"I would like to ask you two to help me." Song You said as he walked towards the sand mountain.
"A helping hand!"
"Sir, please speak."
"I want to set up an altar to invite rain, but there is no rain in this area. Not only is there no rain, but the water and energy are not enough, so I am setting up an altar and an array." Song You said as he walked, "The altar is set up in this direction.
Praying to heaven and earth is also a way to communicate with heaven, and you need three different kinds of candles and nine different kinds of incense."
"Three kinds of candles and nine kinds of incense?" Yan Zi repeated.
"Are there any different candles?" Cat wondered.
"Three kinds of candles are easy to find. Just go to Shadu City and ask the shops, and you will find them naturally." Song You said, "You can choose any three of them: paste candle, honey candle, hemp candle, and gourd candle. Shadu
It is the trade center of the Western Region and the Central Plains, so there will be no shortage of things to find."
"What the hell..."
"What about the fragrance?"
"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. The ingredients in each store are almost the same." Song You ignored Empress Sanhua's question, "Okay.
We have been traveling for many years, visited various places, and experienced many different kinds of incense. I just need you to buy or collect the raw materials for me."
"OK!"
"What are the ingredients?"
"First of all, we need twenty-seven bamboo sticks." Song You recalled as he walked, "There are more materials, including pine needles, angelica dahurica, cloves, orchids, agarwood, etc. Most of you won't be able to remember them if I tell them at once.
, I will write it down on paper later, and make a list according to how much and how little of each item, and whether it is easy to buy. Some of them may have to be found in the south."
"OK!"
"knew."
Both little monsters were unambiguous.
"It takes time to set up the altar and collect the aura of water and energy. During this time, I will be on the mountain, and I will leave the horse to you to take care of." Song You said and paused, "There is little grass here, so it is best to take it with you.
Go to a place farther away from the desert. If there is still water, it would be better. If you can’t find it, you will have to ask Zhang Zhizhou to help take care of it."
"Sanhua Empress is the best at taking care of horses!"
"Yan An writes it down."
Song You has already started climbing the mountain.
It's just different from before. Before, I took three steps and slid two steps, but this time it was steady. Every step I took did not even sink into the sand. It was as if the mountain was not flowing sand, but a huge rough mountain of golden stones.
wall.
Song You quickly reached the top of the mountain, wrote down the ingredients for incense sticks, gave them to the two little monsters, and set up an altar.
The altar has roughly two effects -
One 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. Later, when Shinto became prosperous and spiritual practice declined, the second method became the 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 a magic altar and save your mana in a unique way. Once you have enough, you can use it again.
use.
Song You practiced the four-season spiritual method. The spiritual power is the spiritual power of the seasons. The advantage is that some spiritual powers have their own water aura, but not all spiritual powers have this effect.
After all, it's actually not much.
There is really too little aura of water vapor in this place, so little that it is almost non-existent. Just relying on these spiritual powers to make up for it is not enough to bring down rain in a large area.
Therefore, you need to take your time, set up a Dharma altar, and accumulate these spiritual powers day by day.
Until enough rainfall occurs.
Almost the same day, the two little monsters brought back three different kinds of candles. They were busy running around in the next few days. Sometimes they split into two groups to give full play to their advantages. One went to Shadu City to buy low-priced raw materials everywhere.
, one flies to far away places to collect natural raw materials, and sometimes they go out together to divide work and cooperate.
After Song You set up the altar, he stayed on the mountain and poured mana into it using a specific method every day. The rest of the time, he sat on the mountain and watched the sun rise and set, and the stars and the moon change.
There are still herds of camels at the foot of the mountain, and business travelers are constantly coming and going.
This is the only way to enter and leave the Western Regions.
When the merchants passed by Yaoquanyi and looked up, they saw that the sky was still blue and boundless, with no other colors, and the ground was still only sand mountains. But on the top of the highest sand mountain, there was an extra high table and a table.
There was a Taoist priest sitting cross-legged, and when everyone passed by in silence, they couldn't help but cast their eyes in that direction.
Both sides have become the scenery in each other's eyes.
After the two little monsters collected all the raw materials and dried them in the hot desert sun, Song You took them to sit down on the top of the sand mountain and started making earthy incense in a leisurely manner.
