He changed Tiwat

“'Illusion' and 'lies'…” Dina Zede clasped her hands together nervously, “It doesn’t sound like a good outcome…”

Zimia quickly reassured her, "It's okay. The book also says that as long as you trust your intuition and overcome your fears, the sun will surely rise!"

Paimon glanced sideways: "Hey, you forgot to hide the fact that you were flipping through the book!"

Zimia looked away and whispered in defense, "'Alchemy divination' is all about interpretation, not the process. It would be more responsible of you to refer to some books."

Paimon stomped his foot angrily: "Since it's all made up, couldn't you at least make up some nice things for us to hear? You've ruined our holiday mood!"

Dina Zede quickly reassured Paimon: "What Mr. Zimia said earlier makes a lot of sense. In the story of the Little Lucky Grass King that I told you before, didn't it also convey the idea that 'fate will only ever show you the surface, and you still have to rely on yourself to reach the end'?"

Zimia immediately chimed in, "Yes, yes, that's exactly what I meant..."

Paimeng Fu'e.

Han Fulai smiled and reassured everyone, "This 'alchemy divination' is just a game after all, don't take it to heart. Let's go to the next stall, don't forget, we promised Dina Zede that we'd accompany her to the festival today, okay?"

Paimon thought about it and realized that made sense. After all, it was just a festival amusement activity, similar to activities like "goldfish scooping" or "dart throwing." Why would anyone get upset about it?

She pouted and flew forward reluctantly.

Ying and Dina Zede followed along, while Han Fulai lagged behind, intentionally glancing back at Qimia.

Zimia had already sat back down in front of the alchemy table, holding the "reference book" in both hands, staring blankly at the book.

With Han Fulai's current eyesight, he could see the contents of that "reference book" even from a great distance—it was simply a blank notebook.

Chapter Fifty-Five: The Flower Knight and the Sugar Knight

The group walked along the "flower street" for a while and saw a group of children at the intersection.

The children were lined up neatly in a row, as if they were waiting for something.

Dina Zede seemed to have thought of something, and with a smile, she ran to the end of the line and joined the children in queuing.

Ying and Paimon asked, puzzled, "Dina Zede, what kind of queue are we in?"

“It’s a ‘float’!” Dina Zede’s eyes sparkled. “A long, long time ago, the ‘Flora Festival’ was a very lively event. Huge ‘floats’ would parade through the city, and people would throw flowers, candy, and wine along the way. The floats would bump and jolt along, heading towards Port Ormus…”

The bell rang, and a flower-decorated tricycle appeared at the corner of the intersection... well, it should be said, a tricycle decorated with flowers.

The children in line cheered happily: "Farris! Farris! Farris, the Knight of Flowers!"

Looking at the "Flower Knight" costume, Paimon couldn't help but complain, "Wow, what a weird hat, what a weird person."

Although they had seen several rehearsals in the troupe, this was the first time they had ever seen the "Knight of Flowers" in full costume.

The "Flower Knight Faris" was wearing a red and blue pointed hat, a vest and shirt of the same color as "armor", and a thick fake beard on his face. He looked ridiculous and was like a giant "roadblock repairman".

The way he huffed and puffed as he pedaled the wooden bicycle made him look nothing like a "knight," but more like a clown in a theater troupe performing acrobatic tricks on a unicycle...

In fact, the person playing "Faris the Knight of Flowers" is named Pigal, who is a part-time acrobat in the troupe who rides a unicycle... and this tricycle, handmade by the prop master of Zubair Theater and the carpenters of the Grand Bazaar, is the "float" for this festival.

After all, most of the funds raised by the troupe were used for street decorations and subsidies for businesses. The remaining funds could only be used to make the "float," which was certainly not as luxurious as the "float" that the gods rode in the legend.

Looking at the "flower knight" riding a tricycle with a bell, Han Fulai was somewhat reminded of his hometown—in the small, third-tier town where he was born, there used to be small vendors like him riding tricycles, ringing bells, and selling "ding-ding candy" along the street.

"Dingding candy" is maltose, a very cheap candy; you can buy a big bag for just a few dollars.

This is one of the few "sweet" memories he has from his childhood.

