sinovels Chapter 57 Chapter 057 Zhongyuan
Chapter 57 Chapter 057 Zhongyuan
The Ghost Festival is commonly known as "Ghost Festival", because the festival time is on the [-]th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, so it is also called "July and a half".
The Ghost Festival is slightly similar to the Qingming Festival. On this day, people need to bring sacrifices to the graves to pay homage to their ancestors, and the palace is no exception.
However, it is not allowed to burn paper money alone in the palace, nor is it allowed to burn incense. These are all done together in several places, but the palace people can release water lamps alone.
A water lamp is a lamp tied on a small wooden board, mostly in the shape of a lotus flower, which is specially used to guide the way of unjust dead ghosts or other lonely ghosts.
Legend has it that when the lamp is extinguished, it means that the water lamp has completed its mission - to lead innocent souls and lonely souls across the Naihe Bridge.
Every year at this time, the palace will set up a long river leading to the outside of the palace to put water lamps.
On the day of the Hungry Ghost Festival, the shops will be closed to let the streets pass by ghosts, and the palace is no exception. No one will come out to wander around after dark, unless they have a big heart.
Every hundred steps in the middle of the road, there will be an incense table, on which fresh melons and fruits and a kind of "ghost buns" are offered to the hungry ghosts on the road.
Behind the table, there are Taoist priests singing ghost sacrifice songs that people can't understand, commonly known as "Shi Ge'er".
The Hungry Ghost Festival is almost always celebrated in this way in and out of the palace, but the palace has more rules and is more consistent.
And the accident happened on the Ghost Festival last year. At that time, the emperor of the ninth five years never expected that he would encounter dirty things.
After the curfew this day and night, everyone is not allowed to go out, and the emperor is no exception, but no one dares to stop him if he wants to go out.
However, Jinrong said that he would rather read some strange novels in the bedroom and study than wandering outside.
Perhaps the script is too good-looking, and perhaps this night and the atmosphere are too suitable, the emperor who has always been self-disciplined actually read it very late at night.
Because the Ghost Festival is special, those who work the watch at night do not need to work, so when Jin Rong's eyes widen and he wakes up from the world in the book, it is already thick and deep black outside the window.
"Xiao Shunzi," the suddenly tired emperor put down the notebook in his hand and shouted to the outside.
In the darkness of night, no one responded.
Jin Rong rubbed his forehead, how could he forget that he told Xiao Shunzi to go back first.
Forget it, anyway, the study is very close to the bedroom, he just walked back by himself.
Emperor Rongchang, who was thinking like this, stood up and stretched, walked to the door, picked up the lantern on the shelf, and walked out of the study door.
The bustling and orderly imperial palace during the day becomes a dormant behemoth at night, dark and hidden in the silence, waiting for an opportunity to move.
Walking on this promenade that has been walked countless times, the emperor, who only has a single lamp in his hand, can't help feeling a little scared, especially under the atmosphere of the Ghost Festival.
Rows of bright palace lanterns are usually lit in the courtyard of the dormitory, but now only a row of small candlelights flicker in the middle of the road, which looks more like ghostly lights floating in the distance.
Jinrong didn't know if it was due to his own psychology, he felt that the summer wind seemed a bit too cold tonight.
Blowing caused a layer of goosebumps on my body, and the light of the lantern in my hand also flickered, giving me a sense of mist and unreality.
The Taoist priests who sang ghost songs had already gone back to rest, and it was only then that Jinrong realized that he had read too late tonight.
When the night wind blew past, the requiem bells hanging on the four corners of the altar made a crisp and jingling sound, from far to near, there was a trace of ethereal.
It's not so much a requiem, it's more like a seduction.
Jin Rong lowered his head and quickened his pace.
On weekdays, a road that can be completed in a few steps is unworthy. Today, I walked almost a column without reaching the end, let alone seeing the door of the bedroom.
Jin Rong felt that something was wrong, and looked down at the lantern in his hand, and found that the wick was half burned, which fully proved that it was definitely not his illusion that he had walked for so long.
The emperor suddenly widened his eyes in doubt, and he saw something sticky flowing down from the top of the lantern, like strips of black cloth wrapped around the lampshade.
I reached out and touched it to my nose, there was a strong fishy smell.
The dimly lit candle not far away went out without warning, only the distant sound of the requiem bell came intermittently, mixed with the sound of the wind.
Now the only light source he relies on is the lantern in his hand, but the thick black liquid keeps engulfing the lampshade, and the light of the lantern is gradually disappearing.
He is now alone in the endless corridor.
"Dingling" "Dingling" "Dingling"...
The high and low ringing of the bell was accompanied by the sound of footsteps, and there was a sigh of resentment, like a wandering soul who couldn't find the way home came forward to ask the way.
Jin Rong's heart tightened, and he glanced at the bright lantern that was about to be engulfed by the black liquid, and then at the shadow that was getting closer, and reached into the lampshade cruelly to pull out the candle.
There was only a short stub of the candle that had been burning for a long time, and the hot wax oil dripped onto his hands and immediately made a lump, but Jinrong didn't feel it at all.
To be precise, his heart is now filled with the emotion of fear.
The black shadow was getting closer and closer, but he couldn't move, and when his heart was in his throat, the black shadow suddenly stopped.
"It smells so good..." The hoarse and unpleasant voice was full of ghosts.
