Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 868: The chaotic Xingtan

April 1st, that's April Fools' Day.

Four itself is the sacred number on the path of wisdom, just as the Tantra of the Foolish Sūtra itself is a tantra on the path of wisdom.

This is the day before the arrival of the Eternal Age when the elves commemorate the death of Dionysus the Fool.

Not many humans remember this incident today.

At that time, Hengwo had not yet ascended to the position of Pillar God, and Xitiansi had not yet been born; the era of "beasts" had not yet ended, and the rule of "power" still existed - in the world of endless darkness, everything was so primitive and barbaric. The winner takes all, and the weak are preyed upon by the strong.

The Fool walks the earth, flattering the great men as "sages" in a mad and sarcastic way, but points out their selfishness, ignorance, stubbornness, madness and greed in harsh words. Even the church and the pope often appear in his criticism.

He sympathized with those mortals who were helpless and precarious in the war among the gods, and called them "fools". He scolded them, sympathized with them, and praised them at the same time.

As such, he naturally offended many people.

However, the Fool also has many friends, and he is also a good fighter. So people can only feel extremely helpless. When the bigwigs in many places see the Fool coming, they treat him with respect and courtesy, just because they are afraid that he will say something annoying again, or record his insults in poems that will be passed down through the ages.

He is a strong man, but he stands on the side of the weak.

The sun had not yet risen, and the fool was the only fire in the darkness.

The fool even dared to deny the gods - the celestial officials of the past were called "gods", and the apostles were called "followers of gods". Even the fifth-level extraordinary people and phantom demons could be called "demigods" or "false gods".

People look up at the sky and see that all the stars are gods.

When people see the gods on earth, they must bow and kneel down to worship them.

Although the Fool himself did not become a god in the end, his will remained. In order to commemorate the Fool, April 1st became "Fool's Day", just like the holy days of other pillar gods.

...Although the Fool himself may not agree with this.

However, on this day, people's crazy behavior and presumptuous words are usually forgiven, because they can be called "commemorating fools and imitating fools' speeches." And many people will mix the truth with their lies on this day, and the seemingly true and false speeches make them look more like fools.

Initially, people defined the "permissible time to lie" as "before the sun rises." Later, because it did not match the normal human schedule, it was gradually changed to before noon, that is, before the sun, which illuminates the world, reaches its zenith.

But later, people gradually forgot the name of the Fool.

Today, the name of "The Fool" only exists in the mystical books and as a mysterious knowledge. Only the tradition of April Fool's Day remains in the world, but people have long forgotten who the lie was told for.

The church happened to announce the lifting of its permanent neutrality in the morning of that day - if it had been a different day, perhaps the controversy would not have been so great.

People were arguing fiercely, but no one knew whether this was true or false.

——Or maybe people already knew whether it was true or not from the very beginning, but some people just hoped it was false.

In Avalon, people did not worry too much about this. Instead, many people regarded it as a topic of conversation - after all, everyone knew that the pope of this generation was an Avalonian, their minister without portfolio, and would soon become their prince!
This is one of ours!

Isn't it a happy thing to take off the shackles and chains?
But in today's Xingtan, this news has caused great confusion -

At this moment, the Moon Children of the Red Keep gathered together.

The first Red Prime Minister Pomponazzi has died, and now Queen Louise has naturally become the leader of the Children of the Moon.

She herself is a powerful enough Child of the Moon, and now she is the power agent of the orthodox royal family - Valentine VII is her husband, and Valentine VIII is her child. When no other royal family has stepped forward to inherit the throne, it is only natural for her to help the "bedridden" Valentine VIII to govern the country.

When they heard that the Theocracy had lifted its neutrality, their first reaction was - could this be directed at them?

"Don't worry."

Louise's face was gloomy, but her emotions were quite stable: "According to the rules of the Theocracy, this is a power change within the country... Our father is Pomponazzi. He is one of the founders of Star Antimony, and he is not an outsider in any way."

"...But the problem is," a young Moon Child asked cautiously, "The current Pope is Aiwas Moriarty, right? As a human being, will he really follow the traditions of the Church?" "--He must follow it."

A middle-aged Moon Son who looked to be around 40 or 50 years old spoke in a firm tone - he was General Lister, and he was also the Navy Minister of Xingti.

Because of the special nature of the Moon Children, when they control the upper echelons of a country, they often try to control their navy first. If the navy is not firmly in their hands, they will easily be trapped somewhere by the weakness of "flowing water" or drown in the sea. Therefore, those who control the ships must be their own people.

Minister Lister had been sent to the Theocracy for more than ten years before he became a Son of the Moon. He could be considered an expert on the Theocracy among the Sons of the Moon.

"The elves in the Theocracy are not saints without desires. Their cardinals are also divided into several factions. One of them is rigidly following all traditions, and this faction is almost the loudest.

"And Aiwass is just an interim pope. He is not the real pope... According to the White Saint, she will succeed the pope before the end of the year. In other words, he is just a transition. In this case, the Church will not let him have too much power."

"Is it possible," Louise asked General Lister modestly, "that the founding of the Eternal Church was not led by Pope Moriarty?"

"This possibility exists, but it is not very likely."

The Minister of the Navy shook his head and said seriously: "It's just like what I said - because the opinions within the Church are always divided, so if it is a 'unanimous' resolution, there must be external forces intervening and interfering with the thinking of those cardinals.

"All the cardinals in the Theocracy are stubborn freaks. Each of them is as weird as the Black Face. They will never compromise on matters of principle, and they may not even execute the Pope's orders. So if they can pass it collectively, something must have happened.

"I think that first of all, we can rule out the possibility that they are opening a country in order to interfere in the situation in Star Antimony. After all, the current situation in Star Antimony is just a minor fight... We haven't even started a civil war. Although the Army Department has surrendered to the Society, they haven't attacked us, right?
"In the long lives of the elves, there are many more serious things than this. For the elves, the current chaos on Star Antimony is not even worth sending paladins to mediate - otherwise, if the Theocracy clearly expressed its attitude of 'I don't want you to continue making trouble', do you think we will continue to fight like this?"

“…That’s definitely not the case.”

Louise was a little embarrassed, but nodded in acknowledgement.

I have to say, if the Church really puts pressure on them... they might really back down.

They have always believed that Pomponazzi is the first person under the Pope. But he is still the first person "under the Pope". Not to mention, Pomponazzi is no longer here.

And the person who killed Pomponazzi was on Xingti - if the Theocracy put pressure on them, they could really take advantage of the situation.

That way, at least they can retain their influence and power.

Because they never failed, they just succumbed to the pressure of the Theocracy...

But who can withstand the pressure from the Church?
Then people will understand them.

But if they were really crushed by the Theocracy, the situation would be completely different.

Fortunately, after General Lister's analysis, he was able to basically rule out this possibility...

Louise also breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as the worst-case scenario of "the Church intends to directly intervene in the situation on Star Antimony" can be ruled out, all other scenarios are actually acceptable.

the other side.

The Army Department took this matter very seriously.

However, they have a completely different understanding of this from the Son of the Moon.

——The Theocracy is coming for them!

They also gave the reasons:

"Tell me," Master Walter said seriously, "who leaked it.

"About... the secret of the Tail Ring Ceremony."

(End of this chapter)