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Author: Zhuang Shenchen

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Tian often makes actions that seem to be out of his mind but turn out to be extremely wise in the end. Everyone has long been accustomed to it. Although they are surprised, no one expresses any doubts and only silently observes the subsequent changes in things.

Salt water and sediment mix together, making it extremely turbid, and insoluble impurities gradually precipitate.

Zhang Tian scooped up the surface layer of salt water, boiled it on the fire, evaporated the water, and waited for the crystallized salt to precipitate in the clay pot. Then he poured out the brine, collected the coarse salt, and then repeated the above operations to prepare the coarse salt.

Salt.

Everyone was busy until the afternoon, clearing out a circular site with a diameter of more than thirty meters, and digging a square pit next to it.

Zhang Tian told Xiao and Kui, who were interested in learning the sacrificial ceremony, that the sky is round and the earth is round, so a round venue should be used to offer sacrifices to the sky, and a square venue should be used to offer sacrifices to the earth.

A round sky and a square place are the ancient people's understanding of the universe. Although it is incorrect, it is easy to understand, conforms to the intuition of primitive people, and is easier to accept.

Xiao asked: "Are we digging this pit to burn sacrifices like the salt tribe did?"

"No." Zhang Tian shook his head, "Sacrifice to the earth must be carried out by landfill, just like people must be buried in the ground after death. In fact, it was the heaven and the earth that gave birth to our ancestors, and then we came into being. Every person who has passed away,

The body will return to the earth, and the soul will return to the sky."

The two of them suddenly realized that Aoi had a feeling of enlightenment. She had been burning straw and grass to offer sacrifices to the earth, but now she realized that she had used the wrong method!

On the way back, Zhang Tian cooked a total of twelve cans of coarse salt.

The people of the Dashu Tribe were extremely pleasantly surprised. Pinecone keenly discovered that the salt in the clay pot did not seem as white as the salt boiled last time. He wanted to pick some with his hands to taste, but Zhang Tian stopped him: "It's not done yet, these salts

If it’s not pure enough, take it back first.”

After working hard for several hours, the people rushed towards the cave without rest. The intense excitement made them tireless.

The people who stayed behind in the cave were eagerly waiting for the clan members to return, and they all came up to ask about the situation.

Quietness is the keynote of the forest covered by ice and snow. The birds are silent and the chirping of insects is silent. Only this group of two-legged beasts are still noisy, even noisier than before. The animals passing here can hear these violations of natural laws from a distance.

The scary sound made me take a detour without hesitation.

Zhang Tian dissolved the coarse salt in water again, then took the saturated brine and performed the brine purification operation, and finally obtained ten jars of extremely pure salt.

Although the preparation of refined salt is time-consuming and laborious and will increase additional losses, in order to live for a few more years, it is necessary to reduce the intake of heavy metals.

Tasting the final product, Pinecone was extremely happy and praised the sky for its generosity and kindness.

The people of the Dahe Tribe were also overjoyed. According to the agreement, they would take away half, that is, five jars of salt, plus the four jars of salt they received from the Giant Rock Tribe. There was no need to scrimp on this cold day, and in the future

You can eat delicious food with salt every day!

When the aroma of food wafted through their noses, everyone after a busy day finally felt tired and hungry, and their stomachs grumbled loudly.

Zhang Tian did not observe the ritual of fasting, so everyone ate with open stomachs.

There was silence in the cave, as this group of noisy Twolegs seemed to only quiet down when they were eating and sleeping.

At this moment, a loud shout suddenly sounded outside the cave: "Chief Pinecone!"

Everyone who was eating with their heads down immediately looked outside the cave. Pinecone suddenly stood up and said in surprise: "Black Bear Priest! Why are you here?"

The person who came was none other than Black Bear, the new priest of the Salt Tribe. He was accompanied by three members of the Salt Tribe. Beaver, who had been leading the way among the tribes all year round, was also among them. The cry just now came from him.

.

Except for Beaver, this is the first time for everyone to come back to such a remote tribe.

When the blizzard stopped, Black Bear took his followers on the road. Because they were far away, by the time they arrived at the Great River Tribe, the large army had already left.

Zhang Tian was a little surprised. Although he had extended an invitation to Black Bear, he actually did not expect him to come, and Black Bear had not given any guarantee.

It seemed that the new priest finally showed some courage, but there were only four people in total, so there was no arrangement, and it was not like the usual style of the Salt Tribe. This decision obviously did not receive widespread support.

However, since he has withstood the pressure, it shows that Black Bear is willing to accept and learn new things. This quality is rare and Zhang Tian will not let him go away empty-handed.

Pinecone warmly welcomed the guests. The priest of the Salt Tribe was a rare visitor. He had never come here before. This time he made a special trip to participate in the heaven-sacrifice ceremony held in his tribe. He was really pleasantly surprised and very proud. He suddenly felt confident.

He was so proud that his back straightened even more.

The black bear and his tribesmen paid homage to the chiefs of each tribe and presented them with gifts prepared for their hosts.

Although Yun strongly objected, Black Bear was the priest of the Salt Tribe after all. His every move, word and deed outside represented the entire tribe. In order not to make the tribe lose face, the gifts he brought were quite rich.

Black Bear said to his grandma respectfully: "The teacher asked me to convey his greetings to you."

Grandma nodded slightly and asked, "Is the mountain stream okay?"

"The teacher has relieved me of the burden of being a priest, and I can live a relaxed and happy life every day. He even asked me to ask you for the secret of longevity!"

"What's the secret? It's just because my people still need me and I can't bear to leave them behind."

