Refuse to trample on the pride of heaven

Chapter 335 First Hearing

Before the sound of the midnight gong had faded, the copper bells on the eaves began to tremble.

The red silk hanging from the eaves of the ancestral hall was soaked in moonlight, looking like a solidified blood waterfall. Under the crooked old locust tree at the entrance of the village were a few clumps of blurred blood and flesh, and the fishy smell wrapped in the incense went straight into people's noses.

"I just offered three animals yesterday, and this morning the monster that broke into Wang Er's house at the east end of the village was broken into eight pieces!" The peddler held the faded yellow talisman, his nails digging into his palm until blood came out. "The goddess's divine presence is more effective than the City God Temple!"

The hunchbacked old woman tremblingly poured the moldy millet into the merit box, her cloudy eyes reflecting the half-mud face in the shrine.

The clay statue's neck had a centipede-like crack, but the rouge on its lips was so fresh that it looked like it might eat someone's flesh, but no one noticed anything wrong.

When the night watchman struck the gong, there was a crack on it, and the sound was a bit sharper than usual, causing the villagers to frown.

Blacksmith Li, who was coughing up blood three days ago, is now swinging a hammer to wrap gold foil on the beams and pillars of the new temple. The veins on his arms are bulging like earthworms, and he doesn't look like a dying man at all.

During the day, Shopkeeper Sun of West Street would boast to others about his new concubine, but at night, six sickle-shaped legs would stretch out from under the skirt of that beautiful lady.

However, Zhang Laizi from the southern suburbs dug out three jars of silver in the middle of the night, but each silver ingot was embedded with half a bloody baby tooth.

A few days ago, it was still a statue of the Three Pure Ones, but later it was smashed on the bluestone slab by a desperate widower. The village head also ordered people to destroy the old temple within ten days.

Now, in the brand new shrine covered with morning dew, the clay goddess dressed in red and decorated with colorful patterns is bending her eyes with compassion. The newly sculpted gilded statue is already taller than the city wall. This time, the craftsmen have restored the goddess' legs, but the tips of her embroidered shoes are always covered with a layer of cinnabar that cannot be washed off.

Thousands of plumes of smoke rose from the countryside, and the wealthy families brought out their altars made of agarwood.

When the demon's sharp claws tear open the window paper, when the person beside you suddenly reveals his sharp white teeth, when the whisk of the immortal master in the City God Temple is stained with blood, the hot incense ash burns into the believer's palm.

Seventeen certificates of ordination from different sects were stacked under the altar, and at the bottom was a faded painting of Guanyin, the Goddess of Childbirth. In troubled times, mortals are like drowning people, and they always have to cling to drifting wood to breathe.

"Now that demons are in power, only the goddess can protect us! It is said that if we seek the mercy of the goddess, even demons will not be a threat to us."

"Only by believing in the goddess can we escape from the sea of ​​suffering!"

"Bring your family, old and young, and go to the empress to pay homage, and then you will be free from worries!"

"It's just that we have the will but not the ability. We made a small statue. It is said that the statue of the goddess in the 'ancestral temple' in the town is even bigger! I will go and worship her when I have time."

The name of the Bodhisattva who saves people from suffering has become a household name since time immemorial.

Praying for peace, the demons that harassed the village turned into minced meat the next day, leaving only a bloody ground.

Pray for health. The old man who was originally in poor health was able to walk again after just a good sleep.

In pursuit of wealth, he sleepwalked at night and dug up gold and silver everywhere in the yard, which made people jealous.

The villagers were all very excited, as if they had no one to rely on and finally found someone to settle down in peace. Even the rich gentry put aside their past stinginess and wanted to build a solemn temple for the "Buddha".

Seeing that these rich masters also believed it so much, the poor families felt that it was right - those masters would not release the eagle until they saw the rabbit, so it seemed that the "Buddha" was somewhat effective.

Recently, in addition to the occasional demons that come to feast on the food, there are more "living dead" that appear unexpectedly, as well as monsters that are very good at disguising themselves as people around them and will betray their hearts and minds without them noticing, causing people to panic.

