Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 785 Sacrificial Ritual
As mentioned earlier, the Southern Territory did not follow the example of other regions in establishing a temple order after the War of the Stars. One important reason for this is that the bloodline faith passed down since ancient times has been deeply ingrained in the minds of the local believers.

Rather than making it sound mysterious, let's just summarize it more bluntly as SZ worship.

This explains why Milo and his group witnessed such a spectacular scene in the early hours of the morning.

...

On the island's beaches, woodlands, and hillsides, campfires that have not yet burned out can be seen everywhere, and wherever the firelight shines, believers from the southern region are "working".

Even Yan, who had seen many grand occasions, couldn't help but marvel:
"To live to see an infinitely larger version of a noble gathering..."

The key point is that this is not the kind of wild banquet that noble lords in Nanwei City would have, but rather an act with strong religious connotations. To be precise, this is a kind of sacrificial ritual that the believers in the Southern Territory have long recognized.

...

Do you remember the herb that Yan found on the island of Nanfenghai that would cause prolonged pain if accidentally ingested?
He even jokingly asked the cat if there was any risk of it being cured.

But in reality, anyone with a brain wouldn't use that thing easily.

But at this “grand” sacrificial ceremony, the mountains and fields were almost covered with those strange plants. Even though Milo and his group’s ship had not docked, they could smell the herbal scent mixed with various filthy odors from a distance. It almost enveloped the entire island.

Even just accidentally catching a whiff of that scent would quickly send a surge of rage through their bodies.

That's still within a controllable range, but if the ships continue to get closer, then it's hard to say.

...

Through the mist and hazy night, various sounds, some excited and some melodious, emanated from the island, but as time went on, all the pleasant sounds were replaced by painful growls.

Clearly, the herbs are starting to work.

Milo glanced at the streak of light rising on the distant horizon and muttered to himself:

"It turns out that even the happiest things, after lasting more than five hours, are nothing but pain."

But for the believers in the Southern Territory, this was not simply a gathering of lesbians from the very beginning. In fact, they believed it was the only opportunity to contact the gods and an act of devotion to them.

It sounds absurd, but if you know anything about the legendary island of Oriba, you can easily understand the metaphor.

If Mount Kadas is a symbol of the gods' authority and power, then Oriba Island is the gods' backyard during their growth.

Many of the high-ranking deities who now stand alone in their own temples had romantic affairs on the island of Oriba.

This is the pleasure house of the gods.

Legend has it that they appear on the beach of Oriba Island between dusk and dawn, descending in mortal form to find their ideal partner among the crowd.

Today, the descendants of the gods still live among the mountains of the mysterious island of Oriba. The people there have the blood of the gods flowing in their veins, which can even be seen from their unique facial features.

These descendants of the gods are the highest-ranking beings in the lost southern realm...

Because of the divine blood flowing in their veins.

It was precisely because of the Southerners' fanatical worship of bloodlines that believers in various regions vied to emulate the customs of the gods, gradually evolving into the "spectacular" scene that Milo and his companions witnessed today.

It's not some kind of ritual, it's about pleasing the gods, understand?

At least that's what the people of the South think.

In ancient stories, gods descended in mortal form, so in this ritual, the people who met were all "gods descended to earth" in each other's eyes, regardless of their beauty or ugliness, age, or even gender. Driven by the mysterious herbs and a distorted sense of worship for the gods, everything became natural.

...

Who wouldn't want to be a companion of a deity?

Who wouldn't want to be a part of that ancient and sacred bloodline?

Although more than half of the believers on the island will die of exhaustion when the sky is filled with light the following day, death is no longer the biggest obstacle on their path forward for the stubborn believers.

...

Perhaps at first, the scene was intriguing enough, even somewhat tempting, but as time went on, and death and pain completely took over the entire island and became the main theme of the ritual, all that remained for the onlookers was an intense urge to vomit.

So Milo had his crew back the ship a short distance away from that disgusting coastline.

On the deck, gazing at the intermittent traces of campfires in the distant mist, Yan sighed:

"It's hard to imagine that they've turned something so beautiful into such a mess."

“I don’t even want to go near this island anymore, it’s too dirty. I’d rather go back into that desolate mountain cave full of crystal orchids.” Milo wholeheartedly agreed.

"What is that?" Yan, who had never been to the town of Ikham, naturally didn't know what a crystal orchid was.

