Chapter 14 Chapter Twelve

In the second half of the night, the weather on the sea suddenly turned bad, and there was a violent storm all night, and even the gigantic Dawei Tianchao suffered a lot from the wind and waves. The breakfast bell rang, and the table in the hall was full of sleepy eyes and thoughts, and the cups and plates on the table were neatly placed, and no one touched it. Ao Guang's smile also seemed very forced, and said: "Miss Lan Pa is still unconscious, Mr. Yu asked me to take care of everyone's daily life temporarily. Today I specially ordered to make spring rice cakes. This was when the Sanbao eunuch was in Hanoi. The cooks learned it from the local natives. Everyone while it’s hot, while it’s hot.”

Sure enough, there was a celadon plate with a cover in front of everyone, with many patterns woven with very thin rattan, which was quite Hanoi.Bu Xiaoluan stretched out his hand to uncover it, but Zhuo Wangsun stopped her with his gaze, and said: "We haven't arrived yet, let's wait for Mr. Zhuang." As expected, Huang Si's place was empty, and a solitary wisp of pale hot air seeped out from under the cover.Ao Guang gradually felt a little uncomfortable and called out, "Come here." A small servant hurried over, and Ao Guang asked, "Where is Mr. Zhuang?"

"Master Ao, since last night, Mr. Zhuang has been standing alone on the deck looking at the sky, neither eating nor drinking, and not picking by anyone. It is said that he is training his eyes. It was late last night, and the younger one got up to check the night and found Mr. Zhuang was still looking at the moon. It was probably because of a storm that he went back to his room, so I’m afraid we won’t be able to get up early this morning.” "Well," Ao Guang relaxed a little, "In this case, we will go without disturbing, everyone please use it." "Slow down." Zhuo Wangsun said to the little servant, "Go to Mr. Zhuang's room and invite him. If he doesn't come, it's fine."

The little handyman came down in response, and everyone started to move their chopsticks slowly. Before the lid was opened, the little handyman who went down just now ran up in a daze, urah, hula, shouting for some reason. Ao Guang frowned, heard him still screaming, and slapped him backhand: "Crazy? What happened?" The little handyman covered his face and squeezed out a few words: "Mr. Zhuang is not here...that man, that person's eyes are bleeding..." "Who? Whose eyes?" Ao Guang grabbed his collar with a stern voice. The little handyman was so frightened that he whimpered and cried: "It's a screen, a screen..."

Zhuo Wangsun got up and went to the screen, and some people followed. But seeing the seven strange screens at the stern, the first picture of Ruan Ji's Chang Xiao has undergone a frightening change.The white eyes that Ruan Ji looked up at proudly turned into two holes of blood. The blood seemed to have solidified, turning an iron-black color. "What's going on?" Xiangsi held Zhuo Wangsun's hand, her voice trembling. Zhuo Wangsun's face darkened, and he said, "You go back first." Xiangsi couldn't help but glanced again, her face became even paler, and said in a trembling voice: "Sir, blood is dripping down..."

Zhuo Wangsun saw that the bloodstain had indeed expanded a lot, blooming in circles and dripping down, like a black and red flower blooming in Ruan Ji's eye sockets. "Ah!" A woman's scream came from the dining room.Just now the little handyman yelled loudly: "It's dead, it's dead!" Everyone rushed to the dining room again. But Tang Xiu'er covered her mouth and sat down on the chair, her body convulsing uncontrollably.The plate in front of her was lifted, and the snow-white porcelain plate was coiled like a blood-stained net, with a pair of white eyes limp in the middle.

Not the deep blue eyes of Jayanti, but the black and white eyes with entangled human meridians.The eyeballs were steaming hot, and they were already cooked. Zhuo Wangsun lowered his face and said, "Who sent this up?" There was no sound in the hall. Zhuo Wangsun's expression darkened, and he said, "Leader Yang, please seal up the things on this table immediately, and no one will get close to it until I come back." He flicked his sleeves and walked towards the screen. At this time, Ruan Ji's face on the screen was cracked with the enlargement of the eye sockets, and his face was suddenly ferocious, as if he was about to pounce out at any moment.Everyone was shocked, and couldn't help backing away.Zhuo Wangsun had already seen the mystery, and said, "Bring a bucket of water quickly!"

