When Yue Guanchao spoke, Tang Dianrong's so-called flesh and blood sacrifice ceremony had already begun. He and Song Siyuan used the holes in the stone door to stare at every move of the bandits in the hall:
During the tea time, the soldiers and bandits had already moved out nine knee-high altar tables and placed them in front of the murals of the major gods. Together with the three in front of the cow-headed shrine, they just shaped like the character "Dan".
On the offering table, yellow rice is on the left, purified water is in the middle, and pork is on the right.
Three incense sticks were inserted into a copper incense burner, and the lamps on both sides were lit.
When a wisp of smoke rises from the fire, it means that the birth ceremony has begun.
Jingle bell~boom boom~ding bell bell~boom boom boom~
With the sound of waist bells and tambourines, two wizards wearing colorful rope sacrificial robes walked slowly from both sides of the shrine with strange steps to invite the gods.
Their unique and vigorous dance postures, the vibrating waist bells that kept ringing, everyone in the hall remained silent, and the vibrato of the copperware was extremely clear, which in turn heightened the sense of ceremony and made everyone dare not speak or move randomly.
Upon closer inspection, the clothes worn by the Sushen wizard are no different from those of the Nuo dance witch, but they are more outdated, as if they are faded antiques filled with the heavy atmosphere of history.
They circled the altar, waving the waist bells in their hands with the altar as the center, and murmured:
"The ancient gods above, I offer my flesh and blood as a sacrifice to you. The sun, moon and stars will clear the way to heaven, wind, rain, thunder and lightning will help listen to music. Mountains, rivers and lakes will bring joy to all people. Tigers, leopards, eagles and wolves will bring joy. I only wish to protect all living beings in the world. If there is Come true, every new year, feast your soul and pay homage, listen carefully, listen carefully, don’t forget, don’t forget~”
When the wizard was reciting the words, Tang Dianrong stood in the middle of the "Dan" totem. The other bandits all gathered in a circle and knelt on the futon. They raised their hands above their heads and cut their palms with daggers. When the blood soaked their hands, they began to repeat the wizard in a low voice. The lyrics seem to be more pious than Buddhists.
Wizard Su Shen picked up a jar engraved with mysterious talismans, dipped a newly broken locust tree branch into the mysterious liquid, and threw it on the soldiers and bandits one by one.
In the midst of this divine chanting, the candles on the altar table flickered and went out.
An unknown wind blew by, and the candle gradually turned green, then went out with a pop.
The smoke generated by the candle seemed to have consciousness and kept gathering into the air. I wonder if Yue Guanchao was dazzled by it. He felt that the smoke gathered into the face of a bull-headed ghost, and he kept looking at the soldiers and bandits in the hall.
However, in the blink of an eye, many large centipedes crawled in from the window, making Yue Guanchao's breath hitch and his eyes widen.
If it were just the size of an ordinary finger, it wouldn't be surprising. The centipede in front of me changed from normal.
They have reached half an arm's length and are wider than a hand.
The shiny black back armor shone bright green under the candlelight on the top of the hall, and the giant teeth of the pincers clicked in the air.
Those pair of broad bean-sized eyeballs kept observing the bandits, and their crawling centipedes had already surrounded them.
Stimulated by blood, they crawled towards the soldiers and bandits' bodies, their pincer giant teeth constantly licking the bodies. This process was probably their ancient gods selecting sacrifices.
Some bandits were so frightened when these giant centipedes crawled up their bodies. When they saw it open its huge fangs, they trembled all over. Unknowingly, the yellow and white things flowed down their legs.
"ah!"
The bandit couldn't bear the fear and pushed away the centipedes to escape. The green-armored centipedes looked up at the escaping bandit and rushed forward with hissing sounds from their mouths.
The bandit had not taken a few steps when he was bitten in the neck by a jumping centipede, and then fell to the ground with foam at the mouth.
Seeing the opportunity, the centipedes rushed forward and sucked up a bandit who was as strong as an ox in an instant. When the centipedes dispersed, all that was left on the ground was a withered skeleton, like a hundred-year-old mummy that had died on the spot.
"The ancient gods have chosen the sacrifices. The meal is finished. The rest of the people are at peace. The ceremony is completed~"
Wizard Sushen looked at the mummy with no emotion in his eyes, and quickly rang the bell and chanted.
There was no trace of sadness on the faces of the other bandits. Instead, there was a sense of joy in surviving the disaster, and they had more respect for the ancient gods. They dismembered the mummy of the bandit and put it on the chain again!
The whole process is like processing air-dried bacon!
A group of murderous executioners are praying for God's blessing. This scene is ironic and weird.
Yue Guanchao understood that this piety came from the fear of death.
They are afraid of death, so they are respectful and docile to anything that can save them from death, and they no longer have the arrogance of bandits.
However, they have always been the executioners who killed the people of Wu Coffin Town. They have been trapped here for twenty years and have to sacrifice themselves with their own hands. This is the biggest and most ruthless punishment for them.
Letting a group of people know for sure that they are going to die but not telling them the date is the highest level of torture.
However, he didn't know what kind of mysterious force was behind all this.
As he was watching carefully, Song Siyuan walked up to him and said in a low voice:
"These two wizards Sushen should be Wu Yueniang and Zhong Liangsheng. I feel that they were either threatened by Tang Dianrong and had to do things for Tang Dianrong, or they were greedy and wanted to take the treasure, so they helped him do evil."
Yue Guanchao looked at her, leaned close to her ear and said, "You are right, I have found the "Secrets of Ancestor Xian". There is indeed no way to lift the curse in it. It is a treasure map, located in the back mountain."
Seeing that her guess was true, Song Siyuan's eyes flashed with excitement: "Then, what Wu Yueniang said about lifting the curse is also false?"
Yue Guanchao nodded sharply at him: "Well, Aying and we have all been deceived. We have to carefully figure out how to escape."
