"I'd like to ask you two to help me." Song You said as he walked towards the sand mountain.

"One hand!"

"Sir, please."

"I want to set up an altar to invite rain, but there is no rain in this world, not only is there no rain, but the water and air are not enough, so it is not only an altar, but also a array." Song You said as he walked, "Setting up the altar is to pray to this heaven and earth, and it is also to pray to heaven, asking for three different candles and nine different incense." ”

"Three kinds of candles, nine kinds of incense?" Swallow repeats.

"Is there anything else different about candles?" The cat wondered.

"Three kinds of candles are easy to find, just go to Shadu City, ask the shops, and there will naturally be them." Song You said, "Anointing candles, honey candles, hemp candles, and gourd candles, you can take any three." Shadu is the trade center of the Central Plains in the Western Regions, so it will not be impossible to find. ”

"What a sticky bamboo ......"

"What about the incense?"

"Incense is a little more troublesome, in the same place, except for the incense used by the dignitaries themselves, there are usually only one or two kinds of incense among the people, and the ingredients are almost the same in each store." Song You ignored Sanhua Niangniang's question, "Fortunately, we have traveled for many years, visited everywhere, and seen a variety of different incense, but I just need you to buy or collect raw materials for me." ”

"Okay!"

"What are the ingredients?"

"First of all, there must be twenty-seven bamboo sticks." Song You recalled as he walked, "There are more materials, pine needles, angelica, cloves, orchids, agarwood, etc., most of you can't remember it when you say it for a while, I'll write it down on paper, and make a list according to how much and how little each is good or not, and some may have to be found in the south." ”

"Okay!"

"Got it."

The two little monsters were unambiguous.

"It takes time to set up the altar, and I will be on this mountain during this time, and the horses will be handed over to you to take care of." Song You paused as he spoke, "There is little grass here, it's best to take it to a place far away from the desert, if there is still a water source, it would be better, if you can't find it, you have to let Zhang Zhizhou help take care of it." ”

"Sanhua Niangniang is the best at taking care of horses!"

"Yan An wrote it down."

Song You has already started to climb the mountain.

It's just that unlike before, when I took three steps and slid two steps, this time it was steady, and I didn't even sink into the sand with each step, as if the mountain was not flowing sand, but a huge rough golden stone wall.

Song You soon reached the top of the mountain, wrote down the raw materials of incense, handed them to the two little monsters, and set up an altar.

There are roughly two effects of the altar -

The first is the survival of mana.

The second is to pray to the gods of heaven and earth.

In ancient times, monks used the first method more often, but when Shinto flourished and practice weakened, the second method became mainstream.

Sometimes when you want to do something big, you need a lot of mana, and you often don't have enough mana. In this case, you can set up an altar and store your mana in a unique way, and then use it when you have enough.

Song You cultivates the Four Seasons Spiritual Method, spiritual power is the spiritual power of the season, and the advantage is that some spiritual power has its own water and qi spiritual rhyme, but not all spiritual power has such an effect.

That's not much.

There is too little water and energy in this place, so little that it is not enough to make up for it with these spiritual powers, and it is not enough to rain in a large area.

Therefore, we must take our time, set up an altar, and accumulate these spiritual powers day by day.

until enough rainfall.

Almost that day, the two little monsters brought back three different candles, and they have been busy running around for the next few days, sometimes dividing into two ways, giving full play to the advantages of both, one goes to the city of Shadu to buy cheap raw materials everywhere, and the other flies to a far place to collect natural raw materials, and sometimes goes out together, division of labor and cooperation.

After Song You set up the altar, he stayed on the mountain, infusing it with mana in a specific way every day, and sat on the mountain the rest of the time, watching the sunrise and sunset, and the transformation of the stars and the moon.

There are still herds of camels at the foot of the mountain, and business travelers are endless.

This is the only way to get in and out of the Western Regions.

The merchants passed by the Yaoquan Station, and when they looked up, the sky was still blue and boundless, there was no other color, and the ground was still only a sand mountain, but on the top of the highest sand mountain, there was a high table and a Taoist sitting cross-legged, and when everyone walked in silence, they couldn't help but cast their eyes on that side.

Both sides have become the scenery in each other's eyes.

After the two little monsters had collected all the raw materials and dried them in the desert sun, Song You took them to sit down on the top of the sand mountain and began to make earth incense without hurrying.

