Chapter 15 - The Ancestral Worship Ceremony


    When the sunlight had warmed up the Gold ck Mountain, all the Fire Crow n people had arrived the Ancestral Temple, and were waiting outside.


    Under the sunshine, gigantic crows were cawing and hovering above the temple. A couple of old crowszily leaned their heads and looked down from their nesting tree.


    Ji Hao was also standing outside of the Ancestral Temple with a group of children.


    The Ancestral Temple of the Fire Crow n wasn’t exactly looking like a temple. It had been built on the mountainside, below a sheer cliff. It was more like a cave. Ji Hao and the other Fire Crow’s people were standing in front of a square entrance. From the entrance, one had to walk through a thousand feet long hallway, where the holiest ce, where the ancestors of the Fire Crow n’s people had been buried, was.


    People were standing there orderly and quietly, with a serious look on their faces.


    A dozen of Elder Magi and Maguspriests were standing in front of the crowd, carrying trays, which were carved out of jade, and were holding gold, precious stones and other treasures in it.


    Ji Hao hadn’t even heard about some of those treasures. He could sense a strong spiritual energying from those sparkling precious stones. The mysterious energy even caused a splendid, multi-coloured sunglow in the sky.


    After the sun had reached its zenith at the horizon, spreading its light and giving life to everything it touched, the Master Maguspriest of the Fire Crow n, Ji Kui came forth from the crowd. He was wearing a cloak made of dragon skin, a helmet made of dragon skull and a string of sharp beast teeth. He was holding a blood-jade dagger and walking towards the entrance of the temple. Then, he turned around and waved to the crowd.


    After that, all the Maguspriests, who hade from thousands of branch ns, walked out, lined up and kneeled behind Ji Kui. After that they began to read an ancient and obscure magic-spell.


    Ji Hao shivered and looked around. He sensed a weirdly cold air which was pervading around him along with those Maguspriests’ voices, as if he had been surrounded by ghosts. Both his body and soul felt cold as ice.


    Right at that moment Ji Hao heard sounds of screaming and wailing. Ji Xia and a thousand of sturdy warriors were bringing thousands of ves from the back of the mountain. Those ves were skinny, wounds all over their bodies and their eyes were filled with fear and hopelessness.


    “You bastard! Fire Crow n, We, the ck Water Serpent n, We will prey on you until thest one of us die!”


    “No...You can’t kill me...My father...My father is the elder Magus of the ck Water Serpent n!”


    “My great ancestor, please take my soul now, please don’t let the evil have my soul!”


    However, no matter how hard those ves were shouting and struggling, they couldn’t escape from Ji Xia and his people’s control.


    Soon, the man who had imed that his father was the elder Magus of the ck Water Serpent n, had been pinned down to the ground in front of Ji Kui.


    “Son of the ck Water Serpent n’s elder Magus. Our ancestors would love to have your soul!” Ji Kui said coldly and pressed his hand onto the ve’s chest. The ve was around a foot taller than Ji Kui. However, he painfully screamed when Ji Kui’s hand touched him, after which his body quickly went limp. Ji Kui drove the Blood-Jade dagger deep into his chest, and pierced through his heart. In the meanwhile, Ji Hao had noticed that a few spell-symbols on the dagger surface had started to shine, and a st of hot air came out from the dagger.


    The ve began to twitch uncontrobly. His muscr body rapidly shriveled and turned into a wisp of ck smoke, ultimately it had been puffed away by the wind. All his bones, muscles, blood and life-force had been sucked into the dagger.


    Other ves who had witnessed this man’s death, started to struggle even harder than before. Some of them even cried out in fear.


    Ji Kui remained cold. He continued killing thousands of ves one after another. The dagger became blood-red, those mysterious spell-symbols were shining with a bright light. The air was turning hotter and hotter. People had started to sweat.


    Suddenly, a whirlwind came out from the entrance of the Ancestral Temple, which blew through the feet of every Fire Crow People.


    Ji Hao was very nervous. He clenched his fists and gazed at Ji Kui.


    This was only a decennial worship ceremony. Ji Hao had heard that at the centennial worship ceremony, the Master Maguspriest would kill ten thousands of ves at the very least.


    However, the dagger had already be truly miraculous after Ji Kui had taken thousands of people’s lives with it. It was floating in front of Ji Kui and shining with a bright fiery light, which seemed like a blood-red sun. The light constantly grew and shrank, just like the beating of a heart. Ji Hao sensed a strong life-forceing from the fiery light.


    The Maguspriests who were kneeling behind Ji Kui continued reading the magic spell louder and louder with excitement on their faces.


    Though this was Ji Hao’s first Ancestral Worship Ceremony, he had heard a lot about the standard procedure before. First the Master Maguspriest would kill ves in front of the entrance, letting the dagger absorb the life-force and souls from those human sacrifices. Then he will send these souls and life forces along with other otions into the temple, offering them to the ancestors.


    The mysterious being inside the temple might be the souls of Fire Crow people’s ancestors, or other unknown things. They will devour the otions and grant ‘gifts’ to the Fire Crow people.


    People who would receive the ‘gifts’ would be randomly chosen from the crowd of the Fire Crow’s people.


    In the history of the Fire Crow n, there had been a newborn child who got all of the ‘gifts’ from a worship ceremony. The ‘gifts’ allowed him to open up a hundred of ‘magus acupoints’, making him as powerful as a Senior Magus. The child was thest Divine Magus of the Fire Crow n.


    Ji Kui was about to walk into the Temple when Ji Shu walked out and said something aloud.


    “Respected Master Maguspriest, I have something to say and I want to say it in front of our ancestors,” said Ji Shu.


    The corner of Ji Kui’s mouth twitched. He looked at Ji Shu and said in a very cold tone: “ording to the rules of our ancestors, anybody can talk about anything at the ceremony. But, Ji Shu, if you’re nning to say something not important, you should be prepared to take the punishment from our ancestors. Are you aware of that?”


    Ji Shu bowed to Ji Kui, smiled and answered: “Of course it is important. I’m talking on behalf of the entire n. Someone should let others have the important position if he is no longer qualified for it.”


    Ji Shu then raised his arms and yelled: “Ji Xia, my brother[1]! You’re the leader of the Holy Land warriors, which means you are the leader of a thousand of branch n’s warriors! But, do you think you still deserve this position?”


    Ji Shu waved his arm and growled: “Let us obey the rules of our ancestors. Ji Xia, my brother. I’m now challenging you! Do not me me, this is for all of us.”


    Ji Xia snorted. He calmly went up to Ji Shu with his spear.


    “Abba! Hold! Ji Shu, my dear uncle, have you forgotten that your son still has a fight against me?” Ji Hao’s voice broke the silence.


    “In front of our ancestors and all our people, we have a match!”


    ---------------------------------------------------------


    ①People in arge n or tribe usually call each other brothers and sisters, even if they weren’t born to the same parents.