Chapter 23: Sacrifice

Along the way, I dared not stare at the gentle slope, only dared to stare at my feet. I walked all the way to the end of the road, and I finally reached the gentle slope at the top of the mountain. The dazzling fire and pungent smell made me a little confused for a while. My eyes were so sore that I felt like crying, making it difficult for me to see clearly in front of me.

But no one asked me anything. At this time, I don’t know who pushed me, pushing me into the crowd that was dancing a strange dance. I didn’t react at all, and for a moment I stood dumbly in the crowd, looking particularly conspicuous.

The strange dance steps kept moving. When I realized that I had been pushed into the crowd, I was already being pushed forward by the people behind me. I had no idea how to dance this way. For a moment, my whole body was covered in sweat. I was afraid that being pushed like this would make me even more conspicuous.

The crowd was still quiet, but a snorting sound came from above. I moved my feet while looking up, and only then did I discover that behind the huge bonfire surrounded by people, there was a wooden platform, and several people in black robes were standing on it. The snorting sound came from them.

These people… what? At this moment, I had already released my heavenly vision, but I still sensed that the breath they exuded was very strange. In short, it was no longer human breath. There was something else on the platform, but before I could take a closer look, I was pushed forward by the crowd.

At this moment, a deep and old voice sounded beside me: “You must concentrate during the sacrifice. The last time someone wasn’t concentrating, they were thrown into the Yellow River early… You don’t know how terrifying that scene was… Concentrate. The people above are already angry.”

I had no idea who this person was, because everyone was wearing black cloaks, and it was hard to tell who was who. He probably thought I was a native of the town and was trying to warn me out of goodwill, but it made me realize that the people in this town were not as indifferent as I had imagined.

At this point, I was doomed to not be able to fool around anymore. Fortunately, I had practiced many sets of martial arts since childhood to strengthen my body, and my body was considered flexible. I began to pay attention to the movements of others and imitated these strange movements and footsteps. Although I still looked a bit clumsy, I was not so conspicuous.

A snorting sound came from above, making me tense up, but after two minutes there were no more extra movements, letting me know that I had passed this time. As time passed, I discovered that this strange dance step was just a few simple movements, like rowing while constantly pulling something out of your body and throwing it on the ground (or in the water?), and then reverently worshipping it, so I quickly became familiar with it.

But as I became more familiar with it, the strangeness began to creep into my heart. What was I taking out of my body? After carefully studying the movements of my hands, I realized that it was the position of the five internal organs, then the flesh and blood of the limbs, and finally the offering of my own head. What the fuck was this? I couldn’t help but swear in my heart… The strange feeling immediately spread throughout my body! This is basically a strange sacrifice. What kind of sacrifice is it to offer your own flesh and blood?

I thought of their worship of skeletons… and my eyes involuntarily twitched.

The dance continued, and after I got used to the movements, I began to observe the high platform behind the fire. Unfortunately, the fire was surrounded by people in the center, blocking the light. On the high platform, there was only a huge brazier in the center in front, and on top of the brazier was a large ceramic bowl. The bowl was emitting a wispy, black-green smoke, and the strange, pungent smell came from there.

Because the brazier was suspended high, I could only see the few black-robed people standing in front of the platform because of the angle. The shadows in the back made me think there was something there, but I had no idea what it was.

How long will this sacrifice last? Even leaning against the fire, constantly doing strange movements, my body is still getting colder and colder. Yang energy is locked up, and it’s not as simple as getting the blood flowing and going near a warm place to restore body temperature. My heart is already starting to get a little anxious. If necessary, I must untie the yang knot… Because not to mention the danger to life, as the body gets colder, the limbs will stiffen, how can I still fool around?

However, I had only tied the knot once, and if I tied it again right away, it would be very harmful… My heart was in a whirl, and I suddenly regretted taking such a risk, which had suddenly left me with no way out.

At this time, a cold, middle-aged man’s voice suddenly came from the platform: “Light the fire!” Then, the people around me began to roar in unison, and then they began to hum a strange tune from their mouths. I couldn’t hear clearly what language they were muttering in their throats… But the tune was really creepy, like the music of the evil demons in Journey to the West, or like the soundtrack of a ghost movie, with a strange scene and a tune that the ghost would appear at any time.

Are the people in this town possessed? How could they hum such a tune?

I followed suit, but my low humming was just a perfunctory gesture. Anyway, no one was paying attention to me. Instead, I noticed that after a single spark, several copper basins on the platform lit up one after another, finally illuminating the entire platform.

Then, I finally saw what was on the platform, but that discovery made me gasp in shock. It turned out that in the middle of the platform was a wooden boat, the entire boat was painted a blood-red color, and it was decorated with large red cloth flowers that represented happiness. In the boat were four beautiful children who looked no more than five years old, two boys and two girls.

The boys were wearing black silk clothes and Qing Dynasty-style caps with two red feathers on them, representing the groom. The girls were wearing red wedding dresses and had their hair done in bridal style… The four children were sitting in horror on the blood-red boat, their faces painted white and their cheeks red with rouge. In this civilized age, it looked weird no matter how you looked at it!

Around them were several huge plates, one with a pile of bloody hearts, another with a pile of bloody guts, and another with piles of bloody flesh. Just looking at these plates made me want to vomit. What the hell is that?

The crowd was still moving, and it was my turn to move closer to the high platform. I endured the nausea and took a closer look. It turned out that the bloody things were just wooden models carved out of wood, just covered with a layer of blood that I didn’t know what it was… But how could the child bear this?

My heart suddenly became angry. I didn’t know what they were doing with the children on the high platform. But I sensed that it was not a good thing at all.

People were still humming that strange tune around me, but I felt that I should do something. But what should I do? How should I do it?

At this moment, the black-clad man in the middle of the platform suddenly raised his hands and shouted, “Stop!”

The people who were chanting just now suddenly stopped as if they had been pressed a button, and there was not a sound. Then they all knelt down in unison towards the platform.

Once again, I didn’t react, and I didn’t kneel down. I stood out in the crowd, but I couldn’t kneel down to these evil guys who I didn’t know what they were.

The people on the high platform noticed me again this time. One of them snorted next to the person standing in the middle, and it looked like he was about to jump off the high platform, but he was blocked by the person in the middle… I don’t know what the medicine is.

I knew that… everything was not that simple. I took a deep breath and began to quietly untie the knot tied around my waist. This kind of knot cannot be untied with one pull. If it is suddenly untied, it will cause the yang energy to gush out all at once, causing poor breathing. Therefore, it can only be untied in a special way, but this is nothing difficult for me, who is already familiar with it!

I was untying the knot, but my pants were being quietly pulled by the person next to me, who was reminding me in a very small and anxious voice, “Kneel down, you have to kneel down…” It was clear that the person next to me was really worried about me… and it wasn’t the same person who had just reminded me! I once again felt that the people in this town were not as indifferent as they appeared to be.

“The boy has been chosen and sent to the holy village. As for him, he is the new river god sacrifice.” The man in the middle on the high platform finally spoke, his voice cold, holding my life in his hands as if it were the life of an ant.

Hiding in the shadow of my cloak, I laughed in anger. Really? You want to sacrifice me?

At this moment, a dozen hurried footsteps sounded behind us, and an old, weak voice came from behind us: “Don’t do it again… cough… cough… don’t do evil anymore!”