Chapter 449: Evil God Festival - Boathouse

After testing all the offerings and attendants, Bai Liu was left alone by the Imperial Ship.

Cangta looked worriedly at Bai Liu's back, he stole a fearful glance at the imperial ship standing next to Bai Liu and retreated on his knees.

Gobune walked around Bai Liu for a few times, he tapped his lower lip with his fan thoughtfully one by one, his eyes fell on Bai Liu, and he suddenly smiled, "If you are willing to cooperate with us in changing your family name, and come to Gobune's house to make an offering, I can vouch for the fact that I will give you the highest rank of honor in Gobune's house after you have successfully made one offering for Gobune's house. "

Bai Liu looked up at Gosun, "A sacrifice like me, can I still have the right to change my family name?"

"Normally it is not possible." Mifune unfolded his fan to cover the lower half of his face, a pair of eyes narrowed slightly along with his smile, wrinkles overlapping at the corners of his eyes, "Normally, it is not possible for a sacrifice that has already been chosen by a major family to change its surname and then be transferred to another family."

"But it's hard to tell if the sacrifice accidentally escapes and then gets caught and sacrificed first by one of the other families."

"After all, sacrifices during an exodus can be very destabilizing."

Bai Liu looked at Gobune flatly with a shallow expression, "I don't seem to understand much of what Gobune-sama is saying."

The smile on Gobune's face grew more and more bizarre, as he leaned down and sat cross-legged across from Bai Liu, "I believe Bai Liu that you have already found out that it is difficult to mass-produce a sacrifice that meets the standards of divine agony."

"Among the dozens or hundreds of sacrifices bought at great cost and effort every year, after half a year of cultivation, less than one layer of sacrifices can produce a single thread of pain, and after a year, only a quarter or a fifth of the sacrifices can be successfully sacrificed."

"No matter how tempting [bait] is used to catch these world-weary sacrifices, no matter how twisted they are to inspire them to torment themselves, when these sacrifices know that they will have to live for something like [pain] for the rest of their lives, after a year they will gradually become numb with despair."

Gobune's expression was obscure, "Numbed sacrifices, can't produce high-quality [pain], so most of the sacrifices that can't be offered after a year are now scrapped sacrifices, and basically commit suicide."

"And then we gradually discovered that both the squire and the sacrifice could endure more torture and produce more pain only if they had hope in their hearts."

"Then we experimented many times and finally found a way to stimulate these numbing sacrifices - and that was to let them go."

"We will plant/our people among the servants, suggesting that they can make an exodus, and then in creating all sorts of mishaps, we will make them successfully exodus out by following our long-arranged path."

"But we don't capture them back immediately after the exodus, it doesn't produce enough pain to be biting, and it's not the best period of time to enjoy the flavor of this group of sacrifices."

The smile on Gosun's face widened to his cheeks, and his eyes became twisted and wild as he looked at Bai Liu:

"We usually keep them out long enough for six months before we capture them and bring them back."

"During this six-month period, we'll put a variety of [good samaritan] roles around these exodus out offerings."

"From the smallest to the buxom boss lady who eats a bowl of ramen and waives the bill for these hungry and penniless offerings, to the warm-hearted stranger who holds your umbrella when it rains, to the good people who are willing to find you a job and adopt you for a short period of time so they can reintegrate into a normal life in this society, akin to the roles of a [father], [mother], [friend], and [loving partner]. "

"It is difficult for these greatly tortured sacrifices to resist such kindness." Gosun hummed a lazy laugh out of his nose as if he found it amusing, "It's like a dog that's been severely beaten, even if it would harbor wariness of people, it's hard not to bite the meaty bones that others throw at it."

"The moment these desperate outcasts enjoy normal happiness, sluggishly adjusting to their [new lives], slowly assuming that the world will treat them kindly, and hoping for everyone else-"

Gobune tickled one side of his mouth, "This time, we'll let the people they think they're closest to break them out of their false happiness."

"-and the moment their happiness is shattered and they are dragged back to hell, the pain that erupts from these sacrifices is unprecedented."

Bai Liu's eyes moved slightly, "Did you release Xiao Kui Kitahara on purpose?"

Gosun nodded arrogantly as he smiled, "Smart man."

"Of course with your level of pain and intelligence, we've completely eliminated the need for such cheap tricks to be used on you to create pain."

Gobune withdrew his gaze, his eyes sullen as he gently tweaked the right disk of the balance with the handle of his fan:

"Typically, on the day of the Evil God Festival, we will recycle the sacrifices that were put out on the day of the last festival, half a year ago, and release the sacrifices that will be used on the next festival, half a year from now, which is why there is usually a one-year maturation period for the sacrifices."

