Wasteland: My items are infinitely upgraded.

Chapter 254: The Knights are severely damaged, the power of the blazing sun, and the successor

Near the ancient Zhengzhou, the siege and pursuit of the Knights Templar by the Cult of the Fiery Sun is still ongoing.

Without the leadership of the Knight Commander, the remaining members posed no threat to the priests of the Sun Cult.

The Knight Commander's body was taken away by the apprentice knight, and after escaping the siege and heading to the Zhuma Temple, the Sun Cult's operation would be exposed sooner or later.

Therefore, the current focus is not to kill all witnesses, but to consume the Knights' manpower as much as possible.

That is, the fifty or so knight apprentices who followed the Knights to Oasis Town to participate in the suppression mission.

They are candidates for the future Knights Templar. If they can become Knight Apprentices, they will have a great chance of being promoted to the early second-level apprentice knights.

When an incident occurs that threatens the Holy Spring Church's rule, especially in times of war, these people are the most important reserve force of the Knights Templar.

In an emergency, they only need to undergo surgical transformation to evolve into a higher level, and they can be promoted to a qualified apprentice knight.

Now that the Cult of the Fiery Sun has launched a massive attack and killed these apprentices who have only evolved to the late first stage and nineteenth level, they will be able to deal a good blow to the vitality of the Holy City of Storms.

Especially in this era when there are no third-level kings...

As long as the Cult of God does not rashly attack the Holy City, the Cult of Holy Spring will at most send more knight squads to hunt down the Cult of God out of considerations of interests and cost-effectiveness.

Instead, the third-level bishop left the city directly and came to the wilderness to fight back.

In a battle between a second-level evolver, basically at full output, each battle requires the consumption of a life essence of the same level, or equivalent evolutionary meat.

However, after the third-order king leaves his own radiation range, the consumption of maintaining his own existence, calculated in terms of life essence, is almost one second-stage late-stage essence every minute. When fighting at full strength, the consumption is calculated in seconds.

Unless they are willing to take the risk and cost of damaging the third-level origin in their bodies, taking direct action will simply not be worth the cost.

Unless there are third-level opponents among the target enemies, it is definitely more cost-effective to send second-level evolvers to deal with second-level enemies.

The large number of dead knight apprentices at this moment can at least severely damage the manpower of the Knights, causing the Holy City of Storm to lose a spare sharp knife.

Subsequently, the Cult of the Fiery Sun would be able to deal with the Knights and break up the pursuit of the Holy City much more easily.

After explaining the follow-up matters, the high priest stayed in the ruins of the ancient Zhengzhou city, basking in the scorching sun from east to west, and slowly recovering from his wounds.

He stopped the growth of his left arm.

It takes a lot of vitality to regenerate a whole arm from a broken limb. Instead of getting a new arm, it is better to keep it as it is and live a few more days.

However, compared to the lost left arm, the injury to the chest needs to be repaired more.

Although the heart, which has been beating for hundreds of years, has long been old and dilapidated, without it to supply fresh blood and nutrients to the whole body, the second-level cells in the body will only turn on autophagy mode and devour other low-level cells.

After taking the life essence and drinking some water, the hole in the high priest's chest slowly grew back at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The evolved cells that absorb the source substance split into original omnipotent stem cells, which then gradually differentiate into single specialized functional cells, and finally form the lost organ tissues, perfectly repairing them to their original state.

As an advanced evolved life form, the high priest only needs to absorb energy from the scorching sunlight, and then use the water he consumes and the carbon dioxide and nitrogen in the air he breathes to obtain the basic carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen elements, and directly complete energy fixation in the body.

No complicated and inefficient conversion process is required.

This is also one of the special abilities of the Sun Believers.

The closer to the strong light, the better the conversion effect.

Although other evolvers can do the same, they will most likely be invaded by the curse of the scorching sun, which will plant a bomb in their bodies that can explode at any time.

While slowly repairing his wounds, the high priest's gaze wandered towards the southeast.

Just when he was mobilizing the power of the Fiery Sun in his body and communicating with the external Fiery Sun energy, he entered the state of being possessed by the Fiery Sun and was able to possess perception abilities far beyond the second level.

Especially the nearby solar energy gathering points have particularly keen perception.

This ability will be further strengthened near the Fiery Sun Forbidden Zone due to the increased concentration of Fiery Sun energy in the air, and will even be stronger than that of an ordinary third-level king.

So at that time, the high priest keenly sensed the unusual fluctuations.

Coming from the Fiery Sun Forbidden Zone behind him.

One is the fork in the road to the south, where there is a lot of vigorous life energy.

They all started at the level of evolved beings, and there were as many as seven or eight second-order evolved beings.

Although the two sides were hundreds of kilometers apart, this large group of evolved life forms still had some residual sun energy in their bodies.

