Chapter 1148: Thunderous Rage, Past Sacrifices
"Aru!"
Amid the bloody thunder, Ying, Paimeng and Jiang Yi looked at the boy wearing a straw hat.
Next to the boy was an adult with a terrified look on his face, kneeling towards the sky.
"Brother, you are the most powerful person I have ever met. And Big Sister and Paimon..." Aru's voice changed from calm to angry, "Why did you destroy the roost."
"I thought everything would go well, everything would be fine."
The amazement of Jiang Yi's power still remains in Aru's eyes. Even without Kapachiri's feathers, one can see the images of history and fly underground at will. How powerful.
But why...
"Why? You clearly said that big brother was also the protagonist of the festival. Then you should know how important the festival is to the protagonist. Why did you want to destroy it!" Aru's straw hat was blown up by the sea breeze, revealing her short black hair and tearful eyes.
"Aru, Aru..." The adult next to him seemed to have heard Aru's voice and stood up. "What are you talking about? Who are you talking to?"
"Aru, this is not how the festival is held." Jiang Yi shook his head and said, "The festival is about singing..."
"I've already sung to Kapachiri," Aru began, "Now, I've made a promise with her."
"Aru! They are using you as a sacrifice!" Paimon said angrily, "Don't follow them."
"No!" Aru refused, "I know I am a sacrifice, a sacrifice to Kapaqili. I am the child of a priest, and I have the responsibilities given by my ancestors."
"Capachili will be happy."
"She won't!" Ying was rarely so angry.
In the sky, blood thunder danced, bombarding the surrounding trees and turning them into wildfires.
"No good friend wants his friend to die in front of him." Ying's voice made Aru stunned for a moment.
"Kapachiri, everyone calls her Thunderbird." Aru looked at Suganayama, "She's not just my good friend, she's also our guardian deity! It's right to offer sacrifices to the guardian deity that the guardian deity likes, right? In the past, our priest lineage also did this."
"It's just my turn this time." At this moment, Alu had a maturity that didn't belong to a child, and also...an ancient and barbaric outlook.
This has been done generation after generation, offering sacrifices to please the gods.
"Aru, who are you talking to? The time is almost up, let's go, let's go, we have to make final preparations." The adults responded to Aru's words but ignored Jiang Yi, Ying and Paimeng.
"Then, A'ru, let me ask you, do you think this festival will be successful? You have been reincarnated for so long on this last day of your life." Jiang Yi looked into A'ru's heart.
"I don't know, but I think Kapachiri will be angry because you destroyed the roost." Aru said.
"Then even if we didn't destroy the reincarnation of the habitat, you didn't succeed!" Jiang Yi said.
"So, something must have gone wrong with the festival." Aru's arm was held by the adults, "Every time is the same as that time. Originally, everything went smoothly...but, I woke up."
He shouldn't have woken up.
“Then I realized that Heguan had become what it is now. Everyone became strange, and they couldn’t see me or hear me speak.”
"Except, this time..." Ru was a little confused.
In Jiang Yi's eyes, A'lu at this moment has two figures, one is the phantom of the past day, and the other is A'lu at this moment. There are also double figures of other people.
Time and space, obsessed souls and images overlap at this moment.
"...Every time, after a while, there will be thunder on the island, and it becomes very scary. At this time, only Huoshi, Jinming and Fengyue will not have thunder. I will hide in these places and wait for the thunder to stop." Aru said with her head down.
"But then the thunder would stop and everything would go back to how it was before. I'd wake up and everyone would be doing the same thing again."
“The thunder nowadays is also very scary, but the thunder back then was not this color.”
Ying suddenly understood why they didn't see Lei when the previous reincarnation restarted.
Finding that there was no one at the sacrificial site, they left Heguan once, and this time they happened to be in the three places without mines and missed them.
"Then, Kapachiri disappeared. Even in the Sugana Mountains, she couldn't be found." Aru listened to the adults' urging, "I know, something must have gone wrong with the festival, and Kapachiri was angry."
"Kapachiri isn't angry with you, she's angry with them!" Paimon stamped his feet angrily, "Aru, as long as you're not dead, Kapachiri won't be angry."
"..." Aru's face was hesitant, as if wavering, "What you said makes some sense, but... it's too late. The festival has already begun. Let's try again next time!"
"It's still in time!" Jiang Yi stretched out his hand. "In my ceremony, I am not a priest, but the patron saint who watches the priests dance and sing. All hope and miracles, all beauty and joy."
“This is what I protect.”
"You prepare the festival again and again, but the result is always the same. So, you want to seek help from outsiders."
"At this moment, I am the power you want to rely on."
"I am the god of the Eight Breeds and the Sea. I understand the meaning of festivals and the thoughts of the gods better than you do."
In Aru's eyes, she saw a grand festival, songs, dances, delicious food... countless people were praising a god in a magnificent palace, a solemn shrine, and a fantastic island.
Their offerings were fruits, flowers, incense and lamps.
"Festival..." Aru stretched out his hand subconsciously. Everything in front of him was like a mirage, lingering in his heart.
"I separate your soul from the phantom of your past..."
A'lu found that her hand was held by Jiang Yi, who was saying something difficult to understand.
"I will separate your future from the disasters of the past..."
"follow me!"
Alu stumbled, turned around, and saw another version of herself being taken away by the adults.
