Chapter 278 Lord of Ants

The Dieye Mountains run across Tianzhu from east to west, dividing the entire subcontinent into northern and southern parts.

On the northern plateau, there are hundreds of city-states, large and small.

There are many tribal villages surrounding the city-state, ruled by local elders.

It has now entered summer here, but there is surprisingly little rain. The earth has been dried up by the sun, and many streams have dried up.

Man and beast alike were exhausted and suffering in the unbearable heat.

However, the more this happened, the more the local Brahmin elders asked them to make offerings to the gods.

From grain to livestock to young girls, a large number of sacrifices were sent to the temple, and large gatherings were held again and again, but the drought did not improve at all.

On the contrary, it became more and more serious, with various city-states facing widespread famine, and the farmers were miserable.

In a village called Elam, the local Brahmin elders looked at the treasures in their house and were not worried at all that they would not be able to survive this drought.

But he was very worried about the safety of the gods.

Because he had already learned about the chaos in the world of heaven and humans through prayer.

There was a terrible demon king who destroyed Mount Mandala, sealed and slaughtered the gods.

How is this possible? How could the gods suffer such a tragic disaster?

The elder was worried and angry. He took his wife and children with him, cursed the devil day and night, and prayed devoutly to the gods.

In Tianzhu, the power of blessing and curse is quite powerful. If countless people curse one person, Brahma will make it effective. If countless people bless one person, it will also be effective.

On this day, he gathered all the villagers together, knelt outside the temple, chanted sutras and prayed together.

Many people in the crowd were so hungry that they fainted after kneeling for a long time.

When the elder saw this, he became furious and ordered his servants to drag them out and whip them dozens of times.

Several people were killed on the spot.

Until the evening, a skinny woman came to the edge with her daughter in hand, and bravely came here to look for her husband.

There was no grain of food in the house. She stayed up all day but didn't dare to find it because women were not allowed to participate in this Dharma assembly.

But it was too late now and I was hungry, so I took my daughter to watch from a distance, intending to remind her husband to ask the elders to borrow some food after the ceremony.

Who would have thought that I would see her husband's body from afar, and several neighbors lying in a pool of blood.

She was completely stunned and couldn't care less, crying and rushing towards him.

The daughter also cried in horror when she saw her father being whipped to death.

The noise disrupted the prayer meeting, and the elder was extremely angry: "How dare you, a servant's daughter, come near here and make noise!"

"People have been praying for the gods all day, but you have ruined it, and everyone's efforts have been in vain!"

After saying this, the crowd immediately stared at the mother and daughter with rage.

They had worked hard all day, and it turned out to be in vain. How could they not be angry?

"Your husband was beaten to death by the elders after interrupting his prayers, and your daughter also made a fuss and made a fuss. Your whole family is a pariah full of sin!"

The woman didn't know what was going on. After hearing this, she finally couldn't help but said: "My husband has dedicated everything to God, even his eldest daughter, to you, just because God can save him from suffering and let the whole family have food to eat." .”

"Now that we have prayed again and again, many people in the village are starving to death, but the suffering is still getting worse. Is this also our problem?"

"You killed my husband and left me and my daughter with nothing. How can we survive?"

Her words aroused resonance and commotion among many villagers. Indeed, many of them could no longer hold on.

After praying so many times, the gods have not solved the suffering. Isn't this a problem with the ability of the Brahmin elders?

Unexpectedly, the elder became even angrier: "Don't you know that the gods are fighting against the devil, and that is when they need human sacrifices?"

"Pray for blessings to the gods and help them defeat the devil, and you will receive blessings. Even if you die of starvation, you will have a clean soul and be reborn in a noble family in your next life, free from suffering."

"You ask me how I can live? For a pariah like you, life, death, joy and sorrow are not important in this world. Following the Dharma, dedicating yourself to God, and washing away your sins are the first priority,"

"I'm even teaching you this. It shows that your heart is impure and full of dirt! You are making a noise in the puja and you still dare to question the authority of the Brahmin?"

"Not only will you be reborn in the realm of hungry ghosts, but you will also cause others to add sin!"

After what she said, the woman could not refute, she burst into tears and hugged her daughter tightly, shaking.

The restless villagers immediately pointed their fingers at her.

Yes, all the sufferings in this life are training. The more suffering and difficult it is, the more willing you are to endure it, serve the gods wholeheartedly, and follow the righteous Dharma.

Only in this way can you wash away your sins and enjoy happiness in the next life.

A woman actually talks back to a Brahmin for the sake of food and the death of her husband. This is simply putting the cart before the horse! Forgot what you live for!

It only increases your own sins and harms others.

"You are a woman who harms others and yourself, beat her to death!"

"Let her go to hell!"

