Our faith should not be a shackle to bondage, but hope.

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The villagers are not interested in the outside world. They have always adhered to their own set of rules and worshiped their unique god, the "Mountain Maiden".

According to records, more than 200 years ago, the ancestors of the mountain village came here to escape the war.

It was here that they found the "Mountain Maiden".

With the help of the mountain maidens, the villagers built their own village. And under the protection of the mountain maid, she survived several wars and famines. They sacrificed to the mountain maidens and received a reward that no one else could imagine, "like".

"Likeness" is the embodiment of a deceased loved one, it communicates yin and yang, and conveys a lot of information that the living do not know. And the mana of the image depends on the strength of the sacrifice. With the "likeness", the life of the mountain village is getting richer and richer.

Every year on the evening of September 15, a grand sacrificial ceremony is held at the stone monument at the entrance of the village.

The villagers come early to wait, wearing a uniform brown short hooded cloak that covers most of their faces. This cloak was worn by their ancestors when they first arrived, and it was carried over during the sacrifices. Although the material is much better than it was back then, the style has not changed.

Under the leadership of the patriarch, four strong men carried a huge statue of the mountain girl and solemnly placed it on the stone platform at the entrance of the village.

"Mountain Maiden Bless!" The patriarch knelt three times and knocked nine times at the front, "Mountain girl bless!" The villagers in the rear also bowed in the same way.

"Offerings, please!" With a long shout, a swaddling baby was carried to the patriarch.

The patriarch took the swaddling clothes and pulled them away, and took out the little children inside. The child was less than two months old, and as soon as his little bare body came into contact with the cold air outside, he inevitably cried.

"Please accept our gift and give us a good year." The patriarch threw the child to the ground, and the crying stopped abruptly.

The child's body was stone-milled into plasma, placed in an urn, and placed in front of the statue of the Mountain Maiden. The patriarch led the villagers to kneel on the ground, chanting unique syllables in their mouths, begging the mountain maiden to accept the sacrifice.

The statue of the Mountain Maiden slowly began to glow red. The light became more and more abundant, illuminating the surroundings at all, and dyeing the villagers with a luster like blood. The red light shot straight into the sky, shooting into the full moon in the sky. In the middle of the night, it burst out from the full moon and turned into a beam of direct light into the urn. Seeing this, the villagers lay on the ground even more reverently, not daring to move at all.

It was a full quarter of an hour before the light faded. The patriarch personally held the urn and distributed the plasma into the small plates that the villagers had prepared long ago.

The small dish was very shallow, and after all the villagers had divided a plate, there was still something left in the urn. The patriarch dipped his finger in the blood and traced it on the stone tablet at the entrance of the village until the blood in the urn was exhausted. At this time, the patriarch's fingers had been ground into flesh and blood, but he didn't care at all.

Next, the villagers cut their fingers and dripped blood onto the saucer in front of them.

People lined up silently, carefully and reverently holding plates, and came to their own tombstones, and depicted the family tombstones one by one with their fingers dipped in plasma like a patriarch.

This saucer will be carefully carried home by them, enshrined in front of the statue of the mountain maiden at home, and filled with blood every day.

Li Jin was under the beautiful moonlight back then, and he saw this bloody sacrifice clearly. Questions and fears were buried deep in his heart like seeds, and he wanted to go to the outside world to find answers.

Chen Axiang, who left Li Jin, has not changed much in life, in fact, for most of the villagers in the mountain village, life is similar. They offer, they pray, they take.

As they grew older, the boys who once chased behind Chen Axiang all started their own families. Chen Axiang also fell into a clean state because of this.

Three years later, Li Jin returned to the village as promised, only to find that his parents had passed away in fear and depression. The son wants to raise but his relatives are not there, and no matter how guilty and sad Li Jin is at this time, he can't see his parents.

Chen Axiang's gentle companionship allowed Li Jin to go through the most painful period. When everything was calm, now he had only one concern.

Li Jin went to Chen Axiang's house to propose.

Chen Axiang began to happily prepare for marriage. Chen Axiang's parents felt that Li Jin was restless when he was young, and when he was older, he ran out and went out to be wild for so long, and he was afraid that he would not settle down to give Axiang happiness. But even if they couldn't get used to Li Jin, Chen Axiang's elated appearance also blocked their mouths. Seeing that Chen Axiang is getting older day by day, and everyone else is already in pairs, she is still lonely. The Chen family's parents were anxious in their eyes. Now that Li Jin can make Chen Axiang smile again, they can't say anything against it.

Chen Axiang and Li Jin had a lively happy event, and in accordance with the rules of the village, they moved out of their parents' house and set up another door.

Chen Axiang invited the statue of the Mountain Maiden and asked Li Jin to worship it with blood every day like her. Li Jin's mood began to become very unstable, and he seemed very restless.

"Ah Jin, although the blood of the current worship has not been added to the red pulp, the mountain girl will definitely not blame us. Isn't that what everyone is? And the annual Great Sacrifice is coming soon. Chen Axiang comforted softly.

