Sacrifice

The virtues of our ancestors and the achievements of our forebears were engraved in reverence and gratitude, honoring the dead and never forgetting the roots of history.

As the year drew to a close and the new year arrived, smoke freshened the willow-lined roads, and spring sunlight shone bright.

Rare delicacies were arrayed, melons and beans fresh and golden; fine wine was respectfully presented, its fragrance rich and lingering.

"Reflecting upon this, people have their roots in their ancestors, just as all things have their roots in Heaven, trees in their roots, and water in its source.

Thus, family temples have their rites, and the teachings of our forebears should be honored; clans offer fragrant sacrifices, while nobles and commoners alike value the repayment owed to their roots and branches.

Therefore, honoring the ancestors through sacrifice has never waned through the ages, nor have the descendants ever ceased. From ancient times to the present, it has flourished."

Ming Shu spent several days and finally sorted through the contents of the Life Book, producing an entire set of sacrificial rites.

The sacrificial offerings consisted only of some ready-made fruits and vegetables. He could not even produce Spiritual Rice, making the affair truly crude.

At the very least, Old Zhao had seen several sacrifices in the Imperial Palace before, and the offerings had all been things like Spiritual Rice and Spiritual Fruits.

In the end, Zhao Siqi took a damaged spiritual artifact from her own household, along with a New Year gift sent by the butcher: an unknown Spiritual Fruit.

Ming Shu learned from the Life Book that this Spiritual Fruit was called the Blazing Sun Fruit. It was a scarlet Spiritual Fruit about the size of a small bean. Its effect was to dispel the cold and heal injuries. Whether one had frostbite or had suffered a mild cold poison, it could be easily expelled.

Unfortunately, this wild little fruit seemed to be unripe—the sort even wild beasts would not eat. Still, it was far better than nothing.

They thanked the butcher and the Hunters for their goodwill and sent gifts in return.

In the rear courtyard of the manor, inside the temporary family temple, Ming Shu personally tested the rite he had devised.

It was the night of New Year's Eve, during the vigil.

That day, he had celebrated and eaten a grand feast with everyone, rewarding them for their hard work during this period.

Even the pirate captives had each received a slice of meat.

The outer perimeter's vigilance had not been relaxed during the New Year celebrations. After the snow stopped, the main concern was actually the rivers waiting to thaw.

As they quietly waited for time to pass, Zhao Siqi was the only one beside Ming Shu. He had already sent the maid Lü E off to sleep on her own.

Zhao Siqi told Ming Shu about what she had seen and heard within the Zhao Clan. Most of the Zhao Clan's patriarchal line and direct descendants had gone to live in the Royal Capital, but their ancestral lands were in Handan City.

The clan's main sphere of influence was also around Handan City, and Zhao Siqi had lived there since childhood. She had never been to the Royal Capital.

As for Ming Shu's memories, they held only scenes of the Cold Palace, with no sights of the Royal Capital beyond the Imperial Palace. The two of them could be said to share no yearning for the Royal Capital.

Before the previous dynasty, the Zhao Clan had merely been a minor family of influence. At the time, it had crowded into Jinyang City alongside the Han Family and the Wei Family.

When Grand Ancestor Emperor's family fell into internal strife, he led some people to split away and depart, coming to Jinyang City to develop. He united the six great families in the city, including Han, Zhao, and Wei.

Gathering a powerful martial force, he emerged like a thunderbolt amid the chaos at the end of the previous dynasty, swept across the Six Directions and Eight Desolations, and ultimately ruled the universe, ascending the imperial throne.

Afterward, the six great families each received fiefs. The Zhao Clan also moved from Jinyang City, the land where the dynasty had risen, to Handan City; the Wei Clan went to Anyi City, and the Han Clan went to Pingyang City.

News had arrived not long ago that the main branch of the Han Clan had already left the Royal Capital. Not only that, most of its clansmen had also left Pingyang City and migrated south.