The angry villagers picked up stones and threw them at the woman. The woman cried and hugged her daughter and ran away desperately.

The Brahmin elder shouted for people to chase her. Suddenly many people picked up wooden sticks and chased the mother and daughter.

The woman's mind went blank and she just kept running away.

The villagers were also very hungry, and their legs and feet were numb after kneeling for a long time. They couldn't catch up, so they had to hit them with stones from a distance.

They continued to make noisy noises until they reached the bottom of a rocky mountain in the Diesel Mountains before they finally gave up.

The terrain here is complicated, with dead trees and rocks everywhere. The villagers thought that she could not survive as a woman in this wilderness, so they went back cursing.

The sun was setting, and the woman was holding her child in her arms, stumbling along.

She had a bloody head and bruises all over her body.

Even if he stepped on the rocks with his bare feet, there would be bloody marks on each foot.

The woman's eyes were blank and desperate. It would have been difficult for her to survive after her husband died. Now that she was driven out of the village and left with nothing in the wilderness, it was even more certain that she would die.

In this way, she took her child numbly deep into the mountains, hoping to go to other villages.

Although there is famine for hundreds of miles around, maybe there is a slight chance of survival in other villages?

She didn't want to die with her child, but she didn't dare to die. After all, she had sinned heavily.

"Plop!" Finally she couldn't walk anymore and fell down next to a rock.

"Mom... you don't want to die." The daughter was anxious. She was only five years old, as skinny as a stick, and she didn't know what to do.

"I won't die. Mom just stopped to pray to the gods to forgive our sins." The woman said weakly.

Mother and daughter lay next to each other, curled up and praying.

However, all the gods she knew asked her repeatedly, but there was no response.

Only Brahmin's prayers will be answered by God. She just has no choice at the moment.

"Great Spirit, please guide me and spare the poor people their suffering."

Suddenly, she heard the howl of a wolf and couldn't help but feel excited.

She had heard some time ago that there was a pack of wolves on this barren mountain that could eat people, but she didn't expect to encounter them.

She was so frightened that she stood up and tried to move away.

But no matter how she walked, the howling of the wolf only got closer and closer.

At this moment, night is about to fall, and the shadows of wolves can be vaguely seen in the dim distance.

"It was my blood that attracted the wolf..."

The woman was so desperate that she knew she couldn't run away. She covered her mouth and shed tears, trembling all over.

But when she saw her daughter, she plucked up the courage to hide her child on the mountain while she ran to the other side.

"My child, you are not injured. The wolves cannot find you."

"Mom, don't go...I'm afraid..." the little girl cried suppressedly.

The woman was also crying: "Mom has prayed to the gods, and the gods have responded to her, sparing you suffering. The gods will protect you."

Unexpectedly, the little girl held on to her tightly: "I don't want gods, I just want my mother."

"..."

The woman saw the wolves getting closer and closer, but her daughter refused to leave, so she could only run away with her in her arms.

But she couldn't run far. When she came to a dead forest, she stopped decisively and pulled the dead branches and leaves on the ground.

An ant nest was dug out by her.

But she paid no attention and just gathered branches and tried desperately to make a fire.

While she was lighting the fire, she was still praying, hoping that the gods would focus all the sins on her and forgive the child.

However, she had no tools, her hands were worn out, and she had no fire.

The wolves approached from all directions, staring directly at the mother and daughter.

"Ouch!" A wolf pounced on it and bit it, tearing wildly.

Followed by other hungry wolves, they swarmed up and the woman instantly felt like she was being bitten in several places on her body.

The severe pain instantly made her scream: "Run! Run!"

She pushed her daughter away, hoping that she could run away, but the next scene was a wolf attacking from behind and instantly felling the girl.

Hearing her daughter's cries, she finally collapsed completely, crying and roaring.

Cursing with all his might, he resisted with all his strength.

The gods had only given her suffering, and now she could only rely on herself to fight against the wolves.

I already wish I could transform into Shura!

However, even if she dies, she will never think of turning into an Asura, because the Asura Path is the 'three higher realms', second only to gods and nobler than Brahmins in the human world.

She is just a pariah and does not deserve to be reincarnated as a demon. Being an ant in her next life is considered a blessing.

"Pfft!"

While she was hysterical, blood spattered and fell onto the ant nest, soaking in it.

I don’t know what caused the alarm, but a surge of domineering power came over me. The wolves suddenly let go of their mouths and barked at the ant nest as if they were exploding!

The hungry wolf barked wildly while staring at the nest and retreating, not daring to get closer.

The lair exuded an astonishing domineering force, which became more and more shocking, causing all the wolves to burst into fury, whimpering and running away with their tails between their legs.

The woman was also stunned. Lying on the ground dying, she struggled to get up.

