Chapter 765: The Final Battle
It was past midnight when a messenger burst into the tavern, panting for breath.
"We won... we won!" he shouted, his voice hoarse, not even pausing for a drink. "My lord, the Aosha clan has won!"
The journey from the Scorching Lands back to the small oasis took about a day on foot. If they switched horses, they could arrive on the same day. Clearly, as soon as the result was decided, he had returned to the oasis at full speed.
The entire "Skull Goblet" tavern erupted.
"Ha, I knew they could win!"
"What about the process?"
"Tell us quickly, how did they win?"
"Were there still no casualties?"
The messenger was immediately surrounded by a barrage of questions. Good fruit wine was passed through the crowd, instinctively reaching him.
Tulam also felt a weight lift off his shoulders. The stronger Aosha was, the more comfortable his life as a clan member would be. Even if it wasn't achieved through his own abilities, so what? Being able to lead the clan away from being half-dead and dead, and move to Iron Sand City, this price wasn't too high.
He clapped his hands at the clan member, "Catch your breath first, then tell everyone about the duel."
"Yes!" The messenger moistened his throat with fruit wine, took a deep breath, and said, "The two sides did not fight. The Nulang clan and Princess Aosha reached an agreement, and voluntarily gave up the second position!"
"What?"
The tavern was quiet for a moment, then a roar of discussion erupted, as if threatening to lift the roof!
"The two sides didn't duel?"
"Voluntarily give up... is that considered a surrender?"
"Doesn't that mean Aosha is only one step away from becoming the head of the clan?"
"Successfully completing four Sacred Duels, killing one person in absentia, this is simply unprecedented!"
"I came here after hearing this news."
"Haha, same here. If it wasn't so sensational, who would want to leave the Silver Stream Oasis in this cold winter."
"Damn, it was worth coming!"
"A toast to the Three Gods for Aosha!"
"A toast to Zhuoer. Yinyue!"
Tulam was also stunned for a moment, but he wasn't surprised by the news of the Nulang clan's voluntary retreat—this approach was easy to understand. Preserve strength and temporarily occupy the third position, wait until Aosha and Kuangyan fought to the death, and then look for an opportunity to regain the second position, or even covet the position of the head of the clan. After all, they could retreat, but it would be difficult for Kuangyan to retreat.
What shocked him was that the crowd's discussion made him faintly understand the purpose of the new master.
Those people were quickly accumulating prestige!
Never had a Sacred Duel attracted so much attention from the Sand People—Princess Aosha's return for revenge, a storm of continuous challenges, regardless of how many opponents there were... always facing them with four people, and the legendary record of not killing a single person, all of this seemed so incredible, and at the same time, it aroused people's goodwill to the greatest extent.
Although the Sacred Duel was an important ritual to determine the status and rights of the major clans, it was still a distant matter for most of the Sand People. Some clans never left the Silver Stream Oasis from their establishment to their demise, so naturally they wouldn't care about the battles between challengers and major clans.
After all, only a very small number of clans could stand out from the starry tribes. A normal power transition wasn't even as attractive as the news of Aosha being framed by the Iron Whip. However, this time was different. A clan whose members had been exiled and whose clan leader's daughter had been sold into slavery could still usher in an opportunity to turn around. This alone made most of the weaker clans unconsciously stand on Aosha's side. And what happened afterwards was even more extraordinary. In just one month, Aosha went from an unknown challenger to a household name among the Sand People.
The dense crowd surging in the tavern was the best proof.
Whether they were holding expectations or ridicule, or simply wanted to see how far Aosha could go, at least Zhuoer. Yinyue had become a household name. It was conceivable how many people would go to the Scorching Lands to witness Aosha's ascension in the final Sacred Duel.
Tulam naturally understood what such prestige meant.
A clan leader who spread his name throughout the entire Southernmost Region almost unified the entire desert. Although he fell in the subsequent war with Graycastle, he vaguely resembled an envoy of the Three Gods.
Could the new master's purpose also lie in this?
The only difference was that this time Aosha no longer needed to be enemies with Graycastle—the forces behind them were the northern kingdom pressing down on the Sand People.
"His Majesty Roland. Wimbledon will bring oasis and order to the Mojin clan."
Thinking of what Iron Axe had said, he suddenly realized that when Aosha really became the head of the clan, something earth-shattering might happen.
That would probably change the fate of the entire Mojin Sand People.
*******************
Two days later, on the outskirts of the small oasis, the First Army camp.
"Is your injury... okay?" Echo looked at Ash with some concern. The battle with the Blackwater clan had left her covered in blood—although most of the blood was from her opponents, she wasn't unscathed.
"Don't worry, it won't affect the next operation." Ash carelessly untied her long ponytail, her dark hair cascading down like a waterfall. Paired with a loose robe, she didn't look like a warrior who had experienced life and death many times, but like a graceful and charming beauty. "Leaf's herbs are also very effective. Most of the deeper wounds have already scabbed over."
"They're just some superficial injuries. Extraordinary witches are naturally in better physical condition than us. After all, their brains don't need nutrients, so their muscles grow particularly fast, and their skin is particularly thick." Andrea shrugged. "You don't know about her experiences hunting the Church alone. She basically hid in places that even rats didn't want to stay in, living off decaying animal carcasses. She didn't die then, let alone these small injuries now."
Ash rolled her eyes, not arguing with her as usual, but leaned back in her chair to rest.
This was the behavior of a mature warrior, Iron Axe thought. Besides eating and fighting, the remaining time was used to rest, recovering strength as much as possible to meet the next challenge with a full spirit. The other witches in Neverwinter might also be strong, but few could do this.
No wonder she was the person His Majesty was willing to delay the plan to wait for.
"What should we do next?" Echo asked.
"We have done our best according to His Majesty's instructions," Iron Axe recalled Roland's instructions before departure. Although some words were very awkward, such as hype is the most important, create as much topicality as possible, create a duel legend, let the whole desert hear your voices, etc.... But in short, it was to attract everyone's attention as much as possible. Now more and more people from various Silver Stream Oases were coming to watch the Sacred Duel, which should be considered meeting this requirement. "The rest is to defeat Kuangyan, and then have you say His Majesty's words in front of everyone at the Holy Land."
"I... understand," Echo was silent for a moment, then clenched her fist as if to cheer herself up.
"Don't worry, Lady Yinyue, His Majesty doesn't expect everyone to understand this immediately, and you don't need to have too much pressure," Iron Axe comforted. "Just let your voice spread throughout the Scorching Lands as usual. No matter how many people respond to us, the new order will eventually spread throughout the entire Southernmost Region along the Silver Stream."
At this time, Tulam pushed open the door and walked in.
After saluting the four of them in turn, he took out a letter, "The Kuangyan clan has responded to Aosha's challenge request, but... they require a designated person to participate in the duel."
"What do you mean?" Andrea frowned.
"The letter says that Kuangyan's Third Princess, Luojia, hopes to have a one-on-one duel with Lady Ash on the Scorching Heights," Tulam replied respectfully.