Chapter 1184 The Black Sun that Never Sets in the Holy Lake? (Publish for More Updates! Please Vote for Me!)

Chapter 1184 The black sun that never sets in the holy lake? (Publish for more updates! Please vote for me!)

With the mood of watching the excitement, Grete slept until the sacrificial ceremony was about to begin. However, long before he got up, someone was already busy.

In the temple, the “chosen women”—priestesses and preservatives of the Virgins of the Sun—rose early. Under the guidance of the older priestess, they began to prepare meals for the gods:

“Monte Patasca,” a corn soup with chiles and herbs;

"Locero", a stew made with fish, potatoes, vegetables and peppers;

cornbread, carefully baked from corn grown in the temple’s sacrificial fields;

There are also a variety of foods that have special meanings and require special techniques. All soups, staple foods and dishes must be prepared in a hurry and before the fish belly is white on the horizon.

When the first ray of sunlight passes through the stone lintel engraved with the sun's image and shines into the temple, the sacrifice officially begins. Gretel stood in the queue of priests, looked towards the temple, and softly said "Wow":

A ray of sunlight passes through the hole on the lintel and penetrates straight into the deep temple hall, illuminating the face of the Sun God statue without missing a beat.

"All year round, only in the early morning of the dark day, the sun will shine through the holes and directly shine on the statue." Beside Gretel, the middle-aged priest who accompanied him explained to him with full pride:

"These are all miracles and gifts from the Sun God. Only the power of my God can do this."

Awesome... Gretel gave him a thumbs up. Not to him, but to the first generation, the designers and builders of the temple:

How much knowledge of astronomy, astrology, and geography is required to calculate it just right, so that the morning sunshine happens to be so accurate!

Modern people with supercomputers may not be able to do this kind of thing!

The first ray of rising sun fell on the statue of the sun, and the golden statue instantly bathed the entire temple in golden light. The "women chosen by the gods" immediately filed forward and placed the food they had prepared in front of the statue.

The music plays. Amidst the music, the smoke of various spices and herbs curled up. The sun virgins who presided over the ceremony, and the sun goddess who led them, looked up at the statues and chanted repeatedly, with soft and long voices:

"Sun, please enjoy the food your wives have prepared for you!"

Simultaneously with them, priests serving other gods also offered prepared food to their gods. For example, thick porridge cooked from potatoes, corn and pumpkins dedicated to the earth goddess Pachamama was dug up by brown-robed priests and buried in the ground;

The golden holy wine brewed from corn was dedicated to Kilia, the lord of the mountains, and was lifted high by white-robed priests and poured into the cold lake water;

Dedicated to the mother of the ocean, Mamacocha, the fish caught from the holy lake is roasted on the fire until it is crispy and golden...

Gretel turned his head left and right, looking at it dizzyingly. He really wanted to throw a hundred mystical eyes at the same time, open a hundred camera positions, record it and save it in the mobile tower spirit to watch it a hundred times.

Although most people who travel abroad will not watch these videos repeatedly after returning home, this does not prevent them from raising their mobile phones and recording each one with great interest...

Grete and the others all watched happily. Although Archmage Baierbo has roamed the Southern Continent, he has never stood in such a good position to watch the important festivals of the Sun Kingdom at close range. At this moment, he concentrated on feeling the energy changes on the field;

Serila looked around, her bright silver-blue eyes turning around on those gold plates, gold bowls, gold pots, gold cups, silver plates, silver bowls, silver pots, and silver cups. Her pupils almost turned into gold and silver. ;

Bernard and Apa's attention fell more on the food. Seeing them being poured into the ground and into the lake, Grete heard clearly that Bernard swallowed a mouthful of saliva;

As for Idian, this half-step legend who was sent over by Elder Fahim to ensure Gretel's safety, leaned lazily against Appa, chewing a piece of green grass in his mouth.

But Gretel felt an aura that was not coming out but was extremely sharp from him:

Is there any danger around here?

It should be dangerous. Whether according to the Sun God or according to Elder Fahim's estimate, the Legend of the Shining God wants to attack. On the winter solstice, when the sun's power weakens to its lowest point, it is the best time to take action——

In a place that Grete couldn't see or feel, on the top of the distant snow peak, there were indeed two legends standing side by side.

Governor Saneco Martinez of the Governorate of Pellu stood with his sword in his hand, his vermillion velvet cloak flying on the top of the snowy mountain. He lowered his head slightly and looked down at the complicated sacrificial ceremony with cold eyes:

"The false gods are indeed false gods. They need so many messy sacrifices. And there are actually living sacrifices. It's so ridiculous... Don't they know that living sacrifices can only add to the sins of the false gods?"

"This is the responsibility we have been given." Archbishop Bartolome bowed his head and prayed, raised his right hand, and smoothly nodded nine o'clock on his chest:

"Destroy the devil and lead the confused lamb back to the embrace of the Lord. To this end, we will not hesitate to fight and sacrifice to spread the glory of the Lord in this land."