This is not fatal to the evolved body, but the high priest who is possessed by the scorching sun can sense a clue.

From his perspective, a large number of faint light points appeared in the south, indicating that there existed a group of evolved beings that had been staying near the Fiery Sun Forbidden Zone for a long time.

And such a huge number of evolutions appeared at the edge of the Fiery Sun Forbidden Zone, especially at the crossroads that the Oasis Settlement must pass through...

It goes without saying that the purpose of this group of people staying here is to come to Oasis Town.

These Fiery Sun priests did not care. With the current size of the Fiery Sun Cult, it was not able to seize and digest a medium or large settlement.

Moreover, there is no time and energy to select suitable Lieyang servants from tens of thousands of low-level wastelanders.

According to the established development strategy, now that they have won a great victory in the first battle and have been exposed, everyone needs to immediately split up into small groups and hide in major settlements.

It is best not to have two or more of the same kind in the same settlement to avoid increasing the risk of exposure.

In order to obtain better soil for development, the high priest set his sights on the Holy City of Storms, a city of the Church that appears peaceful on the surface but is fraught with dangers behind the scenes.

However, it is currently impossible to go to the main urban area.

The main direction of taking root and development is to choose the major forces entrenched around the holy city, as well as the lower-class people and slaves in the marginal areas.

As for Oasis Town, its development potential is too low, and there is a high priest in charge of the town-level battleship with powerful firepower.

From the beginning, the Fiery Sun Cult had never considered it as a target. Their deal with Life Farm also did not allow anyone to interfere with Oasis Town.

The latter betrayed the news of the Knights' expedition, especially that the leader was the mortal enemy of the High Priest. He also handed over more than ten second-level source materials and hundreds of first-level source materials as a reward for hiring the Sun Cult to take action.

This is a win-win strategy.

Everyone needs to weaken the Holy City of Storms, or more precisely, weaken the military force that the Holy See can directly deploy into the wasteland within the Holy City Diocese.

Only in this way can the church's control over the areas under its rule be gradually reduced.

As for the division of other interests, the high priest can take revenge on personal grudges and at the same time give training to the newly trained Sun Cultists under his command and conduct practical training.

The goal of Life Farm is naturally to obtain a corresponding return on the medium-sized settlement of Oasis Town and the years of investment in the Li family.

By bringing Oasis Town and tens of thousands of its inhabitants to the uninhabited wasteland without supervision, Life Farm can conduct a large number of human experiments on them, mainly to verify the evolutionary ideas of the third-level horse king.

Including the Li family, they are all just pawns under the control of Life Farm.

Li Hao is both a thug and one of the successful experimental subjects in Life Farm.

Therefore, the nascent Fiery Sun Cult wasn't too keen on the lucrative Oasis Town. Any hasty move would only bring greater disaster. Without a third-tier Fiery Sun Envoy, even if the Fiery Sun Cult hunkered down near the Fiery Sun Forbidden Zone, they wouldn't be able to defend this permanent settlement.

It can't withstand concentrated fire from multiple sides.

But this does not mean that the Cult of the Fiery Sun will not participate in the hunt for Oasis Town.

Now the Holy See attaches more and more importance to Oasis Town, and obviously wants to take advantage of its impending development to incorporate it back into the main urban area of ​​the Holy City.

Or he could be trained as a key figure in one of the dioceses, so as to obtain the promotion spot to become the eighth third-level bishop.

Otherwise, it would be impossible to send a brigade of knights, as many as twelve second-level Templar Knights, to provide support and interception.

If the Fiery Sun Cult had not intervened, it would have been difficult for any other wanderer force in this wasteland to defeat such a second-level force.

In the eyes of the high priest, no matter who wins in Oasis Town in the future, it will eventually bring turmoil to the stable structure of Oasis.

Tens of thousands of refugees and permanent residents will be in life-and-death crisis and have no sense of security at all.

This situation is very suitable as the soil for the development of the Fiery Sun Cult.

By spreading faith and providing shelter, a large number of believers can be developed and won over. After elimination and purification, at least dozens of Fiery Sun servants can be cultivated.

If the opportunity is right, you might even be able to obtain a second-level Fiery Sun Priest.

After all, sacrificing tens of thousands of lives, even if they are just enhanced people below level ten, can also attract a large amount of Fiery Sun energy. The ceremonies held near the Fiery Sun restricted area can obtain far more gifts than those held in other places.

However, these inferences that can be seen with the naked eye did not cause too much fluctuation in the High Priest's heart. What really concerned him was...

Just when he was possessed by the Fiery Sun, he actually felt two strong fluctuations of divine power near the Fiery Sun restricted area in the southeast.

That’s right, it is the divine power of the scorching sun that is gathered from ordinary scorching sun energy after a long period of purification.

