The weekend arrived.
Central City, the activity center.
Yin Yang arrived early with his ticket, but to his surprise, there were already people who had arrived even earlier than him.
They gathered in small groups of two or three, their expressions fanatical, as if they were preparing for a pilgrimage.
Yin Yang was taken aback by the sight. I didn't accidentally walk into some cult's offline meetup, did I?
Since it's related to history, could it be the True Knowledge Society?
No, I need to prepare some emergency measures in advance!
With that thought, Yin Yang pretended to look for a seat, quietly slipping some slips of paper inscribed with incantations into various cracks and corners.
If a cult really planned to pull something here, Yin Yang could use these to make a quick escape.
As time passed, more and more people arrived. This was quite unexpected for Yin Yang; he hadn't anticipated that a mere history lecture would draw such a large crowd.
The clock soon struck nine in the morning. After the staff on-site restored order, the professor finally made his appearance.
He was an elder who looked to be in his sixties, with graying hair and dark, sun-bronzed skin—clearly someone who spent a lot of time outdoors.
“Professor Bai!”
“Professor Bai!!”
The moment he stepped onto the stage, the audience erupted into cheers.
Professor Bai was very approachable. He interacted with the audience for a bit before gradually steering the presentation toward the main topic.
“Students, today we are going to talk about the Zhou Era!”
“When we mention the Zhou Era, what comes to mind?”
Hearing Professor Bai's question, the audience chimed in with their answers.
“Sealed objects!”
“Gods no longer walking the earth!”
“Propriety and moral codes!”
Professor Bai smiled and nodded, highly satisfied with the audience's responses.
“You are all correct. These are common knowledge regarding the Zhou Era.”
“Since the Zhou Era, gods have ceased to walk among mortals, only occasionally responding to their believers.”
“But have you ever thought about this? If gods stopped walking among us, why do we still have mountain gods and sea gods?”
Someone in the audience raised their hand again, waiting for Professor Bai's nod of approval before answering.
“Because mountain gods and sea gods are local gods officially bestowed titles by Great Wei, meant to protect the local populace.”
“Correct. But they are still gods, so why are they able to walk the mortal realm?”
“Professor, is it because they aren't true gods and don't possess their own authority?”
Hearing this answer, Professor Bai smiled and nodded.
“This student's train of thought is excellent. Knowing about authority shows that you've done some research on this topic in your spare time.”
“This is indeed part of the reason, but not entirely correct.”
As he spoke, he clicked a video file he had prepared beforehand. The screen behind him lit up, displaying two large characters.
Ancient Gods!
The students' eyes sparkled, knowing they were about to hear things not found in textbooks.
“Ancient Gods, the deities of ancient times.”
“In historical studies, the gods from before the Zhou Era are collectively referred to as Ancient Gods!”
“The saying that gods no longer walk the mortal realm refers specifically to these Ancient Gods.”
“Meanwhile, any deity who ascended to godhood after the Zhou Era—such as the mountain gods, sea gods, or even the War God of Great Wei—is classified as a New God.”
“They do not fall under this restriction. Otherwise, how could the War God of Great Wei have founded Great Wei back then?”
The students remained completely silent as Professor Bai continued.
“Through certain sealed objects and records found in ruins, we know that true gods did walk the world during the Zhou Era.”
“The monarch sacrificed to Heaven and Earth, and the vassals sacrificed to mountains and rivers.”
“Yet after the Zhou Era, all the gods vanished.”
“We can only catch fleeting glimpses of them in history. This is something that had never happened during the Shang Era!”
“Have you ever wondered why that is?”
The crowd was dead silent.
Professor Bai played another media file. This time, instead of text, a set of murals appeared on the screen.
“These murals were discovered nine years ago by a Great Qi archaeological team. They guarded them like precious treasures, keeping them under wraps until they finally began circulating within a small circle last year.”
The audience grinned. This was one of the reasons they loved attending his lectures—here, Professor Bai always showed them things they had never seen before.
“Students, let's look at the first slide.”
It was a mural carved inside a stone cave. The depiction was exquisite, and even some traces of color remained, though countless years of wear had left it highly blurred.
Even so, one could still make out that it was likely a sacrificial ritual.
“Based on the clothing and architecture depicted in the mural, we can roughly deduce that this is a sacrificial scene from the early Zhou Era.”
“And the one they were sacrificing to was the Supreme God of that era!”
While everyone stared in confusion, Professor Bai pulled up the second image.
This image had been digitally restored, making it look much clearer than the original.
One could clearly see that as the Zhou people of that time performed their sacrifice, the sky underwent a distinct change.
“I believe you can all see the clear shift in the sky.”
“Thus, based on the speculations of Great Qi archaeologists, Ancient Gods were still active during the early to mid Zhou Era.”
“But why did the gods vanish completely after the Zhou Era?”
The screen behind him changed once more, this time displaying only two words.
Mass Extinction!
“Just like the causes behind the collapse of the Shang Era and Xia Era, we believe the disappearance of the gods is directly related to the mass extinction of the Zhou Era!”
“Unlike previous ones, this mass extinction was not only fatal to humans, but even impacted the Ancient Gods!”
“Of course, we don't know the exact reasons, and this is currently just a hypothesis, as we lack substantial evidence to prove it.”
“The mainstream theories generally fall into three categories. The first is...”
In the audience, Yin Yang listened with absolute focus. He had only read about a small portion of what Professor Bai was explaining, while the rest was entirely new to him.
This ticket was definitely worth every penny.
Two hours flew by. On stage, Professor Bai picked up his thermos, took a sip, and said, “Today's lecture is coming to an end. Do you have any questions, class?”
Hearing this, Yin Yang immediately raised his hand. Professor Bai nodded at him.
“Yes, what would you like to ask?”
“Professor, are there any immediately obvious differences in the sacrifices of the Shang and Zhou eras?”
“The differences are actually quite distinct.”
Professor Bai set down his thermos, cleared his throat, and continued.
“Take the offerings, for example. During the Shang Era, sacrifices primarily consisted of prisoners of war, slaves, and sometimes even transcendent creatures and nobles.”
“But by the Zhou Era, the offerings had changed to the Three Sacrificial Animals.”
“Furthermore, the chief officiant of the rituals was different. In the early Shang Era, there were dedicated individuals who presided over the sacrifices, a role similar to a Divine Official.”
“But by the late Shang, the Shang King consolidated both divine and royal authority, turning himself into the highest officiant of the sacrifices!”
“This directly influenced later generations, to the point that during the Zhou Era, the supreme officiant of any sacrifice was always the emperor.”
Yin Yang frowned slightly. If the only differences were the offerings and the officiants, how did that evil god determine at a single glance that I was a Yin Shang Remnant and not a descendant of the Zhou Era?
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