Zhan You nodded with satisfaction, “Go and take this person to the altar, and gather all the villagers here. I will start the sacrificial ceremony soon!”
“Okay, I’m going right now.” The two men carried Shuo Ling onto the middle of the altar and then called the villagers.
At this time, Shuo Ling opened his eyes slightly and found himself in the middle of the altar. There were some strange stones on the ground, with some incomprehensible runes carved on it, and there were torches around him. With the light, he vaguely saw the wizard was preparing some unknown liquid.
At this time, some villagers came to stand under the altar one after another, without expression. The scene was too strange!
After the wizard gave an order, all the villagers knelt as if he controlled them.
Then the wizard said, “Let the celestial drink the holy water.”
A man picked up the water the wizard had made and came up to the altar. He knelt after every step.
Shuo Ling continued to pretend to be unconscious, and he wanted to see what these people were going to do.
The man went up to him and said something he didn’t understand, then helped him up and poured the holy water into his mouth.
He opened his mouth, but he didn’t swallow it.
After the man left the altar, Shuo Ling spat out the holy water.
At this moment, the wizard announced that the ceremony started.
The wizard acted strangely toward the sky with his cane in his hand. He mumbled incantations, and the torches under the altar suddenly started to burn and lighted up the air, and then died out quickly!
At the moment when the torch was burning, Shuo Ling saw the wizard’s face.
He was about in his early thirties, dressed in wizard’s clothes, and looked very mysterious, but his movements seemed very funny to Shuo Ling.
Then he pointed his cane at the villagers at the foot of the altar and said, “Kowtow to the celestial being.”
The villagers all kowtowed to him when they heard that. They banged on the ground as if they couldn’t feel pain!
Looking at the scene, Shuo Ling believed that it was not so simple. He couldn’t see the purpose of the wizard. But intuition told him that the wizard must have something to do with the thing he was investigating.
Shuo Ling intended to stay and see what the wizard would do with him, but at this time, he had a cramp in his stomach. After a while, the pain didn’t go, so he decided to leave here at first.
Now that he knew what the problem was, the next thing to do was to follow this clue and make it clear. Shuo Ling stood up and leaped towards the tree behind the altar while the villagers were giving a kowtow!
The wizard was shocked! Looking coldly at the two men who caught Shuo Ling, he said, “How could this happen?”
“I… I… I don’t know. He was in a faint after taking the knockout drops. How… how….” The two of them suddenly panicked.
Zhan You interrupted them, “Well, let the villagers go chase him! If he breaks our plan, we will all lose our heads!”
“Okay, okay, I’m going right now.” Then they started to organize the villagers.
Shuo Ling walked along the way he came but found that the road was very different now, and there were many sideways. Could it be that there was a scheme for confusing people around the altar?
Thinking of this, he heard a voice behind him. The wizard must have let people come to catch him back. It came to Shuo Ling that although he didn’t know which way was right, these villagers knew it, so he hid behind haystacks.
Unsurprisingly, the villagers all walked along the same road. After they went, Shuo Ling walked along the way the villagers gone and finally walked out of the village.
Outside the village, some villagers were looking for him everywhere. Shuo Ling was unable to escape from them, so he found a cave and hid there.
After a long time, there was no sound came from the outside. Shuo Ling went out of the cave, only to find that he had lost his direction.
Fortunately, he and Mo Li made preparations earlier as they afraid of getting lost in the frontier. He took the signal flare and pulled the valve, and then the sky lit up.
After a moment, Shuo Ling saw a bright flash in the distance.
Mo Li knew that there must have something happened as Shuo Ling didn’t return for a long time. He wanted to go to find Shuo Ling, but he didn’t know where Shuo Ling was. When he saw the signal sent by Shuo Ling, he immediately responded.
After half an hour, Mo Li saw a man in the distance. When the man approached closer, he recognized that it was His Lordship. Mo Li felt relieved.
Looking at the people who were still asleep, Mo Li quietly walked to Shuo Ling and whispered to him, “My Lord, what happened?”
“Let’s talk about it later.” Shuo Ling said and closed his eyes.
It was in the night now. Moreover, Shuo Ling had suffered inexplicable stomach cramps on the altar, so he was too tired and needed a rest.
Mo Li nodded and went to sleep too.
Early in the morning, he was woken up by Luo He!
“Hey, guys, cheer up. we will arrive at Elysium City for another half day, and the mission will be over.” Luo He said to members of the caravan.