"Which one should I do first?"
Song You thought for a while and then smiled.
I saw him fetching pine needles, orchids, cloves and a variety of seemingly ordinary wild grasses in the mountains. He held them in his hand, squeezed them gently, and when he put them away, they were already reduced to fine pieces.
However, he did not continue to squeeze it. Instead, he turned to the two little monsters holding the pestle and mortar and said, "Just pound it into this thickness and that's it."
"Such a thickness!"
"knew."
Young Yan Zi didn't say much. He grabbed a handful of pine needles, put them into the medicine mortar, picked up the medicine pestle, and started pounding.
Sanhua Empress stared blankly at the Taoist priest. She originally wanted to ask, "Why do you ask us to crush you when you can obviously crush them?" But seeing that the boy next to her had already started working, she didn't want to be left behind, so she
With a grunt, he swallowed his words again and grabbed a handful of bluegrass.
But instead of putting it into the medicine mortar, he stretched out his hand, imitating the Taoist's behavior just now, clenching his palm tightly, a white and tender little fist, but it was constantly shaking due to exertion.
His teeth clenched unconsciously.
After a moment, she let go of her hand.
A pile of orchid grass residue flew down one after another and fell into the medicine mortar, but it was not as thin as the Taoist's, and it was not even enough at all.
"!"
The little girl looked serious for a while, then reluctantly picked up the medicine pestle and started pounding it.
While pounding, he stretched his neck to compare the thickness of the Taoist priest's pile of grass.
Every time after that, before pounding, she would grab the raw materials and crush them in her hands. She would think about how to crush them as well as the Taoist priests, and then start pounding.
There was a dull or crisp thumping sound on the top of the mountain, which lasted for nearly a day.
Song You finally started making fragrances.
Only three sticks of each incense are made, so no complicated tools are needed. You only need to choose a time when there is no wind, or ask the wind to stop for a while, spread out the raw materials on the altar table, mix them, and use red paper and bamboo
Just sign and wrap it into a string.
"Miss Sanhua, lick it."
"Why?"
The calico cat asked as he came over to lick it.
Licking the red paper from one end to the other, it sticks smoothly.
Cat looked stunned, it turned out to be like this.
This is how the first incense was made.
It was only then that Empress Sanhua noticed something——
When I pounded the forage before, they were all raw materials, each with its own taste, and they were all mixed together. It didn’t matter if they were out of proportion or in the formula. Now I selected some of the raw materials and mixed them together according to a specific ratio, wrapping them into a finger-thick earthy fragrance.
He leaned closer and licked it again, and it immediately made her feel familiar.
Tastes and sounds have a magical power that is often associated with memories.
Sometimes the memory may have been blurred, but when you hear a familiar voice or music or taste a familiar taste, it will immediately turn into a shadow of memory and bring it out.
That was when we first met...
It really pulled her back to where she was before.
In the village at the foot of the mountain, there are low thatched houses with earthen walls, old women, homemade wooden incense tables, spices in the incense slots on the table, and the beam of light that slants in from the window, with tiny incense powder in the light.
Suddenly both sides took shape.
Of course, there was also the Taoist who stood beside me and studied seriously.
Suddenly, everything became clear.
Sanhua Empress even saw the cat sitting obediently at the Taoist's feet. She didn't dare to get too close to the Taoist, nor did she dare to stray too far from him. It wasn't because she had an honest personality, but she really didn't dare to move too much.
Thinking back at this time, staring at the Taoist priest making incense, the calico cat's expression couldn't help but become more serious——
I always thought that I had a bad memory in the past.
How is this going?
"call……"
It happened that a breeze came and the sun set.
The golden light shines slantingly on the Taoist. When the wind blows the incense powder, all the light spots are flying in the air, shining like new in the sun.
"..."
The calico cat sniffed.
The smell in the air seems to have come from ten years ago.
…
From autumn to winter, the earth's temperature plummets.
This winter is far colder than before.
In previous years, during the coldest time, there would often be several light snowfalls at night in the Shadu area, covering the sand mountains and the Gobi, turning the land into a sea of ice and snow. The Gobi is undulating, just like ripples on the sea.
, the sand mountains are as tall as big waves. During the day, when the sun comes out, the snow will slowly melt, revealing the true nature of the desert.
