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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 115: The Altar
Soon, we approached the Mound, and everything became clearer before our eyes. This was not some sacrificial activity; it was clearly an ancient Living Sacrifice Altar!
On top of the Mound stood various flags—white, yellow, red, and black—fluttering in the night breeze. Beneath the flags was the altar we had seen earlier, with an Evil Spirit standing beside it, each holding a large machete. One Witch was dancing in front of the altar with a bell in hand, chanting what seemed like incantations, kneeling one moment and trembling all over the next, appearing quite deranged. Whenever this Witch knelt, those below the Mound also fell to their knees.
I glanced at the people kneeling beneath the Mound and saw that they were both men and women, young and old. Some were unrecognizable due to their lack of heads. Many were disemboweled; these were souls missing limbs and had been eviscerated!
At that moment, the Witch suddenly stopped and waved her hand. Suddenly, we heard movement behind us. Turning around, we saw a group of ghosts dressed in red carrying a large coffin towards us. The coffin was pitch black and appeared particularly frightening in the night.
Looking at this coffin reminded me of the strange dream I had that night. I thought to myself, could it be that I was carried like this by those people?
At that moment, Cao Qilong hurriedly pulled me aside and hid us in a patch of weeds. Although this group of red-clad ghosts was carrying a coffin, their festive demeanor did not resemble a funeral at all; it looked more like they were carrying a bridal sedan chair for a wedding.
The procession moved forward with the sound of suona (a traditional Chinese horn), swaying as they passed right in front of us towards the altar on the Mound...
Could it be that I was also carried here by them last time? But why would they bring me here?
Cao Qilong suddenly asked, "Junior Brother, who do you think is inside that coffin?"
Upon hearing this, my face turned pale. Yes, who could be inside that coffin? Could it be someone alive from the village?
As we spoke, the ghosts had already placed the coffin in front of the altar and quickly opened it. Four ghosts lifted out the person inside.
When we saw who was being pulled out of the coffin by the Evil Spirit, both Cao Qilong and I were nearly startled into exclamations. We recognized him—a man in his seventies or eighties with a head full of white hair. Wasn't this the elder from our village?
I shouted in alarm, realizing that the old man probably wouldn't survive this time.
Just as we were in a state of panic, he was lifted onto the table on the Mound, and at that moment, the Witch began to sing and dance again. The two Evil Spirits on either side of the table raised their large knives, dousing them in strong liquor, clearly preparing to kill!
Seeing this, I understood immediately that this altar was a Living Sacrifice Altar; they intended to use the old man's life as an offering.
The Living Sacrifice Altar could also be described as an ancient execution ground. When a clan member made a mistake or when disasters occurred, a terrifying ritual would take place here, torturing living people to death. The methods were brutal—some were disemboweled, some had their heads crushed by stones, some were bled dry, and others were dismembered and consumed. There were many variations. It is said that ancient people did this to convey a message: one was reverence for the gods or fear of them. Reverence expressed a belief seeking protection, while fear was for atonement seeking forgiveness. Disasters or diseases were seen as divine wrath, necessitating offerings to the gods, and those offerings were, of course, human lives.
At this moment, I also understood why this place was arranged with a Hundred Grievances Locking Yin Formation and why there was condensed Yin dew on the weeds of the Mound. I realized why the Mound felt so sinister—it was once a Living Sacrifice Altar.
Although I didn't know how many had been sacrificed here, I imagined it must be quite a few—if not a thousand, then certainly hundreds! Those who were sacrificed alive died with endless resentment and unwillingness; after death, they naturally became Evil Spirits. Over time, how could this Living Sacrifice Altar not be malevolent?
The Living Sacrifice Altar is even more vicious than ancient execution grounds because while execution grounds are dangerous due to the guilty receiving their just deserts, those who die on the Living Sacrifice Altar are innocent people with grievances multiplied by hundreds.
Cao Qilong asked me, "Junior Brother, what should we do now? Should we save him?"
