The sky was gloomy, with dark clouds gathering and drooping, like huge ghostly hands grabbing at the world.
Chaoge consists of an inner city and an outer city. In the inner city except for the royal palace, only princes and nobles are eligible to live.
At this moment, in a broad square to the north of the palace, all the royal family members, men, women, old and young, who were in Chaoge, were present with solemn expressions.
The young man was still wearing the nine-day black bird and fierce beast robe, and stepped onto the altar in the center of the square step by step.
The entire altar is in the shape of a stepped pyramid, made entirely of pure jade, with the top cut off, leaving a little space.
Baiyao came to the highest point with an expressionless face and looked up at the gloomy sky.
This is a sacrifice that only the royal family participates in.
Bigan told him last night that the royal family had not heard the voices of their ancestors for many years and hoped that he could lead the royal family to worship their ancestors.
Baiyao did not refuse. During the years when he was sleeping, Bigan had been in charge of Dashang's sacrificial activities. However, the sacrificial activities he presided over were the same as those of Di Xin, which had its own form but no soul, and was unable to receive the revelations from the ancestors.
This sacrifice would allow him to consolidate his power.
In his hand was an exquisite short bronze staff, which was a sacrificial vessel.
In this world where myth and history are combined, the smelting technology of the Shang Dynasty was very developed, and bronze had long been replaced by iron.
But the people of the Shang Dynasty have never forgotten that their ancestors overthrew Xia Jie's brutal rule with bronze vessels in hand.
Therefore, bronze became a ritual vessel, casting both royal power and divine power.
The strong wind was blowing, and Baiyao lowered his eyebrows and looked down.
The "sacrifice" have arrived.
One by one, the strong prisoners of war were escorted to the various steps of the altar.
There are barbarians, savages, and even half-demon, whose hands and feet are bound by shackles and washed clean.
They come from different places, but have one identity in common - brave warriors.
After being captured on the battlefield, the strong ones stood out and were collected as fine sacrifices by the royal family.
Today, they will come to the end of their lives.
Some prisoners of war looked at the white figure at the top, relief appearing in their tortured eyes.
They would rather die in this family sacrifice than die in a royal family's divination to find out whether the food was poisonous.
The "virgins" of the royal family who were responsible for divination came to different positions on the altar and waited with bated breath for the sacrifice to begin.
"Dong——"
Under the altar, the elderly Bigan rang the big bell.
Baiyao took a deep breath, looked down at the prisoners of war below, and murmured in a voice that only he could hear:
"Sorry, I can't challenge my divine authority."
The six-hundred-year-old custom of human sacrifice cannot be overturned by him alone. It will take time.
He closed his eyes, stretched out his hand and gently shook the short staff, and the bell hanging on it made a crisp sound.
His big sleeves swayed, just as he remembered, and he danced a familiar ritual dance.
At Sadato's signal, the soldiers began to kill.
The first batch were skinned alive, leaving only leg bones and skulls.
The second group were beheaded and placed one after another on the steps, face down.
The Zhen people sprinkled some cinnabar on the heads, and then filled the gaps between the heads with reddish-brown soil.
The third batch of prisoners of war was very special. Their hands were tied to their faces, their faces were covered, and their throats were cut to death during the struggle. They had many jade shells, the highest grade currency of the Shang Dynasty, tied to their bodies.
Group after group of prisoners of war were killed.
This bloody sacrifice lasted for a full hour just for the killings.
It wasn't until raindrops fell from the sky that the killings reached Baiyao's feet.
On the last step, there was only one member of the royal family named Wu Sizi.
He held the bronze tripod with trembling hands and knelt in front of Baiyao with a pale face. On the tripod was written:
"In Bingwu, the king rewarded Wu Sizi with 20 shells. It was used as a father's treasure tripod. In the ninth month, it was a dog fish."
Wujizi comes from a branch lineage that is not prominent within the royal family - Inuyu.
Because he accidentally let go of several slaves during a sacrifice, he committed a serious crime that offended the gods and became the highest-level sacrifice in this sacrifice.
The bronze tripod was cast to commemorate the jade shells that Emperor Xin once rewarded him with. Now it is also used as a sacrifice to prove his identity to his ancestors.
The tongues of the sacrifices were all cut off, and he could only look at Baiyao with fear on his face and whimper.
