Chapter 1352: Chapter 1352

"Chief Divine! The sunset, how beautiful! Just like... uh... blood-red cocoa?..."

As evening approached, the red sun set over the distant hills, as if casting a blood-red glow on the pyramid, with an inexplicable sense of sanctity and peculiarity. At this moment, Woodpecker Aitz wanted to recite a poem, but couldn’t think of an opening line. Similarly, as he looked at the pile of ’mountain goods’ in front of him, he wanted to curse, but didn’t know what to curse.

"Damn it! You call these ’mountain goods’?"

"Yeah! Chief Divine bears witness! This is the mountain goods from our fifteen flag brigades, tens of thousands of people! Just say it, aren’t they good stuff?!"

Red-haired leader Mique raised his head and vigorously pounded his chest. His face was filled with a simple and honest smile. These ’mountain goods’ were brought back by the Black Wolf Army, not sparing a thousand or two thousand li, from the Trascal Land, even the Totonac land. And every time they transported ’mountain goods,’ more than a hundred elite red-haired warriors had to be mobilized, along with hundreds of trained militia!

After all, these were the hope of thousands of Guajili warriors in the army and the driving force for the warriors’ fierce battles, and they had to be transported back to each flag brigade!

"Uh... Chief Divine! These... This is indeed good stuff! It’s far superior to the previous small tribes... My God! These are?..."

Woodpecker Aitz squatted on the ground, eyes wide open, sifting through the ’mountain goods’ in the baskets. He closely examined the piles of gold items, silverware, jade artifacts, gemstones, jewelry, ritual artifacts, and flashing things that dazzled his eyes in the tattered baskets. Yet, he still strained to open his eyes wide, trying hard to recognize different divine runes and carvings... His expression shifted from greed to amazement, finally erupting in an uncontrollable exclamation!

"Is this a gilded Feathered Serpent statue? Such a thin layer of gold? What’s shining inside?... Ah! It’s Obsidian Stone! To sculpt such a simple yet delicate face from the fragile Obsidian and then coat it with a thin layer of gold for reinforcement... Chief Divine! This must be the masterpiece of a great stone mason from Tlaxcala and a great goldsmith from Mistec working together for several months!..."

"Huh? A silver-inlaid skull ritual artifact? Half a skull made into a bowl, with a pool of black silver for the base, seemingly adding mercury as well. Right in the center is a pure, pigeon egg-sized turquoise symbolizing eternal life! This is an ancient God of Death belief! This half skull must have belonged to a highly powerful and esteemed Priest, possibly even the most noble Divine Descendant!... And look at these blackened bone divine runes, it’s estimated to have been sculpted three or four hundred years ago!"

"And this! What is this?... A high-level sacrificial Feathered Serpent mask? Such an ancient design, a heavy gold base, gray ancient silver, and two bird egg-sized blue gemstones inlaid... This... could this be from the Toltec people? Ah! The ancient pattern on the back symbolizes a revered ancient ruler... It must be! A Holy Ritual Artifact passed down from the Toltec people! Divine! This thing must be at least seven hundred years old, just like the Alliance’s High Priesthood Tlaloc mask!!"

Upon seeing these impossibly appearing Holy Ritual Artifacts, Woodpecker Aitz could no longer contain himself, his whole body trembling. He grabbed the red-haired leader’s collar, almost shouting his questions.

"Divine! Ancestor! Damn it! Damn it!... Don’t tell me that such top-level Heritage Ritual Artifacts are what you casually plunder from a Tlaxcallan Temple?..."

"Tell me! Where did these come from? Did you rob the Temple of the Feathered Serpent in Four Snake City, or did you plunder Cholula’s Great Pyramid in the Holy City of Nava?!"

"Huh?! You know Four Snake City and the Holy City?... Praise Chief Divine! We’ve secretly sold so many times, finally encountering someone who knows the value!"

Hearing this, red-haired leader Mique was shocked, then gleefully laughed.

"I told you, dressed like a colorful turkey, looking like you’re not much of a fighter... you must know a lot!..."

"Oh!... Chief Divine bears witness! You’re right! These are the most precious mountain goods!... As for where they came from, it’s all there!"

"What? It’s all... there?!"