For the children of the Grand Bazaar, "Faris, the Knight of Flowers" is a "sweet" memory.

Pigar stopped the "float" in front of the children and lifted the cover on the back of the "float". On it were the Sumeru version of "Ding Ding Candy" - Yalda Candy.

Pigar tried his best to look like a general, sticking out his belly and waving to the children: "Yo-ho, soldiers, you'd better line up properly to get a Yalda candy as a reward!"

The children lined up obediently, taking turns to receive Yalda candy. Each child received a big bag of candy, and they were all overjoyed.

Ying and Paimon, who were watching from the sidelines, noticed that the actor playing the "Knight of the Flowers," Pilgrim, was more nervous than anyone else. He kept adjusting his hat and beard, as if he was afraid the props would fall off.

Well, after all, this Vigal isn't a professional actress like Nel, so it's understandable that she'd be nervous, right?

However, they soon found out why Pigal was so nervous—when it was time to hand out candy to Dinazede at the back of the line, Pigal's hands were shaking so badly that he almost dropped the candy.

"Miss Dina Zede, you actually came to participate in the 'parade' too..."

That trembling voice, that nervous look in his eyes—he was clearly the innocent-minded college boy who'd just bumped into the school beauty. Speaking of which, Vigal was also in his early twenties, quite close in age to Dina Zede. During the last theater troupe rehearsal, his gaze was constantly fixed on Dina Zede, and he often forgot his lines without even realizing it…

Dina Zede cleared her throat twice, winking at Vigal while deliberately raising her voice: "Ah! Holy Flower Knight, it is an honor that you know my name!"

Pigal finally realized he was still performing and quickly tried to salvage the situation: "Ah, oh, yo... yoho, of course! In the name of the Flower Knight, Faris, I commend you for your contribution to the great Flower Goddess's birthday. This bag of Yalda candy is a reward for you, kind lady, please accept it!"

He stretched out his arms to the children and issued a powerful "military order": "Alright, little soldiers! Take your Yalda candy rewards, be loyal to the Little Lucky Grass King, and disperse!"

"Yes, Sir Faris!" The children held the Yalda candies high in the air and ran home as if showing them off.

After the children left, Han Fulai and the others walked up to the "float." Little Paimon unceremoniously stretched out his hand: "Is there any for us?"

The Zubair Theatre Company, of course, prepared "special treatment" for its "sponsors".

Pigar quickly opened the cover compartment behind the car and took out five small boxes from inside.

"Look, this is the 'candy box.' Which one do you want to choose?"

Paimon tilted his head: "Which one do you want...don't they all look the same?"

Pigal laughed: "Haha, that's the fun! This was Miss Anaye's suggestion, saying it's a very popular 'blind box' game among the girls in the Faculty of Arts. Each box contains a random flavor, and what you get is entirely up to luck. The candies come in melon, spice, and sunset fruit flavors..."

Paimon stared eagerly at the candy box: "Sounds pretty good..."

Pigar continued, "...and then there's the smell of lizard tail and the smell of a herpes bug."

"What's with these two flavors?!"

Paimon crawled behind Yingmei.

Han Fulai gave a professional evaluation: "They asked me to try it. The Yarda candy with the herpes bug flavor is slightly spicier than the lizard tail flavor."

He's a warrior who survived tasting Ah Ying's homemade miso soup, so a mere spicy Yalda candy won't be any harder to handle than Ye Lan's spicy shrimp.

Paimon was speechless, so he simply pushed Ying forward: "Then, then let Ying choose for me! I want the sunset fruit flavor!"

Yingmei glanced sideways: "It's not like I can guarantee we'll be chosen just because I help..."

Paimon clenched his fist: "It's okay, it's okay, I believe you!"

Pigar lined up the candy boxes: "Okay! These five candy boxes are number one to five from left to right. Which one do you want to choose?"

Yingmei pointed casually with her eyes closed.

"Is number five... confirmed?" Pigar asked.

Anyway, she wouldn't know what the candy tasted like unless she put it in her mouth, and she couldn't read Vigal's mind, so it didn't matter which one she chose... Yingmei nodded indifferently to confirm her choice.

Pigar revealed the answer: "Yoho, unfortunately, it's herring beetle flavored."

