manynovel Chapter 291 Temporarily Drunk with Flowers
Chapter 291 Temporarily Drunk with Flowers
Chapter 291 Temporarily Drunk with Flowers
"Junior Sister Tian, do you really want to save this child and bring him into our Jingqi Sect?"
In a large and bright house in Chong'an County, many people in black robes and green boots gathered together. Each of them held a lit stick high above their heads, letting the fragrant wax oil drip from it, melting and condensing on the green bricks of the hall.
The members of the sect stood on both sides. The elder brother Qiu Jiuzhang, who had originally looked honest and simple, now seemed to have gained a bit of majesty and arrogance as he was surrounded by everyone, and his words were sonorous and powerful.
He was seen staring at Tian Qingwen with his eyes wide open, without a trace of smile on his face. This slight glance made Tian Qingwen, a gold-haired mink who had been wandering the world for a long time, feel a little uneasy in his heart, wondering if the other party had guessed his intentions.
Tian Qingwen only felt his throat tighten slightly and his breathing was difficult. In order to avoid being discovered, he quickly turned his head and nodded, pretending to point fingers at Xiao Shitou who was standing beside him.
"Big Brother, this kid's senior brother is an extraordinary martial artist. He has also practiced boy's skills since he was young. If he is introduced to our Jingqi Sect, it will definitely be of great help..."
As everyone's eyes turned to Xiao Shitou, they saw him staring at the bench where the other person was sitting steadily, and suddenly he moved his palm like wind and swept across the wooden board.
There was a clanging sound, and the person sitting there fell to the ground before he could react. The originally solid bench broke in the middle and broke into many small pieces of wood.
Upon hearing the sound, Qiu Jiuzhang almost lost his grip on the token in his hand. His second senior brother, the pork seller Chen Henggui, was amazed and told the people next to him that even if he used all his strength to chop it off with a knife, it might not be so clean and neat. Only his third senior brother Zhu Minxiu, who was in charge of accounting, looked embarrassed. He sighed and opened the account book, then crossed out the bench from the Jingqi Sect's account book.
"Good, good, good!"
Qiu Jiuzhang clapped his hands in joy, and said to the gathered Jingqi sect members, "At the beginning, I predicted that although this Junior Sister Tian was young, she was able to make friends and would be of great use in the future. I didn't expect that she could help me out in such an urgent situation now!"
Tian Qingwen frowned slightly and looked around calmly. She discovered that the originally simple and honest people of Chong'an County in the hall now had a gleam of brilliance in their eyes, as if they were looking at acres of fertile land that could be pocketed at any time.
"Big Brother, it's good that you agree. Today, everyone is a crosser. Is this Zhao Erguan who came with us also introduced to the Jingqi Sect?"
In order to avoid suspicion from outsiders, Tian Qingwen brought Xiao Shitou and Zhao Erguan with him this time. He said that they were children with little knowledge and no one to rely on, so he wanted to bring them into the sect to receive protection and care, which would be better than letting them live alone.
"Junior sister, the reason why the Zhao family did not join our Jingqi Sect is also due to some past history. Let's put this matter aside for now and save the person you brought first."
But before she could question it, everyone had already led Zhao Erguan out of the hall and surrounded Xiao Shitou. It was not until Qiu Jiuzhang spoke up to make his presence felt that the noise in the place eased a little.
"Ahem, little brother, since you are determined to join our Jingqi Sect, I, Qiu, as the eldest senior brother, am naturally happy to accept you as a disciple on behalf of the master and bring in such a helper for our sect."
Qiu Jiuzhang raised the token in his hand, which was covered with colorful words. He gently tapped it on the top of Xiao Shitou's head and muttered something in a low voice.
"Today I enter my Jingqi Sect and come before the ancestor to seal my body. The three mountains must bow before me, and there are gods in front of the Five Mountains Temple. The flags and seals come out together, and I will tell fortunes!"
Following the order, the second and third brothers waved their magic tools, and a pair of hexagram cards suddenly fell to the ground. After spinning around, Qiu Jiuzhang quickly put them back into his sleeves. He turned around and told Xiao Shitou to keep silent in the hall, and said to him in a serious tone:
"To join my Jingqi sect, one must first respect heaven and treat people with respect, second, stay close to the righteous path, third, keep the precepts without ceasing, and fourth, be brothers and sisters in good faith. If you cannot fulfill these oaths, the founder will send down thunder and kill you all together. Do you know?"
Xiao Shitou turned around and glanced at Tian Qingwen. Seeing that the other party did not give any hints, he nodded calmly.
"Look up, what's your last name?"
"My name is Little Stone."
Qiu Jiuzhang looked at Tian Qingwen in confusion, and Tian Qingwen could only answer reluctantly.
