darknovel Chapter 18 Human Funeral
Chapter 18 Human Funeral
The Panshi tribe is characterized by its numerous stone houses.
Scattered white bones lay around the stone house, and even a young boy was kicking a skull around carelessly, showing that the people of this tribe had no concept of respecting the dead or revering the spirits of the dead.
However, among the myriad races of the primordial world, burying the dead was actually quite common.
For example, the dragon race believes in the soul returning to the four seas, the dragon corpse being placed in the dragon tomb, or voluntarily passing away and gathering its original dragon essence into the dragon transformation pool, leaving some blessings for future generations.
The Qilin clan is based on the order of the earth and the laws of Wutu, and they believe in transforming themselves into mountains and rivers to benefit all living beings.
The Phoenix Clan burns away their old selves and is reborn from the ashes, while those who fail to be reborn become the restrictive shackles that suppress the Undying Volcano, paying for the sins they have committed.
Nuwa created the human race, and Laozi passed down the Golden Elixir Dao, but neither of them paid attention to the etiquette and laws of mortal humans. Over time, various branches of the human race emerged, giving rise to customs that contradicted the benevolence and virtue of Heaven.
"The Mirror of Primordial Chaos, the Brush of Five Virtues."
Mo Yuan stepped into the Rock Tribe, with two low-grade acquired spiritual treasures floating beside him.
The Five Virtues Brush shone with a peaceful light. Suddenly, it made a light stroke in the air, and talismans appeared out of thin air, revealing the souls of the dead who had been wandering above the Rock Tribe and were entangled in resentment.
A faint black mist shrouded the sky, and the sounds of ghosts wailing and wolves howling echoed out.
"Do not be afraid, nor show any pity!"
"Let's see if those souls are your beloved relatives and friends, or your former enemies. They died with resentment, and after you devoured their bodies, they grew even more resentful."
Therefore, they were unwilling to let their souls return to heaven and earth, severing their attachments!
Looking at the Pan Shi tribe members around him, Mo Yuan raised his voice and solemnly spoke.
The Daoist voice was as deafening as thunder, and the colorful clouds emitted a brilliant divine light, protecting the clansmen from being disturbed by the spirits of the dead.
Even so, many people were still terrified and will likely be left with psychological trauma.
"Please teach me, senior, what exactly should we do?"
Shan Li's tone was firm, and he was about to kneel and kowtow to Mo Yuan.
"Chief Shanli, you mustn't treat me like this!"
"The human race was created by the Holy Mother using the Nine Heavens Breath Soil and the Three Lights Divine Water. They were born from the earth, so they should return to the earth. I will call it dust to dust, earth to earth, fallen leaves returning to their roots, and returning to the earth for peace."
"Choose a high, dry, and quiet place as the burial site, and have your people collect all the remains and bury them there. Remember, the burial site must be far away from water sources and rocky settlements to avoid causing further disaster."
Mo Yuan extended his forelimbs and gently touched Shan Li, a faint spiritual light entering the latter's brow.
He taught Shan Li everything about burial methods and memorial rites.
of course.
The methods Mo Yuan taught Shan Li were particularly simple and crude, vastly different from the funeral practices of later generations of humans. However, for humans who were still in a primitive state, these were sufficient.
"Thank you, senior. I know what to do now."
Shan Li's expression was somewhat solemn, and he spoke in a deep voice.
Without any delay, Shan Li arranged for his people to collect the remains, while he and several strongmen from the Pan Shi tribe went to the mountains hundreds of miles away to find a suitable burial site and prepare for the excavation.
As the Pan Shi tribe members gradually became busier, Mo Yuan's eyes showed a hint of satisfaction. He began to use his divine sense as ink and the Five Virtues Brush to write the contents of the human funeral in the Primordial Mirror.
Chapter on Destiny, Chapter on Rites and Laws, Funeral Rites and Laws of the Human Race.