Paimon pouted in disappointment: "Sigh... I thought you must be incredibly lucky to have survived so many battles, but it seems you're not all that lucky after all."

Pigar quickly handed over another candy box: "The sunset fruit flavored candy is actually in box number four. It's a holiday, so the most important thing is for everyone to be happy. I'm giving you both boxes of candy!"

Paimon hugged the candy box tightly: "Thank you, Sugar Knight!"

Chapter Fifty-Six: The Sealing of Sumeru City

After saying goodbye to the "Sugar Knight" who had lost her real name, Han Fulai and his group accompanied Dina Zede to visit many festival stalls and slowly walked to the end of the long street.

Today is the day of the "Birthday of the Flower Goddess," and the Grand Bazaar is decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, full of festive atmosphere. However, this is the only place that is not part of the festival - because if you walk further ahead from here, you will be on the road out of the city.

The westernmost part of the Grand Bazaar is also the "western gate" of Xumi City.

This area is guarded year-round by a large number of "thirty-person groups" of mercenaries, who are extremely strict in checking passersby. Ordinary tourists and residents are not very willing to go near this place.

There's a reason why the "30-person group" would send so many people to be stationed here.

If the Grand Bazaar is the "urban-rural fringe" of Xumi, then the area outside the West Gate is the real "countryside," where the farmers of Xumi City live in farms on the outskirts of the West Gate.

Further west from the farm lies a rainforest called "Mahavanaranapna".

According to folklore, that rainforest is the place where the Great Tree King was born.

Maha means "great" in the Sumerian language; vana means "forest"; arana means "distant" or "foreign"; and pna means "dream".

This long phrase, when put together, means "the magnificent dream forest".

Because the name is too long, the people of Sumeru often shorten it to "Vanarana".

It is said that the palace "Palace of the Awakened King" originally built by the Great Compassion Tree King, and her retinue, once lived in this "Great Dream Forest" - "Huan Na Lan Na".

Over the millennia, time has changed everything. "Huan Na Lan Na" is now just a desolate forest, with no trace of its former self to be found. It is more and more in line with the name "Dream Forest".

Continuing west along "Huan Na Lan Na", you reach the desert. The desert adjacent to "Huan Na Lan Na" is called "Bin Tie Sand Dunes". As you can tell from the name, it is not a scenic tourist destination.

In fact, besides the rust-red Gobi Desert, the most famous thing about "Iron Sand Dunes" is the "Gilded Brigade" that is entrenched in it. The weapons in the hands of the mercenaries are the truly deadly "Iron Sands".

If you turn south at "Huan Na Lan Na", you will reach Kawan Post Station, a border town of Xumi.

Like Stonegate in Liyue, Kavanpost is also a market town that developed from a place where merchants rested in ancient times. When the Great Tree King was alive, the communication between the rainforest residents and the desert people had not been interrupted, and Kavanpost was a fairly prosperous market. It is said that the pack animals of the merchants coming and going could even form a queue of several thousand meters long in Kavanpost, comparable to a traffic jam on a highway.

However, today Kawanyi has become a dilapidated border town, and the most popular activity of outlaws in the desert is to "search, fight, and withdraw" in such border areas... Now only large caravans that can afford to hire large mercenary groups as bodyguards dare to embark on this ancient and dangerous trade route.

As for the "thirty-man group" guarding the border, "bandit suppression" is impossible, it's never going to happen in their lifetime. They can only make a living by capturing merchants or desert people who are smuggling themselves into the country and demanding "fees." For the gilded tour group, entering Kawan Station is like going home...

It's easy to imagine that the refugees in the desert, as well as the mercenaries from gilded guilds who didn't do legitimate business, almost all came from the west. Therefore, the west gate of the Grand Bazaar became the de facto "customs office" of Sumeru City.

But the "thirty-man group" of mercenaries who usually stationed outside the gate seemed to be "turning their blades inward" today—the entire west gate was fenced off by the mercenaries, and each mercenary was fully armed with short swords, long spears, crossbows... they were all equipped, looking like they were about to go to war.

Several men who looked like merchants were arguing with the mercenaries.

Han Fulai gave Ying and Paimon a wink, signaling them to take Dina Zedai away, while he himself strolled over.