"Yeah! We’ve got some from those snake cities and some plundered from that Holy City as well! We’ve fought for two to three years, lost many warriors, killed even more samurai, and that’s how we got these treasures! These are our rewards, that... um... Black Wolf Leader... ’bestowed’ upon us!"

"Chief Divine! Truly... truly the Heritage Ritual Artifacts from Cholula in the Holy City?!"

Upon hearing this, Woodpecker Aitz stood there stunned. His face trembled violently, his heart pounding heavily. To people of this era, these legendary ritual artifacts were not just valuable relics, but divine artifacts possessing divinity!

"Divine Artifacts... Divine Artifacts being sold by the basket?!... Damn it! Only these barbarian children from the wilderness would treat heritage divine artifacts so casually... just throwing them in grass baskets, selling them by the roadside... Damn it!..."

"... I’m telling you! Us Guajili warriors always break the city first! The Black Wolf Leader is generous indeed; as long as we win battles, he’s not overly concerned with us! The entire Black Wolf Army’s fifteen large flag brigades and sixty small flag brigades’ mountain goods are handed over to me for transport... so I can tell at a glance whether it’s a good product! These few items are the absolute finest!"

Red-haired leader Mique smiled honestly, patting his chest warmly, then also warmly patted Woodpecker Aitz’s arm, muttering all the while.

"I’m telling you! This station was newly built not long ago; each flag brigade’s most difficult-to-sell treasures are placed here, hardly been picked over! When we encounter elite warriors of large groups that we can’t beat, we don’t even bother selling..."

"Friend, brother! You’re one lucky guy, even bird droppings could land right in the middle of your forehead! Being able to come here, encounter us selling mountain goods, that’s Chief Divine’s blessing for you! Not to mention you’re knowledgeable, missing this place means you’d never find another like it!"

"Ha?!... Another place? This kind of Heritage Ritual Artifact... meeting your group here, I bet I’ll never forget it for my entire life!... Furthermore, such divine artifacts could never be identical..."

Woodpecker Aitz held his forehead, emotion fluctuating violently, unable to even squat properly. He simply sat on the ground, amidst the baskets full of ancient ritual artifacts, with a face of disbelief and vacant, scattered greed in his eyes.

"Chief Divine’s blessing, Chief Divine’s blessing! Let me recover, let me recover!..."

"Uh!... Chief Divine, this surely is someone who cannot fight... It’s hardly a big deal, and he’s already out of it!..."

Red-haired leader Mique helplessly scratched his neck, just standing there waiting for a while. During the wait, he pondered over the other’s words, feeling that this person seemed quite knowledgeable about these treasures and seemingly came from a significant background... Hmm?!...

Actually, these mountain goods from various flag brigades naturally originated from the canine descendant warriors of the army who, after conquering City-States, secretly hoarded the spoils and transported them back from afar. Such clandestine hoarding of spoils in an army constantly at war could hardly be stopped.

Typically, accompanying War Priests would turn a blind eye. Especially in desperate siege battles, it has become an implicit rule for vanguard warriors to stash away a few spoils. But if things get too out of hand, if they hoard real treasures, and word gets out all over... Hmm...

"Eh! I’m still too simple, shouldn’t have shown him the finest mountain goods immediately... But without his input, we wouldn’t know the origins of these things!"

Red-haired leader Mique thought it over, then squinted, signaling to the surrounding Hunters. A group of simple red-haired Hunters exchanged knowing glances, like a wolf pack about to hunt, nodding slightly. If this Camp Commander who saw the real treasures ended up buying nothing, refusing to pull out forbidden military goods to bind them together... then they would have to sneakily shoot him with an arrow, kill him in the night!...

"Praise Chief Divine! So, friends, brothers! Have you recovered? Did anything or any mountain goods catch your eye?" Thıs content belongs to noveⅼfire.net

Red-haired leader grinned, holding Woodpecker Aitz by the arm, looking at the gradually focusing eyes, asking sincerely.

"Brother from the south! Chief Divine bears witness! We Guajili people hail from the simple wilderness; the goods are good, prices low, no more sincere than this! See anything you like, I’ll wrap it up for you right away! If these few baskets aren’t enough, we have plenty more in the cellar! Though those goods might be a bit inferior..."