To be honest, upon realizing that this was indeed a Living Sacrifice Altar, I felt fear creeping in—especially recalling how close I had come to being sacrificed myself just days ago. A chill ran down my spine at the thought. However, we had no way out now; we faced two choices: either rush in to deal with them or leave the village and abandon the villagers.
Hearing Cao Qilong's question, I didn't hesitate and replied, "We must save him!"
After saying that, I formed a spell gesture and unleashed a Five Thunder Finger aimed at the Evil Spirit raising its knife to strike the old man's head. The spirit darted out from the weeds and rushed toward the Living Sacrifice Altar…
The Five Thunder Finger struck the Evil Spirit holding the knife in the chest, knocking it back several steps until it crashed down beneath the Living Sacrifice Altar. All the Evil Spirits were stunned at that moment. Then I unleashed another Five Thunder Finger at another knife-wielding Evil Spirit. At this point, those Evil Spirits below finally noticed us and charged toward us.
I immediately drew my copper coin sword and recited the sword incantation; it shone with golden light as I advanced. Behind me, Cao Qilong did the same—his spell gesture struck fiercely as he followed suit.
The Evil Spirits are all old ghosts, also known as “Yin” or “Old Yin.” Yin represents death, and it is strange if this death upon death is not dangerous. Therefore, when I fight against them, I feel powerless because even if I slash with my sword, they are only pushed back a few steps by the Copper Coin Sword and cannot truly be killed. Each time they hit us, we feel our Yang Fire weaken significantly.
As mentioned before, fighting spells is a confrontation between Yin and Yang, good and evil. Whether we can defeat the opponent depends on the momentum and strength of both Yin and Yang. If Yang is strong and Yin is weak, then the evil spirits will be defeated. However, we are currently in an environment like the Living Sacrifice Altar, which is heavily filled with Yin resentment, and the number of opponents far exceeds ours, so our righteous Yang energy is suppressed by the Evil Energy.
Before long, we found ourselves completely surrounded by Evil Spirits. At this moment, I became anxious, knowing that I had to think of a solution quickly. If this delay continued, it wouldn't be long before our own Yang Fire was extinguished, and we would truly meet our end here.
In my urgency, I naturally thought about using the Ghost Seal to summon the Yin Commander from the Underworld for help. However, Black and White Impermanence had already come once before and scolded me. Before leaving, they said that the trouble we caused had to be dealt with by ourselves. Even if I used the Ghost Seal to summon them now, they probably wouldn’t come again.
Just as I was in a state of panic, Cao Qilong suddenly said to me: “Shidi, you hold on for a moment; I’ll summon the Paper Soldiers for help.”
Upon hearing this, I was puzzled. What are the Paper Soldiers? Why have I never heard of them? If it were Paper Figurines, there are no prepared ones right now.
However, since Cao Qilong said this at such a time, although I didn’t know what he was planning, I knew he must have thought of some method.
So I immediately replied to him to hurry up while I did my best to hold them off. After saying that, I bit my tongue and sprayed blood onto the Copper Coin Sword, starting to fend off the attacking spirits alone.
Because blood was sprayed onto the Copper Coin Sword, several spirits were indeed killed this time, pushing them back significantly and instilling some fear into them regarding my sword.
Perhaps someone might ask why I didn’t bite my tongue earlier to spray my blood onto the sword?
Yes, I wanted to do that too, but one cannot just bite their tongue casually because as mentioned before, the blood from the tongue is called True Yang Saliva, which is the blood with the strongest Yang Qi in a person’s body; it is called Essence Blood. This kind of Essence Blood can only be used in extremely critical situations; under normal circumstances, it should not be used lightly. The reason is that once you bite your tongue and spray out Essence Blood, although your Yang Qi increases significantly and can save you in an emergency, losing your Essence Blood means losing true Yang energy. If you fail to overpower your opponent afterward, the consequence will be being overwhelmed by them.
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