Those immortal masters couldn't even control the demons in their own areas of jurisdiction, so how could they care about them?

When people fall into suffering and cannot be saved, they will develop resentment towards their past beliefs and smash clay statues and temples. After they feel hopeless, they will begin to have expectations for illusory things again, build new statues, burn incense and worship, hoping to find temporary solace.

If a miracle really happens, then everything, all the doubts and anxieties, will instantly turn into fanaticism and unquestionable belief.

Therefore, the reputation of "Niangniang" began to spread in both towns and villages.

As several people were talking, they couldn't help but congratulate the "Goddess of Bodhisattva", but no one noticed that the cinnabar color of the clay statue's toes had become a little darker.

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"My queen? It seems this is the source......"

The morning mist on the mountain path had not yet dissipated, when suddenly a gentle breeze blew up the sound of thousands of pine waves.

The peasant woman who was collecting herbs with a bamboo basket on her back suddenly looked up and the hoe in her hand fell to the ground with a clang.

But I saw a white figure walking slowly in the mist, with silver hair falling on her shoulders like the Milky Way in the sky, and the moonlight flowing on the hair was three times colder than the mist.

There was a two-finger-wide plain gauze headband tied around her forehead, in the middle of which was a diamond-shaped cold jade. However, it was not as captivating as her pair of golden pupils - those pupils seemed to have melted thousand-year-old amber into the first rays of the rising sun, scattering tiny golden dots as they flowed, startling the sparrows on the branches so much that they forgot to flap their wings.

"God...it's the banished immortal who has come down to earth!" The man carrying firewood knelt down on the bluestone slab, not even noticing that the firewood had rolled down into the ravine.

The morning light penetrated the clouds just at this moment, illuminating the dark patterns on the man's moon-white wide sleeves - they turned out to be cloud patterns embroidered with silver thread, and their movements were like the undercurrent of an icy river, making the people in coarse linen clothes look like clay sculptures or wooden carvings.

The girls washing clothes by the stream forgot to wring them out, allowing the spring water to soak their skirts.

They saw the immortal standing under an ancient pine tree, his falling silver hair reflecting the morning dew on the pine needles, and the gold-inlaid hollow incense ball hanging around his waist swaying gently, releasing a few wisps of Canaan incense smoke.

The oldest washerwoman suddenly covered her face with her sleeves, muttering in a trembling voice, "It's too late to live. How can a mortal behold such a beauty?"

The merchants who were resting in the tea stall were suddenly speechless. They saw the man brushing aside the drooping branches, and his indigo inner garment was faintly visible under his plain gauze outer robe. The three snow-blue edges on the collar made his neck look even more slender like a crane.

When the golden eyes swept over the steaming tea bowl, the old tea seller suddenly felt that his own coarse pottery bowl was not worthy of such a person, and panicked, he wiped the eight-immortals table with his sleeves.

"Mom, the fairy brother is coming!" The little boy suddenly pointed at the person who came and shouted.

Only then did everyone realize that this frosty figure was actually catching the falling willow catkins. His pale fingertips were indistinguishable from the flying catkins. Three circles of ice silkworm silver threads were wrapped around his wrists, and each thread was strung with rice-sized star-patterned jade beads, which made a slight sound of broken ice colliding with his movements.

The bronze mirror on the peddler's shoulder accidentally fell over, and the man's silhouette was reflected in the mirror.

The crowd of onlookers suddenly gasped - it was clearly a bright day, but what was reflected in the mirror was a person covered in moonlight. The pine shadows behind him turned into thousands of jade men holding spears, as if they were heavenly soldiers leading the way.

However, they did not know that this "banished immortal" who came stepping on the flowers had a magic sword locked in the scent ball on his waist, and a rope soaked in demon blood was wrapped around the deep of his wide sleeves - he was not an immortal who had strayed into the mortal world, but a living devil who came to capture demons.

Even the phantom that was accidentally glimpsed was filled with an unknown chill.