Chapter 98 Altar Heart

"Brother, what did you find out?" Lu Bubu asked Xie Liang who had just returned.

Xie Liang took a long breath and said calmly, "There are four left, all dead."

"Damn! What's going on?" Lu Bubu said, pointing to the small puddle that Xie Liang had just been to.

The villagers were carrying the four Adventers who had been dead for a long time towards the altar. They all had expressionless faces and no trace of reverence for life could be seen on their faces.

"Why soak it in water?" Niu Dadan asked puzzledly.

"The river water is the medium of the river god. Perhaps in order to inform the river god, they used people to build the altar to express their absolute loyalty to the river god." Xie Liang said.

"Why not throw them in together instead of separately? Aren't you just looking for trouble?" Lu Bubu muttered.

Xie Liang said uncertainly: "Maybe it's because Yin represents women and needs to be placed underground, while Yang represents men and should be placed on the top layer."

The four dead men were quickly thrown into the circular hole in the center of the altar by the villagers one by one. Then several other villagers carried the mixed lime mortar to the altar.

After a while, a group of villagers worked together to pull up the large oval stone that had fallen on the altar, pushed it onto the large round hole, stood it up, and blocked the hole in the altar.

After the hole was blocked by the oval stone, the villagers rested nearby while several other villagers began to apply lime mud to the gap between the hole and the stone, carefully sealing the hole tightly.

In the evening, the people who went up the mountain to cut trees came back, and their number was obviously smaller.

With gloomy faces, they carried the cut locust tree trunks to the open space in front of the altar and made a simple raft. After it was completed, the villagers took advantage of the day before dark to paint the raft with red paint.

By the time they finished, it was already dark.

At this time, Village Chief Bai came over with a group of people, pulling a wooden cart full of sacrificial supplies. He asked the villagers to take the items off the wooden cart and place them on the altar, ready for the Heavenly Master to return tomorrow.

After the villagers finished their work, they left. Village Chief Bai said to Lao Hei, "Take them to dinner and let them go back to rest."

Then the group began to walk towards the River God Temple, and Xie Liang and his companions took the opportunity to blend into the crowd.

The woman named Xiaoxi deliberately slowed down her pace and said to Xie Liang, "You didn't follow me, was I right?"

"I fell behind." Xie Liang said.

"That's all?"

"What else?" Xie Liang looked at her with a smile in his eyes.

Xiaoxi suddenly said seriously, "Several people died this afternoon."

"I see."

Xiaoxi was surprised and asked, "Don't you want to know how they died?"

Lu Bubu glared at her and said, "You are talking nonsense. Just say what you want to say. Why are you keeping me in suspense?" For some reason, he felt uncomfortable looking at this woman.

Xiaoxi glanced at Lu Bubu and stopped talking, as if she didn't intend to say anything.

"There are a lot of things in the mountain that can kill people. I'm not interested. I want to know what you found." Xie Liang said.

"You're very smart." Xiaoxi said as he took out a handful of purple grass from his pocket. "Here, I'm helping you this time. Remember to pay me back."

Xie Liang took it and sniffed it. It was the same scent that Village Chief Bai had. It wasn't just Village Chief Bai; almost every villager here wore a sachet tied around their waists, exuding the same herbal scent, though the intensity varied.

"Thank you. The stone statue in the shed by the river hides a man-eating centipede. If you get bitten, you will lose the ability to move. Please be careful." Xie Liang said.

"Oh, I see." Xiaoxi said, glancing at Lu Bubu with a smile.

Lu Bubu still walked with a slight limp, but his mobility had largely returned.

Lu Bubu felt inexplicably irritable and shouted at Xiaoxi, "What are you looking at! Laugh if you want!"

Xiaoxi ignored him and followed the Adventer walking in front.

Xie Liang gave some of the purple herbs to Lu Bubu and Niu Dadan.

"Put it in your pocket to protect you from centipedes." Xie Liang said.

Half an hour later, everyone finally returned to the River Temple.

Two sheds had been erected in the open space in front of the River God Temple. Beneath them stood several tables, and several villagers were placing food on them.

Lao Hei stopped in front of the shed, turned around and said to everyone, "After you eat, go to bed early."

"They will come tomorrow, right?" Xie Liang said.

"Of course, the Celestial Master will return with the chosen sacrifices, and tonight the deity will choose two attendants from among you."

"What servant?" Xiaoxi asked.

"Of course he is the River God's servant. Okay, go and have your meal." Lao Hei turned around and was about to leave.

Xie Liang grabbed his arm and pulled the sachet off his waist: "This sachet smells good, give it to me."

Lao Hei was shocked and quickly snatched it back: "Boy! What are you doing!" After saying that, he quickly clutched the sachet and walked away.

"Brother, what are you doing...?" Lu Bubu asked in confusion.

"Are you testing whether he knows about those centipedes?" Niu Dadan asked.

"It's obvious that he knows." Xie Liang said.

The food on the table was simple home-cooked meals, which were neither delicious nor bad.

After Xie Liang had his fill, he followed everyone back to the River God Temple.

