After the immortal disappeared

"Escape from God's grace, and it will be easier for him." The executioner snorted, climbed out of the pit, and then said to the two tigers, "Please execute me!"

Xianghu had been impatient for a long time, so he rushed towards the unconscious prisoner and took a big gulp.

There was a chirp and blood spattered three feet.

The man woke up in severe pain. When he screamed, a large piece of flesh had been bitten off his belly and his abdominal cavity was opened.

Of course he struggled desperately, but what little human strength he had was like a cricket shaking a tree. The tiger imitated him and held him down with one claw, eating his internal organs.

Offal is the most delicious and nutritious, and ligers and tigers eat in this order.

Not to be outdone, the other tiger joined the fight, but failed to grab a few bites of food. In a rage, it broke the prisoner's thigh.

For a time, tigers roared and people howled, making it extremely noisy. The foreign merchants who saw this scene for the first time all turned pale.

He Lingchuan finally knew where the stains in the sinking execution platform came from.

The local townspeople stared intently, and the little girl craned her head downwards, trying to see more clearly. But soon she complained: "A Dong is lying, the pit is so deep, blood can't even splash out!"

After only a dozen breaths, the prisoner lost his voice amid the fight between the two tigers.

One end was still feasting on the delicious food, while the other simply turned around to look for the condemned criminal who hit the pillar.

Delicious food cannot be wasted. This is the reward they have finally won.

The "clicking" sound made by sharp teeth biting bones frightened many outsiders.

At this time, the officer took a huge piece of black cloth, covered the entire execution platform, and said to everyone: "The execution is over, let's disperse." Both prisoners were dead, and the tigers did not want to be disturbed while eating. The people dispersed reluctantly.

Shi Congshui could see cold sweat breaking out on his forehead and asked He Lingchuan, "How is it? Can you still drink the wine?"

He Lingchuan had seen all kinds of strange scenes of monsters and cannibals, far more horrifying than this, but when he saw Shi Congshui swallowing his saliva, he obviously felt uncomfortable in his stomach and had to try to calm down, so he stretched himself and said, "No, I'm a little tired. , I want to go back to the inn to rest.”

Shi Congshui secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay, okay, you might as well go to bed early today."

Passing by an alley, the aroma of oil came from a roadside stall. He Lingchuan's stomach growled and he went over to buy some sesame seed cakes.

He had just nibbled on the second piece of cake when he saw a guard turning around the alley, followed by another person. His eyes were red as if he had just cried, and he was sniffing as he walked.

He Lingchuan walked over while nibbling pancakes and stood next to the wall.

With his ears, eavesdropping on conversations in the alley from here is a piece of cake.

But first he heard the clanging sound of copper plates colliding, as if the guard was weighing it, and then said: "Okay, wait until the two Mr. Tigers finish eating, and then you can collect the corpses. Well, half an hour later at most."

The man thanked him repeatedly for saving his son from suffering.

The guard quickly shushed him: "Let's go, let's stop talking nonsense."

He Lingchuan also understood after hearing this. It turned out that the death row prisoner suddenly hit the pillar just now, not because the officer was negligent, but because he had accepted a bribe.

In addition, the death row prisoner did not know the world, or maybe he had no money, so he could only die by "eating punishment".

Two lives were lost, but the townspeople didn't care and continued to live their lives.

He Lingchuan didn't go back for a while, just wandering around the town.

It is getting dark, the lights of various houses are on, and the atmosphere is filled with the smell of fireworks.

Monsters and humans live together in this town, and they get along peacefully. He Lingchuan also saw a cat monster twirling its paws to help count money.

The townspeople are also very friendly to outsiders. When they learned that He Lingchuan was a guest from the south, they enthusiastically gave him directions.

It seems that these people just have a special interest in watching the excitement.

A woman selling handicrafts smiled at him and said, "Lao Cai's wontons at the tenth store from the left in the market are the best wontons here. If you go now, his store should not be closed yet." At this time, , the market has also dispersed.

He Lingchuan thanked him and saw that she was selling masks in a row at her stall. He picked up one and looked at it: "This is it?"

"This is a Nuo opera mask. The Nuo Dance Festival will be held in ten days. Both adults and children here must wear this to ward off evil spirits and avoid filth."

"Is this a mask with a ghost head?" The pattern of the mask is a sinister green ghost head. Hmm, maybe it's an animal head?

Use ghosts to ward off ghosts?

"No, no," the woman said with a smile, "This is Qingyao, the mount of God Tanai. It specializes in eating ghosts."

He Lingchuan thought of the Red General's mask, and suddenly became playful. He placed two copper plates for her: "Then I want this."

It's very light in the hand. I don't know what kind of wood it is. It's good as a craft.

At this time, a little girl ran over, and he remembered that the mother and daughter were also at the execution platform just now.

This little girl's name is Ayan.

He asked Ayan: "Aren't you afraid when you see prisoners being tortured?"

"Why should we be afraid?" Ayan's eyes were big and clear. "Bad people are no longer human beings. They are judged by divine grace. Only by being punished in this way can the sins on the body be washed away."

"Then you know, what crime did they commit?"

"They set fire to the army silos. There will be a lot of people hungry this summer because of them."

At this moment, two tigers walked across the street and headed out of the town.

