Sacrifice

Did rituals really work?

They should have, otherwise the progress bar would not have contained the words "Ritual Enhancement."

If he stayed, could he really share in the ritual's effects?

He did not know. Li Qi did not understand any of this at all; he was merely taking a gamble.

To drift through life in a haze, working as a tracker and selling his labor until the day he died.

He did not want that.

At this very moment, elsewhere.

At River-Watching Tower on the Li River.

So that the water's movements could be monitored at all times, and the city could be surveyed at a glance, a River-Watching Tower had been built beside the river.

The tower stood a hundred zhang tall, soaring into the sky. Even modern skyscrapers rarely reached such a height.

The lower floors housed restaurants and entertainment halls, but beyond thirty zhang, idle visitors were forbidden entry. As for the top floor, it was normally managed by the river officials, who oversaw the waterways, inspected passing ships, and handled dredging and embankments.

Li Prefecture's prosperity depended entirely on the Li River.

The safety of the Li River concerned the livelihood of an entire prefecture; its importance went without saying. Thus, ordinarily, aside from officials tasked with watching the river, no outsiders appeared on the upper floors of River-Watching Tower.

Yet today, layer upon layer of altars had been set up there, along with nine Shamans wearing masks and strange clothing.

The Shamans wore garments woven from lotus leaves and waterweed, lotus crowns upon their heads and seven-colored patterns painted across their faces. They twisted their bodies and muttered incantations under their breaths.

Amid the altars and Shamans stood a disheveled man, holding a wooden oar and dressed in a plain, loose robe.

Surrounded by the many altars, he chanted, "Heaven and earth lie apart, each producing its own provisions. Tang has its craftsmen, the east its horns, the west its gold, the south its horns, the north its ore. In their own lands, they cannot become fine goods; they must be moved elsewhere. This is called the benefit of circulation!"

"Alas! Spirit of the Lishui River, you carry rare treasures from all four directions to nourish them, fashion boats to travel the waters, command ninety million souls, and spread passage for ten thousand li. Your merit is immeasurable; the people look up to you!"

He cried out the sacrificial invocation while waving the oar.

The Shamans beside him picked up their drumsticks and began pounding the Alligator Drums made from alligator hide.

Alligators had been called tuo in ancient times. Their hides could be made into drums, and beating them could please the water gods.

After all that commotion, however... a strange energy could faintly be seen rising throughout all of Lizhou City.

Along with it, streams of water suddenly gushed forth from the altars.

The streams surged toward the man in the center holding the oar.

The man continued to cry out, "At the beginning of spring, Heaven's season gives life! Harmonize cold and warmth, let nature follow its will; open the spirit and delight the body, sweep away the grime of the heart; clear and pure, cleansed until formless, precious sands reflecting through all, illuminating every depth! Pour into one another, cast away my calamities!"

He was swallowed by the flowing water.

The surrounding Shamans stopped, drenched in sweat as they collapsed to the floor to rest.

Their dance did not look particularly exhausting, yet in their present state, they seemed as though they had gone ten days without rest. Even their muscles spasmed uncontrollably, sweat poured from them like springs, and they lay sprawled on the ground, unable to move.

At that moment, Young Scholar stepped forward.

If Li Qi had been there, he would certainly have recognized him. This was the Young Scholar who had been with the Mighty Gang!

"The great affairs of a state are sacrifice and war. The Prefectural Governor puts such wholehearted effort into presiding over the annual rites. His Majesty will surely be delighted to learn of it," Young Scholar said as he looked at the man wrapped in water.

"Why does Mr. Zhu say such things? Sacrifice is the foundation of the Shaman Path. The Great Deer Kingdom was founded upon the Shaman Path and venerates the methods of spirits and gods. How could we possibly neglect ritual?" The prefectural governor floated within the water, yet spoke as normally as ever.

Looking carefully, his chest was even rising and falling. He was clearly breathing.

Breathing underwater.

