Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 72 Blood Sacrifice Crosses the River, Righteous Gods Reject It
This bizarre scene sent chills down the spines of the nearby residents, who began to discuss it amongst themselves.

It wasn't until Zheng Qian, along with several managers and apprentices from the Mountain and Sea Society, hurriedly entered Green Willow Lane, dispersed the crowd, and collected the remains on the ground that the situation came to a head.

"Third Master, another new evil spirit has arrived in Yuegang."

Judging from the method of killing, it should be the "Frozen Bones" gang that has been active in the north.

Perhaps due to the increasing cold in recent years, the snow and ice lines have shifted southward, causing these regional evil spirits to also come to Moon Harbor.

This number is abnormally high compared to previous years.

During this period, the evil spirits in Moon Harbor became increasingly rampant. The eight ship captains were focused on internal strife and could not attend to anything else, so the Mountain and Sea Society naturally had to take on the most basic responsibility.

Not only Zheng Qian, the direct disciple of the "Straight Year Hall Official", but also the managers, worshippers and officials of all the major industries of the Mountain and Sea Society were on the front line of fighting against evil spirits, and were so busy that they had no time to rest.

Anyway, this is what water collectors have been doing for thousands of years, and all the water officials are used to it. No one asks why it is them.

Everything was taken for granted, it was only natural.

Upon hearing the steward's assessment, Zheng Qian also felt deeply troubled:
The folk legend anchored to the evil spirit of "frozen bones" is the famous line of poetry: "Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste; on the road, frozen bones lie."

The colder the place and the greater the gap between rich and poor, the more destructive it becomes.

Not to mention ordinary people, even newly promoted ordinary officials would not fare well if they encountered this; they could easily have their three flames extinguished and their inner light drained.

I only hope that temperatures will rise quickly across China, so that the frozen bones can no longer linger in Yuegang. It would be even better if they could be evacuated all the way to the grasslands beyond the Great Wall.

With both natural disasters and man-made calamities befalling Yuegang this time, I'm starting to wonder if evil spirits have also come to our area [misfortunes never come singly].

As Zheng Qian led his men out of Green Willow Lane, they saw two flower boats belonging to Tang Miaofu, one of the eight great boatmen of West Lake, slowly leaving the harbor.

This gentry leader, who was in charge of the large ship, monopolized nearly 40% of the sex industry in Yuegang and the surrounding rivers.

They run large businesses in both the sex trade and intelligence trading.

The intelligence from the Shanhai Society has revealed that the gentry faction has been withdrawing its forces from Yuegang, with a significant portion of them relocating to Meiling, another port in the south that is also within the jurisdiction of Minzhou.

Seeing this, Zheng Qian's already furrowed brows deepened even further.
"The day after my junior brother sent back news at the beginning of the month that he had captured Xie and interrogated him to find out that the gentry were planning to arrest Madam Yan and that they had been ambushed by unidentified officials."

The gentry faction's captains and their forces began to withdraw from Moon Harbor one after another, and they haven't been seen for several days.

They couldn't possibly abandon Moonport; leaving at this time is definitely not normal, and it's likely there's more to the story.

The gentry's faction of large ship captains leaving in a grand and ostentatious manner caused unrest among the residents of Yuegang.

Given that the evil spirits were most likely brought about by the gentry faction, many people who used to be afraid to go out at night now try to stay indoors during the day as well.

As a result, wealthy families in Yuegang often organized Buddhist and Taoist ceremonies to worship ghosts and gods.

Anyway, the New Year celebrations continue until the end of the first month of the lunar calendar, so there's no need to break any taboos.

Yuegang has tens of thousands of households and is extremely prosperous. The wealthy families are all very rich and hold one sacrificial ceremony after another.

Zheng Qian turned his gaze away from the flower boat of the West Lake Boat Girls, and saw a noisy procession carrying a palanquin just passing by on the main street right in front of him.

Turning his head, he saw that the notorious tyrant of Yuegang, the "Night Fragrance Gentleman" Master Qian, was also watching the parade. He greeted him.

"Fifth Master Qian!"

The latter also saw Zheng Qian, the third disciple of the official in charge of the year's affairs, and similarly bowed to him warmly.
"Third Master Zheng!"

After exchanging a few pleasantries with Zheng Qian, he disappeared into the crowd with a normal expression.

After turning the corner, he silently stepped on a drop of blood that had accidentally dripped from the gap in the palanquin.

The ultimate technique, [Five Grains Reincarnation], was activated, and that drop of blood was quickly decomposed into dust.

The procession of deities, taking advantage of the numerous sacrificial processions in the city, continued to wander through the streets and alleys, without missing a single temple or shrine in the western part of the city.

Finally, at dusk, they entered a secluded courtyard that, on the surface, had nothing to do with the dung gang.

Three palanquins were already parked here in advance.

After all the people who had participated in the procession had dispersed.

The three men who had been waiting there—the corpse retriever, the cobbler, and the matchmaker—immediately appeared to greet Master Qian.

"Fifth Master, the three of us escorted the team far and wide, covering the east, south, and north of the city, and even crossed the Xiangjiang River, a tributary of the Jiulong River, which runs through the city several times."

Apart from a few private temples, we ensured that not a single publicly accessible temple dedicated to the local deities was included.

