Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 56 - 54 Sacrificial Dance

Chapter 56: Chapter 54 Sacrificial Dance

Ornate gold-trimmed eaves, stunningly painted beams, the extravagance was such it scarcely paled in comparison to the Great Yan Imperial Palace within the Luoyang Royal Mansion.

Bronze Music chimed.

In one of the majestically decorated great halls with boundless elegance.

A group of girls, clad in diaphanous gossamer dresses, like a flock of beautiful birds, was rehearsing the Sacrificial Dance under the guidance of a Ceremonial Officer appointed by the contemporary Prince Mansion.

Though it had been since Emperor Wen of Taizong that the Great Yan Court had implemented the national policy: "Distribute fiefs without assigning land, confer ranks without overseeing the people, receive stipends without governing."

Nevertheless, the nine subordinates at the founding of the Prince Mansion were still retained, each now appointed by the Court, no longer private vassals of the Vassal King.

It even subtly carried the implication of surveilling every move of the Vassal King.

Among these nine officials, the Ceremonial Officer was responsible for these ancestral rites and dances.

The bicentennial grand ceremony of the Yili King that was half a month away posed a serious threat not only to the Tomb Guardians of Daling Village.

It was also a critical event that the blood descendants in the Luoyang Royal Mansion had to value highly in legal terms.

At that time, the numerous male descendants from Yili King Zhou Yi onwards would not perform rites in their ancestral temple as usual but would personally go to the Royal Mausoleum to conduct rites in the Enjoyment Hall.

The "Sacrificial Dance" in the ritual ceremony was a very important part of this.

However, the Ceremonial Officer in the hall, a man with a large beard, had a face that was near collapse as if he wanted to throw himself against the golden Phoebe zhennan columns inside.

His face displayed a mix of sorrow, lament, and anger:

"Ancestors of the Zhou Family, I have failed you all!"

At this moment, the girls continued dancing the ritual dances prescribed by the Great Yan dynasty rites for Princes: "Four Tribes Music" and "Heavenly Music."

The reason the Ceremonial Officer was upset was not that their dance was lacking, but rather...

Stamping feet, twisting hips, clapping hands, turning left, spinning right...

Dressed in white gauze on the outside, fiery red undergarments on the inside, barefoot, the stunningly beautiful girls earnestly danced the solemn steps meant for ancestral worship.

At the same time.

A fat man, flaunting his flabby white flesh, was continuously weaving through the lines.

One moment, he led the dance with extremely agile steps; the next, he dragged out girls whose movements weren’t up to standard, and right there in the public eye, he "intensely punished" them.

The sound of tearing clothes, jeers, cries for help... filled the air unceasingly.

What was supposed to be a solemn and dignified Sacrificial Dance was suddenly a complete mess, an eyesore.

Even the ancient Bronze Music, which had been traditional for thousands of years, seemed to have been tainted pink, becoming unclean.

Even this Ceremonial Officer, well accustomed to the various "grand scenes" at the Yi King Mansion, felt like taking his rank badge off, washing it, and stuffing it back on at the sight.

Musical rites, musical ceremonies, they were inseparable.

Even this dance prepared for the ancestors had been turned by the contemporary Yi King, Zhou Wenye, into a tool for enhancing lascivious pleasures.

The Sacrificial Dance was supposed to be performed by male clan descendants!

Not only had he arbitrarily changed it to beautiful girls, but he had also taken advantage of them during rehearsal.

It seemed as if the Sacrificial Dance and the girls were actually meant for his pleasure.

At any rate, the hat of debauchery and shamelessness could not be removed from him, no matter what.

The Ceremonial Officer planned to write a letter as soon as he returned, reporting all these matters to the Great Clan Chief, who supervised imperial clan affairs. It wouldn’t take long for the Emperor to hear of these sordid deeds.

He was certainly going to decree a reprimand to the Yi King.

"Yes, the Yi King is so wildly perverse, I must severely file a report against you!"

But filing a report was the greatest power this minor official had in his hands.

It was fundamentally insufficient to stop a Prince from doing anything.

After nearly two hours passed, perhaps because the nearly fifty-year-old Yi King had had his fill, or perhaps the effects of the ginseng and deer blood soup he had consumed were wearing off.

He then unsteadily stood up to dress.

But being pampered and excessively obese, he needed the help of two maids to hold up his corpulent belly just to fasten his belt, a scene beyond words.

Afterward.

Zhou Wenye, his face full of satisfaction, dismissed everyone from the hall and sat on the throne, a symbol of Yi King’s authority.

He pulled out a gold copper coin tied with a red string and stamped with the four characters "Life Trading Coin" from his pocket and silently fondled it for a good while.

He then casually picked up an unfinished report from the table to review it.

"Heh, continuous great floods in the Luoshui Basin, crops failing, and each tenant requesting rent reduction to survive the disaster year?"

"The State Mansion asking me to lead by opening the granary to relieve the disaster victims?"

With a cold laugh, he picked up the brush on the table and with one stroke, struck down all the documents that requested a reduction in land rent and the opening of granaries.

As the largest landlord in the Luoyang region, this single action meant that he ruthlessly doomed tens of thousands of lives nearby!

