Chapter 807
Chapter 807
The sacrificial ceremony they were about to perform was a ritual that blended both Eastern and Western elements. In the Eastern world, before a great war, they would hold a grand ceremony to the heavens or behead an enemy to consecrate the battle flag. In contrast, the rituals of the Western world were more mystical and far crueler. A sacrifice, in a sense, required offering oneself. But Duchess Diphas would never offer herself, so she had to offer someone close to her. She had no children, and her own brother had already been publicly executed by her hand. If she had no one close, she had to create someone—and a husband, naturally, would be considered close, wouldn't he?
Furthermore, the Witch Empire she intended to subjugate was composed of Easterners, so she had to find an Eastern man to make her husband. Not just anyone could be the sacrifice, either; he had to be a man of noble blood, a man who seemed to embody the very essence of heaven and earth. Thus, Duchess Diphas had offered a reward for a man of noble temperament and unparalleled beauty, one in ten thousand, with a prize of three thousand gold coins. In response, mercenaries and pirates from all over the Western world had scoured the lands for such an Eastern man, but after more than half a year, they had managed to find only three.
Some might wonder how Shen Lang could have won the previous selection. His answer at the time had been so profound, yet, conversely, so insincere, hadn't it? But in truth, even if Shen Lang had given an answer that was utter nonsense, he still would have won. His temperament and image far surpassed those of his two competitors. Duchess Diphas and the other priests of the fire god had already chosen Shen Lang as the sacrifice from the start; the selection was merely a formality.
After selecting the husband, they had to hold a truly formal wedding ceremony and establish an intimate marital relationship. Over the course of a hundred days, they had slept together a full nineteen times, and each act of lovemaking was filled with a sense of ritual. Only then would they have a pious relationship that did not deceive the fire god, allowing them to receive his protection after setting out on their campaign.
This was the reason for the strange treatment Shen Lang received; though he was the Duchess's husband, everyone avoided him as if he were a viper or a scorpion. In their eyes, Shen Lang was nothing more than a sacrifice, and an ominous one at that.
* * *
Shen Lang was bound tightly to a wooden stake, yet his expression was utterly serene, devoid of any tension or fear. After tying him to the stake, the priests of the fire god carried him onto a docked ship. The vessel was magnificent and lavishly decorated, but its hold was piled high with firewood.
The priests of the fire god surrounded Shen Lang on the stake and sang hymns to their deity, their movements resembling a prayer. The entire ritual, though bizarre, proceeded with a calm solemnity, while on the shore, the people knelt in unison. A full quarter of an hour later, the ritual concluded, and Duchess Diphas approached, looking up at Shen Lang on the stake.
“Before you die, can you tell me your real name?”
At Diphas’s question, Shen Lang merely smiled without giving an answer.
“I believe that what belongs to the Great Yan should return to the Great Yan, and what belongs to the Seiren should return to the Seiren.”
At her words, Shen Lang finally spoke.
“But this land, and most of the lands of the Seiren Dynasty, do not belong to you. Did you not also come from the northern world?”
This was a fact Shen Lang had read about in a book. This continent had originally belonged to the Veda people and other indigenous groups; its territory, stretching twenty to thirty million kilometers, was the property of over a hundred native tribes. The ancestors of the Seiren Dynasty had all come from the northernmost world, thousands of miles away, making them not the masters of this land, but its conquerors. Why had the ancestors of the Seiren Dynasty left their homeland and migrated south? What had happened in the northernmost world? The answers to these questions remained completely unknown. The books offered no description whatsoever.
Duchess Diphas said, “At least we came first.”
“What happened in the northernmost world? Why did your ancestors cross such a vast ocean to migrate so far south?”
“I do not know.”
For some reason, the mention of the northernmost world made Shen Lang think of the White Jade Capital. They used to say that any place where snow fell belonged to their domain.
“You always wanted a kiss, didn't you? Before you die, I can grant you one.”
She then lightly touched a finger to her own lips before brushing it against Shen Lang’s.
‘Still so arrogant…’
“I don’t care what your previous identity was. But to die as the husband of Duchess Diphas is surely your honor.”
“I have one request before I die.”
“I have already given you a kiss.”
“No, please pull down my hood. I truly do not wish to see your face.”
Duchess Diphas’s beautiful face twitched slightly.
“Then I shall grant your wish.”
With that, Duchess Diphas grabbed the hood over Shen Lang’s head and pulled it down forcefully.
“Rest in peace!”
Finishing her words, Duchess Diphas left the ship and returned to the pier. A sailor untied the ropes, allowing the ship carrying Shen Lang to drift eastward with the wind, for the East was where Duchess Diphas intended to campaign.
The ship drifted farther and farther away, eventually reaching a distance of over three hundred meters from the shore. At that moment, Duchess Diphas, without any haste, lit a fire arrow, drew her bow, and aimed it diagonally toward the sky.