"...Why can't we leave the city? What's the Order House up to now!" The leading merchant waved the invoice in his hand, clearly in a hurry.

The guard who stopped him raised his chin expressionlessly: "Don't ask, it's no use asking. This is an instruction directly issued by the Great Sage to the 'Void Terminal,' there's no room for discussion. We'll talk about it tomorrow."

Is this another direct order from the Great Sage?

Han Fulai touched his chin in disbelief. He noticed that this Great Sage of the Faith Council seemed quite enthusiastic about "micromanagement." Before, he would give orders directly to the Faith Councilor Sharif, but now he was simply sending orders to the guards at the gate... Come to think of it, this Great Sage Azar was actually the nominal "Principal" of the Faith Council?

The merchant stomped his foot in anger: "I'm really in a hurry! My goods have already been transported outside the city. If I don't hurry over there, am I supposed to wait to have them stolen?"

The guard remained unmoved: "That's your own business. Next time you have a similar need, report it to the 'Gathering Sand Hall' in advance."

When the merchant realized that force wouldn't work, he rolled his eyes and stepped forward, offering his cuff to the guard—the cuff was bulging, clearly containing a Mora bag.

Normally, this trick would always work. Not only would it make an exception and let him leave the city, but it would even allow him to bring a few desert dancers into the city without any problem... But today, this trick failed.

The guard shoved the merchant away and shouted, "This man is defying the order and trying to bribe the guard. He must have something up his sleeve. Take him back for questioning!"

Several spears were immediately pointed at the merchant and his companion.

After the merchants were taken away by the mercenaries, Han Fulai pretended to be an onlooker and went up to ask, "Young guard, why aren't people allowed to leave the city today?"

The guard gave him an annoyed look, and seeing that he was still holding the festival's Yalda candy, he became even angrier: "You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? Our orders were just to strictly prohibit entry and exit from Sumeru City today, nothing else was said."

"Let me warn you, don't come here to mess with us today. Did you see what happened to that person? Especially that 'parade float' thing, don't cause trouble here, or we'll tear it down!"

Han Fulai nodded meekly and stepped back, his doubts growing stronger.

It seemed that the guards were simply following orders and did not know the reason why the Great Sage had given the order. However, judging from the orders the guards received, not only the west gate, but all the entrances and exits of Sumeru City were blocked by the "Thirty-Man Group". Anyone who dared to break through the gate would be taken down without question.

This is a de facto "lockdown".

Why did the great sage suddenly order a "city lockdown"?

External enemies? Internal strife? Or disease? Or perhaps, is today some special day?

Chapter Fifty-Seven Kidnapping

If there's anything special about today, it's the "Birthday of the Flower Goddess".

The Council of the Faith has always had a very bad attitude towards the current Grass God, Little Lucky Grass King. The Great Sage Azhar had previously issued an "artistic ban" against Sharif, demanding the closure of the Zubair Theater.

Although the "art ban" has not yet been officially issued, it is only a matter of time before Hazard officially signs the order. Even with the help of the sage Sedafi to delay, the great sage's decision is not so easy to change.

From the perspective of the Order of the Church, the successful holding of the "Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival" is definitely a blow to the authority of the Order of the Church.

Han Fulai had considered that Hazard might deliberately issue the ban during the "Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival" to stop the festival, or even send troops to blockade the Grand Bazaar—those in charge of censorship love to do things like this.

They'll say your game has gory and explicit scenes before it's released, or that your dialogue is too extreme before a movie is shown, or they'll take your novel down after get off work on the weekend... and so on.

He had long been mentally prepared to face Hazard head-on today.

But the "Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival" is only held inside the Grand Bazaar. It's only for the "Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival," so there's no need to lock down the entire city of Sumeru.

Or perhaps, is there a connection between this "lockdown" and the "locked-down kingdom" that Wendy mentioned?

Wendy had previously told him that the "Dudu Communicator" stopped working after Luminous and Paimon entered Sumeru, and he himself had tried to contact Wendy using the "Starry Wings," but it didn't work either. Even the "Piaojin Mechanism" that he had borrowed from Lord Liuyun beforehand lost its communication function near Sumeru.