While Panda and others were heading towards the temple, Yang Kun strolled around with his hands behind his back, and then slowly came to the dock.
At the dock, a hunting team member sat cross-legged by the water, eating the dry food he brought with him, a kind of roasted and air-dried meat roll with a unique flavor, which was almost a must-have food for the hunting team when they went out.
Seeing the old man, the hunter smiled and said in the local language: "Would you like some?"
Having lived here for a long time, Yang Kun could understand the local language to some extent. Hearing this, he smiled and said, "I'm not hungry."
He pointed at the boat under the dock and said, "I left something on the boat just now. I'll go down and get it and come back soon."
The hunter waved his hand and said with a smile: "Go ahead, be careful, and call me if you need anything."
"Okay." The old man, who was not carrying an independent power generation device and gun, was still quite agile. He jumped off a small boat easily and soon came to the boat he and Tianyang had originally shared.
The old man bent down, looking like he was looking for something on the boat. He had his back to the hunting team members on the shore, but he reached out to touch the hull.
He touched the gel applied to the hull, withdrew his hand calmly, and brought it to his nose to sniff it gently.
Yang Kun frowned, took out a dagger, scraped some gel from the captain, and quietly took out a small tin bottle of wine from his arms.
The old man bit the cork to pry it open, then injected the gel on the dagger into the bottle, pushed the cork back in, and put it in his pocket.
"What are you doing?"
Suddenly, a voice was heard from behind.
Yang Kun was startled and the dagger fell into the water. He quickly stood up and turned around, and saw that the hunting team member who was eating on the dock had come down at some point, with the black muzzle of his gun pointing at him.
A light sweat appeared on the old man's forehead, and then he heard the hunter ask: "Did you find your stuff?"
Yang Kun said quickly: "Found it, found it."
"Oh." The hunting team member turned to another direction, "If you find it, get on board quickly. Don't stay on the boat alone for too long."
"Okay." The old man hurried past him and jumped onto the dock.
The hunting team member looked towards the place where the old man dropped the dagger, but the water had returned to calm and nothing could be seen. He turned around and followed him ashore.
If he had checked carefully at this time, he would have found that a piece of gel was missing from the hull...
... ...
Temple.
Cross the square and enter the main hall.
Tianyang rose quietly from the ground. Using the 'Dark Breathing', he stood silently in the dark corner like a ghost. He established a connection with the black fog. Through the model constructed by the black fog, he could see that the dome was supported by two rows of stone pillars.
Most of the stone pillars are covered with cracks, and several have collapsed, but the main body of the building remains intact and has not changed much under the erosion of time.
At this time, a fire lit up in the depths of the hall, and Panda's hunting team members lit some braziers one after another, making the light in the hall gradually brighter and dispelling the darkness.
Tianyang stood in the shadows, raised his head and looked around, and saw murals distributed on the dome and walls. They seemed to be a whole, with bold colors and grand atmosphere.
I don't know what kind of paint was used at the time, but it has passed away.
The color hasn't changed much over time.
Tianyang first observed the murals on the surrounding walls. There were many characters depicted on them. They were wearing bright and strange clothes. Some were reading books and newspapers, some were resting under the shade of trees, some were cooking food, some were composing music, some were painting on the wall, and some were selling fruits...
These murals depict many vivid and lively scenes of life, and the expressions of the characters in the paintings are either calm, smiling, laughing or happy. These vivid characters make the whole mural exude a sense of joy and happiness, as if there is no sadness or anger in the world of the painting.
Countless vivid characters fill the mural. The painter uses a technique of moving from near to far, from large to small, and through each character in the painting, naturally leads the viewer to look towards the dome and the center of the mural.
There, in the center of the dome, was a solemn and sacred figure.
It was a woman with six wings on her back, with a scorching sun supported behind her. She was wearing gorgeous golden armor with intricate patterns and inlaid gems. In one hand she was holding a long sword condensed from lightning, and in the other hand she was holding high a long sword formed by golden flames.
She had a pretty face and her eyes were looking down, gazing gently at the people gathered around her.
Those people, kneeling or standing, no matter which direction they were, stretched out their hands toward the sacred figure, wanting to touch, eager to share in her glory.
No explanation was needed, Tianyang knew that it was Suto.
She is the patron saint of this floating island, the faith of the indigenous people, the god of the sky, the god of the sun, and the last Valkyrie!
At this time, Tianyang heard the roar of some animals. He looked deep into the hall and his senses naturally extended there.
