One Way the Holy Maiden Is Born

Music with religious content is often soothing, which can relax people's tense emotions. Some religions even incorporate psychological suggestions into their music, making faith unbreakable without people realizing it.

The music of Nagaril's local religion is also soothing, but today there is a touch of joy in this soothing music.

As the Flower Car began to move, Lin Qi was surprised to find more families with children along the roadside. These girls were very young, around fifteen or sixteen years old, or even sixteen or seventeen. According to local Nagaril law, girls are considered adults at the age of sixteen.

They were dressed up beautifully by their parents, wearing flower wreaths. Their innocent faces still showed some confusion, and the bewilderment in their eyes seemed to indicate that they themselves did not know what they were going to do or what they were going to face.

The people on the Flower Car became interested, discussing the girls dancing gracefully by the roadside and commenting on their appearance.

The way they discussed these girls was as if they were commenting on a product, not a living person.

"This won't do. Did you see her hair? I don't like that dry, yellowish hair; it's not smooth enough..." A representative from a prominent family spoke, stroking the railing beside the Flower Car, seemingly lost in thought.

"This girl is nice, she has a great figure, I like her...", a representative of a prominent family threw a gold-painted wreath from the Flower Car.

The girl's family was overjoyed to see the wreath flying in, and they forced the girl to kneel down with them to express their gratitude.

The girl had no idea what she was going to face next, or what kind of fate awaited her. Perhaps her entire life would end in an unknown way because of this coincidental twist of fate.

This scene played out repeatedly: the families who received the wreaths knelt in gratitude, while the families who did not receive the wreaths sighed and complained, some even blaming their daughters, or the parents blaming each other.

People sang and danced, celebrating the festival. Everywhere was bustling with activity, and smiles were on everyone's faces.

Hundred Flowers Festival.

The parade route for the Flower Car is not long. Strictly speaking, there are only two roads in the city suitable for the Flower Car. The other roads are either rugged or narrow, making it impossible for the Flower Car and the large crowds to pass through.

The festival started in the morning, and after a short break at noon, it ended around 2 p. m.

The Flower Car eventually returned to the largest temple in the Magulana Province, located on a hill on the outskirts of the city.

It's called a mountain, but it's really just a pimple on Mother Earth's face, and it has quite a few traces of artificial carving. You can tell that in order to reflect the "magnificence" and "nobility" of this temple, they must have spent a lot of manpower to create a mountain in the plains.

The temple walls painted with gold on the mountaintop shone brightly in the midday sun. Standing at the foot of the mountain and looking up, it was as if one could see the legendary abode of the gods.

"Boss..."

Asier was already waiting for Lin Qi at the foot of the mountain. Lynch was not yet qualified to ride on the Flower Car of the Hundred Flowers Festival because he was not from a prominent family, nor a wealthy merchant, nor a foreigner.

The reason, though seemingly ridiculous, was quite true. Fortunately, Asier himself wasn't unhappy about it; he had begun to get used to the illogical state of things here over the past few days.

Asier casually handed over a towel soaked in ice water. Lin Qi took it and wiped his face with it. The coolness instantly cooled him down from the heat of the day.

He covered his face with a towel soaked in ice water, took a deep breath, and the cool air entered his body with each breath, soothing some of the inner heat.

Being exposed to the sun for several hours in temperatures of 27 or 28 degrees Celsius is not a pleasant experience.

After a moment, he took off his handkerchief and wiped his exposed skin. The city was very dusty, and the white handkerchief quickly turned black.

He handed the used towel back to Asier and started walking towards the mountain steps, casually asking, "What are we going to do next?"

Asier handed a towel and a basin of ice water to another person who looked like a servant in his household. Asier had told Lin Qi about his family's situation before he arrived, and he was very troubled.

Fortunately, Lin Qi gave him timely guidance, and he now seems to have accepted the changes that have occurred over the years while he was away from home, and his mindset has become more peaceful.

Asier followed Lin Qi up the steps, saying, "Next, the High Priest will pray, then the gods will descend to bless everyone, and finally the closing ceremony will take place, after which the festival will be over."

He didn't go into much detail, and Lin Qi didn't press further. As they walked up, they talked about what was going to happen next.

"The things we need to take back are all parked at the port. We can board the ship the day after tomorrow, and it should take about three to four days to get back to the Federal..."

