When the stars were still shining before dawn, Zhang Jiao was already dressed and set off, holding a scepter in his hand, and walked in the direction of the altar on foot.

In the starlight, Zhang Jiao stopped a mile away from the altar.

Countless torches suddenly lit up on both sides of the road, reflecting the hundreds of people kneeling on both sides. A soft chanting sound sounded, and six people wearing hideous masks and strange costumes slowly appeared among the people, symbolizing the demon of Liuhe. Their figures revolve around the horns, singing and dancing in circles.

With a solemn face, Zhang Jiao raised the scepter, ignoring the six demons surrounding him, staring directly at the altar and walking forward with firm steps.

At this time, the people who were kneeling on both sides also got up, and turned their heads to the altar in unison. A loud trumpet sounded, and ten more samurai armed with spears and shields poured out of the people, symbolizing the Ten Heavenly Stems. They were all mighty and strong, wearing masks of different colors, and they followed behind Zhang Jiao, waving weapons and shields, dancing and chanting, which was the dance of the relatives.

When Zhang Jiao was about to reach the foot of the altar, a huge fire was lit at the twelve corners at the same time, and the bright light of the fire reflected the twelve girls who lit the fire. They also wore costumes of different colors and masks of twelve animals. Symbolizes the twelve earthly branches or zodiac signs.

At this time, the starlight had dimmed, the sound of the trumpet stopped abruptly, and only twelve fires and countless torches burned quietly in the dark world. The six demons retreated into the darkness on either side with strange steps.

In front of the altar, Zhang Jiao stopped again, and lowered the scepter held high. The ten samurai also stopped dancing and walked to the ten platforms in the center of the altar.

The crowd on either side presented a cow, a goat, and a black pig. All three animals wore red flowers, and Zhang Jiao took the red ropes that held them from the hands of the people and tied them to a pillar at the door of a small hut on the right side of the altar. According to the process, Zhang Jiao had to feed them personally for the past three days and brush their bodies every day.

After tying up the three-headed animal, Zhang Jiao returned to the front of the altar, straightened his body, and climbed the altar step by step with solemn and slow steps.

After reaching the top, Zhang Jiao knelt down against the offering table and the big tripod on the top of the altar, took out a blessing board and read it, and then lit the blessing board and burned it in a brazier in front of the big ding, so as to bingming the great god of the shrine and the official beginning of the sacrifice ceremony.

Zhang Jiao has been kneeling since he threw the board into the brazier, waiting for the board to burn out.

When the flames in the brazier faded, the first rays of sunlight finally shone on the altar. At the same time, a majestic drum sounded all around, and then as the continuous drum beat became more and more rapid, Zhang Jiao stood up and faced the east.

As the last drum beat slowly faded into my ears, the sun finally jumped out of the horizon and appeared in front of everyone's eyes. At this point, the preparations for the festival are over.

Zhang Jiao breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to look to the west, for for three days, he would have to live in the small hut on the west side of the altar.

As the sky brightened, he found that dozens of carriages of all kinds were parked on the west side of the altar, just a hundred feet behind the hut, and it seemed that they were the great clans of the Julu counties.

The kneeling people gradually dispersed, leaving only ten warriors still sitting on the platform in the center of the altar. Twelve maidens under the altar also stood by the twelve fires, and never departed.

"Lord Priest, look here!"

When he reached the bottom of the altar, a girl wearing a rabbit mask by the fire lifted the mask and smiled playfully at Zhang Jiao.

"Miss Guo? Why are you here. Zhang Jiao was very surprised and walked next to Guo Jie.

"It's not the priest's business alone, I'm now the god of the twelve earthly branches!" Guo Jie seemed very excited and quite satisfied with the role she played.

"So you're going to have to stay here for the last three days?" Zhang Jiao was a little curious, because the volume of "Sacrifice Law" given to him by the county guard only mentioned the duties of priests.

"No, I only need to stay here for three hours a day, and there are four places in each earthly branch, all of which were allocated last year. There were forty-eight people in total. According to the "Sacrifice Law", the families who participated in the sacrifice could get the meat of the three animals after that, and it was the meat given by the god of the society, so they could get good luck! "Since participating in the plan to redeem Hu Yuer last night and successfully implementing it, Guo Jie has been very excited, and people have become much more lively.

"What about the people up there?" Zhang Jiao asked, pointing to the ten Tiangan warriors in the middle of the altar.

"They also have people to change, but that position is from the royal family or the royal family, and each Tiangan is very similar to four people taking turns to change." Guo Jie knew everything.

"I don't have anyone to change, and I have to raise cattle, sheep and pigs for three days." Zhang Jiao complained a little and smiled at Guo Jie.

"Brother Zhang laughed, how many people can't be priests if they want to." Guo Jie hid her face and chuckled, she was very happy in her heart, it was rare to see this wood make a joke.

"I have to go back and feed the pigs." Zhang Jiao looked at Guo Jie's smile, his heart warmed, and he pointed to the small thatched hut and said.

"Go, Lord Priest." Guo Jie sneered, bowed slightly, and pretended to be very serious and bowed.

When they arrived at the hut, the knights of the county guard had been waiting at the door for a long time. As soon as he saw Zhang Jiao, he handed over a few celebratory boards and a piece of silk cloth.