"Which one do you do first?"

Song You thought for a while, and then smiled.

I saw that he took pine needles, orchid grass, cloves, and a variety of seemingly ordinary wild grasses in the mountains, only held them in his hand, pinched them gently, and when he sent them away, they were already finely broken.

But he didn't continue to pinch it, but turned his head to the two little monsters holding the pestle and mortar, and said, "It's probably enough to pound it to this thickness." ”

"Such a thickness!"

"Got it."

The swallow boy didn't say much, grabbed a handful of pine needles, put them in the mortar, picked up the medicine pestle, and began to pound it.

Sanhua Niangniang stared at the Taoist priest in a daze, and originally wanted to ask, "You can crush it, why do you want to ask us to pound it", but seeing that the young man next to her had already started to work, she couldn't fall behind, so she grunted, swallowed the words back, and grabbed a handful of bluegrass instead.

But instead of putting it into the medicine mortar, he stretched out his hand, learning from the Taoist just now, his palm was clenched, and a white and tender little fist was constantly trembling because of the force.

The teeth clenched unconsciously.

It was a moment before she let go of her hand.

A pile of bluegrass residue fell one after another and fell into the mortar, but it was far less fine than that of the Taoist, and it was not even at all.

“！”

The little girl's expression was serious for a while, and then she reluctantly picked up the medicine pestle and began to pound it.

While pounding, he stretched his neck to compare the thickness of the pile of forage of the Taoist priest.

After that, before every pound, she must first grab the grass material, crush it in her hand, and think about it while pinching, studying how to crush it like a Taoist priest, and then start pounding.

There was a dull or crisp thump at the top of the hill that lasted for almost a day.

Song You finally began to mix incense.

Only three sticks of each incense stick are made, so you don't need any complicated tools, just pick a windless time, or ask the wind to stop for a while, spread out the raw materials on the Shentai table, and wrap them into a string with red paper and bamboo sticks.

"Sanhua Niangniang, lick it."

"Why?"

The three-flowered cat asked, leaning over and licking it.

Lick from the end of the red paper to the end and stick it smoothly.

The cat was stunned, it turned out to be like this.

And so the first incense was.

It was only at this time that Sanhua Niangniang noticed something-

When pounding the grass before, it was all raw materials, each with its own taste, and it was all mixed together, and it didn't matter if it was disproportionate, but now I picked some of the raw materials, mixed them together according to a specific proportion, wrapped in a finger-thick earthy fragrance, and then approached to lick it, which immediately made her feel familiar.

Taste and sound have a magic that is often associated with memory.

Sometimes the memory may be blurred, but when you hear a familiar sound or music and taste a familiar taste, it will immediately turn into a shadow of the memory and hook it out.

That's when we first met......

It really pulled her to the beginning.

In the village of Yamashita, the low mud-walled thatched huts, the old woman, the homemade wooden incense table, the spices filled with the incense trough of the table, and the light that shone obliquely through the window, the light was a subtle incense, and at once the two sides took shape.

And, of course, there was the Taoist who was standing next to him and studying seriously.

Suddenly, everything became clear.

Sanhua Niangniang even saw the honest squatting cat at the feet of the Taoist, and she didn't dare to get too close to the Taoist, nor did she dare to go too far from the Taoist, not because she was honest, but she didn't dare to move much.

At this time, looking back, staring at the Taoist priest making incense, the expression of the three-flowered cat couldn't help but become more and more serious-

I always thought I had a bad memory.

What's going on?

"Hoo ......"

It just so happened that the breeze came, and so did the sunset.

The golden light shone obliquely on the Taoist, and when the wind blew the incense, the air was full of light points, shining like new in the sun.

“……”

Sanhua snorted.

The smell wafting through the air seemed to come from ten years ago.

……

From autumn to winter, the temperature plummets.

This year's winter is much colder than before.

If it is changed to previous years, when it is the coldest time, there will often be a few thin snowfalls in the Shadu area at night, covering the sand mountains, covering the Gobi, turning the earth into a sea of ice and snow. In the daytime, when the sun comes out, the snow will slowly melt, revealing the true color of the desert.

This year, not long after the start of winter, the temperature was already lower than the lowest temperature in previous years under the cold wind, but there was no snow at all.

