Chapter 31: Demonic Disaster (1)

The fire in July is flowing. Tingzhou in midsummer is setting very late. It has been a long time since the hour of Xu. The red sun is still hanging high above the top of the Borgdo Mountain in the West, dyeing the distant ridges and the nearby roofs into gold-like red and yellow. Just now, from the crisis and accidents from late spring to midsummer, it seems to be to compensate for all fear and harm. The people of all ethnic groups in Tingzhou devoted themselves to the joy of daily life with increasing passion. The sun that never sets day by day also brings fun, and fuels the carnival that survives the disaster. The singing and laughter inside and outside Tingzhou City, dancing and feasting from morning to dusk, almost all night long.

Although Tingzhou had a long time ago, the governor's office represented the imperial power of the Great Zhou Dynasty to manage the place, it was a city outside the border, which was a world apart from the strict control of large cities in the Central Plains. People of all ethnic groups and states who lived in Tingzhou for generations were not used to being too restricted, so the Han people ruled here only in a restrained manner. Although Tingzhou also had city walls and city defenses, the city gates were usually closed at night under special circumstances, and the curfew system in the Central Plains cities was even more impossible to talk about. These days, the war in the Western Regions has been decided and the epidemic has been eliminated. The government understands the people's desire to relax and enjoy timely, so the city gates are wide open day and night, allowing people to enter and leave, and let everyone take advantage of this great summer to have a happy life!

The temperature during the day is too high, and the dry hot winds are always wrapped around the choking sand and dust on the Shatuo Rail. The children hide at home and refuse to go out. Instead, after dinner, it is still a long time before dark, which is the best time for them to play. At this moment, there are a few children with mixed Hu and Han yelling and running in a small wasteland southwest of Tingzhou.

This wasteland is located outside the walls of Tingzhou City, and gradually extends southward into the towering and majestic Bogdo Mountains. It is very remote and there is no trace of people. There is only a yellow courtyard wall of a dilapidated Buddhist temple, with a few broken walls behind the woods not far away. In the eyes of nearby people, this Buddhist temple with the plaque "Dayun Temple" hanging on the door is very mysterious, because there are almost no people entering and leaving during the day, and there are often strange chanting sounds at night. Occasionally, some passers-by who pass by at night have also once

I have seen that ghostly fire-like lanterns flashed on the backyard of the Buddhist temple, which directly lead to the Bogdo Mountains. All of this constituted a terrible legend about "Dayun Temple" being a bad temple. If it were normal, the children would not have the courage to come here to play, and their parents would not allow it. However, in recent days, the entire Tingzhou has been filled with the joy of peace in the world. People have relaxed their vigilance without realizing it, and have more unnecessary courage out of thin air. In this atmosphere, danger is approaching quietly.

This is a group of five or six children under ten years old. They made an appointment to visit Dayun Temple tonight, to be bold and heroic in front of other friends. They came to Dayun Temple with laughter and jokes all the way. Although it was too late, the sun was still hanging high, and the surroundings were as bright as during the day. There was nothing scary. In order to find some evidence of being here, when the children stepped onto the wasteland mixed with weeds and gravel, they picked up some strange-shaped small stones and a few black pieces of clay pots. Unfortunately, they didn't find anything special. So they walked and stopped and walked through the sparse dead woods in front of the temple, and finally came to Dayun Temple.

It's strange that when we arrived near Dayun Temple, the temperature seemed to drop a lot immediately. The hot summer wind suddenly turned cold here, blowing on our body, making people feel goosebumps all over. Looking up at the sky, the sunset was bright and red, a silver-white crescent moon and the sunset shone on the top of the Bogdo Mountains formed a gorgeous and weird picture on the top of the mountain. The courtyard wall of Dayun Temple was covered with weeds, shaking in the evening breeze. The elegant birds in the courtyard wall were silent but faintly indescribable. The children stopped, and the timid among them had changed their faces and licked their lips and refused to move forward anyway.

