I'm a villain, not a devil

Chapter 731 Return
"The ritual has been restarted. We need... volunteers?"

The news from the city caught the ordinary members of the Shadow Seeking Tribe off guard. They looked at each other in hesitation.

Struggling in the cycle of reincarnation is the greatest pain for their clan. In order to escape this predicament, voluntarily becoming sacrifices on the ritual platform is not unfamiliar to the Shadow-Seeking Clan.

However, although it is not unfamiliar, it is also frightening and makes people more resistant.

For the future of the tribe, many people have volunteered to contribute. However, after countless ceremonies, the predicament has not been changed, and there is not even a glimmer of hope. The remaining people are no longer willing to make this meaningless sacrifice.

Decades ago, at least three ceremonies were held during each Burning Sun. However, during the last Burning Sun, due to opposition, even the most basic ceremonies were not completed, because even the elders in the recording group were unwilling to let their members die in vain.

The people of the Shadow Clan were already prepared to struggle in reincarnation, but they didn't expect that on the first day of their return, the recording team would restart the ceremony?
"Why did they change their minds again?" someone said with a frown.

Someone muttered, "Who knows... Tsk, I won't sign up anyway. My son just had a scorching day, and I don't want him to end up like me..."

He grabbed his young child and shrank behind the crowd.

Many people fell silent. A few older people looked at each other and said softly, "Since the request is made now, it means that the record team has found a new way, right? We can't let our descendants live the same life as us..."

The man from before sneered: "What's the difference? When didn't you say that last time?"

The person who was choked by him was a little unhappy, and said in a deep voice: "It is equivalent to losing half of our life time every thirteen years. If we don't solve this problem, your son will be the same... It will be difficult for the clan to develop. The slightest progress will be stagnant. When you come back, the things that were originally new have become tattered, and even the people who were originally fine may die for unknown reasons not long after returning. If we don't solve it..."

Before he could finish his words, the man from before retorted: "If this problem can really be solved, then sacrifices will be made. But what about the reality? My parents were the ones who sacrificed themselves voluntarily. What kind of life did I have when I was a child? They wanted me to live a good life, but I still lived the same life as them. Now no one even remembers them. The same goes for my grandparents. What's the meaning of their voluntary sacrifice?"

He threw his hands coldly and picked up his son: "I won't sign up even if I'm old enough. If you have the guts, drive me away."

"You! This is a big plan for the clan!"

"None of my business."

A quarrel broke out among the crowd who received the news.

However, since the news has come out, the ceremony must be held.

According to the rules of the Shadow Seeking Tribe, the living sacrifice ceremony requires nearly a hundred tribesmen, and these tribesmen are often elders who have survived more than four scorching suns.

In the past, the upper echelons did not force the selection of candidates, because even if people signed up voluntarily, it would not take long for the number of people to meet the requirements.

But as the voices of discontent within the tribe grow louder, these scenes are becoming more frequent.

On the recording team's side, Shan Zheng, who had always supported the ceremony, looked suspiciously at the old men who had always opposed him.

It cannot be said that he fully supports the ceremony. He does not like to let his people die, but doing nothing is even more unbearable.

What he didn't expect was that the members of the recording team who had refuted him just half a day ago were going to carry out the ceremony again without notifying him.

Shan always felt that there was something fishy going on.

"I don't quite understand what you mean. Besides, the ceremony usually takes place two years later, and at least the applicants must give birth to a group of offspring. You can't do this."

The two elderly men and women who voiced the strongest opposition stood up. The former said calmly, "Time is tight, and we only need to fill the gap of the last fifty people this time. We don't need that many people."

"Fifty people?" Shan frowned. "The minimum requirement for the ceremony is nearly a hundred people. If the number is insufficient, the conditions for the ceremony will not be met. You are just making trouble."

The old man smiled a little strangely: "The quantity is enough."

"How can it be enough? I have studied the ritual over and over again, and it requires..." Halfway through his speech, Shan suddenly froze.