The Tomb of the Soul is divided into three sections: observing the stars to determine the pivot, listening to the wind to discern the qi, and touching the ground to sense the pulse.
Then came the burning of the soul fire, the burial in the earth, the erection of the ancestral stone, the division of the spirit flesh, and the recitation of the funeral song.
Every step was in line with the original situation of the Rock Tribe, and incorporated the human race's concept of guiding the souls of the dead with the torch, while also uniting the will of the human race.
"The underworld has not yet appeared, and the cycle of reincarnation has not yet begun. For now, we can only let those lost souls return to the world. It is truly ironic that the first major thing I did after leaving Qilin Cliff was to go to the underworld."
"The issues of cannibalism and indifference towards the dead have been resolved. Next is the issue of the Rock Tribe's rituals against demons."
"The Rocky Tribe is not wrong, but the practice of human sacrifice is ultimately against nature and morality..."
Mo Yuan put away the Primordial Mirror and the Five Virtues Brush, and sighed softly in his heart.
In the primordial world, countless races coexisted, and conflicts and bloody battles were bound to erupt between them. This was a perfectly normal rule and order, and he naturally would not interfere.
Monsters feed on humans, and humans hunt monsters to satisfy their hunger; this is the natural order.
However, it is somewhat barbaric and cruel to sacrifice fellow clansmen to demons.
However, if Mo Yuan stops this matter, he will have formed a karmic bond with the demon worshipped and believed in by the Panshi tribe. If the latter is willing to sit down and have a proper talk, that would be fine; otherwise, he will have no choice but to fight.
Power is paramount, and victory or defeat is determined by cause and effect.
To take it to an even more extreme point, if the abandonment of sacrifices and the worship of demons become popular among various human tribes, he will be entangled in even more karma and will likely become a target of public criticism.
"It's quite exciting to be enemies with countless demons in the primordial world! Perhaps it won't just be demons, but also some demon races, and even the demon heavenly court."
"My days of hiding my abilities and building up my strength are numbered. Once I find the supreme innate spiritual treasure, the Qilin Seal, I'll stay hidden on Qilin Cliff and avoid the limelight!"
Mo Yuan was having a bit of a headache.
What I thought was a small matter turned out to involve a wide range of causes and effects.
At this moment, he felt no regret, only a sense of accomplishment in following the natural order and obeying the benevolent will of Heaven to educate the human race.
He believed that all his actions today had already been seen by the Heavenly Lord.
In any case, after becoming a disciple of the Sage of the Chan Sect, he would also be a disciple of the Heavenly Dao, a Xuanmen disciple who had come from water and gone through fire and water and had experienced great things.
The Lord of Heaven is perfectly benevolent and impartial; he certainly wouldn't let him end up in prison.
"Senior, please step forward to observe the ceremony!"
Shan Li stepped up to Mo Yuan and spoke softly to him.
The excavation of the grave and the collection of the remains took the Pan Shi tribe several days. Now all the remains have been placed in the grave, and they are just waiting for the funeral.
"Excellent!"
The multicolored mist surrounding Mo Yuan receded, and a faint sense of vastness emanated from his body—a Daoist aura powerful enough to reach the Nine Netherworlds.
The priests and dozens of elders of the Shanli and Panshi tribes walked at the front, carrying torches that were burning with blazing flames, followed by the tribe's strongmen carrying various wild beasts.
As the firelight illuminated the path ahead, the wandering spirits above the Rock Tribe transformed into a current and followed them forward. With each step they took, the resentment on those spirits dissipated.
The journey of hundreds of miles did not take much time.
Before Mo Yuan's eyes appeared a tomb several miles long and wide, filled with piles of white bones. A large blue stone, several tens of feet long, was placed beside it, engraved with the totem of the Pan Shi tribe and strange symbols.
Those symbols resembled writing, but were only in their rudimentary form.
Mo Yuan saw this but didn't say anything.
"burial!"
Shan Li shouted, his voice filled with sorrow.