Through the black fog model, he 'saw' Panda and his men opening the metal boxes and taking out cages from them, which turned out to contain poultry.
While they were busy, Tianyang discovered a huge statue through the black fog model, not far in front of Panda and the others. The appearance of the statue was no different from the sky god in the mural, except that cracks had appeared on the statue, and the outer layer had fallen off in some places, revealing the grayish-white stone coating inside.
There is a huge altar in front of the statue, on which there are many candle residues. In the middle is a large cauldron. The vessel seems to be made of brass, but there are some black marks on the edges and surface, which seems to be caused by some liquid flowing through it.
At this time, Panda and the others chanted in a language that Tianyang did not know. The men spoke very quickly, but in a surprisingly consistent manner, forming a strange rhythm.
Then they began to slaughter poultry and threw them into the cauldron on the altar. Soon the smell of blood filled the air in the hall, and gradually, the altar and the cauldron began to be stained with blood.
Now, Tianyang knew what the black marks on the edge and surface of the cauldron were. It turned out that those were blood stains that had solidified and dried!
He frowned. It looked like Panda and the others were performing a sacrifice. Even though they were only sacrificing poultry, this bloody ritual seemed out of place with the murals in the hall.
The sky god Suto in the mural looks kind and gentle, and he doesn't look like a god who likes bloody sacrifices.
Soon the cauldron was filled with blood plasma, and the poultry inside had turned into twitching corpses. At this time, through the black fog model, Tian Yang discovered that the blood in the cauldron began to disappear, as if there was some kind of channel at the bottom of the cauldron that sucked away the blood.
Soon the carcasses of poultry emerged from the cauldron. They were twitching abnormally, and then they were torn apart by something, turned into pieces, and sank one by one into the remaining blood.
After a moment, the blood in the cauldron disappeared completely, and the vessel became empty, as if the poultry had never appeared.
Panda and the others were still kneeling in front of the altar, praying and requesting. After the ceremony lasted for nearly half an hour, Tianyang suddenly "saw" a liquid emitting a faint white light flowing out from the bottom of the statue in front of the altar.
The base of the statue was soon submerged in the glowing liquid, which began to spread to the ground and extended to the altar through a groove, finally filling the grooves around the altar.
Panda and the others showed joy, took out tools, sucked the liquid from the groove, recovered it and stored it.
Seeing this, Tianyang quietly sank to the ground and returned to the camp at the ruins.
It turns out that the natives used this method to obtain "supplies" to maintain Suto's "legacy". I just don't know what the liquids are used for. Could they be the "secret medicine" that the natives use to burst out their fighting power
Tianyang returned to the ruins camp silently, floated up from the ground, and at the same time removed the time projection and the fog ghost armor. Although there were hunting team members walking around in the ruins, no one noticed that Tianyang had gone to the temple and came back.
Of course, Yue Guang and the others noticed it. They maintained their original postures and without attracting anyone else's attention, Xun handed Tian Yang a kettle.
"Did you find anything?"
Tianyang took the kettle and said, "Yes, let's talk about it when we get back. They will be back soon."
Sure enough, Panda and the others came back not long after. After resting for a while, the men gestured and left the temple.
... ...
After returning to the town, Tianyang followed Yang Kun back to his residence on the pretext of resting.
After they entered the room, Tianyang expanded his perception and monitored the house. After confirming that the old man was active in the living room, he described the scene he saw in the temple.
After listening to this, Xun frowned and said, "This is very contradictory. Judging from the mural you mentioned, bloody sacrifice should not be the style of the Sky God."
Moonlight offered his opinion based on his own experience: "I think this may be related to the shrinking range of the 'Eye of Suto'. Old Yang said that there used to be a city here, but as the range of the 'Eye of Suto' keeps shrinking, more and more areas have fallen into darkness."
"I am sure that the lives of the residents on the floating islands will only become increasingly difficult, and under such circumstances, their spirits will inevitably change."
"This may well have led to a change in the sacrificial rituals."
Tianyang nodded slightly: "It's possible."
He glanced towards the window and said, "It will be dark soon. I want to take this opportunity to go back to the temple and take a look. Maybe I can find the Sky Symbol."
"But now there is a question. If we take away the 'Sky Amulet', will it make the floating island worse?"
The three women looked towards Tian Yang, and Tian Yang met their gaze and said, "So, even if I find the 'Sky Amulet', I don't plan to take it away right away."
"I think we should observe and study for a while. If there is no impact, or if we can move these people out of the door, then we can take them away. What do you think?"