Chapter 563: Sacrificing to the Earth

In the distance, the Jiangshui Tribe is now a scene of ruins; a sudden disaster caused all their earth-burrow dwellings to collapse. Some people exhausted all their strength to dig themselves out, while others were directly crushed into the earth, unable to move, and then suffocated to death.

For those living in tents and wooden sheds, their homes were also shaken until they were scattered across the ground. The trees on the surface were all crooked and twisted, the mountains collapsed, the rivers changed course, and everything they were familiar with had disappeared.

The population of the Jiangshui Tribe plummeted by half in an instant; now only over forty thousand people remain, and there is not a bit of food left, because most of the food was buried in the soil.

Tribal Chief Jiang does not know why this is; he is already scared out of his wits. He guesses that perhaps they did something to make the gods of Heaven angry, so he did not even go to save his tribespeople, and hurriedly found the Great Shaman, who was also terrified, wanting to appease the gods through sacrifice.

They slaughtered all the living Slaves of the Wulenge Tribe, then roasted the meat on their legs and threw it into the cracks that had split open in the ground, hoping that the gods who rule the earth would forgive them, yet they do not even know what mistake they have committed.

Everyone is kneeling piously, their bodies pressed flat against the ground, and the tribespeople buried in the soil are the sacrifices needed by the gods who rule the earth; there is no need to save them.

A youth who still carries some childishness is using his own hands to frantically dig his favorite girl out of the soil, and beside him is his good brother, whose face he just dug out, who is breathing painfully.

There are no such sordid affairs; it is just because the few of them are all poor people at the bottom, without tents of their own, and can only rely on each other, using wood to dig out an earth-burrow in this remote location, huddling together to resist the bitter cold of Winter.

The sacrifice is still continuing, and Zhu can hear the loud sacrificial prayers of the Tribal Chief and the Great Shaman on the mountaintop. He believes there are gods, but he does not think the gods would take the two people he relies on most as sacrifices, just to eliminate their own anger.

If the Tribal Chief dared to come and kill them to sacrifice, then Zhu feels that a person as important as the Tribal Chief, if used as a sacrifice, should be better able to eliminate the anger of the gods.

Not until Zhu dug out Cangyun's face and used his fingers to scoop the soil out of Cangyun's mouth, seeing Cangyun begin to breathe with difficulty again, did he turn back to dig out the body of his good brother, Yinyang.

Their earth-burrow was not deep, nor was it large, so they were all buried quite shallowly; they even ran out a bit before the hole collapsed, but unfortunately, only Zhu managed to run out.

If this had been at night, and they had all been fast asleep, then they would definitely have been buried very deep, impossible to dig out no matter what, and it would not even be visible that anyone was buried in this place.

After Yinyang was dug out, he also hurriedly joined the work of digging out Cangyun. Finally, the three of them embraced each other in extreme panic; their greatest dream was to be able to successfully live for thirty Winters, and then die together.

Just as there were already two mud streaks on Cangyun's face washed away by tears, the earth began to shake again, even more violently than the last time. They felt it was difficult even to stand, feeling somewhat dizzy and spinning, and instantly lost their balance and fell to the ground.

The sun in the sky was somewhat dazzling, and the shaking beneath them made them dizzy and somewhat nauseous. Fortunately, the shaking stopped abruptly. Looking at the tribe, which was becoming increasingly unfamiliar and where almost no living people could be seen, the three of them felt growing fear in their hearts, and their legs could not stop trembling.

Cangyun cried and said, "Is it because you saved me that you angered the gods again?"

Zhu pulled Cangyun into his arms: "No, absolutely not. It must be that the Tribal Chief did something to anger the gods, which is why the gods are angry. It has nothing to do with you."

The sacrifice was interrupted. The Knife the Great Shaman used to cut the meat from the Slaves' bodies was also plunged into his own body. After the shaking stopped, he used his blood-and-mud-stained hands, his eyes red, and pointed angrily at Jiang, saying: "It is you! You broke the cup used by the gods and didn't know to offer a sacrifice to apologize early. Now it's done; the entire Jiangshui Tribe is going to be destroyed by the gods because of you."

Jiang no longer even had the ability to stand up. Before his eyes, that crack was even more terrifying. The surroundings were extremely silent, yet in this eerie silence, he could hear many people wailing deep underground.

The Great Shaman's successor crawled over to the two of them; his leg had been crushed by a giant rock, and after struggling several times, he completely tore off his mangled left leg.

"What should we do now? What should we do?"

The Great Shaman's gaze became increasingly fierce. He stared at the weeping successor with red eyes, used all his strength to drag him to the edge of the crack, and then pushed him down: "There is no other way now; we can only sacrifice even ourselves to the gods. I do not wish for my soul to dissipate after I die; I hope my soul can obtain the gods' forgiveness and kneel beside the gods."

He turned his head to look at the limp Jiang: "Tribal Chief? You should think the same, right? As long as you also use yourself as a sacrifice, if you are lucky, your soul may still be able to return and protect these remaining tribespeople."

Jiang shook his head frantically: "No, I don't want to! I don't want to die! Don't the gods want sacrifices? Down the mountain, there are still many tribespeople down the mountain! Sacrifice them all!"

Jiang was incredibly terrified of the somewhat manic Great Shaman, even though the Great Shaman was still bleeding continuously. Yet Jiang could not even manage to stand up; his legs kept trembling, and even his arms would not obey his commands.

"Tribal Chief, you have no choice. My mission is to protect the tribespeople of the entire Jiangshui Tribe, not to protect you. Now, I need you to use your life with us to obtain the gods' forgiveness. After all, that cup was broken by you."

Jiang was almost crying as he begged the Great Shaman not to make him go to the sacrifice, but the Great Shaman did not care about that, dragging Jiang toward the edge of the crack. Jiang used all his strength to try to slow the speed, trying to hold the Great Shaman back, but the Great Shaman now seemed to have infinite strength, and he also seemed unable to feel pain.

After pulling Jiang to the edge of the crack, he pushed Jiang down without mercy, but Jiang's hands were still clutching his feet tightly, not wanting to fall down.

The Great Shaman sneered, pulled out the Knife stuck in his own body, then aimed it at his own heart and plunged it straight in. He muttered something, and then, carrying the desperate Jiang, fell into the crack.