In the early morning of the next day, Jia Qianqian, who was asleep, was woken up by the noise outside, frowned and opened his eyes, saw the round ceiling above his head, and suddenly remembered that he was now in Khotan, sleeping in a tent. He got up and found that Nie Wuzheng had already gotten up and packed up the floor and went out.

When he walked out of the tent, he saw people everywhere outside, and a Sisli child wearing bright national costumes saw Qianqian and muttered a word, Jia Qianqian couldn't understand it, so he could only smile awkwardly. At this time, Nie Wuzheng came over, carrying a pot of water, and said with a smile: "It's rare that you got up early today, come and freshen up." ”

After Qianqian was freshened up, the big cow came over with breakfast, two bowls of sticky batter, and a few flatbreads. Jia Qianqian and Nie Wuzheng sat cross-legged at the small table for breakfast.

Jia Qianqian took a bite of the batter-like thing, the taste was a little light, so he picked up the flatbread and took a bite, the flatbread was a little salty, very crispy, and it was just right to eat with it. Jia Qianqian said vaguely while eating: "The taste of this cake is not bad. Nie Wuzheng on the opposite side swept a smile that he tried to hide, and Jia Qianqian suddenly remembered that this cake must be the thing that Nie Wuzheng said last night and put it on horse manure. Although he felt a little uncomfortable in his heart, he was delicious in his mouth, and he was a little reluctant to eat it, so he glared at Nie Wuzheng and asked, "The cake you said yesterday was baked on horse manure, you lied to me, right?" ”

Nie Wuzheng couldn't help laughing anymore, "Even if it's roasted on horse manure, you can eat it." Seeing that Jia Qianqian stopped eating, he glared angrily, and hurriedly explained: "What is teasing you, it's not directly on the horse manure, there is a layer of iron plate on the horse manure, and it looks like it is directly roasted on the horse manure." ”

"No matter, out of sight is clean, it's delicious anyway." After comforting himself, Jia Qianqian took a big bite again, and Nie Wuzheng shook his head amusedly.

The Sisri priest was solemn, and the robed patriarch led four sorcerers wearing flower-faced masks and one wearing a hideous grimace mask to stand in front of the altar and began chanting for half an hour. The people put their right hands in their hearts, bowed their heads, and prayed silently with serious expressions. Even the children stood obediently beside the adults, looking at the wizards without saying a word.

Jia Qianqian, Nie Wuzheng and Da Niu, as well as the other two people from other Khotanese nationalities, all stood to the side and watched. Next to the altar, there was a big bull and more than a dozen sheep, and the sheep to be slaughtered occasionally bleated a few times, breaking the solemnity of the scene.

Jia Qianqian listened for a while, and couldn't help but ask Nie Wuzheng beside him, "Hey, what are they reading?" ”

Nie Wuzheng smiled embarrassedly, "These words are very profound, and I don't understand them, they are nothing more than praying to God to bless their clansmen or something, right?" ”

Jia Qianqian squeezed his eyebrows and said, "It turns out that the almighty young master of Xuancheng also doesn't know it, who was still boasting proudly yesterday that the people of Xuancheng can understand Khotanese Chinese." ”

Nie Wuzheng smiled and let her make fun of her.

After standing for a long time, the patriarch and the wizards were still chanting, Jia Qianqian was impatiently wanting to leave to wander around, and the chanting ceremony was finally over. Next, a middle-aged strong man led the ox to the altar, and after the grimace wizard chanted a few more words, everyone retreated, leaving a large open space in front of the altar. The patriarch took out a piece of black cloth to cover the head of the big bull, and then, several burly men in the prime of life put three rope nooses on the neck of the ox, several people retreated six or seven meters to grab the rope, and the wizard wearing a grimace mask held a snowy scimitar, shouting loudly, and the clansmen under the altar also responded loudly. The four wizards held tambourines and flapped and danced bizarre dances.

In the sound of the tambourine, the chanting of the wizard, and the harmony of the crowd, the grim-faced wizard suddenly flashed with a cold light, and quickly cut off the throat and most of the neck of the big bull, and the dying and struggling big bull began to run like crazy, and the two strong men at the end of each rope noose pulled the rope tightly to control its movements. Gradually, the bull stopped struggling and fell to the ground.

Jia Qianqian was thrilled to see, and it was not until the head of the big bull was cut off and placed on the altar that he breathed a sigh of relief. Nie Wuzheng also sighed on the side: "This ghost-faced wizard is definitely a martial arts master. ”

Then the sheep slaughter operation is much simpler, still the four flower-faced wizards are playing tambourine and chanting, the ghost-faced wizard shouts, everyone should be in harmony, the three fat sheep are screwed to the altar by the strong man, the ghost-faced wizard flashes coldly, he slaughters them all, and then drops all the blood in a large clay pot and places it in front of the altar. Then, several women with turbans placed the flour made from corn flour in front of the altar, and the patriarch brought a jar of corn wheat to the altar. Then all the Sisli people began to sing and dance around the altar to thank God for the abundant food and pray that the Sisli would continue to have a good harvest of cattle and sheep and a good harvest of corn and wheat in the future.

After the thanksgiving ceremony, the most important ceremony is the selection of the sacrificer. This sacrifice was done by an eagle raised by the Ghostface Wizard.

Then the grimace wizard took a black-covered eagle, and after some prayer, threw the eagle into the sky, and the eagle immediately spread its wings and flew, but it did not fly far, but circled over the heads of the people in front of the altar. Then, whoever the eagle falls on his shoulder, then, who is the sacrifice of the year.

Everyone looked up to the eagle and hoped that it would land on their shoulders, so that they could become the sacred sacrificers. However, what was unexpected was that after the eagle circled for a while, it actually landed on Jia Qianqian's shoulder.

Jia Qianqian screamed in fright, trying to tilt his head and put his hand across his face so as not to touch its jet-black feathers. He hurriedly shouted, "Nie Wuzheng, help me get rid of it." ”

Nie Wuzheng was about to help her drive the eagle away, when she saw all the Sisli people bending down to Jia Qianqian with their hands over their hearts, chanting in their mouths, "Thank you to the gods for their guidance, and the sacrificers have been chosen, holy people, please accept the respect of the whole clan, and sincerely convey our wishes to the gods!" ”

Jia Qianqian was stunned, although she couldn't understand what those people were saying, but she knew that she must have been given some sacred identity by this eagle, otherwise, this eagle was weird, and these people were revering this eagle.

Nie Wuzheng didn't know what to do for a while, these people regarded this sacrificial activity as extremely sacred, and now, Jia Qianqian had become their chosen sacrificer, how could this be good?

After the grimace wizard screamed, the eagle flew back to his arm and stood, he handed the eagle to another wizard, and then walked over to Jia Qianqian, and when he opened his mouth, he actually spoke the standard Dayan Chinese: "This girl from afar, you have become the representative of the Sisli chosen by the gods, please accept our respect and gratitude, and truthfully convey our sincerity and wishes to the gods!" ”