This is the Fiery Sun Curse that can cause harm to second-level and even third-level evolvers. In the Fiery Sun Cult, it is revered as the divine power of the God of the Fiery Sun.

Unlike the evolved groups in the south that were heavily imbued with Fiery Sun energy, bright lights appeared at the edge of the Fiery Sun Forbidden Zone, though there were only two, one large and one small...

But in the perception of the high priest, it shines with the dazzling light that only the power of the sun can bring.

This means that either there is a second-level Fiery Sun Priest lurking in Oasis Town, or there are two extremely rare and talented people there.

Possesses a special physique that can accommodate the power of the scorching sun!
Now the high priest has avenged his great hatred, and at the same time he has passed on the inheritance of the Fiery Sun Cult to his followers. The only regret is that he has not found a personal successor.

As his successor, he was successfully promoted to the third-level Sun God Envoy, thus truly realizing the revival of the Divine Religion.

The high priest has lived for so many years and has seen countless people. Naturally, he knows the ins and outs of his six mid-level priests and eighteen early-level priests.

It is clear that with the upper limit of their talents, the best they can achieve is to reach where they are now and become a high priest.

It is basically impossible to go further and become the messenger of the Fiery Sun God.

Because it is difficult for them to complete the second stage of Fiery Sun Possession, that is, the energy transformation of the transformation from reality to illusion, and temporarily transform into the Messenger of the Fiery Sun, which is commonly known as Yang Xie by other forces.

Therefore, this group of people can only maintain the status quo in the future and will not be able to help the Fiery Sun Cult return to its peak. At most, they will follow the old path of the high priest and continue to pass on the systematized advanced knowledge and rituals.

Until luck is good and he meets a gifted son who can lead the true rise of the religion.

This is also the last regret left for the high priest.

But now it seems that I may have a chance to make up for this regret at the end of my life.

Thinking of this, the two mid-level priests who went to chase the trainee knight who stole the corpse of the Knight Commander have returned to the ancient Zhengzhou City.

Coming to the high priest, he sighed softly:

"It's too late. This guy actually uses the method of overdrawing his vitality to maintain his explosive state."

"He has now fled more than ten kilometers away and his whereabouts are unknown."

"We then returned here to assist other personnel in hunting down the other two knight squads that were protecting the apprentices from breaking out. Including the previous battle, we have already successfully killed over thirty knight apprentices."

"Six or seven Templars were seriously injured during this period."

The high priest nodded. Adding the casualties of the early trainee knight and the mid-term knight commander, the Templars suffered heavy losses this time.

Even the Holy City of Storms could withstand such heavy losses.

The turmoil and impact caused by this will spread to an area of ​​thousands of kilometers.

It’s a pity that the highly successful Fiery Sun Cult needs to keep a low profile as much as possible and continue to accumulate strength in secret.

"By the way, are there any of our people in Oasis Town?"

The high priest then asked.

The two capable assistants looked at each other in bewilderment. Their strength and status in the cult were second only to the high priest, and both were level 26 evolutionary beings.

He is also responsible for arranging various tasks and contacting believers in various ambush points.

Few people actually know about Oasis Town, a poor place that has developed quietly for hundreds of years and only recently came into the eyes of major forces.

The main reason is the awkward location of Oasis Town. Even wanderers are rarely seen. It has little contact with the outside world and lives a very isolated life.

The two pondered for a long time, until one of them seemed to remember life:

"A few years ago, a servant of the Fiery Sun was about to go to the Oasis to recruit believers, but he returned not long after he left."

"Reporting back, I sensed a faint yet powerful scorching sun energy over there. I suspect there's a second-rank priest lurking there."

"According to our rules, only one priest can be sent to a place to spread the faith secretly and recruit believers."

"Plus, Oasis Town often stays on the edge of the Fiery Sun Forbidden Zone, with the closest distance being only about fifty kilometers. If an ordinary first-level servant stays there for too long, the Fiery Sun energy in their bodies will easily erupt uncontrollably, putting them at risk of being exposed."

“So I gave up exploring this place.”

At this point, the priest seemed to realize that something was wrong. This was his own mistake, so he tried to make amends:

"At first, I thought it might be an old priest recuperating in Oasis Town. Since he didn't show up, it means he didn't want to be disturbed, so I let it go."

The high priest nodded and said nothing more:

"It just so happens that I can't walk much anymore. I'll wait until I come across an oasis town and mingle among them to see what this pure scorching sun power is like."

The priest who reported secretly breathed a sigh of relief and continued:
"One more thing..."

"On the way here, you passed by the Taishan ruins. You sensed the violent fluctuations of scorching sun energy there, so you ordered people to investigate."

"The team of servants who went there just replied."

"A big event happened in the restricted area of ​​the ruins!"

(End of this chapter)