The two prayed in a low voice, then became quiet again, overlooking the sacrificial ceremony below. The sun gradually rose, and after offering sacrifices to the gods, the sacrificial ceremony finally reached the most important part:

The crowd took off the king's fine clothes, raised their jars, and poured a thick layer of ointment over him. Then, seven or eight priests surrounded the king, used thin reed pipes to blow gold powder on him...

"What is this for?!"

Gretel was shocked. Next to him, the priest responsible for accompanying him whispered:

"The king is the most noble person, and cannot be touched by mortal hands... Therefore, the only way to cover his body with gold powder is this way..."

You...just be happy...

Grete was unable to complain for the moment. The only consolation is that even if you inhale a little bit of gold powder, it shouldn't be a serious problem... right...

When the king's whole body was covered with shining gold powder, everyone put on him a gold breastplate (Thinking of the cold and hard texture of gold, Gretel sincerely sympathized with the king), a gold crown, and a glittering gold crown. Earrings and gold nose ring.

Then, the king walked onto the straw raft by the lake and sat down on the top of the boat in the center of the straw raft. The nobles and priests walked past the boat in turn, each holding various gold vessels and gems and placing them gently. To the feet of the King.

"Hello!"

Gretel whispered:

"It's too much... This raft won't sink... It won't sink... It won't sink..."

"It shouldn't sink. The carrying capacity of this ship is quite good." Cerela replied in a low voice while staring at the gold gems without moving her eyes:

What are these things in the boat for?

Why put it in the boat? !

Before they could think of the time to come, the attendants pushed the straw raft away from the shore and rowed it far to the center of the lake. Then, one, two, three pushed the king and the boat he was sitting on into the lake, and rowed back directly with a splash, a splash...

Under the blue sky, except for the waterline left by the grass raft, there was only a lake, a boat, and a king.

… Not even an oar was left for the king.

"Hey, why will the king come back later?" Cerela asked softly in the spiritual connection. Gretel's conjecture was even wilder:

"Will he never come back? Look at him dressed like this...could he be a direct sacrifice?"

"No way?" Archmage Baierbo didn't know much about the customs of the Sun Kingdom. However, the Archmage has another perspective:

"Change a king every year? Then this king is changed too frequently... Even if the king can be changed, what about the king's harem? Will the successor inherit directly? Or should a group be selected every year?"

No matter how much I think about it, nothing feels right...

Amid the discussion, the sun slowly rose, and the golden glow spread over the lake. Thousands of nobles and priests stood around the lake, singing in low voices psalms praising the sun god;

The priests who specialize in music played the antara panpipe made of clay, the gana flute made from the leg bones of monsters, and the five-stringed charango. Low and melodious, rough and bright, light and cheerful music sounded from the edge of the lake to the center of the lake.

And when the king's golden figure overlapped with the shadow cast by the sun on him, the solemn and sacred conch sound rang out. Amidst the sound of conch shells, the king raised his arms toward the sun on the boat and sang the sacrificial poem sonorously and powerfully.

"This voice! This breath!" Gretel sincerely admired in the spiritual connection. Although he didn't understand a word of this memorial text, he sincerely thought of Pavarotti's "My Sun" - Hey, it's very appropriate for the occasion, isn't it?

After singing a sacrificial sermon, the king held up the golden crown on his head, raised his hands high, and threw it with all his strength. The golden crown drew an arc in the sun and fell into the center of the lake. Next, there are gold earrings, gold nose rings, gold breastplates...

Next, there are flowers, gold ornaments and precious stones piled on the boat. One by one, one after another, they were thrown into the holy lake.

"Hey...this lake, so many gold and jewelry are thrown away every year..."

In the spiritual connection, as expected, Cerela's voice came. Gretel looked back and quickly calculated in his mind:

Just the gold items I saw today, thirty or forty pieces, maybe one kilogram...two kilograms...ten kilograms? Ten years is one hundred kilograms, one hundred years is one ton...

How many years has this kingdom lasted on the shores of the Holy Lake?

In other words, how many years has this sacrificial ritual of throwing gold and silver jewelry into the holy lake continued on the shores of the holy lake?

While doing mental arithmetic, he looked back. I saw the silver dragon girl staring at the lake, the tips of her ears trembling:

"I really want to go down and fish... I really want to go down... Gretel, tell me how deep this lake is... When they are all gone, I can secretly go down and fish. Is it possible to fish..."

"...Serila, please stop!"

Gretel was sweating and quickly tried to dissuade him. He clasped his fingers and counted them one by one for Cerela:

"This lake is very deep! It can reflect such a clear blue color. It is absolutely impossible for this lake to be only ten or twenty meters deep!

