Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 391 Cat God
The sacrifice to the River God is the most solemn event of the year in the city of River God.

On the great river, countless water gods claim to be River God. But this River God is the most efficacious, granting all requests. The people of the city often say that they don't know whether it was the prosperity of River God City that attracted River God, or whether it was River God's blessing that created the prosperity of River God City.

As dawn broke, Yu Tian hid in an ancient locust tree several hundred meters away from the sacrificial altar.

The thick branches were just enough to support his thin body, and the dense foliage perfectly concealed his figure.

Ever since he witnessed the mountain demon, he became convinced that spirits and deities truly existed in this world. So today, he came to see for himself what the River God, whom he was said to have to avoid every year, really looked like.

At the third quarter of the hour of Yin (3:45 AM), the city of Hebo was still shrouded in a bluish-gray morning mist. Yu Tian held his breath, even his breathing was extremely soft. Time slowly passed in the waiting, until the east began to lighten with the first hint of dawn, and the sacrificial ceremony officially began.

Twenty-four shirtless, burly men marched in with synchronized steps, fine beads of sweat glistening on their bronze skin. They carried a bronze sacrificial cauldron three zhang (approximately 10 meters) tall on their shoulders, the veins bulging on their muscular arms.

The body of the tripod is engraved with the River God totem, depicting a human face and a fish body. The totem is ferocious and terrifying, with luminous pearls embedded in its eyes that glow with a faint green light in the morning light, as if life truly flows within them.

The tripod landed with a muffled thud. Immediately afterwards, the priest's drawn-out shout pierced the morning mist: "The auspicious hour has arrived—"

Seventy-two large cowhide drums rang out simultaneously, their sound like a tidal wave, making Yu Tian's eardrums ache. Eight rows of shamans dressed in black sacrificial robes entered with strange steps, their faces painted with distorted talismans in vermilion, and the bronze bells in their hands jingling with their dance.

The sound of the bell was not like the clear, crisp sound of a regular copper bell; instead, it sounded like countless tiny sobs.

What's most chilling is their dance moves!
The shamans contorted their bodies into incredible angles, twitching and swaying like fish out of water. The wide hems of their ceremonial robes billowed with their movements, revealing the skulls of children tied to their ankles, which collided with each dance step.

"Welcoming the Gods—"

Before the priest's voice had faded, the calm river surface suddenly churned with turbid waves. Ten black-awning boats adorned with red silk ribbons slowly emerged from the mist, each carrying a boy and a girl dressed in bright red wedding attire.

The children were dressed up like the golden boys and jade girls in New Year paintings, and the excessive rouge looked particularly glaring on their pale faces.

Yu Tian's pupils suddenly contracted. On the boat in the very middle, wasn't that the little girl with her hair in two buns the same one who had shared half a steamed bun with him last winter?

In my memory, she always loved to smile, revealing two cute little tiger teeth. Now, however, her mouth was bound with a red rope, and tears streamed down her face, leaving two winding lines that stained her rouge like bloodstains.

So she couldn't escape it this year after all!
"Homage to the River God—"

Suddenly, the shamans let out a shrill cry, the sound like fingernails scraping against pottery. Ten red ribbons were thrown into the river at the same time, and they wrapped around the children's waists as if they were alive.

Yu Tian watched helplessly as Xiao Lingdang was dragged towards the boat by the red silk. She shook her head desperately, her hair came loose, and her hairpin fell into the river, splashing small water droplets.

No, I have to save him!
Suddenly, an idea popped into Yu Tian's mind!
This idea almost made Yu Tian jump out of his skin.

Can he save Little Bell?

Does he have that ability?
Just as he hesitated, a deafening cheer suddenly erupted from the shore. Several wealthy merchants dressed in brocade clapped and cheered, the wooden plaques with the character "义" (righteousness) hanging from their waists gleaming brightly in the sunlight.

Beneath the river's surface, a massive black shadow was slowly gliding, creating eerie whirlpools wherever it passed.

That's the River God!

What can the River God do? I'm fucking saving people!
Before Yu Tian could even process what was happening, his body acted first. He leaped into the river like an arrow, splashing water everywhere. The instant he entered the water...

In his anxiety, he activated the "Wind God Leg" technique, but there was no wind in the water.

Yet, even in the water, there was still a "wind" responding to Yu Tian. That was the "wind" of the water, the flow of the water.

His imitation of someone else's "Wind God Leg" became his own at this moment. The water swirled around him, forming a spherical body that not only isolated him from the water but also allowed him to breathe.

Embraced by the water sphere and the current, he swam effortlessly to the little bell.

Little Bell had choked on several mouthfuls of water, and her consciousness was beginning to fade. Suddenly, she felt her body lighten as she was steadily lifted up. When she regained her senses, she was lying safely on the deck of the boat.

Not only him, but other boys and girls were also carried back to the boat by the mysterious water flow.

"Someone is disrupting the sacrificial ceremony!" An uproar erupted on the shore. The priest trembled with rage, and the wealthy merchants turned ashen-faced!
If the River God is angered by this, the merchant ships will likely suffer this year!

Yu Tian didn't care about any of that; he had already been stopped by the fish.

It was a huge carp, several tens of meters long, with scales all over its body like millstones. To Yu Tian's surprise, the carp actually made a sound in the water.

"I am Li Xianfeng, a subordinate of the River God, ordered to retrieve the sacrificial offerings for the River God! Who are you? Which subordinate are you? How dare you stop me?" The carp's words had a strange tone, but Yu Tian understood them.

"You can't eat them!" When the carp asked him which god served him, Yu Tian's mind raced and he blurted out, "They've been chosen by the Cat God!"

He thought that since cats eat fish, perhaps the cat god could come and scare the big fish.

"Cat God?" The carp was clearly taken aback, a hint of confusion flashing in its eyes.

He knew all the gods within a thousand miles, so how come he had never heard of the Cat God?

“Yes! The Cat God!” Yu Tian thought of making something out of nothing. He randomly combined the knowledge and experiences from his dream and said, “I don’t know his name, I’ve never seen his true form, I just think he looks like a cat.”

“Actually, he should be the God of Dreams!” Yu Tian spoke more and more fluently, saying, “He lives deep in the dream world, and although he looks like a cat, he is not a cat. He is the master of the dream world. He loves to eat fish and specially sent me to guide these children.”

“He likes to eat fish!” Yu Tian said seriously. “In the dream, only those permitted by the Cat God can eat fish.”

"Eat fish?" The carp was startled. Fish like them could only hide in the water because they had too many natural predators.

Big fish, birds, eagles, no... I should say many animals on land want to eat fish!
“The Cat God already knows that one of these children will be his messenger, so he sent me to meet them,” Yu Tian said. “Therefore, they cannot be taken away by you.”

The giant carp was a bit stunned; it couldn't understand what Yu Tian was saying. The water around Yu Tian was supporting him, a power clearly not possessed by ordinary people.

In this world, only the gods are true protectors. Yu Tian's words, spoken by chance, left him half-believing and half-doubting.

As we all know, fish brains are not very useful.

So he said, "In that case, I will report to the River God!" Having said this, the golden carp flicked its tail, creating a huge splash, and vanished into the deep water in the blink of an eye.
"Report frequently when there's nothing to do," was the River God's instruction to him!
(End of this chapter)