Steep cliffs and ravines, as well as various dangerous places, are where city gates were built in ancient times.
Before the Anjie technology matured, Jiuzhou relied on this city gate and the use of the earth system left by the ancient king to resist the demons.
Unfortunately, as the security world became more complete, these have been abandoned.
There are not many monsters in Tianmen Mountain, and it is close to the Ya'an boundary, so it is not difficult to move around inside. There are four such places in the mountain, but unfortunately they did not find the place that would make Fang Ritu's token react.
The two then went down the mountain and returned to Tianmen City to meet Lingling and Ding Yumian.
Tianmen City is a typical small agricultural city, surrounded by various crops and there are not many hotels in the city.
Everyone just randomly chose a house to stay at.
"From the looks of you two, it seems like you didn't find anything." Lingling said when she saw the expressions of the two people.
"Yes, we found those four places, but the room order did not respond."
Bai Mo nodded slightly, and then asked, "What have you found out about the local customs?"
"Yes, there may indeed be a legend related to Fang Ritu here." Lingling said.
Without waiting for Bai Mo to ask, she began to tell the story in detail.
"Sister Yumian and I investigated all the way from the countryside outside the city to the city, and we heard all kinds of legends and gossip along the way!"
"But in general, the folk customs of Tianmen City mainly revolve around a god called Mingwang."
"It is said that this Mingwang is a god who brings light. Its existence makes the Tianmen area full of light, which is suitable for the growth of some economic crops and gives this small town its own characteristics."
"There are many other rumors about Ming Wang, such as praying for blessings, giving birth, etc. But generally speaking, the first rumor is more popular."
"There are things that promote the benefits of gods, things that promote the majesty of gods, and so on. Basically, everything that exists elsewhere can also be found here."
Lingling picked up the milk tea and took a sip. She didn't feel anything about it. There were many local god legends like this in the land of Kyushu, some true and some false.
It just so happens that many legendary gods have overlapping functions.
All I can say is that no matter where people are born, their needs are pretty much the same.
"Lingling is pretty much what she said, but I also found that some people are not as respectful as they appear when they mention Ming Wang."
Ding Yumian then added, "This kind of disrespect is not a disdain or contempt for such superstitious behavior. Instead, it is a deep disgust and hatred."
She groaned, as if choosing her words, "It's like, they met the Ming King, and then they were dissatisfied with his original appearance."
"Sister Yumian is right. We have also seen the statues of Mingwang in their homes. We found that most of them are similar, but some of them can be seen as a rabbit."
Lingling continued, "Those who hate Ming Wang in their hearts also have very old Ming Wang statues in their homes."
Hearing this, Bai Mo also felt that something was fishy. Perhaps in order to find the location of Fang Ritu's corresponding city ruins, one needed to really understand the local Ming Wang legend?
"Since there is something fishy about this Ming Wang legend, shall we continue investigating?"
Lingling nodded and pointed outside. "Of course, let's continue investigating. It just so happens that the locals told us that the monthly Mingwang Festival in Tianmen City will be held tonight. We may be able to find out something during the festival."
"Ming Wang Festival?" Jiang Shaoxu smiled softly, "Such a small town has a festival for gods. It's quite a ritual."
“Well, it is said that this is a tradition here that has been around for many years, to thank the Ming King for his protection and grace.
During the Mingwang Festival, many people will release floating lanterns by the river to express their wishes. There should be other activities as well. We can just participate in them and maybe gain something from them. " Lingling said.
Bai Mo couldn't deny it. He felt that the Mingwang Festival was held once a month and it sounded like the whole city was participating. Wasn't it a bit of a waste?
"What are you waiting for? I didn't expect there would be something new in such a small place. I haven't participated in the God Festival yet. How can I participate?"
Jiang Shaoxu became interested and said excitedly.
"We haven't asked about this yet. I think we can just join in directly, but we can go down and find out."
"Let me do it." Bai Mo said.
