207: Chapter 207: Sacrificing the Yeti

After coming out of the control room, Shen Xiaochuan went straight to the South City Gate.

It was still snowing outside, and the wind was strong.

The corpses of the snow monsters had already been covered with cloth.

He stood there motionless, his hand gripping the copper gear pendant around his neck so tightly that his fingers turned white.

Many people had died in this battle, and the city wall had almost been breached.

These snow monsters were not ordinary beasts.

Their blood was cold after death, their wounds would emit gray mist, and they didn't even die cleanly.

Things like these couldn't be eaten, burned, or casually buried.

He remembered that the Faith Mall had mentioned once that the corpses of evil creatures could connect to the underworld and could be offered as sacrifices to the Evil God.

He turned his head and said to Shen Yan, "Count all the corpses; there are two hundred and twenty-three in total. Keep them all well-preserved; the heads and hearts must not be damaged."

"What are we keeping them for?" Shen Yan asked, panting, with red frostbite marks on his face.

"Someone wants them," Shen Xiaochuan said in a flat voice. "We're taking them to trade for things."

The Logistics Group immediately started working.

The wreckage of the catapults was dismantled and converted into three sleds.

They used black iron chains to string the corpses together one by one and drag them onto the sleds.

Each snow monster was over two meters tall and weighed over three hundred jin, making them extremely difficult to pull.

The soldiers took turns pulling them; they had to stop every so often to rub their hands and stomp their feet, otherwise their fingers would get frostbitten.

Shen Xiaochuan led the team himself.

He walked at the very front, pulling his collar up to his nose.

The wind felt like knife cuts on his face.

The team moved very slowly, slipping with every step; the snow was deep, and there was a crust of ice underneath.

The sky was gray, the ground was white, and there was the sound of wind everywhere; no other sounds could be heard.

"This weather..." a logistics soldier gritted his teeth and said, "If we walk another two li, I'm afraid my hands will be ruined."

No one responded. Everyone was too tired to speak.

Shen Xiaochuan looked back at the sleds; the shapes of the corpses could still be seen under the cloth.

He didn't speak, instead putting his hands into his pockets and silently calculating the increase in faith points.

It was increasing by 1 point per second; not much, but it was constantly rising.

He wasn't in a hurry to use them now; he knew there would be more places to use them in the future.

After walking for over two hours, the team could barely move.

A few soldiers sat in the snow panting, and when they took off their gloves, they saw their fingertips had turned purple.

The temperature was at least sixty degrees below zero, and their breath turned into ice crystals as soon as it came out.

"Can you still walk?" Shen Xiaochuan asked.

No one answered.

Just as he was about to let everyone rest, he suddenly looked up—ahead in the wind and snow, a stone gate was vaguely visible, as if it had grown out of the ground.

"We're here," he said.

Everyone perked up and forced themselves to move forward.

Only when they got closer could they see clearly that it was an ancient altar, half-buried in the snow.

The stone pillars were broken, and many of the runes had fallen off, but the structure was still relatively intact.

The door frame was carved with strange characters that were illegible, and looking at them made one feel uncomfortable.

He waved his hand and said, "You all stay outside and guard the corpses. I'll go in by myself."

"Boss, don't..." an old soldier wanted to stop him.

"It's fine," he patted the man on the shoulder. "Only move when I call from inside."

He walked towards the stone gate alone. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the temperature suddenly changed.

Outside it was freezing, but inside it was very warm, like spring.

The wind was gone, and the snow was gone. Under his feet was soft grass, and above his head was a moss-covered cave ceiling, with a few strands of green light shining down through the cracks.

There was a smell in the air, a bit sweet and a bit fishy, like incense, but also like blood.

"You have come," a voice echoed.

Shen Xiaochuan immediately tensed his body, his hand resting on the short halberd behind his back.

A humanoid figure walked out from the corner. It had a sheep's head and a human body, wore black robes, and held a staff with a ghost head on it.

Its eyes were yellow, with vertical pupils like a cat's.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time," the sheep-headed person grinned, revealing sharp teeth. "Brother Sheep."

Shen Xiaochuan frowned. "Who told you to call me that?"

