Chapter 85

The excited crowd was guided to stand where they had been arranged from the start. The messy stream of people gradually fell into order, packing the mountain from halfway up to the base. The open spaces beside the altar were reserved for major donors who had contributed to the temple.

Lin Yu returned to the altar. The moment she came back, two people worked together to press a staff into her hands. A string of old copper coins, wrapped together with red thread, hung neatly from the staff. Lin Yu turned it as she took it, and the coins clinked against each other with a crisp rattle.

It was unlike any staff she had seen before. At its center, nestled among the intertwined red thread, hung a goat skull. Deep dust had gathered in the sunken eye sockets, giving it an ancient air.

The staff was made of wood, yet it felt strangely heavy, with a cold, iron-like chill that was hard to describe. As it touched the ground, it nearly numbed Lin Yu's wrist. Grasping the heavy, icy staff with both hands, she lowered her lashes and listened obediently to Yun Chi.

"This staff, you've never seen it, right? It's an artifact passed down through generations of High Priestesses, used only during important sacrifices. That's why it was brought out today to take center stage," Yun Chi explained.

"The High Priestess's artifact? Then why am I the one using it?"

Yun Chi pressed her lips together and gave an awkward smile. "I have no cultivation to speak of—I can't lift it. If I dropped it in the middle of the ceremony, we'd both be executed by the Xianzun."

Lin Yu paused. "...Alright."

"Let me tell you the gist of what you need to do during the ceremony. Just listen for now," Yun Chi said. "The red cord and coins on the staff have to sweep over each offering, as a kind of blessing. You need to weave among them while chanting a spell, and every now and then you'll have to put on a show and do a little dance. But honestly, I don't know what spells my master used to recite."

"But it doesn't matter; the people below can't hear you anyway. Just move your mouth and that'll be enough." Yun Chi finished speaking and pulled Lin Yu aside to clear the center space. Several tall disciples began ferrying cross-shaped wooden frames.

They worked with practiced speed. In just a few moments, many wooden frames had been set upright on the platform. Then they went around, hoisting the corpses lying on the ground and fixing them to the frames. With almost brutal force, they forced the dead offerings to "stand" again.

After all, they were advertised as a "living sacrifice." A row of dead bodies lying flat would look bad and lack grandeur.

But the people were long dead, and the corpses were already stiff. To make them seem more lifelike, they bound thick and thin ropes around the bodies, tying them to the wooden frames.

They tied each one, and at a visible pace, the number of standing figures on the altar grew. At first glance, the altar was full of people—a dense, stiff, eerie crowd that stood silent.

Amid the crowd, two oddly dressed women murmured to each other, out of place among the people standing straight around them. Though the altar was packed, theirs were the only breaths. The very air around felt icy, with a strange sort of bustling vitality.

Yun Chi looked at the stiffly standing crowd and felt a chill run down her spine. "There are twenty-eight people here in total. The Xianzun originally wanted a hundred. What about the rest?"

Lin Yu glanced at the Xianzun. He stood below the altar, still wearing a stern face, staring at the sparks in front of him, lost in thought.

"Once the ceremony starts, someone will bring the offerings," Lin Yu said, fiddling with the staff. She suddenly asked, "If someone threw corpses at you, and there were quite a few, would you be scared?"

Yun Chi suddenly had a bad feeling. "What are you... planning to do?"

Yun Chi kept a polite smile, but a flurry of thoughts raced through her mind. She had seen many corpses, but only ones that were dead and still. She wasn't afraid of the dead, but having them thrown at her was another matter. What did she mean by throwing corpses? And where would Lin Yu even find corpses?

"I'm scared..."

Lin Yu said, "Alright, then you should duck out of the way when it happens."

Yun Chi: ?...

As they spoke, Lin Yu's peripheral vision swept over the people nearest the altar. She figured the worshippers' positions were based on donation amounts: those who gave less—say, a few hundred or a couple thousand taels of silver—could stand halfway up the mountain to watch. Those closest to the altar had contributed at least a thousand taels of gold. Of course, when it came to offerings for so-called gods, there was always more.

Standing below the altar, just steps away, were those who had donated temples built of pure gold to earn their spots. They were mostly high officials or the wealthiest merchants; ordinary people couldn't afford such a privilege.

Well, money certainly talks. While others jostled for a view, craning their necks, these people sat right at the foot of the altar. While others fought over a slim chance to make a wish, someone was handing out wish plaques to these few, guaranteeing their prayers would reach the gods.

Laughter and flattery from the crowd below drifted up to the altar.

A hunchbacked man in fancy robes, with a shifty-eyed look, spotted a red-robed old man approaching. His eyes lit up, and he shot up from his seat, rushing over to help him. When he steadied the elder, he beamed, wrinkles bunching at the corners of his eyes.

"Ah, isn't this Squire Zhang! Why, you've come in person! Your reverence for the gods is truly devout—surely they will bless you. I expect you'll be fully recovered from your illness soon..."

"Is the Prime Minister coming today? It's about to start—perhaps he won't make it?" A few middle-aged men chatted among themselves, looking like court officials.

A woman draped in gold, jade, and a fox-fur coat studied the arriving crowd. She frowned with a sigh. "What a pity—the Xie family has fallen. I used to see the Xie patriarch every year. There was a lot of business to be done with him..."