After a while, when the water was brought, Zhuo Wangsun said: "Splash it on." The handyman flinched and didn't dare to go forward, so Ao Guang picked up the golden crutch and poked the barrel, water poured down the screen immediately. But Ruan Ji suddenly became exhausted, covered in blood, and finally melted away. Ao Guang suddenly realized: "It turned out that someone had applied potion on this painting, which made the upper layer of paint start to peel off, and deliberately wiped off the pattern on the eyes to reveal the red color underneath. Due to the humid air this morning, the rest of the paint was also gone. It peeled off one after another, which created the illusion of blood dripping..."

However, no one in the audience seemed to be listening to his explanation, they just watched the painting silently. The ancient painting that had been covered in dust for a long time seemed to be reborn from blood, and saw the sun again. The Heavenly Sacrifice of the Desire Realm of the Six Branches of Heavenly Sacrifice - Jayanti. In the background of the huge mandala is Jayanti, daughter of the storm and god of the sea. For thousands of years, in the Desire Realm Heaven ruled by Jayanti, everything is peaceful and beautiful, unchanged from ancient times.However, she was obsessed with the incarnation of Shiva, the storm god, greedy for mundane lust and love, and even died of old age, sickness and death.Under her rule, the Desire Realm became a place where gods and demons dance together and indulge in joy.

When the day's sacrifice came, she calmly chose to bear all the responsibilities, abandoned the eternal life and peace, and flew to the end of the sea, the great whirlpool Utuo where the dragon lived, until she was swallowed by the water dragon and entangled to pieces. But her admiration and devotion to the great god also made her one of the four holy beasts. In this way, her soul was divided into two, half of which guarded the holy spring on the snow mountain, and the other half suffered eternally on the heavenly sacrifice pillar.Only by recovering the other half of the soul on the sacrificial pillar can she regain her immortality.Before that, her life was guarded only by believers.

