Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 346 Interception and Sacrifice

Just then, an unexpected change occurred.

Li Wushou withdrew his gaze and looked with great interest into the depths of the water on either side of the small boat.

Two fish-like figures swam swiftly out from the vines and grasses at the bottom of the water and rushed towards the small boat.

These were two men who had been lying in wait for a long time. Each of them had a sharp blade made of white bone in their mouth, exuding a murderous aura, clearly indicating that they had come with ill intentions.

With a sudden thought, the water flowing beneath the boat split into thin streams.

Then, like a net, it bound the two fish-like creatures to the bottom of the water.

Because of the several transformations of his soul, Li Wushou's water manipulation techniques have also greatly improved, and his control over water power has become more refined.

This left the two who were still figuring out how to quickly kill each other and eliminate the traces in utter shock. In the Canglan Kingdom, only the High Priest or a god could control water in such a way!
Could it be that the old village chief really left some kind of divine means for the clever girl?
Thinking this, the two became even more frightened, and tiny bubbles began to emerge from the holes on their cheeks.

Li Wushou observed the two and felt somewhat amazed. The people of this world were far more adaptable to water than those outside, and were even more at ease in the water.

Will the living beings in a certain world evolve and transform towards the original rules that created this world?
Li Wushou seemed to be deep in thought.
A moment later, his soul emerged from his body, went deep into the water, and hovered in front of the two people. After some questioning, he finally understood the situation.

These two were originally subordinates of the new village chief, Peize. They were stationed here to prevent Qiaonu, also known as Auntie, from leaving the village to go to the temple for sacrifices.

Once discovered, it will be a permanent solution!
Although Qiaonv's family was driven to a corner of the water village and didn't have anything worthwhile to offer, what if...?
Peize clearly didn't want to gamble!
After understanding the situation, Li Wushou nodded slightly. This Pei Ze was indeed a man capable of capturing the water fortress; his considerations were quite thorough.

But that's all there is to it. If Li Wushou had killed Qiaonu earlier, he would have killed the old chieftain's subordinates who were not loyal. It would have been a lot of troublesome and dragging things out.

Looking at the two, Li Wushou had a sudden thought, and the water lines binding them burrowed into their bodies through the orifices on their faces.

Their flesh and blood silently dissolved, leaving only two kidneys that continuously gathered the power of water.

A dozen breaths later, the two kidneys were as dark as ink, with a rich water elemental power contained within them, causing the fish and shrimp underwater to become restless. One of them reached out and used his spiritual power to isolate the kidneys, holding them in his palm.

This bait should be enough to lure out the gods of this place.

The spirit returned to the small boat, and Shui Sheng's uncle and aunt were completely unaware of the calamity.

The aunt kept urging Shui Sheng's uncle on, and after a while, the temple finally came into view.

"Bang Bang Bang"

A crisp, clanging sound, like a clapper, reached my ears.

A dock made of unknown water vines was faintly visible.

A priest dressed in a crimson robe with a human face and a fish body stood on the dock, holding a white bone club in one hand, with various fish eyes inlaid on the top, shimmering with a ghastly green fluorescence; in the other hand he carried a tortoise shell half the height of a person.

When each small boat docks at the shore, it must be presented with a white pearl or a bag of various fish eyes; this is the currency used in the water village.

After the offering is completed, the priest will strike the tortoise shell with a fishbone club, producing a clanging sound.

Li Wushou followed Shui Sheng's uncle and aunt, and waited in line for about fifteen minutes before it was finally their turn to go ashore.

Li Wushou took the lead and stepped onto the dock. Shui Sheng's uncle followed behind, and with great effort, almost capsizing the small boat, he managed to help his aunt ashore.

The two men were furious at Li Wushou, who was leisurely surveying his surroundings, but they dared not lash out when they saw the priest's scrutinizing green eyes.

