Ox Sacrifice 12

The library is decorated in a simple and elegant style, highlighting the cultural heritage and solemnity. Looking up, you can see the interlaced sunken wood beams, which are staggered to form a pointed shape. A closer look reveals that they are nested roofs. The interior is more gorgeously built with glazed tiles arranged in rows.

The floor is gray and looks old, and the windows are translucent but not shadow-transparent. The windows are matched with wooden grilles, which exude a subtle beauty in their simplicity.

Yan Ke walked up to the clerk and asked, "Are there any books about [Sacrifice] here?"

The clerk suddenly looked up at Yan Ke who was asking the question: "Oh, history books, over there." and pointed to an area of ​​the bookstore.

The bookstore is very large and the interior decoration is very neat and orderly, but when Yan Ke and others looked in the direction the clerk was pointing, they saw a row of bookshelves.

"Oh, thank you." Yan Ke replied.

"You're welcome. Just find out. Don't be too curious about some things." The clerk is a young girl. She kindly reminded me. Although she has to say this several times a day, the clerk still reminds me with great concern.

Books about "Sacrifice" are actually not difficult to find. For the safety of students, parents of all students in school will regard this book as a life-saving tool.

A few people walked to the location indicated by the clerk, but it turned out to be the historical and cultural area.

The book about sacrifice that Yan Ke saw was placed in the most conspicuous place.

Many people are reading this book here.

Nanyu walked up and took a new one, and said to Yan Ke, "Let's go, we found the book."

Yan Ke looked at Nan Yu, Li Heng and the others, then nodded: "Let's go."

Fang Yu was surprised: "Is this book so easy to find?"

Meng Yueyue was still afraid: "Nothing will happen tonight."

Li Heng was amazed at everything he saw. This place was very similar to the real world, yet not the same. There was also a complete worldview. Was this a game, or something he could not understand?

Yan Ke saw Li Heng standing there, looking around, wondering what he was thinking.

He stepped forward and patted Li Heng on the shoulder: "Let's go."

Li Heng came back to his senses and said, "Okay." Li Heng's heart was not very calm. If he died in this world, everything could be easily explained. But if he got out alive, how could he report to his superiors what he had seen and heard, saying that he had come to a completely new world that looked very similar to the real world?

He looked at Yan Ke and the others while thinking: "It's not certain that we can get out alive."

When Meng Yueyue looked at this person, was she also afraid of the unknown future and miserable death?

Nan Yu watched Yan Ke pay the bill, and he asked directly: "Shall we go for grilled fish?"

"Let's go." Yan Ke knew that Nanyu had been hungry for a long time, so she agreed immediately. Now the others had no intention of eating at all, so if Nanyu wanted to eat, then he could go, so he didn't have to make a choice.

Everyone left the bookstore, walked across a red light and arrived at the grilled fish restaurant. It turned out that Nanyu had seen it and noted it down on the way here.

Others were not as comfortable as Nanyu. He looked at this group of weak humans and said with care, "It's actually very safe here."

At dusk, the orange-yellow light shone on Nan Yu's face, and Yan Ke felt a heartache. This man was mysterious, and Yan Ke couldn't help but find out whether what he said was true or false, or whether he was a devil wearing a mask of hypocrisy. But at this moment, he had forgotten all.

Heaven and earth are the inns of all things, and human affairs are just passing ones.

But at this moment, I have no heart to love the good night.

By the time everyone arrived at the grilled fish restaurant, it was already late.

Meng Yueyue asked anxiously, "Nothing will happen to us, right?"

Yan Ke comforted him, "Nothing will happen for a while. There's room over there."

The waiter guided them to a private room.

"Actually, every time I eat, I feel that this world is not bad, similar to our world. But every time a death occurs, I feel that this world is too dangerous." Li Heng said.

"In fact, no world is absolutely safe, but the killing and death here are more direct to the heart." Fang Yu added, and then sighed: "Will everything be fine if we take a leave?"

Nan Yu looked at the menu and said to the waiter, "One fish is not enough, add a few more."

The waitress was a pretty girl. She smiled gently and said, "Guest, you can order three servings. If you can't finish it, you can take it away. Our specialties here are black bean grilled fish, spicy grilled fish, and this fresh and fragrant grilled fish. Each tastes different and has its own characteristics."

Yan Ke said, "We'll take all three, and we can choose the side dishes ourselves."

"Yes, sir."

After Nan Yu and Yan Ke ordered their meals, the waiter took away the menus. Yan Ke took out the newly bought book and unpacked it.

"I'll take a look at this book first and give it to you guys after I finish reading it. Now that we're all at the bookstore, we should all buy one for safety reasons."

Yan Ke's reminder made the frightened people suddenly realize that they were so scared that they forgot about their important business.

Yan Ke handed the book to Nan Yu: "How about you read it first."

Nan Yu said, "Why don't you read it? This way everyone will know what the book is about and save us the trouble of having to go back and buy it."

...The contents of the book [The contents of the book, continued from Chapter 8]...

When the new dynasty was established, the imperial examination was restarted, but some people in the society wanted to take shortcuts, so the [sacrifice] was restarted.

The Shu region in the south was greatly affected by this turmoil, causing the locals to abandon literature and take up martial arts, or engage in business, or be content with the status quo as farmers. No one was willing to study for the imperial examinations, simply because the matter of [sacrifice] had spread so widely.