*Swish.*
The flaming arrow carved an arc through the air, landing with unerring accuracy on the pile of firewood in front of Shen Lang.
*Fwoosh.*
The flames roared to life, instantly engulfing the firewood, and Shen Lang, on the stake, was swallowed by the fire in a heartbeat.
“Aaaargh!”
An utterly wretched scream sent shivers down the spines of all who heard it. Watching Shen Lang burn, the people on the shore erupted in a frenzy of joy.
“We’ve burned an Easterner to death! We’ve burned the outsider to death!”
“Kill all the Easterners! Long live Seiren, long live Seiren!”
“Kill everyone from the Witch Empire!”
*Boom.*
As the people roared, a brilliant explosion of fire erupted from Shen Lang’s ship. The blast spread across the entire vessel, instantly enveloping the small ship in flames. The fire was not of Shen Lang’s making, but the work of the priests of the fire god. This, perhaps, was not good news, for it meant they had invented gunpowder first.
*BOOM!*
“Aaaargh!”
As the brilliant flames consumed the entire ship and Shen Lang’s agonizing screams echoed across the water, the crowd on the shore was overcome with immense joy and excitement. The cruelty and desire for destruction in everyone’s heart were perfectly unleashed in that moment.
“Kill the Witch Empire and all the Easterners!”
A priest of the fire god shouted loudly.
“The fire god has answered us! This expedition will surely be victorious! A great victory!”
“A great victory!”
Diphas raised her voice and commanded.
“The army will board the ships! We set sail for the Witch Empire!”
At her command, the army of over a hundred thousand boarded the ships with imposing dignity. The fleet of vessels set out to sea, beginning its voyage east toward the Witch Empire.
* * *
A few days later.
An ordinary sea vessel was sailing in the direction of the Witch Empire. It was merely a supply ship. It was not just the house of Duchess Diphas that had set out to war against the Witch Empire. A total of more than ten houses had joined this war, and Diphas was just one of the key figures among them. As she had said, the Seiren Dynasty was fractured, which had allowed the Witch Empire to exploit the cracks. By liberating slaves, the Witch Empire had instantly amassed a countless number of troops, sweeping through the entire southern sea of the Seiren and shattering the foundations of dozens of ruling houses. The established nobles of the Seiren Dynasty were either destroyed or forced to abolish slavery and declare their allegiance to the Witch Empire.
In a very short time, the Witch Empire had come to possess over a hundred city-states and a territory of 3.9 million square kilometers, an area equivalent to a quarter of the Seiren Dynasty. However, this sudden invasion by the Witch Empire had prompted the remaining nobles of the Seiren Dynasty to unite and establish the Third Seiren Empire. After more than a year of preparation, they had finally launched an all-out offensive against the Witch Empire. Thus, this war was on a far grander scale than Shen Lang had anticipated. Although Duchess Diphas had mobilized an army of over a hundred thousand, she had also hired or requisitioned more than five hundred civilian ships, all of which were used to transport provisions and supplies.
It was now half a month since Duchess Diphas's army had set out. The owner of this ordinary ship was named Hill. She was a Veda woman. Her father had been a pirate who died at sea. She inherited his ship but, not wanting to be a pirate, became a sea merchant. She was twenty-nine this year, a strong woman with a healthy beauty. She was also a widow; she had killed her own husband in front of hundreds of guests at their wedding. Of course, she was ultimately acquitted, as her husband had been suspected of murdering her father to seize his ship. But the act of killing her own husband was enough to make one’s blood run cold, so no matter how healthily beautiful Hill was, no one dared to take her as a wife.
Furthermore, she had used this reputation to intimidate all the men who tried to take her ship, and in recent times, her business had been running quite smoothly. When her father was a pirate, he had only one ship, but she now owned five, along with three hundred sailors and two hundred wandering warriors.
She was an excellent merchant. She had the courage to venture into sea lanes others could not, allowing her to make substantial profits. She traveled to tribes others couldn't reach, and each time, she braved the risks to return with her ships laden with jewels. But unfortunately, she was a Veda, not white, so she could never become a noble, nor could she ever own her own castle. She was incredibly wealthy, yet every time she entered Azure Gold Castle, she had to yield the path to even the most destitute white person.
She felt a burning rage at such injustice. She wanted to draw her sword and kill a hundred, two hundred white people on the spot. This land clearly belonged to the Veda, so why were the white people of Seiren sitting on high, lording over them? But for now, she was powerless; when Duchess Diphas requisitioned her five ships, she couldn't resist at all. In these waters, and even in the entire Azure Wave Duchy, there was no one who could defy Duchess Diphas. The Duchess had killed countless people, even her own brother, earning her the name of the blood-soaked duchess for her ruthlessness.