Dao Cheng Gui Xian

Chapter 162 The Fruit Ripens, the Ceremony Begins

The eerie fog between heaven and earth has begun to gradually thin out.

Following Li Wushou's instructions, the Paper Goddess sat and ate the crying infant worms all night.

Suddenly, the Paper Goddess stood up, went to the corner of the room to get something, and reappeared as Li Wushou.

After witnessing the ruthlessness of the High Priest, Li Wushou became even more cautious.

On his way back, he kept wondering what the Grand Priest was after.
At this moment, putting the paper goddess back into the Three Immortals Hall gave Li Wushou a flash of inspiration, as if he had figured everything out.

If that's the case, then we can just wait until tomorrow to verify it again.

Li Wushou sat cross-legged in front of the low table, thinking quietly. He subconsciously reached out to pick up a crying infant insect and put it in his mouth, only to find that the two large plates of crying infant insects were empty.

His hand paused, and he realized he had eaten the paper goddess?

Li Wushou was focused on the Three Immortals Pavilion. He wanted to see if the Paper Goddess, who was just a paper figure with two ounces of flesh and blood, could digest so many crying infant worms.

But then he fell silent.

Inside the courtyard of the Three Immortals Pavilion, the Paper Goddess respectfully bowed to the old beggar and Chen Gou'er.

The old beggar and Chen Gou'er, who had just been woken up, were in low spirits. Both of them looked sleepy and yawned listlessly.

But then the two of them widened their eyes in surprise as they stared at the Paper Goddess.

After bowing, the paper goddess suddenly looked up and opened her mouth wide.

Immediately afterwards, the two hands behind the mouth were stretched forward to fix the mouth as wide as possible, while the other two hands were spread out to the left and right, reaching from the mouth into the stomach.

The old beggar and Chen Gou'er were puzzled. What was going on?

Did they wake them up in the middle of the night just to watch her sing?
Then, one by one, the crying infant insects were slowly pulled out of the Paper Goddess's belly and respectfully handed to the old beggar and Chen Gou'er.

Chen Gou'er took the crying baby worm with some doubt, then bit off most of it in one bite. After chewing it a couple of times, his eyes lit up and he quickly stuffed the rest of the worm into his mouth.

While chewing, he gave a thumbs-up to the paper goddess.

"Little paper doll, you're amazing! I didn't know you could do magic tricks!"

The old beggar was also taken aback, but he quickly understood the cause and effect. Seeing Chen Gou'er begin to examine the crying infant worm in his hand, he then directly stuffed the crying infant worm into his mouth.

But his mouth was obviously not as big as Chen Gou'er's, so it was stuffed full.

With each chew, the bright yellow juice sprayed everywhere, making Li Wushou shake his head in dismay.

Calming his mind, Li Wushou closed his eyes and rested.

He wasn't going to bother with the baby-crying insect anymore; it had already been eaten, and he felt a bit disgusted taking it out again, so he couldn't bring himself to eat it.

When he returns to Wufang City next time, he plans to hire Chef Hu from the City God Temple to train this paper goddess on catering culture and hygiene regulations.

The Three Immortals Pavilion has three masters, and they aren't all nasty people!

Where do you place him, the second master, by doing this?

The fog finally thinned out.

The red lanterns hanging above the doors of the wooden houses extinguished their blood-red glow, and the blood-red fireflies, which had worked all night, began to rest.

Figures began to appear on the platform, moving through the thin mist, all heading towards the ancestral hall, clearly to offer incense and prayers.

As more and more people gathered, the platform began to buzz with noise.

"dong dong dong~"

Li Wushou slowly opened his eyes and said softly to the door, "Come in!"

A young woman from the Luotou clan gently pushed open the door and bowed to Li Wushou, who was sitting cross-legged behind a low table:
"Respected wandering priest, the Grand Master invites you to the ancestral temple to witness the fruiting of the sacred tree of my Luotou clan and the coming-of-age ceremony for the children."

Li Wushou stared intently at the other person for a moment, then nodded slightly and replied:

"That's my honor, let's go!"

