Chapter 12 : The Sacrifice
Chapter 12: The Sacrifice
The day to sacrifice to the Emperor arrived as scheduled.
On this day, most of the Ximu Clan ascended Mount Kunlun.
The massive procession stretched along the mountain path, which resembled a road to heaven, forming a long dragon that slowly moved upward.
Most of these people were dressed in a primitive and wild manner, full of the customs and aura of the ancient times.
Ordinary clan members might cover their modesty with a piece of coarse hemp, sometimes adding an animal hide outside for warmth. Some adorned themselves with a piece of jade or wore necklaces strung with wolf teeth.
Ahead of them, some carried musical instruments made of pottery, or leather drums.
As they walked, they beat the drums and played the instruments.
The entire ascent was filled with the atmosphere of ancient shamanism and primal wilderness, yet at the same time, it carried an indescribable sense of sanctity and solemnity.
Today, the Great Mother of the Ximu Clan, a woman who could be called a shaman or high priestess, led the procession.
She wore a simple hemp robe that had been washed clean, over which she draped a deer-hide sacrificial robe adorned with a layer of star-like threads, and on her head, she wore a grass crown and mask, walking at the very front.
Behind her, over thirty men and women carried a three-zhang-high wooden structure step by step up the mountain. This was the sacrificial wood for the Emperor.
It appeared that the ritual still followed the ancient practice of burning wood to worship heaven, only now it was more complex and grand.
For the Ximu Clan, this was already the most magnificent display they could muster, mobilizing the entire tribe.
After an unknown length of time, the long, mighty procession finally reached the mountainside.
At that moment, the thick fog that had recently begun to envelop the summit of Mount Kunlun also blocked their path.
Beyond this tree, ascending to the summit and seeing the existence called the Emperor would no longer be so easy.
Yet, under the leadership of the Great Mother, the sacrificial procession eventually passed through the mist and reached the altar atop the mountain.
The Great Mother knelt upon the altar.
With her eyes tightly closed, she murmured something, while the others kept a respectful distance.
It seemed that the Great Mother was speaking to the Emperor, letting him know that they had arrived.
“Prepare to begin!”
Rising, the Great Mother addressed those below.
The others attended to preparations for the sacrifice, while the Great Mother kept watch over the surroundings from the altar.
The ground beneath her seemed to rise in layers, as if gradually pushing Mount Kunlun upward from the depths of the earth, forming a heavenly pillar that connected with the sky.
Standing here, the Great Mother felt as if she could touch the clouds above by simply raising her hand.
In truth, when she was first drawn by the light to arrive here, she had already sensed that this place was a connection between heaven and earth.
Even if nothing else were present, it naturally evoked a strong sense of reverence and faith toward the cosmos.
And now, it was even more so.
The divine peach tree had transformed into a massive canopy, like a celestial umbrella overhead. Endless clouds and mist spread downward toward the mountain’s base, turning the place into a mysterious fairyland.
The Great Mother had yet to begin her ritual, yet she already felt as if she were being watched by the will of heaven itself, as though she had been chosen by the heavens.
However, she lifted her gaze to the shadow within the divine wood and the jade stone beneath it.
Although the shadow did not open its eyes, the Great Mother felt that it had begun to notice her.
In her eyes, the ritual had already begun at this moment.
The sun rose to the summit of Mount Kunlun.
Its rays fell like a straight pillar of light upon the altar, while the surrounding clouds swirled slowly like a vortex.
The Great Mother ordered the tall sacrificial wood to be set ablaze. Around the massive wood, they danced on the altar.
At the same time, they chanted hymns praising the Emperor in a vast, resonant tone.
Men dressed in animal hides beat the leather drums with abandon, the ancient musicians played long, drawn-out melodies, and the Great Mother’s body moved rhythmically with the music.
She stood barefoot upon the stone bricks of the altar, stepping as if on the drumbeats themselves, her body spinning in harmony with the vibrations of the drum and the music.
