The day of the Sacred Palace Sacrifice was sunny, and there was no smell in the sky when I woke up early in the morning. The autumn sun that came out in the early morning was slightly yellow, and the sunlight seemed to be beaten into pieces of gold foil. It was laid on the white floor tiles of the Holy Palace.
Luo Qiu and Noko were walking at the head of the Maomao team. Their light-colored ceremonial robes that covered their ankles were covered with pendants dotted with various small gems. They swayed slightly and made crisp sounds as they walked.
All the orcs were wearing ceremonial robes that were similar to the length of the light-colored one that covered their ankles. They were also covered with gems tied with long pendants. They all headed towards the Holy Palace together, with the sound of all the gems colliding. In front of the quiet and empty Holy Palace, with the gentle breeze echoing and facing the warm yellow light of the morning sun, I really felt as solemn as a pilgrim.
Luo Qiu glanced around quietly, turned her head to look at her companion who was walking slowly and quietly next to her, exhaled, and looked forward.
There is no cloud in the sky in autumn, and the sky is naturally a whole piece of light blue inlaid in the sky. The white and tall Holy Palace seems to be the only existence in the background of the blue sky. Going up from the snow-white steps, there are also some that seem to be The feeling of walking to the palace in the sky.
The construction material of the Holy Palace is white stone. These stones that have been ground into fixed shapes are piled up in a mysterious manner, with statues of various birds and animals carved on them. Four or five statues of about 100,000 square feet stand around the main hall. Only an orc could hug such a thick stone pillar and shake it to the ceiling. From a distance, it was already very tall. When Luo Qiu followed the sacrificial team up the snow-white stairs to the entrance of the main hall of the Holy Palace, she realized that the Holy Palace was The construction is indeed somewhat grander than the average orc construction level.
Not sure how it was done, Luo Qiu quietly looked up and saw the joining lines of those tall stone pillars, but there was no glue in the unexpected gaps. It seemed like the carvings were just right and they were spliced together purely by the lines.
Do the orcs actually have such construction capabilities?
Luo Qiu glanced at it for a few times without thinking much, and then her eyes were attracted by the following ceremony.
Before coming to participate in the Sacred Palace Sacrifice, Luo Qiu had heard a lot about the process of Sacred Palace Sacrifice for many years.
The number of tribes that come to participate in the Holy Palace sacrifices is not a small number every time. Although the number of orcs in each tribe's team is strictly controlled, the number of orcs from all over the continent is as large as the vast ocean.
But in fact, when the Holy Palace performs sacrifices, not all the orcs have to enter the main hall of the Holy Palace. The structure of the entire Holy Palace is actually square and the upper roof will be removed, allowing the statues in the main hall to be exposed to the open air, and the main hall of the Holy Palace The four directions are the entrances to the main hall. During the sacrifice, these four doors will be opened. All the orcs will stand on the steps and look up at the main hall of the Holy Palace surrounded in the center. The priest who presides over the sacrifices in the Holy Palace will The ceremony takes place in the center of the Holy Palace Basilica.
So until now, Luo Qiu and the cats were standing at the entrance of the Holy Palace. They waited until the priests who lined up in a row to block the view shouted some opening words to the orcs at the foot of the steps before starting from the priests. In the gap after retreating, the door opened to reveal the statue of the god in the center of the temple.
Luo Qiu:! ! !
Luo Qiu's eyes suddenly stared at it. She forgot her words for a moment and froze in place.
In the center of the empty hall, there is a beautiful platform made of pure white stones carved with exquisite patterns. However, the statue of the beast god placed on this beautiful white platform turns out to be... an aerospace metal cabin
!
It's just that the surface of this aerospace metal cabin is spray-painted with a beast-shaped image that combines the characteristics of various beasts. In addition, the structure of the aerospace metal cabin is very much like a giant egg. This animal-shaped spray totem is like The egg foreshadows the existence of life with such an image.
Luo Qiu looked at the statue of the beast god enshrined on the high platform in the hall, and her heart was shaking. It was not until Noko pinched her cold fingertips that she suddenly came back to reality as if awakened from a dream, lowered her head and took a deep breath. .
Noko turned his head slightly and looked at his slightly gloomy partner, with a pair of lowered golden eyes full of worry.
Perhaps from the beginning when he met his partner, he regarded him as the envoy of the beast god who descended from the sky to the Claw Tribe, but after more than ten years of getting along with him, Noko also vaguely understood that his partner had his own The secret may not be because of the beast god.
But he didn't ask these things. He just pretended that he didn't know and guarded his treasure, fearing that if he asked the question, the treasure in his arms would disappear.
This premonition was especially clear at this moment. Noko turned his head to cover up the dark color under his eyes. A pair of big hands tightly held Luo Qiu's slightly cold hand due to shock. The strength was a bit strong, including the owner of the big hands. Possessive and domineering, and fear of loss.