After speaking, she stood up from behind the low table. The young woman from the Luotou clan respectfully withdrew outside the door and waited to the side for Li Wushou.

Before leaving, the girl glanced at the low table in the room, where two large plates of crying infant worms had been completely devoured, leaving the girl speechless with astonishment.

One of these baby-crying insects is equivalent to a meal for an adult male of the Luotou clan. Yesterday, seeing that he enjoyed eating it, the Grand Priest heard about it and ordered his men to send dozens of them here.

Did you finish eating it all in the middle of the night?
No wonder the guards sent a message last night saying that the other party did nothing but eat baby-crying worms all night.

When the two slowly walked to the ancestral hall, the hall was already filled with incense smoke, and the surrounding area was crowded with men, women, and children.

At this moment, everyone was looking excitedly at the sacred tree behind the ancestral hall that blocked out the sky.

Seeing the girl leading Li Wushou over, the crowd slowly made way. It wasn't that the Luotou clan had never had outsiders come before, but it was extremely rare for them to be invited by the High Priest to witness the ripening of the sacred fruit.

Therefore, in addition to respect, everyone also had a strong sense of curiosity towards Li Wushou.

Li Wushou nodded in return to the onlookers, and soon passed through the crowd to see the High Priest and the Minister of Martial Law standing at the front.

Wu Xing Situ was directing several young men to build a ritual altar using wooden branches in front of the ancestral hall.

The scent emanating from these branches is identical to that of the sacred tree behind the ancestral hall, exuding the aroma of incense and blood.

In the courtyard of the Three Immortals Pavilion, Chen Gou'er had just finished eating the Crying Infant Worm. At this moment, he was holding the Paper Goddess's foot with one hand and stuffing the other hand into the Paper Goddess's mouth, constantly rummaging through it.

While rummaging through his mouth, he kept muttering, "Why can't I conjure it up?"

Suddenly, Chen Gou'er threw down the paper goddess in his hand, covered his nose, turned around and went back into the Three Immortals Hall, then gasped for breath:

"Ugh~ It stinks! It stinks! Li Wushou's brain is full of shit!"

Li Wushou's smiling face suddenly froze. The young girl leading the way glanced at Li Wushou with some confusion, then bowed respectfully towards the front:

"Greetings, High Priest, Minister of Justice, and the distinguished guest, the wandering Taoist priest."

Upon hearing this, the busy Martial Justice Minister turned around and clasped his hands in a fist salute to Li Wushou. He had no particular feelings towards Li Wushou and was unclear why the High Priest held him in such high regard. After bowing to Li Wushou, the Martial Justice Minister realized that the High Priest seemed not to have heard what had just been said.

So he walked to the High Priest's side and reminded him, "High Priest, your guest, the wandering sorcerer, has arrived!"

The High Priest seemed to awaken from his trance and turned to look at Li Wushou.

"Greetings, Wandering Taoist. I'm getting old and a bit useless. I hope you'll forgive my clumsiness."

"What are you saying, High Priest?"

Li Wushou cupped his hands in greeting. After not seeing him for several hours, the High Priest had indeed aged considerably. The other party hadn't been deliberately cold; he was genuinely hard of hearing.

"It is fate that we met You Fangshi, and You Fangshi's righteous act of escorting Luo Fan and me back to the Luotou Clan is truly a matter of kindness. Coincidentally, the sacred fruit of our Luotou Clan has ripened, so we have specially invited you to pay your respects!"

Li Wushou's face flushed slightly, and he suppressed his excitement as he replied in a passionate voice:

"It's my pleasure!"

This behavior actually won the favor of everyone present.

After all, this is a sacred event for the clan, and if an outsider does not respect it, even if he is a guest, it will cause dissatisfaction among many people.

This young wandering Taoist priest, we don't know how skilled he is, but he seems like a decent person? That's what everyone present thought.

The high priest nodded in satisfaction and invited Li Wushou to sit down. Then, with the help of two young men, he ascended the newly erected altar.

Looking at the frail and elderly High Priest, Li Wushou noticed that many people present seemed to have become quite emotional.