Only a few minor branches remained to guard the empty family temple in Pingyang City.

Pingyang City should already have been retaken by the people of the Immortal Dynasty. Unfortunately, only an empty city remained.

"Then doesn't that mean the Han Family can at least guarantee that their own side will secure the position of Grand Princess Consort in King Chu's main palace?" Ming Shu joked.

"Of course. Otherwise, why wouldn't they stabilize the situation together as before after a minor upheaval? Going to such lengths to head south and make a desperate gamble means they clearly don't favor the legitimate new Emperor."

Zhao Siqi continued, "Actually, every family has already reached the summit. They all want to advance another step, but none of them will submit to the others. That leaves only an open showdown—the world will be reshuffled, and each side will rely on its own means to vie for dominion."

The Imperial House had declined while the Aristocratic Clans had grown powerful—this was an internal disaster. In the north, the Dao Sect eyed them covetously alongside the barbarians, while the Dao Sect in the south was no more honest. Most crucially, the Sky-Toppling Observatory, which had helped the Imperial House suppress the world, had chosen at the critical moment to stand aside and add fuel to the flames.

This truly was a transformation the likes of which had not been seen in a thousand years!

"It's almost time!"

Chong Li, who was outside observing the stars and determining the hour, called out.

Although being roughly on time would have sufficed, the ideas drilled into sorcerers from childhood made them stubborn about this sort of thing. They had to do everything in their power to ensure precision.

Chong Li had volunteered to correct the time for tonight.

In Ming Shu's view, time was merely a relative concept. But to believers in gods and the natives of this fantastical world, time was mysterious and unfathomable, possessing divinity.

The starry night was still, and the sky was clear. Inside the temporarily arranged family temple, Zhao Siqi waved her hand and lit an entire circle of sacrificial candles around the room.

The faint firelight illuminated the room, and the two faces appeared calm and tranquil. The new year had arrived!

Ming Shu murmured the contents of the Life Book in a low voice while Zhao Siqi quietly listened beside him. She did not know that Ming Shu had secretly guided the power produced by the rite into the Life Book.

He had to prevent the ancestors of this body from returning. Those people had been the successive Emperors of the Immortal Dynasty—there might even be ancient beings among them who were still alive.

He did not believe that no one among those successive Emperors had truly survived to the present, when there were even rumors that the Supervisor himself had lived for over a thousand years.

This was not a scientific world, after all.

The offerings on the table—the ritual artifact and the Blazing Sun Fruit—had already lost their Spiritual Energy and become the most ordinary mortal objects.

After completing the initial rite, Ming Shu and Zhao Siqi offered incense together. Wisps of smoke soon spread throughout the entire room.

The fine wine in the goblet also released a rich fragrance under the power of the rite, intoxicating all who smelled it.

While watching the changes in the Life Book and sensing its movements, Ming Shu sensed a faint power descending from the distant heavens above.

A new page appeared in the Life Book: a hexagram formation diagram. He realized that it was meant to perfect tonight's sacrificial rite.

The rite could also grant descendants an innate ability, known as Spirit Awakening.

Could this be the origin of the Spirit Awakening Realm, the second stage of sorcery? Did it come from the heavens?

There were two prerequisites. First, one had to reach the Qi Gathering Realm. Second, the offering used in the sacrifice had to be at least a low-tier ritual artifact or a first- or second-order demon beast—a living demon beast!

Afterward, one would randomly obtain an innate ability. The Life Book did not say exactly what it would be.

Unfortunately, for Ming Shu and Zhao Siqi at present, descendants were still far too distant. This ability would not be useful even ten years from now.

Still, it at least verified one of Ming Shu's ideas about using the Life Book: one was to use rites to predict the weather; the other was to use rites to communicate with the power above through specific points in time and sacrificial offerings.

A response could indeed be obtained. As for who was responding and what sort of response could be received, that still required slow exploration.

There were plenty of other places where they could try using it later! They could develop it bit by bit.