Chapter 73 Section five

Danny's skin no longer had earthy gray marks, and it seemed that the soul-eating ants that had penetrated into his body were almost eliminated.He was moved to a small wooden hut, and before he woke up, he collapsed on the ground lifelessly, covered with a thin layer of silky blanket—it was processed from the skin of the anaconda, and the spots on it looked like There are also some shocking. Danny's pores are still oozing sweat, and the skin that was once covered in golden yellow has turned into a purple caramel color and is highly swollen, in stark contrast to the other half's dark and shiny skin, like It's like a humanoid toy that someone spliced ​​together with two different pieces of skin and flesh.

We asked Big Beard about Danny's injury carefully, and Big Beard told us that the soul-eating ants in Danny's body have been cleaned up, and we can only know if he will become paralyzed after he wakes up. After a while, someone brought food, which consisted of several deliciously grilled snakehead fish and black eels, as well as a jar of pickled vegetables.To my surprise, there was still wine. As the host, the old chief sat in the middle and accompanied him, with a beard beside him, and his main task was to pour wine. The grilled fish tastes good, but the pickled vegetables are not that good, and the taste of the wine is even worse, with a pungent fishy smell. It is conceivable that these Teda people who are trapped underground rely on eating these things every day How pitiful it is to survive.

First, I toasted to the old chief and the bearded man to express my gratitude, and then filled my stomach with wind and clouds. Although the taste was not good, it was a thousand times better than raw catfish. In the chat, he mentioned the striped catfish that he had seen before. The old chief said that they were sacred objects of Tuotuoye River. According to ancient legend, their ancestors were brought from heaven by these catfish.After the elders in the family die, they will be cremated together with the eight catfish, so that the soul of the deceased can return to the heaven. Every year on May 10, they will hold a large-scale sacrificial activity to offer sacrifices to the catfish.

Fortunately, I was careful not to tell the story of eating raw catfish, otherwise I wonder if this group of Teda descendants who regard catfish as sacred objects will regard me as a friend.Ningxue was obviously very interested in the sacrificial activities, before the old chief could finish speaking, he asked, "How do you offer sacrifices?" "Every year on the day of sacrifice, our clan will elect the purest and kindest Teda and dedicate his body to the holy catfish." The old chief said proudly. I already roughly guessed the meaning of the so-called dedicating his body to Shengyu, and hastily winked at Ningxue to prevent her from asking further.

In fact, I don't need to remind, Ningxue can also think of this bloody and cruel scene of sacrifice.Everyone knows that the body is the only existence of a person in the real world. To sacrifice the body means to abandon this existence, the end of life, and the use of one's life to complete this meaningless sacrifice. ! I was afraid that the old chief would continue to talk about the sacrifice, and depicting the bloody scene on the dinner table would definitely make people lose their appetite, so I changed the topic and asked: "Since the catfish is a sacred object in the clan, why is the pyramid on the top of the pyramid?" Want to carve the head of an anaconda? Do they have a higher status in the clan than the holy catfish?"

The old chief was slightly taken aback, and said with a smile: "You mean big snakes? They are just our slaves. Before our ancestors came here, big snakes ruled here, and human beings had no way to survive. It was at this time, Emperor Ayuer came here on a large ship composed of holy catfish, fought against the snake king for three days and three nights, subdued the snake king Hopilituo, took out its snake gall, and distributed it to our ancestors, endowing us with courage and strength. Lock the soul of the Snake King in the holy tower, hang its head on the top of the tower, so that it can serve as a guard for our people forever. Since the Snake King Hopilito was subdued, its descendants have become ours Servant, you must never resist. Moreover, as long as it looks at the place, the big snake will not resist."

Like other myths and legends, in this story there are ferocious and bloodthirsty monsters, and there is also a human ancestor with great supernatural powers. It is through his great achievements in turning things around that human beings conquered nature and lived in peace and contentment. I have always believed that myths and legends are a kind of changed historical facts, but the historical facts have become unrecognizable and unbelievable after the continuous addition of oil and vinegar by later generations.If we strip away the superstition, the restored facts may be: in the prehistoric era before the emergence of humans, anacondas became the food terminal here by virtue of their physical advantages. When human ancestors came here, they were completely incompatible with This huge beast contends and leads a precarious and miserable life.I don’t know how long it took, but finally a brave man appeared. His name is Emperor Ayuer—I believe this is the honorary title given to him by later generations. People in ancient times were more tribal leaders than emperors. .He not only subdued the ferocious anaconda, but also found out the habits of these beasts, and invented the method of using sound to seduce the anaconda.