The aunt reached into her bosom and took out a bag of fish eyes from a pile of meat sandwiches, which she respectfully handed to the priest.

The priest picked it up with a bone stick with some disdain, threw it into the fish skin bag behind him, and casually tapped the tortoise shell.

The uncle and aunt showed joy on their faces, while Li Wushou looked at Aunt Shuisheng with interest. He was curious about the offerings that the uncle and aunt said they were going to make, but he had not found where the two of them had put the offerings along the way.

Who would have thought that this body of flesh could also serve as a storage pocket?

But upon closer inspection, apart from the dozen or so white pearls that Shui Sheng had previously earned, there didn't seem to be anything else.

What about sacrificial offerings?
Li Wushou's gaze swept back and forth between Aunt Shuisheng and Li Wushou's, and he was somewhat surprised. Could this offering be...?
On the other side, seeing that Li Wushou remained motionless after the tortoise shell was struck, the priest grew impatient and was about to sweep Li Wushou into the water with a bone club.

He was already somewhat dissatisfied with the three of them who were dawdling, but since his uncle and aunt were paying pilgrims, he wanted to vent his emotions by teaching Li Wushou a lesson.

Seeing this, Li Wushou slowly looked up at the other party. The priest paused in his bone club, and several pieces of rotting flesh covered by the mermaid's sacrificial robes fell off with a rustling sound.

The spirit trembled incessantly, a rebuke echoing in its mind:
"Stand firm at your post!"

A stream of pus and blood oozed from the rotting ear, and the priest's laziness vanished instantly, his spine straightening ramrod straight.

Li Wushou withdrew his gaze. This priest was similar to Xiao Panshan before he shed his physical body, except that his body was rotten and decayed, which should be related to the divine way of this divine realm.

The fact that they practiced "human burial" as a form of religious practice shows that they did not actually emphasize the physical body.

Having gained control of the other party's spirit and obtained the information he wanted, Li Wushou took the lead and headed towards the temple.

The uncle and aunt behind them, unaware of what was happening, continued to walk unsteadily.

Half an hour later, the three of them finally arrived at the temple.

The temple is entirely constructed from the bones of various creatures, and the plaque bears the two large characters "氐鲛".

This is the village ancestral god worshipped by six or seven water villages within a hundred miles—the Di Jiao God!

Unlike the sacrificial activities in Wufang City, the people who came to offer sacrifices from Shuizhai each had a futon woven from water vines, which they placed in order on the square outside the temple.

In front of each prayer mat was an incense burner shaped like a fish's mouth, and next to the burner was an offering tray for placing offerings. Li Wushou and his two companions arrived late, and many people were already seated on the prayer mats, including the new chieftain of the Water Village, Peize. He sat in the front row of the prayer mats, and when he saw Li Wushou and his companions, he raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

Qiao Nu gave the other party a provocative look, and then the three of them sat down on a futon at the back.

About fifteen minutes later, a huge splashing sound rang out in the square, and a person suddenly emerged from the lotus platform beneath the water curtain of the temple.

The man's attire was similar to that of the priests at the dock, except that his robes had more black inscriptions, and his physical body had been completely shed, leaving only his spirit. This spirit had a human body and a fish tail and was somewhat similar to the statues in front of the temple.

This is the high priest whom the clever girl desperately wants to curry favor with, and also the direct representative of the Di Jiao God!
The moment the high priest appeared, everyone in the square bowed their heads.

Looking down at the crowd, the high priest announced:

"The sacrificial ceremony officially begins. Light incense and set out offerings!"

A rustling sound suddenly rang out in the square, followed by the rising smoke of incense.

Unfortunately, Li Wushou did not detect the aura of the Di Jiao God after examining the water curtain and temple. It seemed that the other party had not descended yet, and he still needed to lay bait.

Just as he was about to pull out the prepared kidney, he saw Aunt Shuisheng suddenly take a hairpin from her hair and stab it into Uncle Shuisheng's forehead.

