novelaction Chapter 146 Human Sacrifice
Chapter 146 Human Sacrifice
After the sun went down, the temperature dropped a lot, but the ground was still warm.
After stopping, the man pushing the cart lay on the ground exhausted.
Feeling the warmth from the ground, some people wanted to rest for a while, but unexpectedly they fell asleep very quickly.
The women couldn't help but feel distressed when they saw their men like this.
The night watchmen in the team had already lit several fires, and the women gathered around with their dry food to roast.
By the time the dry food was heated, the temperature dropped a little.
Seeing that the wind was picking up again, the women were worried that their men would catch a cold lying on the ground, so they moved carefully, quickly spread out their own mats, and then went over to call their men.
Lu Tianming and his group have been fleeing from famine for so long that keeping watch has become a habit for them.
A group of people made arrangements in an orderly manner. Before going to bed, every household spread a piece of oilcloth on the cart to collect dew.
This oilcloth was bought by Lu Tianming when he was in An County. Because he didn't know how long he would be escaping, he bought some more, thinking that the oilcloth could collect dew.
Except for the Yao family and Lu Qingqing's family, who did not want the oilcloth, the remaining families each got a piece.
Not knowing whether it would be easy to find water out back, everyone spread out oilcloth every day so they could collect some dew when they woke up in the morning.
Master Yan's team was not far away from them. Seeing Lu Tianming and his group like this, he couldn't help but nod secretly.
This team must have been fleeing from famine for a long time before. Everyone in the team is very vigilant and their behaviors are very suitable for survival in the wild.
Master Yan looked at the people in his team. They were all busy eating. Unlike the team in front, there were no people on duty.
Before they entered the martial arts world, they often went out to escort goods, and each escort mission could take at least a few days and at most several months.
But the world was relatively peaceful at that time, and they only arranged night guards in places where bandits were entrenched.
Master Yan called everyone over and arranged a total of four men to be on duty at night, divided into groups of two and separated by time periods.
Their team also had oilcloth, and they followed Lu Tianming and his group's example, spreading the oilcloth to collect dew.
Nothing happened all night.
Early in the morning, Lu Qingqing and Qin Lang climbed out from under the cart.
The outside of the cart was wet with dew.
There was dew in the morning these days, and most people in the team slept under the carts.
After everyone got up, they collected the dew on the oilcloth and poured it into buckets.
Qin Lang watched as the straw mat that he had used to cover the cow last night was blown to the ground again. He picked it up and wiped the dew off the cow's body.
At this time, everyone in the team got up one after another.
After a simple breakfast, everyone continued on their journey.
In the morning, when Lu Tianming and his party passed by a village beside the official road, they saw a woman running out holding a child.
The woman was followed closely by a group of men holding ropes and sticks, who chased her and asked her to stop.
When the woman heard this, she ran even faster.
When the people in Lujia Village saw this situation, they immediately became cautious.
While fleeing famine, I have seen people being deceived by using women and children as bait.
When Lu Tianming saw these people running towards him, he subconsciously covered his face with his scarf and swung the reins to make the horse run faster.
The people behind also sped up, and the women in the team also helped push the carts forward.
The woman originally saw that there were women and children in Lu Tianming's team, and thought that these people would be more merciful and save them.
As a result, these people actually ran faster. The woman was a little desperate and shouted as she ran:
"Help! Please save my child!"
Lu Tianming and his group ran even faster when they heard the shouting. If they had just started fleeing the famine, they might have felt sorry for the woman and child.
But I have been fleeing famine for so long and have escaped death many times to get to where I am today.
Along the way, I saw too many people lose their lives because of food and water, and we were robbed several times.
In this way, even the women and children in the team learned to harden their hearts and ignore these things.
The woman saw that Lu Tianming's team was moving very fast and she thought that the team would be far away before she could run over to them. She couldn't help but feel a little desperate.
When he saw that there was another team following behind him, he ran towards this side desperately as if he had seen a savior.
The woman ran to Master Yan's carriage with the child in her arms, knelt down and begged:
"Sir, please save my child! Those people want to burn him to death!"
Master Yan also saw the woman running towards him from a distance, but he didn't expect her to be so bold as to kneel directly in front of the moving carriage.
Master Yan pulled the reins hard, and the carriage almost hit the woman, stopping almost in front of her.
Mrs. Yan in the carriage was caught off guard and was hit on the head.
Madam Yan lifted the curtain to check the situation and saw the woman kneeling on the ground holding the child, knelt and begged.
Seeing that the woman was still kowtowing and begging with blood on her forehead, he couldn't help but look pity on his face.
Master Yan looked at the woman and child kneeling on the ground, but before he could react, the villagers behind him had already caught up with him.
The villagers rushed forward and tried to grab the woman, but the woman was so scared that she got up and put the child on the shaft of the cart.
The child was not very old, but he was already frightened. His eyes were red from crying. Judging from his appearance and clothes, he was a handsome boy.
Seeing this, Mrs. Yan subconsciously took the child.
The couple had been married for many years but had no children, and Mrs. Yan was particularly fond of children.
The villagers behind saw this and shouted to Master Yan:
"Hand this child over quickly! This child is unlucky. Everyone in his family has died. First there was a locust plague, and now the village has been struck by an earth dragon. This calamity must have angered the heavens!"
The other villagers also joined in:
"Yes, this child died of his father when he was born, and the next year he died of his grandmother, and the year after that he died of his grandfather."
Seeing the villagers slandering the child, the woman was afraid that Madam Yan would hand the child over, so she hurriedly explained:
"It has nothing to do with my son. My husband was killed by bandits while he was out doing business. My parents-in-law passed away because they were too sad to lose my husband!"
The woman kowtowed to Madam Yan as she spoke:
"My dear lady, please save my son. He is the only blood of our family!"
Mrs. Yan couldn't bear it and looked at her husband.
Master Yan knew that his wife was soft-hearted, so he began to persuade her:
"Everyone, why do you have to take this child's life? It would be better to let this mother and son leave the village."
An elderly man among the villagers came out and said:
"Within less than a month, a locust plague and an earth dragon have occurred. This must be the wrath of Heaven! Such an ominous person deserves to be sacrificed to the Lord of Heaven to appease His wrath."
As the old man spoke, a fierce look appeared on his wrinkled face.
"Outsiders, I advise you to stop meddling in other people's business! Otherwise, the men of Baishi Village are not to be trifled with!"
The villagers listened to the old man's words and took two steps forward, getting closer to the carriage.
Master Yan picked up the big knife cautiously, and the other men in the martial arts group also took out big knives from the carriage.
The villagers didn't expect that they had big knives. When they saw the big knives flashing with cold light, they unconsciously took two steps back.
No one wants to lose their life just to catch a disaster.