She didn't know where this shocking aura came from. When she locked her eyes on the ant nest and determined that it was emanating from there, it became even more terrifying.

Because she can feel that this is the aura of a king. It's as if there is an unparalleled king in the mound!

Swallowing mountains and rivers with anger, shocking the world with his domineering power.

A mound where ants live, and a king? These two don’t go together!

Is it God? Or monsters? Or is it an artifact? The woman could only guess that there might be something like a god or demon buried under the mound.

But she soon didn't care about these. Now she didn't care about gods or demons.

At this moment, I just crawled towards my daughter frantically to check the injury.

Seeing that her daughter was bitten and covered in blood, she whimpered to stop the bleeding, regardless of her own bleeding.

But fortunately, my daughter was not in fear of her life and was still crying with anger.

"It's okay...it's okay..." the woman comforted, leaning against a dead tree.

She was so weak that she could barely move anymore.

My eyes were looking straight at the ant nest, where countless ants were swarming out, and the black mass was crawling everywhere.

Obviously, they were all startled by the sudden appearance of domineering energy.

What's more, she saw a huge ant queen crawling out with her bloated belly.

After a while, the domineering spirit disappeared, as if nothing happened.

The ants protected the queen and walked around the ground blankly twice, obviously not knowing what was happening.

"There must be something terrible lurking down there."

The woman guessed, but what could she do? Barely able to move, helpless, he could only lie on the edge of the nest.

No matter what it was, even if it was monsters, it didn't matter to her.

As long as the child lives, she is willing to feed the devil.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her feet, followed by bursts of itching.

Looking sideways, a group of ants were attracted by the smell of her blood and crawled onto her body.

"Uh-huh!"

These are fire ants from the mountains, and their bites are extremely painful.

The pain and itching were unbearable, and the woman struggled and twisted, beating desperately.

But her whole body was covered with wounds, her clothes were stained with blood, and she was unable to move. The ants just gathered more and more.

For this reason, she simply stopped struggling, just separated her daughter, and allowed herself to be bitten by the ants.

Then free your hands and continue to light the fire.

She didn't know how long it took, but she endured being eaten by thousands of ants and losing too much blood, and finally lit up the fire.

She hurriedly burned herself with fire, and suddenly it crackled, and many ants curled up and fell.

In this way, back and forth, it was burned with flames, smoked, and smeared with soot, and finally all the ants on the body were removed.

And she was also covered in darkness, her eyes were black, and she was lying there at her limit.

Suddenly, she felt something crawling on her body.

He lowered his eyebrows slightly and saw that there was an ant left in his hand.

It was a worker ant. It was very small. Compared with other worker ants, it was obvious that it had not been born for a long time and its shell was not completely hardened.

At this moment, it was curled up in the fire, and some of its limbs had melted, but this did not seem to affect the ant.

So much so that after casually biting a few bloody scabs, it became energetic, dragging its remaining body back to life.

Because he was running so happily, the little ant even tore off his burned leg with a little tug.

At this scene, it itself was stunned for a moment, turned around, and shook its tentacles, seeming a little confused.

"call!"

The woman didn't think much. She raised her hand slightly and smoked it in the smoke of the fire, trying to burn it off.

Unexpectedly, for some reason, the ants were not afraid of high temperatures.

The woman approached the fire, and the small flames ignited for a moment, and then her pupils shrank: "What? No damage at all?"

"There are obviously traces of being roasted on his body."

Just when the woman was shocked, the little ant tilted its head, flicked its tentacles, and suddenly emitted a ball of flame.

The flame was extremely shining and soared into the sky, like a meteor that was attacking the sky and piercing into the clouds!

"boom!"

The terrifying explosion swept away in the clouds, and powerful shock waves swept in all directions.

The dark clouds suddenly opened! For a moment it seemed like there were no clouds in the sky!

Only the flames were left in the sky, and the night was suddenly illuminated red!

The woman was shocked, what is this? A powerful fireball released from her hand?

No, it was the little ant who did it!

She looked at the ant, which was standing on the back of her hand, with its tentacles pointing toward the sky, as if it was sensing something.

It was only then that the shock wave that exploded in the sky spread!

With a rumble, the whole mountain began to vibrate, echoing with sound waves, and the sight was filled with flying sand and rocks.

"It's so powerful! It seems like the sky will explode!"

"Do fire ants really breathe fire?"

The woman was seriously injured, and her head was buzzing at the moment, and she didn't know what was going on.

But she soon realized that this ant was probably the owner of the previous domineering aura.

Fortunately, she thought there was something divine and demonic buried under the mound, but it turned out to be just a little ant.

Insect... what kind of god could this be? Or is it a demon?

Lord of ants? God of the Zerg?

…

p.s: Sorry.