After reciting the blessings, the high priest bent his knees and knelt on the ground.
The other beasts knelt on the ground as well.
In an instant, only Huanhuan, Bai Di, Xue Ling, and Xuan Wei were still standing.
Some people looked at them with displeasure.
Huanhuan and the others could only kneel down as well. Only then did those people look away.
The high priest carefully dipped the black wood into the water, then faced the divine tree. He leaned down respectfully and pressed his forehead to the grass.
“May the divine tree bless the Divine Wood City with peace and prosperity. May life never disappear!”
All the beasts shouted in unison, “May the divine tree bless the Divine Wood City!”
Huanhuan and the other three felt a little embarrassed.
Although Huanhuan had held sacrificial ceremonies before, she had never asked anyone to kneel, let alone shout slogans like this.
However, compared to her sacrificial ceremony, this one was clearly more like feudal superstition.
Just look at how much these beasts trusted the high priest.
Huanhuan laughed at herself. It seemed that her methods of promoting superstitions were still too weak. She had to learn more from Bi Huan in the future and strive to be an even better charlatan!
When the high priest stood up, the other beasts followed.
The high priest took the wood out of the water and carefully wrapped it in shark silk. He handed it to his confidant to hold.
The water in the basin was called holy water, and the high priest distributed it to everyone spoon by spoon.
The beasts took out the wooden bowls they had prepared and lined up to receive the holy water.
The beasts who received the holy water were very excited. Some of them were more anxious than others and drank the holy water in one gulp. Some were reluctant to drink it now and carefully brought it back, planning to drink it slowly.
Huanhuan went to get a bowl of holy water to join in the fun.
She leaned closer and sniffed. The water didn’t smell of anything.
When no one was looking, Huanhuan lowered her voice and asked, “Is this water really drinkable?”
Xue Ling was not very sure. “This is holy water that the Divine Wood has soaked in. It should be drinkable.”
“Divine Wood?” Huanhuan was stunned. “You mean that dark piece of wood from earlier?”
“Mmhm.”
Huanhuan was very surprised. “So, the Divine Wood is black?”
“The Divine Wood wasn’t black to begin with. It only turned black after it was burned.”
Huanhuan was even more puzzled. “That piece of divine wood was burned?”
Xue Ling explained patiently, “I don’t know the exact situation. I only heard that after the Divine Wood withered, the Divine Wood clan suffered a huge calamity. Even the dead wood left behind by the Divine Wood was unable to escape the calamity. Most of the dead wood was burned to ashes, and only a small portion of it was preserved.”
Huanhuan seemed to understand. “I see.”
In the end, she still couldn’t bring herself to drink the bowl of water. When no one was looking, she casually stuffed the bowl of holy water into her space. She would take it out when she needed it in the future.
After the sacrificial ceremony, the beasts returned to the city and swarmed in another direction.
Huanhuan did not understand what they were going to do. She happened to bump into Xue Hui and asked about it. She then realized that they were going to the palace to visit the beast king.
Huanhuan then learned that visiting the beast king was one of the customs of the festival.
Bai Di knew a little about this.
He said, “I heard that the beast king of Divine Wood City isn’t in good health and rarely shows his face in front of outsiders. The matters in the city are basically handled by his subjects. Only during the Bright Flower Festival every year will the beast king appear and accept the worship of his subjects.”
Huanhuan thought for a moment. “Why do I feel that the beast king of Divine Wood City is like the prophet? They’re both in poor health and don’t like to go out.”
Bai Di asked, “Do you want to see what the beast king looks like?”
“Of course, I do!”
Xuan Wei was not interested in meeting the beast king. He informed Bai Di and went back to rest alone.
Huanhuan followed the crowd to the palace.
Due to the number of people, the beasts could not enter the palace. They could only gather in the square outside the palace.
Above the stairs was a throne.
When the guards blew the horn, the beast king walked out of the palace and walked into everyone’s line of sight.
Huanhuan saw the beast king’s face and was stunned.
Wasn’t this Qian Ye? He was actually the beast king!
Qian Ye strode forward on his short legs and climbed onto the throne to sit down. The beasts knelt down and bowed.
Only Huanhuan was still in shock and did not react. She stared at Qian Ye with wide eyes.
In the end, it was Xue Hui who pulled her back to her senses. She eventually knelt down with Bai Di and Xue Ling.
This was the second time they had knelt today.
Everyone shouted in unison, “Long live our king!”
Qian Ye raised his hand, and his voice was crisp. “Get up.”
The beasts stood up one after another, and Huanhuan stood up as well. When she saw Qian Ye’s young and cute face again, she still felt as if she was dreaming.
The beast king of the Divine Wood City was actually a child? This was too magical!
Even though Qian Ye was very small and looked very young, the beasts in the Divine Wood City respected him very much. They looked at him with admiration as if they were looking at a great hero.
The servants carried a large bag of seeds, and the beast king distributed them to everyone.
The seeds represented hope. They were a symbol of blessing in Divine Wood City.
The beasts lined up again to receive their seeds.
Huanhuan also received two seeds. They were round seeds. She had seen them in Ancient Flora and Flora Illustrations. They were called pink chrysanthemums.
Because the color of this flower was very pink and its pollen had a certain aphrodisiac effect, it was also called a love flower.
Today, many pink flowers had bloomed in Divine Wood City.
Huanhuan stuffed the seeds into her space. She planned to plant them when she returned to the rock mountain after this.
These flowers might be useful for Sang Ye’s erectile dysfunction.
Xue Hui walked over and asked with a smile, “You saw the beast king just now, right?”
Speaking of this, Huanhuan found it unbelievable. “Qian Ye is only a child, but he can already be a beast king. Don’t the royal families of your Divine Wood City have other adult beasts who can inherit the throne?”
However, Xue Hui said very firmly, “There are many adult beasts in the royal family, but only Qian Ye is qualified to sit on the throne.”
“But he’s just a child.”
“He just looks like a kid. He’s actually older than me.”
Huanhuan seemed to have heard a joke. “You’re joking, right?”
“No, I’m telling you about this very seriously.”
Huanhuan still felt that this was too ridiculous.
Xue Hui looked at the beast king in the distance who was sitting on the throne and distributing seeds. She let out a long sigh.
“Qian Ye was originally a very tall and handsome male beast. But he was cursed to protect the Divine Wood City. His body became that of a 10-year-old child, and he’ll never grow up. He’s a hero.”