"Lord Priest, these are the sacrifices that the major clans of our county have offered to the gods." The knight fell to his knees on one knee. The attitude is very respectful.

"Put it in the house, isn't it burning on the third day, you can also go into the house and rest for a while." Zhang Jiao picked up the rider, took the lead and turned into the house.

When the rider came, he heard from his colleagues that this year's priest was famous in Julu and was very kind. Looking at the approachable Zhang Jiao, he thought that this was the case, and he was not so nervous at the moment, and followed Zhang Jiao into the hut.

"My name is Chen Feng, and I have been following the priest for the past three days, what do you want, just give me the order." The knight declares himself to his home.

"It's nothing, you don't have to be so restrained, just feel free." Zhang Jiao waved his hand at Chen Feng, signaling that he didn't need to be polite.

"Hehe, Lord Priest is so easy-going. I heard that on the third day, all the clans in our county will come to watch the ceremony, and when the time comes, the county keeper and those royal families will personally go to the ground to sow seeds, and the little ones have not seen the county keeper go to the ground. Chen Feng was no longer restrained, sat on the mat with his ass, and began to gossip. The men in the army are really sincere.

"But aren't all the seeds planted?" Zhang Jiao's stomach was full of questions.

"There are acres of land on the east side of the altar that have not yet been planted, and they are specially reserved for the county lord to plant. You have to let the people see it and set an example for the people of the county. "The knight is very honest.

"......" Zhang Jiao was speechless, got up and went to feed the cattle and sheep.

The two days passed quickly, and Zhang Jiao felt that he was about to be pickled, because the little hut burned all day with a mixture of spices, which smelled very fragrant, and every day he had to soak in a vat full of spices and bathe, and when he bathed, his clothes were placed on the incense burner.

However, the incense seems to have a magical effect, which can make people calm their minds and calm their minds, and Zhang Jiao feels that his cultivation has taken another step.

The early hours of the third day were not clear, the stars were obscured by oppressive dark clouds, and only twelve fires were burning under the altar.

When the hour came, Zhang Jiao walked out of the small hut, holding three animals in one hand and a scepter in the other, and walked in the direction of the altar.

The altar was already surrounded by a dense crowd of people, and the county guard and some big clan leaders stood in front of the crowd. Everyone looked at Zhang Jiao, and their eyes moved with Zhang Jiao's movements.

Zhang Jiao handed the rope that pulled the three animals in his hand to the three burly men with knives in front of the altar. Then step by step on the altar. The three animals knelt in front of the altar as if sensing some kind of fear.

As Zhang Jiao's footsteps to the top fell, the majestic drum sounded again. Zhang Jiao lifted a mouthful of Qi to his throat and turned to face the crowd.

"Shrine Grass!" Zhang Jiao held the scepter high, and the sound came out with the sound of the drum, like a thunderclap. Everyone bowed down in unison.

The three big men swung their knives and cut off the heads of three livestock, and the blood instantly stained the ground red. The three men put their knives down and picked up the heads of the animals.

Then the three of them held the heads of the three animals in their hands and climbed the stairs, and clumps of red blood spilled down the stairs, like the footprints of gods.

Zhang Jiao took the heads of the three animals and placed them on the offering table, then knelt down and took out the blessing board and silk cloth that Chen Feng had given him from his arms.

The voice of Zhang Jiao's recitation continued to spread from the altar to the four fields, and most of the content was to praise the benevolence of the gods, please bless the wind and rain and the clouds.

Zhang Jiao threw those blessing boards into the brazier, and with a flick of his finger, the wooden boards in the brazier burned instantly, and the flames jumped and wanted to soar into the sky.

"Huh? My Qi..."Zhang Jiao was surprised, he found that the Qi in his body seemed to resonate with this fire, and the slightest bit boiled, and then the Qi of Heaven and Earth seemed to be pulled through the flames and poured into the Nine Sections Scepter, and then transmitted to his body.

"The foundation has been laid." Zhang Jiao muttered to himself.

The fire soon burned the blessing board, and after the flames were extinguished, a thunderbolt swept through the eastern sky, and after a while, a thunderclap sounded, and the dark clouds became even more gloomy.

The ritual of sacrifice was tedious and lengthy, and finally ended after Zhang Jiao had distributed the meat of the three animals to the families.

The county guard took the silk cloth handed to him by the priest and stood on the altar and read the new tax decree to the people, which probably means that our county will be blessed by the gods this year, with good weather and abundant crops. In order to thank the gods for their gifts, the tax rate has to be increased a bit. The overcharged tax is for the sake of rewarding the gods during the autumn festival.

The effect of the sacrifice was obvious, at least in the eyes of the people, and under the expectant gaze of the people, the spring rain fell from the sky, moistening the long-arid land.

The county keeper went down to the field in the crowd of onlookers, and led his subordinates to sow seeds in a field in the rain.

But the county guard did not wait for the result he wanted, and only sowed seeds for a while, and only those who were arranged among the people and were ready to take the lead in singing his praises were left, but the rest of the people were gone. In a short time the priests and the great families were gone.

The county shou originally thought that the story of his sowing seeds in the rain would well drive the people's enthusiasm for production, at least it would drive his impression of the Lord Shishi in Jizhou.

But he didn't seem to understand one thing—it was not suitable to sow corn on a rainy day, and no people were sowing corn on a rainy day.