"Lord Aminos said so," the priest shook his staff. "He dreamed that you would come with tributes, with corpses piled into mountains and blood flowing like rivers. You were very powerful in the dream."

Shen Xiaochuan didn't smile. "The tributes are here. I've given you what you wanted."

"Oh?" The priest's eyes lit up. "Let me see."

He waved his staff, and a crack opened in the ground, from which green light emerged.

Shen Xiaochuan turned back and gestured, and the people outside began dragging the corpses inside.

One by one, two hundred and twenty-three in total, they were all dragged to the center of the altar.

The Evil Sheep Priest walked around the corpses, reached out to touch the skull of one of them, and pried open its mouth to check its teeth.

"Not bad," he nodded. "Pure Yin bodies, souls not dissipated, suitable for sacrifice. Much stronger than those ordinary offerings."

He raised his staff and chanted a phrase that couldn't be understood.

The ghost head at the top of the staff opened its mouth and spat out a stream of green fire, which landed on the first corpse.

As soon as the fire touched the body, it began to melt; not burning, but dripping down like wax into the crack in the ground.

Then the second, the third... The flames burned brighter and brighter, and finally, a pillar of green fire rose from the center of the altar to the top, illuminating the moss.

Shen Xiaochuan stood by the fire; his skin stung a little, but it wasn't hot.

[Favorability with the Evil God Aminos + 70]

[Diplomatic relations upgraded: Alliance and Mutual Aid]

[Permission unlocked: Can summon twenty Evil God Guards]

He breathed a sigh of relief.

The fire was still burning. The Evil Sheep Priest closed his eyes and kept chanting, as if praying, or perhaps laughing.

Suddenly, Shen Xiaochuan's chest jolted.

A force pressed down from above his head, like an electric current, rushing into his whole body.

His legs went weak, and he knelt on one knee.

Green fire began to emerge from his whole body; it wasn't the fire from outside, but fire burning from within his body—his bones, Meridians, and internal organs were all burning.

He gritted his teeth to hold on, without crying out.

A voice sounded in his mind, deep and ancient: "I see your sincerity; I grant you power."

The green fire grew stronger and stronger, eventually enveloping his entire body.

He felt his power rising, surging up level by level, and the original barrier was broken in an instant.

The energy within his body multiplied several times over, and even his breathing became heavy.

After a long time, the fire went out.

Shen Xiaochuan slowly stood up. He wasn't injured; on the contrary, he felt relaxed, as if he had changed bodies.

He looked down at his hands; there was still a faint green light flowing under his skin.

"Epic level," he whispered.

The Evil Sheep Priest opened his eyes and smiled. "Congratulations, Brother Sheep. You are now considered a beginner."

Shen Xiaochuan ignored this title. He flexed his wrists and clenched his fist lightly, causing the air to vibrate.

"Can I summon the guards now?" he asked.

"Of course," the priest nodded. "Twenty of them, you can call them anytime. However..." he paused, "don't use them in the city; they have bad tempers and will eat people."

Shen Xiaochuan gave an 'en' sound and didn't ask any more questions.

He turned and looked outside the altar. The wind and snow were still blowing, and the world was a sheet of white.

But his mind was no longer there.

He knew this trip hadn't been in vain. The corpses had traded for a relationship, the relationship had traded for power, and power could trade for more resources.

He took one last look at the center of the altar. The fire was extinguished, the crack in the ground had sealed up, and the ground was clean, not even leaving any ash behind.

"Let's go," he called out to the outside.

The logistics team came in and pulled the empty sleds out. No one dared to look at the altar more than once, and they all kept their heads down while moving things.

Shen Xiaochuan walked at the very end. He stepped out of the stone gate, and the cold wind hit his face, but he didn't feel cold anymore.

Although the fire inside his body had gone out, the heat flow remained, enough to withstand this weather.

The team began their return journey. He didn't look back; his steps were much steadier than when they arrived.

Skydome City was still waiting. Electricity needed to be supplied, food needed to be managed, and the city needed to be defended.

But now, he was no longer the God King who could only rely on power grids and charcoal to hold things together.

He had a new trump card.

In the wind and snow, his shadow was long; stepping on the snow, it made a crisp crunching sound.