Chapter 425: Chapter 389: Five Spirits God
Led by two women from Yunzhou, Sang Que traversed the deep forest and entered the Five Spirits Altar.
Moss-covered stone steps built from giant rocks led up to the altar, where five enormous statues came into view, representing a scorpion, centipede, venomous snake, gecko, and toad, surrounding the central altar in menacing stances. Atop each statue sat a boy of about seven or eight years old.
Xingzhu, as the Dragon and Snake Child, sat on the snake statue, gazing coldly down at everyone below.
Beneath each statue stood the leaders and the High Priest from the five major villages, Cheng Ge among them. They wore similar traditional outfits in different colors, adorned with images of Evil Ghosts encircling the Five Poison.
The priests held magic artifacts, muttering chants, their voices low and lingering. The leaders, with solemn expressions and eyes full of awe, watched Sang Que being led to the steps before the central altar.
The two women from Yunzhou turned back to give Sang Que a few last words before leaving. Suddenly, one of them tripped, but luckily Sang Que caught her, preventing a fall.
She whispered her thanks and hurried away, for they had already run through the ceremony with Sang Que in advance.
Sang Que ascended the steps all the way up. The central altar was a circular pit, surrounded by butchered cattle, sheep, and various offerings. Within the pit lay the white bones of animals, obscuring whatever lay beneath.
Kneeling on one knee, Sang Que pressed a clenched right fist to her heart, slowing her breathing to the rhythm of the forest breeze.
Behind her, priests from each village sang and danced, employing ancient melodies and movements to please the Five Spirits God. They approached the altar with their artifacts, painting strange patterns on Sang Que’s face with pigments to bestow blessings.
Once all five villages’ priests had completed the blessing, the time was precisely 7 p.m. A gust of wind stirred the fallen leaves, as if signaling to all present that the consciousness of the Five Spirits God had descended upon the earth.
Sang Que recited the incantation she had just learned in the Yunzhou dialect.
"In the mountains, there is a snake, tail seen but never the head. Though the scorpion’s tail is venomous, it wards off evil. Toad guards the moon, blessings abound. Centipede travels the earth, all evils retreat. Gecko climbs walls, agility protects the household. You Five Spirits, protect and bless the people, your grace as heavy as a mountain."
"Today we offer the purest sacrifice as a sign of our reverence. May the Five Spirits God take pity and see our plight. An evil ghost haunts us, leaving us in constant fear. We implore the Five Spirits God to aid us in expelling the spirits. We shall remember your divine favor always, worshiping you through generations, never daring to disobey."
With that, the Yin Child appeared beside Sang Que as the offering.
Sang Que bowed her head, her words earnest, "May it please you to enjoy!"
At that moment, everyone below the altar also knelt on one knee, chanting in unison ’May it please you to enjoy,’ inviting the Five Spirits God to enjoy the offerings.
As their voices faded, the breeze and the chirping of insects ceased too, leaving an eerie silence.
Out of the corner of her eye, Sang Que saw the shadow of the Earth Ghost, only three steps away, squatting with a face as black as night, mocking her with derisive laughter.
Laughing at her naiveté, for causing such a spectacle, yet the Five Spirits God did not respond at all.
Cheng Ge looked up from among the crowd, unsure of what to do next.
Then, the Yin Child glanced toward where the Earth Ghost was, and kicked the tray of sacrificial cattle and sheep into the deep pit.
Understanding the Yin Child’s intention, Sang Que stood, turned, and took the Yin Child’s hand. Together, they jumped straight into the sacrificial pit.
Forced offering!
This pit was the Five Spirits God’s bowl, everything thrown into it belonged to the Five Spirits God. Sang Que threw herself and the Yin Child into the Five Spirits God’s bowl, daring the Earth Ghost to snatch from the jaws of the beast.
Sang Que landed heavily on the pile of white bones, sharp bones cutting her back and arms, while the shadow of the Earth Ghost appeared at the edge of the pit, not daring to follow down.
"Come!"
The clear, childlike voice of the Yin Child echoed in her ears. Standing amidst the pile of bones, the Yin Child shouted downward, though Sang Que had no idea whom she was calling.
Soon, the pit’s temperature plummeted, and one after another, small girls, slightly older in appearance than the Yin Child, emerged from the bone stack. They wore identical clothes and silver crowns, their expressions of sorrow, eyes vacant.
The small girls multiplied, almost filling the entire bone pit.
These small girls were the Five Spirits Saintesses of past generations, pushed into this pit as offerings after exceeding the Saintess’s age requirement, becoming food for the Five Spirits God. This thought alone chilled Sang Que to the bone.
If the Yin Child hadn’t been captured, this would have been her final resting place too.
"Run!"
Once again, the Yin Child’s voice commanded, and these small girls obeyed, turning into streams of light shooting upward from the pit.
Just then, a giant web appeared out of thin air over the sacrificial pit, preventing any light from escaping.
Rumble!
The ground shook violently, and an intense sense of danger emanated from the bottom of the pit, instinctively making Sang Que want to flee.
She resisted, staying put. She and the Yin Child were now bait, they had to let the Five Spirits God and the Earth Ghost fight over them, it was her only chance of survival.
Outside the altar, the five children on the Five Spirits statues convulsed and collapsed, eyes rolling back, mouths gaping as the Five Spirits quickly flew out from within them, diving into the altar’s deep pit, leaving only the boy skins draped over the five statues.
The crowd stood helplessly, frozen in place, watching the altar, unsure of what was occurring.
At that moment, a colossal entity leaped from the pit, its gaping maw swallowing all the white bones along with Sang Que and the Yin Child buried within.
Upon seeing the gigantic creature, everyone immediately prostrated on the ground, invoking the Five Spirits God, bowing and not daring to look directly at it.
A massive monster with mixed traits of the Five Spirits, the body of a toad, gecko-like limbs, bearing dual tails—one of a scorpion and one of a gecko, entwined with a peculiar snake bearing a centipede’s thousand legs.
In Yunzhou’s oldest legends, the original Five Spirits God was born from the Five Poison Gu Pit, an anomaly inspired by humans who trapped numerous Five Poisons in a sealed pit, intending to nurture the strongest Gu, and this anomaly, possessing all Five Poisons’ powers, was eventually revered by the Yunzhou people as the supreme Five Spirits God.
For many present, including Cheng Ge, it was the first time seeing the true form of the Five Spirits God.
When the Five Spirits God surged forth earlier, Cheng Ge clearly saw Sang Que and the Yin Child being swallowed. Was this the completion of the offering?
The return of the Yin Child to the Five Spirits God’s embrace meant they could select the next Five Spirits Saintess and reclaim the Divine Power of the Five Spirits?
While Cheng Ge pondered, he suddenly noticed a small shen kan sprout suddenly beneath the nearest tree, housing a palm-sized black statue resembling a mountain goblin.
The Earth Ghost’s shen kan!
Cheng Ge’s heart raced, and he hastily scanned around, seeing shen kan of the Earth Ghost under every tree surrounding the altar!
In that moment, a greater shen kan shadow was gradually enveloping the area around the altar, aiming to encompass the altar along with the newly emerged Five Spirits God.
