Chapter 265: Sacrifice
Amidst the cheers of the crowd, a few figures walked out from the palace gate. They were four men and one woman. They were all wearing dark blue robes. The sleeves of the robes were printed with the unique patterns of the Seafolk Race.
Four men walked behind them. The patterns on the sleeves were woven with silver silk. The one walking in front was a young woman. The silk on her sleeves was golden.
At this moment, the eyes of the crowd in the square were all focused on the woman.
"High Priest! The High Priest is here!"
"Bless the Sea G.o.d!"
"Bless the High Priest!"
Nina looked at the young woman and said in surprise, "Selena?"
Heath asked in puzzlement, "You mean that woman is Selena? The daughter of the Sea G.o.d, the Siren?"
Nina nodded. "There"s no mistake. There"s a portrait of Selena in the Academy"s Great Wizard Library. It was drawn by a famous painter of the Seafolk Race at that time. It"s exactly the same as the image here."
Heath couldn"t help but look at the woman curiously.
The woman was very young. She looked to be in her early 20s. She had water-blue hair, oval face, and big eyes. She was very beautiful, but she didn"t smile or speak. She looked high and mighty. Her whole body was emitting a cold aura.
Seeing Heath staring at Selena, Nina couldn"t help but laugh. "What? Do you like her? If you like her, then come closer and take a look."
Heath shook his head and said casually, "No need. I"m just taking a look."
Nina rolled her eyes. "What are you pretending for?"
"Selena was said to be the most beautiful woman in the Seafolk Race at that time. Countless men dreamed about her body. Now I"m giving you a chance to peek openly. Aren"t you happy?"
Without waiting for Heath"s reply, she floated forward.
Seeing this, Heath also followed.
These remnant images of souls were only images of past events that had been distorted by the rule of time. They didn"t have real ent.i.ties, so naturally, there was no need to worry that they would discover Heath and the others.
Although there were rumors that under the distortion of the rule of time, modern people might intersect with the remnant images of the past, there was no feasible theory to support it at the moment...
Soon, Heath and Nina arrived at the first row, the place closest to the viewing platform.
Judging from their clothes, the people standing here were all wearing high-quality clothes such as satin and silk. They were obviously the upper cla.s.s of Jewel City.
They chose a spot with a wide field of vision and stood there. The two of them continued to watch the sacrificial ceremony in front of them.
After Selena and the others came out, the four men behind them stood on both sides. Selena was the only one left in the empty s.p.a.ce.
Selena waved her right hand, and a light flashed in her hand, and a long wand appeared in her hand.
She then put the wand in her left hand, and a faint light shone on her wrist. The light screen quickly formed a bracelet. The silver bracelet looked simple and unadorned, but the seven gemstones embedded on it were particularly eye-catching.
Nina"s eyes lit up. "Sea G.o.d Bracelet!"
Hearing Nina"s words, Heath couldn"t help but look carefully at the bracelet on Selena"s wrist.
This bracelet didn"t look special, and its style was almost the same as an ordinary silver bracelet. There was a circle of wave-shaped patterns carved on it, and seven water droplets splashed up from where the patterns rose and fell, which were the seven gemstones that were coincidentally embedded in it.
"This thing is a supreme treasure of the Seafolk Race? It can control the power of the sea?"
Heath was extremely curious.
The ritual continued. Selena took out her staff and waved it gently. With a splash, a water pillar suddenly rose up from under her feet. Selena stepped on the water pillar and rose into the air.
She looked down at the humans below and said, "My respects to the Supreme Ruler, the Master of the Sea, Lord Sea G.o.d. The ritual of Jewel City has officially begun..."
The first part of the ritual was the blessing of the Sea G.o.d.
Selena waved her staff gently. Immediately, a large number of dark clouds gathered in the originally clear sky. With a loud rumble, the rain poured down like a line.
"Sea G.o.d"s Bath!"
"Sea G.o.d"s Bath!"
The people cheered excitedly in the rain. They opened their mouths and drank to their heart"s content, as if the rain was some kind of treasure.
Heath looked at the rain in confusion.
"This rain..."
Because it was an image, he could not use his spiritual power to a.n.a.lyze the specific components of the rain. He could only observe the appearance. However, he could observe many things just by looking at the appearance.
From the appearance and shape of the rain, it was definitely not ordinary rain. Moreover, after the people in the square drank it, their expressions became very excited. They looked extremely fanatical.
Heath even noticed that some of the ordinary people in the square, who were originally calm, became excited after drinking the rainwater.
"Some kind of substance that can affect the mind?"
Heath could not help but guess.
Immediately after, his gaze looked at the densely packed crowd in the square. This square was as big as several football fields, but at this moment, such a wide area seemed a little crowded. There were probably more than a hundred thousand people gathered here.
So many humans were now covered by the rain, and almost every human could drink the rain. Such an area-of-effect spell was really terrifying.
"Stigmata-level... No... It should be because of the bracelet..."
Heath noticed that when Selena waved her wand, the bracelet on her hand also shone with a faint light, and some materialized elemental particles could be vaguely seen surging into the wand next to it.
Obviously, it was under the endless supply of power from the bracelet that Selena was able to cast such a large-scale spell that was comparable to the Stigmata-level.
"Is this the Sea G.o.d Bracelet... At this level, it should be a legendary holy item..."
A holy item was a powerful tool above high-level Wizard tools and rule-type Wizard tools.
Rule-type Wizard tools basically only incorporated some rules into the foundation of ordinary Wizard tools to give Wizard tools a trace of the power of rules. Meanwhile, holy items were completely separated from the basic scope of Wizard tools and were completely a mixture of rules. From this, one could see how powerful this was.
The rule-based Wizard tools might not be a holy item, but a holy item was definitely a rule-based Wizard tool, and it was the most outstanding rule-based Wizard tool.
The sacrifice continued.
After the blessing segment, the sacrifice entered the second segment, the wors.h.i.+p of the Sea G.o.d.
A group of naked weirdos wearing gra.s.s skirts and masks walked out of the hall. People lit bonfires in the square, and this group of masked people jumped around the bonfire. Then, amidst the prayers of the crowd, they threw all kinds of offerings into the sea. They were no different from ordinary sacrifices.
After these two rounds, the sacrifice came to the final round. They chose the emissary of the Sea G.o.d.
From the conversations of the surrounding people, Heath roughly understood that each sacrifice would choose an emissary of the Sea G.o.d. The emissary would be sent to the palace of the Sea G.o.d to serve the Sea G.o.d, the siren, that person would receive endless wealth, great power, and even a long life from the Sea G.o.d, and would be able to bid farewell to the lives of ordinary people. Therefore, the selection of the Sea G.o.d"s emissary in every sacrifice ceremony was also the most exciting moment.
Selena summoned a thumb-sized water ball with wings. The water ball fluttered in the air and finally landed on the head of a little boy, who was the chosen Sea G.o.d"s emissary.
It was unknown whether it was a coincidence or some other reason, but the chosen little boy was none other than the one Heath had seen before.
After the selection of the emissary, the Sea G.o.d Ritual ended.
But at this moment, the entire venue suddenly turned into smoke, and a new scene appeared in front of Heath"s eyes...