Chapter 27: Sacrifice to heaven

After staying in the Lingjue Temple for two days, all the large troops took a

break, preparing for the upcoming ceremony of worshipping the heavens.I once asked the guards who followed Yan Ke all the way. There were more than

300 people in their group when they set off. There were constant casualties on

the road. After they arrived in Xining for inventory, in addition to the

accompanying guards, even ordinary attendants and handymen had varying

degrees. The loss of life, and the two unfortunately chosen servants have

already died on the road.——In a sense, I killed them.If I hadn't acquiesced to Yan Ke's proposal and brought them to join the

caravan of Xining Jitian, maybe they would still spend the rest of their lives

in the backyard of the palace and live a calm life.With the addition of the woman who was the substitute, I have indirectly

killed three lives... This is just a situation that I know in my heart, and

there may be many blood debts that I don't know.Stroke after stroke, I don’t know if I can pay it off in the rest of my life?No matter how sad I blame myself, it will not affect the task that must be

completed when I come to Xining this time.On the third day, half a moment before noon, I was served by Xiao Chan and put

on the prince’s brocade clothes and garb. Against everyone’s attention, I held

the prince’s shelf and walked slowly to the sacrifice step by step. The jade

high platform of the sky.The place closest to the altar was enclosed by the guards on the three and

outside three levels, so that even a fly would not be able to fly in. Standing

behind the guards were a group of Zen Master Kongxi in robes and robes. The

nuns stood silently with their rosaries in their hands, solemn and solemn

between their eyebrows.This altar is three feet high, with a length of more than ten feet each. There

are fruits on it, and a palm-sized white jade wine bottle lies in the center.

I feel a little bit in my heart: Shouldn't you drink a bar during this

ceremony?I don't know how much Kwong Xihan's drink is. Anyway, I am a casual pourer. If

I make a fool of myself after getting drunk for a while, it would be bad.When I was frantically worried, when the attendants at the outermost periphery

of the crowd seemed to get instructions, they rang the gong behind me with all

their strength, and after a loud and deafening noise, the group of nuns began

to recite what I didn't understand. Scripture.The mumbling was accompanied by the scent that gradually became thicker in the

air. It was supposed to be a calming scene, but I felt my eyelids thumped, as

if something was always going to happen, and my heart was very

impatient—probably because of it. Face the scorching sun at noon.Patience pretended to be a sculpture on the altar and did not dare to move.

After finally waiting for the passage of the scriptures, Master Kongxi chanted

the Buddha's name, and then announced: "Noon has come, and the ceremony has

begun."The nun next to her nodded, stepped past the guards surrounded, and walked

towards me quickly-I noticed something hidden in her sleeve, which was shone

by the sun, giving off a sharp metallic light.When she walked in front of me, she bowed deeply and saluted, suddenly raised

her hands, her broad sleeves slipped down, and then I could see that the thing

in her hand was a dagger studded with colorful gems.-There are assassins! I was so startled that I almost screamed, took a step back abruptly, and

subconsciously reached out to push her away.Unexpectedly, she was more frightened than I was, and under the push of all my

strength in my panic, she retreated a few large steps and almost fell from the

altar.With a "clang", the dagger fell on the altar, and the blade slipped out of the

sheath. The cold light pierced my eyes and my heart trembled even more.——This assassin is so bold that he would dare to commit crimes in broad

daylight!Those guards are also true, why don't they let them go without a good

inspection?If it weren't for my timely response, I'm afraid I would become a dead soul

under the sword...When I was in a state of panic, my hands firmly supported my shoulders and

supported my shaky body. The cold and watery voice faintly sounded in my ears,

teaching me to find the backbone of the master: "His Royal Highness. "Looking sideways, Jiang Zhuo's face did not change, and I wrestled away from

the arm that I hugged her arm tightly in a hurry, and whispered: "The blood

sacrifice is the core of the ritual, please cooperate with your Highness."--what? Take blood for sacrifice?Isn't the nun an assassin, she was holding a dagger just to get some of my

blood?That said, I misunderstood.My face flushed involuntarily, I took a deep breath, stood straight from her,

and said solemnly, "It's the king who is worrying too much... you go ahead."Realizing that I had made a big joke, I didn't even bother to blush. I just