After Luo Qiu came back to his senses, he realized that he had lost his composure just now. He noticed the strength in his hand and quickly covered Noko's big hand with his other hand and patted it gently.
Noko relaxed slightly, but still didn't let go and kept holding on.
Luo Qiu's heart was a little complicated and unspeakable. She looked down at Noko holding her hand, feeling the hot temperature coming from her partner's tightly held palm, and tacitly understood the possessiveness coming from her partner and the desire hidden underneath. Other emotions.
He felt relieved for a moment.
No matter what the truth was, he had no intention of finding a way home.
His relatives and partners are here, and this world is his home.
Thinking like this, Luo Qiu took a deep breath and raised her head to observe the "Beast God Statue" enshrined on the high platform.
It's said to be an aerospace metal cabin. In fact, Luo Qiu doesn't know what the function of this metal cabin is. He only roughly remembers some metal cabins he saw on the earth for lunar exploration and collecting information, and some astronauts' escapes. The metal cabins, among others, are the ones seen in various science fiction movies.
The aerospace metal cabin enshrined on the high platform seems to have a low-key design and a sense of technology. It is designed with silver and black plates connected and gas lamps. The animal-shaped totem sprayed on it is a slightly reflective dark color. Golden paint.
Luo Qiu looked at it carefully, and suddenly an idea came to his mind.
If he hadn't seen the statue enshrined on the high platform today, he would have almost forgotten that the orc tribes had a tradition of competing for stone coins.
It’s also no wonder that he has taught a lot of knowledge to the cats of the Claw tribe over the past ten years, which has led to the life of the Claw tribe getting better and better. This makes him collect stone coins just to obtain the legendary infinite. The goal of resource-rich land has become less and less clear. Cats such as the Claw Tribe are busy developing infrastructure for their tribes, and the collection and robbery of stone coins have gradually been forgotten by the cats.
Luo Qiu also hasn't thought about the stone coins for many years.
But the spray paint on the aerospace metal cabin reminded him that stone coins themselves were like legion badges with some kind of energy source.
There are various beasts on these metal legion badges, which should be like the formation names of each legion, such as Falcon Legion, Black Panther Legion and other similar symbols.
The animal-shaped totem sprayed on this aerospace metal cabin happens to be a combination of the animal-shaped symbols on various legion badges.
All the clues seemed to be connected at this moment, and Luo Qiu had answers to some seemingly strange questions about Pavo Continent that were completely inconsistent with the original world.
Combined with the base station on the mountain holy pool of the Claw tribe that always sends signals alone due to lack of energy, the interstellar network user account that is bound to log in in his mind, and the interstellar trade system that he uses from time to time, they are actually reminding him of this The truth about the world is simple but not simple.
However, the obtained information still needed to be integrated. Luo Qiu felt relieved at this time and simply participated in the sacrifices in the Holy Palace immersedly.
He looked at Noko, who was looking ahead firmly in the morning light, with a slight smile on his lips.
The conclusion he reached let him know that there was no huge crisis behind all the weirdness, and he could live a peaceful and happy life with his partner.
Luo Qiu's mentality changed, and her whole person exuded some joy from the inside out. How could Noko not feel it when he was standing next to his partner? He pinched his partner's fingers again, although he didn't know what happened. But he also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
These small movements only happened in a few breaths. The sacrificial ceremony in the Holy Palace was carried out smoothly. The statue of the god enshrined on the high platform was revealed after the priests who were crowded together changed the position of the team. The orcs who came to participate in the sacrificial ceremony immediately let out A cry of reverence.
For all the orcs who come to participate in the sacrifices in the Holy Palace, the beast god is not only a symbol of spirituality, but also the most authoritative existence in this time of lack of productivity.
The moment the statue of the god was revealed, the entire Holy Palace was surrounded by low shouts. Luo Qiu also felt that almost instantly, she was surrounded by long-awaited expectations, piety, excitement and other emotions. , the expressions of all the orcs became solemn, their hands were folded on their chests, their heads were lowered, and they were silently reciting something.
The priests also began to stand around quietly with their hands folded in front of their chests, lowering their heads and silently reciting the prayers.
Luo Qiu was infected by this atmosphere. Even though she was an atheist and did not believe in the beast god, she still lowered her head and made a wish softly in her heart.
As time went on, the priests' prayers gradually turned into chants with accents. The high-pitched chants spread out from the temple, catering to the pious wishes or grateful voices of all the orcs, forming a kind of The special rhythm, under the mixture of these lives, seems to have some magical power that makes all the orcs feel peaceful.
Luo Qiu also realized something. She quietly opened her eyes and looked at the statue in the center of the Holy Palace.
At this moment when all the orcs were lowering their heads and closing their eyes, no orc seemed to notice that the god enshrined on the high platform, that is, on the surface of the aerospace metal cabin, the silver glass gas tube quietly lit up as if in response. Light blue light.
