Chapter 10 Offering Sacrifices

The group walked around the village for a long time, eventually, at Yu Chengmu's suggestion, they went to the Dushui River again.

Standing on a small hill not far from the river, overlooking the Dushui River, the whirlpools in the water had disappeared, replaced by an unusual calm.

Looking at the slightly blackening water surface, everyone felt an unspeakable sense of oppression in their hearts.

A subtle emotion flashed in Yu Chengmu's slightly narrowed eyes, which was captured by Chen Hao, who asked seemingly casually, "Mr. Yu, have you noticed anything?"

Yu Chengmu ignored him, turned around, and looked in another direction.

Hidden behind layers of trees, a strange building loomed.

It was the Yizhuang (ancient Chinese morgue) they had visited last night.

Chen Hao's voice attracted everyone's attention, and all eyes focused on Yu Chengmu.

After pondering for a moment, Yu Chengmu calculated with his fingers, his face becoming even more gloomy, "Yin and yang reversed, the dead ascending to immortality, these people are so daring!"

"Please explain more clearly, Mr. Yu." Du Moyu urged, the four words "dead ascending to immortality" instinctively made him feel uneasy.

"No wonder so many top experts of the yin profession gathered here, they were plotting such an unholy thing..." Yu Chengmu gnashed his teeth in hatred, "But... why is it this woman? What great opportunity does this woman possess that makes her worth such a price?"

Yu Chengmu seemed to fall into madness, constantly talking to himself.

"Master, are you alright?" Zhou Qing gently patted Yu Chengmu's back, which finally brought Yu Chengmu back to his senses.

Noticing the gazes of everyone looking at him, Yu Chengmu frowned, and the first words he blurted out sent a chill through everyone's hearts, "We are in big trouble this time. If I'm not mistaken, the Great River Goddess in the water is no longer a ghost. She... she is about to become an immortal!"

"Become an immortal?" A strange look appeared in Lei Mingyu's eyes. In his impression, there were only ghosts and the more powerful *guiyi* (ghostly anomalies) above them. What was an immortal?

After calming down, Yu Chengmu took a deep breath, pointed to the Dushui River in front of him, and said in a low voice, "Look, although the surface of the Dushui River seems calm, there are still a few irregular ripples from left to right."

The Fatty had good eyesight. After counting according to where Yu Chengmu pointed, he raised his head, quite surprised, "That's right, a total of... a total of nine ripples."

"Each ripple represents an underwater undercurrent. In yin and yang theory, nine is the extreme number, beyond which there is nothing greater." Yu Chengmu stared at the seemingly calm river surface, his voice trembling slightly, "They are setting up *sheng ren zhuang*, building a corpse platform, and paving a path to immortality."

"*Sheng ren zhuang* (living person stakes)?" Zhang Junyu clearly knew the weight of this term, and his face changed instantly.

Lei Mingyu was a little confused by the attitudes of these two guys, "What are *sheng ren zhuang*? Can you explain it more clearly?"

Jiang Cheng stroked his chin and said in a subtle tone, "I heard a friend mention it. He works in construction. When construction teams build bridges over rivers in some remote areas, they encounter situations where the bridge piles can't be driven firmly, and even if they are driven well, various situations will cause them to collapse."

"A more superstitious explanation is that there is something strange in the river, and unless a sacrifice is offered, the bridge can't be built no matter what."

Speaking of this, Jiang Cheng's face became strange. He turned his head and looked at the wide Dushui River, "If a bridge is forcibly built, very strange things will happen."

"For example, workers familiar with water will drown for no reason, or the foreman will be killed by falling steel materials while inspecting the progress of the project."

"Strangely, as long as the bodies of these people are buried in the bridge piles, similar things will subside, and the bridge piles will no longer collapse."

"Such bridge piles are called *sheng ren zhuang*, and the dead are sacrifices to the Great River."

Yu Chengmu nodded and continued, "The nine ripples you see, each one has a *sheng ren zhuang* below it, which means there are accumulated corpses below each one."

At this point, everyone couldn't help but recall what the village chief had said.

Not long ago, also on the banks of the Dushui River, the village chief had told them about the events that had happened in the village ten years ago, when piles of corpses had been salvaged from the bottom of the Dushui River.

Seeing the slight change in everyone's faces, Yu Chengmu took a deep breath and said in a low voice, "That's right, now it seems that what they salvaged back then were the *sheng ren zhuang* at the bottom of the river."

"What do you mean by the path to immortality...?" The Fatty asked nervously.

"I once saw it in a fragmented ancient book. One stake each year, for nine consecutive years, can build a corpse platform and pave a road to heaven." Yu Chengmu explained.

"That's too absurd. I don't believe this road to heaven can really reach heaven, and what about ascending to immortality? There are no gods. This isn't a cultivation novel." Lei Mingyu seemed to have recovered from his initial surprise and showed a hint of disdain.

"And the timeline doesn't add up." Lei Mingyu argued, "According to the village chief, strange things started happening in the village ten years ago, but if it's one *sheng ren zhuang* per year, this road to heaven would have been completed a year ago, and we wouldn't have had to wait for us to come."

Du Moyu interrupted him with a worried face, "You're wrong. You didn't count the corpses that were salvaged."

After a moment, Lei Mingyu suddenly realized, "Those corpses are one of the *sheng ren zhuang*. It was originally completed, but it was destroyed because it was salvaged."

"That's right." Yu Chengmu concluded, "So... their entire plan was delayed by one year, and this year is the tenth year, which is when the ninth *sheng ren zhuang* will be completed."

"These people in the yin profession want to achieve immortality by building a road to heaven?" Although Chen Hao also found it unbelievable, the current evidence pointed to this conclusion.

He believed that Yu Chengmu's speculation was tenable, at least for the most part.

Yu Chengmu slowly shook his head, "It's not them who want to become immortals, and they can't become immortals at all. It's the Great River Goddess. They want to help the Great River Goddess become an immortal."

"Why?" Jiang Cheng immediately asked, "These people in the yin profession are paying such a high price, using a full ten years, but for an unfamiliar woman?"

"Yes, that doesn't make sense." The Fatty chimed in.

"What do you know!" Being questioned one after another, Yu Chengmu's expression turned slightly angry. These people didn't have his knowledge and didn't understand how critical the situation they were facing was.

"The people in the yin profession naturally have their own calculations. The seniors in the yin profession who came to gather in this mountain village are all top figures in their respective fields. These people have too much karma on them. If I'm not mistaken, they don't have much time left. They... are gathering together to escape the heavenly tribulation."

"No, it's to resist the heavenly tribulation!" Yu Chengmu suddenly became excited, "Using the Great River Goddess to resist this heavenly tribulation!"