Chapter 222: Clouds Disperse
Except for the "Exploration" program crew, no one in the entire Mozi Village agreed that Jiang Wu would host this year's Late Spring Festival. Even Wei Changxian hid at home and sighed, regretting that he had let a wolf into the house in order to develop the village.
Jiang Wu was speechless. He had no interest in this late spring festival, but this matter not only concerned whether he could adopt his master, but also whether he could clean up the mess he had left behind.
Yes, a rotten stall.
That day at the funeral, Jiang Yue laid her cards directly before him, saying that in order to conceal her own extraordinary abilities, she had been borrowing her grandmother's identity to perform various sacrificial activities for the past few years. But this time, in order to save Jiang Wu and the others, he had consumed a lot of his energy, so that he could not maintain the vitality of the grandmother-in-law, and even could not perform the Spring Festival alone, so Jiang Wu had to take responsibility.
Jiang Wuqishi really couldn't understand these sacrificial ceremonies. When Yan Chong ascended the throne, he also offered sacrifices to the sky. A man like that, dressed in the purple aura of an emperor, wearing a Jiuyu crown and a black dragon robe, ascended the height to offer sacrifices to the sky, but it did not change the fortune of the Great Zhou. In the end, he used Longmian to create an unusual phenomenon from the sky to shut up the people. From then on, he was convinced that the so-called sacrifices were all just tricks.
But for the sake of his master, he had no choice but to agree.
However, to the villagers of Mozi Village, this spring festival was very important, so important that they went to Jiang Yue again and again to persuade him not to find someone else to fill in the numbers, otherwise it would incur the wrath of the gods. They also insisted that the reason why Mount Mozi was shaken before was because outsiders had trespassed on Mount Mozi and angered the gods. If the spring festival was messed up again, the gods would definitely be angry.
Jiang Yue didn't care about this and said that the Spring Festival must be presided over by Jiang Wu.
His attitude undoubtedly angered the villagers. They began to question Jiang Yue's ability, question whether he could inherit the position of the goddess, and question whether he should live at the highest point in the village and enjoy their offerings.
Jiang Wuyan watched those people's attitudes towards Jiang Yue change drastically, and couldn't help but think of what happened when he was in the Great Zhou Dynasty. He had clearly accompanied Yan Chong to the battlefield to kill the enemy and saved the army from danger several times. He was worshipped as a god by them, but later after the war ended, they betrayed him so easily. Those people who once excitedly shouted that they would pay a lifetime of loyalty in return, in the blink of an eye, picked up swords and nailed him to the Zhaixing Tower.
He recalled his mood at that time and comforted Jiang Yue not to be sad. Unexpectedly, Jiang Yue looked at him in surprise and asked him, "Why should I be sad? This is how people are."
Jiang Wu was silent. He thought his master was indeed smart. Even after reincarnation, he could still see through people's hearts. But why didn't he tell him that people's hearts were like this in his previous life? With his master's ability, it should be easy for him to see what would happen to him in the future, but why didn't he tell him? He took so many detours in vain.
It can’t be because he’s too lazy to talk about it… Never mind, his master might really be too lazy to talk about it.
Jiang Wu admitted that he was not a very docile person. At least in the late spring of that year, when he met the eighteen-year-old Yan Chong, he was unable to be persuaded. Perhaps it was because the imperial purple and shabby clothes were too strange, or perhaps it was because of the colorful and distant world behind Yan Chong. He was destined to be unable to refuse the promise Yan Chong made to him.
Destiny always weaves the ending for you when you think you have it in your hands.
Jiang Yue was only a seven-year-old child after all. Although the villagers treated her coldly, they would not bully a child. However, their attitude towards outsiders like Jiang Wu was not so good.
The first to suffer was the "Exploration" program crew. Some people refused their filming and even tried to smash their equipment. Fortunately, Wei Changhan dissuaded them and the conflict was prevented from escalating.
But Jiang Wu soon discovered that not only the people in Mozi Village were bugging him behind his back, but people on the Internet were also bugging him.
The story begins with the group of Huayue technical personnel brought by Zhou Changming. Previously, because Mozi Village was too remote, the signals of various electronic equipment were very poor. The equipment that the "Exploration" program crew had just transported in could only record videos, but could not upload or broadcast live. It was not until the group of technical personnel brought by Zhou Changming built the base station and used the mobile signal source that Yang Chen could not wait to set up the camera and began to record the process of Professor Cheng leading the guests to explore the history and folk culture of Mozi Village.
Although they did find a number of stone tablets and pottery jars engraved with mysterious texts in Mozi Village, it was not exciting enough after all, and did not have the adventurous spirit of the previous "Exploration Journey". Just when Yang Chen was wondering whether he should do something exciting, Mozi Mountain suddenly shook, and Huayue Group's Wantu AI predicted a magnitude 7.8 earthquake. Before they knew it, the local government of Mozi had already begun to issue an emergency evacuation order, but within half an hour, a mysterious halo appeared on Mozi Mountain, and then the shaking disappeared, and Wantu cancelled the earthquake warning.
Later, this incident became a hot topic. One was the questioning of Wantu AI's natural disaster forecasting function, and the other was the mysterious halo video of Mozi Mountain. The video was naturally uploaded by the program crew. Huayue Public Relations Department played a big role in it for the sake of its own products, which caused quite a stir at the time. The outside world speculated what mysterious things were hidden in Mozi Mountain, and some people began to urge the "Exploration" program crew to release the video footage inside Mozi Mountain.