"From the barbaric and ignorant tribes, clear and melodious songs were born."
"The thunder in all directions will also subside."
Jiang Yi held A'lu's hand and watched the past scene.
"Ying, cover Paimon's eyes and close your own eyes."
Jiang Yi's hands also covered A'ru's eyes and senses.
……
Under the bloody thunder.
Sacrifice place.
The candlelight illuminated the flickering faces of the crowd.
Fear, dissatisfaction, pity...emotions are complex double-sided.
Fear of the destruction of the habitat, dissatisfaction with the procrastination of the preparers.
Similarly, some people were dissatisfied with the sacrifices they saw and felt pity for the children being sacrificed alive.
The sound of the wooden reed flute was blown, and the "bang", "bang", "bang" sounds were like the melodious thunder exploding.
Priest, no! It should be called shaman.
The venerable shaman was dressed in ancient and gorgeous clothes and wore a purple and gold crown on his head.
Another year of festivals has begun.
The shaman looked at the towering stone altar. On the altar, which was covered with blood and bones, next to the luxurious clothes worn by children, there was a gorgeous hourglass made of amethyst and amber gold.
That was his timepiece.
Every time the Thunder Bird descends, this hourglass will tell the time for the festival.
No! He shouldn't be called the Demon Bird. He should be called Thunderbird-sama, the guardian of Heguan.
He is the god flying high in the thunderstorm, bringing the only light of heaven to the dark and foggy Heguan.
The purple electric stars dancing across the sky and the torrential rain that descended.
It is His gift.
Mountains and forests grow because of this, and all things prosper because of this.
Of course, the power of gods is also frightening, and the punishment from the sky will destroy the souls of the disrespectful.
A shaman is elected from the tribe and blood sacrifice is performed to pray for protection and for the gods to extinguish their anger.
They have listened to many oracles.
This year, this sacred offering will surely make the gods extinguish their anger and bless them!
He believed devoutly.
The entire tribe devoutly worships this powerful god.
The shaman silently looked at the sand on the clock, and the moment of consecration was about to come.
"It's time to start..." he thought to himself.
Next to him, someone brought a ceremonial cup filled with blood.
Aru!
Descendants of priests who voluntarily sacrificed themselves for the tribe.
His bones and blood separated and turned into pure blood water, which would allow the giant bird to bring blessings to the tribe.
He raised the sacrificial wine glass solemnly with both hands.
The blood above and the blood thunder in the sky seemed to be the same color, dyeing the surroundings like a sunset glow.
"The guardian of Heguan! The Lord of Thunder in the sky!"
"Here, I offer you... a consecrated sacrifice. Please forgive me, a small and humble creature, for the unintentional offenses I have caused in the past year."
"Please, in your joy, send down the light and nectar from heaven, sprinkle them all over the barren mountains and plains, bring us abundant fruits and delicious food, and protect us, the insignificant and humble creatures, so that we will not be swallowed up by the boundless darkness outside Heguan..."
The prayer text was transmitted to the sky along with the thunder.
Only the stone root characters controlled by the shamans showed the magic of utilizing the earth veins.
There are eyes looking down from the sky.
The god who guards Heguan was summoned.
The tribesmen knelt down for it, and fine sand flowed in the purple-gold hourglass.
At this consecrated moment,
The blessing of God came, and the purple light from the sky illuminated thousands of miles of mountains and thousands of miles of sea, shaking the deep sea and the center of the earth.
Endless divine light carries with it endless rage.
This is - God's punishment!
"boom!"
The sudden and loud thunder could not cover up the roar that pierced the clouds and sky, piercing the eardrums of everyone in the tribe.
Bleeding from all seven orifices and the brain is blank.
Among the layers of dark clouds, purple lightning split the sky like dragons and snakes, and yellow thunder pierced the earth like tree branches.
The sound and light shook the surrounding islands, and all living things were terrified.
The descending god, the Thunder Bird, looked at the high altar and the blood in the golden cup, spread its broad wings, and swam across the sacrificial site with thunder that heralded destruction.
He raised a violent wind and overturned the blood-stained altar in anger.
The terrifying true face became the most unforgettable sight this tiny tribe saw as they were completely wiped out from the earth.
The clock that heralded the coming of the patron saint now became the death knell of thunder.
The gorgeously decorated hourglass tumbled, the fine sand inside melting hotly, and along with the end of this clan, it fell into eternal stillness.
That golden cup, that wine cup.
The thunder of prayers echoed in the air, the blood had evaporated, leaving only overflowing, thunderous rage.
In the lightning, a man in white appeared, holding a child's hand, with a blonde girl and a white elf beside him.
History and time intersect here, and the child's soul calls for the thunderbird to fly into the sky.
But no response.
"We failed!" said Aru. They were here when the sacrifice started, the blood and water were offered, and the thunderbird had not yet descended.
But the Thunderbird didn't seem to see them.
"Because this is just an image of the past." Jiang Yi looked at the feathers falling from the sky, flashing with purple lightning.
Thunder and lightning appeared on the feathers, tearing the air apart, and the rage turned the mountains and forests into ashes.
Only a purple wild flower was swaying, fortunately it was not destroyed, and it witnessed the catastrophe that befell this ancient tribe.
"A new cycle has begun."
Purple and yellow thunder flashed dazzling light.
The scorched earth became lush with trees again, and the cracked earth healed.
"But this time, it's the last..."