As the crowd swelled, the murmur grew into a din, with all sorts of chatter.

"My useless son sat for this year's civil exam. I just hope he amounts to something someday and wins office and honor. Ah, a few days ago, when we went to pay respects to the Earth Immortal, we heard about this spring sacrifice at Heaven's Mandate Tower. A cultivator told me that a wish made during the spring ceremony is sure to be heard by the heavens." The old man talking took a brush from a young acolyte and began writing his wish on a plaque. He continued as he wrote, "So I rushed with my son to the Imperial City overnight and spent no small amount of gold and silver just to get a spot to watch. Us parents, we exhaust ourselves over our children's futures..." Though his words were worried, a smile he couldn't hide spread across his face.

"Haha, General Zhao! Well met, well met. I hear you're heading back to the frontier soon..."

Lin Yu looked away. She caught the gaze of the Moon God, who had mingled into the crowd. She wasn't surprised he'd stayed to watch the ceremony. She nodded and smiled at him.

Soon, a mass of dark qi hidden in the air locked onto a young woman standing not far from the Moon God. The black wisp circled her head three times in one direction, then three in the other, before plunging into her brow at lightning speed. The instant it entered, her smile froze and her pupils widened slightly. Once the dark qi had taken control of her body, her stiff expression returned to normal.

Ordinary mortals could only see ghost messengers at the edge of death, but the messengers were always on the lookout for living people with strong yin energy. They could temporarily seize their consciousness, sinking them into a sleep-like state, and then briefly command their bodies—what folks commonly call possession.

How long a possession could last depended on the host's condition, the messenger's skill, and the time of day.

The timing was perfect now. Dusk had fallen, and the long night was approaching—the ideal hour for spirits to return to the world of the living.

Plumes of black qi streaked out from the bamboo grove, soaring over the crowd, swirling unchecked above their heads. As the first wisp found its host, more and more dark qi burrowed into the throng, and the lively atmosphere began to subtly shift.

A voice cut through the crowd out of nowhere: "Wasn't this supposed to be a hundred-person sacrifice? Why are there only this many offerings?"

"Hold on, the ceremony hasn't even started yet," someone replied quickly.

Because of their back-and-forth, more and more people noticed the count of offerings on the altar didn't seem right. But trusting in Heaven's Mandate Tower, no one raised further objections. Yun Chi let out a soft cough and tapped the bell in her hand.

"Dong, dong, dong—"

As the piercing, far-reaching sound of the bell filled every corner of the vast Divine Mountain, the crowd fell silent.

Yun Chi lifted her eyes and said softly, "Follow me. Salute the gods—kneel."

"Salute the gods—kneel—" They echoed in unison, bowing deeply toward the offerings. The vast crowd, hearing this, knelt and pressed their foreheads to the ground.

Before the sacrifice began, there were elaborate rites to follow, honoring the gods. Yun Chi hadn't had time to brief Lin Yu before the start, so Yun Chi said the words and Lin Yu repeated them after her, the two working in perfect sync. The Salutation Rite, the Servant Rite, the Kowtow Rite—all passed without a hitch.

During the Offering Rite, Lin Yu noticed the Moon God had vanished. She cast her gaze around and spotted him speaking with the Xianzun behind the tall stack of ritual vessels.

The Xianzun had one hand behind his back. His appearance had shifted back to a seventy-year-old man, and neither the fine wrinkles nor the sagging skin could hide his livid expression. Lin Yu knew him well enough to see that he was on the verge of fury, but because he stood before the Moon God, he had no choice but to swallow his rage and feign calm.

The Moon God crossed his arms. A faint smile lingered at the corner of his mouth as he looked askance at the furious white-haired elder, not saying a word, just watching him evenly.

The distance was too great for Lin Yu to hear what they were saying, but she could guess the gist. Most likely, the Xianzun had discovered that the Moon God had tricked him—no one had gone to rescue the Divine Maiden, and her fate was now unknown.

Yun Chi brushed Lin Yu's sleeve. The rites were done; it was time to begin the sacrifice.

Lin Yu pulled her gaze back and, staff in hand, walked to the very edge of the altar. Meanwhile, Yun Chi bade the crowd rise to observe the ceremony.

Just as the people stood, a mournful wail sounded from afar. A massive beast appeared in everyone's line of sight—jet-black all over, with sharp spikes jutting from its back. Its thick limbs pounded the earth, shaking the ground so violently that the whole Divine Mountain seemed to tremble!

The worshippers at the foot of the mountain, terrified out of their wits, scattered in every direction. Some couldn't dodge in time, and just as it seemed the beast would plow through the crowd and crush them to pulp, the creature leapt up and sailed right over their heads!

It trod through the air, stepping over the void above the people's heads, crossing the endless stone steps with lightning speed, charging straight for the altar halfway up the mountain!

The beast's shadow loomed over everyone. People looked up to see its thick, trembling belly pass overhead. It was so enormous that no one could take in its full form. Then those near the top of the mountain caught sight of what was on the spikes jutting from its back, and a collective gasp rose from them—a shriek that nearly tore the sky!

"It! There are corpses on its back—broken, shredded corpses!"