Xiang Yun's face turned pale.
Just as he was feeling surprised, a group of people wearing masks and strange clothes ran out from the backstage and jumped on the altar. Immediately, dust flew into the air, and he almost did not dare to open his eyes.
When everything had calmed down, a few coquettishly dressed women carried a girl who was already as limp as mud and walked straight onto the stage.
Xiangyun had heard others say that this girl was a sacrifice. The women who could be used as sacrifices were carefully selected from the neighboring villages. They had to be beautiful women who were free from dust. It was said that every time there was a special offering, the people of the neighboring villages had to send their 16-year-old daughters to choose. The chosen girl would return home that day and spend the last night with her relatives. The next day, she would be escorted by her relatives to fast for 49 days before she could truly become a sacrifice.
Of course, a child like Xiang Yun obviously didn't understand the meaning of this sacrifice. It was only said that as long as there was a girl chosen as a sacrifice in the family, the family could enjoy the care of the villagers. From then on, they could truly live without worry about food and clothing. Therefore, the villagers, who were extremely distressed, even hoped that their daughters could become sacrifices. Many sensible girls also hoped to use their lives to exchange for the survival chips of their families because they could be used as sacrifices to resolve the pain of their families.
This custom was passed down in this desolate mountain.
No one doubted its illogicality, and no one dared to think so. Everyone was extremely afraid of God's curse and punishment. Moreover, being able to become a sacrifice was a supreme honor. It was impossible for any family to be chosen twice in four generations. The young girl who had become a sacrifice enjoyed by the gods would have her soul ferried over with the end of her life. She would forever remain in the hearts of her loved ones at her youngest and most beautiful moment.
As a sacrifice, the young girl would have too many things to tell her loved ones and too many emotions to express on the night she returned to her loved ones. However, there was one thing that was certain. They did not think that it was unfair for their lives to be sacrificed!
The kind-hearted girl only looked at her relatives over and over again, stroking her younger siblings with her hands. At times like this, the mother would always hold her daughter in her arms tenderly, her passionate tears nourishing her daughter's hair. She knew what her daughter would face and bear alone, but she did not want her daughter to leave with her regret and sadness.
Being chosen as a sacrifice meant that he had raised an outstanding daughter, the most beautiful daughter in the world. If it wasn't for the fact that her daughter would die silently, that would be the greatest honor for a mother.
Every night, the whole family would gather under the dim oil lamp. They silently faced their loved ones who were about to leave. Everyone's faces were frozen with frost. No one was willing to mention anything related to this. It was as if the young girl who was being sacrificed was just going on a long journey. Everyone tried their best to suppress the pain in their hearts so that the young girl could bring her loved ones along with her.
Little Xiangyun felt someone pulling her clothes. It turned out that all the children on the stage had already begun to walk towards the center of the altar. They picked up bundles of colorful flowers from a large basket and neatly placed them around the girl who was used as a sacrifice. As they placed the fresh flowers in the flower baskets around the girl again and again, people in any corner of the altar could only see a huge flower bed and could not see the offerings in the flower bed.
When Little Xiangyun placed the last bouquet of flowers on the flower bed, she suddenly saw a middle-aged woman taking off her clothes for the sacrifice in the flower bed. The young girl lay there calmly, pure without a trace of dust. She had no fear, no hatred, no pain, and just waited quietly.
The altar was dead silent.
All of a sudden, after a heart-wrenching scream, Little Xiangyun and a boy held a shiny metal plate in their hands. There was a heart that was steaming hot and dripping with blood. Little Xiang Yun was almost scared half to death by the sudden panic. However, she and the little boy were able to carry the plate and put it on the altar according to the instructions.
Thus, the sound of drums rang out. People knelt on the ground and kowtowed devoutly. All kinds of sounds lasted for a long time.
When Xiang Yun turned seventeen, she never thought that she would be chosen as a sacrifice. She stood in a row with a group of girls of the same age, letting the people who chose the sacrifices walk past them again and again, carefully selecting them.
Xiang Yun had her head lowered. The man walked to her side and lifted her chin up. He carefully looked at her for a while and said to the others,"Let's go with this girl."
Just like that, Xiang Yun was chosen as a sacrifice. When the voice sounded in her ears, she almost collapsed to the ground. The girl on the altar had her heart ripped out alive. The scene of her heart beating on the metal plate flashed across her mind. Her eyes were wide open, and her pupils suddenly dilated in fear.
