ATEG Chapter 105.2

Having said this, Wencha’s request was already quite obvious, but Bai Hong didn’t respond, only watching him coldly.

If it were just to save the totem, there’d be no need for such elaborate measures—they could have simply visited and sincerely asked for help.

Wencha sighed and continued. “After discovering this trend, we exhausted every effort trying to save the totem, but nothing was effective. Until one day, we met a person.

“That person, like you, easily passed through the swamp outside the valley. After learning of the totem’s problem, he taught us a method. It wasn’t an acceptable method, but we had no choice left.”

Wencha sat in a daze for some time. No one knew what he contemplated during this period, but when he spoke again, he seemed to have made a decision.

“The method that person taught us was an evil technique of blood sacrifice. We were unwilling to do such a thing, but the situation no longer allowed us to hesitate.” Wencha reached out and parted the smoke in the room like a curtain, revealing his appearance.

He rolled up his left sleeve, exposing his forearm wrapped in fine cotton. Though wrapped in thick layers of fine cotton gauze, this arm appeared about as thick as a normal person’s arm. Combined with the traces of blood seeping through the outer gauze layer, one could imagine what the arm beneath looked like.

“We have never used the flesh and blood of any innocent person. Those who make sacrifices for the totem have always been willing villagers. Every adult in the village knows of this, and every person willingly does so. Even if it means offering their lives to the totem, no one would hesitate.

“But I cannot let my people die for this.”

He lowered his sleeve again, took a deep breath, showing no expression on his face, his tone without fluctuation, yet somehow conveying a sense of bitter sorrow. “Blood sacrifice is like drinking salt water to quench thirst—it only makes you thirstier. If we can’t think of another method, the next sacrifice will likely cost someone their life.

“Therefore, I ask you both—if there’s any other way to save the totem, I’m willing to pay any price.”

“Is that all you have to say?” Bai Hong raised an eyebrow.

“That’s all.” Wencha said calmly.

Bai Hong smiled slightly and said, “Then let’s take it as just that. As for your totem, I’ll speak after I’ve seen it.”

Wencha acted as if he hadn’t heard the meaningful undertones in her voice, continuing in that tone of flat sorrow. “Tonight, there will be a sacrifice. I’ll take you to see it then. But if you two wish to leave, you may do so at any time.”

“I have one more question.” Ding Qin had already straightened her posture, no longer showing her previous feigned timidity. Her clear eyes looked directly at Wencha. “Are these flames beneath the three incense burners for roasting fragrant herbs, or are they being used as lamps?”

Wencha froze. “You mean…”

Ding Qin shook her head. “I only have one suggestion. If you don’t trust the person who taught you blood sacrifice, then it’s best not to trust anything from him.”

When the two came down from the second floor and left, they saw the dark-skinned, robust villager from before. The lean man was nowhere to be seen, but he seemed to have already heard some things from the lean man. Though he frowned when he saw the two leaving, he didn’t stop them.

“Do you believe what he said?” Bai Hong asked.

Ding Qin shook her head.

Bai Hong snorted lightly. “He’s perceptive enough.”

The lean man had withdrawn after bringing them into the room. In such a short time, and with Bai Hong’s intimidation, he couldn’t have played any tricks. Yet Wencha had sensed the anomaly from this and deduced that the situation had changed, so he’d also changed his strategy for dealing with them.

Just asking for their help? Then why have the lean man make all those prior arrangements? Even to conceal their blood sacrifice to the totem, there was no need to choose such a troublesome method.

He’d wanted to first use the Chen Guang Lotus to restrain them both. Though he changed his approach afterward, his intended scheme could be guessed fairly accurately.

Relying only on the villagers’ blood sacrifice to the totem wasn’t enough… Wencha’s desire to seek their counsel on saving the totem might not be false, but he also didn’t know whether the two actually had a way to save it.

If they didn’t, would Wencha consider using them to make up for what the villagers couldn’t provide?

…

In the tall house, Wencha sat alone in the room, the smoke of fragrant herbs and medicinal plants almost submerging him as he contemplated quietly with lowered eyelids.

Regarding Bai Hong and Ding Qin, after they left, Wencha learned what had transpired from the lean man’s account. Some things the lean man, being in the midst of it, hadn’t noticed, but Wencha had formed conjectures.

He’d anticipated that the two female cultivators who’d accidentally arrived at the village would possess considerable abilities—otherwise they wouldn’t dare to travel during such times, and still dare to enter after seeing the valley’s dangers. He’d been cautious enough, only deciding to act after nearly confirming Bai Hong’s origins. A great demon cultivating the divine path—though powerful, the Chen Guang Lotus’s medicinal properties should have been enough to deal with her.

But he hadn’t anticipated that the variable would be that unremarkable young woman. He’d originally thought Ding Qin was Bai Hong’s divine messenger, and if they could deal with Bai Hong, then Ding Qin would naturally pose no concern. But now it seemed this young woman’s origins weren’t simple.

This was both good and bad.

Bai Hong’s cultivation was superb, Ding Qin’s origins extraordinary—this made it more likely they’d know how to save the totem, but it also completely disrupted his schemes.

He didn’t understand these two female cultivators, didn’t know if they could truly be trusted. If they were constrained by the Chen Guang Lotus’s medicinal properties, he could coerce them. If the totem could be saved, naturally there’d be no worries; if it couldn’t be saved, he’d simply have to borrow their flesh and blood. For this reason, even if they knew how to save the totem, for their own sake they wouldn’t conceal it. But without this layer of assurance, even if they gave a method to save the totem, he wouldn’t dare fully trust it.

Wencha stared at the three incense burners in the room. Since these three burners had begun being used, they’d always been lit with open flames for scorching and refining. The brazier fires were just brazier fires—this was a method passed down in the village for ages.