Perhaps because of the cold, the caravan of caravans walking below has finally decreased, but during this period of time, all the caravans passing by below can see that there is an altar and a Taoist on the highest sand mountain next to the Yaoquan Station.

Especially the poor officials and soldiers of Yaoquanyi, you can see it clearly.

Sometimes there was only that man, and sometimes there were two more boys and virgins, one tall and one short, who were on the mountain day and night, neither drinking nor eating, and not knowing what they were doing.

And so on for almost 100 days.

Nearly 100 days later, it's just an ordinary day.

However, the Taoist had already accumulated enough water and energy to make most of the Shadu region fall under heavy snow, so he did not hesitate, got up decisively, called the two children, and came to the front of the altar.

"Hoo ......"

Sanhua Niangniang lit the candle for him and handed it to him.

Three different candles swaying in the wind.

The swallow also lit the incense one by one and handed it to him one by one.

Nine different kinds of incense, some from Yizhou, some from Changjing, some from the north, and some from the southeast coast, each ingredient is different, burning the same green smoke, with different flavors, stirred by the wind, mixed into a mysterious feeling.

The Taoist sincerely plugged it in.

At this point, the pomp and circumstance of etiquette are almost in place.

The Taoist prayed to the heavens and told Xingyu on the one hand, and patted the altar on the table on the other hand-

"Boom!"

The water vapor aura that had been accumulated for a hundred days exploded instantly, turning into a sky-high spiritual light, rushing straight into the sky, as if to smash the sky, and then suddenly swayed in the sky, like ripples, and it swept out for hundreds of miles in the blink of an eye.

……

In the medicine spring.

The official was wrapped in thick clothes, his lips were severely chapped, and his hands were red from the cold, covered with large and small cracks, but he still wrote official documents with a pen.

"Hoo ......"

A cloudy wind came in, making him shrink his neck and shiver.

When I looked up, I realized that the window was not closed tightly.

"This year's damn weather......"

Without charcoal, the windows would have to be closed.

The official finished writing the last few words, put down his pen and got up to close the window.

As soon as he held the window frame with his hand, he was about to close it tightly, but after a pause, he habitually opened the window and went out to take a look.

At this glance, he was stunned.

The Taoist who used to sit cross-legged on the edge of the altar on the top of the mountain stood on the side of the altar today, and there was no exaggerated movement, but the wind could faintly lift the strands of his robe and hair. There was a divine light rising to the sky, and it was covered with the sky, and there was a bang, like thunder, and it also set off him like a god.

“……”

The officials were stunned.

Is this what he said about praying for rain?

Why is it different from all the prayers he has ever seen?

"Hoo ......"

The wind began to blow between heaven and earth.

The wind was still cold, but it seemed a little more humid than before.

"Is it a delusion......

The officials were still muttering to themselves.

But he clearly saw that there was suddenly more "smoke" on the originally blue, deep and clean sky.

At first, it was only like the blue sky was a little lighter, mixed with a little imperceptible gray, and then it seemed to be shrouded in a light veil, which soon became thick, blown by the wind, and gathered into a white cloud visible to the naked eye.

It's been a long time since I've seen such a large cloud.

The official opened the window, let the cold wind blow, and only looked up at the sky blankly—

The color of the white clouds is slowly darkening.

The official even thought he was dreaming for a while, and couldn't help rubbing his eyes, until the sky was obscured by dark clouds, and the wind blowing was mixed with obvious dampness, as if it made his chapped lips and cheeks feel much more comfortable, and more and more colleagues below and next to him noticed the strangeness outside, and walked out of the attic pavilion and looked up at that side.

Like yourself, it's like looking at the gods.

Until someone exclaimed-

"It's snowing!"

"Snow!?"

The official was also stunned for a moment, and hurriedly took a closer look.

I don't know when, the gray and dark sky is already covered with flying flotsam, and they are falling one after another.

Some landed on the desert floor.

Some drifted into the attic in the wind.

Some of them landed in the medicinal springs that had dried up to the last bit of mud.

"Snow!"

"It's really snow!"

Excited voices kept coming from below.

The official couldn't help but swallow his saliva, licked his chapped lips, tasted the taste of blood, and looked up at the sky, but he was reluctant to look away.

It's not just snow, it's a goose feather snowfall.

The gods have never broken their promises-

Now the medicinal spring water has come.

(End of chapter)