Author: Really the younger brother among younger brothers
Chapter 29 Welcome the River God
The bottom of the water was silent. Only a few swimming fish could be seen near the river bank, but they did not dare to get close to the Heshen Village.
As the sun sets, the river becomes as calm as a mirror.
Li Mo closed his eyes and meditated in the ancestral hall. Water spiritual energy penetrated into his body through his mouth and nose. Most of it was absorbed by the protective layer of multiple Dantians, and a small amount condensed into low-grade spiritual stones on his chest.
He couldn't help but feel helpless, as he really had to find the right place to practice.
The amount of haze aura in Heshen Village is pitifully small.
Even if Li Mo couldn't figure out what was going on in Heshen Village, he wasn't going to stay any longer.
After all, meditating and cultivating is almost useless. The most you can do is increase the protective layer of your Dantian, and simply focus on the transformation of the spiritual roots of your internal organs.
Li Mo waited for a long time, and the night gradually became darker.
The moonlight seeped into the window along the river, causing the ancestral hall to be wrapped in blue, and a few withered leaves of duckweed floated past him.
As long as Li Mo doesn't stay focused, the illusion will affect his perception, and Heshen Village will turn back into that ordinary village.
He did not sit idle while meditating.
Bits of dust have drifted with the current and are scattered throughout the river.
The spiritual power of the mist is better than Tiger Balm. Even if it is separated from Li Mo's body, it can last for an hour in the outside world without fading away.
Li Mo opened his eyes and couldn't help but mutter to himself: "Here we come."
At the same time, the sound of gongs and drums suddenly sounded in the water, and lanterns emitted fiery red light.
Immediately afterwards, villagers kept leaving their houses, their faces still painted with heavy makeup, as if they were preparing to welcome the New Year.
The villagers danced and moved closer to the village entrance.
"Welcome the river god, welcome the river god!!!"
Wang Baoshan was wearing an awkward big-headed doll headband and shaking his body vigorously. The surrounding river water was turbid.
"Huh?"
Li Mo's expression was subtle because he noticed that five people wearing lion dance costumes quickly left the house to join the celebration.
When the villagers leaned down, they turned into an auspicious beast "awakening lion" with its head raised and wagging its tail, and came towards the ancestral hall surrounded by a team.
The Awakening Lion looks more like a tiger beast, and is not composed of the usual two people, but five people.
The fiery red and ruffled costumes are dressed up as the legs of an awakening lion, and the villagers holding the dancing lion heads are lion heads, imitating every move of the beast.
Li Mo licked his lips.
Unexpectedly, the ghost can actually borrow the power of the tiger and the monster?
Li Mo painted his green clothes, and the ghost tiger poked his head out from the shadow of the ancestral hall, letting him ride on his back, and got out of the window of the ancestral hall.
The lion dance continues.
Next it was time for Wang Baoshan to say his congratulations.
Wang Baoshan looked sad, as if he was about to die, tied a red rope to the head of the awakening lion, and then shouted loudly.
"My sworn brother asked me who Chen is, and the Kan hexagram is Jiayin."
"On the twenty-fifth day of the seventh month of Mengqiu, Zi Chou was born in my body at the second hour, and Geng was born in a second."
"Brothers from all five directions have arrived."
"drink!!"
The five people who played the role of awakening lions responded hoarsely, and their movements could not help but become harder, as if they were trying to infuse life into them.
Wang Baoshan walked to the door of the ancestral hall with strange steps.
He vaguely saw the temporary temple fair on the top of the mountain, the adoring eyes of the children watching, and the reminiscing expressions of the old man.
"Brother-in-law came to ask me where the lion came from?"
The villager holding the lion's head replied in a trembling voice: "The lion appears in Heshen Village, on the nine-layered stone slab and on the nine-layered mountain. It will be famous throughout the ages."
His voice became increasingly blurry, and his hands couldn't stop trembling. It was clearly a cloth lion's head, and countless flesh and blood roots were sprouting from it.
The flesh-and-blood roots pierced the villagers' necks, and the lion's head began to come to life. The hollow eyes revealed a ferocious look, sharp teeth sprouted from the mouth, and there was a tongue covered with hooks.
Wang Baoshan’s voice was sad, and he shouted in a tearful tone: “Congratulations to our brothers from all over the world!!!”
The screams were endless.
The awakening lion is completely activated and transforms into a tiger with blue eyes and red stripes. It behaves in a unique posture and behaves strangely underwater.
It wanted to break free from the shackles of the red rope, but Wang Baoshan remained unmoved.
As soon as Wang Baoshan pulled the red rope, the awakening lion curled up in pain. After several times, he didn't dare to show his teeth anymore.
"The time has come, the time has come..."
Wang Baoshan was so dejected that he held the awakening lion, and finally tied it to a dead tree outside the ancestral hall. For an instant, he seemed to have aged by ten years.
The villagers' beating of gongs and drums still didn't stop, but they were seeing off their companions.
The awakening lion opened its mouth and spat out bubbles, glanced at the villagers with malicious eyes, and tried hard with all its limbs to break free of the red rope, but it was to no avail.
"Real person, the monster has been sent to you."
Wang Baoshan opened the door of the ancestral hall, but there was no one inside.
He suddenly fell into a brief trance, murmuring whether he was crying or laughing, and recited the congratulations when the lion was awakened.
The musical instruments stopped suddenly, and the villagers stood there in confusion.
"Mr. Wang, why bother?"
Li Mo's words came from the corner behind the ancestral hall, but he could only hear his voice but not see his person.
He was carried around the Heshen Village by the ghost tiger and had figured out the cause and effect.
Wang Baoshan, as if grasping a life-saving straw, knelt down and said: "Master, the demon has been sent. You can take his head and deliver."
"Where is the real body?"
Wang Baoshan's face turned pale and he hurriedly explained: "Master, we are trapped here because of the demons and cannot move. If we had not been able to catch fish, we would not be able to survive today."
"But once the demon is born, our bodies will no longer be mortal, and the entire Heshen Village will surely be destroyed."
Li Mo sighed: "Mr. Wang, how long have you been stuck here?"
"It's...it's been two years."
Li Mo was noncommittal. Judging from the remains he investigated, it was not just two years, but it may have been nearly ten years since the villagers turned into ghosts.
"So every time a real person comes, you call out the tiger's demon stand-in and ask the real person to return to the Yamen to do business?"
"The villain deserves to die, the villain deserves to die..."
Wang Baoshan wanted to kowtow and apologize, but his body was held up by the spiritual power of the haze.
"It's okay, Mr. Wang, you are really too tired."
Li Mo took back the ghost tiger and walked out of the shadows, holding a handful of tiger hair in his hand, and said in a calm tone: "Mr. Wang, have you heard of the ghost?"
"Of course, the rumor is that he was transformed by the soul of the tiger who killed him..."
Wang Baoshan opened his mouth and muttered to himself in disbelief: "Ghost."
He understood what Li Mo meant and couldn't help but let his legs collapse to the ground.
Forgotten memories flashed back in my mind, as if Heshen Village had been destroyed by the attack of tiger monsters ten years ago.
Wang Baoshan found that his behavior of sticking to the village was extremely ridiculous, but it was just the obsession of a ghost who did not want to admit death.
He said with relief: "Master, I'll wait..."
Li Mo interrupted Wang Baoshan and asked with a smile: "I was born in Niujia Village. I heard that you go to the morning market for lion dance every five years during the Spring Festival. Are you lucky enough to see it?"