“It’s too early. The sky even didn’t get bright yet!” The people rubbed their eyes and complained.
Then someone laughed at Luo He, “Are you want to go back earlier for missing your wife?”
Others laughed.
“What are you saying? Don’t you miss your wife and children?” Luo He said.
Everyone became silent. Right! They have been leaving home for more than three months. They all missed their family so much!
So they hurried up to feed the horse and pack the things.
Luo He walked towards Shuo Ling and Mo Li and said, “Bro, we will soon enter the city. Although Elysium City belongs to the central plains, it is not as peaceful as the mainland. There are good men, but also bad guys. So you must be careful!”
“Thank you for reminding us. We will be cautious!” Mo Li replied. He began to pay tribute to Luo He, who he had only known for a few days.
As he approached the Elysium City, Luo He pointed the city to Mo Li.
As there were many people who disappeared for unknown reasons, people who wanted to enter the city all lined up at the door with cards in their hands for the verification by the guards.
Luo He asked Mo Li, “Do you have the cards for entering the city?”
Mo Li shook his head.
“How about you two pretend to be members of my caravan? Just try it.” Luo He thought of a way and then said.
Mo Li didn’t know how to reply. Shuo Ling said, “Well, we can have a try.”
Luo He walked to the line for the caravan only and greeted the guards. It seemed that they had become familiar with these guards.
The guards checked the boxes one by one and said, “You can go now.”
When they got halfway through the door, the guard at the gate shouted, “Stop!”
Luo He stopped and hurried to the guard, “My Lord, what’s the matter?”
“I have never seen these two men!” The guard looked at Shuo Ling and Mo Li.
Luo He explained, “They just joined us for a few days and haven’t met you yet.”
“In this way, I can’t let them in. Recently, there are regulations that people without cards are not allowed to enter the city!”
Luo He said with a smile, “They came from afar. If they can’t enter the city, where can they go? Please make an exception for them.”
“I can’t bear if there is something that happens in the future. If they want to enter the city, you can go to explain and get the entry card from the government, and then they can enter the city.” The guard said.
Luo He turned to Mo Li and said, “Bro, I’m sorry. How about you wait for two days? I will go to the government to get the cards for you after I settle these goods.”
“Then, I will count on you.” Then he took out a piece of silver and put it on Luo He’s hand.
Luo He became angry, “What do you mean? Are you looking down on me?”
“Please don’t misunderstand me. It must take some money to get the entry cards. It was difficult to make money these days, and we have already bothered you for so many days. How can we let you spend money on us?” Mo Li explained.
Luo He said with displeasure, “Since you take me as your brother, I won’t care about the money. Take your money back.”
Mo Li took back his money, and they said “goodbye” at the door.
In the night, after the door was closed, Mo Li and Shuo Ling leaped into the city stealthily.
There were no people on the street, and every one close their doors.
He remembered that there were rumors said that the Elysium City would be most lively in the night as people there were used to have fun at night. It was midnight now, but there was no one on the street.
It seemed that they needed to make it clear as soon as possible.
The two found an inn and knocked on the door. They intended to stay here for a night and go to find out the truth tomorrow.
But they went to several inns, and no one answered, so they had to leave!
Mo Li found an empty courtyard and said, “My Lord, let’s take a rest here and go to find an inn tomorrow morning.”
Shuo Ling nodded and found a fairly clean place to sit down and rest.
Mo Li took some branches and weeds to make a fire as the night here was much colder than in the central plains.
Early in the morning, Mo Li was awakened by the cold air and found that the fire had been extinguished. Shuo Ling had already got up and stood at the door, thinking about something.
Mo Li got up and asked in a low voice, “My Lord, it’s dawn, and people in the city must have got up. Let’s go to find an inn.”
“Okay.” Shuo Ling stopped thinking about the wizard. He got up and walked out of the yard.
Mo Li followed closely behind him.
When they arrived at an inn, the shopkeeper looked at them, and then asked, “Are you outsiders? Why are you here?”
“We are here to see relatives. We have walked a long way and got very tired. We want to take a rest at first and then go to see our relatives.” Mo Li replied,
The shopkeeper nodded and said, “Please forgive me for being offensive. The city is not peaceful recently.”
Mo Li nodded, “We need two best rooms.”
Hearing this, the shopkeeper smiled.
Then he called a worker and said, “Sihe, take them to the guest room.”