Chapter 585: A Coastal Province
Translator: StackThatCoin Editor: Hitesh_
At noon, in the square right in front of the main hall of Yu Residence, thirty of one-mile long, snake-shaped flying ships were hovering dozens of feet above the ground. The thirty newly selected Prefecture Overseers, including Yu Huai and Yu He, were standing before the ships, all gorgeously dressed and surrounded by large groups of retinues. They were quietly looking at dozens of Elders, who were dancing around an altar placed right before the door of the main hall.
Chilly winds were gusting out of the altar. Although it was noon and the sun was shining brightly, everyone felt their hairs standing as if they had entered a grave late at night. Some shadowy figures were floating over the altar, and vaguely, there were streams of light drifting out of them and injecting into the bodies of the sons of Yu Clan.
A few days ago, the Yu Clan had selected thirty Prefecture Overseers through a duel. During the process, nearly six thousand lower-grade Oracles and warriors were killed in exchange for the great joy of the ghosts and deities worshiped by the clan, who eventually bestowed them with great power. But, too bad that half of the power was exclusively given to Wu Qi, which had pushed his cultivation of the True Body of Heaven and Earth Scripture to the Nine Stars Realm of First Pangu Heaven. The rest of the sons, including Yu He, and their most capable helpers shared the remaining half of the power, and it only slightly increased their cultivation base, not even enough to push them up by another tier.
It was too much of a struggle for these young sons like Yu He to take control of a province with their current cultivation base. Therefore, the Elders of Yu Clan had no other choice but to pour in more resources and hold another large-scale ceremony of blessing and sacrifice, so that they could add a little more strength to their sons before they set off to their own territories.
In the last duel, six thousand lower-grade Oracles and warriors were sacrificed for the great joy of the ghosts and deities. Those who died during the duel had agreed to participate because of the handsome rewards promised by the sons of Yu Clan, so no one could point their fingers at Yu Clan even when the casualties were heavy. But, Yu Clan could not sacrifice their men without limits, and this time, it was clear that they offered sacrifices on their own initiative. If they still acted so unscrupulously, they might attract themselves great troubles.
Therefore, in this sacrificial ceremony, Yu Clan slaughtered thirty thousand black sheep, thirty thousand white horses, thirty thousand green oxen, and countless other sacrifices in front of the great hall. The slaughter began at dawn and lasted for eight to ten hours. Fortunately, Yu Clan had a large range of pastures outside Zhong Ning City, where countless livestock was kept. Although such massive sacrifices were not comparable to the joy that the souls and blood of six thousand Oracles and warriors had brought to these ghosts and deities, but the difference was not huge.
There were more and more ghosts and deities appearing on the altar. Although the sun was blazing in the sky and they did not like it very much, the smell of blood was too strong, that they could not help but slip out of the world where they lived. They frantically snatched the blood and souls of the slaughtered animals. Countless animal-shaped souls wrapped in vast streams of blood flew up in the air and poured into their mouths.
Not a drop of blood was left in front of the main hall as the ghosts and deities had devoured it all in the blink of an eye.
But, perhaps it was because the blood and souls of the Oracles and warriors who were sacrificed a few days ago had greatly satisfied these ghosts and deities, even though so many animals were slaughtered and the soldiers who were responsible for sending and slaughtering the animals on the altar were breathless due to the hard work, they still did not show any satisfaction.
Upon noticing the situation, Yu Mu, who was presiding the sacrificial ceremony over the altar, could not help but have his expression changed slightly. He gritted his teeth and cried out in a low voice, "Bring those sacrifices here. Quickly kill them and burn their bodies!"
As his voice echoed out, columns of armored-soldiers broke out from a few nearby side-halls, and, like a pack of wolves, they escorted out some four thousand panicking men and women in rags. Not allowing these prisoners to resist, the soldiers pushed them up the altar and chopped off their heads with steel blades.
A few old men roared in hoarse voices, "How can you kill us? The Human Emperor has repeated decrees that no blood sacrifice is allowed! You..."
Before they could finish, Yu Miao rushed up and smashed their hearts with his palm one by one. When he was done, he licked the blood on his hand and looked at Wu Qi with an evil eye. "The interdict imposed by the Human Emperor? For those of you who are sinners in exile against the will of the Human Emperor, what makes you think you have the right to talk about the interdict?" He said with a chuckle.
Four thousand men and women were killed in batches, and their blood and souls immediately rose to the sky and were devoured by the ghosts and deities floating over the altar. Although their blood and souls were not as vigorous and delicious as the six thousand Oracles and warriors, but after all, they were humans. And when coupled with the hundreds of thousands of livestock, the ghosts and deities finally smiled contentedly.
Sheets of blood-red light began to radiate out of their bodies. Amidst the joyous laughter of the Elders and their guidance, the blood-red light split into thirty streams of light and precisely injected into the bodies of the thirty new Prefecture Overseers.
'These stingy old fellows!' Thought Wu Qi as the corner of his mouth twisted a little. A few days ago, he had taken a great advantage of the blood sacrificial ceremony. Therefore, fearing that anything out of control would happen to today's ceremony, the Elders of Yu Clan actually used a mystic art to designate who would receive the blessing. As a result, all the power was divided into thirty equal portions, and only the sons of the Yu Clan were able to enjoy them.