But these three brazier flames were indeed now being used as lamps by him—ever since that person who taught them the blood sacrifice method had visited.

That young woman had sharp eyes.

Blood sacrifice wasn’t a righteous method—they knew that, of course. Yet they ultimately chose to do it anyway, not only because they were desperate, but also because the person who taught them this method…

Bie Chunian’s arrival at the village wasn’t an accident. He’d long known of this valley’s existence and had long been in contact with the villagers. It was just that before the Great Calamity, he’d never personally come to the valley.

Before the Great Calamity, though the village was naturally isolated due to terrain, it didn’t forbid villagers from leaving. They would occasionally depart the valley to live outside. They’d exchange goods and learn skills from outside, then bring them back to the valley.

The middle-aged woman treating villagers at the apricot grove courtyard had inherited medical arts from outside. She’d lived outside the valley for many years, and planting apricot trees in the courtyard was a habit she’d brought back. She’d met a teacher outside from whom she learned many things and whom she greatly revered.

This teacher was Bie Chunian.

Before he came to the village, the villagers had already come to know him through their companion’s words and medical skills. Therefore, when Bie Chunian arrived at the village, though he equally drew attention, the villagers’ wariness toward him wasn’t heavy.

Wencha still remembered what Bie Chunian looked like when he first saw him. He was someone who inspired trust at first sight, with black hair graying only at the temples. If one only looked at his appearance, he seemed in his prime, but if one looked into his eyes, his age became indistinguishable. He seemed to possess both a child’s innocent purity and an elder’s gentle wisdom.

He didn’t stay long in the village, yet almost gained everyone’s affection. The totem gave them innate divine abilities to perceive part of the truth. Even children in the village who could barely walk could vaguely sense a person’s goodwill or malice. But with Bie Chunian, they couldn’t sense anything.

In the village, Wencha was responsible for everything related to totem rituals, while the Old Grandmother used her wisdom to manage other village affairs. Because their divine abilities failed with Bie Chunian, both Wencha and the Old Grandmother were wary of him, but before long Bie Chunian made them develop trust.

This process was simple to describe. Bie Chunian taught them a cultivation method—using a spark of kind thought in one’s heart to kindle a bright lamp. With this cultivation method, if one’s thoughts didn’t meet the requirements, one couldn’t progress further. And they had all seen Bie Chunian’s heart lamp.

For this reason, combined with the totem’s already dire condition at the time, though they’d had only brief real contact with Bie Chunian, after Wencha and the Old Grandmother consulted, they still decided to ask Bie Chunian for advice.

They hadn’t expected Bie Chunian would give such a method.

Blood sacrifice—simple, brutal, but effective.

Later Bie Chunian quickly left the valley. Though Wencha and the Old Grandmother were unwilling, with the totem near death, they could only attempt the first blood sacrifice. The totem that had been unconscious and dormant for so long woke during that sacrifice and showed signs of recovery. If they projected based on this situation, as long as they could offer sufficient sacrifices, the totem could fully recover.

After Bie Chunian proposed the blood sacrifice method, he and the Old Grandmother had renewed their doubts about this person. After Bie Chunian revealed the Mingdeng Sect’s cultivation method, they’d originally speculated that because of the heart lamp’s existence, their divine abilities couldn’t detect whether Bie Chunian was problematic. But though they couldn’t detect it, the totem could.

They’d brought Bie Chunian to see the totem, but at that time the totem had already fallen into slumber and couldn’t respond.

Apart from the Mingdeng Sect’s cultivation method, Bie Chunian had also taught them the introductory lamp-lighting technique. This lamp-lighting technique could only be kindled with kind thoughts, was effective and convenient to use. Though Wencha couldn’t cultivate the Mingdeng Sect’s cultivation method, he’d adopted this introductory lamp-lighting technique. Though Bie Chunian might be questionable, this technique was neither good nor evil, like a knife in someone’s hand. Wencha had originally thought this way, but after Ding Qin’s mention, he no longer dared to be certain.

Wencha stared at the three flames beneath the incense burners, suddenly sighed, extinguished them all, then relit them.

This time, they were just ordinary flames.

He couldn’t cultivate the Mingdeng Sect’s cultivation method. But if these two could bring a true method to save the totem without requiring further blood sacrifice from the villagers, that would be best. He sincerely hoped for this outcome and was willing to pay any price for it.

…..

Dusk was falling.

The village children were all shooed home early and urged to sleep. Gemawa had already returned home. Gelowa was overjoyed, and after reuniting with his sister, came to thank Ding Qin and Bai Hong. Ding Qin returned his beast fang bell to him and watched him go home happily.

The village gradually sank into dark purple night under the gentle twilight. Lamplight gradually extinguished, human voices gradually stilled, autumn insects chirped softly in the grass, occasionally disturbed household dogs barked a few times. All around was peaceful tranquility, like the quiet surface of a sea at night.

Beneath the sea’s surface, dark currents gathered.

With just a bit of technique plus some sleep-inducing medicinal incense, children who’d played all day could be plunged into sweet dreams. When that crescent moon traveled near the zenith, rustling sounds arose again in the quiet village.

The dark, robust man they’d seen at the tall house silently came to a dwelling near the village’s edge.

No need to knock—the person inside had already heard the sound.

Bai Hong opened the door. “The sacrifice is about to begin?”

The dark, robust man nodded. “Please follow me. Don’t be discovered.”

They followed him through the night toward the lake in the valley’s center. Ding Qin raised her head to look at the night sky.

The clear radiance of moon and stars poured down, tinted with an ominous dark red in the increasingly restless and turbulent blood qi.

The village’s sacrifice was about to begin.