“One more minute.” Fang Yu glanced at the time on his phone, then back at the stone platform ahead.
He felt that the ground before the stone platform emanated a faint trace of array power.
That location seems to have a small magic circle set up!
As the time neared ten o’clock, things grew increasingly quiet around.
As the countdown reached its final moments, almost everyone held their breath, save for the faint rustling of wind.
Soon, time came to ten o’clock.
“Whoosh!”
Above the platform, that is, above the heads of the representatives of the noble families, a burst of dazzling, multicolored light appeared.
Everyone looked up at the light in the sky, their eyes filled with excitement.
Fang Yu looked at the seven-colored glow, slightly frowning.
Light continuously radiated, and in its center, a graceful figure slowly coalesced.
Soon, the figure took shape, surrounded by a halo of seven colors.
As the rainbow light gradually faded, its true form slowly emerged.
Today’s Qin Yao Shen Nü is wearing a white gauze gown. Her style and temperament are completely different from yesterday.
But her face was still veiled, only her eyes were visible.
Her long hair cascaded down to her waist, flowing in the wind.
“Greetings, to Lady Qin Yao!”The representatives from various prominent families below, including the Yuan family couple and the Fu family couple, all bowed their heads, clasped their hands together, and spoke in unison.
Their posture was very humble.
Qin Yao, the Goddess, floated in mid-air, just like a fairy who never touched the mortal world. Her eyes were hazy and scanned the crowd below without any emotion.
Then, she noticed that among the crowd, only Fang Yu and Bai Ran were not bowing their heads.
The two of them stared straight at her.
Qin Yao, the Goddess of the Strings, slightly frowned her delicate eyebrows, but she didn’t pay too much attention to it.
“Thank you, esteemed donors, for attending today’s grand sacrificial ceremony,” the melodious voice of the Qinyin Goddess rang out.
Only then did the representatives of the prominent families below raise their heads.
“Next, the sacrificial ceremony will officially begin,” said Qinyáo, the Goddess of Music.
No sooner had she spoken than she raised her right hand and made a gentle sweep forward.
From beneath her sleeves, tiny points of light scattered and drifted downwards.
A starlight-like glow fell upon the stone platform below, seemingly triggering some kind of mechanism. It suddenly burst forth with a dazzling light!
Many people turned their heads away, to avoid being blinded by the intense light.
But at this time, Fang Yu was staring intently at the stone platform ahead.
He clearly saw that within the radiance, a shadow was slowly enlarging!
After a few seconds, the light dissipated, and the phantom transformed into a solid being!
A statue of a human form!
“This is… the humanoid statue on top of Sand God Temple that I saw yesterday with my Insightful Eye…” Fang Yu’s eyes flickered, he thought to himself.
But the statue before me is different from the one I saw yesterday.
The statue I saw yesterday had its head covered by a black cloth.
But the statue before me has no obstruction on its head.
This is an ordinary male face.
He raised both hands, palms together, forming some kind of complex gesture.
This, Fang Yu had noticed yesterday, but he hadn’t studied it carefully.
And recently, seeing the statue again, Fang Yu became very interested in this gesture.
“This gesture…seems to be chanting incantations? But what’s the point of sculpting it like this?” Fang Yu frowned.
The statue appeared, causing a stir of awe among the onlookers from afar.
Such a large statue, just appearing out of thin air.
Such a scene would be shocking enough for most people.
“Please, generous patrons, offer your alms.”
In the midst of the air, the Celestial Maiden Qinyáo spoke again.
Offerings? <<<
Fang Yu saw that the representatives of these aristocratic families in front of him were all taking out the tributes they had prepared from their storage bags and walking towards the statue ahead.
When they reached a point about ten meters from the statue, the group instinctively stopped and lined up.
The first people out of the queue were Yuanjia’s couple, Yuan Chenglong and Fu Zhaorong.
Holding hands, Yuan Chenglong held a gift box in his left hand and walked up to the statue. He placed the gift box on the ground in front of the stone pedestal beneath the statue.
Then, two people knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the statue before them.
After kowtowing three times, the two raised their heads, closed their eyes tightly, and looked pious, as if making a wish.
