The Haunted Chapter 141 Sacrifice

Chapter 140◀︎Table Of Contents▶︎Chapter 142

 

Extra Stories Part 1: The Sacrifice For The Evil God

Chapter 141 Sacrifice

🌺Translated by Nessie 🌺

 

Please do not copy or re-post my translations to other websites.

You can read my translation for “The Haunted” from my website at www.theredoaktree.com.

 

The cracked ground, the hot and dry air, and the burning flames on the altar reflected the withered and numbed faces.

 

All the expressionless faces looked intently at the thin little boy who was pushed up the altar by the black-robed priest – the boy looked like he was only four or five years old. He had a very thin body which made him look younger than his actual age. But he had a pair of extremely pure round black eyes which looked ignorantly at the woman who was held by two adult men under the altar. He wriggled slightly, trying to break free from the black-robed priest with his hands that looked like dry branches, not knowing what would be befalling him.

 

This was a remote and barren village on this vast and fertile continent, which still relied on ancient farming and planting for its livelihood. As it was far away from big towns and cities, the inheritors broke away from the norms of the world and worshipped evil gods. They had suffered a drought for the past three months, and under the auspices of the priests in the village, they planned to offer sacrifices to the gods in order to ask for their favour.

 

The woman’s son was the best candidate for sacrifice. The woman was still very young and had no other family members. She had just lost her husband due to the epidemic that swept the entire village a year ago. Her new husband also had a six or seven-year-old son and didn’t like the woman to bring along her child from the previous marriage and take responsibility for raising him. Sending him as a sacrifice was a great opportunity to get rid of this little trouble; and the woman who had always resigned to fate did not dare to resist the decision of the village and the priests. No matter how reluctant she was to give up her son, no matter how pained her heart felt, she was suppressed by her strong and sturdy husband and her brothers. She could only watch her young son being offered as a sacrifice and die. This sacrifice was an ancient and cruel fire torture, a sacrifice to the evil god.

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

www.theredoaktree.com

Around the stone platform, the fire was ignited.

 

The little boy was bound on the stone platform. He looked at the flames around him in horror. The heat was unbearably hot. He stared terrifyingly at the flames. His black eyes were gradually covered with a layer of mist… 

 

He was very uncomfortable. Why didn’t his mother come to save him……

 

The sky suddenly became overcast as dark clouds gathered quickly. Huge blue-purple lightning darted across the entire sky, accompanied by the ear splitting rumblings and cracks of thunder which quickly tore the entire dark sky. Suddenly with the sound “WA”, big drops of rain pelted down followed by a heavy torrential downpour of rain everywhere.

 

The sky and the earth were so dark that nothing could be seen for a moment, as if it was the end of the world. The exploding lightning reflected pale and terrified faces. The villagers knelt down one by one in the direction of the altar under the leadership of the priests.

 

The burning fire had already been extinguished unknowingly. When the dark clouds finally disappeared and heaven and earth regained light, the villagers raised their heads and discovered that the child who was used as a sacrifice on the stone platform had disappeared.

 

*****

 

Fifteen years later, the oldest and most prestigious Qin Shang Academy on the Alpha continent ushered in a new wave of students – many of them were either from prominent families in the world or were very talented. Everyone came here with beautiful dreams and many hopes for the future. They all looked youthful and confident in the presence of their domestic servants or in the company of their relatives and friends.

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

www.theredoaktree.com

Compared with them, an inconspicuous black-haired youth stood alone outside the school gate. He was not exactly alone – there was a bird beside him, a black bird that looked like a crow that made people feel ominous.

 

“Listen to me, Chi Yan, you’d better go back right away, this is the best for you.” The black bird kept whispering in his ear, “before Lord Eymer finds out…No, I think the Lord must have already discovered it a long time ago, but he didn’t mind you sneaking out a little bit.”

 

Some passers-by would occasionally glance at the bird but they didn’t understand what it was saying. They thought that this bird was too capable of cawing.

 

“Shut up,” the young man said to the black bird. His tensed expression revealed his determination on this matter. “The person who should reflect on himself is Ye Yingzhi, not me! No one can stand him like that, no one. No creature can stand his… his unreasonable desire for control and possessiveness. I will not go back until he reflects and repents. It is useless even if he came personally to catch me.”

 

The black bird sighed and drooped part of its wings, “Okay then…you have the final say. But I must say, you are really bold, too bold. You are just utterly, completely spoiled by Lord Eymer, lawless little bastard.”

 

“You can go back by yourself. Go back and tell Ye Yingzhi what I said.” The young man raised his head and entered the gate of the academy. “Don’t follow me anymore.” The discussion between the man and bird gradually disappeared into the air.

 

For Chi Yan, ever since he could remember things, he lived in an empty, vast, exquisite and elegant temple. He was surrounded by many gods, but the center of his life would always be that one man – the man who was honoured as Lord Eymer by servants of the gods and other gods in the God Realm. He had another name. In the Mortal Realm, he was revered as a god, the Evil God Eymer – the most evil god who ruled all deaths, disasters, plagues, and war.

