The mountain god temple is the most conspicuous building in the entire village. The corners of the roof are raised high, and on them sit sculptures of various mountain and forest beasts.
Under the roof and above the temple gate, there is a circle of pictures inlaid with colored porcelain.
"What story does it tell?" Qiongzhi asked Lin San. Everyone looked up at this time, and the circle of colored porcelain drawings was shining brightly because of the light.
"Of course it's the story of how the mountain god saved our village from disaster," Lin San said. "Life in the mountains isn't easy. Not to mention the forest monsters, how many villages like ours could be wiped out by the wild beasts alone?"
"Fortunately, the mountain god appeared. He drove away the wild beasts, dealt with the monsters, and granted us peace and tranquility, allowing us to thrive here for generations to come..."
Lin San's eyes revealed a kind of obsession, as if he had returned to the past and witnessed the arrival of the gods with his own eyes.
Qiongzhi and her group of five interstellar people only knew a few lines about so-called faith from a book, so they couldn't empathize with it. So they nodded dryly, "The mountain god is truly a great...god."
Lin San pulled himself out of his memories and motioned for them to follow him in. "There are only three cushions in front of the mountain god. The five of you must split up and follow me in twice."
"Okay, then the three of us will go in with you first." Qiongzhi nodded and pointed at herself, Zhong Le and Zhang Yuan.
"Don't step on the threshold." Lin San warned them as they entered, and they stepped over the high threshold at the foot of the mountain temple.
After entering the door, they were faced with a wooden screen, and they had to go around the screen to see what was inside.
A three-headed, eight-armed deity sat cross-legged on a raised platform, surrounded by a circle of candles. Each head bore the same expression: glaring eyes, fangs bared from their open mouths, and each of its eight hands held a variety of weapons. Cast by the flickering candlelight, it looked more like a demon than a deity.
The incense burner in front of the stage was filled with long incense sticks, making the inside filled with smoke.
This is...the mountain god?
Qiongzhi was a little stunned. He originally thought that the mountain god would be an old man with kind eyes... Obviously, he was wrong.
"Don't look directly at the mountain god, kneel down quickly." Lin San pushed his shoulder. Qiongzhi came to her senses and knelt on the mat, while Lin San knelt directly on the ground beside them, "Follow me."
He clasped his hands together, closed his eyes, and began to speak to the mountain god: "I, the believer Lin San from Jinshui Village, am here to see you, Lord Mountain God, and ask for your protection. The three people before you are outsiders who were welcomed into the village by the believers, so I have brought them here to pay their respects to you, Lord Mountain God, as a sign of respect."
As he spoke, Lin San arched his back, touched his forehead to the ground, and placed his palms upwards with the backs of his hands pressed against the ground. He did this three times, and Qiongzhi and the others followed suit.
I don’t know if it was an illusion, but after following Lin San to do these three bows, Qiongzhi felt her whole body lighten, and for a moment she seemed to be in the clouds.
He couldn't help but look up at the statue. It looked the same, but this time he felt that there seemed to be a little more gentleness and compassion between the statue's eyebrows.
"Let's go." Zhang Yuan pushed him and pulled him up.
The three of them followed Lin San out, with Qiongzhi walking at the end. When she was near the door, she couldn't help but look back at the statue, her fingertips trembling slightly.
After they went out, Lin San took the remaining two people in, and the three of them waited outside.
Zhang Yuan saw that Qiongzhi looked unhappy and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
Qiongzhi thought for a moment and asked, "Did you look at the statue just now? What did you feel?"
Zhong Le recalled and frowned slightly: "I just took a glance at it, and it seemed very fierce. Rather than saying it was a god, it felt more like..."
She didn't finish her words. Perhaps the villagers' overly pious attitude made her afraid to say the rest of the words. She felt a vague sense of fear and uneasiness in her heart.
"I understand." Zhang Yuan nodded and looked at Qiongzhi: "Why, don't you feel it?"
Qiongzhi shook her head. "No, I thought so too."
He wasn't lying; the statue looked ferocious, and that was his first impression. And now, thinking back on it, he still felt the same way.
As for those unusual things that were wrong before, Qiongzhi couldn't remember them at all.
[No? Why do I feel weird?]
[Me too. Are all first-person perspective people the same as me? ]
[Same, I can’t explain it, in my heart…]
【Third perspective, I don’t understand you. 】
That statue is really weird. Why is it made like that? It doesn't look like a god at all.
According to historical records, some places specifically made statues of gods look ferocious in order to scare away ghosts.
You are so cultured that I seem uncultured.
Qiongzhi grabbed the air with his hands hanging by his side, then he shook his head and looked towards the door.
Wang Yang and Wu Zheng also came out, but Lin San was present, so they couldn't ask directly and could only wait.
"Now that you've visited the mountain temple and have the mountain god's protection, you can relax and enjoy the experience." Lin San smiled and sent them back. "Tomorrow I'll take you to experience the preparation process for the ceremony."
After Lin San left, everyone did not go back to the house directly. Qiongzhi asked the two people who went in later about the situation in the temple, and the answers she got were not much different.
"Let's take a walk around the village." Wu Zhengdao said.
In the village, villagers don’t have work to do, but they all seem to have their own things to do, so the whole village always presents a bustling sense of life.
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