Luo Qiu blinked in surprise.
Does this aerospace metal cabin actually have energy?
After the time for the sacrificial chanting has passed, the sacrificial ritual has moved on to the next process.
The priest stood in the center of the hall and said some words, asking everyone to work hard to live a better future, etc. The next ceremony was to offer sacrifices.
The orcs who came to participate in the sacrifices in the Holy Palace had already handed over the sacrifices to the priests in advance, so in the following ceremony, Luo Qiu only had to stand obediently and wait for the priests to surround the beasts with all the sacrifices they had collected. The idols of gods are placed in a circle.
Because almost everyone’s wish is to have enough food to survive the winter or beyond, so most of the people accepted by the Holy Palace are mainly food.
The priests also placed all the food closest to the statue of the beast god, and other offerings that were not food were placed around the food in turn.
At a glance, Luo Qiu saw the porcelain and glass products placed some distance away from the food in exquisite wooden boxes covered with dark animal skins.
The other orcs obviously noticed the culprits who caused chaos in the trading market in the past few days. They turned their heads and exchanged glances with each other before falling silent.
The beast god's sacrifice was solemn and solemn, and no matter how many little thoughts they had in their hearts, the orcs could not vent them on the spot against the pressure of the beast god.
Luo Qiu noticed some small movements caused by the sacrifices, smiled inwardly, and continued to watch the sacrifices.
After all the sacrifices were placed, the priests surrounding the sacrifices began to chant with ups and downs. The high voices attracted the birds living in the woods of the Holy Palace City. These flying birds Curiously, they followed the sound and flew around above the Holy Palace Temple, or they were sucked in by the piles of food and kept hovering, unwilling to leave.
Luo Qiu raised his head and looked up. Sometimes it is impossible to blame people for their unwavering faith in themselves. The birds hovering above the Holy Palace Temple really seemed to be guided by the beast god and attracted by the priest's chant. It is a whole sacred picture.
The birds in the sky circled and stayed for a long time. When the priest finished singing the chant with inaudible sacrificial words, the next ceremony began immediately.
I saw the tallest priest walking out from the priests surrounding the best. This priest was holding a metal cup with both hands, which contained various pieces of food. Luo Qiu could see clearly with his eyes. There are both fruits and meat inside, which should be a symbol of harvest.
The priest raised the metal cup filled with food in his arms, shouted to the sky, walked through the path left among the large offerings, and placed the cup on the white high platform where the statue of the god was enshrined. above.
Immediately afterwards, light blue light flickered from the gas lamp on the surface of the aerospace metal cabin. Luo Qiu guessed that it should be some kind of energy conversion or the effect of inert gas. The light blue light flowed from the gas lamp on the surface of the aerospace metal cabin. Inside the circuit, it was as if the metal egg had come alive.
At this scene, all the orcs around them began to cross their hands and kneel down on one knee in front of their chests. After saying a few words of thanks to the beast god, they clenched their left hands into fists and raised them into the air.
Luo Qiu had already learned the etiquette of participating in sacrifices, so naturally she knelt on one knee on the stone steps, raised her right hand high, and shouted loud slogans along with everyone else.
Maybe Luo Qiu was a little ashamed to shout out those rainbow farts about the beast god when he was teaching alone, but when all the beastmen did the same thing, he didn't feel ashamed anymore, and his shouting voice was perfect. The sound blended in with everyone's voices, and when I shouted, I couldn't help but feel a surge of pride and ambition.
As the orcs collectively shouted the sacrificial words, the blue light in the aerospace metal cabin gas lamp on the high platform flowed faster and faster, and the light became more and more powerful.
And with the changes that occurred in the aerospace metal cabin, a special kind of air flow fluctuation appeared in the sky above all the sacrifices over time.
After Luo Qiu stood up, she saw that the sacrifices placed around the high platform were visually distorted. Before she could rub her eyes and continue looking, she suddenly saw several bursts of fluorescence erupting from the aerospace metal cabin. There are six blue rays in total. After being emitted outwards, they then move upwards. After wrapping all the sacrifices, they form a transparent cylinder glowing with light blue light. Each sacrifice The surface of the object was swept by these light blue rays, and then all the sacrifices wrapped in transparent cylinders disappeared instantly!
Luo Qiu:! ! !
Luo Qiu was startled. He thought he had seen it wrong and quickly rubbed his eyes. As a result, he found that everything in front of him was indeed what had happened. The sacrifices that had been placed in a circle around the high platform just now were all gone. It disappeared, and not even a shadow could be seen. Only some water stains and other food left on the ground proved that the sacrifices had existed not long after they were put up.
The sight in front of him was too scary, but the priest standing in the temple seemed to be used to it. After the aerospace metal cabin took away all the sacrifices, he was very happy and started singing loudly.
