The person who performs the sacrifice
The other party was also surprised by Fan Lingzhang's change of attitude and chuckled, "I was just asking if she's feeling unwell? There's a doctor in the village, we all see him, you can take her to see him too."
Fan Lingzhang's complexion had improved considerably, but his tone remained calm. "It's just a matter of not being used to the local environment; there's no need to make things so complicated. Young master, please lead the way. The village chief has only given us three days."
"Yes, yes, you only have three days. Come with me, this way." The villager pointed the way, his face beaming with smiles.
Sui Chuke walked in the lead, and behind him, Liu Lü had already quietly drawn her sword when she mentioned Sui Zhixu. When Sui Chuke saw that, he moved his body to block the villagers' view, and gestured to Liu Lü to put down her sword.
The village is small, and you can reach the wooden building in just a few steps.
Fan Lingzhang stepped across the bluestone threshold and looked up at the stone statue enshrined in the center, a look of surprise flashing across his eyes.
On the other side, after the three left, Sui Zhixu wiped her two swords, the sword light reflecting off her face and passing over her slightly upturned peach blossom eyes.
"Penetrating the Forest" and "Breaking Through the Bamboo" were the gifts Chaoyang gave her as a coming-of-age ceremony. After being sharpened, the sword was incredibly sharp, capable of cutting through iron like mud.
As Xu put the sword back into its sheath, the hilt made a clicking sound, and the blade resonated.
The woman stood at the door with a cold and aloof expression, holding a sword.
The figure of the little girl in red appeared again at the alley entrance. Sui Zhixu's gaze was sharp yet calm as he stepped forward.
Deep in the alley, she grabbed the little girl in red by the collar.
"Tell me, where did you put the booklet that the older boy asked you to get?"
The alleyway, still cool from the night before, was shrouded in the morning shadows. A young woman in red, her feet resting on the damp moss, was lifted up by Sui Zhixu.
A few patches of moss were lifted, and dark dirt fell to the ground. The little girl did not struggle, but just stared at Sui Zhixu without moving.
"Were you the outsider yesterday, or the one who followed me this morning?" The soft, sweet voice, coupled with the swaying face, gave off an indescribable sense of strangeness.
"Xiaohe, be good and hand over the account books to me."
The little girl shook her head, her two round eyes looking at her. "I didn't take it."
Xu remained unmoved, saying, "Children shouldn't lie..."
She suddenly struggled, desperately trying to break free from Sui Zhixu's grasp, "Let me go, let me go!"
“If you don’t behave, I’ll take you to see your older brother. You know his situation. How long do you think he can survive in the water dungeon?” Sui Zhixu covered her mouth, pinched her under her armpits, and slapped her buttocks.
"Ugh! You deserve a spanking!"
"I'm going to tell Grandpa!" She bit down on Sui Zhixu's hand, forcing her to let go.
"Did you tell Grandpa that you stole the ledger he hid?" Sui Zhixu glanced at the bleeding tiger's mouth and thought to herself that the strength was not small. She gave the little girl another blow.
"I already told you I didn't steal it, you're so rude!"
Sui Zhixu pinched her chubby cheeks. "Cheng Hui said you want to go out. Give me the account book, and I'll take you out."
“I heard from my grandfather that if you want to offer it to Him, you can’t even get out yourself, let alone take me out.”
That old geezer was indeed up to no good.
Who were the people you offered sacrifices to before?
—
Do you know who you are worshipping?
Inside the largest wooden building in Yungang Village, Fan Lingzhang stood beside Sui Chuke, his slender fingers touching the honeysuckle pattern on the offering table, and looked up to ask the villager who was leading the way.
"Of course, no believer is ignorant of their God."
Fan Lingzhang gasped upon hearing this, and then slammed his elbow into Sui Chuke from the shadows.
As far as he knows, the largest of the three standing Buddhas enshrined in the 18th cave in Hedong is modeled after the emperor who suppressed Buddhism. Legend has it that the eminent monk Tan Yao specially ordered craftsmen to create a Buddha statue for him wearing a robe with a thousand Buddhas and his hands on his chest, "asking himself in the heart".
He destroyed Buddhism in his lifetime, and after his death he "redeemed himself with Buddhism".
Fan Lingzhang looked at the clay statue of a thousand Buddhas in a kasaya at the head of the offering table and gave a bitter smile.
The village chief did it on purpose; he wanted to lure them in.
Their ancestors were probably among the people who built grottoes in villages near Hedong during the Northern Wei Dynasty, and they still retain their fondness for honeysuckle patterns to this day.
To suggest building a stone statue for Him was tantamount to courting death.