He tapped lightly, and instantly wisps of notes merged into the void, followed by countless sounds that flowed into his mind.
Bai Mo quickly found the content he wanted and released it.
"Tonight is Mingwang Festival, and the wish-making lanterns are not there yet. Xiao Ming, go to Mingwang Temple and ask for two. Don't lose the divine leaves they give you."
"Got it, Mom."
"Don't go out and wander around. We can't participate in the festival at night without lights."
"I know!"
"Also, you must collect the divine leaves. With them, the crops in the fields will grow better!"
"Oh, I see."
A few simple conversations contained surprisingly much information.
"The more I listen, the more I feel that there is something wrong with this Mingwang Festival. Is this Tianmen really blessed by gods? How come it seems so real?"
Jiang Shaoxu frowned, with a puzzled look on his face, "This is quite pious."
"Is there a temple here?" Bai Mo grasped the key point.
"Yes, it's on a small hill to the north, as I was just about to say."
Lingling's cute little head shook up and down a few times.
"There is a temple here. I have heard about it for a long time. I think if we want to learn more about the legend of this Ming Wang, we should go there and ask."
Ding Yumian reminded, "There are still those who disagree with Ming Wang in their hearts. We need to carefully distinguish them. The words of both sides need to be verified."
"Then let's go together. It's a good opportunity for us to participate in the Mingwang Festival. It seems we need those floating lanterns for making wishes." Bai Mo said.
So the four of them set off and headed for Mingwang Temple in the north.
"Master, someone is asking about King Ming!"
A dark-skinned sturdy man dressed as a farmer walked into the yard with great vigour and spoke directly to the young man who was tidying up his clothes.
"Who are you? What do you do?"
The young man patted a waitress who was kneeling on the ground wiping her mouth, asked her to go down, and asked lightly.
"I'm not sure, but it doesn't look simple. A grown-up girl with a little girl, both of them are very pretty."
Having said this, the sturdy man glanced at the disheveled waitress and emphasized expressionlessly.
"They are all better looking than the ones you have here, young master."
"Oh? They are not local. Go and test them and find out their origins before bothering me again." The young man made himself a cup of tea and spoke slowly.
"yes!"
Mingwang Temple is not a Buddhist temple, but a temple.
It occupies a small hill, at the top of which there are steps leading directly to the foot of the hill, and as you go up step by step, you can see the top of the temple reflecting golden light.
It has the style of a temple, with a solemn, sacred and lofty appearance.
There were quite a few people on the steps leading to the temple, men, women, young and old, most of them locals from Tianmen City.
Common people, wealthy farmers, officials and commoners, Bai Mo and his three companions met them all along the way.
There are many mages here.
This made them even more curious about this Ming Wang. According to the legend of this Ming Wang, it seemed that he was very trusted or loved by the local people?
Naturally, they have attracted a lot of attention. After all, everyone loves beauty.
This is something we have become accustomed to.
Once they enter the temple, they don't need anyone to lead the way. They just follow the flow of people and know where to get the so-called floating lanterns for making wishes.
When we queued up to enter the side hall, we saw people in front of us asking for floating lanterns to make wishes.
Although it is said to be a request, Bai Mo believes that this is just a business project of the temple.
I watched it three times, and it was all bought with money, the price of one lamp was about one hundred yuan.
Bai Mo has never seen anyone buy only one. The most common purchase is two.
He frowned, but did not jump to conclusion. He first wanted to see if the floating lantern was worth a hundred.
Thinking of this, he glanced at Ding Yumian again, and Yumian immediately understood and said in his mind,
"Most of these people do this voluntarily, while a small number of people don't understand why they are doing this."
Hearing this, Bai Mo understood. It was just like the mooncakes and rice dumplings during the Mid-Autumn Festival and Dragon Boat Festival.
To be honest, it’s not that delicious, it’s just a tradition, it’s always been that way, and that’s it.
Perhaps this floating lantern is also like this for the people here?
