On the fifteenth, Yin, Youshi, Yihai, the star god is fatal, fierce, when it is appropriate to bury, sacrifice, reward the gods, when it is taboo to seek wealth, build, the five elements of the mountain fire, the west. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The hazy sky could not penetrate the light of the moonlight, and the sky and the earth had completely merged into one in the night. Only the occasional and sudden rustling of the wind-swept leaves in the mountains was silent.

Suddenly! A few crows flew up in fright, their croaking breaking the chaotic silence. A team marched from east to west, the beam of a flashlight swaying around the group, and from a distance, it looked like a large yellow centipede meandering through the endless darkness.

"Sect Master," Goatee quickly walked to a bamboo sedan chair carried by the two of them, and said worriedly to the people on the sedan chair, "Today's limelight ......."

The sect leader waved his hand slightly and said in a low voice, "It's out of the way, just be careful." ”

Goatee felt a little more at ease, turned around and beckoned, signaling everyone to follow.

Zheng Pei followed Granny Ye to the back of the team, in the face of such a depressing environment, he was not as calm as Granny Ye, and the speed all the way exacerbated his tension a little. He looked at the crowd hurrying in front of him, looked back at the dark mountains and forests behind him, and asked softly to Granny Ye, "Mother-in-law, how long will it take for us to arrive?" ”

Granny Ye was very considerate of Zheng Pei's nervous mood, and comforted her kindly: "Don't be afraid, child, go up the mountainside in front, and you will be there after a forest." ”

Although Zheng Pei couldn't imagine where Granny Ye was talking about, how far it was away. But having someone to talk to now always eases his nerves.

Granny Ye nodded as if she was relieved when she saw Zheng Pei, and instructed: "You must remember what your mother-in-law has explained to you, and you must be quick when it is critical!" Otherwise, if you miss this year's altar ceremony, you don't know how long you will have to wait. ”

Zheng Pei nodded seriously, indicating that he had already made a bamboo in his chest. Granny Ye saw that he was very confident, thinking that this child had experienced a lot of things, so she was a little relieved.

The procession hurried along the winding mountain road, and only the sound of footsteps could be heard in the crowd. This oppressive atmosphere not only made the newcomers who attended the altar very nervous, but even the other congregants who came with them felt uneasy.

The group walked through the woods on the mountainside and came to an unusually wide clearing. By the time Zheng Pei followed, the other people who had arrived first had already formed a semicircle along the edge of the clearing. Three large piles of wood were piled up in the clearing, and several large bamboo tubes were placed next to them. More than a dozen people were covered with cloth bags, and their figures seemed to be men, women, and children, all of whom were tied with their hands behind their backs, kneeling next to the bamboo tube in unison.

Zheng Pei knew what fate was going to happen to these people, and he watched those people kneel together trembling and crying, his brows furrowed, and he deeply felt the mystery and cruelty of this altar ceremony.

Granny Ye noticed the change in Zheng Pei's expression, walked to his side gently, and pressed one hand on his shoulder. Looking at Zheng Pei's sad face, Granny Ye shook her head helplessly, she told Zheng Pei with her eyes, destiny is hard to violate, and you and I can't do anything at this time.

"Bang bang", the man in black knocked on the bamboo tube. The leader walked to the front of the crowd with a goatee's help. His eyes swept through the crowd, and he turned around and stretched out his hands, holding them high above his head. Zheng Pei followed everyone to his knees, his upper body pressed as low as possible, and pressed against the ground.

The sect leader chanted the prayer aloud in his old voice, and the goatee knelt tightly beside him, for fear that the sect leader would lose his strength and make a mistake. The man in black held a torch in his hand and lit three large pyres in turn in the prayer of the sect leader. In an instant, thick smoke rose everywhere, and the firelight instantly illuminated the clearing. When Zheng Pei straightened up with everyone, he saw that there was a big cave on the opposite side of the fire.

The Master's prayer ended with the sound of crackling flames. The old man was panting, supported by his goatee, and retreated to the back of the crowd with a cough. Zheng Pei understood a little from his serious expression the importance of this ritual to him.

The man in black shouted, and everyone got up and scattered to the left and right. He looked at the sect leader, and after getting the old man's approval, he took something out of a bamboo tube and waved it into the fire. The crowd kneeling beside the fire with cloth bags on their heads choked on the smoke and coughed, and immediately cried and screamed. Someone couldn't stand the choking smell of the smoke and struggled to get up and tried to escape, but was immediately kicked down by the guards standing on the side, and continued to struggle and gasp in the smoke. The shouts of the crowd grew quieter, and all the people covered in the sacks stopped struggling, and the men in black stopped throwing objects into the fire. He circled around the crowd a few times, occasionally taking off a person's hood to check it out. As if after determining something, the man in black nodded to the sect leader. The sect leader looked at the sky, pondered for a moment, and waved his hand at the man in black as if he had given a command. The cloth bags on everyone's heads were removed, but all had demented expressions on their faces.

By the light of the fire, Zheng Pei saw the faces of several women and teenagers, and his heart ached.

Granny Ye secretly pushed Zheng Pei's arm to remind him to concentrate. At this point, the goatee shouted, and everyone began to dance. Zheng Pei was mixed in with the crowd and couldn't understand what everyone else was singing at all. But fortunately, this kind of dance movement is not complicated, and the focus seems to be just to stomp hard, so Zheng Pei imitates other people's movements and jumps around with everyone.

There was a muffled thunder in the dark night sky, and the rumbling thunder seemed to echo the singing of the group. The wind swept through the middle of the clearing, and the dancing flames twisted and exaggerated the shadows of all the dancing on the trees behind the crowd, a scene that even the demons could not describe.

Those kneeling together, with smoky expressions that seemed to be affected by the atmosphere, also stood up and shook wildly. It's just that they don't seem to be in a clear mind, just shaking their heads and shaking their bodies. The man in black and the guardian opened all the bamboo tubes on the ground, pinching the mouths of these people and pouring them one by one. With the raging wind, Zheng Pei immediately smelled a strong smell of wine. Seeing the people who had been poured wine dancing in place, the man in black spilled all the remaining wine in the bamboo tube on their bodies. With the stimulation of the alcohol, the actions of those people became even more crazy, and the men in black did not stop them, allowing them to dance wildly in the crowd. For a moment, the clearing was filled with singing and screams, frenzied dancing and crazy convulsions, while the Sect Master and the two right-hand men just watched coldly, and the ritual seemed to have been lost in the confusion.

Thunder rolled, and lightning flashed behind the dark clouds. Zheng Pei tried his best to suppress his inner tension and inexplicable impulses in this frenzied atmosphere. When the thunder sounded, he looked up, and under the lightning, he seemed to find a long black strip swimming and rolling in the dark clouds......