Compared to City A, the air in the village where Jumangdian is located is significantly cleaner, and the singing of the spring festival gradually stops telling us that the spring festival has ended during the day. We stood on the top of the hill near the village and looked down, the small village was only a warm red lantern floating with a soft light, slightly illuminating the small white buildings in the village, the stars in the sky began to become clear, but the hillside was dark and could not see the five fingers, and the night was like a form, as if we could grasp this tranquility in our hands by reaching out.

"Tsubaki—" my voice trembled a little, "Are you sure that youkai will hold the Spring God Festival here at night?"

"You can't be wrong... I asked several big youkai about it, and they all said that on the night of the Spring Festival, when the moon rises in the sky, the highest mountain in the vicinity is where the Spring God Festival is held. Tsubaki said.

"We've been waiting since seven o'clock in the evening, and it's now past one o'clock in the middle of the night," I pointed to the sky, "You're looking for me, where is the moon?"

"I don't feel that cold," Guan Qing was happy, from the beginning of climbing this hillside, he took out the camera in his suitcase, and took pictures of the night scene from various angles, "Of course it's cold when you stand there and don't move, it's rare to come to such a beautiful place, if you don't appreciate it, you can miss it." ”

I looked at Guan Qing, who was wearing a full set of assault equipment, jumping like a monkey, compared to me who was only wearing a coat, I felt like a fool, and I wanted to take off my shoes and hit him in the face.

"If you take off your clothes and let me wear them, I'll see if you'll be able to jump." "I said with my upper teeth down.

"Haha, you laughed at me for carrying too many things before I went out, I thought you weren't afraid of the cold," Guan Qing said, "You really don't plan to go to my sleeping bag to keep warm first?"

"No!" I rejected him for the third time, it was such a miscalculation and a shame, Tsubaki was not afraid of the cold, Guan Qing was well prepared, and I was the only one shivering here.

Half an hour later, I still succumbed to the cold sneer, no matter what face and dignity, all of this was thrown out of the sky the moment I got into the down sleeping bag.

"Hahahaha, Xiao Chun, you don't look like a mummy, hahahaha...."Guan Qing started laughing at me from the moment I was lying in my sleeping bag.

"Tie Qing face, still lying stiff, like!" Tsubaki also did not hesitate to join Guan Qing to laugh at me.

I couldn't stand the two of them, but I didn't want to leave the warmth of the sleeping bag, so I managed to writhe it with the sleeping bag and try to stay away from them.

"Hahahaha, still wriggling, like a caterpillar. The laughter of the two guys was even more unbridled.

However, there was another thing that attracted me more than the laughter of these two guys.

I looked up at the sky wrapped in a sleeping bag, and the moon did not appear from behind the clouds, but slowly rose from the horizon like the sun, until it was above the hill where we were.

Twelve warm yellow lights lit up at the bottom of the mountain, and the lights went up the hillside smoothly and rhythmically, and I saw clearly when I reached the top of the mountain, and it turned out to be twelve rabbits wearing official hats, brocade, and lanterns, they were lined up, walking upright like people, but there was no sound at all.

I curled up in my sleeping bag and watched as the rabbits in front of me walked past me, each one as if they didn't see me.

When the twelve rabbits arrived, the light emitted by the lantern spread out on the top of the mountain, and everything around was finally no longer hidden in the night, the top of the mountain, which was not spacious, was densely packed with countless monsters, and the monsters next to the sleeping bag were standing quietly, I was lying in the sleeping bag and obviously occupied too large an area, some of the monsters around were only the size of peanuts, and some were about the same height as the hills, and they were all dressed very formally without exception.

When I found out that I would be lying in the line of youkai, I couldn't help but sweat, and I was also surprised by Sekiyo and Tsubaki.

"You are... When did you come up?" I turned my head to ask about a friendly-looking little youkai next to me.

"Lord Yek, we have come up with the Rabbit Priest. The little monster said, "There are still a lot of monsters lining up to go up the mountain." ”

I sat up with my sleeping bag rolled up and pointed at myself, "How do you know my name?"

"Because Jumang-sama said that you will bring Fuso-sama and Wakaki-sama with you this year, not all youkai can be allowed to participate in the Spring God Festival, let alone humans, and if you see a human lying here, it must be you. ”

"I'm also a human?" Guan Qing squeezed through the group of monsters, "Maybe I'm Ye Ke?"