Milo was too lazy to explain. He glanced at Yan's crotch, then frowned and asked the same question:

"what is that?"

It was only then that Yan noticed the tent that had formed in his crotch, so he reached in, rummaged around, and pulled something out.

Milo moved the boats away from the shore to prevent such an embarrassing situation from occurring...

Just when Milo thought Yan Zhen was showing off his thing in broad daylight, he discovered that what the other man pulled out was just a pipe...

“I just found some good stuff in the cabin, I even found some tobacco, want to try some?” Yan held the pipe up to Milo. “Get the hell away from me!” Milo glared at him fiercely.

Xiao Yan, who was unaware of what had happened, stepped forward and said, "What is it? Let me try it, let me try it."

These two are truly birds of a feather.

...

……

Milo's original plan was to bypass the island, which was covered with dead or dying people, and continue onward.

However, before the ship could return to the main course, it encountered an unexpected situation.

Suddenly, many shadows appeared on the once calm sea. Their clothing was similar to that of the believers who had followed Lu Kui's avatar all the way to Milo's underground hideout.

Milo had never really paid attention to those Southern Believers who were torn apart alive by the snake people in the underground, but this time, under the bright sky, he could finally see the true face of the Southern Believers.

They are human, that's true, but they lack the noble elegance of knights or mages from other regions who come from temples. Instead, they exude a raw, untamed wildness. The dense tattoos on the skin of many adults perfectly showcase the brutal aesthetics of their native land.

Not only their clothing, but their weaponry was also very backward, with almost no decent ironware.

But unlike the knights who possess the power to bestow blessings, and unlike the mages who study spells and magic, the power of these people comes from something else—blood.

Within Milo's spiritual vision, the figures standing on the sea surface resembled clusters of burning, boiling blood pumps.

These are warriors born from a belief system completely different from the outside world.

Blood is the central theme of the Southern Reach's faith.

...

These figures, landing on the sea surface, completely blocked the ship's route, and even the sea surface was no longer rippling, as if it had been frozen in time.

Soon, the leader of the Southern Believers questioned Milo's side:

"Didn't you know that fleeing a sacrificial ritual is a capital offense?"

...

Milo glanced back at the island, which was covered with naked corpses, and replied with a smile in the Southern Language:
"In my opinion, participating in the ritual makes it easier to die, doesn't it?"

However, the tone of the person blocking the way left no room for doubt:
"Go back and finish the ceremony!"

The atmosphere immediately became tense after those words were spoken.

The group of Southern Territory believers in front of me are all high-level spiritualists, but they are in different fields, so their combat strength cannot be measured by the level of their spiritual vision alone.

...

There's a character on the snake boat who's easily ignited.

Upon hearing the roar from the Southern Border believer in the distance, Xiao Yan leaped up from the deck, his body radiating intense heat as he prepared to charge forward.

Then, unsurprisingly, Freya pulled him back.

Now, Milo, Yan, and Freya have developed a tacit understanding: whenever and wherever Xiao Yan, like a powder keg, rushes in to fight someone to the death, the person closest to her is responsible for pulling her back.

"Why are you in such a hurry? We have guards with us now. We can leave this kind of small matter to them."

Xiao Yan was still struggling there with her eyes shining, while Yan calmly stroked her long hair and red skin.

...

There was still no reaction from the other side of the sea, and Milo glared at it impatiently.

Immediately, the black, two-headed serpent swiftly slid across the water beneath the ship, and in the next instant, it directly ripped open the surface of the water where the Southern Border believers were located!

Bang! ! !
Woti Iger wanted to play dead, but he was also afraid that Milo would turn him into a real dead snake later, so even though he knew how troublesome it would be to make an enemy of these Southerners, he still had to bite the bullet and go for it.

...

Behind them, the two-headed serpent was engaged in a chaotic battle with a group of Bloodborne followers.

Milo, meanwhile, leisurely signaled to his crew to turn the ship around and continue on a different course, with no intention of staying to watch the show.

"This is what it's like to be in a position of power. The old habit of personally getting involved in every little thing needs to change."

Milo patted the deck, gesturing for Freya to sit next to him.

……

The group set sail again for Oriba Island.

But in a split second, Milo suddenly noticed a chilling gaze and abruptly turned his head toward the island where the "ritual" had been held.

But they found nothing...

(End of this chapter)