Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 281 is all about exchanges.

When the children returned to Liu Changsheng's arms, both children urinated at the same time. Two clear streams of water gushed out from their little genitals, drawing two beautiful arcs before finally landing on the ground of the Divine Dragon Palace.

Zhang Min, who had just regained her mobility, awkwardly wiped the urine-soaked ground with her sleeve. Eji quickly took her son from Liu Changsheng, examined him thoroughly, touched his genitals, and even spread his buttocks to check before letting out a sigh of relief. She then asked Liu Changsheng, who looked ten years older, "What were you doing just now?"

Liu Changsheng seemed too lazy to say a word to Eji. After returning the cloud to Zhang Min, he waved his sleeve to indicate that they could leave.

Eji wanted to speak, but seeing the priestesses and Taoists glaring at them fiercely, she subconsciously felt that she had gotten a huge advantage. Although she didn't know what that advantage was, she still strode away and hurriedly left the Divine Dragon Palace.

As soon as I stepped out of the temple, I heard someone inside calling, "High Priest..."

Eji paused for a moment, wanting to go back and check, but then thought that going at this time would likely result in a beating. So she and Zhang Min carried the child back to the Changsha Prince's Mansion. She instructed Lei Ming, whose skin was covered in cracks, to close the door before hurriedly entering the bedroom.

Even though we've already checked the child's body, we should still switch children and cross-check them to avoid missing anything.

The child seemed to grow bigger in an instant. Before, the child still had some characteristics of a newborn, but after Liu Changsheng's actions, the child seemed to have grown at least half again, as if a balloon had been blown up.

Not only has her skin become fairer, but her eyebrows and eyes have also fully developed. Her buttocks, which used to have some birthmarks, are now not only fair and tender, but also full of watery fat under her skin.

"What exactly did that old man do for those two?"

Eji did not notice any other changes in her child besides getting fatter and bigger. At least, although the child's arms were very strong, this strength was only for an infant, unlike the legend that an infant could carry a wild boar all over the mountains.

The two discussed it for a long time but couldn't come up with a solution. In addition, they had exhausted a lot of energy climbing in the Dragon God Temple that day. After feeding the two children, they fell asleep holding them.

The two women were asleep, but no one in Chang'an City slept that night.

The celestial upheaval caused by the Dragon God Temple was witnessed by everyone in Chang'an, especially by Grand Marshal Zhou Bo, who spent the entire night unable to sleep.

Before his struggle against the emperor, Zhou Bo held the position of Grand Commandant, in charge of all the military forces in the country. He was one of the Three Dukes, along with the Grand Marshal. After defeating Emperor Liu Chang, he was promoted to Grand Marshal, but the Grand Commandant's office remained under his control.

Now that the celestial anomaly has disappeared, Grand Marshal Zhou Bo still shows no intention of going back to rest. Instead, he stands under the bright moon, staring intently at the Divine Dragon Palace high above.

Wind, rain, thunder, lightning, the earth, and that tiny sun were all things that Zhou Bo could only dream of but never reach.

Only by being recognized by these things can one truly possess this world.

Blessing rituals are no secret in the Han Dynasty; those who need to know them know them. It is said that since the beginning of the coexistence of humans and Shehuo (a type of folk performance), there have been no more than five high priests capable of performing blessing rituals.

Only three high priests actually performed the blessing ritual, meaning that the blessing ritual was performed a total of three times over the long years.

The first time was during the time of the Yellow Emperor. The Yellow Emperor wanted to resurrect his youngest son, Youxia, and asked the Youfeng clan to perform a blessing ritual. In the end, Youxia was resurrected, but unfortunately, he was not fully resurrected. His body was resurrected, but his brain did not return. In the end, his body left and was captured by the Guifang people, becoming the first basis for the Guifang people to modify genes.

The second time was during the reign of the ninth Yellow Emperor. His wife was having a difficult childbirth and was on the verge of death. The Yellow Emperor asked the high priest of the Gui Tuo clan to intervene and perform a blessing ritual. In the end, the Yellow Emperor's wife successfully gave birth to the child, but she died.

The third time was when Huo Qubing asked the high priest Li Changchun to pray for Emperor Liu Zheng, hoping that through the blessing ceremony, Liu Zheng, a collateral branch of the Han imperial family, could gain the approval of the gods, heaven and earth, wind and rain, and thunder and lightning, and thus possess the ability to truly rule the Han Dynasty.

As a result, Liu Zheng reigned for 160 years, transforming the Han Dynasty from a primitive gathering and hunting society into a highly efficient commercial society, thus laying the foundation for the Han Dynasty's prosperity for over a thousand years.

This time, it's the fourth time.

Of the first three blessing rituals, two were not considered good, while one was extremely successful. Many people speculate that this was largely due to the high level of cultivation of the High Priest himself. The High Priest Li Changchun of that time was considered to have the highest cultivation among all the High Priests in history, so it was not surprising that he had such a good result.

Having been friends with Liu Changsheng for decades, Zhou Bo knew very well that the current High Priest Liu Changsheng's understanding of the Ancestral Fire and Shehuo might have surpassed that of Li Changchun.

He had hoped that Liu Changsheng would give him this opportunity to perform the blessing ceremony, but now he has given it to someone else.