It seems that most of the murals are fabrications, with only the final sacrifice and the path to bliss being true.
They worshipped Emperor Taicheng, who spent half his life waging war, unifying the north. He was not fond of delicacies but was rumored to love fine wine. To consolidate tribal relations, he arranged marriages with several princesses. In his later years, he pursued the elixir of immortality, and his laws became harsh, resulting in numerous executions.
His grandson revived Buddhism and Taoism, and sent a master to build grottoes in Hedong.
The ancestors of Yungang Village created murals and privately worshipped him, fabricating the story of "voluntary worship".
The person performing the sacrifice harbored great resentment, not the kind of resentment that Ah Ling claimed was meant to suppress the spirits of the dead.
Fan Lingzhang's mind was racing, but he still smiled and said, "What are His achievements? Young master, why don't you tell us so we can record them?"
Since things have come to this, we can only make the best of a bad situation, find Cheng Langjun as soon as possible, and then escape.
“Then there is much to say. His existence has protected our Yungang Village for countless years, helping us to build our homes and making our prayers for children extremely effective. Unfortunately, recently He seems not to have felt our sincerity, and very few babies have been born in the village. We should ask for His forgiveness and let Him bless us again.”
Fan Lingzhang laughed, "I will see Emperor Taicheng become the Guanyin who grants me a child in my lifetime."
All those words can be summed up in one sentence: "It's great."
Chu Ke was speechless, standing aside with a cold laugh. In the secluded village, people have multiplied and thrived for generations, all sharing the same bloodline. It would be strange if they could be born out of wedlock.
He rolled his eyes behind his back, thankful he didn't have to speak, he couldn't be bothered to deal with these idiots.
The bells under the eaves of the wooden building jingled, producing a clear sound that could be heard from ten miles away.
The bell rang in Sui Zhixu's ears. Seeing that the woman in front of her remained silent, she repeated, "Why aren't you saying anything? Are your mother or sisters inside, or a woman you kidnapped from outside?"
The young girl glared fiercely at Sui Zhixu, then turned her face away without saying a word.
Sui Zhixu took out a handkerchief and stuffed it into her mouth, saying, "If you don't want to talk, then don't."
She carefully placed the little girl inside and headed north.
The corn leaves, washed by the rain, shone a vibrant green. The wordless stele was damp after the rain, and wine and fruits were laid out in front of it.
Xiaohe knelt on the ground in front of the monument, touching the damp soil with her hands, then cupping the soil in her hands and holding it to her cheek. She couldn't tell if the dampness in the soil was from rain or tears.
Sui Zhixu took out a rope and held her by the hand. She found a shovel and started digging at the spot. When the shovel hit something hard, she swept away the soil and found a pile of bones.
Her gaze fell on Xiao He, who was in tears. This morning, she had followed the young woman to Cheng Zhijie and learned that the village chief had an account book that recorded the whereabouts of the disaster relief funds from Jiangnan and the mastermind behind them.
Cheng Zhijie originally wanted to obtain the account book through the young lady, but she agreed to it but refused to hand it over after stealing it.
He only said he didn't take it, but unfortunately he was too young and his lying was really clumsy.
Sui Zhixu tried to press her for answers, but she was a stubborn woman who couldn't lie and refused to hand over the account books, insisting that she hadn't stolen anything.
—
Mao Shi (5-7 AM)
"Cheng Hui." Sui Zhixu bent down and called out to him through the half-open iron window that had fallen to the ground.
Cheng Zhi was in a sorry state before the program. His chest was submerged in water, and his arms were bound with thick black iron chains. The only light in the water dungeon was half an iron window on the ground.
He looked up, his scholarly face damp with sweat, and said weakly, "You've come."
As Xu knew, the water was constantly rising and falling, from his chest to the top of his head, and the sewage was pouring into his mouth and nose, submerging his eyes and ears.
Each time was an ordeal. The mechanism had time intervals, which ensured that he would not suffocate to death, but also prevented him from having any extra breathing time.
"Hmm."
Another high tide.
The young woman buried her head in Sui Zhixu's chest, trembling all over.
"I'll get you out first." Sui Zhixu drew his sword and slashed at the iron window. Sparks flew as the two swords collided, but the black iron pillar remained completely unmoved, without even a simple scratch.
She frowned and pressed her lips into a thin line.
“No.” He shook his head, his expression calm. “Xiao He, can you hear me? I want to thank you for letting the other older brother go out. Now, give the account book you found to this older sister. After it’s done, I’ll take you out. Aren’t you very curious about candied hawthorns? I’ll take you to the Chang’an market. They have not only candied hawthorns but also many other things you’ll like…”
"I didn't! I didn't!" Xiaohe pushed Sui Zhixu aside and ran away without looking back.
