Chapter 744: Chapter 746 A Different Border City
Nian Shutong hadn’t chosen any of the border cities she visited before, but randomly boarded a starship that was relatively close and arrived at the current border city.
However, as soon as she stepped through the gates of the border city, she sensed something different.
The guards at the gate of the border city looked at Nian Shutong, who wore a veil, and said with a not-so-pleasant tone, “She must be too good-looking.”
“Definitely.”
Another guard affirmed nearby, and Nian Shutong, not understanding, glanced at the two men—a look that was somewhat painful to the eyes.
The guard on the left was full of pockmarks, and the one on the right was covered in a face of pits, but both of them stood at the entrance with straight backs, each more confident than the other, proudly displaying their faces.
It seemed that their faces were the part of them they were most proud of.
And they were saying it was because they were so beautiful that they wore a veil?
Nian Shutong, with her doubts, entered the border city.
After her arrival, she truly saw many people like herself, wearing veils or masks; however, these people walked hunched and lacked confidence, almost as if they wished they could vanish in the blink of an eye riding on a wind fire wheel with their hurried steps.
What was going on?
As Nian Shutong walked a distance, many people pointed and whispered about her, but surprisingly, they weren’t disgusted by her ugliness, but rather, they were saying she must be too beautiful.
“She must look too good, yet she doesn’t seem embarrassed at all.”
“She must be new here, otherwise she wouldn’t be like this.”
“You’re right, she’s definitely new here.”
After some time, Nian Shutong roughly understood one thing—that in this border city, the uglier one was, the more confident, whereas the good-looking ones felt more insecure.
Moreover, everyone’s sense of aesthetics was normal because they knew the ones with masks or veils were beautiful; they just still took pride in their own ugliness.
Nian Shutong wasn’t particularly concerned about appearance, but when you yourself have a good-looking face, you would certainly be pleased.
What she meant by not caring was that she wouldn’t judge a person or make decisions based on someone’s appearance.
But if she really had to choose for herself, she would still pick a good-looking appearance—who would actually like ugliness?
Even when buying a bowl for eating, everyone would choose a good-looking one. You never see a merchant make a bowl so ugly that you can’t even bring yourself to eat looking at it.
But this border city was very different; here, people genuinely believed that ugliness was better, that being ugly was the right thing.
Nian Shutong rather felt some interest, wondering whether this approach was genuine or if there were some underlying factors at play.
She made her way to a tavern and, upon entering, ordered a bottle of white liquor from Little River Live and a dish of peanuts. She found a corner table and slowly sipped her drink, munching on the nuts.
“Brother, has the Border City Lord done his blessing recently?”
“It seems to be soon, if not today then tomorrow.”
“That’s good, just in time to catch it.”
“Indeed, as long as one is blessed by the City Lord, there’s hardly any danger that they won’t come back from the Insect Race battlefield.”
“Isn’t that the truth, I also specifically chose this day.”
Nian Shutong casually drank her liquor, gathering some information—the Border City Lord would give blessings. Could it be that the Border City Lord was an ugly person?
However, the City Lord’s blessing seemed to play a vital role.
Because the people who came here clearly believed in this, they thought that the City Lord’s blessing could ensure their safe return from the Insect Race battlefield.
“It’s quite interesting.”
Nian Shutong finished the last peanut in her hand and did not continue to wait. She didn’t care whether the City Lord was blessing or rushing to the battlefield.
But as she got up, cheers started on the streets outside, the City Lord was blessing!
The City Lord was blessing!
Nian Shutong took a step out of the tavern and turned in another direction. Since she was there, she might as well have a look.
She followed the crowd in front of her and kept walking, the term ‘deserted streets’ probably looked like this.
After walking about a few hundred meters, she reached a huge square with a high platform in the center, somewhat like an altar.
Nian Shutong stood in a spot, following the crowd, watching the center of the area.
After about half an hour, a faint scent of flowers drifted over. Nian Shutong sniffed gently, non-toxic.
But this scent of flowers quieted everyone down as they became like the most devout of believers, hands clasped in prayer, looking up toward the sky.
Soon, a white figure appeared from a place, not by flying on their own, but there was some kind of small flying device under their feet.
Human, seemed to be, temporarily without problems.
If there was really a problem, it was that this person’s life wasn’t going to last much longer.
Nian Shutong watched the man float in, his face not grotesque at all, but rather quite handsome.
So, this was the City Lord?
She had thought that the locals were confident in their ugliness because the City Lord himself was ugly.
But it seemed her assumption was completely overturned.
“It’s time for the blessing again, and, as always, I tell you that appearances are the least important.”
“What truly deserves your attention is a person’s heart, so do not judge someone and refuse to understand them just because of how they look.”
After speaking a few words, the White-clothed City Lord sat on the high altar and began to bless everyone.
Nian Shutong clearly saw that from the body of the White-clothed City Lord, streams of the Power of Blessing, actual Power of Blessing, were being emitted and falling onto the people below.
And it seemed that the uglier someone was, the more they received.
The people below felt it clearly, and probably this was the reason they took pride in being ugly.
But the White-clothed City Lord above was burning his own spiritual power to bless everyone.
Nian Shutong frowned as she watched. Initially, she had thought that this might be some old demon or someone using some technique to secretly steal the energy of others—a common enough occurrence.
But all the actions of the White-clothed City Lord proved her guess wrong.
This was someone burning their own power to bless the people below.
For what?
Nian Shutong didn’t understand and didn’t accept the blessings of the White-clothed City Lord. The stream of Power of Blessing that fell on her returned the same way to the White-clothed City Lord.
The City Lord naturally sensed this, opened his eyes to look for a moment, then closed them again.
A blessing ritual lasted less than ten minutes. The White-clothed City Lord still sat on the altar and said to the people below, “I hope everyone returns safely.”
The people clearly understood and left—that was the rule of the White-clothed City Lord; he had to watch them leave.
Only Nian Shutong saw clearly that the White-clothed City Lord didn’t even have the energy to leave himself.