In that sky festival picture, the waves are surging, the lightning flashes and the thunder rumbles.In the black waves, a jet-black giant dragon shone with scales, roaring and churning.The pair of spread wings behind Jayanti have been tightly entangled by the giant dragon, and her bird-claw-like left foot is contained in the dragon's mouth, blood splatters everywhere, but her expression is still joyful and pious, like a handprint on her chest. The pictures are extremely vivid, as if they have dragged people back to the ancient sea in an instant.It seemed that the churning of the waves, the roar of the dragon, and the sound of Jayanti's weeping mantras were all vivid in my ears. Xiangsi stared at the huge bottomless vortex, and the edge of the vortex was shining in a faint but clearly visible strange pink.This light was exactly the same as the one she had seen on the deck last night! Could it be that this ship is not taking them to their destination, but taking them to the vortex and back to hell? Suddenly, a person rushed down, dancing and saying: "Hahaha, Mr. Zhuang has found it, Mr. Zhuang has found it!" After a quick exchange, his facial features were twisted weirdly, as if he had gone crazy. "Stop!" Zhuo Wangsun stopped him. He made a mysterious grimace: "Shhh—Mr. Zhuang is on the deck squinting, squinting, falling asleep, falling asleep...haha" He clapped his hands and walked outside. Zhuo Wangsun lowered his face, shook him off, and walked towards the deck. Zhuang Yi's corpse—maybe it could be called a corpse—laid stiffly on his back in the mandala. The mandala was painted with white paint, and despite a night of wind and rain, it was still as bright as ever.The pair of eyes he was so proud of had disappeared, leaving two dark bloody caves filled with rainwater, and the broken bones and muscles inside were floating in a mess. His forehead, face, and chest cavity were all deeply sunken, the blood had been washed away by the wind and rain, but the minced meat was still sticking to it, showing a pale color.His left foot was gone, and his tibia was white and phosphorescent.Two rows of jagged incompleteness were clearly printed on the wound, as if swallowed by a legendary dragon. Many people ran to the gangway and vomited. Zhuo Wangsun said: "All the female guests, please stay away for a while. Mr. Xie, may I help you examine the corpse?" Xie Shan frowned in embarrassment, still leaned over and tore off his clothes, and started the autopsy. "The body was completely wet and discolored. It was killed in the wind and waves in the middle of the night. The front of the head, chest, and front were severely injured. The skull and ribs were completely shattered, and there were also large purple-black bruises on the surrounding skin. The wound area was huge, but it was One blow, the force on the wound is peculiar, and it cannot be done by a rare weapon such as a large iron plate unless someone with supernatural power swings it. If it is not a super expert, no weapon that a woman wields will be able to do this. Forcibly tearing it away, the method is extremely cruel..." Xie Shan shook his head, and did not continue. Tang Xiu'er murmured at the side: "The murder weapon, what a strange murder weapon." Xie Shan nodded and said, "Such a huge murder weapon must be difficult to hide, how about searching around on the boat?" Ao Guang looked up to the sky and sighed, "It's good to search, but most of the effort is wasted." Tang Xiu'er was surprised and said, "It's a waste of effort? Don't you know where the murder weapon is?" Ao Guang shook his head and said: "Miss, don't forget, this is on the boat, no matter what kind of murder weapon you just need to throw into the water... ah." He turned to Xiaoyan and asked: "Your Highness, I don't know if I can ask Zi A word from Miss Shi." Xiaoyan smiled calmly and said, "How dare a small foreign country call you His Highness in front of the Celestial Court." Ao Guang originally only asked tentatively, but he did not expect him to admit it so frankly. Xiao Yan didn't change his face, and said: "Zi Shiji, whatever Mr. Ao asks you, you have to answer truthfully." Ao Guang clasped his fists in thanks, and asked, "Miss Zishi, the place where the dead body was buried happened to be at the junction of your roof and His Highness's roof. Did you hear any unusual sounds last night? Such as footsteps, fighting, screaming?" Zi Shiji said: "No. Only the sound of wind and waves." Ao Guang asked again: "Where is Your Highness?" Xiaoyan smiled lightly and said, "That's true." Ao Guang sighed: "In this way, the murderer's martial arts are simply unbelievably high." Tang Xiu'er said, "How do you know?" Ao Guang said: "Based on such a wound, this person must have at least forty years of masculine internal strength. What's more, he was on the deck on a stormy night, wielding a huge murder weapon. With one blow, people were smashed to pieces and even screamed." There was no sound of fighting..." Ao Guang's face darkened, and he said, "What's more, the deceased is Houyi's bow Zhuang Yi." Everyone was stunned, Tang Xiu'er suddenly said: "It could also be a sneak attack, or someone the deceased knew?" Ao Guang's expression darkened, and he said, "To be able to hold such a huge weapon, I'm afraid it's hard to count it as a sneak attack, and with Mr. Zhuang's character, he won't trust anyone." Tang Xiu'er said: "Then what do you mean to say that last night a top expert came and went without a trace and killed someone here, and even destroyed the body like a lunatic to such an unbearable extent, and then disappeared immediately?" Ao