There was no need to deliberately pay attention to where they were going. Following the crowd, they were soon jostled into a huge parade ground.
"The people in Henan Prefecture worship the Flower Goddess. They hold a gathering every March," Mo Qingyao pointed at a goddess statue standing in the middle of the parade ground, looking a bit excited. "Maybe this is the right place."
However, the next moment, his face suddenly changed. "No, I remember the statue of the Flower Goddess didn't look like this."
Yaohua craned her neck. "Why does this statue have two different faces on each side?"
"It even has three arms!" Mo Qing echoed with a question. "And why does its lower body look like a scorpion's tail?"
"Is there any god in the Celestial Realm who looks like this?" Yaohua tugged at Chongming's arm. "Master?"
Chongming's gaze was fixed on the statue. He slowly shook his head.
"Could it be that the sacrifice the old man's family mentioned was prepared for this thing?" Yaohua felt uncomfortable all over just by taking a distant look at the statue, as if she had eaten something dirty. She felt extremely nauseous.
More and more people gathered in the parade ground. It took about an hour for the crowd to finally stop moving.
The three of them were squeezed in the crowd. It was even difficult for them to move.
"I can hardly breathe," Yaohua lifted her neck and took a deep breath.
Chongming raised his hand and drew a barrier, isolating them from the crowd.
Just then, the crowd suddenly retreated until there was an empty space of about six zhang around the statue.
A path appeared in the crowd. A group of people in black makeup walked from afar to the center, carrying divine tablets, sacrificial vessels, and beating gongs and drums.
As soon as the divine tablets were placed, people began to go up one by one and place various offerings in front of them, including jade, silk, wine, fruits, dishes, and even some jewelry and playthings.
The vessels and ritual implements were so numerous that Yaohua was dumbfounded. There were many things she had never seen in her clan.
Many more ritual implements were carried to the steps of the mound below the statue, neatly arranged. There were even more than what her father had prepared for the sacrifice to their ancestors.
When everything was ready, the drums and music sounded again. Everyone knelt on the ground, their movements perfectly synchronized and extremely familiar. It was obvious that they had done this many times.
A woman in black veil, with half of her face covered by a golden mask, stepped onto the mound in the middle of the parade ground, surrounded by servants.
She knelt and kowtowed to the strange statue, and offered incense. When she inadvertently raised her eyes, they were sinister and cold, just like a venomous snake lurking in the dark abyss.
Then, a tinkling sound came from afar.
Yaohua looked in the direction of the sound and saw a naked person gagged and tied to a stone pillar, being brought in front of the woman.
There were some inscriptions on the stone pillar that made her feel uncomfortable. She kept shifting between her original form and human form, completely unable to control herself.
Although Mo Qing was better, he still seemed very irritable. He clenched and unclenched his fists, and the downy feathers of a phoenix had already appeared on his cheeks.
Chongming raised his hand and tapped Yaohua between her eyebrows, which helped her calm down.
As for Mo Qing, he was already an adult phoenix and didn't need Chongming's help.
Yaohua let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Master!"
She looked at the stage with lingering fear, deliberately avoiding looking at the stone pillar.
Someone respectfully presented a dagger to the woman.
The handle of the dagger was decorated with bright-colored gemstones, and the blade was as bright as a mirror. From afar, Yaohua could see the woman's eyes reflected on the blade.
She held her breath and nervously grabbed Chongming's arm.
"Master..."
Although she didn't know the previous process of the sacrifice, her intuition told her that the person who was being used as a sacrifice would surely die a tragic death at the hands of that woman.
She wanted to save that person.
Chongming's eyes were as sharp as knives, and spiritual energy flashed at his fingertips. He seemed to be weighing something.
The woman raised the dagger and stabbed hard at the chest of the person on the stone pillar!
Yaohua's heart tightened. Spiritual energy gathered in her palm. Just as she was about to fly out a palm to knock the dagger away, she felt as if someone had pushed her waist randomly.
A white figure suddenly rushed out of the barrier and directly rammed into the woman on the mound!
"Rong Chu!" Yaohua didn't have time to think. She could only turn her spiritual energy into a rope and wrap it around Rong Chu, pulling him back forcefully.
Clang—
The woman staggered half a step, and the dagger in her hand fell. The bright gemstones fell off and bounced on the ground several times.
She looked up at the sky in confusion, and a ball of demonic energy unconsciously gathered in her palm.
This woman was actually from the Demon Race!
Yaohua tugged tightly on the rope with lingering fear.
The moment Rong Chu knocked the dagger out of the woman's hand, she and her sixth elder brother had acted in time and quickly pulled him back. Fortunately, there was Master's barrier, otherwise Rong Chu would probably have been discovered on the spot.
"Priestess, what happened?"
The woman raised her hand to stop the black-clothed servant who wanted to step forward. "Bring me another dagger."
She actually wanted to continue what she had been doing.
Yaohua's heart, which had just calmed down, was raised again.
Normally, if something unexpected happened during a sacrifice like this, it meant that the sacrifice should not continue. Why did this woman ignore this and still want to proceed?
Rong Chu struggled violently, trying to break out of Yaohua's rope. Yaohua noticed that his eyes were fixed on the woman, and she guessed that this woman must be related to his death.
But now she couldn't let Rong Chu run out.
Yaohua steadied the rope and tightened it around him.
"Rong Chu, don't be impatient. I won't let that person die."
After saying that, she circulated her spiritual energy again, ready to save the poor person.
However, at that moment, her spiritual energy suddenly stagnated. She watched helplessly as the woman stabbed the dagger into the person's chest, and blood gushed out immediately.
Yaohua's mind went blank.
At this time, the dark clouds on the deep night sky dispersed, revealing a hazy half-moon.
Someone walked up to the woman with a silver plate in hand.
The woman cut open the person's abdomen with a knife, and her five fingers, white as snow, reached in. She carefully dug out the person's internal organs one by one and placed them on the silver plate. Throughout the whole process, the victim remained conscious.
The cold silver plate, the dazzling blood, and the victim's ferocious face all fell into Yaohua's eyes, and not just hers.
The rope in her hand suddenly broke. Rong Chu's white figure seemed to be splashed with cinnabar water, all red. His face was as pale as snow against the red background.
He stretched out his hand, his fingernails growing several feet long, and rushed towards Yaohua!
"This is..." Yaohua gradually realized. "A fierce ghost!"
She dodged to the side. Her hair was almost grabbed by him. It was Mo Qing who waved out a stream of spiritual energy to block him.
"Rong Chu, are you crazy?"
Rong Chu turned his head. His originally clear eyes were now filled with killing intent and blood-red. He couldn't tell friend from foe at all.
Mo Qing closed his mouth and pinched a spell.
The Phoenix Clan was naturally domineering, and their way of solving problems was always simple and direct. In his eyes, Rong Chu had no way back at this moment and should be strangled on the spot.