The little monster didn't look at Guan Qing at all, "A human with such a weak demonic spirit can't be Lord Ye Ke." ”

I laughed, but Guan Qing was particularly unconvinced, "How can you be sure that I'm not as good as him?"

The little demon finally glanced at Guan Qing and pointed to the side of the mountain, "How many monsters can you see?"

Guan Qing blinked his eyes, "Three or four, right?"

"So you can't. The little demon put his hand in his sleeve, obviously not wanting to take care of Guan Qing anymore.

"Ye Ke, how many can you see?" Guan Qing asked me.

I looked around, "Probably... Thirty or forty are just there, and they are all very large monsters, and I rarely see them. ”

Guan Qing was stunned for three seconds and turned around silently.

I smiled and looked back at the place where the rabbits came up, just like the little demon said, the big monsters don't need to go up the mountain to see the top of the mountain, and the small ones have to come down from the mountain to the top of the mountain, everyone is silent, orderly, and there is no intention of fighting.

But even so, the top of the mountain quickly couldn't stand, and there was a long, long line of youkai on the hillside with no tail in sight.

"Why are there so many youkai?" I asked the little demon again.

"Because there is a desire to be fulfilled, or there is an act of atonement. The little demon said, "In the past, when Lord Jumang used to walk in the forest, he could pray or repent just by seeing it, but when his body began to weaken, it only appeared when the moon was full. The little demon's expression became a little sad, "Now Lord Jumang's health is even worse, he is sleeping almost all year round, and he will only wake up for a moment during the annual Spring God Festival, so everyone hopes to see Lord Jumang in this short night, even if they don't have any wishes, they want to worship, otherwise in a few years, Lord Jumang may really not wake up."

I got out of my sleeping bag, and a gust of cold wind hit my whole body, but I couldn't care about it so much, "Why are you sleeping?

"The reason why the gods exist is because humans and monsters need it, and when humans no longer need it, it loses the meaning of its existence and eventually disappears. The little demon said, "In the past, human beings would often worship Lord Jumang for various things, and the Jumang Hall under the mountain was also crowded all year round, but then I don't know why, human beings are like forgetting the god of Simu who once helped them, and the Jumang Hall is getting more and more deserted, and finally simply forgot about the spring festival, and Lord Jumang began to sleep from that time." Although there are many yokai who need Jumang-sama, there are too few yokai compared to humans. ”

I am reminded of what Fu Bai said, traditional customs and culture are slowly disappearing.

"When I went to Jumangdian during the day today, there were still quite a lot of people?" I said, "The human spring festival also looks very lively, huh?"

"It's only for the past two days, and then it's deserted again," the little demon sighed, "And the spring festival has only been resumed by humans in the past few years, and there will be no humans coming to visit Jumang-sama for a long time before." ”

Looking at the appearance of the little demon, I should have admired Lord Jumang. I originally wanted to comfort the little demon, but I didn't know how to comfort it.

Does God really exist for human beings? Will all kinds of sacrificial rituals really bring the peace and prosperity that people want?

What does God mean to man?

All this, when I see this Jumang-sama, I should be able to explain it.

I thanked the little demon, and when the moonlight finally filled the top of the mountain, ten rabbits came out, divided into two teams face to face, held up the lanterns in their hands, and the warm yellow light turned into a short staircase.

"Spring God Sacrifice, up!" said the remaining two rabbit priests in unison, it seems that they are the hosts of today's Spring God Festival.

Next, the two rabbits took out a long scroll and began to read, the scroll was full of the names of the monsters, all the monsters who heard the name were full of happiness, and the monsters who didn't hear the name were all lost and sad, the scroll mentioned were all guests who could participate in the Spring God Festival of Simu this evening, and the last person on the list was "Ghostwriter Ye Ke." ”

After all the names were pronounced, the rabbit who recited the scroll apologized to the youkai who did not pass the screening, and these youkai could only leave quietly, and the remaining youkai added up to less than fifty, the rabbits exchanged glances with each other, the warm yellow light became brighter, and at the end of the stairs, a door slowly opened, and a warm wind blew out of the door, warming my almost frozen body like hugging me.

"Yeke, I'm really glad you can come. ”