"Founded upon the Shaman Path? Yet there are no Shamanic Priests, no Grand Diviners, no Shi Jin in the palace, no Dream Divination, no diviners of yarrow stalks. Instead, there are prefectures and counties, prefectural governors and county magistrates, reverence for the monarch, and a bureaucracy. Is this the Shaman Path, or the Human Path?" Young Scholar, whom he called Mr. Zhu, said with a smile.

But upon hearing those words, the prefectural governor could no longer smile. His expression immediately turned subtle.

"Mr. Zhu, those words are too grave. The Great Deer Kingdom is naturally rooted in the Shaman Path. It is merely that the methods of the Human Path excel at gathering the strength of all living beings. If the nation wishes to expand and prosper, it must borrow the skin of the Human Path, that is all," the prefectural governor hastily argued.

"That is for the best." Mr. Zhu nodded, seemingly about to say more.

But the prefectural governor did not want him to continue, so he quickly cut in. "Mr. Zhu, I have heard that you have recently been close with commoners and peasants, often moving among the poor. Why is that?"

"During my grand sacrifice some years ago, I divined that an Outer Path Artifact would appear in Lizhou City. I merely had them search for it." Mr. Zhu waved a hand, saying no more about such a trivial matter.

"Outer Path Artifacts may be somewhat strange, but most are worthless scraps with little use. For you to use a grand sacrifice to seek one out is perhaps somewhat... extravagant," the prefectural governor reminded him.

"It is nothing. The ritual was raised to divine fortune and misfortune, not specifically to search for it. It was merely an unexpected gain." Mr. Zhu seemed to answer casually.

Then, before the prefectural governor could continue, his expression abruptly became puzzled. "Prefectural Governor, why does the power of your ritual seem to have weakened somewhat?"

"The ritual has already reached its end. Weakening is only natural, and there are fluctuations in ordinary times as well." The prefectural governor did not seem to care. He stopped speaking and immersed himself in the water, beginning to draw out its power.

It had indeed weakened, but probably by less than one ten-thousandth—well within the range of normal fluctuation.

Only Mr. Zhu cast a thoughtful glance downstairs.

And downstairs, in a corner.

Li Qi was holding a strange posture and reciting a sacrificial invocation.

Where had the invocation come from? Naturally, it was what the prefectural governor had recited!

The passage went: Within Qinghua Palace dwells the Spirit of the Lishui River, commanding forty-two offices and ninety million souls, governing the affairs of the Li River's ten thousand li and ten thousand spirits. You trackers are one of those offices, hauling ships and moving boats, relieving heavenly disasters above and aiding the nether gates below. Now, at the grand River Opening ceremony, your qi dissolves the waters of misfortune, erases transgressions, and destroys sins. You shall be rewarded.

For some reason, this world used a script similar to Chinese characters. He had some education, so he could understand it.

So he altered it slightly, changing it to: We trackers are one of those offices, and haul ships with all our hearts. Then he changed the latter half to: Now, at the grand River Opening ceremony, our office's qi dissolves the waters of misfortune, erases transgressions, and destroys sins. Please reward us!

Would it work?

Of course it worked!

Because the progress bar moved!

He had tried many times before, altering it word by word. He had even changed his bodily movements again and again. Originally, he had simply stood there waiting, only to find it completely useless.

Even when the River Opening ritual's progress bar had reached 99.6%, he had not shared even the slightest bit of its effects.

Then Li Qi immediately began trying other things.

He changed his posture, altered the sacrificial invocation, and tried many times, but none of it had any effect.

Because he had already realized one use of the progress bar: it could determine whether something worked!

If it worked, the progress bar would definitely display its progress!

He tried for a full three quarters of an hour. At last, he discovered that when he prostrated himself with all five limbs on the ground, faced the Li River, and called out the sacrificial invocation in prayer, the progress display finally appeared: "Ritual Enhancement, one percent."

Just as he finally found the method, the River Opening ritual's progress bar had already reached 99.8%.

(Please vote and bookmark the new book.)