Chapter 403: The Grace of Sparing a Life
The Daimyo had been kneeling beneath the Divine Statue for a long time, but he had received no response from Jashin. He had found this statue in a dilapidated temple out in the wilderness.
When he first found it, the statue had been caked in dried blood, filthy and reeking.
After several years of his sacrifices, the Divine Statue had finally come alive, bleeding constantly from its head day after day.
The Daimyo climbed to his feet and walked toward the rear corner, where several frail children were locked inside cages.
Deprived of food and water, the children had no strength to resist, making them perfect sacrifices.
Dragging one of the children out of a cage, the Daimyo returned to the foot of the Divine Statue.
He forced the child to kneel before the statue, then yanked his filthy hair back to expose his throat to the deity.
Drawing a jewel-encrusted dagger, he first sliced open the child's forehead.
After licking the blood, the Daimyo used the child's blood to draw an array on the ground—a circle enclosing a triangle.