Reincarnation Paradise: There are vests everywhere

Chapter 2312 From the Void
The northern end of the Shurima region.

The Sun Empire has demonstrated its powerful ruling power, bringing new life to the land and people of Shurima. The northernmost town of Zoran was naturally included in its rule.

The town of Zolan is not very big, with about 200 lives gathered around a lake of turbid water and a patch of green shade, where fruits occasionally grow for people to pick.

The sky was a deep blue, and the sun was sinking in the west like a copper plate. The sand dunes were rippled in the heat, as if something was surging underground. In the heart of the desert, where the sand-lurkers passed, they would leave collapsed gullies. But the floating sand on the surface of the bedrock in this area was too shallow for them to move, so it was rare to see them spraying sand when they took a breath on the road.

A cool breeze swept through the street in a chaotic manner, raising the dust on the stone slabs. The wind carried an indescribable smell, like rotten meat or sour milk, as if some wild animal had died nearby.

The lack of interest here is partly due to the rocky terrain that makes this area unsuitable for habitation, but there are many signs that the land was once fertile, with large tracts of farmland and pastures.

In fact, this place is not the lifeless wasteland in your mind. There are vibrant animal and plant populations here, some of which are very dangerous, while others are completely harmless.

Fortunately, this place is not threatened by predatory beasts or bandits, partly because of its remote location, and partly because, according to the elder stonemasons, it is because of the favor of a god who protects people and will one day restore the glory of Shurima.

This is Zoran, the famous Shurima stonemason city, where most of the craftsmen who built the Temple of the Sun were recruited. Their homes are all meticulously crafted, after all, this is a group of stonemasons, and each home is built by the craftsman who lives in it. Not only is it unique, but it also reflects the personality and style of each craftsman.

A broad river course extends from the gravel belt below the cliff, passes through the center of the town, and then meanders and disappears under the yellow sands of Koharise. The riverbed is covered with sharp stones and yellow sand, and it is said that the river once flowed abundantly.

The vertical cliff is like a huge piece of stone. After being eroded by wind and sand, the ochre-red cliff looks like layers of blades. Some of the protrusions were flattened by the stonemasons in the past and became the canvas for their creations, while others were kept as they were to protect their works from wind and sand.

Yes, works of art. There is also a magnificent statue made by stonemasons from the ancient Shurima period, which looks dilapidated but still magnificent.

It is about 300 yards from the collapsed feet to the broken neck. It has been neglected for hundreds of years and has gone through many vicissitudes. If the travelers who passed by only stared at the movement in the sky, they might not even notice that there is a stone sculpture here.

Wind-blown sand had smoothed the detailed folds on the hem of her gown, and a long-ago rockfall had knocked off a section of her long sleeves, otherwise her outstretched arms would have resembled a pair of wings.

Most distressingly, the face of the statue has long been shaved away, leaving only an ancient scar that makes it impossible to tell what the god-warrior actually looked like. This ancient Shurima hero has remained faceless for countless centuries.

On this day, the stonemasons of Zolan Town gathered together to discuss how to reshape the face of the faceless god. Legend has it that when they restore the statue of the faceless god, the river will be filled with clear water again.

In the book of an elder stonemason there was a faded picture of water cascading down a cliff, forming two graceful arcs in the air, sliding down from either side of the statue. In that picture, the lake in the center of town was as full as a full moon and as clear as a dome, stretching out into the distance and narrowing into a river that rushed into the land of Shurima. Everyone hoped that if they could understand Zolani's true appearance, the river would flow again.

As the stonemasons worked on the statue, they added the finishing touches to the collar, creating deeper folds that would play with the angle of light and create undulating shadows on the ground. It was a visual trick that an old stonemason had come up with.

The statue was only missing the face, but Zolani's stonemasons could not agree on what it should look like. The painting of the waterfall was their only reference, but Zolani's features were obscured by the mist and difficult to discern. Every stonemason in the town tried to find out what she really looked like, through dreams, drunkenness, or prayer, but no consensus could be reached.

That day, the great stonemason Noria showed a painting, which contained a charcoal sketch of a face that was beyond the reach of anyone else, a perfect blend of divinity and grandeur. The eyebrows were half open and half closed, and the eyes were deep and wise, revealing infinite compassion, while also incorporating the fierce murderous aura that every god warrior was born with.

That evening, Noria discovered that the lake in the center of town was gone. The lake's water level rose and fell with the seasons, but it never dried up. Now the water was gone, leaving only an empty, gravelly basin. A strange spiral pattern appeared on the exposed shore and lakebed, as if the lake had sunk into the mud and then disappeared.

You should feel wet and soft mud on the riverbed, but your fingertips feel hard and smooth like glass, just like clay fired in a brick kiln.

The lake bottom was flat, with many pieces of rubble scattered about, all thrown down by the craftsmen. There were many faces here. Some were half buried in the glazed riverbed, some were cracked from forehead to chin, and some seemed to have been squeezed out from the bottom of the lake. The expressions on those faces were horrible and weird, and they all bared their teeth and twisted in pain.

Noria found a long, flat stone slab in the center of the lake. From a distance, it looked like a mask for a giant. Under the moonlight, the surface of the stone slab looked like fine ceramics. The handsome face carved on the stone made people forget to breathe. It not only incorporated a spirit beyond human, but was also full of kind wisdom, a long-lost style.

At that moment, the lake floor cracked, and Noria hurried to the shore. A pale, spindle-thick limb emerged from the hole in the center of the riverbed, followed by another limb, and then two limbs supported a pulsating, segmented body, and something climbed up.

Its body was about the size of a hound, maggot-like and conical, with a moist, shiny surface. The surface of its head was rippled, with many black globules floating out. At the same time, its skin cracked, and a large round mouth broke through its lips, with a circle of long teeth in the mouth. Black juice flowed out of the mouth.

Another monster emerged from the ground, its body like a giant insect, just as terrible in appearance as the first, with a weird combination of sword-like limbs, salivating fangs, and chitinous shell. More monsters followed.

The entire lake bed was filled with those terrible monsters, and there were probably hundreds of them now. They gathered together, things without eyes or brains, rising to the surface like bubbles of boiling water, shouting and spitting. Dozens of monsters emerged from the growing pit every second.

"Run! There are monsters!" Noria shouted in panic and ran towards the town, and some monsters seemed to have heard the noise and attacked the big stonemason.

boom!
A spear flew over and pinned the insect-shaped monster closest to Noria to the ground. With the dim light, Noria saw a group of warriors wearing uniform sun-patterned armor, holding weapons and completely blocking the place.

Everyone, Happy New Year!

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(End of this chapter)