Soon it was their turn. Just as he was about to pay, he saw the temple attendant in plain clothes and with a solemn face saying,
"Are you a tourist visiting Tianmen City?"
"Yes, how did you know?"
Bai Mo nodded, and used phonetic magic to make his voice sound more like Qingzhou in order to gain his trust.
Otherwise, who would cross mountains and seas to come to an unknown small town?
"You four don't look like locals." The solemn-looking divine servant glanced at them, chuckled, and didn't look at them any more. Instead, he stared at Bai Mo and said:
"Since you have come to visit us, we are the hosts. To express our welcome, we will give you the tokens of participation in the Mingwang Festival.
Those who participate in the Mingwang Festival are all Mingwang believers. The lights are just to express their faith to Mingwang. Please don’t refuse.”
Lingling wrinkled her nose when she heard this. "Since the lamp is just a symbol, why don't they make it themselves instead of buying it here?"
The divine servant did not react much, but just glanced at Lingling with a smile, looking like a child who knew nothing.
"The lamp is a symbol, but symbols also have high and low levels. Everyone wants to be favored by the Ming Wang, so they voluntarily give some incense to the Ming Wang."
"We take care of the Ming Wang Temple, but we are always worried that people will just give incense blindly, and Ming Wang may not be watching us all the time, so we made this floating lantern to express our wishes. Even if Ming Wang does not bless us, we still have something to hope for."
These words were extremely mysterious, but he could justify them anyway. Lingling curled her lips.
But there were a few people who just watched the show and agreed with him.
Bai Mo thanked him and didn't leave in a hurry. Instead, he said that he was very curious about the legend of Ming Wang.
They asked if anyone in the temple knew anything about this and wanted to find out more. They also mentioned that they were students at Qingzhou University and were preparing to do a folk survey as their graduation project.
Many listeners still trusted these words and were willing to help.
After all, when the combination of students + homework comes out, most people will choose to do it with just a little effort.
So before the divine servant even opened his mouth, the people around him who were just watching the show immediately turned into warm-hearted good people.
"This divine servant understands. You can ask him. We are not in a hurry."
"No, he is a descendant of the Yuwen family. Young man, go find the one guarding the gate."
An old man waved his fan and said, "It used to be a sacrifice, don't worry that he will ignore you, the divine sacrifice family, the Yuwen family, is this outside the Tianmen!! "
The old man said this and gave a thumbs up.
"Isn't it true? The road in the city center was paved with money from the Yuwen family."
"Hey, it's ancient history. They also built the bridge over Tianmen River."
“.”
The topic quickly shifted from giving Bai Mo and others an encore to the King of Myth Stories to what the Yuwen family had done.
Bai Mo and the others looked at each other, then followed the old man's advice and found the old man who opened the door at the temple.
This old man is not good-looking and looks like a charlatan at first glance.
Hearing that several people wanted to know about the Ming King, he perked up and asked with a smile:
"Ming Wang, no one knows more about it than me. Tell me, what do you want to know?"
"Grandpa, please tell us again first. We don't understand anything." Lingling said sweetly, just like a charmer to the old man.
The old man immediately said happily, "The earliest record of Ming Wang dates back to the Qin Dynasty, and the Ming Wang Temple was also built during that time."
The old man told the story of the birth of Mingwang, how it blessed this land, how miraculous it was, how worthy of worship, and so on.
Bai Mo and the others looked at each other. It turned out to be similar to what Lingling and Ding Yumian had found out, but with more details.
However, there is no clue about Fang Ritu City Pass.
"That's about it. Do you have any other questions?"
"Grandpa, are the stories of Ming Wang true?" Lingling asked.
"Of course it's true." The old man blew his beard and glared, "I won't say anything else, I'll just tell you something that everyone in the city knows!"
Upon hearing this, several people's eyes immediately lit up, and they all felt that the clue about Fang Ritu was about to appear.
"Well, that was fifty or sixty years ago."
