Chapter 46 Why is he so good to me?
Achoo!
Pingyu covered his nose and groaned twice.
Xue Yue'e asked worriedly, "Did you catch a cold?"
Pingyu has always been weak and easily catches colds. Although it is now summer, there is no heat in the mountains.
The grass and trees grow tall and long, and a cold wind blows in gusts.
Pingyu shook his head: "Perhaps there's dust in his nose."
Her nose has been itchy frequently lately, as if she's constantly being nagged.
After Nezha left, the team set off immediately, and no one made a mistake again.
The sound of gongs and drums continued, but the deeper they went into the mountains, the darker the surroundings seemed to press down. The high-pitched gong sounds became lower, whistling past everyone's eardrums in a chilling way.
Pingyu paid close attention to his surroundings, so that if anything went wrong, he could immediately run away with his parents.
The shouts echoed throughout the mountain, gradually decreasing in number.
Ping Yu leaned forward slightly, and a sentence he had heard his teacher say back in school immediately popped into his mind:
In ancient times, there was a great tree called Chun, which took eight thousand years for autumn and eight thousand years for spring.
Everyone says that ancient trees reach the sky. If a tree could truly live to be eight thousand years old, it would surely be as tall as the one before him. It was taller than the python demon in Ping Yu's dream and larger than the Ghost Gate in his sea of consciousness. Xue Cheng'an stood beneath the eight-thousand-year-old Chinese toon tree that stood shoulder to shoulder with the sky and knelt down to place the pottery jar.
Peach Blossom Spring is right under the Chinese toon tree.
The villagers all knelt down, and Pingyu was no exception.
She thought of the songs the children were singing:
Dig up the roots to eat.
The earthenware jar was placed under the tree where the roots were dense.
The thick, gnarled tree roots had somehow managed to form a perfect circle around the jar. He brushed away the loose soil and pebbles from the roots and picked them up.
"Gentlemen, we may begin!"
Beginning? Beginning what?
Pingyu and his parents were at a loss, watching as the person in front of them changed from a kneeling position to crawling and began to move forward slowly step by step. The person had four limbs and lay on the ground like a hyena. After Xue Chengan grabbed the root, it was taken by someone and stuffed into their mouth to be chewed.
The fine roots are pulled, and the thick roots growing on the ground are then bent down and gnawed.
The roots pierced the skin and flesh inside the mouth, and the sticky, chewed matter mixed with blood was spat out wetly. Saliva is the lubricant of the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) cycle in the human body, possessing the power to balance Yin and Yang. After the previous batch of people and dogs finished chewing and spitting, the next batch would take their place. By the time it was Ping Yu and his group's turn at the end, the roots around the pottery jar had been almost completely chewed up. The wet, indistinct paste surrounded it entirely.
How disgusting, how dirty.
Pingyu didn't want to bite, and secretly shook his head at his parents.
They grabbed some wild grass, made a feint, chewed it empty, and then exhaled, just to get by.
His robes were all dirty, dusty and grimy...
Hate.
And the moment Xue Chengan placed the Emperor Taizu's robe into the jar!
The old man's head, with its eyes open, disappeared.
The clothes draped softly on the ground, then were lifted up by the young man.
The earthenware jar is also gone.
During the time the jar and the old man disappeared, Xue Chengan did not make any unnecessary movements.
He didn't even chant any incantations or make any hand gestures...
How did you do that?
"Emperor Taizu has already sailed to Peach Blossom Spring. You can come and collect the meat tomorrow!"
The lightning flashed, illuminating the young man's indifferent face as he casually tossed his clothes back onto the table that the others had been holding up.
Pingyu then kowtowed.
As she pressed her forehead to the ground, she suddenly felt a sharp pain beside her. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small stone covered in leaves that had rolled onto the ground.
Only Nezha would do this!
She glanced furtively in the direction from which the pebbles had come and saw half of a familiar golden ring peeking out from behind the tree.
The boy drew a circle in the air with his hand, then pointed to the ground below:
Leave.
The entire procession was bowing in prayer, and it was time to return to the village.
Pingyu grabbed his parents' sleeves and secretly led them away into the bushes.
It was late at night.
The villagers, who had been busy all night, hadn't eaten yet and were rushing back. They didn't notice the three people missing from the end of the procession and hurried away. Once the procession had definitely disappeared from sight, Pingyu breathed a sigh of relief. They cautiously walked out, and Nezha appeared from the tree opposite.
When did you arrive?
Ping asked.
"When he carried the founding emperor down."
Seeing the three of them covered in dust and dirt, Nezha cast a cleaning spell on them.
Lin Dong narrowed his eyes: This kid is actually quite thoughtful!
Pingyu felt better after he was clean.
They were under the same ailanthus tree. The tangled mess of chewed vomit remained, but the pottery jar was nowhere to be seen. It was too dark to see clearly, so Nezha lit a fire to light Pingyu's way. The girl, suppressing her nausea, crouched down, the firelight resting on the spot where Xue Cheng'an had just been. As they drew closer, details blurred by the dim colors became clearly visible:
The mud surface has clearly been disturbed.
Compared to the compacted soil on the side, the soil here is noticeably thin.
She puffed out her cheeks and blew hard in that direction.
Dust rises, mud flies.
Nezha promptly covered the girl's mouth and nose to prevent her from being choked by the flying dust.
Pingyu was a little flattered. She carefully pried Nezha's hand off and wondered to herself: What's going on?
After the mud and dust used for embellishment dissipated, what was hidden underneath was revealed.
The earthenware pot is right below.
Nezha dug it out and held it in his hand.
"How could it be so perfectly timed?" Ping Yu felt around the small pit where the jar was placed: "It seems that Xue Cheng'an dug a pit here beforehand and used the angle to make the jar fall into the pit directly."
"Playing tricks and deception."
Nezha commented and brushed off the dust.
"Where did the Great Ancestor go?" Ping Yu squatted down and poked the jar: "Even if he were thin, he wouldn't fit inside. This jar isn't that big."
"You'll know once you open it."
The boy gripped the top cover with his fingers, as if he was about to lift it up.
The moment Nezha lifted his fingertip, he abruptly stopped. Ping Yu hesitated, then suddenly saw the Universe Ring expanding. The golden ring continued to expand outward, finally slipping from Nezha's released fingertip.
Pingyu also became alert, just like his tense body.
"What's wrong?"
Lin Dong and Xue Yue'e anxiously held the two children in their arms.
Nezha did not answer, but looked up at the sky.
The sky wasn't a sky; it was covered by lush foliage. Amidst the dense canopy of leaves, a few glimmers of light could be seen. Sharp, slender points swayed gently in the rustling branches and leaves.
Pingyu held her breath, not daring to utter a sound. She swallowed hard and gave Nezha a questioning look.
The flames suddenly flared up, and the intense light that shot into his eyes caused Pingyu's eyelids to twitch. At the same time, the person climbing the tree became clearer.
Yes, a mask.
The creature wearing a bronze mask was stretching its limbs out, clinging to the gaps in the branches, craning its neck and looking towards them.
Their eyes met, and the masks began to clatter.
Strike left and right, smash right and forward.
Different combinations of bronze surfaces are struck against each other in a regular pattern, like caterpillars hanging from a long tree.
Striking copper phase.
Gong, Shang, Jiao, Zhi, Yu.
Sounds replace lips and tongue, forming a series of repeated sentences:
Return it
Return the jar.
Author's Note: I'm devastated! I thought I had posted it!!! That damn writer's assistant crashed and didn't post it. My friend reminded me, and I realized I hadn't posted it. Seriously!
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