Yang Chen wanted to announce that Jiang Wu's whistle to summon an albino eagle and then his hand to break the ground to stop the mudslide was enough to take the show to the next level, but the videotape and camera were destroyed, and the cameraman almost died.
So when Yang Chen learned that Jiang Wu was entrusted by the successor of the Goddess of the Temple to preside over the Spring Festival, he immediately made a notice about this as a hot topic and posted it on the platform.
As he expected, Jiang Wu, who disappeared and reappeared after killing someone and fleeing, the mysterious Mozi Mountain, the ancient village, and the late spring festival that has been passed down for thousands of years successfully aroused the curiosity of netizens.
"Exploration Travel" is a huge hit, but also mentioned is the name Jiang Wu and all topics related to him, such as being forced to jump off the building of the Golden Land Hotel, his resurgence in popularity on a deserted island variety show, and being suspected of murdering a wealthy businessman and escaping, etc., all the good and bad, true and false, have been dug up. Those who don't know him are amazed that a third-rate actor can have such rich experience, while those who once knew him lament that, except Jiang Wu, anyone else who experienced any of these things would not be able to turn things around, but he did.
As soon as Mozi Mountain became popular, Jiang Wu suddenly became a priest of Mozi Mountain. It was like he was born in the hot spot.
Among these mixed messages, many people questioned that the "Exploration" program team deliberately promoted Jiang Wulai as the presiding priest for the sake of popularity, accusing him of seriously damaging local customs and culture.
With internal and external troubles, everyone was helpless, but Yang Chen enthusiastically set up his camera and began to film the process of the Spring Festival.
Three animals, nine kinds of wine, and speeches of blessing, the only tediousness of the spring festival in Mozi Village lies in the early preparations. The process is very simple. Three wooden poles are erected on the open space at the entrance of the village facing Mozi Mountain, with three flags of black, yellow, and red hung on each pole.
"The three flags represent heaven, earth and man. When you pray for the first time, the heaven flag moves. When you pray for the second time, the earth flag moves. When you pray for the third time, the man flag moves. If the flag does not move, it means you have failed."
During this time, Cheng Ye has already learned a lot about the folk culture of Mozi Village and is more familiar with the process of the Spring Festival than Jiang Wu himself.
As for Jiang Wu himself, he didn't even remember the blessing speech, but on the day of the Spring Festival, he tied up his long hair with a red rope, wore a scarlet robe, and walked towards the crowd step by step with the sound of copper bells, and everyone fell silent.
With dark hair, fair skin, and a red robe, his facial features were handsome and flawless. He was neither deliberately cold nor solemn. Jiang Wu walked towards them casually as usual, looking up at the Mozi Mountain in the distance. He did not seem to be looking at the abode of gods, but rather a trace of nostalgia, as if he was looking at his long-lost hometown.
There was no need to recite the blessing speech, but the dance to worship the heaven still had to be performed. The dance steps were not difficult, and it was not like the shaman dance that Yang Chen and the others had imagined. He just walked casually step by step according to the fixed pace, and the red hem of his clothes floated at his feet like a flowing red river.
No one spoke. Whether it was the villagers who had strongly opposed it before, or Yang Chen and other outsiders, they all kept silent tacitly.
At this time, Yan Zhishan in the crowd suddenly whispered, "Xingxiu."
Ji Ruoxuan and other guests immediately looked over, and the camera followed suit. As a monk, it was the first time that Yan Zhishan was so close to the camera, and he felt a little uncomfortable, but he still explained in the expectant eyes of everyone, "The steps he took represent the stars in the sky. There are 28 constellations. There are 32 stars in the eastern seven constellations, 64 stars in the southern seven constellations, 51 stars in the western seven constellations, and 35 stars in the northern seven constellations. There are a total of 182 stars, and he has already stepped on 96 steps."
Ji Ruoyan was stunned, "...One hundred and eighty-two? Can you remember this position?"
Obviously Jiang Wu could remember not just the 182 stars, he remembered all the stars in the sky, including those that ordinary people could not see.
He had been looking at the stars above his head since the moment he was born. No matter where he was or how the world changed, the starry sky above his head remained unchanged. This was the first lesson his master taught him, and remembering those locations had almost become his instinct.
After all 182 steps were completed, a blessing began. After Wei Changxian finished reading the blessing, Jiang Wuji raised the first cup of wine and poured it into the sky. The wine fell to the ground and the black flag was slowly blown up by the wind, floating gently.
Wei Changxian took a deep breath and subconsciously held his breath, almost forgetting his speech.
The second blessing began. After the blessing was finished, Jiang Wu poured the second cup of wine onto the ground. The wind became stronger, blowing from the direction of Mozi Mountain. It brought coolness and raised the yellow flag high.
After the third blessing, Jiang Wu raised his head and drank the glass of wine, then raised the glass towards Mozi Mountain in the distance.
The wind picked up, blowing the red flags with a loud sound. Everyone looked at the three flags above their heads in amazement. Suddenly, someone pointed to the distance and whispered in surprise, "The clouds have dispersed--"
Everyone looked in the direction of his finger and found that the clouds above Mozi Mountain, which were said to have lasted for a thousand years, were slowly dispersing. In the eyes of Yan Zhishan and others, what was dispersing was not only the clouds, but also the gloomy and violent evil spirit.