The old man stroked his beard, lost in memories, looked ahead, and said in a leisurely tone,
"At that time, Tianmen was still a relatively large town, and the Yuwen family was not so wealthy. Life was hard. In order to seek development, the people no longer believed in the deeds of the Ming King."
"Finally, the decline of faith caused the King of Light to show his wrath. The sky at Tianmen became brighter overnight, and light is good for the growth of crops.
But the strong light began to burn and scorch the crops. Large tracts of farmland were set on fire, and the flames surrounded the entire Tianmen in all directions! "
"We are at our wits' end. Even if we ask a high-level water mage to come, it's only a temporary solution. No one knows what's going on, but this is the only situation that has happened in Tianmen!"
When the old man said this, he sighed heavily, as if he recalled the panic and pain of the scorched earth back then.
Then he continued, "Only our ancestors were devout believers of the Ming King at that time. He understood that it was the Ming King who was dissatisfied and sent down his divine power."
"So the ancestors renovated the Mingwang Temple and offered sacrifices every day. At the same time, it also infected everyone. The Tianmen worked together. It was Mingwang who felt his believers again, and then he put away his divine power and bestowed divine grace."
"Since then, Tianmen has become a blessed land with abundant sunlight, which is beneficial to crops."
Hearing this, several people looked at each other, and Jiang Shaoxu said, "So, this Mingwang Festival also started at that time?"
"Of course, but the Mingwang Festival has actually been around for a long time. When the Mingwang appeared, it came into being. It has been passed down from the Tang Dynasty to the present day. It was born together with the Mingwang."
The old man said with a smile, but Lingling said, "Grandpa, didn't you just say that the Ming King only appeared in the Qin Dynasty?"
"Huh? ..Ah~~" The old man was stunned, then reacted and smiled embarrassedly.
"I'm old, I'm old, my memory is not good."
"Thank you, old man. Your words are of great help to us." Bai Mo said.
"It's okay. The old people in the city have all witnessed the deeds of the King Ming. If you still want to know, you can go ask them."
"good!"
Bai Mo smiled and nodded, then he said goodbye to Ding Yumian and the other two and left.
"I feel that Fang Ritu's things were most likely taken away by the Yuwen family, or the Yuwen family discovered Fang Ritu's ruins and gained something from them," said Ding Yumian.
Bai Mo and the other two stopped thinking after hearing this and looked at her. Jiang Shaoxu said,
"Although the old man didn't tell many truths, what he said were all legends after all. It's just that he himself may not believe in these legends. What does this have to do with the Fang Ritu Ruins?"
"Those historical legends about the Ming King were all made up by him, but the statement that Tianmen was bright and prosperous in those days is true."
After a pause, Ding Yumian continued, "It is also true that the ancestors of the Yuwen family rebuilt the Mingwang Temple. It is also true that the Tianmen Gate has abundant sunlight."
Hearing this, Lingling and Bai Mo also felt that this was a possibility. According to the principle that whoever benefits the most is the most suspicious, the Yuwen family is indeed worthy of suspicion, and Fang Ritu's token just happens to require light magic energy.
"Maybe it was something left behind by Fang Ritu, or maybe it was an energy leak that caused all this, and the Yuwen family just happened to get it." Lingling said.
It turns out that it’s best not to speak in front of a psychic master.
And when there is a sound mage around, don't be unable to control your mouth behind his back.
Bai Mo stretched out his hand and pointed in the air, and saw several strands of air condensed into sound strings, which began to broadcast the sound live around them.
"Master, those people left?"
"Leave. What? Are you attracted to someone?"
"No, the young master sent someone to say that someone in the city was asking about the Ming King, and asked us to find out who it was and what his identity was."
"A few students, I didn't feel any magical aura. Also, do what you need to do!"
"Are you really a student?"
"If you're not sure, go check it yourself. I'm just a beginner, old man!"
Bai Mo finished the sound detection and looked at the three people. Jiang Shaoxu said, "What are they hiding? Otherwise, why would they pay attention to our whereabouts?!"
