hide his somewhat embarrassed expression.
Twenty kinds? I haven't even learned all the common Teyvat scripts yet!
Of the group, only Seno looked slightly better; everyone else saw the same expression on each other's faces.
This made everyone feel a little better.
Paimon, however, was quite frank and asked directly, "What else is written in here?"
Elhesen examined the symbols on the ground for a while, then reached out and fiddled with a piece of blue crystal in the center.
"Why don't I demonstrate it to you? That way, at least I can avoid anyone thinking I'm lying."
Rahman naturally knew that Elhesen was referring to him, but he didn't really trust this scholar who was hard to fathom, so he readily admitted it.
Xu Ning saw the emerald green light emanating from Elhesen's fingertips and knew that he was using his grass elemental power to guide the grass elemental energy in the tomb into the mechanism on the ground.
As the symbols on the ground lit up one by one, a voice that sounded like a synthesized machine suddenly rang out, "Analyzing..."
The blue crystals embedded in the ground suddenly released beams of light, projecting images onto the adjacent stone walls, accompanied by emotionless synthesized voices that recounted events from ancient times.
"Knowledge gives birth to civilization, and knowledge can also destroy civilization..."
Xu Ning glanced at the amethyst on the ground and thought to himself, "Well, they've even come up with a projector. This level of high technology is unmatched. No wonder the desert people are so obsessed with the Red King. I thought Kanria's robots were already quite advanced, but this one is still a bit lacking in technological sophistication."
The projection detailed how the Crimson King brought "forbidden knowledge" that did not belong to this world to this world. The forbidden knowledge spread like a plague, filling people's minds with crazy babbling and causing black scales to grow on their bodies.
When disaster raged across the desert, the Great Tree King extended a helping hand, using a temple imbued with the power of life to quell the calamity.
This allowed the sparks of civilization to survive in Aru Village, but forbidden knowledge was not eradicated. As long as forbidden knowledge remains, the ills of this world will not disappear.
In the end, the Red King chose to sacrifice himself, and the Great Tree King also overexerted his power in order to cooperate with Him in clearing away forbidden knowledge, and his body became like that of a child.
In his final words, the priest who left the message hoped that the people of the desert in future generations would not forget the kindness of the Great Tree King.
"This...this is impossible...I...I...the people of the Grass God...they are all..."
After reading the message, Rahman was almost completely devastated.
"What are we and my crew fighting for... what are we really fighting for?"
Looking at him, Xu Ning sighed softly. It was indeed hard to bear when one's lifelong beliefs and convictions suddenly collapsed in an instant.
However, despite all that the Great Tree King had done for this world and given almost everything, he ended up being imprisoned in the Pure Land Palace by the Order of the Church as an abandoned pawn. The people he protected had long forgotten that there was such a gentle god who had once protected them.
"Damn it, they're all so ruthless! I thought the Mondstadt folks were the most ungrateful people in Teyvat, but compared to Sumeru, the fact that they can even call out 'Baba Baisi Tuosi-sama' a few times is practically the epitome of piety!"
But what exactly is this forbidden knowledge that the Red King obtained?
If these world-leading high-tech products are all we have, they don't seem to be enough to shake the foundations of this world. So why would they cause the World Tree to fall ill?
The priest mentioned "knowledge" at the beginning.
Unless these forbidden knowledge contain something that the Teyvats dare not know, once they learn what they shouldn't know, they will be unable to bear it until they go mad, and there may even be a higher power intervening.
Like a nail stuck in the sky on a snow-capped mountain, it's even willing to sacrifice an entire nation for a single sentence.
"You're different from them all, aren't you?"
While Xu Ning was lost in thought, he didn't even notice when Elhesen walked up to him.
"What's different?"
"Your attitude toward the Red King's technologies is vastly different from everyone else's."
Elhesen pointed to the mechanism at his feet, “Take this for example. When I put it to work, everyone around me thought, ‘This thing can actually do this!’ But your attitude was, ‘So that’s how this thing is used.’”
"You don't even consider whether its appearance is inappropriate or absurd; you're as if you're used to these sights and can simply accept the consequences of their existence..."
Xu Ning was surprised to find that while everyone else was watching porn, this guy was actually watching him intently.
For a moment, I didn't know how to explain it to him.