Edited by Lord Immortal
The heavy rain was creepy, and the villagers had been brooding over it for days. Plus, the mudslides had cut off their only path to outside, so they were even more panicked.
Someone said that the mountain temple had also collapsed. Early in the morning, a youngster climbed the mountain to check on things.
And what he said was that the temple crumbled. After a careful examination, it was discovered to be hit by thunder, beyond their expectations.
When Aunt Cui heard of it, she suggested, "Why don"t you ask the sorceress to come and investigate? She doesn"t go out these days."
The sorceress she talked about was an old woman in the village, who seemed to be able to talk to ghosts and G.o.ds. If someone had some happy events or funeral arrangements, he would ask her for help to choose an appropriate day.
If someone missed his relative who had died and wanted to say something to him or her, he would also ask the sorceress for help.
However, no one knew what her name was, so they just called her sorceress.
It was natural that they were frightened by the collapse of the temple because they all had local superst.i.tions. When Aunt Cui mentioned the sorceress, they went to invite her as soon as possible.
The sorceress trudged over with the help of some people. She was dressed exaggeratedly, with crutches in her hand. She paced calmly even though she stepped into the water on the way, causing a splash.
The sorceress was old, with her eyelids drooping. She looked around with half-opened eyes and said, "The Mountain G.o.d is angry."
Suddenly, she outstretched her hands, threw her umbrella, and prayed loudly, "Don"t cry, G.o.d, for we are all your subjects. We worship you devoutly, and we shall sacrifice to the mountain to pray for a sunny day. We shall also reshape the golden body of the Mountain G.o.d and rebuild the holy temple".
She appeared so reverent that a person eventually believed it. Though he naturally had some doubts, so he murmured, "What? Is there really a G.o.d?" Though his voice was low, the sorceress pointed him out accurately and rebuked, "Don"t spout nonsense! The Mountain G.o.d has been protecting us for a long time. How can you doubt His existence!?"
Aunt Cui immediately stepped forward to rectify the situation, "Never mind him. The child spoke thoughtlessly. Nonetheless, can you please ask the Mountain G.o.d why is he shedding his tears?"
"Well, wait a minute. Only appropriate magic arts should be used to talk to G.o.d," the sorceress said as she slowly put her palms together, drooping her eyelids.
She just stood and chanted some words at the beginning, but soon, she began to wander around while dancing and talking about things no one could fathom.
A moment later, the sorceress stopped with a gloomy face, shook her head, and sighed. Then she looked up in a direction and bowed her head.
Seeing her actions, Aunt Cui became anxious. She carefully turned her head to Zhao Long, who was standing not far away from her. He winked and gently nodded
Aunt Cui turned relaxed at his acknowledgment. Though her house was burnt, she still had her authority. Feeling perturbed while standing in front of the sorceress, she wondered how to open her mouth.
For a while, others also looked at the sorceress agitatedly. Aunt Cui said, "If you have something to say, then give utterance to your thoughts. Otherwise, we"ll all feel uncomfortable."
The sorceress sighed and said, "I"ll just come to the point then; I know the reason why the Mountain G.o.d is sad, but Heaven has the virtue of cherishing life, so there was an opportunity given to us."
Aunt Cui asked again, "What"s going on?"
She raised her hand and looked serious, "Don"t ask me. For now, please go to my house and pick up the cages first. Then from the hut next to it, bring the objects here. Each of you takes one of them and then place them in the cages. Finally, walk to the big paG.o.da tree and pray together. Maybe, things will become better."
She then added softly, "If the Mountain G.o.d accepts it, the stormy clouds will scatter gradually."
"All right. Let"s get to it quickly." Aunt Cui arranged everything immediately.
After that, the people in the village were arranged to twirl the objects in their hands. In the beginning, they felt uncomfortable, but very soon, they got used to it and began to pray along with the sorceress.
The location of the paG.o.da tree was near Geng Zhishan"s house. Or it could even be said that it was right in front.
Geng Zhishan opened the door, saw the scene, and frowned.
"What are you doing here?" Gu Yusheng asked. Although Xie Mengxuan had been with him for some time now and was used to that voice, she still frowned in response. It was hard to adapt to it,
Geng Zhishan shook his head while Xie Mengxuan stared at them and then looked at the leading lady. She turned to Geng Zhishan and asked, "The villagers attributed the heavy rain to the Mountain G.o.d, right?"
"It"s not that surprising; the villagers believed in Mountain G.o.d because of the heavy rain and the landslide."
"But why are they standing in front of my house?"
Geng said these two sentences in succession, and he appeared to be confused himself.
"Boom."
Just as they were bewildered, there was another loud noise on the mountain, and all of them witnessed the trees on the mountain falling down at a rapid speed.
"What is that? Sorceress, what does that mean? The villagers immediately asked.
The sorceress stopped dancing, looked at the mountain, pinched her fingers like a poseur, and said, "The Mountain G.o.d is still angry and says we have no sincerity."
"It"s just a warning. If we can"t rectify our mistakes, the rain won"t stop until it washes our village away." She sighed.
Aunt Cui looked anxious. "Why is the Mountain G.o.d so furious? Respected sorceress, please tell us the truth."
The sorceress shook her head and looked at the three people standing at the door. She softly said, "The G.o.d said that we have taken in outsiders, originally with good intentions. But we didn"t know that they would bring bad luck. The fate of the outsider is a restriction of our village. G.o.d himself tried to use his magic power to overcome it, but he failed because the person had a strong power. So the heavy rain was sent to remind us, but we were too ignorant to realize it."
Xie Mengxuan, together with the persons in the hut, heard that as well as others outside it. She sneered as she knew that the heavy rain was just an excuse to oppose her.
Someone reacted very quickly and yelled, "Doesn"t that mean Geng Zhishan"s wife? We were correct when we once thought that the woman was a bane who should be driven away."
As he finished, someone went to Geng"s house. Geng Zhishan soon picked up a stick and stood at the door with fierce eyes.
"Yes, it was Geng"s wife who was the bane. It"s her. Now, we understand what G.o.d means, and we"ll drive that woman away."
They wanted to go back to pick up some tools in haste. The sorceress closed her eyes and stretched out a hand to stop them, however. "No, G.o.d has the virtue of caring about all humans" life. In addition, G.o.d has given us the punishment. If the woman is driven away, maybe she would lose her life."
"So what should we do?" the villagers were doubtful again.
The sorceress was silent for a moment, and then she walked to the front of Aunt Cui and whispered, "G.o.d has gained the immortal power just for a short time. Though he has the might now, there was no one to accompany him. Thus, he is not strong enough to protect our village. It"s said that if he has a partner to practice couple cultivation, then he can...