And the gold copper coin hanging by the red string suddenly wobbled on its own as if quite delighted by this scene.

Subsequently, Zhou Wenye looked towards the direction of Beimang Mountain.

His eyes were dark and deep like a deep pool, devoid of any of the lascivious expression shown before his subjects and maids.

After a while, he expressionlessly muttered to himself:

"You don’t want to die? I... don’t want to die either."

With a brush of his hand, the report about his third son Zhou Jingyao’s disappearance was swept under the desk, disappearing without a trace.

...

Since the first accompanying tomb was opened, three more days had swiftly passed.

The night was deep.

Apart from a few dogs barking, the entire village was eerily silent.

In Daling Village, the duty of patrolling the night was also combined with the role of the night watchman.

Two men in a team, knives slung at their waists, one carrying a gong and one a gong stick, patrolled from south to north—it didn’t take them very long.

Facing the pitch-black ancient village, the younger one suddenly tightened his clothes and initiated conversation:

"Brother Three, have you noticed that it’s getting colder during our patrols at night?

Despite it being midsummer, it feels like we’re in a tomb as soon as night falls."

This wasn’t a mere figure of speech: Beimang Mountain was filled with graves, and virtually every child from the Wang Family had played hide and seek in these tomb pits during their childhood.

The pair knew all too well what it felt like inside those tomb pits.

"Isn’t it obvious? Ever since we opened the first accompanying tomb on the mountain three days ago, those old things from the Elder Care Pavilion have made their return.

These days, both the clan leader and Lady Peach Fairy have personally taken action, opening one or two companion tombs every day.

Although they’ve learned their lesson and do this at noon when the sun is at its fiercest, taking advantage of the weakest moment of those deceit objects to nail them down in their tomb chamber immediately,

But those are weird, unpredictable deceit objects; they could cause any sort of chaos, so it’s best to stay alert."

As he spoke, "Brother Three" pointed upward towards the sky.

The moon over Beimang Mountain seemed to ooze a faint blood-red hue, which was somewhat unsettling to look at.

"When you think about it, we are much better off than those bandits in the Green Forest.

In recent days, they have been the forerunners in entering the tombs to test the abilities of the deceit objects.

It was said that today, although Lady Peach Fairy successfully nailed a treasure and even captured a deceit object,

other Jianghu people who were digging at the ceremonial tombs had three deaths.

Up to now, even those skilled masters in the Wang Family who are adept with integrated force techniques have mostly perished, haven’t they?"

"Tsk tsk, but honestly,

If I could receive the favor of Lady Peach Fairy, even if she ordered me to venture into the Owl God Tomb, I’d be willing."

After saying this, the two brothers exchanged glances, and despite whether they were married or had wives, it seemed their thoughts were remarkably similar.

Suddenly, their expressions changed again as they looked simultaneously toward the courtyard that belonged to Lady Peach Fairy in the village, cursing both enviously and resentfully:

"Damn that Cui Tong!"

"I really want to chop him up!"

The news of Wang Yuan spending a night in Lady Peach Fairy’s courtyard and coming out alive had traveled to every man’s ears in Daling Village in the past three days.

During these days, the two were inseparable.

They were almost openly planning to move in together.

Cui Tong, who had the devil’s own luck, naturally became the target of everyone’s envy, jealousy, and hatred.

By now, even if Wang Yuan told others that they actually hadn’t done anything, likely even a three-year-old wouldn’t believe it.

As the night deepened, when the two passed by a small lit shack at the village entrance and looked at the water clock inside, they realized it was already midnight.

Consequently,

The sharp rhythm of the gong changed—one slow and two quick, Gong—! Gong! Gong!

They shouted loudly:

"Harmony of heaven, earth, and man, eternal joy, midnight, ’Midnight’!"

However, no sooner had the tomb guardian’s words faded,

Bang! Bang! Bang!...

The courtyards in the alley where the Jianghu people lived seemed to open their doors at the same time, as if by agreement.

Five bandits, dressed only in their sleepwear and barefoot, stepped outside.

The two tomb guardians turned at the sound and saw that although these men had their eyes open, their faces were stiff as if they were wooden puppets.

"Brother Three, something seems off."

"Stop talking, send a signal NOW!!!"

The series of strange happenings in the past days had made them quite decisive, especially now during ’Midnight’ when they realized something was wrong and immediately thought to call for help.

Tomb guardians used a sound arrow, feathered at one end, which anyone skilled in martial arts and military skills could throw by hand to produce a piercing shriek that could be heard miles away.

However,

Stomp!

The five men had simultaneously stepped forward.

This single step seemed to land directly on the hearts of the two tomb guardians, drawing all their attention.

Even the sound arrow that one had in hand fell to the ground, unheeded.

Stomping feet, twisting hips, clapping hands, rotating left, rotating right, moving one step forward...

The five men then began to dance like marionettes, their movements exactly matching those of the maids at the Prince Mansion.

It was the dance used for the prince’s ceremonial rites—"Four Tribes Music" and "Heavenly Music"!

The two tomb guardians seemed captivated by the strange beauty of the dance and, imagining a score of Bronze Music, they couldn’t help but join in,

lining up neatly and swaying their bodies together.

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