Chapter 1166: Chapter 640: Head (Extra Update 3-in-1)_4
Mila Gray furrowed his brow, annoyed at Jia Bale’s flamboyance and noise, while the elder of the Naxi Tribe kept his eyes closed, lips slightly moving, as if silently reciting scriptures, oblivious to the tragic scene before them which appeared to be a matter of honor to their eyes.
According to Wa Village customs, there was an ancient ceremony for offering headhunts to spirits. When tribal youths reached maturity, successfully capturing a human head would earn them feather crowns as decorations, and they would be called warriors. Outside the mountains, Han people lived in many villages, along with peddlers and salt tea merchants passing through, thus the heads were often those of Han people.
For several days, the team, under the guidance of the Naxi Tribe elder, advanced deep into Yulong Snow Mountain, where the air became thin and cold, surrounded by vast white snow and exposed black mountain rocks.
Most of the time, the elder remained silent, closing his eyes to rest.
On this day, they turned past a huge glacial pass, and ahead, a vast expanse opened up. The outline of an altar formed from enormous black stones stood atop the snow mountain, shrouded by the cold wind, appearing mysterious and oppressive under the harsh daylight.
The elder, who had been silent, suddenly opened his eyes, and his murky old eyes burst with astonishing brightness. His body trembled violently, and he struggled to jump off the carriage, crawling on the icy snow, pressing his forehead deeply into it, shouting with a trembling and fanatic voice:
"ॐजय्ऐँह्रीं!"
The other three immediately knelt and shouted along.
The mountain road became increasingly steep and difficult to traverse, occasionally showing frozen corpses or remains gnawed by wild beasts at the roadside, uncollected. Jia Bale kicked away a leg bone obstructing the path, sneering, "Another unlucky soul. In this wretched place, a dead person is like a dead wild dog."
Mila Gray glanced indifferently, "These people are meant to die here; it’s all destiny."
Jia Bale nodded, his gaze passing over Chen Yi, who was following them up the mountain, and whispered in the barbarian language to Mila Gray and Xigu, "This Han dog is useless, just an eyesore. Keeping him might bring trouble."
Xigu pointed his lips toward a protruding cliff, with a bottomless ice fissure below, revealing a vicious gleam in his eyes, "Find a spot and finish him off; at least it liberates his clearer consciousness."
Mila Gray remained expressionless, which was an implicit approval.
At dusk, when setting up camp, Chen Yi caught a frozen wild rabbit in the nearby snowfield, built a fire to roast it, the dripping fat crackling, releasing tempting aromas.
Jia Bale approached and asked in halting Han language, "Hey, brother got... a rabbit roasting?"
Chen Yi didn’t lift his head, turning the rabbit, "Do you want to eat?"
Upon hearing this, Jia Bale hesitated and then displayed a malicious smile, "Eat! Why not? Hungry!"
He swaggered over, reaching to pull at the rabbit’s leg, while silently calculating how to strike securely, avoiding overturning into the ditch.
"Thank you, brother, smells... roasted deliciously."
He bent over, reaching, his fingers just plucked the roasted rabbit.
At that instant, the branch skewering the roasted rabbit emitted a swoosh, thrusting toward Jia Bale’s throat.
The ferocious grin on Jia Bale’s face hadn’t even transformed into astonishment when blood from his throat splattered all over his face.
Thunk!
The branch pierced through his throat, the immense force making his body stagger backward several steps, the hoarse strangled sound blocked in his shattered windpipe, blood continuously gushed out, staining the white snow.
Chen Yi remained expressionless, his wrist twisting sharply,
Crack.
Jia Bale’s head was forcibly ripped off from the neck, the head skewered at the branch’s tip.
The cold wind blew, making the head sway, bloody and steaming, securely skewered just like the Han people’s heads seen in Wa Village before.