At the same time, the last palanquin landed, and all four palanquins were opened together, revealing four large, dark offering tables. However, instead of the usual sacrificial offerings of meat, fruit, incense, and candles, the tables were filled with unidentified offal, brains, and minced meat in large platters and bowls.
This is clearly a blood offering with a strong ancient flavor.

However, talismans were pasted inside the palanquin to seal off the strong smell of blood.

This method of sacrifice has a taboo category, called:

"Blood offerings crossed the river will not be accepted by the righteous gods!"

Offering tables are used to worship ancestors or deities, and there are specific rules and taboos regarding the offerings placed on them.

Use plenty of fresh seasonal fruits such as apples and tangerines, but avoid pomegranates and plums. Pears are reserved for offerings to ghosts, and the number of plates must be odd, not even.

Use vegetable oil for lamps and candles, avoid using animal oil, and never cut fruits like watermelon.
Of all the taboos, eating blood is the most taboo.

Blood offerings, especially raw meat with fresh blood, were mostly used in primitive sacrifices before the birth of the Three Officials and the Alliance.

It is a special ritual for the Six Heavens Ghosts, also known as the Six Heavens Qi.

What remains in historical records is only the collective name "Six Ghosts," without even knowing which six ghosts or which six qi they are. It is only known that they all belong to the Dao qi, but are the opposite of the Three Officials' Righteous Qi.

"The six heavens' ancient qi, known as the official title, gathers together a hundred spirits and the five wounded ghosts, defeated generals, and soldiers who died in chaos. It guides the ghost soldiers, causing the army to move and the troops to stop. It roams freely in heaven and earth, arbitrarily exercising its power and authority, demanding temples and shrines from people, and requesting offerings from them."

After the ancient sages established the Three Officials Alliance and the Twenty-Four Seasonal Laws, all the officially recognized gods worshipped by the state were forbidden from offering blood sacrifices, in order to distinguish them from the six heavenly ghosts.

This is quite different from the situation in the pre-Qin period, where "on the day of Ding Si, the divination was performed, and the year was sought from Da Jia, Jiu Qiang, Mao Shi Niu," and "Qiang, Sui Qiang, Zu Qiang, Mao Qiang" were used to frequently perform sacrifices.

Even the highest-level offering is nothing more than a large set of three sacrificial animals.

Modern people can hardly imagine how cruel the customs of ancient times were.

Secondly, in Feng Shui, "crossing the river" is related to water, which represents wealth and can both support and capsize a boat.

Moving the altar and its items to another location, especially by walking across busy streets or crossing bridges, is like "crossing a river," which can easily turn good fortune into misfortune and ruin the feng shui.

The offering table is filled with blood offerings, and the offerings roam all over the city – this is the standard "blood offerings crossing the river".

In today's ubiquitous sacrificial activities, ordinary people might not notice anything unusual, but in the eyes of various ghosts, spirits, and evil spirits...

It's like adding a spoonful of salty brine to the bowls of a group of gourmets who love sweet bean curd; throwing rotten eggs into a meticulously maintained garden; or putting rat droppings into a pot of fragrant seafood porridge.

This will not only cause the various righteous gods to instinctively close the temple gates, sever their connection with these temples, and stop accepting incense offerings and conveying their decrees.

The scattered, unclaimed incense sticks can become the most tempting bait, attracting evil spirits from the wild and lewd ghosts that are not included in the official national sacrificial rites.

Ghosts and spirits are not servants of humans, and given the separation between the living and the dead, it is normal for temple keepers to not respond for ten days or half a month.

In a short period of time, others will not be able to detect this highly secretive little action of "crossing the river with blood".

When they finally discovered it after a while, Moon Harbor was already full of evil spirits, and no one cared about them anymore.

The withdrawal of several prominent ship captains from Yuegang was not an abandonment of their plans, but rather a preemptive measure to avoid losses.

Because a huge wave of evil spirits is about to arrive on the battlefield!

This method is far more efficient than when they used to manually drive away evil spirits.

Master Qian praised the other three:
"Well done."

Evil spirits embody eighteen kinds of calamities, including poverty, decline, sorrow, disaster, shame, cruelty, mold, pain, death from illness, premature death, loneliness, lust, delusion, bad luck, disease, ill fate, suffering, and demonic possession.

Once they are attracted by our blood offerings crossing the river and begin to gather in large numbers, they will disrupt the overall feng shui of the entire Moon Harbor.

The "Eight Directions Ascending to the Wind Pavilion Formation" built upon the octagonal building is absolutely incapable of suppressing the evil spirits. If Madam Yan is truly hiding in the karst knot where yin and yang meet in Moon Harbor, she will definitely be exposed.

We'll continue tomorrow!

By rehiring a new group of people and subcontracting the work multiple times to conceal their activities, the employer anticipates remarkable results within five days.

Your promotions and titles are just around the corner!

What about the impact on the large number of ordinary people in Yuegang? What about the fact that those who directly participated in the rituals will likely face repercussions afterward?
Tsk, who among the men cares anyway?

Even emperors came and went, and the emperors had to use them with a heavy heart. How much more so a bunch of common people like weeds?

On the first day of the "blood offering across the river," the sky above Moon Harbor was noticeably darker than usual, and a crescent moon tinged with a blood-red hue.

A chilling wind inexplicably swept through the streets and alleys, sounding like a sob.

(End of this chapter)