He discovered that the members of the recording team in front of him had all changed into new clothes for some reason.

Their clan was short of resources, and even the so-called high-level members of the Recording Group only had two or three sets of clothes to wear in their lifetime.

And putting on new clothes means only one thing...

Shan's pupils suddenly shrank: "You want..."

The old woman tapped her cane and said calmly, "Later, we thought about it and realized that maybe our group of record-keeping members took up too many unnecessary resources... We are much older than most of the tribe members, but we are excluded every time we sign up... This is unfair. Instead of letting younger people become sacrifices, it is better to let us, who are no longer of much use, take over."

Shan was horrified: "How can this be possible? Please don't let the Shadow Clan lose the Recording Team."

The old woman corrected him, "It's not that we're losing the record team, but that we're replacing them with a new group of people... We've thought about it, we've been in this position for too long, and we can't see many things clearly. Instead of having this or that idea, why not let the younger people come up and give it a try?"

She sighed slightly, walked over slowly and patted Shan on the shoulder: "Maybe the gods are not happy with us old guys who are still occupying the position, so they don't respond to us. Okay, Shan, you will host this ceremony."

"No, I, I..." Shan, who had been arguing with this group of old men half a day ago, was now speechless.

The members of the Recording Team smiled at him gently and said, "You will be in charge of the next selection of the Recording Team. I hope this sacrifice will be the last sacrifice for the Shadow Clan."

Shan fell silent, and finally just nodded vigorously.

I had wronged them... This time, the ceremony must be successful!

"Okay, Shan, we still need some tribesmen to fill the gap. You go and contact them. Remember to give them enough resources. Double the resources given in previous ceremonies... It's not easy for them."

"it is good……"

"Well, go ahead. We old guys can chat while we have the last bit of time."

Shan left in silence. After he walked away, the members of the recording team in the room sat back in their seats. They looked at each other but did not say anything. They just turned their heads strangely and looked in another direction.

In the shadows, Sean walked out slowly, with a slight smile on his face: "Thank you for your hard work, everyone."

The old men slowly lowered their heads, like puppets waiting for orders. Sean snapped his fingers and turned his gaze to the sky.

He didn't have the time to slowly persuade the Shadow Clan to start the next sacrifice according to the originally planned time.

Now, what is known is that the man named "Shan" accidentally opened the barrier that blocked the spiritual power. So in order to maximize the avoidance of uncertainties, the person who presided over the ceremony still had to be Shan.

As for the sacrifices, considering that the sacrifice used in Shan's previous "accidental prayer" was the sun-dried corpse of an old man, instead of asking other members of the Shadow Clan to voluntarily sign up, it would be better to directly use this group of the oldest old guys.

It is also natural for the mountain to become the host of the ceremony.

For Sean, sacrificing these unfortunate Shadow-Seeking Clan would not cause him any psychological burden. What's more, this place was just a projection point of a world and not the real world at all.

It doesn't matter even if the whole city is massacred, as long as I can help Sean.

However, there is no need to massacre the city at the moment. Considering the possibility that the ritual may fail, Sean decided to start with the minimum ritual.

Another problem that needs to be solved is that there is no god in the outside world who can respond to the Shadow Clan's prayers. Although it is only a projection, because all the trees that can respond in reality have died, there is naturally no god in the projection who can cast a glance at them.

For this reason, Sean decided to be the god himself.

Although he is also in the projection now, his Church of Everlasting Ashes is in the wasteland world.

All you need to do is secretly change some of the processes in the ritual so that the final target of the ritual becomes the Eternal Tyrant.

Because Sean learned the means of receiving the power of faith from the World Tree Lian, it is actually Lian's damaged divinity that can respond to the believers' prayers. His Everlasting Ashes Church only acts as an intermediary and final storage. Therefore, the ritual of praying to the Shadow Clan can normally be directed to it. Although there is no way to contact Lian, she also knows about the Everlasting Ashes Church and will not refuse prayers.