Jinrong didn't understand what he meant at first, but when the black shadow got close enough that the faint candlelight could illuminate something, he was immediately speechless in shock.
There were deformed facial features scattered on a pale and distorted face, and blood flowed out from all seven orifices, covering the original bloodstains.
It looked like this terrifying face was bleeding all the time.
Jinrong wanted to retreat, to escape, but his calves were shaking, and a force held him in place, unable to move.
The weird "human body" in front of him began to revolve around him, and he could even smell the stench of this person, as if a long-rotten corpse crawled up from the ground.
When the "human body" approached his right hand that had been scalded by wax oil and stuck out his thick, long, black tongue, Jin Rong instantly understood——
The "good fragrance" he said refers to this!
A wave of extreme nausea and fear swept over the mountain. Before the emperor passed out, he only saw the monster open its bloody mouth, and his hoarse and strange laughter could be heard beside his ears...
"And then?" Yun Chuyi was fascinated by what he heard, and couldn't help asking.
Jin Rong glanced at her, and had to say that this girl was extremely beautiful, but he was inexplicably resistant, perhaps because of the intermittent nightmares that have been going on for the past year.
"I passed out later, and when I woke up, I found that I was still in the study, the lantern at the door was on, and the candle was still long."
In other words, it was as if he fell asleep lying on the desk, what he saw before was just a dream.
"It would be fine if it was really just a dream." Emperor Rongchang sighed, his face full of sorrow, "There will be no changes in the next few decades, just when I let go of it..."
It was another night, he unconsciously stayed in the study for a long time, but when he returned, he repeated everything that happened on the night of the Ghost Festival.
"...Since the Hungry Ghost Festival, the widow will ask people to wait outside even in the study, but every time I want to go back, I can't find anyone. Later, I slept in the bedroom of the dormitory at night, never thinking... "
"A night of deep sleep, that monster will always sneak into the dream, or turn into a ferocious giant beast, or a beautiful snake girl, in short, disturbing people can't sleep well."
The emperor pointed to the blue color in his eyes, and said, "Here, this is the evil result."
"Then why didn't your majesty send someone to inform me of Tiandaozong earlier, we will be happy to relieve your majesty's worries." Wei Qing said, a year is really a long time.
"Hey, I don't bother you if I don't bother you, and it doesn't happen every night, until one time a month ago... I almost killed the widow in my dream before going to study." Jinrong shook his head repeatedly, as if he was still in fear.
"If it hadn't been for the concubine Ru to wake up the widows that night, I'm afraid my life would be over!"
Oh... no wonder the emperor loves the concubine so much, everyone thought in unison.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will go back and find out who is behind the scenes to keep His Majesty safe." Shen Feng earnestly promised.
Jin Rong was greatly moved, and hurriedly called someone to take them to the prepared residence, and invited them to have a feast together in the evening.
The place where the five people live is the side hall, which is not big but also very low-key and gorgeous. The most important thing is that they are close together, which is very convenient.
Yun Chuyi took out the communication device and briefly informed Han Yi of the situation here, then turned around and listened to Shen Feng's arrangement.
As a group of Nascent Souls and powerful incarnations, these ghostly tricks would never have been taken seriously, but what made them puzzled was——
Although there is a place full of yin energy in the huge palace, there is indeed no evil spirit or ghost energy.
So what exactly did Emperor Rongchang encounter?
"No matter what it is, as long as its purpose has not been achieved, it will definitely come out to cause trouble again. My idea is that we take turns guarding the emperor's side." Shen Feng said.
The other four nodded. With their abilities, they must be able to find some clues, but this guard must be guarded secretly.
"By the way, little brother Zhong, why are you interested in that concubine Ru?" Shen Feng asked again, he did not forget what the other party asked the eunuch in front of the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
Zhong Wu frowned, grabbed the man's hand without hesitation, and said, "It's nothing, I always think that woman is not simple, it's just intuition."
Wei Qing:
Why are you holding my hand? I don't think too much about it.
Anyway, the arrangements were made, and after everyone went back to their houses to rest for a while, in the evening, someone sent by the emperor ushered them into the palace banquet.
Speaking of which, the banquet was also held for them, and the emperor said a lot of compliments in public.
As a cultivator, even the emperor should be courteous.
At the palace banquet, there were staggered cups of wine, singing and dancing incessantly, as far as the eye could see, there were clouds of beauties from all the palaces, smiling cleverly.
In the center of the stage is a dancer with a veil covering her face and dancing gracefully, and on both sides are court musicians with crowns and crowns, playing the melody.
The wealth and honor of the heavenly family is nothing but that.
Wei Qing stopped eating after tasting the chopstick dishes in front of him. Although the palace delicacies were good, compared to the dishes cooked by his apprentices... Tsk, it always felt a bit worse.
Noticing his lack of interest, Zhong Wu leaned over and said in a low voice, "I'll give Master some noodles to eat when I get back."
Wei Qing's eyes lit up, but he quickly covered it up: Ahem, you can't be so unpromising, and be bluffed by a mouthful.
Zhong Wu just smiled at the "duplicity" of men, it's really cute.
Thinking like this, he suddenly raised his head and looked up, seeing the sizing gaze cast by Danfeng's beautiful eyes, the corners of Zhong Wu's lips curled up slightly.
She's so cute, but she must be guarded, and she can't be seen by others...
The author has something to say:
Today is Lantern Festival, hey, that is Lantern Festival, happy Lantern Festival everyone~