Chapter 5: Sacrifice

Do rituals truly have an effect?

They should, otherwise, the progress bar wouldn't display the words 'Ritual Enhancement'.

If I stay, can I truly share in the ritual's effects?

He didn't know; Li Qi was completely confused. He was just taking a gamble.

To live a muddled life, to be a Lifter, to spend his life selling his labor.

He didn't want that.

— — — — — — — — — —

At this moment, on the other side.

On the Li River's River-Viewing Pavilion.

To constantly monitor the water levels and to oversee the city, there was a River-Viewing Pavilion by the river.

The pavilion was a hundred zhang tall, towering into the sky; even modern skyscrapers rarely reach such a height.

The lower floors were restaurants and entertainment venues, but above thirty zhang, unauthorized personnel were not allowed. As for the top floor, it was usually managed by the river official, who was responsible for river management, supervising passing ships, and overseeing dredging and embankment affairs.

The prosperity of Li Prefecture entirely relied on the Li River.

The safety of the Li River concerned the livelihood of the entire prefecture, its importance was self-evident. Therefore, ordinarily, apart from the officials in charge of river observation, no outsiders would appear on the upper floors of the River-Viewing Pavilion.

But today, on the River-Viewing Pavilion, layers of altars were set up, and there were nine Shamanes wearing masks and strange attire.

These Shamanes wore lotus leaves and water plants, with lotus crowns on their heads, and their faces were painted with seven vibrant colors. They twisted their bodies, muttering incantations.

Between the altars and the Shamanes was a disheveled man, holding a wooden oar and wearing a simple, loose robe.

Surrounded by the numerous altars, he chanted: “Heaven and Earth have their boundaries; each produces its resources. Carpenters of Tang, horns of the East, gold of the West, horns of the South, minerals of the North—they are in their lands yet cannot be good, needing to be moved elsewhere. This is the benefit of circulation!”

“Alas! God of the Li River, You bring forth treasures from all directions to provide for us, You make boats to travel the waters, You command ninety million people, You travel ten thousand li. Your merits are immeasurable, and the people look up to You!”

He shouted the sacrificial prayer while waving his oar.

The Shamanes beside him picked up drumsticks and vigorously beat the alligator-skin drums.

Alligators, anciently called Tuo, their hides could be made into drums, and beating the drums could please the Water God.

With all this commotion, then… it was seen that the entire Li Prefecture City seemed to subtly emanate a strange energy.

Along with it, gurgling water suddenly surged from within the altars.

These streams of water flowed towards the man in the center, who was holding the oar.

The man continued to shout: “At the beginning of Spring, the time of Heaven gives birth! Harmonizing cold and warmth, natural and unrestrained, opening the spirit and delighting the body, dispelling mental impurities, clear and pure, as clean as the formless, precious sands reflecting all, no depth unilluminated! Flowing into each other, removing my calamities!”

He was engulfed by the water.

The surrounding Shamanes stopped, drenched in sweat, and collapsed onto the ground to rest.

Their dance didn't seem very tiring, but looking at them now, they seemed as if they hadn't rested for ten consecutive days, their muscles uncontrollably twitching, sweat gushing like springs, unable to move as they lay on the ground.

At this moment, a young man walked out.

If Li Qi were here, he would definitely recognize him as the young man who was with the Strongmen Gang!

“The great affairs of the country are only sacrifice and warfare. The Prefect always presides over the annual ceremony with such dedication. The monarch will surely be delighted to know this,” the young man said, looking at the man enveloped by the water.

“Mr. Zhu, why do you say that? Sacrifice is the foundation of Shaman Dao. Great Deer Kingdom was founded on Shaman Dao, honoring the laws of ghosts and spirits. How could we not be dedicated to sacrifice?” The Prefect floated in the water, yet he could speak normally.

Upon closer inspection, his chest was even rising and falling, clearly indicating he was breathing.

