"If you offer your child to the sky, you can get a measure of japonica rice. It's first come, first served. Once the quantity is full, it will be gone!"
Hundreds of priests wearing priestly robes shouted loudly under the altar. Countless mobs came forward with eyes shining, handed over the crying children, took the small half bag of japonica rice with great gratitude, and left laughing.
Look at the laughing men and women, look at the child who was crying loudly after being sent away by them. Chaitino couldn't help but sigh heavily. This is the greatest tragedy in the world!
By exchanging flesh and blood for food, these thugs have lost their bottom line as human beings!
"I can't, I can't!"
The crowd suddenly roared at the top of their lungs. Chai Tiannuo looked up and saw a Taoist priest, pushing the mob holding the child hard and shouting loudly:
"What is the sky? What is the sky?!"
"If you give your children to these ungrateful people in exchange for food, do you still have the heart to be parents and are you still human?"
"I saw it. They are harming the children. They cannot give it to them. They must not give it to them!"
The clergy of Cangtian Dao did not stop him, they just smiled and looked at the Taoist in tattered clothes, running madly through the crowd, as if they were looking at a ridiculous idiot.
"I'll beat you to death, you meddlesome and forgetful person!"
The Taoist's shouts did not wake up the mob, but instead made them feel ashamed of being exposed. Someone immediately pounced on them, raised their fists and hit them hard.
"If you can't live anymore, why do you need children?"
"As long as you are troubled, you will be troubled!"
Countless fists fell, and the Taoist's face quickly started to bleed. He did not resist, but saw the opportunity to grab the kid, turned around and ran away at an astonishing speed.
"Master Priest, why don't you kill that idiot? His actions will shake the faith of believers."
A priest asked doubtfully, and the green-robed priest chuckled and said:
"Don't you think having him around will make this boring thing more interesting?"
"interesting?"
The priest was confused, and the green-robed priest laughed again:
"He will tear off the fig leaf of all the mob and let these ants know that the depths of his heart are not a pure land, but a filthy and putrid place!"
"Then the ants will know that only by believing in heaven can they be saved. With what they have done, there is no place for them in the world!"
"...will they be saved?"
"How can it be? How can something like a maggot deserve to be saved?"
The green-robed priest laughed even harder. Chaitino looked at them and slowly retreated to a secret place.
The idiot held the child and shuttled back and forth among the mob, with fists and kicks constantly falling on him. He just held the child tightly and did not fight back, but just ran wildly.
Chai Tiannuo followed from behind, chasing all the way to the neighborhood alley.
There was someone holding a hand at the lane entrance. When he saw it was a Taoist, he immediately moved out of the way to let him in. A leading man threw a handkerchief to him and sighed:
"Taoist Priest, those who can't be saved are all heartless guys. We can't guarantee that we will survive. What's the use of saving the child?"
The foolish Taoist wiped the blood stains on his face with a handkerchief, saluted several people with his child in his arms, and walked silently into the depths.
The big man sighed again. They were all the original residents of Ziyang City. All they could do was pretend to believe in the way of heaven, guard their small homes, and pray that this disaster would pass as soon as possible. They couldn't think about anything else.
After lightly jumping up to the roof, Chai Tiannuo saw the Taoist priest walking all the way in, and finally came to a small but extremely neat Taoist temple.
Entering the Taoist temple, there was an eight or nine-year-old girl inside. When she saw the Taoist coming back with her head covered in blood, her eyes immediately turned red. She bit her lip and brought a basin of water, crying and saying:
"Master, wash your face."
The Taoist nodded and ignored himself. He lowered his head first and worriedly checked the five or six-year-old boy in his arms.
The punches and kicks didn't stop all the way. Although the Taoist kept the baby close to his chest, he was eventually affected, with bruises all over his body, crying like a kitten, and he was extremely weak.
"How can this dog-like heaven turn people into beasts?"
Squatting on the ground, he gently wiped the baby's face with a handkerchief dipped in water. Looking at the tender cheeks and wiping them, the Taoist burst into tears. The girl pulled her master's arm and also started to cry loudly.
.
Chai Tiannuo landed lightly, squatted beside the crying Taoist, and asked softly:
"Why are you crying?"
"I don't understand why good people have turned into beasts!"
"If their own flesh and blood can be used as items for trade, do they still have human hearts?"
"...Human beings are inherently good and evil. When good intentions are eliminated and evil intentions emerge, they will naturally turn into devils, which are more terrifying than real devils!"
Chai Tiannuo said softly. Only then did the Taoist react. He hugged the two children and stepped aside, asking in surprise:
"You, who are you and how did you get here?"
Chaitino stood up without saying a word. He just took out the spiritual spring water mixed with the fruit of the afterlife, and went up to drink it with the baby. The bruises all over his body disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Drink some, you're seriously injured."
Looking at Chai Tiannuo's sincere eyes, the Taoist did not hesitate, took the teapot and took a swig, and his injuries immediately began to recover.
"Are you a god?!"
The Taoist looked at Chai Tiannuo in surprise, and Chai Tiannuo sneered:
"How can a god who is so high above pay attention to the soil being trampled under his feet?"
"wrong."
The Taoist shook his head vigorously and said sincerely:
"Fairy beings are the incarnation of the goodwill of heaven and earth, rescuing people in distress and showing compassion to the world."
"It is demons who trample people under their feet, not gods!"
Chai Tiannuo was taken aback, these words were somewhat beyond his expectation. Ever since he understood what the heavenly beings did, he had already hated the immortals to the extreme in his heart. He never thought that such a statement could be made.
"The mother goddess who mends the sky for mankind, the immortal who protects human ancestors, and the forest immortal who teaches the human emperor knowledge, they are the real gods!"
The Taoist said seriously. Just when Chai Tiannuo was about to ask again, he heard a chirping sound. After thinking for a while, he waved his hand and took out a few huge pearls and handed them to the Taoist:
"If you have been hungry for a long time, boil some rice soup to warm your stomach. Don't eat too much, as it will be bad for your health."
"Thank you, immortal!"
The Taoist looked at the huge grain of rice in his hand in surprise and bowed deeply.
"Don't call me an immortal. I'm just a scholar. Just call me husband."
Chai Tiannuo waved his hand, and the Taoist saluted again and called him sir.
But I thought in my heart, I waved my hand to fetch the magic medicine, and waved to summon the rice millet, but it was still so big, what could I be if I wasn’t an immortal?!
Not long after, the fragrant smell of rice porridge wafted up, and the two children and the Taoist devoured it. Chai Tiannuo said softly:
"Tell me about what's going on in this city."
The Taoist nodded and told what he knew. However, he knew very little and did not understand the origin of the matter.
I only know that Dongshan Province suffered a disaster due to the flood caused by the Huanglong River against the tide, and the officials and soldiers of Ziyang City were massacred by the Cangtian Dao clergy who suddenly appeared.
Then the city changed, and eventually it gradually became what it is today.
"Those Cangtian Taoists did not want to take good care of Ziyang City, but treated the people in the city as ants for them to play with!"
"There are too many people coming in these days, and a large number of people will starve to death every day."
"I went out to look for food two nights ago and saw someone killing people and dismembering their bodies. I didn't know what to do!"
"There are also people who change their children and eat them. I always thought that was all nonsense in the books, but in Ziyang City, it really happened!"