A group of girls stared at her with envious and jealous gazes, as if she was not going to die, but was really going to ascend to the immortal world. Xiangyun ran out quickly. She didn't know how she got home.
Of course, her brother followed closely behind her. When she was chosen, her family, who were anxiously waiting outside, also knew that she would be the sacrifice for the year.
As soon as she entered the room, she closed the door with a bang.
When she was alone in the house, she suddenly realized that she really didn't want to die. She was still young. For so many years, she had always worked hard for her family. She had never been angry or quarreled with anyone.
Soon, she heard the footsteps of a family returning.
Her youngest brother even raised his voice and asked her mother loudly,"Mom, if we send my sister away, will we no longer have to starve? Will no one dare to bully us anymore?"
Hearing this, Xiangyun felt that she really should make a final effort for this family. Just like the girl who was also chosen as a sacrifice, almost all of them had such a pitiful wish and gave up their efforts to survive. She had done her duty as a daughter to her parents and as an elder sister to her siblings.
She suddenly thought, No, I have no reason to die. My life is my own. No one has the right to take my life away for no reason. Moreover, she felt an indescribable fear when she died like that.
Xiangyun heard that her father had caught the old Luhua chicken outside. Her brother seemed to be sharpening a knife on the stone outside. Probably because they hadn't killed a chicken in a long time, the chicken didn't seem to have been killed with a knife. He flapped his wings and flew to the window sill of Xiang Yun's room. Blood splashed into Xiang Yun's room through the window, making the mosquito net a little red.
His mother seemed to be boiling water as she stood up from the kitchen and shouted,"Hurry up and catch it, don't let it run away."
Xiangyun heard the sound of chickens being caught outside. In the end, the chicken was caught by her family. She stood up and saw her father press the chicken on the cutting board. With a bang, the chicken head fell off and rolled to the ground a few feet away from the table. Xiang Yunzhi was trembling.
In the past, when the family killed chickens, Xiang Yun would always help out. She liked to collect the bright rooster feathers and make them into exquisite shuttlecocks to play with a group of children. But on this day, she had no intention of going out to help at all. In her mind, the image of a young girl as a sacrifice kept flashing through her mind, lying in the flowers, letting people peel open her chest and take out her fresh heart. This scene overlapped and magnified in front of her eyes. It was like a huge demonic barrier that tightly surrounded her, making it almost impossible for her to breathe or see.
The whole family was busy outside and no one had time to take care of her. After all, the whole family believed that Xiang Yun was an obedient child. She would be like all the other girls who were chosen to be sacrifices. She would make the greatest sacrifice for the family without hesitation.
The chicken that flew onto the windowsill reminded Xiang Yun. Behind her was a window. As long as she gently pushed open the window and quietly left the house, she would have a chance to live.
Xiang Yun gently walked to the door and gently locked it.
She opened the blanket and put some clothes under it to make it look like she was sleeping. Only then did he gently push open the window. He slowly crawled out. She once again looked at the house she had lived in for many years and gently closed the window.
Behind the Xiangyun family was a tall mountain. Xiangyun didn't know where the rolling mountains extended to. She seemed to remember that her grandmother had once told her that if she followed this mountain to the north, she would reach the end of the mountain in about half a month. Once she reached that place, she would be able to find a place to stay. She believed him.
Xiangyun was in the forest, looking at her house from afar, looking at her parents and siblings from afar. Finally, she hardened her heart and ran along the mountain path.
In fact, it was already very late, and it was time to make dinner. No one had time to notice that someone was running for her life in the mountains that were completely hidden by the forest.
At night, Xiangyun was groping her way forward when she suddenly heard a sudden drumbeat. The sound came closer and closer. Gradually, she saw countless people holding torches and searching.
Xiang Yun looked around and saw a cliff not far away. She decisively took off her shoes and threw them on the edge of the cliff. With the help of the dim light from the torch in the distance, he quickly chose a big tree. It was an old tree with a thick trunk, deep roots, and dense leaves. In a flash, Xiangyun was like a nimble monkey, quickly climbing up the tree. It would be difficult to find a petite girl hiding in such a tree even during the day, let alone in the dark. No one would have thought that a girl like Xiang Yun would be hiding in a tree.
As expected, those people were here to capture her.
The leaders were naturally her father and brother!
He was already under the tree.
Xiangyun heard her brother say,"Father, I feel like my sister is nearby. She must be hiding somewhere." With her speed, she wouldn't be able to run any further.
Father said that if I really caught her, I would teach her a good lesson. She would really embarrass our family.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。