In this way, Sean only needs to ask the Shadow Clan to perform a ritual to connect with the outside world, and he can use the special connection between the ritual and the gods to find the open door on the barrier.

As long as my mental power slips out, everything will be easy.

As for the Shadow Clan...

Sean said it was none of his business.

I still have a lot of things to do in the wasteland, so how can I have the time to care about the unknown races in this unknown world.

Looking at the members of the recording team being controlled, Sean smiled slightly: "Anyway, at most it will only damage your consciousness in the real world. It's not a big problem for ordinary people. If we have a chance to meet again in the future, I might compensate you."

At this moment in the city, Shan has begun to organize preparations for the ceremony.

Although the resistance within the tribe was quite intense, the example set by the members of the recording team played a significant role. In addition, the number of people required was reduced, and it didn't take long before the number of people required for the sacrifice ceremony was met.

Shan originally wanted to make more preparations to ensure the ceremony would have the greatest effect, but he didn't know whether it was because of his emotions or something else, he involuntarily speeded up the ceremony.

Of course, it was Sean who was secretly guiding and controlling the situation. During this period, he quietly changed part of the prayer. Shan was just an ordinary person, and it was too easy to control part of his consciousness.

In this way, the newly returned Shadow-Seeking Clan prepared everything needed for the ceremony on the first night after their return.

At night, Shan climbed up the hastily built ceremonial platform, and below the platform, a deep pit that had been dug was already filled with members of the Shadow-Seeking Tribe.

Those people changed into their best clothes, tasted the best food, and prepared to face their impending death.

This scene was already commonplace for the Shadow-Seeking Clan, but the biggest difference this time was that a large portion of the tribesmen used as sacrifices were members of the Recording Group.

People held up ceremonial flags and placed their free hands on the center of their foreheads, praying that these voluntary sacrifices could enter the arms of God as soon as possible.

"Time's up, the ceremony begins."

At a command from the host Shan, dry firewood covered with kerosene was thrown into the fire pit, and the people sitting in the pit slowly closed their eyes.

"Please ask the Shadow Clan to pray. Most High God, the Lord who radiates the embers in the eternal night, we are begging for your mercy..."

The long ritual prayer began. Some of the older tribesmen were slightly surprised. This time, the prayers chanted were a little different from before.

However, no one spoke, and they could not interrupt the ceremony, so they could only keep their doubts in their hearts.

As prayers were chanted, someone threw a torch into the fire pit. Soon, the firewood covered with kerosene began to burn fiercely, accompanied by the painful roars of the sacrifices.

A large cloud of black smoke rose up, and the screams of the sacrifices in the fire pit gradually subsided. Sean, who had been staring at the barrier, suddenly got a shock.

"coming……"

He could feel that something was spreading out in this ritual, and it was this thing that awakened the attention of the gods outside the barrier.

Of course, if nothing unexpected happens, the god watching is the World Tree Lian, who has long lost his status as a god.

The two soon responded to each other. Sean, who was dormant in the sky, moved his mental power slightly. He felt that the barrier was slowly opening a door.

“Not enough, not enough... a little bigger..." Sean stared at it, his mental strength ready to go.

The door opened slowly until it reached its maximum extent, and Sean's mental power shot out like an arrow.

The barrier, which was not only dead but also living, sensed the unknown spiritual power that wanted to slip out through this door, and the crack that had just opened was about to close immediately.

However, Sean, who had already made all the preparations, did not hesitate at all. He used all his mental power to pass through at the fastest speed at the moment before it was closed and suddenly broke free.

Everything that followed was simple. The mental power that broke free from the projection was just forcibly connected to the main body. Sean, whose body was still in the projection point, felt himself floating up.

"Let's retreat, it's a pity that we didn't gain anything..." Sean took a last look at the city with some regret. Below, the people of the Shadow Clan were still kneeling on the ground begging for the attention of the gods.

(End of this chapter)