Chapter 65: Heavy Rain Sounds

Ming Zhuo sneered, "It tells the story of He who ate people."

The firelight from the torn talisman paper was too small to illuminate clearly. To see better, Luo Xu continued to lean in, and the two of them examined the stone carvings together.

The stone carving clearly depicted a sacrificial scene.

A group of people, dressed in their finest clothes and holding knives, knelt on the ground. At the forefront stood a woman wearing a crown, the queen, with her arms raised, beseeching the sun and moon gods in the sky to alleviate the suffering of mankind.

Luo Xu said, "This is the sacrificial ritual before going to war."

Ming Zhuo's fingertips slid down to another carving, "Since ancient times, sacrifices have always required offerings. Look, these are the offerings."

The other carving depicted a massacre. After the kneeling was over, the crowd gathered by the sacrificial pit and beheaded a row of commoners dressed in plain clothes.

Luo Xu stared at the carving for a while, finding it unsettling. The beheaded people were smiling, while the executioners wielding the knives were crying.

"What does this mean?"

Ming Zhuo said, "There's one more carving."

Luo Xu looked over. The last carving showed the sun god dissipating and the moon god playing a pipa. He remarked, "The carvings are very crude, not like the work of your family's craftsmen."

The Ming family liked luxury and had high standards for stone carvings intended to be passed down to future generations. They would never allow such rough works to remain. Furthermore, the content of the second carving seemed to malign the queen, which the Ming family would never tolerate.

Ming Zhuo said, "Then take a guess, who do you think made these carvings?"

Luo Xu raised a hand and pointed at the second carving, "Besides you and me, only they would come down here."

This was a sacrificial pit. Ordinary people would never come down here; only those meant to be sacrificed would. Since the Baiwei Dynasty no longer practised sacrificial rituals, Luo Xu surmised that one of the commoners depicted in the second carving must have made these carvings.

Ming Zhuo's hair was still wet, but he didn't seem to feel the cold, "According to the sequence in the carvings, the beheadings happened first before they were pushed down. So, the person who made these carvings must be a headless ghost, right?"

The firelight was faint, and the surroundings were pitch black, with only the roar of the waterfall. Luo Xu flicked away the firelight that flew into his face, "That's scary. Maybe he escaped the beheading and was pushed down directly?"

Ming Zhuo said, "Impossible."

There was no such thing as 'luck' when it came to a beheading order issued by the Ming family. Moreover, according to the carvings, the beheading order came from the queen herself.

Luo Xu said, "Then there's only one possibility left."

Ming Zhuo said, "These people were from the Hugui Clan."

The Six Prefectures revered the Jiao Mother, except for the Hugui Clan, who worshipped Da'a and were always considered heretics and driven away. Since the queen could bury a group of Hugui people alive in Chi Prefecture, she could also behead a group of Hugui people here.

The Hugui Clan were adept at controlling puppets and spirits. Perhaps among the group that was killed, one wasn't a human but a puppet. The puppet, even after being beheaded, didn't die and left these stone carvings as evidence of their tribe's massacre.

Luo Xu said, "But there's a divine prohibition here. If a puppet fell, it should have been disabled too."

Ming Zhuo replied, "Does the Moon God's divine ban affect Da'a's followers? The Hugui Clan doesn’t need to follow these rules."

Luo Xu didn't withdraw his hand from the carving, maintaining a half-prisoning stance. He asked nonchalantly, "So, you could summon a giant statue in the river. Did you model it after the Hugui Clan, using your father's image?"

Ming Zhuo's eyes flickered, focusing on Luo Xu's face, "Why, do you respect him?"

Luo Xu didn't answer.

Ming Zhuo said, "Then you're too late. I not only modelled the giant statues after him but also made those statues into fools. If you respect him so much, I'll give you one as a gift when we get out."

His voice was lazy, returning to his usual mocking tone, showing no signs of panic or fear.

Luo Xu politely replied, "No need, I already have other rewards."

Ming Zhuo withdrew his gaze and looked at the stone carvings again. After a while, Luo Xu spoke, "It's strange."

While speaking, he had been reviewing the carvings, feeling a subtle discordance. He thought for a long time and finally realised why.

"After the dynasty was established, the queen stopped performing sacrificial rituals. Based on the timeline, these Hugui people were sacrificed to the Sun and Moon Gods centuries ago." Luo Xu pointed to the third carving, the one depicting the Sun God's dissipation, "How did the person who made these carvings know about events centuries later?"

During the queen's conquests, the Sun and Moon Gods were at their peak power. At that time, people didn't know that ancient gods could dissipate.

Ming Zhuo suddenly laughed and leaned closer to Luo Xu, his tone sinister, "Isn't it possible that the puppet master didn't die? He could be hiding in the dark, watching you tear open talisman paper, lighting fire..."

The weak firelight suddenly went out, plunging the pit into darkness. Then, a palm wind rushed towards Luo Xu's face. He raised his arm to block it, seemingly anticipating it, "Every time you smile at me, something bad happens."

It turned out that while the two seemed to be discussing the carvings, neither had given up their own goals—Luo Xu's goal was to capture Ming Zhuo, while Ming Zhuo's goal was to escape back to the palace.

Ming Zhuo said, "The contract was promised by Ming Han. I think it’s better if I bring him out to talk to you."

In the darkness, he whistled, and there was a muffled sound from the pool, followed by splashing water as another giant statue emerged.

The statue stepped onto the shore and charged at Luo Xu. Luo Xu dodged, reaching out to grab, but Ming Zhuo was no longer there!

Although Ming Zhuo had never been to this pit before, he was familiar with the rules of the Ming family. Every sacrificial site had a passage leading outside for post-ritual cleanup, as sometimes, leftover offerings would rot and breed maggots if left piled up.

