Chapter 372

"Escaping divine grace, it's cheap for him," the execution supervisor snorted, climbed out of the dirt pit, and said to the two Pseudo-Tigers, "Please execute!" The Pseudo-Tigers had long been impatient and rushed at the unconscious criminal, taking a big bite.

With a 'chi' sound, blood splashed three feet.

This person woke up in severe pain, and when he screamed, a large piece of meat had already been bitten off his belly, and his abdominal cavity had been ripped open.

He, of course, struggled desperately, but that little strength of a human was like a mantis trying to stop a chariot. A Pseudo-Tiger pressed him down with one paw and devoured his internal organs.

The entrails were the most delicious and nutritious; lions and tigers always ate in this order.

The other Pseudo-Tiger was not to be outdone and joined the competition, but didn't grab much to eat, and in a fit of anger, broke the criminal's thigh.

For a time, tigers roared and people howled, which was very noisy. The out-of-town merchants who saw this scene for the first time were all pale.

He Lingchuan finally knew where the dirt in this sunken execution platform came from.

The local townspeople watched intently, and the little girl stretched her head down, trying to see more clearly. But soon she complained: "A-Dong lied, the pit is so deep, the blood doesn't splash up at all!"

After only a dozen breaths, the criminal lost his breath in the tug-of-war between the two Pseudo-Tigers.

One was still devouring the delicacy, while the other simply turned around to find the dead criminal who hit the pillar.

The delicacy couldn't be wasted; this was the reward they had worked hard to win.

The 'clack' sound of sharp teeth gnawing on bones scared quite a few out-of-towners.

At this time, the bailiff took a huge piece of black cloth, covered the entire execution platform, and said to the crowd: "Execution over, everyone disperse." Both criminals were dead, and the Pseudo-Tigers didn't want to be disturbed while eating, so the townspeople reluctantly dispersed.

Shi Congshui also had cold sweat on his forehead and asked He Lingchuan: "How about it, can you still drink wine?"

He Lingchuan had seen all kinds of strange demon scenes of eating people, far more miserable than this, but seeing Shi Congshui swallowing his saliva, obviously his stomach was uncomfortable and he had to force himself to be calm, so he stretched: "No, a bit tired, want to go back to the post station to rest."

Shi Congshui secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Good, good, it's good to sleep early today."

Passing by an alley, the street stall gave off bursts of oily fragrance. He Lingchuan's stomach growled, so he went over and bought a few sesame cakes.

He had just bitten into the second cake when he saw a bailiff also turn into the small alley, followed by a person, whose eyes were red as if he had just cried, and he was sniffing while walking.

He Lingchuan paced over while biting the cake and stood at the foot of the wall.

With his hearing, eavesdropping on the conversation in the alley from here was a piece of cake.

But he first heard the clinking sound of copper coins colliding, as if the bailiff was weighing them, and then said: "Alright, wait until the two Tiger gentlemen have finished eating, then you go to collect the body, um, at most half an hour later."

That person thanked him repeatedly, letting his son suffer less.

The bailiff hurriedly shushed him: "Go, go, don't talk nonsense."

He Lingchuan understood when he heard this; it turned out that the death row prisoner suddenly hitting the pillar just now wasn't the bailiff's negligence, but he had accepted a bribe.

The other death row prisoner didn't understand the ways of the world, or perhaps had no money, and could only suffer the "biting punishment" and die.

Two human lives were gone, and the townspeople didn't care at all, continuing to live their own little lives.

He Lingchuan didn't go back for a while and just wandered around the small town.

The sky gradually darkened, and the lights of every house lit up, full of the atmosphere of fireworks.

In this town, demons and humans lived together, getting along peacefully, and He Lingchuan even saw a cat demon helping people count money with its paws.

The townspeople were also very friendly to out-of-towners; learning that He Lingchuan was a guest from the south, they enthusiastically pointed the way for him.

It seemed that these people just had a special hobby for watching the fun.

A woman selling handicrafts smiled at him: "Old Cai's wontons at the tenth house on the left in the market are the best wontons here. If you go now, his shop shouldn't be closed yet." At this time, the market had already dispersed.

He Lingchuan thanked her and saw that she was also selling masks on her stall, a large row of colorful ones, so he picked one up to look at: "What is this?"

"This is a Nuo opera mask. In ten days, it will be the Nuo Dance Festival. Everyone here, whether adult or child, must wear this to drive away evil and avoid filth."

"Is this a ghost-head mask?" The pattern of the mask was a fierce green ghost head, um, perhaps a beast head?

Using ghosts to ward off ghosts?

"No, no," the woman smiled. "This is Qingyao, the mount of the Tu-Nai Heavenly God. It specifically eats ghosts."

He Lingchuan remembered General Red's mask, and a playful heart suddenly arose, so he put two copper coins for her: "Then I want this one."

It was very light in his hand, and he didn't know what kind of wood it was, but it was not bad to play with as a handicraft.

At this time, a little girl ran over, and he remembered that this pair of mother and daughter were also by the execution platform just now.

This little girl was called A-Yan.

He asked A-Yan: "Seeing the criminal being punished, aren't you afraid?"

"Why be afraid?" A-Yan's eyes were large and clear. "Bad people don't count as people; they received the divine grace judgment. Only by being punished like this can they wash away the sins on their bodies."

"Then do you know what crime they committed?"

"They set fire to the military granary. Many people will go hungry this summer because of them."

Just at this time, the two Pseudo-Tigers walked through the street and went outside the town.

