On the roof, Xiao Nanhui ran as fast as he could while looking in the direction where the sacrificial procession was heading not far away.
Leaping fire dragons flashed from time to time among the houses with flying eaves. Against the backdrop of the night, it seemed as if a god had really descended into this ancient city, step by step towards his sacrifice.
The team turned the last corner and headed towards the finish line.
The outline of the Youyin Altar has faintly emerged in the night, and the altar is about a hundred steps away.
The palms of the festival attendant driving the last float were drenched in sweat. Driving a float was physically demanding, not to mention the complex route. He needed to be extremely alert to avoid any mistakes. With the finish line in sight, he felt a sense of relief.
Just as he was thinking, one of the wheels suddenly sank, and the whole float tilted slightly. The servant turned around in confusion and looked at the wooden building behind him, only to see a figure jump onto the float without knowing when.
The fake priest turned around suddenly, and when he saw it was Xiao Nanhui, he didn't move for a moment, seeming a little surprised.
"What? You thought you got rid of me?"
Xiao Nanhui shook off the broken tiles on his feet, stopped talking nonsense, and attacked the man directly.
The fake priest saw that Xiao Nanhui's kung fu was far superior to his own, and relying on the woman's flexible body, she dodged back and forth between the bamboo poles of the float. Xiao Nanhui only attacked and did not defend, determined to throw the other party off the car.
Amidst the flames, two masked priests appeared atop the float. They tumbled and swerved on the float, struggling to gain access to the beautiful jade on the altar. It was a truly spectacular sight.
The onlookers didn't know what was going on and thought that this was a special performance for this year's Zhu Ming Festival. They immediately burst into louder cheers and the atmosphere reached a boiling point.
The float made of nine-story wooden buildings had an unstable center of gravity and required extreme caution. Now with these two grown men on board and jumping around on it, the float was shaking to the point of toppling. The driver groaned in pain and sweat, trying his best to tighten the reins in his hands to prevent the frightened horse from rushing around.
The ceremonial float stumbled forward with difficulty.
In the Youyin Altar a hundred steps away, Zou Sifang, accompanied by three high priests, walked to the final altar.
The altar in this temple is also very old, but because it is made of stone, it is still strong. Only the bricks on the edge are a little damaged.
The stone bricks were very huge, and the firing technology has been lost. Once damaged, they could never be repaired. Later generations cast bronze lamps in them as decorations, and chiseled a shallow groove along the outer bricks. During celebrations, they poured boiling lamp oil into them. After being ignited, the flowing lamp oil could wrap the entire altar in dazzling flames, which was very spectacular.
Tonight, the oil in the bronze lamp has been filled, and they are waiting for the priest on the float who represents the god to "sacrifice the horse" to arrive at the altar, place the offerings on the platform with his own hands, and then light the lamp oil.
The lights on the entire altar will continue to burn, and people will constantly add lamp oil to ensure that the flame does not go out. The flame must not be extinguished artificially. The ceremony is not considered complete until the next rain falls from the sky to extinguish the fire.
It is said that the longest time was when the bronze lamp burned for more than a month before the rain came.
I wonder how long I have to wait this time.
Behind the eager figures on the altar, the huge outline of the ancient tower, reaching into the clouds, stands in the night, blocking half of the moon tonight.
The Pingxiao Tower, which was bustling during the day, was now as quiet as a deep well, but one could vaguely hear the whispers of people attending the ceremony outside the ancient tower.
On the fifth layer of glazed tiles at the waist of the upper half of the tower, two pitch-black shadows stood quietly, one sitting and the other standing, as if they were two ridge beasts that were originally sitting on the tiles. Except for the hems of their clothes blown by the wind, they were almost motionless.
After a long time, the sitting shadow slowly spoke.
"The moonlight is not bright tonight. Will you be able to see clearly later?"
The one standing nodded and responded in a low voice.
"I can see clearly."
"Okay, then let's do as we said before."
Ding Weixiang turned around to look at the expression of the man beside him and said hesitantly: "Master, I still feel..."
"It's okay." The ambiguous, almost invisible expression on the man's face complemented the darkness perfectly, and even his figure blended into it. Only the candlelight below reflected in his eyes, a tiny bit of light. "You put me here. Even if someone wanted to kill me, it would take a while to crawl. What's there to worry about?"
Ding Weixiang was speechless. This was not a question of whether to worry or not, but that mistakes were inevitable in everything, and he could not afford the consequences of such a possibility.
"Ever since I left, I have been living in fear every day. This move is really risky. I..."
Zhongli actually changed his sitting position to a cross-legged position, so that his knees were lifted off the eaves, dangling in the air. Below him was a bottomless abyss, but he looked on indifferently, as if he were just sitting on a straw mat on the ground. "You've been with me all this time, but have you ever seen me do anything only when I'm absolutely sure it's done? If that were the case, you and I wouldn't be here right now."
Ding Weixiang was speechless.
Anyway, he can't argue with the master in front of him, so why does he always make himself embarrassed?
"I understand. I will do my best later."
"Hmm." The man snorted softly, then added indifferently, "You should give it your all. Look at that outsider, he's acting like he's risking his life. If you didn't know better, you'd think he was my longtime confidant."
Ding Weixiang looked down along the man's line of sight. The floats of the sacrificial procession were slowly approaching the finish line. On the most grand float among them, two figures were fighting fiercely.
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