The local authorities reported the matter to the imperial court, but it was not resolved. The method of [sacrifice] was even spread, leading to turmoil in the new dynasty.

[Sacrifice] As the name suggests, there must be sacrifices, which can be live chickens, live ducks, live pigs, live sheep, but this sacrifice is mainly based on [cattle].

The New Dynasty was still a feudal slave dynasty. Agriculture was the foundation of the country. The value of cattle was very high, even higher than that of war horses when there was no war. Ordinary people rarely had the tradition of slaughtering and sacrificing cattle.

Cows are important property and the crime of illegally buying and selling cattle is punishable by death, so folk cattle sacrifices have almost ceased.

Until the emergence of [student sacrifice], some people found that sacrificing cattle could lead to academic success and being admitted to the imperial examination without any side effects. Therefore, some folk students bought cattle for sacrifice in the hope of being admitted to the imperial examination, reaching the top of the list of successful candidates, and changing their destiny.

But not every family of common students had cattle and fields. There were also poor common students who had neither cattle nor fields. The road to imperial examination was not easy. Some people took risks in order to obtain an official position. They thought it was just a story about fox spirits, but they ultimately died from their own ignorance.

The reason is that since the change of dynasties in the southern Shu area, few people have been able to leave this place. This place is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and is a battleground for military strategists. However, the climate is also mild and suitable for farming. However, due to its long-term closure, there are only a few wealthy families in the area, and because it is far from the capital, the area is rich in food but the people are in poverty.

Wang Yan was a scholar, but because he was born in a poor family, he could only herd cattle while hiding outside the school to eavesdrop. His family was poor, and the cattle belonged to the Zhang family. They were just tenants with no land or property.

However, Wang Yan was gifted, had a photographic memory and was able to speak eloquently, so he was valued by the teachers in the academy.

The scholar in the academy was a scholar who did not make it to the list, so he had to return to his hometown to teach. The academy also belonged to the Zhang family.

Although Zhang Tianci is not the eldest son of the Zhang family, he is the only son of a certain branch of illegitimate children. He is domineering, arrogant and rude, and is a bully in the academy.

The gentleman did not want to offend the Zhang family, which was the richest family in Shu and had a profound family background. They had played a significant role in the establishment of the new dynasty.

Wang Yan was famous for his intelligence and was known by Zhang Tianci, who bribed him with 100 taels of silver to take the exam for him, but Wang Yan was an upright person and was unwilling to associate with him, which offended Zhang Tianci. Zhang Tianci got the sacrificial method from somewhere and first stole the cattle that Wang Yan was raising and put the blame on him.

Wang Yan was beaten with twenty sticks and was on the verge of death.

Zhang Tianci sacrificed a cow to obtain the position of scholar, but was later afraid that Wang Yan would take revenge on him after his injury healed, so he came up with the idea of ​​sacrificing a living person.

There was no one in Wang Yan's family, only his mother who depended on him for survival.

Not long after, Zhang Tianci won the first place in Shu and went to the capital to take part in the palace examination in high spirits.

At this time, Wang Yan and his mother, who depended on each other for survival, had already been sacrificed by Zhang Tianci and turned into a handful of yellow earth, dying silently.

Zhang Tianci was a bad person and had poor academic performance, but he still won the top prize. Everyone in the academy was curious. Later, Zhang Tianci's followers told other students in the academy about Zhang Tianci's method of sacrifice. These students did not know the dangers, nor did they know that they had to sacrifice a cow.

Soon, the outstanding students in the academy began to die mysteriously, and when they died, sacrificial arrays appeared around their bodies.

Zhang Tianci's followers were shocked, thinking that it was the wronged spirits of Wang Yan and his son who were seeking revenge, so they pooled money with the rest of the people in the academy to find a Taoist priest.

The bodies of Wang Yan and his mother were dug out by a Taoist priest, burned to ashes, and then the bones were crushed and the ashes were scattered.

But the deaths did not stop. Although Zhang Tianci's performance in the capital was not ideal at this time, he still got a minor official position. He was about to return to his hometown to succeed, but when he heard about this incident, he was frightened and thought of diverting the trouble to someone else.

He spent money to spread the method of sacrifice in the capital, but out of selfishness, he did not record the sacrifice to Niu Qi. As expected, not long after, the death of students in the capital occurred in "student sacrifice".

At first, the death of one or two people did not attract attention. As a result, the son of the Duke of Zhenguo also listened to the rumors of [sacrifice] and died after the sacrifice failed. The Duke of Zhenguo was furious and reported the matter to the emperor.

The emperor was the first emperor of the new dynasty. When he saw that the matter of "sacrifice" had spread to the capital and that the sons of officials had died after believing it, he broke out in a cold sweat.

This was the reason for the demise of the previous dynasty. The imperial court became increasingly corrupt, and the people became objects of sacrifice. Important farming animals such as cattle and horses were reduced due to sacrifice and almost disappeared. At this time, the sacrifice spread to the capital.

He then mobilized the entire country to ban such speech, and violators would be put to death without mercy, and the method of burning [sacrifice] involved many people, and even Zhang Tianci was just one of them. The huge chain of interests and conspiracy hidden behind the sacrifice were brought to light in broad daylight.

However, the situation became increasingly serious, and even the emperor's use of severe killings could not stop it because of the occurrence of human sacrifices.