They had washed their fur clean, but He Lingchuan could still smell the bloody scent on them. The pedestrians on the street walked as they should and talked and laughed as they should, and no one made a fuss.

The two Pseudo-Tigers wandering the streets here seemed to be the daily routine of this town.

He Lingchuan pointed at their backs: "You aren't afraid of them either, um?"

"Not afraid!" A-Yan said as a matter of course. "They don't hurt us; I've even ridden one."

"So amazing?"

He Lingchuan stood up and went to the market to eat a bowl of vegetable and meat wontons according to the woman's directions, and the taste was surprisingly good.

After he returned to the post station, the door of Shi Congshan's guest room was tightly closed, and the lights were out.

Early the next morning, he went to find the second-in-command Shi to solve his doubts.

This second-in-command Shi had returned to normal today, pouring hot tea and saying: "'Biting punishment' is a tradition. The northern demon nation stipulates that demon beasts cannot eat people at will, otherwise they will be arrested. But nature and instinct are hard to erase, and blocking is not as good as dredging, so Beijia formulated this law; the criminal is punished, and the demon beast satisfies its craving, which is the best of both worlds."

This is quite reasonable? A new worker who followed the team on the side couldn't help but say: "Second-in-command, this is too cruel, right?"

The second-in-command Shi thought to himself, nonsense, it's simply terrifying. But on the surface, he still had to be calm and composed: "Punishment is punishment; if you don't make the criminal suffer, how can you achieve the purpose of 'punishment'? Tell me, what kind of corporal punishment doesn't make people suffer? Isn't slow slicing cruel, isn't hanging cruel, isn't dismemberment by five horses cruel?"

"But this is too scary." The worker didn't understand. "The others in this town see it, aren't they afraid?"

"On the contrary," Shi Congshui waved his hand. "I also thought for a long time before I figured it out. With the biting punishment, demon beasts only eat criminals, which instead greatly increases the townspeople's sense of security."

"As long as you are a good person, don't do bad things, and don't violate the law, the demon beasts won't eat you. Understand?" He said with justification, "Conversely, these fierce demon beasts are also sharp weapons to deter the petty."

He Lingchuan remembered what the little girl said yesterday; she had even ridden an adult Pseudo-Tiger.

For ordinary people living their lives, what they need most is perhaps "certainty." Everything else is secondary; anyway, they can live no matter what.

He said lightly: "With one piece of law, is it true that no demon beast dares to eat people at will?"

Human nature cannot withstand testing, let alone the nature of demon beasts? For those things that are as beautiful as ideals, he no longer believes in them much now.

"We only come here to do business," Shi Congshui smiled. "Why understand so clearly? However, I heard that there are occasionally some headless cases in various places."

"By the way, I wandered around the small town yesterday and found that there are actually three temples here, and in each one, there are people offering incense and kowtowing; I even saw them offering raw sheep heads." He Lingchuan talked about his new discovery last night and sighed a little, "In the place I came from, a town might not even have one temple, and offering blood food is strictly prohibited."

Didn't the He family fall into great trouble because they were falsely accused of rewarding the gods? "Oh yes, some countries strictly prohibit 'rewarding the gods'." Wu Jingsong happened to walk back from outside and took the conversation when he heard He Lingchuan's words, "But in Beijia, every household does this. You can go to any townsperson's house now, and there will definitely be a shrine. Every morning and evening, there is a kowtow, and on the first and fifteenth of the lunar month, they have to find ways to offer blood food."

He smiled again: "Beijia is known to the whole world as the Nation Favored by Heaven, a country favored and protected by gods. Here, the weather is favorable every year, with few disasters and few calamities."

His expression had a faint pride.

He Lingchuan had walked all the way with the caravan and heard Shi Congshan say no less than several times that Beijia was a nation of divine grace, a nation favored by heaven, and even the capital, Lingxu City, was named after the title of the Heavenly God Lingxu Saint Venerable.

The Demon Emperors and Demon Kings of Beijia must also be appointed by gods and baptized by gods before they can hold power and succeed to the throne.

It has been like this for five or six hundred years.

And the Great Yuan is the opposite; from the beginning of the founding of the nation, it has educated its subjects that gods are not to be believed.

I don't know which of these two approaches is more realistic. He Lingchuan remembered that Zhu Xiuer always sneered in the Demon Nest Swamp, saying that those who believe easily don't have a good end.

It is truly a cynical former demon immortal.

But the Beijia national destiny has already stretched for nearly six hundred years, watching other small countries change masters like a revolving lantern through the vicissitudes of life.

What do you say to that? ￥￥￥￥￥

After walking for another three days, the Shimen caravan arrived at Fufeng City, the capital of the Treasure Tree Kingdom.

Being able to walk so fast was partly because the main road was straight and wide, convenient for running horses, and they only passed two toll checkpoints on the way, and the road toll was quite low.

The commercial tax and carriage tax collected by the entire Beijia Nation were not high, but the infrastructure was very perfect, and the commercial orders were complete, so the economy and trade were developed. He Lingchuan often found the phenomenon that the number of merchants and travelers was more than the townspeople.

When Beijia was founded, sixteen demon kings were enfeoffed, and the Treasure Tree King was one of them. However, as time passed, the number of demon kings increased and decreased, once falling to twelve, until more than a hundred years ago, another king was added, so the current Beijia Nation has one emperor and thirteen demon kings.

The thirteen demon kings all have vast fiefdoms, or vassal states; except for the Prime Minister and Imperial Preceptor appointed by Lingxu City, the rest of the personnel, laws, and taxes are autonomous, and they also have their own armies, which is the so-called "country within a country."

(End of chapter)