Chapter 4074 Human Sacrifice

Those people from various countries, bound hand and foot, were led to the altars surrounding the swaying wooden pillar. One by one, their heads were chopped off, leaving them beside the pillar. After the blood from the corpses had drained, they were carried away by golden-armored guards and taken to an unknown location.

The slovenly Taoist priest and I could only watch helplessly as people from these countries were killed.

A very strong stench of blood wafted over from the direction of the swaying wood.

"Your Highness, do we have to kill so many people to worship the sacred tree?" the slovenly Taoist priest whispered again.

"Is this considered a lot? It's only a hundred people. A long time ago, there was a thousand-person sacrifice," the prince said nonchalantly.

"Your Highness, why sacrifice so many lives to the sacred tree? What are the effects of this sacred tree?" the slovenly Taoist priest asked, feigning ignorance.

"Haven't you heard of it, kid? This 'Swish Tree' is a treasure of our Guanxiong Kingdom. It takes ten years for the leaves to fall and thirty years to mature. The mature leaves can be used to heal wounds, prolong life, and even revive the dying. Such a treasure should be worshipped with the highest rites. Right now, the bottom leaves of this 'Swish Tree' are not yet mature, only the top leaves are usable. We can harvest some every few years, so we won't have to wait too long." The prince said to us with a smile, truly treating me and the slovenly Taoist priest as family.

Such a cruel thing, yet the prince spoke of it so casually, it seems that many lives were sacrificed to the swaying tree before.

After beheading all one hundred people, the king, along with the nobles, once again bowed in the direction of the swaying tree.

After a while, leaves began to fall from the sky from the swaying tree.

The leaves of this swaying tree are very strange; they are irregularly shaped and green with a touch of blood red.

As the leaves drifted down from the swaying tree, the princes and nobles of Guanxiong Kingdom were all extremely excited, cheering and rushing towards the falling leaves, picking up the fallen leaves one by one.

Some leaves still had bloodstains on them, and the blood was still hot...

This group of people are truly ruthless and heartless. At first, we felt a little guilty for stealing their sacred wood, but now, seeing their ugly behavior of fighting over the bloodstained wood, that guilt has long since vanished.

Even the prince became excited and rushed forward to pick up the blood-stained leaves of the swaying tree that had fallen to the ground.

Everyone picked up quite a lot, returning home with a full load.

Finally, I saw a large jar placed next to the king.

Everyone put the leaves of the swaying tree they had collected into that jar, presumably for the king to redistribute later.

And so the bloody sacrificial ceremony came to an end.

Everyone left the area, and the two of us followed the prince to a mansion.

It was getting late. The prince stretched and said to us, "You two wait here for a while. His Majesty will have the chief steward bring over the leaves of the 'Swish Tree' tree. When the chief steward arrives, remember to call out to me. I'm a little tired and need to rest for a while."

I answered the slovenly Taoist priest and went to the side room next door.

After entering the side room, the slovenly Taoist priest immediately closed the door, and I quickly set up an isolation array.

The disheveled Taoist priest said excitedly, "Old Wu, we've struck it rich this time! I think they've taken at least several hundred leaves from those 'Swallowing Tree' trees. What do you think about us stealing all those leaves from the nobles when the Grand Steward delivers them later?"

"Luo Laoliu, don't just think about the leaves. There's also the Zhaoyao Wood. Our main purpose in coming here is to help Li Chao find the Zhaoyao Wood and help him restore his Dharma body. I reckon that not just any part of the Zhaoyao Wood can help someone restore their Dharma body. It's best to find out which part has this effect, otherwise we might end up working for nothing." I rolled my eyes at him.

“That’s true. I see that the tree still has quite a few leaves. These people from the Piercing Chest Kingdom aren’t greedy; they only take a little each time, so the tree doesn’t wither and die,” the slovenly Taoist said with a smile.

"I suspect many of the leaves on the 'Swallowing Tree' aren't fully ripe yet; I wonder if they'll be of any use if I bring them back," I said with some concern.

"There must be a lot more. I just looked, and there are so many leaves on that 'Swish Tree' tree. As the saying goes, things are valued for their rarity. If we take too much, it will definitely become worthless. Let's go take a look after they've all fallen asleep."

"Old Luo, the leaves on the Zhuoyao Tree didn't fall naturally. There must be a master up there. Taking the Zhuoyao Tree won't be an easy task," I warned.

"Let's not think about that now. We'll go check it out later. If there's really no other way, we'll steal some leaves from those nobles' trees. We can't go back empty-handed, otherwise all our hard work these past few days will have been for nothing," the slovenly Taoist priest said casually.

I chatted with the slovenly Taoist priest for a while, about an hour later, I suddenly saw several figures at the door.

I quickly put away the isolation array and beckoned the slovenly Taoist priest out of the house.

Before long, the steward was seen leading several soldiers in armor into the courtyard.

"Is the prince asleep?" The chief steward looked in our direction.

"He's asleep. Grand Steward, please wait a moment, we'll wake the Prince." With that, the disheveled Taoist priest walked to the door of the Prince's room and whispered, "Your Highness, the Grand Steward is here..."

After calling out twice, the prince's somewhat languid voice came from inside the room: "Come in."

As we spoke, the disheveled Taoist priest and I pushed open the door. The head steward walked in carrying an exquisite wooden box, and said with a smile, "Your Highness, the King has sent me to deliver leaves of the 'Swish Tree'..."

"Grand Steward, you could have just sent someone to deliver it. Why did you come personally?" the prince said politely.

"This treasure is too precious. How could I dare to let those clumsy people deliver it? I must personally hand it over to Your Highness..." With that, the head steward handed the box to the prince.

The two exchanged pleasantries, and the prince even gave some green stone shells as a reward to the chief steward. The chief steward then said he would give some to the others and left.

After the chief steward left, the prince opened the wooden box and saw that there were twenty or thirty leaves of the swaying tree inside.

At this moment, the king took out two leaves from the wooden box and handed them to us, saying, "Take these; they are a gift from me."

(Only a few days left, remember to vote for the top spot, everyone! Goodnight.)