The Horror of Sacrifice, the Allegiance of the Human Heart

"We will lure some strange things into these places that the imperial court must pass through."

"This is also for the good of the people. In this way, the people will be exploited less and can enjoy ten more years of peace and comfort," the Werewolf Teacher said smugly.

Gao Linzhi nodded.

That's true.

Without the imperial court, at least the people on Wolf Snake Island were doing quite well.

Although there are many dangers, overall, there is no need to worry about basic living needs.

But once the imperial court appeared, many problems arose.

Because the imperial court would always exploit the people to the point where they were barely alive.

This is the nature of feudal dynasties: as long as they see that the people still have something, they will find a way to take it away.

After all, if you ask someone with a knife to face someone without a knife, it's hard for them to control themselves and not take advantage of others.

"So, what kind of monster should we lure?" a student asked.

"Very good. Among the strange creatures at sea, the most powerful is undoubtedly the Deep Sea Giant."

"It's the kind of thing that's so huge it's like the bottom of an ocean abyss, and a single hand could encompass half an island."

"But these giants also have a problem: they move very slowly, perhaps only 100 kilometers in a hundred years. Of course, that's still terrifying, meaning a shipping route can only support 100 years of stability," the Werewolf Teacher continued.

At this moment, Gao Linzhi raised his hand and asked directly:

"Teacher, what kinds of Sea Anomalies?"

These are problems that cannot be found on Wolf Snake Island or Capital Island.

It should only exist within the Imperial Observatory.

The Imperial Observatory monopolized this knowledge, clearly to increase the court's dependence on them.

After all, identifying the Sea Anomalies requires risking one's life.

"Hehe, Sea Anomalies are divided into three categories based on their location: the seabed, the surface, and the sky."

"The Undersea Anomalies are mostly extremely dangerous, but the advantage is that they often don't move; they only devour you when you bring them right to their mouths."

"The Surface Anomalies; it can hide underwater, float and move, and appear suddenly. It's also the most dangerous type."

"The Sky Anomalies; they are few in number, and you won't encounter them unless you're in the air. Moreover, they are clearly separated from the sea surface, so they almost never land on the sea."

"They often use air currents and clouds as their habitat."

Gao Linzhi couldn't help but sigh that he had gained a lot of knowledge.

It's true that studying here has its benefits.

This is knowledge I couldn't have learned before.

The fact that they can learn it now shows that this Daoist Academy is quite impressive.

At this moment, someone spoke up, "In that case, let's Surface Anomalies over to block the intersection."

"But the sea surface is strange; it's easily shifted."

"So it's best to Undersea Anomalies."

"The Undersea Anomalies moves slowly, so how do we pull it?"

"Does anyone have any ideas?" the new Werewolf Teacher asked gently.

At this moment, everyone fell silent.

Suddenly, another student said, "We should use 'Sky Anomalies'."

"Pull the Sky Anomalies to the vicinity of the flight path."

"Let it hide in the air. Just change its habits and get it used to attacking the sea from the air."

"You're overthinking it. The Sky Anomalies live in the clouds; how can you fix the clouds in place?"

"Some items can be used to secure it."

"I think it's better to deal with the Undersea Anomalies are powerful and like to stay still, making them almost impossible to solve."

"All we need to do is find a way to speed them up, increase their speed, and then stop accelerating them at key points on their flight path, thus fixing them in place."

The group was engaged in lively discussion.

They spoke as if they were talking about today's exam.

They never considered that any of these methods could result in the loss of hundreds of lives in the future.

Of course, this will also save millions of lives.

Those who know, know.

The demands for tribute from feudal dynasties could be deadly.

The Snake Catcher's Tale mentions that three generations of snake catchers, father and son, all died from poisoning.

However, as long as the snake remains, taxes and corvée labor will be exempted.

And of his neighbors, from his grandfather's and father's generation, only a few families remain.

Therefore, Gao Linzhi wholeheartedly supported the Daoist Academy's plan to do this.

Don't be fooled by the fact that Wolf Snake Island is thriving now.

The ship carrying tribute from the imperial court finally arrived.

Specialty products, manpower, Rare Tier items all require people to risk their lives to fill the gaps.

Not to mention, there were certainly horrific rituals involved.

That's Blood Tax.