The flames upon the sacrificial wood grew ever higher.
When the sun reached its zenith, striking the divine stone behind the altar at a strange angle, it reflected ten thousand rays of divine light, as if another sun had appeared atop the mountain.
“The Emperor has awakened!”
“The Emperor!”
“Kneel!”
“The Emperor has come…”
Amid the shouts, the presence within the divine stone opened its eyes, revealing the legendary double pupils known from myth.
A Blue Bird descended from the divine tree, bathed in sunlight, passing through the canopy, and landed beside the Great Mother.
Around the altar, everyone witnessed this scene, bearing witness to the ancient ritual and the return of myth to the world.
Yet the Great Mother could no longer sense anything around her.
Her gaze was fixed entirely upon the divine stone beneath the sprawling peach tree, eventually shifting to the Blue Bird, resembling a phoenix.
The bird stood upon the altar, wings outstretched.
Its immense body, several zhangs in length, and its magnificent posture dazzled all who saw it.
But what caught the Great Mother’s attention were its eyes—twin pupils identical to the Emperor’s.
“Chiu!”
The Blue Bird flapped its wings, and a single feather drifted downward.
Sunlight illuminated the air, dust particles shimmering like golden threads. The feather passed through these threads and gently fell upon the Great Mother, merging into her body.
At this moment, following the ritual, the Great Mother began to chant the incantation.
And she began to accept the power of the Blue Bird.
Then, a torrent of astonished cries gradually spread from around the ritual altar to the distance.
In the eyes of all the people of the Ximu Clan, they saw one shamanic pattern after another appear on the Great Mother’s body.
Mysterious beyond comprehension, brimming with power.
Her figure grew taller and more perfect, from a human perspective.
But what followed next…
As her acceptance of the Blue Bird’s power deepened, her form began to verge on the non-human.
Layers of feathers sprouted on the Great Mother, and eventually, she transformed into the legendary half-human, half-bird Feathered Person.
Even more completely…
In the end, she became a bird outright.
Mimicking the Blue Bird, she let out a piercing cry and, like a bird, soared into the sky.
At this, everyone was stunned.
“What’s happening?”
“Flying… flying… she really is flying.”
“Just like the eagle in the sky.”
“The Great Mother has become a bird too; she can fly now.”
Everyone first tilted their heads upwards, and many couldn’t help but stand, following the Great Mother’s figure to the open area by the lake.
They watched the bird that was once the Great Mother, their focus stretching further and further.
Their expressions shifted from shock to yearning and longing.
Soon, it transformed into boundless imagination.
“Where is the Great Mother flying to?”
“To the top of the sky?”
“What’s up there?”
“Yeah, what is it like up there? What kind of scenery lies above?”
Humans’ desire to fly might have been rooted in their blood the very moment their ancestors first looked up at the sky.
Alas, that was not something they could achieve—unless they too could transform into birds.
At this moment, every single one of them wished they could sprout wings and follow the Great Mother, soaring into the clouds to uncover the mysteries of the heavens.
But after the shock, cheers, and longing…
Everyone realized a very important problem.
The Great Mother had flown away as a bird. Did this mean they had lost her forever?
Panic seized everyone.
“Will the Great Mother return?”
“She won’t… she won’t stay away, right?”
“What do we do?”
Even more so…
The vision of the Great Mother diving into the clouds as a bird suddenly transformed in everyone’s mind into another picture.
The Emperor had opened a gap in the heavens and trapped the Great Mother on the clouds.
It was as if the bird had been locked in a cage.
Finally, one person knelt on the ground, shouting the Emperor’s name, pleading for the Emperor to bring back the Great Mother.
Immediately, all the others knelt as well, raising their voices to the divine stone above and the beautiful Blue Bird, calling out a name:
“Emperor!”
“Emperor, please bring back the Great Mother!”
“We cannot be without the Great Mother.”
