My Years in the Jianghu with the Prince: A Time of Unethical Conduct

Chapter 237 The truth about the Earth God

Chapter 237 The truth about the Earth God

Mr. Huang, who runs a stall on East Street, closed his shop half an hour earlier than usual today.

For some reason, his right eyelid had been twitching non-stop since early morning, and he felt uneasy, so he decided to pack up his stall early and head home.

As he muttered to himself, Old Huang slammed the door of the tavern shut and locked it. "Should we call a doctor to take a look?"

As soon as she turned around, she unexpectedly met the gaze of a young man.

The man had been standing there for who knows how long, just a few steps behind me, without making a sound.

The wine jug in his hand fell to the ground with a clatter. Old Huang was quite startled by the sudden drop. After a moment, he regained his senses, swallowed a few times, and asked, "Who...who are you? What do you want?"

The man smiled slightly: "Uncle, we meet again."

Upon hearing this voice, Old Huang was stunned for a moment. After a long while, he finally managed to recall that extremely ordinary face from his memory.

He was one of the out-of-towners who had come to his shop for drinks a few days earlier.

But he didn't relax at all. He asked with a mixture of doubt and wariness, "So it was you. I've already closed up shop. If you want to drink, go somewhere else."

“I didn’t come here to drink,” the man said with his smile unchanged. “It’s just that there are some things I didn’t get cleared up with you from that day, sir.”

Upon hearing this, Old Huang felt a sense of foreboding and instinctively took a step back. "What do you want to do?!"

"Of course, I'd like to invite you to have a few more drinks, sir."

The man, with a smile on his face, walked step by step toward Old Man Huang.

"You, you stay away! I, I'll call for help!"

Mr. Huang panicked and quickly turned around and ran towards the area where there were usually many people.

The next moment, a hand reached out from behind!

All sounds stopped abruptly.

A gentle breeze swept by, and apart from a wine jug rolling on the ground, the place was already empty.

When Old Huang regained consciousness, he found himself in a mansion taken by the outsider, surrounded by a group of unfamiliar men and women.

But that's not the strangest thing.

The strangest thing is that even though he was not bound or controlled, he was unable to resist and could not move at all.

He couldn't even open his mouth or make a sound; he could only look around in terror with his eyes.

Just then, a crisp sound of teacups clinking together rang out.

Following the sound, one could see a man sitting in the seat of honor taking a sip of tea, glancing over casually, and saying, "Now that he's awake, let's begin."

Begin? Begin what?!

Old Huang's pupils trembled violently, and his heart pounded faster and faster, fearing that these people of unknown origin would devour him alive on the spot.

Unexpectedly, however, this group used their mouths, not their hands—

"More than ten years ago, what exactly did the Taoist priest that Jin Lin invited calculate and say after he set up the altar and performed the ritual?"

Xie Yanke still remembered the strange pause that Old Huang made when he mentioned this matter that day.

Old Huang felt a chill run down his spine and immediately realized that this group of people probably had ill intentions from the very beginning.

If I were to reveal Jin Lin's secret, it would likely bring Jin Lin a lot of trouble.

So he tried to close his mouth tightly, but before he could move, a calm voice escaped from his lips—

"After the Taoist priest opened the altar and performed the ritual, he said that the continuous earthquakes were not natural disasters, but divine punishment caused by someone who had offended the gods."

Old Huang's eyes widened in shock, and he broke out in a cold sweat.

He tried desperately to shut his mouth, but no matter how hard he tried, he could only watch helplessly as he uncontrollably repeated every word the Taoist priest had said that day.

"And the one who angered the gods was the Chu family, who were treacherous and usurped power."

"This earthquake is the punishment brought about by the Chu family's lack of virtue, and it serves as a warning to us."

"What?!" Everyone's expression changed.

"That's utter nonsense!"

He Shan rolled his eyes angrily, "That's utter nonsense. Our Emperor... General Chu rose up in rebellion because the previous emperor trusted treacherous officials and persecuted loyal ministers, causing the people to suffer."

"This is a fact known to all! Where is the immorality in this?!"

He grew angrier and angrier as he spoke, and even drew his sword and twirled it. "Where is that bastard who's spouting nonsense? I'm going to drag him out and poke eighty-one holes in him!"

Chu Ling raised his hand to signal He Shan to calm down, then looked at Old Man Huang with a deep gaze and slowly asked, "What about the Earth God?"

Old Huang was terrified by He Shan's sudden outburst of anger and was trembling all over.

Upon hearing the question, he could only stammer in response, "The Earth God is the Great Ancestor."

"What?!" Several exclamations rang out simultaneously upon hearing this.

"So that statue was actually Emperor Taizu..."

Xie Yan's eyes darkened; no wonder he found the Earth God's face familiar.

Although various legends about Emperor Taizu still circulate among the people, his portraits are diverse and bizarre.

Apart from the imperial palace, which was not burned to the ground, only the portraits preserved there depict the true appearance of the founding emperor.

Old Huang continued, "It is said that when Emperor Taizu's lifespan came to an end, he was able to ascend to the ranks of immortals because of his immeasurable merits. Unlike the Chu family, he will surely protect his people."

"So the Taoist priest told us to worship the Great Ancestor and offer sincere sacrifices so that the god's anger could be gradually appeased."

"People actually believe such absurd things??" Everyone looked on incredulously.

Old Huang closed his eyes helplessly. "Back then, some people thought this was absurd and even wanted to expose the Taoist's words and report them to the imperial court."

"But just a few days later," his eyes snapped open, revealing a look of horror, "another earthquake struck!"

"Although the earthquake did not cause us much damage, we discovered afterward that all those who had doubts had died in the earthquake!"

"This is the price of angering the gods!"

Compared to his fear, everyone else wore solemn and speechless expressions.

"Isn't it obvious that someone is sabotaging this?" He Shan rolled his eyes again.

"Alright, no need to ask anymore. This is definitely another conspiracy by the Holy Sun Church."

He drew a conclusion with indignation.

But Xie Yan gently raised her hand, interrupting He Shan, "I have another question."

"How do you worship the earth god?"

Upon hearing this, it was immediately apparent that all the color drained from Old Huang's face.

His mouth opened and closed—

"Human sacrifice."