Before leaving, Ming Zhuo reminded the giant statue, "Don't kill him, just tie him up tightly and throw him outside."

Without looking back, he walked away without hesitation.

The passage led directly inside the walls of Pei Du. When Ming Zhuo returned to the Divine Palace, he found the hall littered with bodies, with only a few people still resisting desperately.

Lin Shifei said, "The Fly-Delivery Seal can't get out, we're bound to die today! I told you, he is the ruler after all, and you insisted on holding him accountable! Look at us now, everyone is dead!"

Fu Zheng was gravely injured, half-lying on a cushion, feeling his blood gushing out like a spring, "What good is complaining now? Think of a way out first!"

The elder said, "This place is too cursed, it's more restrictive than a divine ban. I've exhausted my spiritual power fighting the Baiwei warriors. Ruishan, it's all up to you now!"

Cui Ruishan said, "What can I do?"

The old man said, "A great enemy is at the gate, stop hiding your abilities!"

Fu Zheng said, "What are you hiding? Brother Ruishan, do you have any life-saving methods you haven’t told us? Don't forget, we're all in this mess because of you!"

Cui Ruishan coldly replied, "Because of me? That's a nice way to put it! We all came to Pei Du for our own reasons."

Lin Shifei shouted, "Everyone's dead!"

The elder said, "I know your Qiankun Sect has a secret method to manipulate corpses and spirits..."

A sudden clapping sound came from the palace entrance, startling everyone. They heard a “gūlulù” rolling noise and something foul-smelling and black came tumbling in.

Cui Ruishan initially thought it was a wine jug, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be his Shixiong, Cui Ruiquan! Cui Ruiquan's eyes were wide open, bloodshot, and he lay on the ground silently, water seeping from his body.

"Weren't you looking for your Shixiong’s head?" Ming Zhuo entered, lifting the curtain and wiping his hands with a cloth. "Here it is now. Why aren't you happy?"

The few remaining people had harboured a sliver of hope, but seeing Ming Zhuo walk in, they were utterly panicked. Lin Shifei, the most cowardly among them, pleaded, "Lord! I had no choice in today's matter—"

Ming Zhuo said, "Oh? Then I'll spare your life."

The old man, covering his wound, asked, "Where is the Imperial Lord?"

Ming Zhuo, amused by the question, laughed, "I killed him."

The old man was shocked, "You... you! That was the Imperial Lord of the Heavenly Sea, aren't you afraid..."

Ming Zhuo, stepping over the blood-stained floor, said leisurely, "Afraid? Ng... afraid of what? Afraid of the Heavenly Sea Imperial Lord, or afraid of you? Old Huang, let's not talk about anything else. Inviting the Heavenly Sea Imperial Lord was a tough task for you, wasn't it? An old man like you, going through so much trouble to deceive people."

The elder said, "It was the Imperial Lord's duty to warn the king, I did not deceive..."

Ming Zhuo laughed as if he had heard something very amusing. He threw the cloth at his feet, letting it soak up the blood, "You reminded me, Huang Qiu. Two hundred years ago, three generations of kings from the Ming clan, including Ming Zhao, were stripped and flogged here by you and your Shifu. He screamed and cried, saying 'I was wrong, I was wrong.' You thought he was admitting his mistake, but he was clearly saying that you were wrong.

"And fifteen years ago, when the Sun God dissipated, you came here. My father, that beast Ming Han, was so frightened by you that he nearly wet himself."

His amber eyes turned cold, but there was still a smile on his lips. His face was filled with a hatred and madness born of resentment, "That day, none of us will forget. Ming Han, to keep his throne, knelt down and let you ride him like a horse. Cui Ruishan, you were the happiest because your Shixiong was so powerful. He took my Xiongdi’s corpse back to make soup for you. Was the soup good? Ng?"

Cui Ruishan held his Shixiong’s head, trembling and muttering his usual catchphrase, "... Oh heavens... you remembered... you actually remembered!"

Ming Zhuo said, "I remember, of course, I remember. It was your Shixiong who helped Ming Han with that act worse than a dog and swine."(1)

Thunder rumbled outside and rain roared, while inside the hall, they were talking about this shocking secret.

"Sixty years ago, when Ming Han ascended the throne, he discovered that the Sun God had been weak since the reign of the third-generation king. To extend the Sun God's life, he used the secret methods of your Qiankun Sect to manipulate corpses and spirits. But the Sun God needed too much spiritual power, and using just corpses wasn't enough. So you told him that living beings would work too. That’s when he realised the secret of the Tongshen—cannibalism.

"You provided him with a group of Tongshen, and he indeed took the bait, sacrificing all of them to the Sun God. The Sun God, after consuming these people, began to wail uncontrollably in the sky above Changcheng. Ming Han, fearing exposure, used the Blood Shackle Curse to bind it there.

"The Blood Shackle Curse silenced its cries, so the world could no longer hear its weeping. Every day, thousands of people knelt before it, holding nameplates with the words 'Tai Shao' and making wishes to Her. She had once been the most powerful god in the world, but later She was reduced to begging in the sky like a dog for its release.

"To ensure the Sun God's immortality, Ming Han thought of a solution. He had a sister, who you all knew, who was my mother. She was skilled in music, particularly the pipa, but she was blind, so she was not a Tongshen. Ming Han confined her in a cage-like palace. To alleviate her melancholy, she often played the pipa by a window.

"Years later, someone outside the window played along with her, and eventually, that person became her husband. She never saw that person's face, yet bore him three children, each of whom was taken away by Ming Han."

Ming Zhuo's cold gaze swept over their faces as he softly asked, "Where did they go?"

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Foot Notes

1. 狗彘不如 (gǒu zhì bù rú) is an idiom used to describe someone who is extremely despicable and morally corrupt.