Chapter 289 Life and Death

The scorching sun cast its rays, the bonfire ignited green smoke, and the priest blew the bone trumpet. The tribal leaders looked at the two leaders beside the fire with burning eyes, and shouted excitedly.

Giova and Nerpa each held a war club in their hands and stood opposite each other. According to the tradition of the tribe, neither of them had a shield, and the victory or defeat was only a matter of moments. Giova raised his war club forward, slightly retracted his right arm, and took a defensive posture.

"Come on, Nerpa, attack as much as you can! Just like when I trained you in martial arts when you were a child!" Hearing this, Nerpa's eyes flashed. The two were eight years apart in age. They were both descendants of gods in the mountain city. In fact, they had known each other since childhood and fought side by side many times. Nerpa shook his head vigorously and said in a deep voice.

"Giova, thank you for your teaching back then. My martial arts have surpassed yours! You were my respected brother, but now, you are wrong!"

After speaking, Nerpa's expression became firm. He took small steps, raised his war stick diagonally, slowly approached Giova, and then suddenly stepped forward to chop diagonally!

Facing this powerful and heavy blow, Giova was well prepared. He took a step back swiftly, then raised his war stick lightly to block, making a "dong" sound of collision. The two weapons separated at the touch, and Nerpa immediately moved his feet to the left, changed his position, and swung out the war stick fiercely, another swift blow!

Giova frowned slightly and stepped back to block again. Nerpa was in his early thirties and was at the peak of his physical fitness. His movements were extremely fast and powerful, and his fighting skills were not inferior at all, even more fierce! He was like a dancing butterfly, constantly flying around Giova, and every time he approached, it was a blow aimed at the vital point!

The physical strength of the two was rapidly consumed, and Giova's brows were frowning more and more, and his blocking movements became more and more strenuous. He was forced to move back continuously, and soon came to the flames of the fire pit, and there was no way to retreat! Seeing this, Nerpa's eyes lit up, and a triumphant smile appeared on his face, which then turned into a faint sadness.

"Giova, my brother. You are old, you have taken the wrong path, let me send you off! Roar!"

Nerpa let out a dull roar, like a roaring beast. He strode forward, no longer holding back his strength, and rushed within two steps of Giova. Then, he first made a swift vertical chop, causing the opponent's war club to rise, and then the war club turned, holding it with both hands, drawing a clever arc, and sent a fatal horizontal slash towards the opponent's exposed waist and abdomen!

"It's over!"

Giova's frown suddenly opened up and turned into an indifferent smile. He whispered, also holding the stick with both hands, making exactly the same movements, and slashed horizontally at the opponent's chest and neck with all his strength.

"Ancestor God!"

The tribal leaders in the venue exclaimed immediately. The two captains slashed at each other's vital points at the same time. Are they going to die together?

"Sizzle!"

The slashing war stick successfully cut through the cotton robe and the surface of the cotton armor, then suddenly stopped, making a sharp sound of metal collision!

"What? This!"

Nerpa's confident expression froze instantly. He first hit the opponent's vital point, but the slash was on the solid metal, and he couldn't break the opponent's armor at all, causing real damage!

"Roar!"

Giova cried out in pain, but the attacking movement did not change, still steady and powerful, hitting the vital point directly.

The war stick arrived in an instant, and Nerpa's movements were old, and there was no time to dodge. He tried his best, slightly turned sideways, and then there was a sharp pain in his chest.

"Ah!"

Giova cut through the cotton armor and succeeded in one strike, leaving the opponent no chance to turn the tables. He took another step forward, pulled out the copper axe from his waist with his left hand, and slashed at Nerpa's neck mercilessly!

"Uh-poo."

Blood gushed out instantly, splashing all over Giova's head and face, making his world bright red. Nerpa only uttered a half scream before he suddenly lost his strength. He seemed to have a fish bladder that was punctured in an instant, and he fell to the ground spurting blood.

Giova quickly stepped back two steps and wiped the warmth that splashed into his eyes with his sleeve. Then, he stared at Nerpa who was motionless, and slowly walked forward with his weapon in hand.

Nerpa opened his eyes wide, lying quietly on the ground, looking at the deep sky. His mouth murmured, but no sound came out, only the sound of blood flowing. Giova looked at it for a while, then squatted down carefully and put his ear close to Nerpa's mouth.

".Wa. You. Are. Wrong."

Nerpa's eyes burst into the last brightness. He tried his best to open his mouth, but could only make a faint whimper. Giova just tried to distinguish three words, and the whimper completely disappeared in the wind.

Giova lowered his eyes, stretched out his hand, and closed Nerpa's wide eyes. Some past events came to his mind, and he suppressed them hard. After a while, he spoke to his old friend who could no longer hear.

"This chaotic world is like turbid fruit wine, and this mountain city is just the residue of wine, Nerpa. You and I clink glasses, what is right or wrong? We will not stop until we die."