Winter has just entered this year, and with the cold wind blowing, the temperature is already lower than the lowest temperature in previous years, but there is no snow at all.
Perhaps due to the cold, the number of caravans passing by below finally decreased, but during this period, all the business travelers passing below could see it - on the highest sand mountain next to Yaoquanyi
There is one more Dharma altar and one more Taoist priest.
Especially the officials and soldiers in Yaoquanyi could see clearly.
Sometimes the Taoist was alone, sometimes there were two boys and girls, one tall and one short, who stayed on the mountain no matter day or night, neither drinking water nor eating, and didn't know what they were doing.
This lasted for nearly a hundred days.
Nearly a hundred days later, it was just an extremely ordinary day.
However, the Taoist had already accumulated enough water energy to cause a heavy snowfall in most of the Shadu area, so he stood up decisively without hesitation, called two children, and came to the front of the altar.
"call……"
Empress Sanhua lit the candle for him and handed it to him.
Three different candles swaying in the wind.
Swallow also lit the earthen incense one by one and handed it to him one by one.
Nine different kinds of incense, some come from Yizhou, some from Changjing, some from the north, and some from the southeast coast. Each ingredient is different, and the same green smoke is burned with different flavors.
The wind stirs it up and mixes it into a mysterious feeling.
The Taoist inserted it sincerely.
At this point, the etiquette is almost in place.
While the Taoist prayed to God to tell the rain to come, he patted the table and altar——
"boom!"
The aura of water vapor that had been accumulated for a hundred days suddenly exploded, turning into a soaring aura, soaring straight into the sky, as if it was about to smash the sky, and then suddenly spread out in the sky, like ripples, in the blink of an eye.
Out hundreds of miles.
…
In Yaoquanyi.
The official was wrapped in thick clothes, his lips were severely chapped, and his hands were red from the cold and covered with large and small cracks, but he still wrote official documents with a pen.
"call……"
A cold wind came in, causing him to shrink his neck and shiver.
I looked up and found that the window was not closed tightly.
"The weather is so damn bad this year..."
There is no charcoal burning, so the windows have to be closed.
The official muttered, finished writing the last few words, put down the pen and got up to close the window.
He had just grasped the window frame with his hand and was about to close it tightly. After a pause, he opened the window out of habit and took a look outside.
At this glance, he was stunned.
The Taoist who usually sat cross-legged beside the altar on the top of the mountain to meditate stood at the altar today. There were no exaggerated movements, but the strong wind could faintly lift his robes and hair. There was a divine light rising into the sky and filling the sky.
The roar was like thunder, and it made him look like a god.
"..."
The officials were stunned.
Is this what he meant by praying for rain?
Why was it different from all the prayers for rain he had seen?
"call……"
The wind began to rise between heaven and earth.
The wind was still cold, but it seemed a little more humid than before.
"Is it an illusion..."
The official was still mumbling to himself.
But he could clearly see that there was suddenly some "smoke" on the sky that was originally blue and so deep and clean that it was scary.
At first, it just seemed like the blue sky was slightly lighter in color, with a little bit of imperceptible gray mixed in. Then it seemed like it was covered with a layer of gauze. The gauze quickly became thicker, blown by the wind, and convolved and gathered into the naked eye.
Visible white clouds.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a large cloud.
The official opened the window and let the cold wind blow. He just raised his head and looked at the sky——
The color of the white clouds is also slowly getting darker.
The official even thought he was dreaming for a while and couldn't help but rub his eyes until the sky was covered by dark clouds. The blowing wind was mixed with obvious moisture, which seemed to make his chapped lips and cheeks feel much more comfortable, while there were already people below and beside him.
More and more colleagues noticed the strangeness outside, walked out of the attic hall one after another, and looked up in that direction.
Just like yourself, like looking at the gods.
Until someone exclaimed——
"Snowing!"
"Snow!?"
The official was also stunned for a moment and quickly looked carefully.
I don't know when, the gray and dark sky was already covered with flying catkins, which were falling one after another.
Some fell on the desert floor.
Some of them drifted into the attic with the wind.
Some fell into the medicinal spring 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, licking his chapped lips, tasting the taste of blood, and looked up at the sky, but couldn't bear to look away.