Guang lowered his voice and said, "I'm afraid the murderer is already on board." Tang Xiu'er was startled and said, "On the boat?" Ao Guangdao: "After setting sail yesterday, there was a night of strong wind and waves, and no one could get on the boat halfway." Tang Xiu'er said: "Then it means that the murderer is hiding among everyone?" Everyone was speechless for a moment, but they all acquiesced to this speculation in their hearts, but their eyes couldn't help turning to other people, an indescribable panic gradually dispersed in the air . Tang Xiu'er glanced at everyone's faces, and said: "It seems that the people on this boat are really weird...Young Master Yu, you don't seem to be listening to us all this time, I don't know if there is something wrong opinion?" Zhuo Wangsun said: "I'm looking at the mandala behind him." Everyone's eyes fell on the white-painted mandala on the deck again. After being washed by the rain all night, that weird pattern looked very dazzling on the blood-stained deck. Everyone watched for a while, Tang Xiu'er suddenly lost her voice: "This, isn't this the same as the one on the screen downstairs?" Ao Guangdao: "It's true. However, what does this mandala mean? Can Mr. Yu tell you a thing or two?" Zhuo Wangsun said with a smile: "I really don't know anything about Hinduism." Ao Guang frowned and said, "Miss Lan Pa is still in a coma. Do I have to wait until India to find a Brahmin wise man to explain this picture?" Zhuo Wangsun said with a smile, "No need. There are people here who are familiar with Hindu teachings, but they just don't want to show up." Ao Guangdao: "I don't know what Young Master Yu is talking about?" Zhuo Wangsun smiled but did not answer. At this time, Xiaoyan slowly walked out from the crowd and said: "Others don't want to speak out, they have their own secrets, so why force it. If you want to know the origin of this picture, you might as well get an ax at the door of the office. once." Ao Guang breathed a sigh of relief, and said, "It's rare for His Highness to be so considerate, thank you for your trouble." Xiao Yan said: "This pair of mandalas and the seven screens downstairs should all come from the legend of the six heavenly sacrifices in Hinduism. The seven are the pictures of the six gods offering sacrifices, and the last main god picture. This is the first one. Heaven Festival." Ao Guang said thoughtfully: "I heard from an Indian businessman before that the six heavenly sacrifices are the highest sacrifices in Hinduism, and they are sacrifices to Shiva, the great god of destruction." Xiao Yan said: "It is said that God Shiva has six incarnations in addition to destroying, which respectively control the other six powers in the world, namely storm, war, asceticism, dance, sexual power, and beast master. When the world is full of evil At that time, he destroyed everything with the giant bow in his hand, and then it was rebuilt by Brahma, the creator of the world. When the world was destroyed last time, Shiva’s wife, the Snow Mountain Goddess, took pity on all beings in the world and warned the gods of the six realms with divine power. The gods of the six realms were determined to To bear all the responsibilities and prevent the destruction of the world, they offered the heaviest sacrifice between heaven and earth to the six incarnations of Lord Shiva—the six heavenly sacrifices. Since then, their bodies and souls have been the pillars of sacrifice between the sea and the sky forever. tortured by God, and because of this, our sinful world has survived to this day. But 100,000 years ago, the great god Shiva destroyed the three cities of King Asura with arrows, and the pillars of the heavenly sacrifice were shaken and almost collapsed. The souls of the gods of the six realms moved to themselves—they stabbed the six heavenly sacrifice pictures and the god Shiva's image on each other's back bit by bit, and peeled off before they died. " "Ah—" some female guests couldn't help screaming. Xiao Yan paused, but continued: "The resentful souls of all the sinners in the six realms are attached to these seven human skins and enshrined in the deepest part of Leshenglun Palace. Until a hundred years ago, these seven Zhang Renpi disappeared from the palace inexplicably, and the gods of the six worlds broke away from the seal, and wandered between the two worlds, looking for a substitute. The first god, Jayanti, has appeared from time to time for a hundred years, and it has caused endless legends." He suddenly smiled. After a while, he said: "It is said that Leshenglun Palace is located in the depths of Mount Gang Rinpoche in the snowy land. Some of them lived on the snow-capped mountains until their death, but never saw this palace. So I always thought it was just a legend. Unexpectedly, these seven pictures of the Heavenly Sacrifice were brought to the Dawei Tianchao. See, I don’t know whether to sigh lucky or unlucky.” Tang Xiu'er sneered and said, "Oh, after all, it's still a set of strange things. It turns out that the deceased was killed by a strange bird, so will this corpse be nailed to the sky as a substitute? ?” Xiaoyan said calmly: "Whether this catastrophe was caused by magic or manpower, I am not the only one who can know." Zhuo Wangsun said: "Then do you know the meaning of this mandala?" Xiaoyan frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and said in a low voice: "Revenge." His voice was very soft, but everyone in the audience felt a chill down their backs for no reason. Zhuo Wangsun said: "Is this a sacrifice to the Storm God by the God of the Desire