Tonight, everyone was no longer as obedient as they were last night, foolishly making do on the cushions in front of the statue. Instead, they opened up several side rooms in the temple and moved in.

Some of the side rooms had simple beds, while others were filled with miscellaneous items. Regardless of whether there were beds or not, everyone was scattered and crowded into the several side rooms tonight, no longer guarding the statue hall.

At night, a rustling sound woke Xie Liang up.

The wooden bed in the room was occupied by several intruders, and he, Lu Bubu and Niu Dadan squeezed into a corner of an ear room.

With a creaky sound, someone opened the door from outside and walked in.

Xie Liang pretended to be asleep, wanting to see who that person was and what he was doing there in the middle of the night.

Xie Liang narrowed his eyes into slits. Someone came in with an oil lamp. It was actually Village Chief Bai, followed by two villagers.

Village Chief Bai waved his hand, and the two villagers each picked up one person from the bed, turned around and walked out.

These villagers are so strong that they can easily carry an adult.

After they left, Xie Liang woke up Lu Bubu and followed him out.

"These two grandsons, why haven't they woken up yet?" Lu Bubu muttered sleepily.

"There's something wrong with tonight's food." Xie Liang said.

"No wonder I slept so soundly, I usually wake up early." Lu Bubu yawned, "Fortunately, I don't have much appetite tonight, so I didn't eat much."

Not long after the two of them followed Village Chief Bai and the others, Niu Dadan caught up with them.

"Why didn't you call me?" There was a hint of loss in Niu Dadan's eyes.

"I'm afraid of danger, so..." Xie Liang patted his shoulder, "I'll call you from now on."

Niu Dadan laughed when he heard this, and pointed at Village Chief Bai and the others walking in front and asked, "Where are they going?"

"It looks like it's heading for the altar."

Sure enough, about half an hour later, Village Chief Bai and his group carried the two descenders onto the altar.

"What are they going to do?" Niu Dadan asked.

Lu Bubu scratched his head: "You ask me?"

"I didn't ask you."

Xie Liang withdrew his gaze and took Lu Bubu and Niu Dadan to hide behind a tall tree. This position allowed them to see clearly what Village Chief Bai and his group were doing.

Not far away, on the altar.

Village chief Bai held an oil lamp and ordered the two villagers to place the person they were carrying in front of the huge stone standing on the altar.

Then Village Chief Bai held the oil lamp and directed the two villagers to push down the upright oval boulder.

"Damn it, what are they doing in the middle of the night?" Lu Bubu seemed very sleepy and yawned again.

"It looks like..." Niu Dadan said.

"What? You're such a talker."

"It's obvious that they want to throw those two people down."

Xie Liang pointed at the two Adventers lying quietly in the corner of the altar and said, "That's right. Bubu, while they're not paying attention, let's drag those two over here first."

"What about me?" Niu Dadan asked.

"Just wait here." Lu Bu said.

Xie Liang and Lu Bubu walked lightly and climbed up to a corner of the altar along the railing.

Village chief Bai and the two villagers were still concentrating on pushing the big rock. The two villagers were very strong, and the rock was shaking and was about to be pushed over.

Xie Liang and Lu Bubu took advantage of their inattention and attacked from both sides, each carrying a descender and rushing towards Niu Dadan.

They carried the two descenders, bent over, and moved quickly in the night with the faint light of day.

Without any danger, Xie Liang and Lu Bubu carried the two still sleeping descenders back to the tree on the high ground.

At the same time, the boulder had been pushed down by the two villagers, revealing a round, deep hole about two meters wide in the center of the altar.

Village Chief Bai was holding an oil lamp and walking hurriedly around the altar.

His roar could still be heard from afar: "Where are the people!"

After the two villagers helped search around the altar, Village Chief Bai shook his head and led them back.

"They're gone." Niu Dadan said.

"We will be back." Xie Liang said that Village Chief Bai and the others should go back and carry the people back.

"What should we do with these two guys?" Lu Bu asked.

"Hide first." Xie Liang said, motioning Lu Bubu to follow him. He dragged the two sleeping descenders behind a small mound and covered them with leaves.

"Just like a pig, no, it sleeps much better than the pigs we raised before." Lu Bubu muttered, patting the dust off his hands.

"Let's go and take a look before those people come back."

After Xie Liang finished speaking, he looked around and walked towards the altar with Lu Bubu and Niu Dadan.

In the center of the altar, the round hole was pitch black and bottomless.

Xie Liang took out a flashlight and stood at the edge of the hole, shining it into the bottom of the pit.

Unlike what I imagined, there is actually a high wooden platform under the round hole, which is made of locust trees.

The table is square and can accommodate about ten people standing.

It seems that the locust trees that the descenders cut down in the mountains today were used to build the wooden platform inside.

There was white fog at the bottom of the pit, and it was impossible to see what was going on.

"Do you want to go down?" Niu Dadan asked.

Xie Liang nodded, squatted at the edge of the hole and smelled it. There was no pungent smell in the air coming out of the round hole, so the gas inside should be non-toxic.

Lu Bubu jumped down to the wooden platform first, followed by Xie Liang and Niu Dadan.