Chapter 416 - Sacrificial Ritual
Chen Beidou tilted his head to look at Chen Jinchan and said, "Listen, this rain is a 'sacrificial ritual'."
The affairs of a nation was always about worshiping and war.
Those were the words that popped out in Chen Jinchan's mind. Now that Chen Beidou viewed this rain as a sacrificial ritual, the next step would be the clashing of the armies. Other nations would worship their ancestors and the deities by praying, but over here, Chen Beidou was the deity, also the ancestor of the Chen Village.
Plus, there were not many cultivated spiritual beings on Mount Zhong that could be used as a scarification.
The person who questioned Chen Beidou did not receive any answer as Chen Beidou felt that there was no need to explain to them. After the stunning transformation, Chen Jinchan's sensories became sharper and he was able to sense human and non-human spiritual beings who were making their way to the Mountain God Temple. They were struggling with their movements as every droplet of the rain weakened their powers.
Chen Jinchan noticed a ray of light turned into a puddle of blood and then disappeared along the rain and wind.
He could not help but felt empathetic towards them.
These were all cultivated living creatures and were turned into offerings out of the blue. They had no explanations and did not even have the chance to fight back. The Mountain God Master used a very cruel example to teach Chen Jinchan about the nature's law of the survival of the fittest. Being weak was the biggest mistake anyone could make. If the person at the lower-hand was as strong as Shen Lian or the Mountain God Master, they would not have died or at least, could escape from the situation.
Some of the cultivated living creatures were enraged and dashed towards the Mountain God Temple without any order. As their cultivation experiences were deeper than Chen Jinchan and they had stronger essential Qi and mana, they were able to withstand for a longer period under the rain.
One person managed to dash across the rain and entered the mountains. Although it was a bumpy journey, he still made it in and he literally rolled his way to Chen Beidou and said, "Mountain God Master, please spare my life. I can give you everything, including my soul."
Chen Beidou was not unmoved. The person turned to Chen Jinchan and said, "Brother, please beg for mercy on behalf of me."
Chen Jinchan opened his mouth, turned to Chen Beidou and was about to say something.
The man on the ground raised his arm and it transformed into a black bear's limbs with a big bear paw that swept across like a fan.
Chen Jinchan noticed the action but he could not react in time. However, the demon bear awkwardly paused its movement and started to radiate in white light. Many subtle sword gleam started to explode out of its body and the demon bear turned into a rain of blood, with some blood splattered on Chen Jinchan's face.
He looked lost as he pondered why the demon bear wanted to attack him. Could it be that it wanted to take him as hostage?
But it no longer mattered anymore. Chen Beidou stood under the rain without any expression as a shapeless breath of the heaven and earth gathered around his body. It started flowing vigorously like the phenomenon of a long river.
Chen Jinchan could not tell what benefits have the Mountain God Master gained from this. Although the Mountain God Temple was located at semi-high altitude, but at this very moment, it felt like the Mountain God Master was standing on the highest peak ever.
He turned his head and realized that the Mountain God Temple has vanished.
If there was a god, there would be a temple. Without a place temple to gather the believers, deities were no different from trees that had no roots, it would not be able to have the energy to nourish. Some of the knowledge on the Path of Shen popped up in Chen Jinchan's mind but it was nothing close to what he was experiencing.
The beautiful voice of the noble witch saying "Your path to Dao would not take place on the ground, it would still be the same as when it was in the sky" started to ring in his ears.
"Your path to Dao would not take place on the ground, it would still be the same as when it was in the sky,"
"Your path to Dao would not take place on the ground, it would still be the same as when it was in the sky,"
"Your path to Dao would not take place on the ground, it would still be the same as when it was in the sky,"
It was the voices of the people of the Chen Village that sang together with the noble witch. The power of faith gathered to form an unexplainable breath of the heaven and earth, and surged into Chen Beidou's body.
The hymn left Chen Jinchan stunned but he also somewhat yearned for it. The trauma from the bear demon attack has faded while Chen Beido's majesticness and prestige was carved deeply in the spirits of every living beings of Mount Zhong.
The sword gleam took one cultivated living being after another as the rain of Mount Zhong turned into the colour of blood. The spirits were grunting and roaring but Chen Beidou was not bothered at all.
The rainwater attacked every corner of Mount Zhong except for two places, Chen Village and the place where Shen Lian was at.
It was an abode of the immortal excavated from the wall of the mountain. It was rainy outside but extremely dry inside.
"This rain is a 'sacrificial ritual'." Shen Lian said to Fang Yanying the same way as how Chen Beidou told Chen Jinchan.
Fang Yanying was surprised. Sh said, "He took all of the cultivated spirit of Mount Zhong as offerings. Is he not afraid of karma?"
"He would feel guilty if it was the life of the masses. But to heaven and earth, these living beings are tumors. They would absorb the qi of vitality of the heaven and earth day and night without fail, and they have never once contributed back." Shen Lian explained.
It was not Fang Yanying's first time receiving lectures from her uncle-master but she find it hard to accept that view of cultivators were tumors to heaven and earth.
她又道:"师叔,如果山神得了祭祀的力量,岂非更加强大了,那么对你就更不利了."
She said, "Uncle-master, wouldn't it be disadvantageous for you if the Mountain God became stronger from the power of the sacrificial ritual?"
"You are right but this was as a mutual acquiescence between us. He asked Chen Jinchan to take the water but it was something beyond Chen Jinchan's ability. But I lent him a helping hand because no matter what circ.u.mstances, I want to bring him back to Qing Xuan. As a condition, I should not interfere his 'sacrificial ritual' and that was the difficult puzzle that he gave me." Shen Lian smiled as if he was not forced to solve this puzzle.
Fang Yanying responded, "But uncle-master, you have definitely suffered loses here." The extraction of the waters of Ruoshui has caused Shen Lian a great amount of energy. Moreover, he could not interfere Chen Beidou's sacrificial ritual that aimed to make him stronger. If it was someone else and not Shen Lian, Fang Yanying would have thought that person was out of his mind.
However, the wisdom of her uncle-master was sufficient to cut of all troubles and he was definitely not a fool.
"Chen Beidou needed a stronger force because he wanted to immolate himself. This is his wish and it is not something that I can stop. Moreover, attaining stronger powers in such a short time frame does not necessarily means its a good thing." Shen Lian replied mercilessly.
"Uncle-master, do you mean that he will be overwhelmed by his power during the battle and would eventually revealed his flaws? Just like the saying of the Daoist master that goes, 'A Daoist would not go far with heavy burdens'?" Fang Yanying responded to Shen Lian after giving some thoughts to the situation.