From the moment the storm began to rage in Chang'an, Zhou Bo watched from outside until the rain stopped, the clouds dispersed, and the moon reappeared. He felt his heart was ice-cold.

Wu Tong watched this scene from the Panxing Tower. He knew a little more than Zhou Bo, and knew that this blessing ceremony was for Yun Ce's eldest son, Yun Shuo.

The effect of blessing and sacrifice is not manifested in a moment, but in a lifetime. As the saying goes, when fortune comes, heaven and earth work together; when fortune goes out, even heroes are powerless. This is the purpose of blessing and sacrifice.

Even if you only have a little bit of luck each day, over time, that little bit of luck will eventually turn into great luck. Now, the blessing has been given to Yun Shuo, and a new family will appear like a comet in the sky in a very short time.

Hengji stood with her arms crossed in front of the bedroom window, watching the sky change. She didn't say a word from beginning to end, and actually, she didn't have much to say. When she fled Yunzhou with her child and established her first relationship in Chang'an, she hoped that Liu Changsheng could offer this blessing to Huo Qubing's son.

She never got to see it. Later, Huo Qubing's son died, and she also killed Huo Qubing's daughter. The blessing sacrifice appeared and was given to Yun Ce's eldest son, Yun Shuo.

Grand Marshal Zhou Bo knew that Yun Ce came from the ancestral land, Wu Tong knew that Yun Ce came from the ancestral land, but Heng Ji did not know. She now hated Yun Ce and believed that from the beginning, Yun Ce had been deliberately depriving Huo Qubing's son of what belonged to him.

Whether it's hatred, regret, or deep remorse, it's all too late now. Liu Changsheng chose the weak Yun Ce and opted for a long-term strategy to catch a big fish. So, the whole world can only watch.

The baby, who was just a month old, could not only roll over but also crawl around on his own. He was also extremely active, so Yun Shuo fell off the bed four times in one day.

The first time it fell on a dog skin, it was completely unharmed.

The second time, he fell feet first and landed on his bottom, still completely unharmed.

The third time, he saw a black eagle perched on the window and reached out to grab it, but instead he pushed over a pillow and fell headfirst onto the soft pillow.

The fourth time, the child crawled out of Eji's arms and rolled and tumbled on the huge bed until Eji opened her eyes. Then he fell headfirst off the bed, but Eji grabbed his leg halfway down the way.

Soon, Eji discovered that Yunshuo seemed to live well without any special care. This reminded Eji of some widely circulated stories in the Han Dynasty, such as children being abandoned in the wilderness and raised by dogs or other wild beasts.

There are also stories of children who were abandoned by their families after birth, put in wooden basins and floated downstream, and were eventually rescued by kind-hearted people, eventually growing up to become heroes.

I thought that since Yun Shuo was in this state, Yun Tui should be in the same state as well. But things didn't go as planned. It seems that Yun Tui doesn't have any good luck.

Zhang Min has tried many times. The child will choke when drinking milk, fall off the bed and get hurt, and even when Zhang Min holds him to sunbathe, a flock of birds will fly by and bird droppings will fall on Yun Tui's head.

Considering that the child was born bottom-first, which is a risky behavior, Zhang Min felt it was good, at least the problems they were encountering so far were all minor and not life-threatening.

Eji looked at the scar on Yun Tui's nose and reached out to touch it. The child suddenly turned his head, and Eji's fingertips broke the scab that had just scabbed over.

Seeing Yun Tui wailing loudly, Eji sighed and said, "Let him stay closer to his brother in the future."

Zhang Min nodded, took the readily available gauze, and used it to absorb the drop of blood that had seeped from the child's face.

It took Liu Changsheng five whole days to emerge from the Dragon God Palace. He used to have a tuft of black hair, but now it was all white, and even his beard was completely white.

"It's not that magical. These are just coincidences. If the blessing ritual were so effective, I would have given it to myself first. There's no reason for me to give such a great benefit to someone else."

Liu Changsheng has completely fallen in love with the braised noodles and eats a big bowl of them almost every day. Today, the first meal he ate after leaving the Dragon God Temple was braised noodles.

"Grandpa, what do you think of having noodles with minced meat sauce at the palace banquet?"

Liu Changsheng put down his rice bowl, wiped his mouth and beard, nodded and said, "That's right, from now on, the main dish of the family banquets at the Changsha Prince's Mansion will be noodles with minced meat sauce."

Eji smiled and said, "We can also serve six side dishes of cold appetizers and pickled vegetables, which will make it look more appealing."

Liu Changsheng said, "Not bad, very good. There's meat and vegetables all together. It's not only delicious, but it's also filling."

Eji added, "Wu Tong said that a lot of people will come. Do you think we should set some thresholds? I don't want just any Tom, Dick, or Harry to come to the banquet at the Changsha Prince's Palace."

Whom do you not want to come in?

"Grand Marshal, Heng Ji."

Liu Changsheng sighed and said, "Let them do it. My body is severely depleted right now, and it will take me at least three to five years to recover to my peak condition."

Eji looked at Liu Changsheng in surprise and said, "So, in the next three to five years, my husband won't be able to rely on the High Priest's power? Is this the real reason why you're desperately performing blessing rituals for the two children?"

(End of this chapter)