The Great Mother, now a flying bird, didn’t know how long she had soared in the sky. She felt an unparalleled exhilaration, as if she wished to fly endlessly to the ends of the heavens.
But soon, she realized that all of this was granted to her by the Emperor.
She flew back to Kunlun, emerging from the clouds.
From above, she could hear her clan calling out.
“The Great Mother has returned.”
“The Great Mother has flown back.”
“The Emperor has returned the Great Mother.”
In the eyes of the others, the clouds split open, and the bird that was the Great Mother flew out.
It felt… as if the Emperor had opened a heavenly gate, releasing the bird trapped within.
The Great Mother slowly descended from above, transforming from her avian form back into human form bit by bit, stepping from the light toward the lake at the mountain’s peak, reflecting the sea of clouds.
From below, she seemed to be descending from the endless light within the clouds.
Standing amid the radiance atop the mountain peaks, she walked over the clouds, overlooking everyone below.
At that moment, everyone spread their arms and began to kneel before the Great Mother.
Shouting in unison: “Shaman!”
At this moment, the “Shaman” in their mouths was no longer a mere mortal, but another concept entirely.
A shaman stood between humans and gods. She was the representative of the lofty Emperor, the steward and communicator of heaven and earth’s laws.
Thus, the first shaman of the ancient primordial wilderness was born.
She originated from the Ximu Clan.
After the Great Mother landed, she approached the Emperor once more, grateful for all that had been bestowed upon her.
Even more, she changed her name before the Emperor.
“I shall be called: Great Roc!”
She was no longer the Great Mother of the Ximu Clan; she was merely a bird conveying the Emperor’s message.
With a letter in her beak, she would traverse the firmament, Kunlun, and the human world.
The Great Mother was filled with joy, and the entire Ximu Clan rejoiced.
But no one noticed…
Two people, outsiders to the clan, had followed the throngs to this place.
The female priest and Nüjue of the Hanhuang Clan once again found the person who had previously betrayed them, coercing and bribing him to bring the two of them to this ritual.
Disguised as shepherd girls, they knelt among the crowd.
The female priest and Nüjue witnessed this miraculous ceremony firsthand, watching the divine stone radiate with a brilliance like the Great Sun descending upon the world.
Ultimately…
They personally witnessed the Ximu Clan’s ritual, seeing how the Great Mother of the Ximu Clan obtained power from the Emperor.
Watching the Ximu Clan’s Great Mother transform from a mortal into a shaman, soaring like a deity in the sky, and then stepping upon the cloudlight to return to the human world, receiving worship from all.
Nüjue could not help but speak, asking the female priest beside her:
“Did you see that?”
The female priest’s eyes remained fixed forward: “I saw it.”
Nüjue’s words were trivial, yet she could not help but speak.
Her face flushed with excitement, as if a cat were tickling her heart.
She desired that power, craved it.
Even if she had to pay any price, she wanted it.
As for the female priest, her gaze was utterly locked upon the figure within the divine wood’s jade.
She was completely convinced that it was the incarnation of Heaven.
What peaches of immortality, what shaman of the Ximu Clan, what Blue Bird—
Everything originated from him. He alone was the supreme being, the existence that she and the shamans of the Hanhuang Clan had sought for countless generations, yearning and hoping to find.
The ritual ended, and the Ximu Clan gradually dispersed, leaving no one behind to guard.
For now, the peak of Mount Kunlun was no longer safe.
The Ximu Clan had long circulated rumors that this place, shrouded in strange clouds and mist, could transport a person to another realm, never to return.
Yet the Female Priest and Nüjue quietly stayed behind during their descent, planning to return to the mountain only after the Ximu Clan’s long procession had completely passed.
Night fell.
The bright moon leapt onto the treetops.
The mist that had originally formed a circle around the divine tree and the divine stone atop the mountain peak gradually contracted, ultimately enveloping the entirety of Kunlun’s summit.
Although the Female Priest and Nüjue hurriedly ascended the mountain, the mist eventually caught up with them.