This should probably be the truth of history, just like Emperor Xuanyuan of Shennong in Chinese mythology.As for what he said about the big boat made of holy catfish and what locked the soul of the Snake King, these things were just added on purpose by later generations. "Then why haven't I seen any statues of Emperor Ayur? In many places, such a great human ancestor would leave statues for future generations to worship." I asked suspiciously. The old chief raised his head, looked into the distance, and said leisurely: "Emperor Ayuer is not a human being, he is the incarnation of a god, no one can see what he looks like, sometimes he is a cloud of fog, sometimes he is a stone .”

In normal times, I would have yelled at his words, because it sounded more like an excuse for a poor novelist after weaving a story that couldn't be justified, but I held back and just smiled Laughing, said: "Can you tell me the story of a thousand years ago?" "Are you talking about Notinor's blasphemy and being punished?" I nodded: "Yes, yes, it's about the chief." The old chief was stunned for a while, and said: "His name is Notinor, he is an extremely smart chief, and it is under his leadership that our people have lived the most prosperous and happy life for more than 30 years. He is not only a An outstanding leader, and also a great wizard who can directly communicate with the sky, and even change the weather. You should know how capricious the weather is in the desert. If you can control the weather, you can guarantee the harvest every year , he is also the most powerful wizard so far. But when he was fifty years old, a white tramp came here. He had a good face, and he was the kind of honest and honest person. What hides in this loyal body is an out-and-out devil. His purpose of coming here is to make us, the servants of the gods, betray our master and fall into doom. Of course, no one could see this at the time, even Notinor didn't notice either. So we took in this dying homeless man. Soon he won the trust of Notinor with his sweet words, and the two often talked all night long, inseparable. Until one day...that day , the weather was so cloudy that even the youngest child could feel that a catastrophe was coming, Nautinor held a family meeting, and he said that he had received an oracle that Hopilito's soul had escaped from Sanctuary. Tower, is leading his own army of pythons to march here. Since Emperor Ayuer subdued Hopilituo, all the evil spirits after the death of the pythons who had been loyal to us have betrayed us and followed their original masters to declare war on us. He He also pointed to the hazy sky and said that it was the bloody wind caused by the army of evil spirits approaching, and in a short time, we will face a catastrophe, and all people will be eaten by them for their souls, and they will never be reborn!"

These are indeed very deceptive words. For a nation that believes in gods, gods are not only the object of their worship, but also the source of their fear. Notinor understands this very well. He used the gods of his own national belief to confuse. No one will doubt his words. The old chief paused, took a sip of wine, and continued to narrate: "He is the chief of our nation whose mana is second only to Emperor Ayur in history, and he is also the only person the people believe in, and at that time the sky was almost as dark as night, No one believed that this would be a natural phenomenon. So everyone fell into extreme panic, and the desperate women cried loudly. Notinor went on to say that Emperor Ayuer had already expected this day to come, so in Before he left us, he made preparations and left the artifact he used when he defeated Hopilito in the holy tower. As long as he got it, Emperor Ayur would give us the power to overcome everything and completely destroy the snake spirit Army, we must open the holy tower and take it out."

