Chapter 431: Evil God Ritual - Boathouse

Bai Liu is taken by the junior valet to a coastal townhouse.

The building is only one storey, very low, but very large, with a wooden and thatched spire, with sunny dolls and wind chimes hanging from the eaves, and at the bottom, a compartment of wooden frames and stone blocks separating it from the ground, hollowed out, so that when you look down into the darkness, you can feel the dampness, as if something spooky could crawl out from underneath at any moment.

The stone pads are mossy, the wooden frame is black and rotten, and Bai Liu feels the floor shake when he walks on it, so it is clear that it is extremely old.

Inside the house is a row of rooms built like the hot spring lodges that Bai Liu has seen in reality, separated by compartment doors made of pine wood and paper barriers, with a niche in the upper right corner of each room where a wooden sign is placed, with a black lacquered pine sign that indicates the use of the room, such as [such and such room], [kitchen] or [living room].

Bai Liu, walking down the corridor, could clearly hear the cries of woe and the laughter of the people in the room, and through the paper doors could faintly see the shadows of those inside, sitting half-dressed in disarray, or banging their heads against the floor, or laughing as they unbuckled a belt from their clothes, fastened it into a live buckle, and slipped it around their necks. and muttered a prayer.

"It would be good to die, evil gods choose me as a sacrifice, I want to die this year."

Soon, three or four figures entered the apartment to stop the self-inflicted or suicidal people, whose cries and laughter mingled nervously and became a mournful mix of sobs and sobs.

"Haven't I suffered enough! Why won't the Lord of Evil choose me!"

When he saw that Bai Liu was not following him, he turned his head and saw that he was looking sideways at the room next to him, so he followed him, and the smile on his face became forced.

"Oh yes, Bai six you don't know yet, there are now three or four people to temper and watch over each sacrifice, there was only one before when you were there, then more and more sacrifices collapsed and the town added men to watch over the sacrifices and it became much harder for everyone to escape and seek death."

"The sacrificial children who live here are ...... sympathetic to you." The young squire said this in a Buming tone, "Chosen to be the heir of an evil god, never to be a sacrifice again."

Having said that, the young squire went on ahead with his head bowed, "Come with me, there is not much time you can rest, don't look at them."

After passing through a long and winding corridor, the waiter eventually led Bai Liu to an old room with a wooden sign reading [Beiyuan Cangtai], which he removed on tiptoe and replaced with a new one.

Bai Liu watched as the wooden sign that had been replaced became [Imperial Boat Bai six].

"This is the name plate you had here in the boathouse when you made the offering, I have kept it and I am using it today." Beiyuan Cangtai chanted as he opened the door, and the great dampness of the interior came over him, "This is my room, and you were to rest here, so I changed it to your name plate."

It is a very damp and narrow room with a narrow tatami mat in the middle of the floor, on which is placed an old bedding set for one person, a wooden tray almost half a metre away from the bed, on which you can see unwashed oil stains, probably from a wooden mat used for eating, and a short mahogany desk about 40 or 50 centimetres high directly opposite the tatami.

On the wall adjacent to the desk hangs an ukiyo-e style, brightly coloured picture of waves, in the centre of which is floating a shrine-like vessel, the mast of which is half obscured by a flag shaken by the sea wind, but Bai Liu recognises it immediately as a reverse cross flag.

Beiyuan Cangtai was still rambling on, "If you want to occupy a peace room here to rest you have to hang a wooden sign of your name outside, otherwise the overseer here in the boathouse will treat you as a sacrifice on your name outside later, and if you are unlucky and this child happens to be on his turn to go to the bitter room for practice, you will be treated as dragged to the bitter room for practice ......"

As he spoke, he suddenly paused, his eyes falling straight to the inside of the paper door he had pushed open, his face losing all its colour for a moment as if he had seen something incredible, turning white.

Bai Liu followed Beiyuan Cangtai's line of sight and found a piece of paper pasted on the inside of the paper door - [As the cultivation of the sacrificial victim Bei Yuan Aoi Cultivation of Bitterness has reached the standard, today the cultivation of the Bitter Room of the Bei Yuan clan is transferred to the sacrificial victim Beiyuan Cangtai for execution.