"This child hasn't been given a full name yet, I think his last name is Shi."
Qiu Jiuzhang didn't care about these trivial matters and muttered while holding up the token.
"No problem! Once you join my sect, you will become my brothers. As the scriptures say, 'Ziwu Jumen, the hidden jade in the stone', after going through hardships, you will become a great man. From now on, I will call you 'Jade in the Stone' in the sect."
At this time, Qiu Jiuzhang finally put aside his serious expression and turned back into the pharmacy doctor he originally was. He spoke in a gentle voice, as if he knew everything after observing, smelling, asking and feeling the patient.
"Don't be afraid, little brother Shi. Since you have made a divination and sworn an oath in front of the ancestor, you are one of us. Even if some of the methods of the Jingqi Sect have been lost, this mantra and the flower character cannot be saved - take off your shirt and expose your chest."
Qiu Jiuzhang took the cinnabar pen, compared it with the colorful words on the token in his hand, and began to draw circles and dots on Xiao Shitou's chest, drawing the three colorful words "Urgent Defense", "Exorcism", and "Good Luck" from top to bottom. Then he twisted Xiao Shitou's hands, which had been placed somewhere, and made the familiar posture of holding the backs of his hands together and horizontally in front of him, and clapped his hands three times in the same way.
"Look up and see the Zhang Patriarch. He is waving at you..."
The curtain in the hall was suddenly drawn open, revealing a magnificent shrine inlaid with gold and jade. On it sat a skinny old man in brocade robe, gazing at the small stone with a smile on his face. He had deep and mysterious eyes, broad shoulders and a slender neck. He looked rather ugly in his thin and rough figure, but he exuded an ethereal air that seemed to be a fairy with only bones left and flesh gone.
An extremely mysterious voice came faintly from the caisson in the empty hall. Everyone seemed to see the old man in brocade robe twisting his body in a trance, moving around restlessly in his seat, or as if he had been sitting still in the same place. Even the dust on his clothes did not change. There were all kinds of shapes and colors, and life and death were hard to describe.
Little Stone suddenly sensed a sharp aura that seemed to be attacking the back of his head, but after dodging hastily, he saw nothing in his field of vision. He could only scratch his head in confusion and turned around.
The figure on the shrine was seen staggering and wriggling, as if trying to get closer to the small stone, until there was a disturbing disturbance, and the old man in brocade robe suddenly twitched violently before death, his hands and feet twisted together strangely. At this time, the complex and ominous air in the hall condensed when it was cold, and at the same time, the old man's skinny nose suddenly collapsed, making people believe that he had indeed been dead for a long time...
"Remember the Jingqi Heart Mantra: 'Master, be merciful, master, please save me'! If you encounter any demons, ghosts, or evil masters in the future, recite the mantra and ask the master to protect you and support you. With your foundation as a sealed servant, no one can hurt you."
Qiu Jiuzhang's eyes were filled with surprise and he nodded complacently. At that moment, it seemed as if every word he uttered was divine and had the power of dragon and phoenix seals.
Xiao Shitou looked at him in confusion. Qiu Jiuzhang suddenly changed the topic to business and looked at Tian Qingwen and Xiao Shitou seriously.
"Junior Sister Tian, we brothers and sisters have gathered today to discuss an important matter. Do you know about the new water gate built in Chong'an County?"
Tian Qingwen wrinkled her nose and answered suddenly, "Is it the new water gate that I requested the county magistrate to open?"
Qiu Jiuzhang nodded slowly, "That's right. We, the Jingqi sect, have been in contact with the gentry and have submitted petitions for more than a few months, but they have not been read yet. I'm afraid the county magistrate is deliberately delaying and is increasingly wary of our sect. If this continues, it may not be appropriate."
Tian Qingwen looked at everyone calmly. The four land gates of Chong'an County all had urn cities guarded by soldiers and servants, and the original water gates also had garrisons stationed, cutting off the external access of the Jingqi Sect and also affecting the exchanges between merchants from the four provinces and Chong'an County.
In order to find a new way out, the original leader of the Jingqi Sect, Zhang, had long planned to open another sect and have it managed by the Jingqi Sect's internal forces. However, the plan has been dragged on until now and has not been implemented.
The ownership of Chong'an County has been occupied by the Jingqi Sect in essence, but the entrances and exits are controlled by the court, whether in the former Ming Dynasty or now. If the Jingqi Sect cannot break this deadlock, then what they have done before is meaningless and is just a routine discussion among some bored villagers. However, once they can break the deadlock, the power accumulated by the Jingqi Sect for many years will be able to escape and begin to spread to the cities and counties in all directions...
