The middle-aged man had everyone prepare offerings including Five Wisdom Dew, Five Tribute Meat, libation wine, Dom, offering bowls, lamps, Gala, and Dangka.
Mu Yiran brought back from the Suotuo Temple the Five Tribute Meat and Five Wisdom Dew, processed by practitioners using various plants he and Ke Xun had collected.
The Five Tribute Meat were the five plants Mu Yiran had just mentioned. The Five Wisdom Dew consisted of nutmeg (representing excrement), wood sap (representing urine), white cardamom (representing brain marrow), bamboo yellow (representing male semen), and purple sandalwood (representing female blood). The
libation wine consisted of five types of wine found by Qin Ci: Qingsha wine, grape wine, rice wine, rice wine, and mare's milk wine, replacing the wine previously prepared by everyone using human brains, blood, and bile.
The Dom was an offering cake, made from five types of rice flour—millet, rice, barley, wheat, and peas—found by the Geng couple, replacing the dough previously prepared by everyone using human bile, brain, blood, and internal organs.
The lamps were the ordinary oil lamps that Mu Yiran had initially brought back. The oil was ghee that Wei Dong had found, replacing the oil and wicks that the others had previously made from human oil and hair.
As for Gala and Dangka, the others still didn't know their meaning, but Mu Yiran, referring to the sacrificial rituals of other sects, speculated that believers, in addition to offering food and drink, often presented clothing and accessories to the gods. Gala and Dangka must refer to these two items.
The clothing and accessories referred to here are garments and equipment, and equipment refers to the symbolic implements held by each deity.
Many benevolent deities often hold flowers, spices, or jewels. Mu Yiran believed that given the living conditions in their current area, jewels were unlikely, so he replaced the flowers made from human facial features and the human bones used as ritual implements with camphor, sandalwood, and pine resin that the others had found.
The gods' clothing differs: wrathful gods wear human skin, while benevolent gods wear eagle feathers or silk. Mu Yiran believes that when the person pointed north, he wasn't referring to the corpses on the sky burial platform, but rather to the vultures and the plants and flowers in the valley below.
The answer has always been right before our eyes; it's just a matter of perspective between good and evil. Yongxi Visual Buddhism says: What you see is what you have in your heart.
Therefore, with the same offerings, some see blood and gore, while others see the fragrance of flowers and plants.
"No wonder this painting is called 'Faith'," Ke Xun said thoughtfully as he and Mu Yiran stood side by side beside the cluster of small tents, ready for nightfall. "It seems the artist was testing whether our inner thoughts were good or evil. If we had found the right thing from the beginning, perhaps so many people wouldn't have died. It feels like from start to finish, it was all because some people were courting death."
"In fact, I once thought that the artist's intention was to force us to follow the evil side of our hearts, gradually extinguishing our humanity and goodness, and to make us believe in the cult that only the devil can grant you immortality," Mu Yiran said calmly. "Cults have so many followers for only two reasons: either they exploit people's desires to brainwash them, or they dig out people's evil thoughts and encourage and condone them. This painting is a trap about human nature, and I almost fell into it myself, only realizing it today."
"Don't be too hard on yourself," Ke Xun patted his shoulder. "Even if you're wicked at heart, I'll still like you."
Mu Yiran expressionlessly gripped his wrist and tossed his arm aside.
Night finally fell, and the snowlight shone from the distant mountains, carrying a chilling cold.
Everyone stood outside the overturned tent, searching for the right angle on the tent roof by the snowlight.
Strangely, no matter how they turned it over or righted it again, they couldn't find the right angle to project the pattern as clearly as Mu Yiran had done the night before.
Everyone exchanged bewildered glances. Aunt Geng grew anxious: "Has it stopped working? What are we going to do? Does that mean—people will still die tonight?"
Sha Liu, her face pale, whispered, "Could it be that these offerings... are actually making the patterns disappear?"
"Tsk," Ke Xun, overhearing this, looked at her with a half-smile, "I think I smell a hint of scapegoating. Miss Sha Liu, if you can't bear to part with those human brains, hearts, and blood-soaked offerings, you can take them and find a tent to hide in. We won't stop you."
"You misunderstand..." Sha Liu quickly said, "That's not what I meant. I just wanted to offer another idea, so we can all brainstorm. After all, time is running out; the Black Corpse Sky will appear soon..."
Ke Xun ignored her and walked to Mu Yiran's side, whispering, "I suspect the light won't reach the right angle until the Black Corpse Sky appears."
Mu Yiran looked at the distant snowlight and hummed in agreement.
"Doesn't this mean some of us will still die? That thing kills people as soon as it appears. How can we have time to find any patterns? We'd have to piece together the whole picture based on the patterns. Isn't that just wishful thinking?"
Geng's father, his eyes bloodshot, looked at Mu Yiran. "Didn't you say these offerings were for the benevolent god? Could the one that appears tonight be the benevolent side? The benevolent side shouldn't kill people, right?"
