The original god of the Jyota Jinchūriki

Chapter 236 Night Lanterns
Different from the bustling Liyue Harbor, at night in a newly built temple, one can only vaguely see two people standing outside the temple, looking at Liyue Harbor. Although various offerings are placed in the temple, there is an indescribable sense of sadness.

"Tongque, now that you have the incense offerings from mortals, it shouldn't be a problem to maintain the status quo. Do you want me to take a wisp of your magic power to see the current Liyue Harbor?"

Gazing at the densely packed night lanterns rising slowly in the sky, the one who spoke was the Demon Subduing Saint Xiao who had caused Hu Tao to escape in vain. Although Xiao's face still had no expression at this time, his tone of voice was much softer.

Come to think of it, with the Yakshas dead or missing nowadays, and Bronze Sparrow's condition has finally stabilized, Xiao is naturally happy to have an old friend to accompany him.

"Great Sage, I have made an appointment with that junior named Yan Xiao tonight to listen to my stories about ghosts and monsters. I'm afraid I can't go to Liyue Harbor with you."

"But after I finish telling Yan Xiao the story, I think I should be able to go with you, Great Sage, to see the prosperity of Liyue Harbor today."

A few days ago, Tongque had agreed with Yanxiao, who was building a temple for him, that he would tell Yanxiao a story on the Lantern Festival. Although he was only a minor fairy, Tongque would naturally keep his promise, so no matter how tempted Tongque was by Xiao's proposal, he could only postpone it until tomorrow.

Tongque's explanation made Xiao nod his head. He knew Yanxiao. The almond tofu made by the chef of Wangshu Inn was delicious. Since Tongque had already promised Yanxiao, Xiao would naturally not let Tongque break the appointment. After making an appointment with Tongque to meet tomorrow, Xiao left a night lantern and turned into a gust of wind and disappeared in front of Tongque's temple.

Although Bronze Sparrow can survive in this way, its soul is still too weak. In addition to letting Bronze Sparrow rest, Xiao has another important thing to do today, which is to clear out the monsters near Liyue Harbor.

The Lantern Festival is a festival celebrated by mortals. On this day, Xiao does not want to see monsters attacking mortals. Even if it is the Thousand Rocks Army that is responsible for guarding the safety of Liyue Harbor, Xiao does not want to see them get hurt on this day.

In order to let everyone in Liyue Harbor have a wonderful Lantern Festival, Xiao will stay near Liyue Harbor during the Lantern Festival every year. Whenever there are monsters approaching Liyue Harbor, Xiao will take action to clear them out immediately.

In Bubu Lu, Bai Shu, who was idle when Qiqi was not around, suddenly discovered a strange phenomenon on the Lantern Festival this year. With so many people in Liyue, people were attacked by monsters and sent to Bubu Lu every day.

However, since he opened Bubu Lu until now, he has not received a single person injured from monster attacks on the Lantern Festival. This made Bai Shu, who did not know the reason, very confused.

“Changsheng, do you think that the reason why no one was attacked by monsters today is because those heroic spirits are protecting the people of Liyue?”

Bai Shu couldn't figure out why with ordinary thinking, so he subconsciously turned his thoughts to metaphysics. Although he was a doctor, Bai Shu had seen ghosts and the like many times while collecting herbs in Liyue. Moreover, Qiqi, a zombie, was right next to him, so Bai Shu believed in the existence of these mysterious things.

“The people of Liyue believe that the meaning of the lamp is “May the flame of the torch be passed down, and the virtues be immortal.” They believe that the spirit of heroes will be passed down forever like the flame in the lamp, while illuminating the way forward for the people, and using dazzling virtues to give the people in the darkness the warmest light.”

“Therefore, the people of Liyue believe that the lights of the Night Sea will guide the souls of the heroes who have passed away back to their hometown. The souls of the heroes who once protected Liyue can ride on the night and follow the “Sky Lanterns” to return home and reunite with everyone, returning to the land they love and vowed to protect.”

“This is the origin of the Sea Lantern Festival.”

Bai Shu was in the Bubu Pavilion, wondering if he could see the heroes cleaning up the monsters if he went out now. In the Wangsheng Hall, Ying and Paimeng, who were well fed and drunk, were listening to Zhongli slowly telling them about the origin of the Lantern Festival. Compared to Ruojin's general introduction to the Lantern Festival, the knowledgeable Zhongli's explanation was much more detailed. The knowledgeable Zhongli explained the Lantern Festival to Ying and Paimeng. After hearing about the treatment of the heroes in Liyue, Paimeng, who fantasized about being worshipped by a group of people, excitedly kicked her short legs in the air and shouted that she wanted to be a hero too.

"If I remember correctly, most of the heroes who were commemorated have already left this world."

Hu Tao's words made Paimon confused. Yes, it seemed that all the heroes commemorated had left this world. So if she was regarded as a hero, wouldn't she be killed too?

"Okay, okay, Walnut, don't scare Paimon. Paimon is more timid than a pigeon egg."

"Besides, with me here, it's not your turn to be the hero, Paimon. If there's any danger, I will definitely stand in front of you."

Knowing that Paimeng was timid, Ruojin, who took out many night lanterns from the Hall of Rebirth, comforted Paimeng. Seeing that Ruojin took out many night lanterns, Paimeng no longer cared about being angry with Hutao. He surrounded the night lanterns placed on the ground with anticipation in his eyes.

"Wow, Ruojin, you made so many night lanterns, can you give me one?"

"These night lanterns are originally prepared for everyone. Just take whichever one you like, Paimon."

Ruojin waved his hand and signaled Paimon to pick any one he wanted. These night lanterns were made by him and Hu Tao. Although they looked a bit abstract, they could still fly without any problem.

Because he and Hu Tao had already experimented with it when they were young, and after paying the price of almost setting the Hall of Rebirth on fire, he and Hu Tao had successfully solved the problem of how the night lanterns could fly.

"Wow, it's really nice of you to be banned, unlike Ying, who didn't even buy me a night lantern."

Paimon cheered and at the same time did not forget to diss Ying who was squatting in front of the God to choose a night lantern. Ying's face turned black when she was criticized by Paimon. The night lantern that Paimon liked was priced at 300,000 Mora. She had just bought a tiger fish knife as a backup weapon and her pockets were cleaner than her face. How could she afford it?

Looking at Paimeng who kept complaining to Ruojin, Ying took a deep breath and kept reminding herself in her heart that children should not be hit during the Lantern Festival. Children should not be hit during the Lantern Festival.

Hearing Paimon's accusation against Ying, Ruojin subconsciously glanced at Ying with the corner of his eye and inadvertently saw Ying's chest heaving violently. Worried that Paimon would be beaten tonight, Ruojin hurriedly interrupted Paimon's accusation against Ying.

"Well, it's almost twelve o'clock, everyone should get their lanterns ready to light them."

Every family in Liyue Harbor has a different time for lighting the night lanterns. For example, the Ke family is used to lighting the night lanterns at 8 o'clock, and the exorcist family where Chongyun is always lights up the night lanterns at 9 o'clock. As the Wangsheng Hall is too special, the time for lighting the night lanterns is usually 12 o'clock.

(End of this chapter)