Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 415 Sacrifice

After three punches, the dragon was on the verge of death. Yu Tian stood in mid-air, his right hand clenched, and the bone sword embedded in the dragon's body suddenly trembled, flying back to its master's hand amidst a shower of blood.

There was a flash of golden light.

The dragon's ferocious head separated from its body, tracing a poignant arc across the sky. Dragon blood rained down, turning the entire river golden.

River God, fallen!
Yu Tian slowly landed on the dragon's corpse, the bone sword in his hand still dripping blood. In the distance, the surviving temple guards knelt on the ground, while Xiao Lingdang's sacrificial knife sliced ​​across the high priest's throat.

Before the blood mist from the fallen River God had even dissipated, Yu Tian had already stepped into the deepest forbidden chamber of the River God Temple.

The carp holding a bronze lamp illuminated the dense murals on the wall. The patterns, drawn with pearl powder and blood sand, recorded the most core secrets of the River God over hundreds of years.

"Look here." The carp's finger stopped on a painting. In the painting, the River God was still a small dragon, greedily inhaling the blue smoke rising from the altar. "Gods eat incense, but in reality, they are eating the 'spirit' of people."

Yu Tian stared at the mural and suddenly understood why mountain gods like the Lord of Chu Mountain and the Lord of Mi Mountain were so different from river gods like the River God.

The mountain god only needs offerings from a few villages, while the river god requires sacrifices from the entire city. It's not that the mountain god doesn't want to, but that he can't.

Gods are not humans.

Most of them are wild beasts who have cultivated themselves to attain enlightenment. Although they possess extraordinary abilities, they always lack the most crucial thing: the spirituality and civilization that make them human.

Yu Tian recalled reading in a book that humans are products of civilization, complex beings of social relations. The long history of social relationships and the development of civilization are the most fundamental differences between humans and deities.

Without complex emotions and without inherited civilization, gods are like blind men who possess a treasure mountain but do not know how to light a lamp.

“That’s why sacrifices are needed.” Yu Tian gently touched the kneeling figures on the mural, “to fill the void left by the gods with human joys and sorrows.”

“But they can only imitate, not surpass!” Yu Tian made his judgment.

Suddenly, the carp lifted the floor tiles, revealing a bronze box buried beneath. Inside the box were hundreds of jade slips neatly arranged, each engraved with the ritual procedures and prayers.

“The River God is imitating us.” The carp’s voice trembled slightly. “It’s secretly recording the brainwaves of each priest, trying to steal our way of thinking.”

Yu Tian recalled the bewildered look in the River God's eyes at the end. That dragon, who had lived for hundreds of years, never understood why it had been defeated by a mortal until its death.

Because it can never learn; human civilization is not formed by one person, but by countless people who have followed one another. It is not a civilization that can be formed by one or two people, or even ten or a hundred people.

A civilization cannot be formed without a sufficient number of people.

Suddenly, a commotion arose outside the window. Yu Tian pushed open the carved wooden window and saw people in the square dismantling the blood sacrifice array. A priest was distributing offerings to a child, while his mother was bowing and scraping in gratitude to the priest.

“They are not worshipping gods now,” Yu Tian said softly, “but their own conscience.”

“I’m afraid that won’t work!” the carp said. “You need to lead everyone in a ritual to the cat god.”

"Cat God doesn't care," Yu Tian said.
"The Cat God doesn't care, but we care a lot, and the people of River God City care a lot!" the carp said. "With the great river beside us and gods all around, how can we keep the people at ease without a powerful deity?"

“What the Cat God cares about is that people have finally learned to live for themselves!” Yu Tian said, looking at the carp’s persistent gaze, and suddenly realized.

In this world, gods are everywhere. Without their protection, cities will eventually be abandoned.

This is the sentiment of the people at this moment. Even if Yu Tian requires them to be self-reliant and live for themselves, their mindset makes it impossible for them to do so.

The road must be walked step by step, and the meal must be eaten bite by bite.

After a moment of silence, Yu Tian said, "Alright then!" Seven days later, a brand new altar rose from the ground in the central square of Hebo City.

There was no bronze, no jade; the altar was entirely constructed of pure white sandstone, shaped like a giant cat lying lazily. Yu Tian personally carved the cat god's totem on the top of the altar—not a majestic statue, but a simple claw mark.

"let's start."

Yu Tian stood in the center of the altar, a faint golden light swirling around him. Little Bell, holding a bunch of freshly picked wheat seedlings, was the first to step forward. She placed the seedlings on the altar and whispered:

May there be no more blood sacrifices in the world.

The moment the wheat seedlings touched the altar, Yu Tian saw that the bundle of wheat seedlings suddenly transform into a wisp of shimmering white light, hovering in mid-air.

Then, the boys and girls who had been sacrificed came forward one by one. Some put down dried fish, some placed wild fruits, and others simply scooped up a handful of river water.

"I hope my brother recovers from his illness."

"May my mother no longer weep."

I wish I could learn to weave a web.

Each ray of light rose up, weaving into a dazzling nebula above the altar. Yu Tian held out his hands, and countless streams of light, visible only to him, flowed through his palms, gradually solidifying.

"Om-"

Amidst the strange resonance, Yu Tian felt his consciousness being gently drawn away. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in a dreamlike realm.

It bears the outline of the River God's City, yet is composed of pure light and intention. The streets are like flowing galaxies, and the houses resemble translucent clouds.

Most astonishingly, the departed loved ones are smiling in the distance, the injured children are playing in the River of Light, and even the withered old willows have come back to life, their tender green branches gently caressing the water's surface.

"Is this the realm of the gods?"

Yu Tian knew that among the gods, this realm had different names: "Divine Realm", "Divine City", and "Mandala". But in essence, they were all the same.

This is the sacred place where human will and divine consciousness first intersected.

He saw countless transparent specks of light drifting through the city, each carrying the purest desire. According to the traditional practices of the gods, he should now seize the thoughts that suit him and refine them into nourishment for his own divine power.

Those who make offerings are essentially nothing more than "containers of thoughts" for the gods.

But Yu Tian simply stood there quietly, letting the city of light grow freely.

The streets began to extend automatically, and new buildings emerged from the clouds. There was a school, from which came the sound of children reading; a clinic, with a line of people waiting to be treated; and even a restaurant with smoke rising from its chimneys, the aroma so real it was almost unreal.

He knew that as the outside world of River God City changed, this dream city would also continuously transform. One day, it would no longer be a divine realm, but a spiritual home that fully embodied the civilization of humankind.

There is no divine seizure, no blood sacrifice demanding anything; only humanity's most genuine desires thrive within it.

Perhaps… Yu Tian thought of the desert and Shi Fei he had dreamed of. Perhaps this illusory city would have another name in the future.

City of Dreams!

(End of this chapter)