The reason why Qiu Jiuzhang had been pushing forward desperately a few months ago was because he had seen that the entire Jianning area was now short of military forces, and even the entire Fujian area, except for the heavy troops stockpiled by Zhangzhou and Quanzhou and the personal soldiers led by the Jingnan Palace, the military force had long been stretched to its limits. It only took a flaw in the "Water Gate" to make the gentry who had been watching and waiting decide what to do next!
"Brother, the county magistrate is still reluctant to approve the order. What can we do? If we destroy the city walls without authorization, it will be a serious crime punishable by exile. The county magistrate is probably waiting for us to reveal our flaws."
Tian Qingwen led the topic to some details, and his implication seemed to be that he was very keen to get this done, but he just couldn't find a better way, but Qiu Jiuzhang spoke in a very obscure way.
"Of course. We in the Jingqi sect are all kindhearted people, so we naturally cannot do anything that violates the law. We gathered here today just to hold another 'Chaitou Meeting' tomorrow and walk along the north and south streets. The county magistrate will not interfere with such a small matter, right?"
Tian Qingwen sneered in his heart. The "Chaitou Meeting" had just been held a few days ago. Creating a small disturbance at this critical juncture was clearly intended to attract the attention of Shengjun, the leader of Chong'an County. This could be seen from the suspicious eyes of Qiu Jiuzhang, Chen Henggui, and Zhu Minxiu.
"…My three senior brothers, since the matter has been decided, what do you want me to do?"
Qiu Jiuzhang nodded with satisfaction and threw a cloth bag into Tian Qingwen's arms. Tian Qingwen felt that it was soft and slippery in his hand. He looked down and was suddenly shocked. He suddenly threw the cloth bag open, and it happened to fall in front of Xiao Shitou.
So Xiao Shitou opened the cloth bag expressionlessly, and loud cries like thunder and drums came out from it. Several large toads with obvious snouts, purple-red skin and black conical horns on their lips suddenly jumped out. After a while, they sat in front of Xiao Shitou's knees and shoulders, looking ferocious and weird.
"Ahem, Junior Sister Tian, don't panic. These are bearded toads, also known as horned monsters. They will migrate outside the water gate every spring equinox. All you have to do is climb up the city gate at midnight tomorrow and throw these male toads into the water. When someone hears the toads buzzing outside the gate, they will naturally take action."
Tian Qingwen pretended to be frightened out of his wits, hid behind a pillar and trembled, saying: "Big Brother, I can't do this, and what are you doing throwing these toads? Can you really break through the city wall?"
Qiu Jiuzhang smiled and said to her with shining eyes: "Junior sister, please be patient. We have been planning for so long, so there must be a reason for doing this. You just said that if we destroy the city wall, we will commit a serious crime, but if County Magistrate Guan destroys it himself, what crime should he be charged with..."
A gust of cold wind blew by, and Tian Qingwen immediately sensed a conspiracy. She didn't know why these usually friendly and kind neighbors had become so gloomy and secretive today. Until this moment, she finally understood why Hong Wendi insisted on bringing Xiao Shitou into the sect himself, and why the other party said that the situation was not right and asked for help from Dawang Peak in Wuyi Mountain.
The task that Qiu Jiuzhang assigned to the two of them was more of an irrelevant errand than an important one. However, Tian Qingwen felt uneasy about what would happen tomorrow night.
She looked up at the hall. It seemed that there should have been a plaque hanging on the heavy beams, but now only the uneven color difference due to exposure to the sun remained. Perhaps this should be an ancestral hall?
Tian Qingwen tightly held the letter in his sleeve pocket and walked back pretending to understand, but he found that the little stone, now called Shi Zhongyu, had quietly run to another corner of the lobby, lifted a corner of the curtain, as if staring at something puzzling.
Incense and wax were still dripping from the burning wood that everyone was holding high, but the lingering fragrance was always surrounded by a strange stench that made one's nose tremble slightly.
Tian Qingwen only thought that in the depths of the hall, there were only religious statues used for worship in the past, some wooden and clay sculptures whose gold paint had fallen off over the years. However, only by standing at the position of the small stone could one see that under the curtains on both sides of the hall, there was a row of human figures standing stiffly in a row, wearing tall hats and wide belts, phoenix crowns and bridal robes, golden helmets and armor, and gorgeous crowns and clothes.
Thick powder covered the exposed skin, but it couldn't hide the dry, wrinkled and withered scars like bacon. Her facial features were wrinkled into holes, and she was looking at Xiao Shitou in a daze.
Behind them, there were sedan chairs made for them, each of which could fit them perfectly. They were carried through the streets and alleys, and the lingering stench of corpses was emitted from their bodies...
Children, do you miss me?
(End of this chapter)