After about three seconds, the two people stood up.
“Whoosh!”
At this moment, the statue before them, with its strangely gesturing hands, began to glow white.
“Click!”
And then, a not-too-thick book fell from between the hands.
Yuan Chenglong immediately stretched out his hands to catch the book, his face filled with excitement.
“Thank you, Sha Shen, for your gift…” Yuan Chenglong and Fu Zhaorong bowed together, saying respectfully and gratefully.
And at this time, the onlookers from afar, all eyes wide open, let out a gasp of astonishment.
“Rumors are true! The Sand God has appeared!”
“As long as you offer tribute to the Sand God statue and make a wish for what you desire, the Sand God will bestow upon you divine artifacts!”
“My goodness… it’s actually true… I want to go up there too…”
Among the crowd, sighs and exclamations of envy could be heard.
At this time, Yuan Chenglong and Fu Zhaorong had already walked back into the crowd.
Immediately following them were Fu’s parents, Fu Yousheng and Yuan Jiangmei.
The two of them repeated what the Yuan Chenglong couple had done before.
After offering tribute and making a wish, the statue’s hands once again shimmered with light.
This time, what fell was not a book, but a dagger gleaming with cold light!
Fu Yousheng picked up the dagger, grasped it in his hand, and after a brief examination, hurriedly bent down to express his gratitude.
“This is too amazing… Could it really be that if you wish for something, you get it?” Bai Ran said in shock, his voice low.
Fang Yu looked at the statue in front of him, then turned his head to look in the direction of Yuan Chenglong and his wife who had just returned.
Through his amazing eyesight, he could see the title on the book in Yuan Chenglong’s hand, which read “Dao Fa Chun Ran” four characters.
“This is a grimoire.” Fang Yu’s eyes flickered, and he looked at Fu Yousheng again. “That’s a dagger… indeed different items.”
Their expressions also gave it away: they got what they wanted. But…
“Interesting.”
Fang Yu raised his eyes, looking at the statue in front of him, then lifting his head again to look towards the sky where the celestial maiden Qinyang floated gracefully.
At this point, a third person stepped forward.
This man hails from the Cheng family of Xidu, a top-tier aristocratic family as well.
Just like the previous process, after placing the offerings, the head of the Cheng family devoutly makes a wish.
This time, the statue’s hands glowed, but nothing fell from them.
The head of the Cheng family waited for a while, his face pale. He shook his head helplessly and sighed, then bowed deeply and said: “My deepest apologies, I failed to offer the offerings that the deity loves this time… This is my fault… Please, Lord Sha, believe me, next time I will definitely prepare better offerings…”
At the sight of this, the crowd in the distance let out another gasp.
It’s not a guarantee that you’ll receive something just because you offer it as tribute!
To receive the blessings of the Sand God, one must also offer it a tribute that it deems worthy!
The head of the Cheng family returned to the crowd, and someone began to comfort him.
“Master Cheng, there’s no need to be too disheartened. We didn’t receive the favor this time, but we will certainly have it next time.”
“Well, next time I’ll definitely prepare better offerings and bring out all the family heirlooms!” said the head of the Cheng family with a determined look on his face.
But aside from a few who offered consolation, most of the representatives of prominent families showed gleeful malice in their eyes.
A divine artifact bestowed by the Sand God is very likely to alter the power of a family.
The Cheng family didn’t receive the bestowal this time, which gave the later clans a chance to catch up!
And at this moment, Fang Yu looked at the statue, his eyes twinkling with amusement.
He was not quite sure before.
But seeing the fate of the head of the Cheng family, he could basically be certain that the so-called sacrificial ceremony was actually a large-scale money-making scheme, even a scam!
Of the secrets involved, Fang Yu had a basic understanding.
Next, one representative from a prominent family after another stepped forward, presenting meticulously prepared tribute.
Through devout wishes, some people are granted their desires, while others are not.
Those who received the gift were all beaming with excitement, while those who didn’t receive it wore gloomy expressions and sighed in disappointment.
These two emotions were expressed quite vividly, constantly shifting and appearing on everyone’s faces over the following period.
Let me know if you have any other text you’d like me to translate!