Dividing Sacrificial Meat

Before the Agriculture Altar, all was solemn and silent, vast as the boundless heavens and earth.

The central platform, like a pyramid with its pointed peak removed, rose straight into the clouds. Every tier of the White Jade Stairway was carved with clouds and strange beasts, lifelike in every detail. Officials surrounded it on all sides, while countless banners nearly obscured the entire sky.

The Little Mirage Dragon leapt down from his shoulder and transformed back into a belt.

Liang Qu straightened his clothes and silently awaited the Heaven-Earth Grand Sacrifice.

In the stillness.

The melody of the Song of Great Peace began to play beyond the Agriculture Altar, magnificent as the grandest sound, sweeping away tangled thoughts.

Wind chimes beneath the eaves swayed gently, ringing in accompaniment.

From inviting the White Ape in Yi Xing City to the Sending the Wang Boat ritual for flood control in Fragrant Township County, recorded in the Hua Zhu County Gazetteer.

Liang Qu had taken part in quite a few sacrifices. Each place had its own procedures, differing from one another, with local beliefs taking priority.

The only shared pattern was that the larger the region, the more complicated the procedures became—so complicated that people had to be specially assigned to memorize the immense number of details.

A small village needed a knowledgeable Village Elder; a small county needed a dedicated group of Temple Keepers. As for the imperial court that ruled the entire realm, it was naturally even more extraordinary. Among the many officials of every rank in the Ministry of Rites, more than half existed solely for the two words "ritual propriety," from receiving foreign envoys to arranging sacrifices and honor guards.

Any mistake could mean dismissal at best, or losing one's head at worst.

Master's Wife's father, Xu Rongguang, had