Palace maid ghosts, eunuchs, guards, civil and military officials, and countless vengeful spirits who had been tormented by hunger for hundreds of years all converged toward the Altar of Heaven.
They pushed and bit one another, treading over their companions just to get an inch closer to the source of the aroma.
Chen Zhou swung his bone spear one last time, scattering shredded meat into the crowd of ghosts.
The hungry ghosts gradually calmed down, and the beastly eyes of the Little Pig, which had been tightly closed, opened a sliver.
Purple fiendish qi rose up, becoming increasingly dense and viscous.
The fiendish qi tumbled and twisted, gradually forming a massive vortex with its center directly above the dense mass of ghosts below the Altar of Heaven.
The Dream-Weaving Shuttle trembled slightly, detaching itself from the Little Pig's mouth to float in mid-air, emitting a brilliant dreamlight.
Rainbow-colored light intertwined with the purple fiendish qi, shrouding the entire space of the Altar of Heaven in a bizarre, misty haze.
"Entering the dream."
Chen Zhou whispered.
He felt his body sinking as countless points of light flew past him.
Each point of light was a dream fragment of a ghost—their memories, their obsessions, and the blurry impressions of being alive that were all they had left after centuries of starvation.
These points of light were like fireflies on a summer night, colliding and merging until they formed a brilliant river of stars.
Chen Zhou and his companions traveled against the current of this river, heading toward its source.
No one knew how much time had passed; it might have been an instant or a long while.
His feet hit solid ground.
Chen Zhou stood upon the earth once more.
He looked around.
It was still that same Altar of Heaven.
There were white marble steps, broken railings, and ground covered in moss.
But everything was different.
The sky was a pitch-black night without stars, save for a pale moon hanging in the distance, casting a cold light.
The plaza of the Altar of Heaven was filled with ghosts, but all of them had regained their living appearances and attire.
The officials were lined up on both sides; civil officials wore purple robes with jade belts and held jade tablets, while military officials wore solemn armor with swords at their waists.
Palace maids and eunuchs stood with their heads bowed in service; the maids wore uniform palace dress, and the eunuchs wore the robes of internal attendants, all behaving with strict decorum.
On the three tiers of the altar's base, however, there were now dense rows of figures bound with ropes.
A rough estimate suggested there were tens of thousands of them.
Most were dressed as commoners, strung together by ropes and crowded onto every inch of the altar's steps and platforms, barely able to move.
"This... this is..."
Song Zi'an's voice rose from behind Chen Zhou, filled with shock.
He and the Nine-Age Crane had also entered this dream.
The Dream Demon had returned to its form as a pink Little Pig, floating by Chen Zhou's shoulder.
However, it looked even more lethargic than before; maintaining such a massive collective dream was clearly a massive drain on its strength.
"A sacrifice."
Chen Zhou uttered those two words, his gaze sweeping across the scene.
At that moment, a squad of imperial guards clad in pitch-black heavy armor and masked helmets marched past Chen Zhou.
They looked straight ahead, seemingly unable to see Chen Zhou and the others standing nearby.
Chen Zhou looked at the Little Pig, who grunted to communicate.
It had only discovered the truth after pulling all the ghosts into the dream.
Their subconscious dreams were all focused on the same scene, just as it was now.
In the dream, they believed they were still in their living forms.
As outsiders who had not truly entered the dream's narrative, Chen Zhou and his companions were not part of their memories; they were invisible as long as they did not wake the dreamers.
Chen Zhou nodded and asked, "You didn't find that one special dream?"
The Little Pig shook its head regretfully and sent a thought.
It meant that the dreams of all the ghosts in the Altar of Heaven space had merged, and it could not sense any single one that was distinct from the rest.
It would take some time for them as outsiders to fully integrate into this dream, and it would keep trying.
Chen Zhou gave the Little Pig's nose a comforting rub and looked back at the imperial guards who had just passed.
In the center of the guard escort was a figure wearing bright yellow dragon robes.
By the flickering light of the surrounding palace lanterns and torches, Chen Zhou saw the man's face clearly.
He looked about seventy or eighty percent similar to Yin Wudao, but he was more mature and weathered.
One did not need to guess to know that this ghost was likely the old emperor of the provincial capital.
No wonder the emperor's bedchamber had been deathly silent and devoid of life when they scouted the palace earlier.
It turned out he had died long ago, his soul trapped within the Path of Hungry Ghosts as just another member of the starving horde.
The old emperor, escorted by the imperial guards, slowly ascended to the highest level of the Altar of Heaven.
He brushed aside the eunuchs trying to support him and stood alone before the overturned cauldron.
In the dream, the cauldron was perfectly intact and made of bronze, with a roaring fire burning within, the flames casting shifting shadows across his face.
An elder wearing priestly robes stepped forward tremblingly and handed a scroll of bright yellow silk to the old emperor.
He took it and unfurled it.
Then, facing the black sky, he began to chant the sacrificial text in a raspy voice.
"Heaven above, Earth below."
"The once-in-a-century Grand Sacrificial Ceremony has arrived once more."
"I, Yin Xuan, Lord of Gloomlight Province, leading the civil and military officials and the common folk, respectfully address the heavens."
"Recently, copper poison has erupted within the borders of Gloomlight Province, demon disasters run rampant, and evil spirits proliferate."
"The earth weeps blood, and all living things suffer."
"This is all due to my lack of virtue and failure to protect the peace of this land; I deserve ten thousand deaths."
"However, I beseech you to consider how innocent the people of Gloomlight Province are."
"I have heard that the Golden Buddha is a supreme treasure of heaven and earth, descending once every millennium, possessing the power to purify filth, eliminate calamities, and stabilize the world!"
"Now, the thousand-year term is fast approaching!"
"I, Yin Xuan, am willing to offer myself as a sacrifice, my soul as a guide, and the imperial fortune of my Gloomlight Province as collateral!"
He suddenly pointed to the tens of thousands of bound sacrifices behind him and continued steadily.
"Following precedent, I offer the souls and flesh of tens of thousands of living beings as sacrifices to reach the ears of heaven and respectfully present them to the Vermilion Judgment."
"My only wish is for the Golden Buddha to descend upon my Gloomlight Province during this millennium!"
"To purify the copper poison and suppress the demons and evil."
With the prayer finished, he tossed the silk scroll into the cauldron.
The silk ignited instantly, turning into a wisp of blue smoke that curled up into the pitch-black night sky.
Silence fell over the entire area, broken only by the crackling of the fire and the labored breathing of the bound sacrifices.
Chen Zhou watched coldly from the sidelines.
Copper poison erupting, demon disasters running rampant...
This point in time was likely five hundred years ago.
This was the period when Master Grand Vow began his schemes, when the disciples of the Aspect of All Beings were being parasitic everywhere, building Soul-Suppressing Towers, and spreading copper poison.
The living corpse evil spirits and Gale Mountain Lord in Qudao County, the Locust Mother in Kushi County, the Thousand-Eyed Toad Saint in the Southern Region, the Moon-Swallowing Wolf Saint in the Northern Region, and all those Soul-Suppressing Towers hidden elsewhere that Piao had later cleared out.
Most of those events had occurred during this era.
As it turned out, the imperial family of the provincial capital had not been entirely ignorant of these things back then.
They knew of the calamities and felt terror; they had even tried to pray to the heavens, seeking the legendary cure that was the Golden Buddha.
And this sacrificial ceremony was one of the methods they had attempted.
To whom was Yin Xuan sacrificing?
The Vermilion Judgment?
He was willing to pay the price of tens of thousands of lives just to gain the other party's permission for the Golden Buddha to descend?
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