The orcs who were watching seemed to see the god's apparition. They jumped up happily and loudly expressed their excitement about the apparition of the beast god.
Luo Qiu was stunned for a moment and turned to look at Noko.
The man's gaze on the center of the temple did not seem to change. He noticed his partner's eyes on him, turned his head, stretched out his hand and gently poked Luo Qiu's soft cheek.
"...Are you happy too?" Luo Qiu leaned over and asked quietly while everyone was shouting crazily.
Noko just blinked when he heard this, then lowered his head and answered.
"Actually, it doesn't have any effect." The man's deep magnetic voice was like a small brush gently brushing Luo Qiu's ears. Luo Qiu was heartbroken after hearing the answer.
As one of the top combatants of the Claw Tribe, Noko has participated in several holy palace sacrifices so far. Naturally, he knows whether there are any changes in the tribe due to the fulfillment of the wish to the Beast God after each sacrifice. .
It seems that there actually isn't.
It turns out that my friend’s belief in the beast god is not pure either.
Luo Qiu's eyes expressed her inner thoughts. After seeing this, Noko lowered his eyelashes and leaned close to Luo Qiu's ear to continue talking.
"...But I am very grateful to the beast god for allowing you to come to me. Maybe I wish you to be with me forever." The man's words did not have any touching rhetoric, and his flat tone seemed to be no different from his usual speech, but
Luo After hearing this, Qiu suddenly raised her head and looked at the rich emotion in those golden eyes. She couldn't help but her face turned red and she opened her mouth not knowing what to say.
After a long while, he said firmly:
"We will be together forever."
Luo Qiu stretched out his hand and intertwined his fingers with Noko's. They looked at each other with cherishment in their eyes. In front of them was a god who seemed to witness all this. , there were high-pitched and enthusiastic shouts behind them. In this noisy and sacred moment, the hearts of the two cats seemed to be tightly held together and at peace.
With the gods as witness and the crowd as poetry and music, this oath will be eternal.
The orcs who cheered and witnessed the appearance of the beast god stopped shouting for a long time, and it took a long time for Luo Qiu and Noko's hands to be separated.
After the sacrifices were taken by the beast god, it was time for the purification ceremony.
It is said to be a purification ceremony. In fact, the priest uses the metal cup that was filled with food just now. Of course it is now empty. He uses it to fill some water in the earthen jars placed at the four corners of the store, and then uses a large piece of water that looks like It is a leaf like a banana, dipped in it, and sprinkled in a circle on the heads of the orcs who come to offer sacrifices.
This process is a bit long, after all, there are really a lot of orcs coming to participate in the sacrifice in the Holy Palace.
As the leaders of the cat team, Luo Qiu and Noko stood at the front and were quickly showered with water drops. The cats had a keen sense of smell and immediately smelled the faint fruity fragrance in the water. Apparently this was also the reason why the fruits of the harvest were soaked in preparation for the ceremony of this day.
As the name suggests, the purification ceremony involves taking a dip in the water in the earthen jars placed all year round in the Holy Palace to remove the difficulties encountered in the lives of various tribes this year.
For example, food shortages, fewer cubs being born, etc. After removing these unhappy things, things will be better when they leave the Holy Palace and return to the tribe in spring next year.
Luo Qiu obediently accepted the ceremony with water drops on her head. All the priests came out of the hall, walked down the steps step by step, and took the water from the metal cups in their arms. Sprinkle it over the heads of the orcs.
Every orc who had a lot of water drops on his head showed gratitude on his face and suppressed his instinct not to shake his ears to shake off the water drops on his hair.
Unexpectedly, the purification ceremony took longer than other rituals. Even if all the priests came out of the hall to spread leaves, so many orcs made the priests' arms become quite sore. Waiting for this round of ceremony After it was over, Luo Qiu clearly saw that the arms of the priests in white robes were hanging down unnaturally.
Obviously, he was very tired. He didn't expect that being a priest was still a laborious job.
After the purification ceremony, it is time to light the fire. The four gates of the Holy Palace will remain open in the following days, and they will begin to accept offerings and worship organized by the various tribes of orcs. All the torches in the hall will remain open regardless of day or night. Burn until all the orcs leave the Holy Palace and return to the Horde in the spring.
Therefore, the lighting of these torches has become a very important ceremony.
The important task of lighting the fire was left to the tribal leaders from the mainland.
Each orc tribe will be issued a torch.
And because Luo Qiu wanted to take a closer look at the aerospace metal cabin enshrined on the high platform, the opportunity to light the torch was given to Luo Qiu by Noko.
Luo Qiu took the torch from Noko's hand. The orange flame reflected his outline. After taking a deep look at Noko with his golden eyes, he took a deep breath and followed the priest with the torch. Guide you step by step towards the center of the hall.