He was still breathing in the water.

“Founded on Shaman Dao? Yet there are no Shamanes, no Grand Diviner, no S_hì Jìn (those who observe Qi for divination), no dream interpreters, no diviners in the palace, but instead, prefectures and counties are established, prefects and county magistrates are appointed, the monarch is revered, and officials are set up. Is this Shaman Dao, or the Human Dao?” The young man, referred to as Mr. Zhu, said with a smile.

But when the Prefect heard this, he couldn't smile, and his expression immediately became subtle.

“Mr. Zhu, your words are too harsh. Great Deer Kingdom is of course based on Shaman Dao. It's just that the Human Dao methods are good at gathering the strength of all living beings. If the country wants to expand and become strong, it must borrow the skin of the Human Dao,” the Prefect immediately argued.

“That would be for the best.” Mr. Zhu nodded, looking as if he wanted to say more.

But the Prefect didn't want him to continue, so he quickly interjected: “Mr. Zhu, I hear you've been very close to the common folk recently, often moving among the poor. Why is that?”

“A few years ago, during the Grand Ritual, I divined a result that an external object would appear in Li Prefecture City, so I just sent them to search for it,” Mr. Zhu waved his hand, not saying much about this minor matter.

“External objects, though somewhat strange, are mostly useless, of little use. For you to use a Grand Ritual to search for this, it's a bit… luxurious,” the Prefect reminded him.

“It's nothing. The sacrifice was for divining good and bad fortune, not specifically for searching. It was just an unexpected discovery,” Mr. Zhu seemed to answer casually.

Then, before the Prefect could speak again, his expression suddenly turned puzzled: “Prefect, I see your ceremony, why does its power seem to have weakened a little?”

“It's the end of the ceremony, so weakening is normal. There are usually some fluctuations,” the Prefect seemed not to care much. He stopped speaking and immersed himself in the water, beginning to absorb the power within it.

It had indeed weakened, but it was probably less than one ten-thousandth, falling within the range of normal fluctuations.

Only Mr. Zhu looked down the building with a thoughtful expression.

And downstairs, in a corner.

Li Qi was striking a strange pose, reciting the sacrificial text.

Where did the sacrificial text come from? Of course, it was what the Prefect had recited!

It was that passage: In Azure Brilliance Palace, there is the God of the Li River, commanding forty-two departments and ninety million beings, overseeing the affairs of ten thousand li of the Li River and its myriad spirits. You Boat Towmen are one of His departments, pulling boats and navigating vessels, dispelling heavenly disasters above, and aiding the netherworld below. Now that the river opening ceremony is held, you shall use your Qi to dispel disaster water, eliminate faults and sins, and be rewarded.

In this world, for some unknown reason, a script similar to Chinese characters was used, and he had some literacy, so he could understand it.

Therefore, he made slight modifications, changing it to: We Boat Towmen are one of His departments, diligently pulling boats. Then he changed the latter part to: Now that the river opening ceremony is held, we shall use our Qi to dispel disaster water, eliminate faults and sins, please grant us rewards!

Was it useful?

Of course, it was useful!

Because the progress bar moved!

He had tried many times before, modifying word by word, including his body movements, which he changed many times. Originally, he just stood there waiting, and found it completely useless.

Even when the river opening ceremony's progress bar reached 99.6%, he didn't get any share.

Then, Li Qi immediately began to try other things.

He changed his posture, modified the sacrificial text, and tried many times, but nothing worked.

Because he had already realized one of the functions of the progress bar, which was to determine whether something was useful or not!

If it was useful, then a progress bar describing the progress would definitely appear!

He tried for a full three quarters of an hour, and finally, he found that when he prostrated himself, facing the Li River, and chanted the sacrificial text in prayer, the progress: “Ritual Enhancement, one percent.” finally popped up!

Just as he finally figured out the method, the river opening ceremony's progress bar had already reached 99.8%.

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