Yue Guanchao understood that neither the men nor the guns were as good as Tang Dianrong. If someone had fired the first shot, they would have been beaten into pieces by now!
After clearing the pros and cons, Yue Guanchao took on a respectful tone and complimented in Mandarin:
"May I ask your name, brother? I see that you speak well and don't look like a vicious person. Why are you here?"
When Tang Dianrong heard this, he sighed and pretended to frown deeply:
"It's no big deal if you have a small name and a small surname. It's a long story. Let's go upstairs and I'll tell you slowly."
Well, let’s see what kind of medicine you are selling in your gourd!
Yue Guanchao led his companions and followed Tang Dianrong into the beast carving door. There was nothing behind the door. The stone steps spiraled upward into the darkness, which was the only entrance to the second floor.
They climbed dozens of steps to the second floor of the main hall.
Here, it is much more lively than the cold main hall!
The second floor is different from the majestic and weird feeling of the lobby. This slightly square hall lacks majesty and has an evil feeling of wild worship.
Yue Guanchao looked around. There were hidden doors on the east and west walls that were integrated into the wall. If he hadn't looked carefully, he wouldn't have noticed that it was a carved stone door.
The nine gods are still scattered on the four walls. This time they are no longer statues protruding from the wall, but instead become ancient and mysterious murals.
The gods in the murals are much the same as the statues. There is only one thing that makes everyone surprised!
Other parts of these murals are normal, except for the hands of the gods that protrude from the wall, as if they stretched their hands out of the murals and firmly pulled the chains in their hands.
All like this, without exception.
From a distance, the nine chains look like poisonous snake bite hooks, firmly pulling the giant shrine on the north wall.
This giant shrine is not big, but it is not small either. It rises from the ground like a pavilion, and roughly estimates it actually occupies half of the wall.
Upon closer inspection, the shrine resembles a palace-style archway, with knee-high blue bricks erected at the bottom, upper and lower beams and columns forming a "well" structure, and five layers of eaves from top to waist.
Yellow lacquer fan tiles, cornices, and corridors and branch windows between each floor are inlaid with clear colored glass. Only a door in the middle is left fully open at the bottom. A treasure tent and golden pavilion are built inside, and the whole is painted with mysterious red paint.
This kind of shrine usually appears in large temples, and the ones enshrined are all gods, Buddhas, and immortals. The niche in front of you is just a sacred shape, with only form but no reality. If you look closely, there is an evil atmosphere.
Nothing else, just because every beam outside this shrine is covered with realistically carved bronze skulls.
Most of these skeletons are about the size of fists, with hollow features filled with black charcoal sand, and are rusty on the outside, with debris falling from time to time. From a distance, the shrine looks like a terrifying ghost mountain covered with skeletons.
The nine chains just hooked the cornices on the left and right sides of the shrine, and were firmly pulled by the statue by the chains extending from all directions.
On the chain, various human organs hang.
Ears, nose, throat, mouth, eyes, head, limbs, internal organs...
There are wooden talismans in the shape of wat boards hanging between these organs. The bright red blood on them has dried, and the dirty blood makes the whole scene look extremely gloomy.
The source of this sense of horror is the strange ancient god wearing a bull-headed mask in the treasure pavilion!
This idol wears armor from an unknown dynasty and is covered with pitch-black armor plates. It holds a rusty sword firmly in its hand, and the cow-head mask covering its head is more ferocious and weird than that of a Nuo dancing witch.
Upon closer inspection, the red silk rope behind the mask hangs down to the shoulders, with countless human-eye copper bells hanging at the end of the rope. Six curved horns are arranged on both sides. The ghost face in the middle seems to be smiling but not smiling, not angry but not angry, with a strange Expressions are enshrined.
Seemingly sitting upright, everyone could feel no righteousness at all, exuding a terrifying aura that could swallow the souls of living people at any time.
Yue Guanchao thought that those who used human blood to make talisman and seal sacrifices would definitely not be the righteous gods of the Central Plains.
However, he had not read many books, so he could only ask Song Siyuan, the most educated among his companions:
"Miss Song, what kind of god do you think this is? There are so many skeletons, and he has to be sacrificed with viscera and blood."
Song Siyuan felt physically uncomfortable from the moment she saw the shrine.
These dried-up organs, fresh blood, and weird sacrificial tablets were already extremely horrifying to look at. Coupled with the stinking bloody and dirty smell, it seemed to me that they were evil.
She held back her stomach juices and said:
"Since the Zhou Dynasty, the Central Plains' rituals and music have eliminated evil sacrifices. Six animals have been used instead of living people to completely distinguish ghosts and gods. Obscene and wild sacrifices have been abandoned. However, the only people who can be worshiped by the people are the righteous gods who have been enshrined by the imperial decree. No matter how bad they are, they are evil gods who have reformed their evil ways and returned to the right way. .”
"This kind of person who demands human blood and internal organs as a sacrifice is definitely not the orthodox god of the Central Plains."
"But." She paused, her tone filled with confusion:
"You ask me to name which ancient god it is, but I don't know it very well. After all, in Chinese mythology, slightly evil gods are either destroyed, completely sealed, or recruited by the gods."
"Perhaps, this is the ancient god in Wu Coffin Town who is both good and evil."
At the moment, Song Siyuan was unsure, but if he was asked to guess, the ancient gods of the Sushen tribe would undoubtedly fit the situation best.
"You mean, they sacrificed to the gods of the Sushen tribe and exchanged their flesh and blood for the chance of survival."
Although Yue Guanchao didn't understand who the gods were being worshiped, Song Siyuan's words at least gave him part of the answer. The fact that these people were protected by the shrine seemed to be related to the sacrifice of human blood.
However, how long can this way of survival be maintained? Feeding the ancient gods with one's body is probably the reason why there are only a few dozen people left.