In conclusion, Gao Linzhi had no objection to this.

This doesn't mean it reduced his inner burden.

It's always better to avoid doing evil if possible.

Gao Linzhi won't go down the dark path either.

Because he knew very well that this involved his own inner feelings.

One must have a stable inner self to achieve Immortality.

"Great, everyone's ideas are all very good."

"Alright, everyone, now we're going to start using some methods to achieve this goal."

The students then began a lively discussion.

After discussing it for a while, they finally decided that they should keep the oddity fixed.

"We should stick to fixed Undersea Anomalies; those in the sky and on the sea are too obvious."

"We can lure them here, and they can lure them away too."

"In that case, it won't serve as a hindrance."

"If we try to deal with fixed anomalies, it will be difficult for us to do so, and it will also be difficult for them to lur them away. Moreover, the anomalies have a set period of time, with a ten-year cycle and each period lasting at most one year."

"Even the fastest ship would take them half a year to make a round trip, leaving only half a year to collect tribute."

"Therefore, we need to create fixed oddities."

"If we fixate on the oddities," the Werewolf Teacher frowned, "Then we have a big problem."

"The problem is that fixed anomalies are very difficult to trigger; large-scale sacrifices are required."

"To put it simply, a single Deep Sea Giant requires tens of thousands of sacrifices."

"This is just the small size; there are also medium, large, and extra-large sizes."

"They are 100,000, 1 million, and 10 million respectively."

"And the sacrificial abilities we can control are limited to a scale of about a hundred people."

"It's simply impossible to organize a sacrifice for ten thousand or even one hundred thousand people."

The students immediately frowned.

Gao Linzhi frowned immediately.

But the reason he frowned was quite different.

He wasn't a saint, but he was naturally unhappy with this method of human sacrifice.

Because this kind of thing is far too brutal.

Moreover, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people would often participate in the sacrificial rites.

This has completely crossed the line for normal modern people.

Only beasts, demons, monsters, and devils could do such a thing.

Gao Linzhi had a feeling.

He believes that it is precisely because of this kind of ritual that strange things have spread in this Skyfall World.

He realized the strange underlying logic.

The bizarre is the embodiment of rules.

But it cannot appear or operate out of thin air without reason, inexplicably, or out of nowhere.

It must always conform to the basic law of conservation of energy.

Where does it get its energy from?

It probably comes from these innocent lives that were killed.

These creatures generate immense resentment before they die.

The soul can also become a resentful soul.

It is under this entanglement that more and more bizarre situations arise.

According to the history of the Skyfall World that Gao Linzhi saw, the strange phenomena gradually increased.

It has never decreased.

This world is a cycle of feudal dynasties.

As is well known, feudal dynasties had a cycle of 300 years.

The end of each cycle is a time of utter devastation.

The scene depicted in Song of Cannibalism is arguably the most tragic.

People who were living peacefully were forced to resort to cannibalism due to the turmoil, natural disasters, and famine that occurred at the end of the dynasty.

This resentment can soar to the heavens.

In this way, they would have no chance of completely eliminating these anomalies.

Because these emperors of dynasties would endlessly perform sacrifices in pursuit of power and Immortality.

The more sacrifices are performed, the more numerous and powerful the strange creatures will become.

This is how the Skyfall World gradually declined.

Suddenly, Gao Linzhi asked a question:

"Teacher, was the world originally just oceans and Archipelago?"

"No, this world was originally a vast landmass. Later, Divine Anomalies descended, dynasties rose and fell, and dynasties fought each other for power and Immortality."

They shattered the land; the land became islands, the lakes became oceans, and the rivers became abysses.

"It's that simple."

Just as I expected.

As the bizarre phenomena increased, the power of these superiors also greatly increased.

Their struggle is what turned the world into an ocean.

And the ocean is still expanding because people are still fighting.

However, due to the barrier of the ocean, the scope of this struggle was greatly reduced.

Suddenly, he understood why ancestral halls existed.

"I understand now, that's why there's an ancestral hall in the village. The ancestral hall is there to ensure the continuation of the family line!" he asked tentatively in a loud voice.

"Hehe, this student has a high level of comprehension. Although you are still a freshman, you have already figured out this principle on your own."

"Many students only came up with this idea after attending the class," the new Werewolf Teacher chuckled.

