Chapter 430: Evil God Festival - Boathouse

[System Alert: Player Bai Liu has acquired the identity of the duplicate (Heir to the Evil God)]

[Player Bai Liu activates the main quest.

[Main Quest: Ask the successor of the Evil God to find two anchor bodies carrying the spirit and flesh of the old Evil God within seven days, and sacrifice them on the boat house on the day of the Evil God Festival to complete the Evil God Festival].

Bai Liu slowly opened his eyes.

He was standing on the shore of a dark sea as far as the eye could see, the waves lapping against the shore of the harbour, the waves making a strange sound of breaking water, and suddenly in the darkness, from behind Bai Liu, there was a heavy drumbeat.

"Thud--!"

Bai Liu's eye caught a glimpse of the left side of the lantern and a round belly lantern in flat white letters on a red background was lit up.

The candles inside the lanterns swayed from side to side, the drums behind them suddenly rose to life, thumping loudly, and a faintly masculine voice hummed an unknown mysterious ditty in time with the drumbeat.

The scene is suddenly brightened, and what was previously hidden in the darkness emerges in the warm orange candlelight.

Bai Liu looks around, and above his head are thin strands of interlocking cords of lanterns hanging at regular intervals, interwoven into a vast web of lights.

The decorations of well-cut confetti tied to the side of the lanterns dangled, undulating and swaying in the sea breeze, making a bell-like sound as the candlelight flickered on and off, blurring the bustling scene around Bai Liu.

Bai Liu is flanked on the left and right by dozens of male drummers, all of whom appear to be young and strong, with muscular bodies and a thick white rope of cloth around their thick necks, which is looped forward over their shoulders and tied to gilt loops on the left and right sides of the red body of the taiko drum, which is the size of a grindstone in front of their waists.

The drummers chanted in unison from their chests, creating an odd song cadence, and the drumming intensified as they clutched their sticks in their hands and slammed them down with vigour.

The lanterns were finally all lit up, illuminating the sea as bright as day at night.

The streets are lined with stalls selling small bells tied with red threads, amulets with different functions, scented candles and candy apples, and masks of various gods and goddesses, the best of which is a white haired, blue-eyed, compassionate and young-looking mask of an evil god.

Vendors buzzed about selling new and interesting festive items, and everywhere there were visitors in grand festive dress, laughing and talking about something.

"This year's Evil God Festival is a real hoot."

"That's for sure, every year the biggest event in town is the Evil God Festival, and thanks to the blessing of the Evil God we are able to make our wishes come true and live better and better in this town."

"...... It's been ten years since the evil god-sama came to our town and we built a shrine to worship Him, I think."

"This year happens to be the tenth year of the Evil God Festival, so it's extra grand, and the one who conducts the festival is the one who is recognized by everyone as the most likely successor to the Evil God ......"

"That originally was just a sacrifice sold here, now can preside over the evil god sacrifice, also considered a step to the sky, I heard that before also fled, also do not know what is fleeing, the gods so great favor and gift, not cherish, but want to escape, really ...... "

"Enough about him, I wonder which children are going to the sea shrine this year for the offerings, I really want to go and have a look and take my chances, I wonder if I will be lucky enough to draw one of my own offerings, I have so many wishes I want the evil gods to help me achieve."

"You're so greedy, didn't you achieve one last year?"

"But you can never have too many wishes, last year is last year and this year is this year, and it's not like I'm paying for them to come true anyway, hehehe."

Bai Liu was standing on a wooden platform near the sea, a stage that was supposed to be used for divine sacrifice performances. He was alone on the platform, dressed in a black and white divine sacrificial costume, somewhat similar to the wabi-sabi kimono he had seen, but a little more elaborate and complex than the kimono.

In his hand he held a kagura bell hung with round golden bells, the white sleeves on either side were wide and long, and the sea breeze passed through Bai Liu's cuffs, blowing his whole garment, together with the broken hair on his forehead, and causing the bell to sway.

The wind is cold and the water is cold, and the golden bell is broken.

Beneath the high platform are pedestrians laughing and cursing and talking loudly, and in front of it is an endless black sea, a little shifting orange brightness faintly visible at the horizon, as if a ship is anchored on the sea.

"Knock, knock, knock--!"

As soon as he turned around, he saw a fierce hand coming down to slap him in the face.

Bai Liu quickly dodged and sidestepped, but as soon as his body moved, the system prompted.

[System warning: Resisting action is against the player's (Heir of the Evil God) identity setting, please do not resist!

Bai Liu felt his body being fixed in place and unable to move, taking the man's slap hard and being slapped across the entire left side of his face, the corner of his pale lip splitting open and beads of blood rolling down and dripping onto the ground.