"Mom is joking."

After chatting for a while, Song Guo greeted the guests to eat.

Black Bear and the others were already hungry. Ever since they tasted Tiger Tongue’s craftsmanship at the tribal meeting, they had been thinking about it. After so many days, they smelled the familiar aroma of food again. How could they still sit still? They immediately jumped into this game without gunpowder smoke.

During the battle, he ate and drank freely.

After eating and drinking, Black Bear asked about the future arrangements, and Zhang Tian told him that a ceremony to worship the heaven would be held tomorrow.

The Dahe tribe was solely responsible for the first sacrifice to the sky. Other tribes mainly focused on learning, while Black Bear came purely to observe the ceremony.

In fact, he went all the way to participate in the heaven-sacrifice ceremony. This act itself was a kind of temptation. As a result, the reaction of the tribe was more intense than he expected. Yun was indispensable. Without his instigation and radical speeches, the tribe would not have been able to survive.

As for being so resistant.

Public opinion is like this, and Black Bear has nothing to do. Under this situation, it is impossible for him to forcefully promote the reform of faith. He has given up this idea.

The black bear was stroking its round belly. It was such a satisfying meal. He was so engrossed in eating that he didn't have time to observe the surrounding environment. Only now did he raise his eyes to look at this strange cave and everything in it.

He saw brightly colored and lifelike pictures painted on the cave walls, saw the cave filled with pottery of various shapes with red and black stripes on the pottery, and saw women doing the final exercises for tomorrow's sacrifice.

The soft body performs complex movements, but they are uniform, coordinated and extremely beautiful.

He couldn't take his eyes off it, with an expression of enjoyment. It turned out that women dancing were so beautiful and fascinating.

He heard a brisk sound, followed the sound, and saw the children raising the bamboo to their mouths and using strange postures to play a beautiful sound. Lanhua told him that the bamboo flute was a kind of musical instrument.

There are so many things that he has never seen before. The black bear is immersed in the wonderful experience of exploring new things and constantly asking people around him for advice.

Not long after, he saw the people around him suddenly getting up and walking towards the outside of the cave. Everyone walked towards the outside of the cave.

Black Bear and his tribe were confused, so they got up and followed them out.

Everyone looked up to the sky and prayed to the sky.

The black bear looked a little embarrassed. He looked up at the sky. The sky was filled with stars. The stars alone were not dazzling, but when they were gathered together, they looked like a long luminous river, which was dazzling.

He could see such a starry sky every night. He didn't think it was strange at first, but because people looked up devoutly, the ordinary starry sky seemed to have a different meaning. He couldn't help but wonder: Could our ancestors be among them?

After returning to the cave, Zhang Tian told everyone not to pray during the sacrifice tomorrow.

The black bear asked strangely: "Why?"

This is completely contrary to the rules of the Salt tribe. They never pray, but only pray during sacrifices.

Zhang Tian said: "Because our ancestors wanted to enjoy the food quietly without being disturbed by our prayers."

Black Bear thought about it and thought it made sense. On his side, he wouldn't want someone to keep making noises in his ears while he was eating.

Everyone went to bed early and got up early the next day, leaving a dozen men to guard the house while the rest took everything they could use and rushed to the sacrificial site.

Black Bear thought he could help, but when he arrived at the scene, he found that the ritual of worshiping the sky was completely different from the ritual of worshiping the snow spirit, and he couldn't get involved at all.

People set up bonfires in the field and placed a circle of blazing torches at equal intervals around them. Each tribe began to clean pottery and cook food.

He was puzzled and continued to show his diligent and studious spirit and asked the people around him for advice.

It turns out that cooking food is to worship ancestors, and these foods will be packed in painted pottery with Qian Gua painted on the bottom, which can go straight to heaven. Recalling the profound and complicated Bagua knowledge, his head began to hurt again.

Not only that, they also wanted to sacrifice to the earth at the same time. It is said that heaven and earth are not separated from each other, so they have to sacrifice together. Black Bear also heard the story of Pangu's creation of heaven and earth, and he had reservations about it.

The sacrifice pit next to it was almost the same as the one he used to sacrifice Xue Ling, but the sacrifices were quite different.

The sacrifices offered by the salt tribe to the snow spirit were mainly animal meat and blood, but they offered sacrifices to the earth in pottery, with a little grain in the pottery.

The priest of the evil tribe claimed that both pottery and grains contained the essence of the earth and were gifts from the earth. Black Bear disagreed with this, but he had to admit that pottery and grains were both good things, one was easy to use and the other was delicious.

The bottom of the pottery used to worship the earth is painted with the Kun hexagram, which can lead to the depths of the earth.

The sacrifices were ready, and the aroma of food wafted in the air. Black Bear and others watching the ceremony suddenly became hungry and secretly swallowed their saliva.

People place exquisite animal skin mats around the bonfire, and display bowls, chopsticks and spoons.

Zhang Tian looked up at the sky with a solemn expression and asked his ancestors to sit down and enjoy the delicious food.

Each tribe began to offer food, then exited the sacrificial site, lowered their hands and bowed their heads in silence, waiting for their ancestors to eat.

Everything was done in silence, looking solemn and solemn.

The black bear was infected by the atmosphere. He seemed to feel that his ancestors had arrived and were sitting around the bonfire enjoying delicious food. So he couldn't help but lower his head and did not dare to look directly at his ancestors.

After a while, Zhang Tian shouted "Hey" three times, indicating that the ancestors had enjoyed the sacrifices and were full.
To be continued...