"Buy one! I only need 3 copper coins here, but I will sell it for 5 copper coins when I go to the front! "A lovely little girl ran up to a man, her head pierced with balls, her eyes sparkling and pitiful.

She slowly lifted the cloth covering one of the bamboo baskets she was holding, revealing the contents inside, which were golden masks. Of course, they are not made of gold, but wood, and the outside is coated with gold dust.

The man took out three yellow copper coins from his money bag, threw them into her bamboo basket, then picked up a mask, put it on his face, and followed the others towards the river.

The little girl exhaled, reached out and wiped the beads of sweat on her forehead, looked at the sun that was about to sink in the west, and said to herself: "I'm so tired, it seems that there are more people coming this year!" ”

At this moment, out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a young man who had just entered the city, he was wearing a plain white robe, but the weapons and armor he wore were as black as ink. He was unmasked and was looking around, at a loss.

"Hey, hey, it's a new guy." The little girl smiled slyly and ran over.

"Brother, brother! Buy a mask. She grabbed the corner of the man's coat and made her useful expression.

"Masks? Why are they all wearing masks? Gao Zhen looked at the people around him, a little puzzled.

"Oh, you just happened to be on the day of our sacrifice in Lintao City today! The festival is about to begin, and everyone is wearing masks to pray for blessings! You can buy it from me for only 10 copper coins, but you will have to buy 15 copper coins when you go to the front! The little girl looked at Gao Zhu pitifully.

"Do I have to wear it? This is made of wood, right, 10 copper coins? It's too expensive, isn't it? Gao Zhen looked at the basket that the girl was holding in her hand.

"That's not the price at the front! Now you don't wear it in the entire Lintao City! If you don't wear a mask, you'll be eaten by the river god! The girl blinked.

"This ......," Gao Zhen took out 10 round copper plates from his money bag with some hesitation.

"Thank you, uncle!" The girl immediately took it from him, gave him a mask, turned and ran away.

"Uncle?" Confused, he put the "golden" mask made of wood on his face, following the example of the others. The mask covered most of his face, revealing only his two eyes.

As the sun sank into the mountains to the west, the crowd gathered towards the river, and the vendors who had been setting up their stalls on the street began to pack up and join the queue.

A grand sacrifice is about to begin.

Three days ago, Gao Zhen made preparations, set off from Yancheng by horse-drawn carriage, and later crossed the Tudao River by boat, turned to walk, and arrived at the "Lintao City" in the south of the herringbone fork formed by the confluence of the Tudao River and the Canglang River this afternoon. I have checked in the stone record platform before, and there seems to be a "Chen" haunt here.

Surprisingly, there are a lot of guests like myself coming into the city today. They all came to participate in a large annual festival. It is said that it is to worship the river god and pray that there will be no flooding next year.

Everyone wore gold masks and gathered on the edge of the Canglang River, and a huge altar stretched out from the shore into the center of the river, and the lights were brilliant, reflecting the waves of the river red.

It was a little crowded, and it took a lot of effort to find a place to stand, from which the entire altar could be seen.

The altar was made of stone bricks, supported by several thick stone pillars, and stood in the middle of the Canglang River. The altar seems to be decades old, and the outermost ring of stone bricks has lost its original shape and become smooth and rounded.

The stone bricks and pillars are all blue-colored, I don't know if it was originally like this, or because it was soaked in the blue river water for too long, it was dyed like this.

The entire altar is circular in shape, with a total of three layers, which are stacked in three concentric circles. At the edge of each floor there is a circle of stone platforms, on which torches are lit, and the flames are golden, like flowing gold, and it is not known what substance has been added to them.

On the middle floor of the altar, a huge copper dome is placed. The copper tripod is also round, about three meters high, and there are four copper feet at the bottom, supporting it. From this position, it is not clear what exactly is contained in the copper tripod, but it is certain that this copper tripod must be the most critical utensils needed for sacrifices.

On the side of the altar on the shore, there is a slender stone bridge that leads to Lintao City. Gao Zhen counted carefully, and found that there was a row of stone pillars on each side of the stone bridge, 49 on the left and right, a total of 98, and there was an immortal cultivator standing in front of each stone pillar.

Squinting his eyes and looking at it for a while, Gao Zhen found that those immortal cultivators were wearing pale cyan robes, with the lines of the water of the waves on their backs, and they didn't need to think about it, they were the exclusive immortal robes of the disciples of the Canglang Palace.

"Canglang Palace?" Gao Zhen said to himself, could it be that this annual sacrificial event is held in Canglang Palace?

"This little brother is coming to Tao City for the first time, right?" A man next to him asked.

The man was dressed in a rustic cloth robe, with his hair simply tied up at the back of his head and a wooden hairpin inserted. He also wore a golden mask on his face, and he couldn't see his appearance clearly, but through his accent and Gao Zhen's induction of the spiritual power in his body, he should be just an ordinary ordinary person with no ability to cultivate immortals.

"Yes." Takatsu replied briefly, in a very soft voice, and he deliberately did not use his original voice.

"This sacrificial activity is organized by our respected 'Canglang Goddess', that is, the palace master of Canglang Palace. It is used to suppress the undercurrents and waves at the bottom of the Canglang River......" This man introduced to Gao Zhen endlessly, telling him all the things about "Canghua" and "sacrificial rituals".

It turned out that this person was a Jiangnan trader who made a living by salvaging the vicissitudes of life. In order to pray for himself to be able to successfully complete the salvage work, he would rush to Lintao City from the south of the Yangtze River at this time of year to participate in the activities of worshiping the river god. This year is no exception, if the salvage in December goes well, it can be sold for a good price in January next year, and the year's expenses will also land.

Later, Gao Zhen learned that it was not only ordinary people who made a living by salvaging the vicissitudes, but also many immortal cultivators engaged in such work. At the end of this year, the present world ushered in a catastrophe, many immortal cultivators fled to the fairy world, because the dust island is relatively close to the south of the Yangtze River, many beginner immortal cultivators from the present world have chosen to join the cause of salvaging the vicissitudes, so as to make a living and gain a foothold in the fairy world. So this year, there are a lot more people than usual who come to the festival.

After listening to his introduction, Gao Zhen instantly connected the "Cangshui" with the "Canglang Shui" he was looking for in his brain. What he said was the same as the picture he saw in the stone recording platform, Canglang water is a white cloudy droplet, and it is obvious that it contains Cangshui.

I also want to ask more questions, such as how to salvage the cataghmosis, whether it is necessary to use silverware, how to deal with it after harvesting, and how to filter it? But as soon as Gao Zhen was about to speak, there was a movement near the altar, and the sacrifice had begun, and everyone's attention was attracted to it.

I saw a group of musicians standing in the outermost circle of the altar, all of them holding various instruments that they had never seen before, and they were playing a gentle and melodious music. In the midst of the song, there are some dancers dancing around a few people in special costumes.

The people in the middle who are dressed peculiarly are putting on a play. I watched it for a while, and the content of the plot was the same as what the man said, telling the story of the goddess of Canglang who obtained divine power from the river god, suppressed the undercurrents and waves at the bottom of the river, and brought a better life to the people.

The actor who played the goddess of the waves wore the same golden mask on her face as the people who came to participate in the sacrifice, and her hair was dyed in colorful colors, a little messy and a little weird. I don't know why, I just feel that the appearance of this Canglang goddess is a little unspeakably weird.

At the end of a play, the music stopped, and there was loud applause and applause from the crowd watching from the shore.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Look! The Canglang River has turned white! It's over! ”