"Useless bastard!" The man scolded Bai Liu sternly, "How can you stop in the middle of a divine rehearsal! This is a great disrespect to the Lord of Evil!"

Bai Liu's eyes drooped as she lowered her head and did not raise her hand to wipe the blood from her mouth, not speaking.

When Bai Liu didn't say anything, the man was furious again and was about to kick Bai Liu in the waist, but when he swept up Bai Liu's valuable sacred costume, he narrowly stopped his kick and pointed his finger at Bai Liu's nose.

"The first act of the evil festival's drama performance will be held in seven days, and you can't even remember the movements of the opening dance you practiced. If anything goes wrong with the Great Evil Festival of this decade, even if you are the one most likely to become the heir to the Lord of Evil, we will sink you in chains and use you as the shrine's [anchor] at the bottom of the sea!"

The man sneered, "I know you're most afraid of water, so if you don't want to be tortured like that, practice well!"

After saying this, the man flung his sleeves away and ordered in a cold voice to the two young attendants who had their heads bowed and were obviously a little afraid of him, "Help him down to change his clothes and treat his wounds on his face for me."

"Don't let him sleep tonight, practice the divine sacrifice dance a thousand more times, and I want to see him dance it down without missing a single step before he goes on stage tomorrow."

A little squire raised his head shivering, "But Lord Gosho, Bai six has not rested for three days, and yesterday he has not had a sip of water until today because he was chastised by you, and if he does not rest again ......"

The imperial ship swept the young squire with a grim sidelong glance.

The young squire's shoulders shuddered and he bowed his head obediently, "I know, I will supervise Bai Bai six jumps all night long until he can meet your requirements, my lord."

The imperial ship gave Bai Liu a bored look and with a grunt he strode down from the platform as two attendants came forward to assist Bai Liu.

One of the young attendants who had just spoken to Bai Liu cautiously looked around to make sure that the imperial ship had come down from the platform and walked straight into the town without looking back, before he turned to the pale Bai Liu with a sigh of relief and concern: "Are you alright? Can you still stand?"

Bai Liu shook his head slowly, "It's fine."

It was only after that imperial boat had gone that he regained control of his body, which before was unable to move.

It seems that this copy has stricter role-playing requirements than the previous one before Yinshan Village, the slightest act out of character is not allowed, and once it occurs, the system will forcefully take over the body.

...... is so exact in asking him to follow the path of the evil god heir, and with the (evil god festival) theme, it seems Bai six really can't wait.

"How can it be all right?" As soon as the squire saw that Gifune had left, he started to chatter, his face couldn't hide his worry, "Yesterday you stepped on the wrong beat, and Gifune made you dance all day without eating or drinking, and today you didn't even close your eyes and went up on the platform again, from the rehearsal in the afternoon until now, you swayed a few times in the middle, I thought you would just fall off the platform."

As the squire explained, Bai Liu did feel a weakness in his body caused by a long absence of sugar and water, and his head began to spin a little, and he took a couple of breaths with his eyes closed as he supported the squire's hand to adjust to this weakness.

The young attendant was taken aback by Bai Liu's closed eyes and hurriedly took out a handful of candies from his sleeve and grabbed them: "This is the golden flat candy I just bought at the festival, I secretly hid it in my sleeve and brought it up here, you should eat a few first to stabilize it!"

Bai Liu opened his eyes slightly as he took and swallowed a few.

The sticky sweetness of the sugar and the scraping sensation of the hard candy across his dry throat made him choke and cough a few times the moment he swallowed it, and the young squire looked at Bai Liu with increasing distress, "Later we'll sneak back to the boathouse where there's no supervision and you can eat and rest a bit."

"The boathouse?" Bai Liu's eyes rolled and his tone was questioning, "Where is it?"

The young attendant reached out and touched Bai Liu's forehead and asked worriedly, " Bai six, do you have a fever and are you confused?"

"The boathouse you don't even remember where it is?"

"The boathouse is where we bought offerings lived as children, ah."

The young squire sighed, "But it's only natural that you don't remember, you haven't been back to the boathouse since you were taken away by Lord Gosho five years ago, and have been living in the shrine in town as the heir to Lord Evil."

Bai Liu lied in a flat tone, "I remember, but wouldn't a place like the boathouse, where the sacrifices were housed, be closely guarded near the ritual? Why would it be unsupervised?"

"It was supposed to be a place that the boathouse always kept under close guard." The young squire spoke with a sigh, " Bai six you are so lost in your dance practice, have you forgotten that tomorrow is the first day of the seven day long festival of the evil gods."

"There will be no supervision at the boathouse tonight."

The young squire looked up without any emotion on his face, "Because the town would go to the boathouse and rob the offerings like crazy."

"- This is the beginning of the Festival of the Evil Gods, the Funakamiya Night Jubilee Festival."