"Xiaokui...the practice has reached the standard." Beiyuan Cangtai stretched out his hand and took off the notice informing him to go to the astral room to practice cultivation, his hands trembled so badly that even his voice trembled, "I only went to practice yesterday. Half a day, are you going again today..."

"The Bitter Chamber Cultivation." Bai Liu sat on his knees and looked up at Beiyuan Cangtai, "What is it?"

"Oh yes, Bai six, when you made the sacrifice, you had not yet practiced in the bitter chamber." Beiyuan Cangtai also knelt naturally behind Bai Liu, he straightened his back, raised his hand and lightly hooked his fingers through the ties around Bai Liu's ears, his tone as light as his movements, "After you were captured and returned from your escapade back then, this side of the boathouse was tidied up and it was all regulation style bitter room practice. "

The dark cloth lacing fluttered to the floor and Bai Liu's long hair tilted down to her waist.

It was then that Bai Liu realised that her hair was not half-length like the outside world, but had been pulled inwards and tied back to a half-length length.

"It's been five years since you left the boathouse and became the heir of the evil god. The heir of the evil god is responsible for the divine rituals, and the body and hair are all owned by the gods, so you are not allowed to trim your hair. Bai Liu's long hair, murmured in a daze, "Longer than even Xiaokui the girl ......"

Bai Liu looked sideways at Bei Yuan, who was kneeling behind him: " Beiyuan Xiaokui is not your sister or elder sister, although she has the same surname as you, right?"

"No, Bai six you really have been away from the boathouse for so long that you have forgotten where our surnames come from." Bei Yuan shook his head good-naturedly as he took a wooden comb from under the pillow and knelt back down behind Bai Liu to brush his hair, "The surnames of us offerings have nothing to do with ourselves."

"Don't move." Beiyuan Cangtai gently held down Bai Liu, who wanted to turn his head away, and carefully combed Bai Liu's hair one by one, "If you don't, you'll be punished again when the Lord of the Royal Ship sees you."

"I haven't forgotten." Bai Liu looked flatly ahead, his tone light, "The surname, the surname of the man who chose our town, right?"

"My surname is Gifune, I would have been a sacrifice to Gifune in the first place, and since you and Xiaokui both have the surname Bei Yuan, that would prove that both were sacrifices to a person with the surname Bei Yuan, and that the two surnames would be from the same clan."

Bei Yuan's combing stopped in the centre, and he paused for a long, long time before continuing, his voice a very soft mumble.

"But you have long since ceased to be Gifune Bai six, you were not successfully sacrificed and became the heir to the evil god, no longer a sacrifice, and the surname Gifune was removed from you later."

Bei Yuan lowered her eyes, the comb following the droop of her eyelids all the way to the floor, her tone light and sure.

"You are the one chosen by the Evil Lord and should not bear any mark other than the Evil Lord, and the surname Gifune is not worthy of you."

Bei Yuan picks up a lace, hooks a strand from the left and right sides of Bai Liu's temples with his little finger and drops it loosely around his ears, ties it at the end, and finally ties the two strands together at the centre of his head, draping it over Bai Liu's ceremonial garment.

Bai Liu's eyes flick up and he looks sideways at Bei Yuan, his hair caught in the ties that slide down Bai Liu's cheeks and curl lovingly into strands around his shoulders.

His eyelashes were long and his pupils dark, and when he raised his eyes the gold dust paint on the waves of the painting behind Bei Yuan reflected in the darkened room, as if shimmering with fish scales, and Bai Liu asked softly in return, "Are you tied up?"

Bei Yuan looked at Bai Liu in awe and suddenly smiled, "You are so beautiful, Bai six, no wonder God chose you as His heir from among our pile of sacrifices."

His forehead rested against Bai Liu's shoulder to prevent his tears from staining his ritual clothes, and his body gave Bai Liu's shoulder a restrained but firm hug, sobbing.

"...... God can be so cruel."

"Why should the best-looking child among us be made to live in such pain, deprived of even being a sacrifice?"

"There is only one chamber of suffering in this world for us, but for you there is a chamber of suffering everywhere."