"It's best not to have too high hopes," Mu Yiran replied calmly. "After all, the fact that we all prepared offerings for the wrathful god can never be erased. The wrathful side has been summoned, and I don't think it will be willing to be replaced by the other side. Things in this world are always ebb and flow, good and evil are constantly fighting each other."
"Then what do we do? Are we just going to wait to die outside the tent? As soon as the Black Corpse Heaven appears, it will definitely grab those who aren't in the tent first..." Sha Liu also looked at Mu Yiran expectantly.
Mu Yiran lowered his eyes and pondered for a while, then looked up at the crowd who were all watching him, waiting for his decision: "There's only one clumsy method we can try. Tonight's requirement is two people per tent, and we'll be divided into four groups of eight. There are seven tents in total, so one person needs to be able to see the patterns on all seven tents and quickly move and piece them together in the correct positions to form a complete pattern." "
That person is probably none other than Brother Mu," Geng's father hurriedly said.
Mu Yiran nodded slightly: "I will do my best. Now let's number these seven tents, and I hope everyone can remember them. Next, we'll assign the tents. Mrs. Geng and the child will be in tent number one. This is the tent with the pattern I saw yesterday. You don't need to look at it again tonight. You two don't need to do anything inside. Just listen to my one command: when all the tents are in place, I will shout 'Flip the tent!' Mrs. Geng, please flip this tent over. The tent isn't heavy; Mrs. Geng should be able to do it by herself."
Upon hearing this, Mrs. Geng stepped forward and tried flipping it over. It was indeed quite easy, and she nodded to Mu Yiran.
Mu Yiran continued, "Shaliu is in tent number two. I checked the pattern on this tent last night, but it doesn't match the pattern on tent number one. I believe there are other tents with matching patterns between the two. You're alone in this tent, so don't worry. If Hei Shitian approaches you, someone will enter the tent in time to make up the number of people. Although this trick failed in the latter half of last night, I think it should work tonight as it did in the first half of last night, at least for a while initially."
Shaliu bit her lip, looking troubled, "What if it doesn't work? Hei Shitian already knew our tricks yesterday, how could he possibly fall for it again today?"
"Even so," Mu Yiran said calmly, "Hei Shitian's first choice is always the tent with the required number of people, and tonight, your tent won't be the only one with the required number of people."
Before Sha Liu could speak, Mu Yiran turned to the remaining men: "We'll each occupy one of the remaining five tents. Dr. Qin and Mr. Geng will be paired, Wei Dong and Ke Xun will be paired, and Sha Liu and I will be paired. Once we see Hei Shitian heading towards someone's tent, the person corresponding to that tent must immediately leave their own tent and enter that person's tent."
Everyone understood immediately. Mu Yiran was using a mutual rescue method. Whichever tent Hei Shitian went to, that tent would immediately become occupied by two people. This way, Hei Shitian would inevitably adjust his target and look for another tent with only one person, thus delaying the time it would take for someone to be chosen.
"During this time," Mu Yiran continued, seeing that everyone was following his train of thought, "I will be the one to move in, entering each of the five tents in turn to observe the patterns on the tent ceilings. Before I enter, please try to adjust the tents to an angle where you can clearly see the patterns using the sunlight from the snow, so that I can see them immediately after entering and memorize the patterns more quickly."
"Okay," everyone responded.
"Finally," Mu Yiran said, "remember your tent number and listen carefully to my commands. Once I figure out the positions of these patterns, I'll immediately tell everyone where to move their tents. Tent number one will remain as a reference, and the other tents will be moved using tent number one as a reference. After they're moved, I'll have everyone flip the tents over. Everyone will work together to flip the tents over, understand?"
"Understood," everyone replied.
"There's something I need to remind everyone," Mu Yiran said, looking at everyone with a serious expression, "we don't know exactly how many people meet the Black Corpse Heaven's selection criteria tonight, but if even one person is caught outside the tent, then it's very likely that at least one more person inside will die. "
And what I want to say is that tonight we are a whole team. All actions will be carried out by the eight of us together; no one can be missing. If one person falters, it will have a domino effect, potentially causing the entire operation to collapse."
"So, I hope everyone muster their courage, withstand the immense pressure of impending death, don't run away, don't panic, and don't break down and give up.
Each of us carries the lives of seven others on our shoulders. I urge everyone to hold on until the very last second, to do everything in your power, to remain calm, and to hold onto hope."
Everyone nodded repeatedly.
"Time is almost up," Mu Yiran looked up at the sky, seeing the impending darkness, "Everyone, go into your tents.
Make sure the tent entrances all face inwards so you can move around easily." A hint of tension lingered on everyone's faces as they cautiously entered their tents.
Ke Xun, however, remained as calm as Mu Yiran. Before entering his tent, he turned and smiled at him, saying, "Do you know how incredibly sexy you looked arr
anging the troops just now?"
Mu Yiran looked at him expressionlessly and finally replied, "Yeah."