"Let these sacrifices despair completely for six months, let them rekindle their hope for six months, and then sacrifice them, so instead of the seasonal sacrifices, we use six-month old sacrifices for each sacrifice."

"In order to avoid the new sacrifices from probing the end, we will distinguish between the old sacrifices and the new ones that are captured and returned."

Bai Liu looked to Gosun, "What about Kitahara Xiao Kui?"

Mifune's face sank instantly, "Kitahara Xiao Kui is an exception, she was captured early."

"Originally, she had four months of maturity left, but after the Kitahara family got the first place in last year's tax payment, they didn't want their sacrifices to be under the control of this [exodus program] of our Gobunsha, and demanded that she be captured along with them when they purchased a new sacrifice, saying that she had almost three years of pain built up in her, and that they didn't need to be tempered by our Gobunsha anymore. "

Mifune slapped the tabletop in anger, "This kind of arrogance completely calls into question the Mifune family's education of sacrifices and breaks the rules of the entire [Exodus Program]!"

His chest rose and fell violently due to his anger, "The original [Exodus Plan] was to be released again after all the sacrifices had been captured and returned, so that these sacrifices in utter despair would once again exodus."

"The eight clans can prioritize the hunting of these frantic exodus offerings, a sort of god-given mega-hunt before the summer festival comes."

"The moment these sacrifices that are once again on the run are caught, the pain in their bodies will be at its peak, and this is the best time to reward the flavor of the pain in their bodies, so whoever catches a sacrifice that is on the run can immediately drag it to the shrine to be sacrificed."

"It would have been a perfect plan, but the Kitahara family was disgruntled and unwilling to comply."

Gobune's face grew cold, "The hunt was originally random, but the Kitahara family believes that there must be an inside story in the fact that the Gobune family has hunted the most painful sacrifices for two years in a row, made the most valuable wish, and then continued to be the number one tax-paying family the next year driven by that wish."

"Last year they used this as an excuse to forcefully demand a reform of this sacrifice cultivation program, to advance the distribution of sacrifices after which the great clans would cultivate them on their own."

Gobune scowled, "And with this proposal from the Kitahara family, seven of the eight great families actually voted in favor of it."

"But under this mode of cultivation, everyone who gets a self-cultivated sacrifice is far less painful than the ones cultivated under our [Exodus Program], so there weren't many sacrifices from last year's Summer Festival that could be used for wishing at all, and the ones that were bought back were basically scrapped."

"Except for the Kitahara family." Mifune's expression twisted up, "Their self-cultivated sacrifices offered the deepest pain and allowed them to make last year's most valuable wish, so they became the number one tax-paying family this year."

"So this year, the six great clans have reverted to the Gobunshi again, choosing to use the exodus program to breed their own sacrifices, but the Kitahara clan is still hell-bent on carrying out their own breeding program."

Mifune looked at Bai Liu in a taboo manner, "--and, has produced an even more painful sacrifice than last year."

"I'm not curious as to what the Kitahara family can do to make you suffer like this, but I can tell you for certain that the Gobunshi family can offer something higher than what the Kitahara family can give you."

"The Summer Festival's exodus program is something the Kitahara family is participating in this year, so your new batch of sacrifices will be let go and sent to a new place to live for six months before being recaptured and returned."

"The specific program for each sacrifice in the exodus plan is the responsibility of us, the Gobunshi family."

Gobune's body leaned forward as he gazed at Bai Liu : "If you want, I can rotate you off with a common sacrifice and send him to the place of exodus where you deserve to be tortured, and you, just wait until this year's summer festival is over, and the Gobune family will send you anything you want, and then send you away from Kagome Prefecture so you can go exactly where you need to go to start a new life of your own. "

Bai Liu lifts his eyelids, "Anything I want?"

"Yes, anything." Mifune's attitude became rampant, "Kagome Prefecture is under the rule of the Mifune family, and anything in Kagome Prefecture can be taken away if you want it."

Bai Liu gazes calmly at Mikabune, "So what do I need to do?"

"Sacrifice once." Gobune stared at Bai Liu, "On the day of the summer festival, you will be released as a new sacrifice, and the old sacrifices that were released and recaptured six months ago will be released again, with all eight clans returning for the hunt."

"I'll mix you in with the old sacrifices, you just have to make sure you're hunted by the Gobunshi family and then go to the shrine and sacrifice yourself once."

Bai Liu was quiet for a moment, then he suddenly smiled, then looked at the imperial ship, which was a bit puzzled by his smile, and spoke softly, "I promise to make a deal with you."