wanted to end the ritual as soon as possible, so as to avoid the hot sun and

go back to the house to drink a bowl of herbal tea.Jiang Zhuo took a step back, but did not end. Instead, he waited not far away,

probably because he was worried about another accident. Knowing that she was

nearby, I became relieved a lot, as if I was suddenly impatient. Get down to

earth.Standing in the guards, Yan Ke, who has been watching the trends here, seemed

to say something, but in the end she chose to let it go, and I couldn't help

but smile back at her.The little nun got up tremblingly, picked up the dagger on the ground, and

looked at me nervously-I gritted my teeth and stretched out my left hand to

her, while still comforting her against my intentions: "It's okay, just do

it... this This time, this king will never push you away."She was even more nervous than I was the one who did it. It wasn't until I

couldn't help urging her to do it, that she was cruel, holding a dagger in her

backhand, and stroking a dagger between my wrists."Hiss--" The tingling from my wrist taught me to whisper. The little nun was

not as frightened as I expected, but swiftly took the white jade wine bottle

placed on the incense table and followed me. The blood gurgling from my

wrist...not long before the small wine bottle was full, and my eyes turned

black.——I thought she would choose to stroke her palms or the back of her hands. I

didn’t expect that she would directly hit the veins on her wrists. If it

weren’t for this little nun’s expression, I would really doubt that she had

any grudges against me. And took the opportunity to retaliate.This wrist vein is very dangerous, and the cut is deep, not to mention the

worry of breaking the palm, and even worse, it will endanger the life. I don’t

know if she has been instructed in advance to specify that it should be placed

here, or if it is temporary, it is not light I didn't take it seriously...

Anyway, it really hurts.There is a dampness in my eyes, which is not entirely a conditioned reflex.When he was grinning in pain, Jiang Zhuo immediately came over and tied a

clean white silk handkerchief tightly around my wrist, which barely stopped

the bleeding; as for the specific dressing, I had to wait for me to finish the

ritual. The last part of it will do.——Well, this prince is not so good to be a prince!I sighed and shook my dizzy head. I tried my best to ignore the pain in my

wrist, and picked up the white jade wine bottle-strangely, after it was

stained with my blood donation, the wine bottle completely turned into a deep

blood red. As if the blood inside was smearing through the jade cup-bowing

towards the north.After three kneelings and nine knocks, sprinkling the blood from the white

jade wine bottle in the incense burner is considered a gift.This set of rituals was completed only after the strength of the nine cows and

two tigers. I felt sweat dripping down from my sideburns, and the back of the

close-fitting clothes was already soaked.Fortunately, this life-threatening ceremony was finally over. The big rock in

my heart fell, and I was finally able to go back and rest.Seeing my shaky appearance, Jiang Zhuo approached me three or two steps, as if

he was planning to support me before I fell; I felt very happy with her

kindness, and smiled at her sideways.When she turned her head and was about to walk down the altar, she saw her

indifferent expression suddenly changed. Before I could ask, she had taken my

hand and dragged me to her side while raising her hand. Blocking—I watched her

arm be pierced by a sharp long sword, and the sound of the sharp blade cutting

the cloth and even piercing the flesh and blood made people stand upright, and

the roots of her teeth were sour."Ah!" I yelled out of fright, but this time it was nowhere near as loud as

when I was frightened by the little nun before. It seemed to be due to

weakness caused by anemia, which made my yelling strength weakened a lot."There is an assassin! Protect Your Highness!" Jiang Zhuo calmly blocked the

guard who had suddenly drew his sword and stabbed him, and at the same time

spoke for me what was stuck in his throat.——Unexpectedly, this assassin was so cunning, mixed into the guard team, and

the timing was very well grasped. It was the long ritual that was about to

end. At the moment when everyone was relaxed, the chance of success for a

sudden launch was far better than others. Sneak attack and storm are much

bigger.The only accident may be that my mistake made Jiang Zhuo mount the altar and

guard me, and it happened to block the assassin's attack. I have to say that

it was a blessing in misfortune.When I was secretly rejoicing, I saw that the assassin was stopped and stabbed

Jiang Zhuo with a sword that undermined her plan. The latter did not have a

weapon in his hand, and did not dodge in order to prevent her from breaking

through. His sword pierced his chest!I stared at all of this blankly, only to feel that the long sword seemed to

have pierced my heart at the same time, teaching me the pain to almost faint."Jian Zhuo——"