Even the girl next to him had tears in her eyes and clenched her fists!

"The prestige of this High Priest is truly unparalleled," Li Wushou muttered to himself.

He then stared intently at each of the onlookers, wanting to verify his conjecture.

Just then, the high priest, who was sitting cross-legged on the altar, formed a mudra with his hands in front of his chest and suddenly uttered a soft shout: "Please invite the incense altar!"

Several young men waiting below the altar hurriedly entered the ancestral hall, carried out three round wooden blocks, hollowed out and filled with incense ash, and placed them in front of the altar in a triangular shape.

Li Wushou glanced casually and noticed that three upside-down heads were buried in the incense ash at the center of the wooden stump.

"Please offer incense, Situ!"

The high priest on the altar spoke again, and the Minister of Justice respectfully stepped forward and placed three sticks of incense, which had been prepared in advance, around the necks of the three heads.

"Please, young man!"

The high priest's aged voice descended from the altar, causing a slight murmur among the crowd.

Clearly, many of these are parents of young boys, and everyone is very concerned about this scene.

Footsteps echoed inside the ancestral hall, and then, led by a clansman, a group of teenagers, some nervous, some excited, and some composed, slowly walked out of the ancestral hall and stood before the altar.

They all share a common characteristic: they all live on a mountaintop platform.

It seems that not all members of the Luotou clan can participate in this ceremony?
Li Wushou turned his gaze to the children, a total of seventeen.

After the children gazed at him one by one, Li Wushou spotted Luo Fan, but his gaze fell upon Luo Fan with only ordinary eyes.

At this moment, Luo Fan stood firmly among a group of children, looking up at the high priest on the altar.

"I was sure I was the bravest person at today's coming-of-age ceremony, just as I promised Grandpa! But I don't think I saw my parents?"

Luo Fan had just stepped out of the ancestral hall and quickly scanned the crowd. He even saw the wandering sorcerer, but he couldn't see his parents. It seemed that his parents would miss his coming-of-age ceremony.

Luo Fan was somewhat disappointed, but then he became determined. Once he became number one, it would be the same whether he went to see his parents or not; they would definitely be very happy.

"Worship the ancestral gods!"

This time, the high priest's voice became solemn, and the children standing there focused their expressions. Following their families' instructions, they all bowed to the sacred tree behind the altar.

The onlookers also bowed in worship.

For a moment, Li Wushou felt somewhat embarrassed sitting in the chair, but fortunately, no one was paying attention to him at the moment.

As everyone knelt in worship, the thin mist swirling around the sacred tree of the Luotou clan suddenly dissipated.

Li Wushou looked up and, out of fear of the ancestral god, he had not yet been able to fully appreciate the sacred tree, but now he finally saw it.

No wonder the old beggar said that the ancestral god was going to die. The tree looked lush and tall, but its trunk was full of all kinds of rotten wounds.

Although Li Wushou didn't smell the stench, Chen Gou'er inside the Three Immortals Pavilion seemed to be overwhelmed by the stench, constantly covering his nose.

Just then, the high priest on the altar waved his sleeve, and a rotten branch from the sacred tree behind him suddenly drooped down and swept over the heads of the worshipping children.

Li Wushou keenly noticed that a golden light appeared between the child's eyebrows and was absorbed into the tree branch.

The branches receded, and the sacred tree blossomed—exactly seventeen flowers!

Immediately afterwards, cries emanated from the flowers, and human heads, each the size of an adult's fist, slowly emerged.

These heads, with their mouths agape, cried out desperately, their faces exactly resembling those of the worshipping children.

The high priest on the altar, with slightly lowered eyes, looked down at the worshipping crowd and solemnly announced:

"The ceremony officially begins!"

Li Wushou's heart skipped a beat. He also observed everyone present, and his thoughts were finally confirmed.

nothing!
Apart from Luo Fan, none of these people have the Second God within them!
Even the Minister of Martial Justice didn't have it!

Li Wushou's eyes flashed with a sharp light as he suddenly turned his gaze to the figure on the altar.

At this moment, the High Priest was majestic and aloof, almost like a god!

(End of this chapter)