Moreover, it is a holy lake made of snow and water. The water is very cold. There are no monsters or divine powers in it. It will definitely be dangerous to go down!

Besides, you can't guarantee that every time the king throws gold, it will be thrown in a fixed place; you can't guarantee that gold jewelry will sink straight after entering the water! It must be pushed away by the current!

And for so many years, the silt at the bottom of the lake has been layered layer by layer, layer after layer, and I don’t know how many layers it has covered! Cerela, do you want to dig for gold in such thick mud?

If we want gold, we have other ways! Don't do such dirty and dangerous work! "

"That……"

Serila's beautiful silver-blue eyes blinked and blinked, still reluctant to give up so much gold. Gretel was sweating and tried to dissuade him. Archmage Baierbo smiled and said nothing, and Bernard wisely defended himself.

None of the three people knew that someone on the high snowy peak was also thinking:

"He actually threw the gold items directly into the lake! Extravagant! Wasteful!"

"This gold should add luster to the glory of our Lord!"

"Is there any way to fish out the gold in this lake?"

"Let's talk about it... Once the false gods are destroyed, we will have enough time to try various methods. At worst, we will drain this lake!"

Governor Martinez raised his palm like a knife and slashed down, as if he was trying to split the lake shore and let the lake water pour down the side of the valley. After simulating this for a while, he finally stopped and continued to watch:

The side of the boat rose little by little. The last gold weapon and the last gem were thrown into the lake. The king stood up straight and suddenly jumped in with a splash!

"He He……"

Gretel was really surprised this time. No way, no way, this king is not really part of the sacrifice, is he?

This is too fierce! A king changes every year!

The middle-aged priest who accompanied him couldn't help but sigh. Looking at the strange eyes of the distinguished guests, he could probably imagine what these distinguished guests were thinking about——

If it had been any other outsider, the priests nearby would probably have driven them away without him having to say anything. However, this was an absolutely distinguished guest, and he was treated with courtesy even by the Sun God. He could only bite the bullet and try his best to explain:

"Our king is the noble 'Golden Man'. The gold powder on his body is also a sacrifice to the Sun God and the Holy Lake Goddess..."

Wouldn't he himself be the same?

Gretel looked at each other in shock. The middle-aged priest knew what he was thinking without even asking, and he sighed tiredly:

"Whenever the Sun God feels tired, He will sink into the Holy Lake to bathe and recuperate. The Golden Man shoulders the heavy responsibility of awakening the Sun God... Every year on the dark day, he must swim until all the gold powder has dispersed. Symbolizing the awakening of the sun from the sacred lake..."

"What should I do if I'm frozen and can't swim?"

Gretel blurted out.

The lake formed by melting snow from the snow-capped mountains!

Winter Solstice, the coldest day of the year!

Get naked and throw all the gold and gems on the lake, then jump into the lake and swim until the gold powder on your body is washed away!

If it were a slightly weaker person, he would be afraid that he would get cramps if he didn't jump in, and then freeze to death in the lake!

Anyway, even if Gretel had [cold and heat resistance], [underwater breathing], [wave blessing], and a full set of spell protection, he would not dare to challenge this...

"how can that be possible?"

The smile on the middle-aged priest's face froze. He turned back and gestured with his eyes to the king in the lake - who was still swimming around the cattail boat - and continued to explain:

"Our king has the blood of the Sun God and has the blessings of all gods. He is as comfortable in the holy lake as he is in his own palace. He is frozen...can't swim or anything..."

It doesn't exist at all!

oh……

Grete silently frowned. Okay, okay, having blood heritage means you are strong, maybe this king is also a high-level warrior or something...

Therefore, if he is really frozen, unable to swim, or sinks, it means that the blessings of the sun god are no longer on the king, and the blessings of other gods are also gone. He deserves to die, and he deserves to be replaced by a king, right?

By the way, I just applied greasy all over my body. Can I wash it off in cold water? Do you want to support me with some soap or something?

The sound of panpipes, recorders, banjos and conches on the shore stopped at some point. The nobles and priests lined up along the shore of the lake, silently watching the king's strokes.

The sun gradually rose, and then, suddenly, the entire golden holy lake began to dim...

Surprises spread. Gretel was pulled backwards, staggering, and retreated between Cerela and Idian. It was easy to stand upright and look up——

The sky and the earth are dark. The sun hanging high in the sky began to be swallowed up by the huge black shadow little by little.

…What’s so surprising about this? Isn’t it just a solar eclipse? Speaking of which, your country's astronomy is a bit lame. It can't even calculate a solar eclipse... However, it's your luck to catch a solar eclipse on the winter solstice...

Before a thought could be finished, a huge pressure suddenly came down from the air. Grete's chest felt tight, and his knees almost bent downwards.

A dark shadow flashed in the corner of his eye, and Idian blocked the front directly, looking up with a stern look on his face.

****

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