Realm?" Xiao Yan nodded slightly: "Yes, the sin represented by this heavenly sacrifice is greed, and the language of the sacrifice is revenge." Tang Xiu'er interrupted loudly: "Since that's the case, I think the murderer is very clear." Ao Guangdao: "Does Miss Tang have any good ideas?" Tang Xiu'er said: "The sacrificial language is revenge, so just find out who is Zhuang Yi's enemy here." Ao Guang frowned and said: "Mr. Zhuang travels in the world and has many enemies. As for who here has a grudge against Mr. Zhuang, it will not be clear in a short while." Tang Xiu'er shook her head and said, "I can't find out the previous enemy, but there is one here now." Ao Guang asked in astonishment, "Who is it?" Tang Xiu'er said: "Lan Pa." She looked proudly at the surprised expressions on everyone's faces, and said slowly: "That day when Zhuang Yi killed Jayanti, Lan Pa almost went mad with anger, if you want to say that the one who wants Zhuang Yi to die the most No one belongs to her." Ao Guang was startled, shook his head and said: "It's absolutely impossible, Miss Lan Pa is still unconscious, and with her martial arts, she is no match for Zhuang Yi anyway." Tang Xiu'er sneered, and said, "Of course Lan Pa is no match, but her master is hard to say." Ao Guang said, "Who?" Tang Xiu'er pointed at Zhuo Wangsun: "He." Ao Guang was startled and said, "Young Master Yu? This...how is this possible?" Tang Xiu'er sneered and said, "Didn't Mr. Yu promise Shiva to be reincarnated to protect Lan Pa from those who don't believe in God?" Everyone's eyes could not help turning to Zhuo Wangsun, and they didn't make any distinctions when they saw him, and said to a handyman beside him: "Go and bring that plate up." The man was a little startled: "Is it just a plate?" Zhuo Wangsun said: "Of course it includes the eyeballs." Tang Xiu'er shivered subconsciously, frowned and said, "What mystery do you want to make?" At this time, the handyman came up with the dish, his hands trembling, he threw it to the middle of the deck, and hurriedly avoided it.With a crisp sound, the lid of the saucer flipped to one side, and a pair of white greasy meat balls the size of wine cups rolled out. Xiangsi turned her head away, and said softly: "It's really retribution. Unexpectedly, Zhuang Yi killed Jayanti in order to get the immortal eyes, but now the pair of immortal eyes are also dug out and thrown on the ground." Tang Xiu'er didn't dare to look at the plate, she only glanced at the cover on the ground, it was dripping wet, and there was a faint bloodstain on it, almost vomited out, and forced herself to ask: "What the hell is Mr. Yu going to do?" Zhuo Wangsun said: "The front of the corpse was hit hard with a blunt weapon, the bones and flesh were shattered, but the eyeballs were intact." Tang Xiu'er thought for a while, and said, "What's the point, it just means that the murderer first gouged out Zhuang Yi's eyes, and then crushed the body." Zhuo Wangsun smiled and said, "This at least shows that Zhuang Yi was dead or unconscious before being hit hard." Ao Guang suddenly realized: "Indeed, according to the testimonies of Your Highness and Miss Zishi, Mr. Zhuang never struggled or screamed with great force until his death. No matter how fast the murderer's movements are, he won't be able to dig out alive if he hits him with one blow. eyes, but the deceased didn’t even have time to scream. Moreover, there are no other signs of fatal injuries or poisoning on Mr. Zhuang’s body—then it is very likely that Mr. Zhuang received acupuncture points or drugged before he was crushed by the huge force.” Tang Xiu'er said: "Even if Zhuang Yi is tapped or confused first, Mr. Yu may not be able to get rid of anything. After all, even if only a corpse is destroyed to this extent, it is impossible without extremely high internal strength." Zhuo Wangsun said calmly: "I don't need to wash away anything, I just want to remind everyone that Zhuang Yi still has an enemy, and he is not the only enemy of this enemy." Tang Xiu'er said, "Who are you talking about?" Zhuo Wangsun smiled and said, "Jayanti." Tang Xiu'er was startled, and said in a trembling voice, "You mean he was killed by Jayanti?" Zhuo Wangsun said with a smile: "It's not completely impossible." Tang Xiu'er was startled, as if thinking of something: "More than one... Could it be that we are all?" She suddenly remembered Lan Pa's gloomy and hoarse voice—you all committed sins that will never be undone, and God condemned you all to be smashed to pieces in Jayanti Where buried, none escaped. You, as a substitute, will die tragically one by one according to God's wish, so that the gods of the six realms can be freed, and the world can be cleansed of sin... Tang Xiu'er raised her head sharply, her complexion was as paper as paper: "Could this be the beginning of the Six Branches Heaven Festival?" Everyone was shocked, and the blood-red giant palm that flowed under the bird corpse on the deck that day seemed to slowly protrude before their eyes again.The gods were furious, and the lives were devastated. Could it be that all this is really Shiva's punishment? Zhuo Wangsun didn't speak, just stared at the dead man's mutilated left foot. Xiangsi said in a low voice: "Sir, every sacrificer of the Six Heavenly Sacrifice will lack a part of his body, which symbolizes the cleansing of sins. The lack of a left foot means revenge." Zhuo Wangsun smiled leisurely: "I'm wondering if there is another meaning here besides conforming to the picture of offering sacrifices to heaven—for example," he looked up at the sky: "I want to cover up something."