Chen Axiang simply thought that Li Jin felt that the offerings offered were not good enough, so he would be upset. Because, in the eyes of her, who grew up in the village, it is indeed a great thing. She counted the days with her hands every day, looking forward to the arrival of September 15.

Only after becoming a family can you participate in the sacrifice, and only after participating in the sacrifice can you get the red pulp of the sacrificed offerings, which is also one of the rules of the village.

"This is the first time we've participated in the Great Sacrifice, so I don't know what it's like. It's exciting to think about! Chen Axiang prepared the clothes for the day of the sacrifice early. Although the cloak is the same, the rest of the clothes are up to you.

However, after Li Jin listened to Chen Axiang's words, his face turned white in an instant.

"Ah Xiang, let's not participate in the sacrifice, okay, let's go live outside together." Li Jin said eagerly, "Like I said before, there are many things out there that you have never seen before, and I can take you anywhere you want to go." ”

"Why does Ah Jin always say that? I don't want to go anywhere. Grandma said that the people outside are bad. As an only daughter, Ah Xiang was pampered by the family, and she never even went out of the village, and she always did what her grandmother said.

"Ah Xiang, listen to me, very bad things will happen during the sacrifice......" Seeing Ah Xiang's attitude, Li Jin hurriedly explained.

He didn't know what to say about the gore he had seen that night.

"What's bad?" Chen Axiang asked with bright eyes.

"That's it," Li Jin swallowed his saliva and said with difficulty, "It's going to die!" ”

"Dead people?" Chen Axiang was a little puzzled, "No one will die!" ”

"Yes, at the beginning of the sacrifice." Li Jin didn't know whether to talk to Chen Axiang about the bloody scene, he hesitated and opened his mouth, but was interrupted by Chen Axiang.

"Oh, are you talking about sacrifices? He's not dead, he's gone to the mountain girl to enjoy his happiness! Chen Axiang suddenly realized and disagreed.

This time the glaring was replaced by Li Jin.

"It's his honor to be a sacrifice!" Chen Axiang continued with great interest, "This year is the boy of Brother You's family!" They were happy for a long time! Next year, the mountain maidens will definitely bless them extraordinarily......"

Next, Chen Axiang described the elated preparations of Brother Youtang's family, but Li Jin didn't listen to it at all. He watched Chen Axiang open and close his mouth, with an envious expression, and his ears were buzzing.

Yes, Li Jin understood where the panic he felt since he got married came from. He was so eager to get Ah Xiang out of this cage. But for Ah Xiang, everything here is logical. Whether it's the annual human sacrifice or the blood sacrifice day and night, it's just a part of her daily life.

Li Jin felt sad in his heart, when he was a child, he had no contact with the outside world, and he had no view of right and wrong like the outside world. When the children grow up, there will be no rejection of these things, isn't this the original intention of the clan rules?

Chen Axiang is still as delicate as when she was a child, but it is this contrast that Li Jin can't accept the most.

He left home in despair and came to his parents' tombstones.

Because there is no blood of blood relatives, the words on the tombstones of Li Jin's parents are still black. Li Jin looked at the tombstone blankly and sat all night. The seeds that were planted deep in my heart have taken root in the past three years. Now it suddenly grows into a towering tree, but it is unknown.

The next morning, Li Jin obediently followed the red-eyed Chen Axiang home.

Grandma Chen stopped when she got to this point.

Jiuying knew that Grandma Chen was about to talk about the key point of the matter. Although she didn't use the first person, Jiuying knew that she was Chen Axiang in the story. Jiuying didn't interrupt her, just silently followed behind.

Grandma Chen took a deep breath and the story continued.

After going back, Li Jin never showed the slightest abnormality in his offerings and sacrifices, which made Chen Axiang very happy.

Early in the morning of September 15, Chen Axiang dressed up extremely beautifully, and also dressed up Li Jin, who had a stiff expression, in a new look.

Together with everyone, they prepared for this special coming-of-age ceremony all day in an intense and orderly manner.

The next thing is as unreal as watching a drama in Chen Axiang's memory.

After the offering was offered, the mountain maiden did not enjoy it. Seeing this, the villagers immediately panicked, this is something that has never happened before.

The patriarch suppressed it several times before calming the emotions of the villagers.

"The Mountain Maiden refuses to accept our sacrifices, it must be because we have done something to anger her!" The patriarch's words made the quiet people "whoop" and exploded again.

One, two ,......, everyone's eyes gradually turned to Li Jin, but Li Jin behaved very calmly, in Chen Axiang's view, this is not an attitude of "don't do bad things, don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door", but a kind of relief that "it's finally here".

Chen Axiang thought of Liang Kuan, who came to the house as a guest half a month ago, and this was the only outsider who came to the village in the past six months. Li Jin introduced that he was a friend he met outside and came into the mountains to play. Liang Kuan lived for a few days in a row, and he was very busy every day.

Could it really be that he did it?

Chen Ah Xiang fainted.