Within this abnormal cloud and fog,
though they tried their best to stay together, they ultimately lost their way.
Nüjue was the first to lose her direction.
“Female Priest!”
“Where are you?”
“Can you hear me? If so, respond.”
Nüjue had been quietly following behind the Female Priest, but in the blink of an eye, the Female Priest disappeared.
Nüjue grew anxious, calling out her companion’s name, but received no reply.
On this high mountain among the sea of clouds, there was not even an echo. It was as if a force could swallow even sound itself, then devour one’s senses, and unknowingly consume everything about you.
Though Nüjue oversaw the conquests of the Hanhuang Clan and could be considered a warrior,
faced with this power and these anomalies, she felt boundless terror.
“What should I do?”
“What should I do?”
“If only I had the strength of the Ximu Clan’s great roc.”
This time,
though she was lost, she did not completely lose her mind and senses as before.
Stumbling forward, her longing for power reminded her of the scene she had just witnessed at the foot of Kunlun Mountain.
The Ximu Clan had come here after discovering a divine stone atop a distant peak that shone like the Great Sun.
She had come because of the legend, but at first glance, she saw instead the divine tree standing atop the mountain.
Eventually, she gradually approached the divine tree through the mist.
At last,
she stood before the massive trunk of the divine tree.
“Divine Tree!”
Nüjue stepped forward and reached high to gently pluck a peach branch.
But at the instant she took it, her vision flickered.
Everything around her vanished.
And this scene emerged.
She looked up, and before her eyes was not the divine tree,
but the divine stone beneath a sky full of stars.
She stood under the myriad stars, atop the mountain peak.
Her hand pressed against the divine stone.
High above, a pair of eyes watched her. For the first time, she clearly saw the Emperor within the divine stone.
In an instant, trembling, fear, anticipation, and myriad emotions overwhelmed her.
“The Emperor is looking at me!”
Then, as a powerful force surged into her body,
she felt that she was no longer mortal, as if she had become one with the heavens, the earth, the sun, and the moon.
The sensation was intoxicating.
This was the memory hidden in the depths of the divine tree, the most beautiful recollection from the moment it was born.
Meanwhile,
the Female Priest walked through the mist, diverging from Nüjue along another path.
At the end of the dense fog, the altar and the divine stone gradually appeared.
She stepped forward, taking the place of the great roc in the daylight, and approached the Emperor.
The Emperor had not closed his eyes, watching the Female Priest through the jade.
“Emperor!”
“Do you still remember me?”
The Female Priest knelt before the Emperor, yet for some reason, a strong sense of unwillingness welled up in her heart. Was she only able to replace the great roc in this night?
The Emperor asked, “Why have you come here again?”
The Female Priest replied, “I want you to grant me the power of the great roc.”
Faced with this, Li Jun also felt uncertain.
“Should I give it?”
“Or not give it?”
At this moment, he activated the power of the Blue Bird.
He used this ability proactively.
Unlike in the later era, where he was often forced from one crisis to another in panic, constantly relying on the Blue Bird’s power to evade disasters, here on Kunlun’s sacred mountain, he could not move, yet encountered no real threat.
“Chirp!”
The Blue Bird cried, and Li Jun’s eyes emitted a faint light.
He immediately noticed a tiny root sprouting amidst the Female Priest’s hair, nearly invisible unless observed closely. She had already been parasitized by the demon tree.
“When did this happen?”
“It’s already too late!”
Just as Li Jun had been chosen by the Great Mother, unknowingly, the Female Priest seemed to have also been selected by this strange peach tree.
If a person simultaneously possessed the power of the Blue Bird and the divine tree, Li Jun had no idea what consequences might occur.
Even a fleeting glimpse suggested it would be nothing good.
Terrifying beyond measure.
In the end, Li Jun refused the Female Priest’s request.
“Impossible!”
Li Jun’s gaze looked downward. The Female Priest lifted her face high to meet his eyes, her expression filled with desolation and disappointment.