Giova said softly, closed his eyes and stayed quiet for a few breaths, as if praying silently. Soon, the shouts of the tribal leaders rang out violently, and the boiling sound waves were like waves, lifting him up to the desired height layer by layer!

"Leader of the mountain city!"

"Chief of the Otomi people!"

"Bird shooter, king of birdmen!"

Listening to the cheers of the crowd, Giova slowly stood up, with a happy smile on his face. In the inherited mythology, the ancestors of the Otomi people were hunters in the north of the plateau, and Otomi means "bird shooter". They settled in the towering mountain city and also gained a certain divinity from the sacred birds in the sky.

"The ancestors witnessed! The leader of the ancestral land of the mountain city, the heir to the ancestral scepter, is the god-descended noble of the mountain city, Giova!"

The old female voice sounded loudly, announcing the end of the election. Everyone's eyes were focused on the new speaker standing up, and no one paid attention to the bloody corpse lying down. Giova strode forward and took the ancestral scepter from the wife of the former leader, and cheers broke out again.

Giova looked around and walked to the east of the venue. He came to Xiu Luote, slowly knelt on one knee, then raised the scepter with both hands and bowed his head respectfully.

"Your Highness, I dedicate the glory of the Otomies to you, to the supreme king, to the sun of the Otomies!"

The venue was suddenly quiet, and the leaders looked at each other. This was a sacred loyalty ceremony.

Under the wolf flag, Xiu Luote smiled with satisfaction. He took Giova's scepter, squeezed the other's hair hard, and returned the scepter to Giova again. Then, he took off the sun amulet from his neck and put it on Giova's neck in front of everyone.

"The Supreme Lord bless you! Giova, the great alliance witnesses everything. From today, you are the lord of Otopan and the leader of the Otomites!"

Giova stood up and turned to the people in the meeting. He stood beside the king, holding up the ancestral scepter in one hand and holding the sun amulet around his neck in the other. Seeing this historic scene, the tribal leaders were speechless for a moment, and suddenly burst into warm cheers.

"The lord of the Mexica Alliance, the leader of the Otomites!"

The Saka priest's eyes burned with fire. He passed over Nerpa's cold body without even a glance. Under the gaze of everyone, the Chaos Priest walked up to Giova and shouted angrily.

"Giova, as the military leader of the tribe, you actually converted to the Mexica God of War!"

"Priest Saka, the God of War is also our god, protecting the Otomites."

Giova narrowed his eyes and answered calmly.

"This is naked betrayal! Under the leadership of you and Ort, the Otomites are about to go astray and be abandoned by the ancestral gods!"

Saka roared, looked at the tribal leaders present, and cursed loudly.

"How can you not pay a price for joining the greedy Mexica? Don't you feel ashamed to abandon the faith of the ancestral gods in front of the tombs of your ancestors?!"

Hearing this, many tribal leaders turned their heads away, unwilling to look Saka in the eyes, obviously feeling guilty. Seeing this scene, Xiuluo Te frowned slightly and quietly patted Giova on the shoulder.

"Saka, get out of the mountain city, you are the one who betrayed the tribe!"

Giova raised the staff high and scolded loudly.

"Nerpa just left a last word before he died, confessing to me!"

"He said that the reason you are hostile to the Mexica and refuse the alliance's military assistance is because you have already colluded with the dog race in the north, made a kneeling contract, and abandoned the land of the Palm State! Everything you do now is to seek power, and you don't care about the future of the Otomies at all!"

Hearing this, the tribal leaders all changed color. Some of them remained silent, some looked at the respected Saka priest with doubts.

"What? What did you say?!"

Hearing this accusation, Saka was shocked and his eyes were red.

"This is a complete slander!"

"Saka, the new leader of the mountain city has been elected! Although you are a distinguished Chaos Priest, the priest group of the mountain city does not welcome you. Please leave immediately and return to your family's fiefdom! A truly distinguished priest should lead the warriors to the northern front and fight against the ferocious dog race, instead of creating civil strife in the ancestral land!"

Ort raised the scepter and walked forward. He stared at Saka's red eyes quietly, and Saka also stared at him closely. After a while, Saka looked at the expressions of the tribal leaders around him and gritted his teeth.

"Ort, you are wrong! The time controlled by the ancestor god will prove everything. We will definitely meet again!"

After that, Saka led dozens of direct temple priests and hundreds of loyal family warriors, and walked out of the city in dejection.

Ort looked at Xiu Luote, and the king nodded affirmatively. Five hundred barbarian mercenaries had already ambushed in the mountains and forests outside the city, and three hundred jaguar warriors were responsible for the end.

The old priest looked at Giova again, and the other party smiled knowingly.

"Recall the scout team outside the city. Warriors, the whole city will celebrate tonight!"

Ort finally looked at the backs of Saka and the priests and sighed heavily.

"Saka, we will meet again, see you in the kingdom of God!"