"I think everybody will take him at his word," I put in.If you want people to follow you wholeheartedly, you must understand the psychology of others. Even if you strip him of the superstitious cloak of a wizard, Notinor is worthy of being an outstanding politician.He not only knows how to make a group of believers go crazy, but also knows how to use changes in the outside world to subtly combine with the beliefs of these people.I think this is also the reason why many rebel forces in the world use the cloak of religion to carry out demagogy. "Yes, almost everyone believed his words, but not all of them. Some people raised their own doubts, because there is a rule in our clan that cannot be overridden. No one can step into the holy tower half a step to open it. The mission of the holy tower can only be completed by the angel. But Notinor is just a chieftain and wizard, he has no key, which means that he is not an angel, and if he wants to open the holy tower, he has committed a crime. Clan rules. But at that time everyone’s panic had overwhelmed reason, no one thought of this, the voices of those who raised doubts were too low, they could only remind themselves, but they could not stop everyone.” "What happened later?" Ningxue also became very interested in this matter, staring intently at the old chief and asked. The old chief sighed and said: "Later, the swarms of people rushed to the holy tower together, and beat the holy tower as solid as a whole stone with various tools, because no one knew where the door of the holy tower was, You can only use these clumsy methods to try to break the holy tower. I think the gods would not punish them so severely if you had not resorted to these extremely blasphemous actions." "Then did you open the holy door in the end?" I asked eagerly, completely forgetting that this question was unnecessary. "The crowd was almost chaotic at that time. Think about it, tens of thousands of people gathered around this holy tower, and the sound of 'ping-pong-pong' was chaotic. What kind of scene is this? But just like what we saw just now, no one noticed Where is the door of the holy tower? Since there is no door, how can the holy tower be opened? At this moment, Notinor, who had climbed to the top, suddenly let out a scream and fell straight from the sky." Perhaps seeing my puzzled expression, the old chief explained: "The terrain here is very strange, it is in the gap between two mountains." He raised his palms and made a gesture in front of him, "The mountain is very strange. Wide, the Tuotuoye River passes through the middle of the two mountains like a sharp blade, connecting the two mountains together. There is also a platform on the mountainside, and the tower is on it. What is even more peculiar is that from the mountain There are two straight cliffs at the foot of this platform, but in the middle part, one mountain has a protruding platform, and the other is just sunken in a large piece, and at the top of the mountain, the peaks are close together again. According to the clan According to legend, the thick vines growing on the top of the mountain almost connect the two mountains together, and even the sunlight cannot penetrate!" I imagined the picture he drew. The terrain here is a bit like a "eight" character. The pyramids are sandwiched between the two mountains on the left and right, forming a grand canyon with walls like blades. We are now in the middle of the Grand Canyon. on the high platform. "Why did he fall?" Ningxue asked in surprise. The old chief said solemnly: "Of course those who blaspheme will be punished. Just after he fell, the people who followed him to the sky also fell one after another. Before everyone could react, the deafening sound came from It was reported from the above, and then many animals fell from the sky, then there were vines and trees, and then there was yellow sand that rushed down like a waterfall. All those who tried to open the holy tower were submerged in the yellow sand, and the whole world was destroyed. The darkness is gone!" Although the old chief only used a few words to describe the situation at that time, I can imagine the situation when a huge catastrophe occurred at that time. The yellow sand that suddenly poured down would not only make the sky dark, but even just listen to the cries of the people caught in the sand flow Hissing can make people nervous.Thanks to the wonders of nature, if it weren't for the narrow opening on the top of the mountain, the sudden rush of sand flowed like a rainbow, and the canyon on the top of the mountain was covered by vines, I am afraid that this place would have been buried long ago. "Is everyone dead?" Ningxue's voice was full of pity.She should have been overwhelmed by the old chief's narration at this time, if she had thought about it a little, she would not have asked this question. "No, only a few hundred people survived." The old chief replied in a low voice. "None of these people were involved in this crazy move?" I asked. The old chief's face returned to calm: "Yes, they were all hesitating at the time. They didn't go up to the high platform, but were still below. When the yellow sand poured down, they all hid in the cave." He glanced at me after saying this, and said: "I know you will say that it seems far-fetched to attribute this natural disaster to the gods, but we believe that this is the will of the gods, and it is he who tried to open the holy tower. Why did the sandstorm pour down at this time? Why are those who tried to open the tower gate buried? And those who abide by the teachings of the ancestors can survive? Isn’t this the will of God? ?” I smiled as an answer.In fact, I don't agree with his point of view. There are coincidences everywhere in the world, and people in it often attribute such coincidences to fate.When a speeding car knocks a jaywalker into the air, the survivors walking behind him believe that God has helped them.When human beings stand out among thousands of creatures and become another overlord after the dinosaurs, they will proudly think that this is the result of God's favor and the arrangement of fate.We don't realize that if the environment on the earth had undergone another change after the separation of the apes, then it might be gorillas instead of humans that are flooding the earth now.