Aztec Civilization: Destiny to Conquer America!-Chapter 1521 - 1064: Major Seaside Affairs—I’m Entrusting Everything to You!

In January, the tropical jungle is lush with green, warmed by gentle spring breezes. Within the ancient ruins of the First Holy City, towering and sacred cotton trees abound, as do low, sprawling vine flowers.

This ancient holy city in the rainforest is so vast that it can accommodate thousands of tribal chieftains, envoys, and warriors, along with as many as four thousand members of the Imperial Guard Legion. Yet it remains so desolate, with the mottled green stone bricks filled with the wilderness and vitality of the jungle. Even with such a large influx of tribes, they cannot flatten the resilient and lush grass and shrubs.

Before the Industrial Era, people were often helpless against the dense rainforest. And the tribes of the tropical jungle had long been accustomed to it all.

"Ancient tree spirits in the rain! When alive, we embrace the trees. When we die, we are embraced by the tree roots..."

Indeed, just as the highland tribes naturally worship the Divine Mountain, the jungle tribes often revere the Divine Tree. Various ancient beliefs in divine trees are deeply ingrained in the hearts of the jungle tribes! Like the Cotton God Tree the Mayans believe in, it is revered, tall as to pierce the clouds, linking heaven and earth, connecting gods, humans, and the undead across the three realms, yet devoid of any emotions, transcending above all gods!

To align with the traditions of the jungle tribes, what Xiulote did was that after engraving the grand depiction of the "Chief Divine on Snake Mountain," ordered Totonac painters to carve the "Chief Divine on the Cotton Tree." Then, before the engraving of "On the Island in the Lake, Chief Divine guiding the Mexica people," added another engraving, "Beside the Cotton Tree, Chief Divine guiding the ancestors of the Jiao people."

And on the second day of the New Year festival, the most important part was when he led the chieftains of various tribes to pay respects and make offerings to the engravings of various Chief Divine stories. Among them were, of course, these newly meaningful engravings.

The New Year festival at the Olmec Ancient Holy City was held over three consecutive days, growing more populated and lively each day.

The first day was the solemn and grand arrival of the Chief Divine, with blood sacrifices and conversions, and only the tribal leaders participating in the oaths. The second day was the relatively solemn worship of statues, engravings, and ruins, allowing warriors from the tribes to participate. By the third day, the solemn atmosphere had relaxed, allowing even ordinary tribespeople to gather around the Holy City to partake in the celebratory rites!

Tens of thousands of tribespeople gathered from three hundred li around. They sang and danced joyously, drank and feasted, celebrating the New Year while trading the goods each tribe had brought. Such rare and grand festive gatherings also served as a market for inter-tribal trade. The gathering of many tribal nobles allowed them to obtain good merchandise more easily and sell to potential buyers. And in the Holy Land, under the watchful eyes of the Divine, even tribes that were usually hostile would lay down their weapons and would even bless with a unison prayer, "Praise the Chief Divine!"

Besides tribal trades, another function of the large festival was to allow young men and women from different tribes to meet each other, engage in courtship, and even arrange marriages. This was the primary way for isolated small jungle tribes to introduce different bloodlines, preventing too much inbreeding and yielding unhealthy offspring.

"May the Chief Divine protect us! These three days of sacred festivities, or rather 'feudal superstitions,' primarily consist of the core aspects of 'Chief Divine worship' and 'Jiao rituals.' The former represents the 'guidance' in the 'domain of faith,' while the latter constitutes the 'rituals' in the 'cultural field,' collectively fulfilling the spiritual needs of ordinary tribespeople and chieftains!"

"And the positioning of the Olmec Ancient Holy City is not just to be the 'Holy Land of Chief Divine worship,' or the 'Ancestral Land of Jiao people's ancestors,' but also to become the 'trade center' of the jungle tribes, a 'mediation place for tribal conflicts,' a model of 'strength and order for the kingdom.' It should not only showcase the warriors' might but also host the priests guiding the tribes, and the elders arbitrating disputes, subtly bringing a stable order to the various jungle tribes!..."

"Further ahead, the 'guidance' of the Chief Divine should gradually evolve into 'geofaith' that regulates behavior. Meanwhile, the 'rituals' of the ancestors should extend into a code that constrains the chieftains'... oh no, 'Jiao rituals!' Only with the unification of faith and culture can the new order established from the highlands spread to the seaside and deep jungles... enabling the numerous warring tribes to truly form a single body, ultimately becoming a unified nation, a formidable empire!"

"Of course, such spiritual unification cannot be achieved overnight. It is not something that can be completed in one generation. Integrating religion and culture requires a strategy and, more importantly, a form! Especially the cultural connection needs to earn genuine recognition from the Totonac and the Zoque Tribes..."

The festival at the Olmec Holy City had ended, but Xiulote did not hurry to leave. As the sunset fell upon the rainforest, red clouds reflected the vibrant green shadows, with the chirping of cicadas and singing of birds rejoicing outside the palace. Xiulote sat cross-legged in an old, abandoned observatory, watching the Head Warrior Bertade sitting beside him once more, smiling warmly. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Bertade, how is it? Do you understand everything I've said?"

"Your Highness, I understand!... Well... the faith of the Chief Divine is like the same tattoo on the skin, while the rituals of the Jiao people are like the same bloodline beneath the skin. In this world, outward things are always easier, internal ones are harder. You can enforce everyone to get the same tattoo by force, but to let everyone flow with the same bloodline, hold similar beliefs, it has to be like spring rain, slowly soaking in..."