Then, he suddenly pulled out a clump of blood and brain matter, and was about to stab Li Wushou's spirit-possessed water spirit.

Li Wushou's eyes narrowed. The priest who had been under his control suddenly appeared, his rotting hand grabbing Aunt Shuisheng's wrist as he demanded:

"How dare you! Why did you commit such a violent act?"

The surrounding worshippers then erupted in commotion, and the high priest, who was standing in front of the water curtain, also turned his gaze over.

The fierce glint in Aunt Shuisheng's eyes vanished, replaced by a look of terror. But she composed herself and knelt, saying:

"Reporting to the priest, this is the offering I have prepared!"

As she spoke, she opened her clothes, revealing her large belly, on which was engraved a head pattern covered with red inscriptions.

Upon seeing this, the high priest's eyes flashed with a shrewd light, and he said to the priest standing in front of Li Wushou:

"Let her go!"

The priest should be, but the person still stood beside Li Wushou.

Aunt Shuisheng's face lit up with joy, and she bowed deeply to the high priest.

He then gritted his teeth and stabbed the hairpin in his hand into the center of the forehead of the head, and then the inscription on the head burst out with blood.

Uncle Shuisheng, who had collapsed to the side, turned into a dried corpse at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his blood essence strangely fell into the mouth of the skull.

A great surge of blood erupted, but the head merged into the belly.

A baby's hands and feet are clearly visible on the belly, as if it is trying to stretch the belly open and crawl out from inside.

Aunt Shui Sheng, enduring the pain, bowed to the high priest and said:
"I conceived a baby girl with my own bloodline, and nourished her with the bloodline of her father. This baby girl is born a holy spirit, and with this holy spirit, I offer sacrifices to the Di Jiao God, so that she may become a divine being!"

These words caused an uproar, and Peize in the first row instantly turned gloomy.

This wretched woman is indeed a nuisance. If he wasn't mistaken, that head was his father's head after he died.

The other party's attempt to bury the human body and restore the spirit failed, and the head has lost its divine power. That vile woman said she would take it back as a memento, but she never hung it in the corner of the room. He thought she had buried it, but now it seems she ate it.
This baby girl was able to consume her parents' flesh and blood in the womb, which was clearly thanks to the head; otherwise, this wretched woman would have died long ago.

The so-called bloodline nourishing the baby girl is actually the bloodline remaining in the father's head nourishing the baby girl.

Peize was furious. He had found a good offering from the depths of the marsh, and he thought he could take the lead, but now things were not so sure.

But this scoundrel thinks he can regain control of the water fortress by offering sacrifices to a holy spirit; he's delusional!

Just then, Aunt Shuisheng continued speaking with great enthusiasm:

"Now, only the bloodline of the Holy Spirit's paternal lineage is needed for the perfect birth! This is the indenture of my husband and his nephews; their lives are mine. I did not kill them without cause. I beg the High Priest to see the truth!"

The high priest in mid-air, his eyes gleaming with joy, slowly nodded in praise:

"Good! This is a true believer of our God!"

After praising him, he turned his gaze to the priest in front of Li Wushou and instructed him:

"Kill her sons and nephews, and welcome the Holy Spirit into the world!"

The priest turned slightly to the side and waited, while Li Wushou sat on the prayer mat, watching with great interest.

He had really underestimated Aunt Shuisheng's ruthlessness.

No wonder she kept urging Shuisheng to come along today. Li Wushou had just seen her belly and thought she was going to offer the unborn child as a sacrifice. He didn't expect Shuisheng and Uncle Shuisheng to be there as well.

Upon hearing the high priest's words, Li Wushou smiled slightly, slowly rose, and replied:

"No need to bother!"

As she spoke, she walked to Aunt Shuisheng's side, grasped the hairpin, and forcefully pulled it across her face, murmuring:
"And here it is, born!"

(End of this chapter)