"Oh! What else could it be? The Yuwen family is not a good family. They have gained a great reputation through fighting."
Lingling sneered and put down the lantern in her hand. "It's obvious that the so-called Mingwang Festival is just a trick for the Shenji family to make money. These floating lanterns are useless, they are just ordinary paper lanterns!"
"As for why they were able to convince so many people of the existence of the Ming King, it is probably because of what they obtained from the Fangritu ruins."
"So, what method did they use to make everyone in Tianmen City worship the Ming King?" Jiang Shaoxu asked.
When they came up here before, they met many people from all walks of life.
"Divine leaves." Ding Yumian suddenly said, "In the voice that Bai Mo released earlier, he mentioned that if you buy a lantern, you will get a divine leaf. Divine leaves are good for crops."
Hearing this, Bai Mo also remembered that the gifts they received were not gifts of gifts.
"Also, what would happen if there was no God Leaf?" Ling Ling asked.
"The old man said that the Mingwang sent down divine power and burned the crops. Later, the divine power turned into a blessing and abundant sunshine to bless the crops."
Agriculture is the foundation of everything, and Tianmen is originally a town composed of farmlands.
And if the Yuwen family controlled the method of influencing the harvest of Tianmen’s agricultural products, it would not be impossible to achieve what they have now by using the legend of the so-called Ming King.
Once successful, the entire Tianmen City will be the wallet of the Yuwen family.
In this way, it is easy to explain why Ding Yumian found that some people respect Ming Wang in words but hate him in their hearts.
"It's very likely, a reasonable guess, but we need to verify the guess before we can take action against the Yuwen family."
Bai Mo said, "Let's find out first, for example, what are the consequences of not having the Divine Leaf."
"In addition, there is the legend from fifty or sixty years ago. Since tonight is Ming Wang Festival, we can also see the reaction of the people when they release floating lanterns to express their wishes."
"After so many years, even if it is influenced by legends, there are always people who understand something."
The three nodded, and Bai Mo said, "I'll go get some divine leaves to take a look, you guys go first."
After saying this, his figure disappeared into the space.
The tokens were all obtained from others, and the totem items might fall into the hands of nearby people, so he was mentally prepared.
If the abnormality of the Yuwen family is confirmed, what he wants to find out is what the Yuwen family got and where they got it.
Sneaking into the side hall of Mingwang Temple through the inner space, Bai Mo went straight to the divine servant and took away a few divine leaves without anyone noticing.
Afterwards, he didn't rush back, but began to explore around to see if there were any unexpected gains.
The entire temple is quite large. In addition to the square where pilgrims burn incense and visit the temple on a daily basis, there is also an open area at the back.
There were some ordinary gardens, with a few people who seemed to be from the Yuwen family taking a walk inside. Their conversation was meaningless and not worth noting.
Suddenly, a figure walked past Bai Mo at a very fast pace.
This is also a priest of Mingwang Temple, but his clothes look more gorgeous and exquisite.
At the same time, his temperament became more stable and serious. From the way people he met addressed him, Bai Mo knew that this was the current priest of Mingwang Temple.
He moved his feet and followed easily, and saw that the man walked through corridors and pavilions along the way, and even went away from the temple. He took a secluded path on the mountain, winding around, and then went straight into a water curtain waterfall and entered a stone cave.
Bai Mo also followed him in, secretly thinking that there was indeed an unexpected surprise.
But there was a woman with a hot body, dressed in formal clothes and as beautiful as Xi Shi sitting there.
"Hey, Madam Xu, what's the matter that requires you to inform me so urgently?"
A chrysanthemum bloomed on the old priest's face. He walked to the woman with a smile and held her plump, delicate shoulders with both hands.
"Don't get close to me. The city lord asked me to inform you that there are outsiders coming. You should be careful these few days!"
"I already know that he is not a master."
As the priest spoke, his hands had already untied the buttons that bound the towering and dangerous pass. (End of this chapter)
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