But leaving now means that all the previous efforts will be wasted and will definitely be ridiculed by the friends. The boy in the lead is more courageous. After thinking about it, he said to everyone, "It's still dawn, so let's go into the yard to find two things from the temple to bring with you. As long as it can prove that we have been here!" The other children hesitated for a moment, and finally followed. Because the wall of the courtyard was too high and difficult to climb over, they turned around the wall, trying to find a gap to climb in. The Dayun Temple was very strange and thick.

It looked so pretty, but when I walked along the wall, I realized that it was so vast that it was so vast that the wall was continuous and could not reach the end. Moreover, the more I walked back, the more desolate it became. It seemed that it was directly penetrated into the dark mountains. The sky began to turn dark, and the children did not dare to move forward anymore. A slight coolness came out of the wall, which made people cold from the beginning to the feet in an instant. The most courageous children couldn't stop trembling at this time. Suddenly they turned around and ran away.

As soon as they ran to the front of the temple, the closed black painted door suddenly opened with a bang. The children were stunned in fear, stopped involuntarily, and looked into the open door foolishly. At the same time, it seemed that a huge dark curtain was suddenly thrown into the dull sky. The half-close sky suddenly turned dark, and the last red light of the sunset seemed to be a blood mark torn from the sky, flashing, and completely hidden in the dark night. The sun, moon, stars, and all the light disappeared together.

After the initial silence, a faint white mist floated out from the courtyard gate of Dayun Temple and continued to stretch in the dark night. Soon the children stood by the door surrounded them. A disgusting strange smell appeared in the white mist, but the children seemed to be unaware of it, neither making noise nor running away. They were as stupid as wooden chickens, their eyes were full of glory, and they were already scattered!

"The true god has come, and there are indeed these sacrifices that come to the door." Inside the door, a half-man and non-female voice sounded, accompanied by a few strange sounds that seemed to cry and laugh, followed by endless calls: "Come on, come on..." In this uneven and gloomy and terrifying recitation, the children were as if they were trapped in a dream and obediently entered the door.

"The time for sacrifice is coming soon, let's go!"

The backyard of Dayun Temple directly leads to the mountainous mountain road of Bogdo, a small group of people quietly patrolled up, dark clouds covering the moon, and the mountain road was as dark as ink, but they were familiar with the road, and the direction was not at all. Soon, the group of people came to a small valley, and a huge fire was burning in the middle of the valley, and some people were already adding firewood to the fire. The fire was very strong, and the bright white flames were flying high, but because this place was surrounded by high mountains, it was impossible to find it at all from the bottom of the mountain.

The teams that had just come up at the foot of the mountain gathered in front of the fire, lined up behind the original people, and fell to the ground one by one. The dead branches and firewood lit a crackling sound in the fire. Everyone crawled on the ground and recited it with a rumor. A man stood up at the front of the queue. The dark yellow robe from his head to his feet. He closed his hands and prayed a few more words to the fire. He turned around and stretched out his hands towards the sky, shouting: "The messenger of God! Please guide us to worship the gods!"

As he shouted, everyone opened their eyes wide in the direction of the Borgdo Mountains and wriggled their lips desperately. The originally suppressed prayer sounds became more and more rapid and louder. In this scattered chant that was as fast as a storm, a figure slowly flashed in the darkness of the hellish mountain road ahead.

The man was covered with a magic crown made of skeletons carved from animal bones. Small round bones carved with skeletons were hanging around him, and yellow robes were also worn on his body. The difference was that the robe was covered with colorful peacock feathers. When the man walked out of the dark night and shook his way to the fire three times, the peacock feathers all over his body emitted dazzling light against the backdrop of the flames, dazzling the rest of the people.

"Where is the sacrifice dedicated to the gods?" She spoke, but there was a female voice. The leader turned around and bowed: "Everything is ready, please preside over the sacrifice!" She nodded, hidden behind the skeleton bones, only a pair of eyes emitted a shrill and sharp light. Her eyes slowly swept past the people lying at the feet, and raised her hands slightly.