The energy in Yu He's body increased rapidly, his eyes glinting with blood, and a gray flame suddenly burst from his body. Wu Qi could sense that his energy had risen to roughly the same level as that of a sixteenth tier Heaven Immortal. That was to say, he was now a Five-moons Oracle, two moons higher than he had been earlier.
Wu Qi gasped as he looked at Yu He and whispered, "If Yu Clan captures hundreds of thousands of men alive one day and kills them at the same time in a sacrificial ceremony, wouldn't it create a Primordial Immortal?"
The question interrupted Yu He, who was indulging in a wonderful feeling of pleasure brought by the rapid increase of energy. He gave Wu Qi a sulky glare and said, "If we did that, Yu Clan of Zhong Province would certainly be wiped out in the blink of an eye, and it will not even be executed by the Human Emperor himself." He paused for a brief moment and whispered again, "The blood sacrifice has its limitation. The higher one's cultivation base is, the fewer benefits one will get. At the most, it will push one to the Gold Immortal realm. Although, it is possible to break through the higher realm, but only if we construct a great sacrificial formation and offer sacrifices to some ancient ghosts and deities such as His Excellency Bone Ao. But, that is too risky."
Wu Qi wanted to ask what the risk was, but Yu He shook his head and seemed reluctant to discuss the topic. Wu Qi could only shrug and put the question at the bottom of his heart. Whatever the risk, it was none of his business. It was true that those ghosts and deities had taught him the procedure for throwing a blood sacrificial ceremony, but how could he kill innocent civilians for no reason?
'I wonder if they accept the blood and souls of Immortals?' Some strange thoughts suddenly emerged in Wu Qi's mind.
'Hai Province, Mount Moon Gazing, Reverend Yao Yue... I remember Zhang Le told me that he seems to have a lot of descendants and relatives, and they are all cultivators!'
A fierce gleam flashed across Wu Qi's eyes, giving Yu He, who was standing beside him, a tremor and a violent twitch in the heart.
After a long, busy moment, the ghosts and deities had finally finished releasing their blessings. As Yu Mu let out a loud roar, all the Elders moved their feet and stood panting in front of the main hall. Even though their cultivation base was strong, presiding over the sacrificial ceremony for a long time had consumed almost all their energy. Some of the old and frail Elders even sat on the ground while sweating all over, almost unable to stand up.
Waving his hand, Yu Mu cried out in a low voice, "Alright, there is no time for nonsense, and you should set out right now! When you get to your territory, take control of all the power as soon as possible. This is the first test for you from the clan! We'll soon know who is doing well and who is not!"
All the sons of Yu Clan dropped to their knees to pay respect to the Elders. Then, amidst the envious, and even hateful glances of the many members of Yu Clan, thirty new Prefecture Overseers of Great Yu Dynasty embarked on the flying ships with their retinues. The bells in Yu Residence tolled continuously. Amidst the loud and melodious bell ringing, thirty snake-shaped, green-colored flying ships soared into the sky in a gale, and quickly shot away in all directions.
As the controllers of the flying ship kept sending one after another spirit seals into the core of the ship, the mouth of the ferocious-looking snake head on the prow slowly opened and shot out a pale-green beam of light. Immediately, the void in front of the ship began to ripple, and the ship vanished in the blink of an eye as if it had plunged into running water.
This was the special function of the Great Yu Dynasty's high-grade flying ship, which was almost equal to the teleportation divine ability of Immortals. For a one-mile long flying ship to fly through the twisted void with nearly one thousand men on board, one thousand lower-grade immortal stones would be burned off the instant the function was activated.
A great power enveloped the entire flying ship. Wu Qi and others stood on the deck, watching streams of light dancing around the ship and countless shadows rapidly drifting past.
No one could tell how long it took, perhaps a few days, a few hours, or just a few minutes, but the flying ship suddenly escaped from the alternate dimension and arrived in front of a small city, which was situated on the coast of the ocean, and surrounded by beautiful scenery. The city measured slightly less than ten miles in both width and length, a dwarf when comparing to a mighty city like Zhong Ning City. In the square in the middle of the city, a group of officials dressed in black robes were looking up at the sky and waiting silently, along with hundreds of soldiers around them.
This was Ningbo City, the administrative center of Hai Province, a ninth-grade province ruled by Zhong Province. The territory of every province in Great Yu was of the same size. So, similar to the Zhong Province, Hai Province was about ten billion miles in circumference and extremely rich in natural resources. However, as it was founded only a thousand years ago, its population was less than one-tenth of Zhong Province. The entire Hai Province had a population of less than ten million, which made it a huge province with extremely few inhabitants.
Ningbo City, with a total population of over one million, was already the largest city in Hai Province, and it had an army of five hundred soldiers!
Shrouded in a green light, the snake-shaped flying ship made its descent and hovered silently over the city.
Yu He burst into loud laughter, his body covered with roiling gray flame as he stepped out of the deck and descended through the air.
Wu Qi jumped off the deck with Yu He's thousands of retinues. All of them pushed their energy to the strongest level to emanate a tremendous pressure, which made all the officials and soldiers in the central square of Ningbo City fall to their knees at the same time and shout in unison, "Welcome, Your Excellency Prefecture Overseer!"
Yu He laughed heartily, and even before his feet touched the ground, he shouted loudly, "Somebody, bring me the head of Mu Hai, the Hai Province's Minister of Agriculture Court!"
The order had instantly terrified the many officials of Hai Province.