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

www.theredoaktree.com

But those had nothing to do with Chi Yan. The man personally told him that his real name was Ye Yingzhi and he asked Chi Yan to call him by this name.

 

As an immortal god, a man had hardly changed in his memory. When he was very young, the man would personally feed him, bathe him, coax him to sleep, and even tell him bedtime stories. When he was a little older, the man would hold his little hand and take him to tour the God Realm. This man had always been the most important person in his heart. He was like a father and a brother to him.

 

But as he grew older, his boyish figure gradually matured, revealing a young adult’s graceful lines and smooth facial curves. All these gradually changed. The evil god gazed at him differently from before. He was no longer looking at a pitiful cub that needed to be protected by him, but a lover whom he had carefully taken care of. Unknowingly, the top of Chi Yan’s head had reached the height of the man’s nose. At this age, it was hard to describe him as a teenager. He should be described as a young man.

 

During that period of time, such a gaze made Chi Yan feel at a loss. He blushed and his heart thumped. He began to deliberately avoid contact with the evil god, always hiding inside his bedroom that had a small garden to read. He knew that he was from the Mortal Realm, he was a human being, and he was offered to the man as a sacrifice. As the man had always pampered him and granted his wishes, he had never felt inferior because of this. Nevertheless, he was always curious and wanted to understand everything about the lower realm.

 

He vaguely remembered that he had a mother, the dilapidated and  impoverished village and the burning fire. However, after so many years, these images left a hazy impression in his mind and could not provide more information.

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

www.theredoaktree.com

His deliberate avoidance did not keep the god away from him. It was inevitable for them to meet at the dining table or in the god’s temple. The evil god’s eyes would always become a shade deeper, encompassing a deep thought that Chi Yan could not understand. He would call Chi Yan’s name in the usual low and calm voice and summon him over, gently hug him on his lap, and gently kiss the back of his neck and forehead.

 

Such actions were too embarrassing for the grown-up Chi Yan, but he could not avoid it—he could not refuse any requests from the man; he was also unwilling to refuse such intimacy and pampering by him. He could only continue to pretend to be completely ignorant and cling to him obediently, acceding to his requests.

 

Some time passed after this dark tide, and one day, Ye Yingzhi brought Chi Yan to visit the Goddess of Time. Here, through the corridor in the Temple of the Goddess of Time, Chi Yan saw his life in the Mortal Realm before coming to the God Realm. He saw himself struggling hard and his helpless biological mother. He also saw the withered and thin woman lying on a dilapidated straw mat, dying.

 

Those different scenes from his earlier life stung him. He rushed out of the temple’s corridor without hesitation, took away the white cloud horse in the Temple of the Goddess of Time, and rode this beast that could cross the two realms of human and god for a moment and returned to the place where he was born.

 

For any human being living in the upper realm, what he did was a great sin that was enough to disperse his soul. But Chi Yan didn’t care about these things at all, he didn’t care about anything — perhaps what Blackbird said was right, and the evil god had pampered him too much over the years. In heaven and on earth, everything had been done according to his will.

 

Chi Yan used the magic of the gods to shield himself from everything in the village, leaving only him and the dying, familiar and yet unfamiliar woman  – this was also punishable, but he didn’t care.

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

www.theredoaktree.com

In the God Realm, the young man who was habitually pampered and nurtured by the gods was very delicate and wore a white holy robe. His white and slender hands slowly lifted the woman’s withered and lifeless black and yellow hands, and gently rubbed them on his palms. He held them up slowly towards his cheeks. His black eyes reflected deep sorrow, and his eye sockets gradually turned red.

 

The woman opened her eyes slowly and looked at the stranger in front of her. Her throat trembled and slowly closed her muddy eyes – finally, the last breath of life disappeared from her body.

 

The young man could feel it, but he couldn’t grasp it. After all, he was just an ordinary mortal. He knew that that man, that god might be able to bring the old woman back to life in front of him, but he would not plead with him because of this. He understood the laws of this world, he understood life and death, he understood that when a life came to an end, he should let the other person go without worrying instead of staying in vain.

 

So he just slowly lowered his head, quietly and dejectedly buried himself in the woman’s skinny arms, choking silently.

 

Until another figure appeared in his vision.

 

The evil god came personally and carried him back to the God Realm.

 

However, he did not send the young man back to his residence, but directly carried him into his own residence – the majestic and solemn Yun Shang Palace belonging to the evil god.

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

www.theredoaktree.com

The young man who was still immersed in grief finally discovered his own predicament. He protruded his head uncomfortably from the arms of the evil god but was pressed down on the god’s black bed. He tilted his head to dodge, “… Ye Yingzhi.”

 

In fact, secretly, he had expected that there would be such a day, and even on some nights, he would feel unspeakably restless. But he didn’t expect it to be so sudden.

 

The evil god kissed him, “You rode away the Goddess of Time’s favourite cloud horse and I had to compensate her three.” 

 

The god held his lover tightly who dodged gently, and dropped another kiss, “…you should be punished.”

 

Translated by The Red Oak Tree

www.theredoaktree.com

 

Chapter 140◀︎Table Of Contents▶︎Chapter 142