Several people kneeling on the ground immediately stood up, each of whom dragged a big black cloth bag in his hand and walked to the fire without looking sideways. Everyone held their breath and stared at the movements in their hands. The cloth bag was open, revealing the children's dull faces. They were stuffed in the cloth bag for so long, and their little faces were covered with sweat, but there was no expression. The cloth bag fell to the ground, and the children were sitting cross-legged, with their hands crossed on their chests, and their original clothes were replaced, turning into colorful ornate robes, with beads made of bones around their necks, and a flower crown of bird feathers and wheat ears on their heads.

The priestess' cold eyes stopped on the children, and a nearly inauspicious sigh floated out from the hidden cover of the skeletons, with even more creepy shrill. Then, she raised her voice slightly: "Let's start."

"Yes!" Everyone responded in unison, with crazy flames jumping in their eyes. The man in yellow robe who was still the leader came to the front of a child, lifted him up like a chicken, and when he lifted him up, he was moved, and the child was almost dead. The priestess stood in front of the child, pressing his left hand on the child's head and prayed silently. After a moment, she withdrew her right hand. The man in yellow robe understood and stepped forward. The white light in his hand sternly, and a thin blood line appeared between the child's slender neck. The child was still motionless and did not make any noise. Only at the bottom of the wide open eyes, crystal tears overflowed silently.

However, the blood on the neck overflowed faster, and the heat of life was still scattered. Someone was holding a clay pot with both hands to catch the child's pure and bright red blood. The young blood was not fishy, ​​but there was a fresh sweet fragrance... The jar gradually filled up, and the child's eyes extinguished the last ray of brilliance and collapsed softly on the ground. The priestess let out another sigh, as if the sorrow from hell. He raised his hand, the young corpse was as weak as grass leaves, and was picked up and put aside. Then, the second and third... The most cruel and ferocious killing was carried out in a dead silence. Finally, a total of seven clay pots were neatly arranged in front of the priestess.

There was a cypress branch in the priestess's hand. She soaked the cypress branches in full blood in turn. While chanting a spell, she sprinkled the blood on the burning fire. Her movements became faster and faster, and the spell became louder and louder. Everyone behind her kowtowed and kowtowed according to her rhythm. Suddenly, the priestess picked up the clay pot and smashed it on the fire. One, two... Blood flowers were splattered on the fire, and blood rain poured down! With a shrill cry, the priestess was pouring out, soaking all over the ground, and raising his face

Come, on the scattered magic crown, red water droplets fell one after another, and it was impossible to tell whether it was tears or blood. The priestess shouted at the top of his lungs: "The supreme god! We believe in you devoutly, please accept our sacrifices and give us strength! Please help us subdue the enemy, and we will offer them their flesh and blood to you! Please make our warriors extraordinary bravery, and they can be resurrected even if they die!... The greatest god! Please bless us! We are your most loyal slaves, please exchange their death for our lives!"

Rather than saying that she was praying wildly, it was more like a cry of despair. In an instant, the dark clouds rolled in the sky, and the thunder burst into the sky with a sound of lightning. The wind roared up the Bogdo Mountains, and the grass and trees were noisy. It seemed that all the ghosts, gods, mountain spirits, evil spirits, Rakshas, ​​Yasha, and monsters heard her call and flocked to them...

The rising sun rises, and the ghostly night disappears without a trace, sinking into the deepest part of the dream. Inside and outside Tingzhou City, there is still a bustling worldly scene of singing and laughing. On the central street of Tingzhou City, Di Jinghui strides like a flying sun, and he goes to the governor's mansion to receive the imperial edict. Since leaving the camp on the grassland, Di Jinghui moved into the Qianmen Mansion and lived with the Wuzhile brother and sister. After Di Renjie left, the court had not appointed a new governor of Tingzhou, and the government could only barely maintain daily operations. Di Jinghui, a special exile with his identity, was ignored and he acted entirely with himself.
Chapter completed!