He was not afraid of being sacrificed alive, but he was afraid that his death alone would not earn the forgiveness of his ancestors.
It was Di Xin who came forward to prevent all the dogs and fishes from being killed.
Wu Sizi believed that this was a punishment from the king, and that the Inuyu people would be nailed to the pillar of shame for eternity, and no matter how much they contributed, they would never be able to enter the ancestral temple.
The sacrificial dance came to an end, Baiyao gradually stopped and opened his eyes.
On top of the mountain of corpses and the sea of blood, a man dressed in white is extremely vivid.
He ignored Wu Sizi's begging, looked at the sky, opened his arms, and said loudly:
"kneel--"
Hundreds of royals, led by Bigan, knelt down in unison.
Di Xin, holding a bronze ax and axe, stepped onto the blood-stained steps with a serious expression.
He came to Wujizi's side, a trace of hesitation flashed in his eyes, and then mercilessly split him in half from top to bottom.
The scarlet blood swallowed up the pure land at the end of the altar, and the voice of the system also sounded in Baiyao's mind:
[Sacrifice to the Great Shang God, increase national luck by 500 points]
Before he could react, a burst of golden light enveloped his eyes.
The sound of wind in his ears gradually stopped, and Baiyao couldn't see anything clearly. He only felt that his body became lighter and rose uncontrollably.
After an unknown amount of time, the golden light gradually dissipated.
What comes into view is the layered sky, with many golden human-shaped shadows standing in the sky.
[Xianchen: Women are good
Realm after deification: Golden Immortal
Consumption of national luck: 1 million points]
[Predecessor: Zique
Realm after deification: Golden Immortal
Consumption of national luck: 1 million points]
[Predecessor: Yi Yin
The realm after deification: Taiyi Golden Immortal
Consumption of national luck: 50 million points]
…
Wherever Baiyao's sight passed, information about each shadow appeared.
"Golden Immortal? Taiyi?!"
He lost his voice.
As his body continued to rise, he saw the phantoms of previous Shang kings again.
[Predecessor: Emperor Yi
The realm after deification: Taiyi Golden Immortal
Note: Sealed by Heaven, now unable to be deified]
…
[Predecessor: Wu Ding
The realm after deification: Daluo Jinxian
Note: Sealed by Heaven, now unable to be deified]
…
"Damn it! Da Luo!"
Baiyao was extremely excited. If the Shang Dynasty had a few more Daluo-level combat capabilities, his chances of surviving would be much higher.
[This is Dashang Temple, you can come in and out at will in the future]
"Why are the previous kings sealed? Is there any way to unblock them?"
Baiyao found that compared to the shadows of the former ministers, although the former kings were brighter, they were like rigid statues without a trace of life.
[The system cannot know things involving the way of heaven. It may be related to the sacrifice you made before falling asleep]
Baiyao showed a blank expression. It was strange. He remembered that he fell asleep because of the sacrifice, but he could not recall the process or even the reason for the sacrifice.
"Forget it, I can't remember."
"Go back," Baiyao sighed, with the word "poor" written all over his face, "A sacrifice only costs 500 points. How long do you have to save to become a deity... It would be great if you can practice immortality to extend your life."
As we all know, spiritual practice belongs to the category of heaven. Breathing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and losing your mortal body, you can climb up the heaven and seek to achieve enlightenment and become an immortal.
In humanity, there is no such thing as climbing.
Humanity manifests its existence through luck.
And the only person in this world who can carry the fate of humanity is the apex of the human race - the Yin Shang royal family.
Among the royal family, the Human Emperor and Da Zhu have the strongest luck.
For example, Di Xin needs guards around him at all times to prevent assassins from assassinating him.
But once a cultivator outside of the human realm attacks him, the attack will be instantly disintegrated by the human realm. Even if the person who does it is a Daluo Jinxian, he will be met with a crazy counterattack by the human realm.
This is the gold content of the Human Emperor.
Carrying the fate of humanity, although the path to immortality is cut off, you will be protected by humanity.
As a great Zhu, Baiyao embodies the faith of Great Shang, and his fortune is no less than that of the Human Emperor.
Accordingly, like other royals, he cannot embark on the path of immortality. Others can abandon their human destiny, but he and Di Xin can no longer escape.
【You can practice】
After hearing his words, the system replied like this.
Baiyao:?