“Xiaohe is very smart; she can roughly guess the fate of Yungang Village.” Cheng Zhijie was out of breath, speaking each word very slowly.
"If there's no time to save me, please don't worry about me. Just make sure you get the account books out of here. I'll have to apologize to my teacher. Please ask my junior sister to let me know about the land under my name..."
"No! Apologize yourself and take care of yourself. Since you've come with Chu Ke, we'll definitely be able to take the account books out with you."
As dawn broke, Sui Zhixu needed to rush back before delivering the food. She told Cheng Zhijie to hold on, then flew over the wooden building and landed in the backyard. Hearing Fan Lingzhang talking to someone at the door, she quickly took off her black clothes and went out.
—
The villagers led Fan Lingzhang and his two companions through the three wooden buildings, passionately recounting His achievements and gifts to Fan Lingzhang. They did not return to their original dwelling until nearly noon.
As the three entered, the first thing they saw was a young girl in red tied to a pillar, her mouth gagged with a handkerchief. Sui Zhixu sat in front of her, gazing at her silently.
Fan Lingzhang: "What's going on? Why did you bring the child back?"
“She has the ledgers.”
With a swift movement, Chu Ke rushed forward, grabbed Sui Zhixu's shoulder, and shook him, silently asking, "Did you see Cheng Hui?"
"Yes, being in a water dungeon is worse than death."
Xiaohe's eyes trembled, and tears fell from her eyes again.
Sui Zhixu's gaze fell on a small patch of soil that had been soaked through. "Are you planning to tell me? Your mother came from outside, right? She always wanted to go out, but your grandfather offered her to Him, so you want to go out, right?"
"You've been crying all the way from the wordless monument in the north, why are you crying again?" Sui Zhixu pulled the handkerchief out of her mouth and threw it aside, then untied her.
Fan Lingzhang took this opportunity to tell her about the Taicheng Emperor enshrined in the three wooden buildings.
She nodded and placed Xiao He, whom she was holding, into Fan Lingzhang's arms.
"Try to comfort her and stop her from crying."
Sui Zhixu coldly stated the facts, "Cheng Hui said you are very smart. You should know that you have embezzled disaster relief funds, colluded with officials, and murdered many young women. Every single crime committed in Yungang Village is unforgivable. Even if you don't hand over the account books, it will be of no use."
Fan Lingzhang let Xiaohe rest on his shoulder and shook his head at her, "Ah Xu, she's just a child, she doesn't understand that much."
“She’s no ordinary child.” Sui Zhixu’s heart was as hard as stone. “She should have understood when her own mother was being worshipped.”
“It wasn’t like this before. No children were born in the village for a long time, and the villagers thought He was punishing us. A Taoist priest said that as long as we worshipped as before, He would forgive us.” Xiaohe raised her head and shouted with her face red from crying.
"You are both Buddhist and Taoist, but you are not religious. You are just deluding yourselves. The kinship you believe in is based on the fact that you are the only child in the village. If they really loved you, they would not have let you grow up without a mother and let you accept their so-called love and live under their protection."
“When you are no longer the only one, and you have no mother and no power to protect yourself, if Yungang Village falls into the same situation again in the future, you will not escape the fate of your mother.”
According to the knowledge of the Three Buddhas of the past, present, and future, the villagers of Yungang are obsessed with being reborn in the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss, and the wooden buildings constructed in the village are all designed in accordance with the form of the Three Buddhas.
Offering sacrifices is not wrong in itself; it is perfectly acceptable for ordinary people to have faith to sustain their lives. What is wrong is using morality to do unjust things.
She could not judge Emperor Taicheng's act of atoning for his sins with the Buddha after his death, but the fact that Yungang Village used the actions of the emperor in his lifetime to sacrifice innocent people to atone for his sins was truly foolish and hateful.
Xiaohe was innocent and naive. Although she was precocious, she never learned to read or write. However, she could understand her mother's fate and that one day she would be sacrificed to her grandfather like her mother.
In the silence, an old voice called from the doorway, "Xiao He, come back to your grandfather."
"Grandpa?"
"Xiao He, being playful, actually ran here. Lord Chu, forgive her for her childish indiscretions. Tomorrow night, the village will hold a sacrificial ceremony for her. You may come and take a look."
The village chief was surrounded by people, mostly young men in their prime, with the occasional elderly woman, Xiaohe's grandmother, and the rest being women who were not young.
Fan Lingzhang noticed that the villager who led the three to worship at the temple was standing next to the village chief, with a simple and honest smile on his face.
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