Their fur had been washed, but He Lingchuan could still smell the bloody smell on their bodies. Pedestrians on the street were allowed to walk and talk and laugh, and no one made any fuss.

Two tigers wandering the streets here seem to be a daily routine in this town.

He Lingchuan pointed at their backs: "You're not afraid of them, right?"

"Don't be afraid!" A Yan said matter-of-factly, "They won't hurt us. I even rode one of them."

"so smart?"

He Lingchuan stood up, followed the woman's instructions and went to the market to eat a bowl of vegetable and meat wontons. It tasted surprisingly good.

After he returned to the inn, the door of Shi Congshan's guest room was closed tightly and the lights were turned off.

Early the next morning, he went to find Shi Congshui to resolve his doubts.

Master Shi Er has returned to normal today, drinking hot tea and saying:

"'Eating punishment' is a tradition. The northern demon country stipulates that monsters cannot eat people at will, otherwise they will be arrested. However, nature and instinct are indelible, and it is better to block than to block, so Bega formulated this law, and the offenders will be punished. The monster satisfies its craving and has the best of both worlds.”

Is this reasonable? A new guy with the team beside him couldn't help but said: "Second boss, isn't this too cruel?"

Headmaster Shi Er's nonsense is simply frightening. But on the surface, he still wanted to be calm and calm: "How can we achieve the purpose of 'punishment' if we don't make the prisoner suffer? What kind of corporal punishment is there that doesn't make people suffer? Isn't Lingchi cruel? Isn't hanging a cruel person? Isn't quartering one's body on five horses cruel?" Is it cruel?”

"But it's too scary." The man was puzzled. "Aren't other people in this town scared after seeing it?"

"On the contrary." Shi Congshui waved his hand, "It took me a long time to figure it out. With the Death Eater, the monster will only eat the prisoners, which will greatly increase the sense of security of the townspeople."

"As long as you are a good person and do not do bad things or break the law, the monsters will not eat you. Do you understand?" He said plausibly, "On the other hand, these ferocious monsters are also powerful weapons to scare Xiaoxiao."

He Lingchuan remembered what the little girl said yesterday that she had ridden an adult tiger.

Perhaps what ordinary people need most in their daily lives is "certainty". Others are second best, they can survive anyway.

He said calmly: "With this decree, no monsters will dare to eat people casually?"

Human nature cannot withstand temptation, let alone the nature of monsters?

He no longer has much faith in things that are as beautiful as ideals.

"We are only here to do business." Shi Congshui smiled and said, "Why do you know so clearly? But I heard that there are occasionally some headless cases in various places."

"By the way, I was visiting the town yesterday and found that there are actually three temples here. In each of them, people were offering incense and worshiping. I also saw them enshrining raw sheep heads." He Lingchuan sighed as he talked about his new discovery last night. , "Where I come from, not even a town can have a temple, and offering blood food is strictly prohibited."

Isn't it because the He family was in bad luck because they were falsely accused of rewarding the gods?

"Oh yes, some countries strictly prohibit 'rewarding gods'." Wu Jinsong happened to be walking back from outside. Hearing He Lingchuan's words, he continued, "But in Bejia, every household does this. If you go to a town citizen's house now, you will definitely There is a shrine. I worship it every morning and evening, and I have to find a way to offer blood food on the first and fifteenth day of the lunar month.”

He smiled again and said: "Bejia is known to the world as a country favored by God, a country favored and protected by the gods. The weather here is smooth every year, and there are few disasters."

There was a hint of pride in his expression.

He Lingchuan walked along with the caravan and heard Shi Congshan say many times that Bejia was a country of divine favor and heaven's favor. Even the capital, Lingxu City, was named after the title of Holy Lord Celestial God Xu.

The demon emperors and demon kings of Bega must also be appointed by the gods and be baptized by the gods before they can take power and succeed to the throne.

It has been like this for five or six hundred years.

Dayuan, on the other hand, has taught his subjects that gods cannot be trusted since the founding of the country.

I don’t know which of these two approaches is more realistic. He Lingchuan remembered that Zhu Erniang always sneered in the Devil's Nest Swamp and said that there will be no good end for those who believe.

It's really a cynical former fairy.

However, the Bejia Kingdom has lasted for nearly six hundred years, and it laughs at the vicissitudes of other small countries, changing their owners like a revolving door.

So what do you say?

￥￥￥￥￥

After three days of travel, the Shimen caravan arrived at Fufeng City, the capital of the Baoshu Kingdom.

The reason why I can walk so fast is that the road is straight and wide, which is convenient for horse racing. There are only two toll checkpoints on the road, and the tolls are still quite low.

The commercial tax and carriage tax collected by the entire Bega Kingdom are not high, but the infrastructure is very complete and the business orders are complete, so the economy and trade are developed. He Lingchuan often found that there were more business travelers than townspeople.

When Bejia founded the country, he granted the title of sixteen demon kings, and King Baoshu was one of them. However, as time went by, the number of demon kings increased and decreased, once falling to twelve, until a king was added more than a hundred years ago, so today there is one emperor and thirteen demon kings in Bega Kingdom.

The Thirteen Demon Kings all have vast feudal states, or vassal states. Except for the prime ministers and tutors who are appointed by Lingxu City, the rest are independent in personnel, laws, and taxation, and they also have their own armies. country".