Just as I expected.

He found it strange.

It's strange that they only eat the people outside the ancestral hall.

Why can ancestral halls only protect one-tenth of the people?

Because in another timeline, even when the population is at its lowest, reduced to one-tenth, it can still recover quickly.

In a maximum of one hundred years, it will recover from one-tenth to twice its former size.

If more people are killed, the population could be wiped out.

"Hehe, this Wuming brother, actually the ancestral hall itself was obtained by ancient emperors who, feeling sorry for the hardships of the people, offered sacrifices to a deity."

"The purpose of the sacrifice was to pray for the establishment of a peaceful place to live, so that the people could reproduce and rest."

"To allow the people to breathe."

"Just as I thought."

Gao Linzhi nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

And at this time...

Others also started discussing this issue.

"It seems we need to focus on population growth."

"Unfortunately, the Divine Anomalies require that those who perform sacrifices must be natural and harmless."

"Otherwise, we could utilize the players' real-world technology to create clones and acquire a larger population."

"That's true."

"From the very beginning of the first Divine Anomalies Yuanshi being, every dynasty, in pursuit of its own power and Immortality, has performed large-scale sacrifices to him," the Werewolf Teacher said to Gao Linzhi.

"Moreover, this kind of sacrifice will grow larger and larger until it finds another god in reality."

"And emperors would seek new powers, thus engaging in large-scale sacrifices, which in turn increased strange powers and strange rules."

"If there are too many strange occurrences, the dynasty will not be stable; it will fall into a death trap."

"When a dynasty is unstable, it needs strange powers even more, so it engages in more sacrifices."

"Until the dynasty collapsed."

"Even now, they haven't broken out of this cycle."

Gao Linzhi did not refute.

He felt that what the new Werewolf Teacher said was quite normal.

Feudal dynasties were prone to falling into this vicious cycle.

Moreover, this cycle can last for thousands of years.

No one can fundamentally solve this problem.

It's just going back and forth, going around in circles.

Upon hearing this, Gao Linzhi was speechless.

"Alright, alright, everyone, besides rituals, is there any other way to attract strange creatures?"

"Sacrificing people is such a waste of human resources, while we can do it with just some fake sacrifices," one student said disdainfully.

"How do you fake it?" someone asked.

"It's simple. Get some people together, make them perform a sacrifice on one hand, and fake their deaths on the other, to conduct a sacrifice that is not so simple."

"In this way, we can avoid a huge waste of manpower."

"Yes, it would be even better if we could awaken a special physique..."

And at this time...

Gao Linzhi retorted, "Why must we perform sacrifices? Can't we have an equal exchange with the Divine Anomalies?"

Everyone looked at him with surprise.

"Besides offering sacrifices, what other options do you have?"

What do you suggest we do?

"Yes, let's put it this way. If there's a group of ants in front of you, and those ants are intelligent, they're trying to get your attention so they can reproduce properly and avoid being eaten by mice and geckos."

"And think about it, what method would these ants use to most easily attract your attention?"

"Clearly, they sacrificed their ants by burning them alive."

"And this kind of violent method is most likely to attract your attention."

"After all, ants are on the ground, so they need to create some kind of written language that you can understand."

"It can also learn human speech, writing, and even mathematical knowledge."

"Or create a terrifying scenario of tens of thousands of people forming an anthill and simultaneously setting it on fire."

"However, it's difficult to communicate with the supernatural these days, and very few of them are even kind to people."

"This one is completely different from other monsters."

"A monster is only what it looks like."

"However, the supernatural is generally interested in the fate of any human life."

"This interest can only be described as unconscious and instinctive, just like how we are born with a sweet tooth."

"We can only do these things by focusing on what interests them."

Gao Linzhi nodded slightly.

He understood what the other person meant.

That leaves them with only one option.

But what should we do next?

Do we really need to hold a sacrifice?

"Is there no better way than sacrificial rites?"

He asked the classmate next to him.

"Of course, we can use expensive items instead of sacrificial offerings."

"For example, some precious weapons, and then using immense Royal Authority to suppress discontent."

"Of course, this requires you to have money first, and you can't be reckless," the classmate said, shaking his head.

Gao Linzhi smiled.

That perfectly matches his characteristics.