In an instant, all the members of the Rock Tribe pushed soil into the grave, and then a hill-like tomb appeared.
"rise!"
The priest of the Panshi tribe gave a soft shout, and he lifted the several-dozen-foot-long blue stone and erected it in front of the tomb. This is the so-called Ancestral Stone.
Next, the people of the Rock Tribe lit a bonfire, roasted the monster's meat, and shared it among themselves.
After the ritual of dividing the spirit meat was completed, all the tribespeople gathered around the bonfire and, led by the priest, recited funeral songs.
"Oh, my soul, may you rise with the sun."
"Oh, my soul, chasing the bright moon."
"Return to my land, and enjoy my sacrifice."
"Protect our people, pass on the torch."
The members of the Panshi tribe struck their chests with their fists, producing a dull sound like war drums. They chanted a funeral song in unison. The men's voices were low and almost roaring, while the women's voices were high-pitched and trembling. The old men's voices were dry and cracked, as if they had been washed away by time.
Even the young children started dancing and singing with pure joy.
The resentful and unwilling souls of the dead actually showed a few smiles at this moment. They rushed forward one after another, like moths to a flame, throwing themselves into the bonfire, and then turned into smoke and dust and disappeared.
The resentment vanished, and the departed souls returned to heaven and earth.
Mo Yuan could clearly see that the people of the Pan Shi tribe had been freed from the physical and mental burdens of the dead, and they were no longer subject to the negative influence of the spirits of the dead.
Day two.
Under Mo Yuan's witness, Shan Li, the priest, and others destroyed the altar that was used for sacrifices and offerings on the isolated peak thousands of miles away, which was actually a demon's altar, and burned all the artifacts to the ground.
"Boom!"
From the depths of the solitary peak came the sound of mountains collapsing and the earth splitting, and faintly echoed the roars of demons. Vast demonic energy and monster energy soared into the sky, and a powerful aura swept towards the Rock Tribe.
The cessation of sacrifices and worship of demons, and the use of living people as sacrifices, undoubtedly severed the path of the demon on Lonely Peak, which is why it was so enraged and threatened to destroy the Rock Tribe.
Mo Yuan originally wanted to sit down and have a proper talk with that demon, but last night he discovered that this demon had occupied hundreds of thousands of miles of land and left behind all sorts of strange and wonderful statues in many human tribes for them to worship.
Human tribes within a territory spanning hundreds of thousands of miles have been waging war against each other for years, with that demon secretly fueling the conflict. Therefore, Mo Yuan was too lazy to talk to him, as he was not worthy of listening.
Monthly sacrifices, yearly sacrifices.
Sacrifices were offered in the event of defeat, and sacrifices were offered in the event of victory.
That demon feeds on the spirits, flesh, and essence of the living, and has devoured hundreds of thousands or even millions of human beings over thousands of years.
Mo Yuan informed Shan Li of this matter.
"Our sons, take up your weapons and follow our predecessors into battle!"
The priest of the Rock Tribe had white hair that was as loose as withered grass. His forehead was tattooed with the Rock Tribe's totem. He wore a robe made of different animal hides sewn together, with various ritual implements hanging on it, such as perforated jade stones and tortoise shells stained with blood.
This man was called Cangyan. His prestige in the Panshi tribe was comparable to that of Chief Shanli. However, after yesterday's funeral, there was some sadness in his cloudy eyes.
Upon learning the truth about the demons, he nearly suffered a heart attack and fainted.
Offering and sacrificing living people to demons is not just a simple case of asking a tiger for its skin, but a foolish act that sacrifices countless human tribes, including the Panshi tribe.
This sense of guilt nearly broke Cangyan.
"No need!"
"I must go and confront this demon who has dwelled on this solitary peak for thousands of years, lurking in the shadows!"
Mo Yuan stopped Shan Li, Cang Yan, and the others from their actions.
Stepping through the void, he headed towards the direction of the Lonely Peak.