It took them a week to get here, mainly because they were on a cruise ship. Cruise ships don't travel a straight route; they make stops at several ports along the way to exchange letters and goods and to pick up and drop off passengers, which makes the journey slower.

Lin Qi thought they were too slow, so this time he hired a cargo ship. There was no place to stop in between, and the fuel could be filled up in one go. If the Sea Surface conditions were better, it would take about three days to reach the easternmost port of the Bayer Federation from Nagaril.

Lin Qi nodded, and Asier continued, "We've also found reporters from the Federal government, including some heavyweight print media such as the 《Federal Daily》 and the 《Federal Times》, as well as new media such as Federal Television, Eastern Television, and Northern United Television. They have all accepted our invitations."

Lin Qi paused in his climb up the stairs, pondered for a moment, and said, "Give each of them a check for five hundred dollars. We don't expect them to promote us, but they must report the facts."

This statement is actually quite interesting. It sounds like Lin Qi did this to ensure that his reports would not be distorted by some people with ulterior motives, and of course, such people do exist.

As a rising star among the more radical groups in the current Federal movement, Lin Qi will always have some people who disagree with him on his stance. Twisting and falsifying reports are common tactics used by politicians.

Propaganda has always been a very important battleground. The general public cannot access the realities of society or foreign affairs like Lin Qi, other politicians, or wealthy individuals. They obtain this important information through media channels, which is also their only channel.

The lack of access to information can lead people to accept what they know as factual, because they have no other options to compare or question, and they become quite "naive".

Therefore, it is important to ensure that reports are not modified or distorted. This is why many political groups, and even individual politicians, own their own newspapers or Television Station. They want to ensure that their ideas are understood by the public without being altered.

But Lin Qi's real goal wasn't to have someone maliciously distort his reports, but to have the news media report "truthfully".

The news media have never been to Nagaril, at least not in the short term, and they have no idea what the situation is like here. But one person does know, and that person is Lin Qi.

When Lin Qi talks about reporting the truth, he's actually telling these journalists not to refer to other information, but to directly release what he wants to express to the public. That's what he means by "reporting the truth."

Asier nodded vigorously, looking at Lin Qi was once again walking towards the mountaintop with admiration. The sunlight and the magnificent temple became the backdrop for Lin Qi, making Lin Qi radiate light.

He was only twenty-one years old, yet he gave Asier an indescribable shock.

Seeing Lin Qi walking some distance away, Asier finally came to his senses and hurried after him.

As mentioned earlier, this was just a pimple on Mother Earth's face, and the strong-willed Lin Qi quickly climbed to the front of the temple.

There were already some people in the temple, and surprisingly, they were all girls, girls who had stood on both sides of the street to show off their dance moves during the Flower Car.

Inside the temple, something made from a special incense was burning, emitting a somewhat sweet smell. The girls' expressions were unusual; they knelt uneasily in the courtyard, some looking as if they were drunk.

Beside them stood the girls' parents, each with a broad smile on their face. They bowed their backs, heads bowed, humbly queuing to receive a wooden shrine tablet, a stark contrast to the innocent bewilderment on the girls' faces.

People often say that life is precious and priceless, but that's because they live in comfortable circumstances. Once they leave their comfort zone, they'll find that all their previous sentiments were just empty words.

Life is not only not noble, but also cheap, so cheap that a piece of broken wood can determine the future of these girls!

Wooden amulets are the lowest-ranking type of amulets in the Nagaril religious system, and are not in the same league as the bone amulet inlaid with gold thread that Lin Qi possesses.

Even so, 80 percent of the population still find it difficult to obtain such a divine tablet and enjoy the benefits of even the lowest level of divine authority, such as the ability to enter temples for worship or to use some public facilities—this is a joke that is not a joke.

The construction of public facilities is partly for the benefit of foreigners and international human rights organizations, and partly to reflect class differences.

Only those who wear wooden shrines can use these "public facilities" for free.

They could also travel by train and buy seats at relatively low prices, go to the hospital to see a doctor without having to wait in line like ordinary people, and even their children could wear amulets to go to the library! This was enough to attract every family that wanted to improve their social status, and their only way to do so was to offer their daughters to the family.

These girls, after being favored by some deities (the deities would descend upon some priests and guests attending the event in some way, and they would become the deities' representatives for a period of time), would become Holy Maiden in the city, which was the most likely way for ordinary families to rise in status.

It may be cruel and brutal, but it has long since become a folk custom, a distorted and backward culture.