novelraw Chapter 113 Setting up the Feast
Chapter 113 Setting up the Feast
The two were panting heavily, soaked to the bone, and icy cold.
Liu Jia looked at Jian Yu, tears streaming down her face: "That really scared me to death! The rope broke, and I thought something had happened to you."
Jian Yu shook her head, her face somewhat pale:
"When I dived to the bottom of the lake, I realized something was wrong; the bottom of the lake was full of upside-down corpses."
The heads of the corpses were stuck in the mud, while their bodies stood upright.
The same posture we were in in the water just now.
The rope was torn by the hands of those corpses; they wanted to drag you down and fill the spring.
"Fill the yin orifice?" Liu Jia was stunned.
Jian Yu nodded, her eyes serious:
"The spring at the bottom of this lake is not an ordinary spring at all; it is a sacrificial formation."
I saw many upside-down corpses at the bottom of the lake; they were all living people used for sacrifice.
The spring is the core of the formation; it must be filled with living people in order to suppress the formation.
Those floating heads are those who failed in their sacrifices or were swallowed up by the formation.
As soon as we get on the boat and out of the water, they will swarm us.
But as long as we are in the water, we can learn from their posture, standing upright and sticking our heads out.
They will then treat us as one of their own and won't attack us first.
After hearing this, Liu Jia felt a chill run down her spine.
Thinking of the heads floating on the lake surface and the upside-down corpse at the bottom, I couldn't help but shudder.
"What can we do now? Should we seal the Yin Aperture or not?"
Jianyu shook her head.
"We can't seal it off; we have no way to fill the spring."
Continuing any further would be suicide.
Moreover, this formation is too sinister; even if we use the Broken Jade Soil, we can't suppress it; we'll only be swallowed up by the formation.
This is already the best that can be done.
Jianyu felt that the formation at the bottom of the lake was very similar to the formation in Yi'an Village.
It is both nourishing and suppressing that evil thing.
The two helped each other up and slowly stood up.
Looking at the Mingcheng Eye through the thick fog, the head on the lake surface was still floating.
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From within the fog, a very faint whisper could be heard, as if countless people were speaking at the same time. It was indistinct, yet it carried a sense of resentment and malice.
They didn't dare linger and turned to run towards the village entrance.
Water dripped down the hem of my clothes, icy cold.
The driver kept track of the time; it was past midnight.
He had already mounted his horse and turned the carriage around when the sound of footsteps coming from afar made him rein in his horse.
The driver seemed oblivious to their disheveled state, and after they boarded the carriage, he left Quanze Village.
…………
At the end of the night, all five of them arrived at the square ahead of time.
When they arrived, they saw the servants of the mansion carrying prepared food boxes onto the carriage.
There were only two carriages, and one of them had a pile of odds and ends on its sideboard:
Several large plates of cold food, a whole jar of rice wine, a dozen or so rough porcelain bowls, and a bundle of incense and candles.
There were also wooden tables and stools prepared by the servants of Chongxun's mansion in the morning.
After everything was loaded, the five of them squeezed into one carriage.
We set off, and no one spoke the whole way; the carriage was stiflingly quiet.
Le Zheng Fengye leaned against the carriage wall, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth, looking rather nonchalant.
His gaze occasionally swept out the window, revealing a solemnity that others could not discern.
"That steward said he was going to set up a blessing banquet to ensure our safety, but in reality he just wanted to use us as bait to lure and trap ghosts."
Lezheng Fengye spoke first, spitting out the grass from his mouth.
"This afternoon, when we were preparing the ritual implements, we discovered that tonight's banquet is quite complicated."
It is a sinister spirit-trapping trap that combines a feast for the dead with an exorcism feast.
Lin Tian immediately replied, "Master said that we must cooperate tonight."
A feast for the dead, with eight tables for offerings to the spirits, where the living and the dead eat together.
The exorcism banquet featured seven tables of offerings, while one empty table served to lure evil spirits.
He has combined two rituals, clearly intending to lock up all the wandering ghosts within a ten-mile radius in the Zhenxi Hall.
There can be no room for error; otherwise, we'll all be devoured alive by the wild demons.
"That's right." Yue Zheng Fengye nodded.
"In a proper feast for the dead, chopsticks should be inserted upside down, wine should be spilled on one side, and then one should sit with one's back turned and wait for the spirits of the dead to come to the feast."
The exorcism banquet specially reserves a seat with an upside-down bowl to lure evil spirits into the trap, and then the talisman is cut to drive away the evil.
His change wasn't about driving away, it was about trapping.
They can get in, but they can't get out.
Li Zheng suddenly spoke in a hoarse voice; he had lost his hearing, and his voice sounded strangely muffled.
"If the ghost is trapped, who will carry it? You?"
Upon hearing this, Su Zixu immediately retorted, "Brother Li Zheng is the most capable, so of course he should set an example."
Li Zheng didn't bother to speak again, and the carriage fell silent once more.
The carriage stopped at the main gate of Zhenxi Hall.
This place was abandoned for only a few years, but most of the courtyard wall collapsed, the weeds in the yard grew to waist height, and the dark house looked like a giant beast crouching there.
The five people got off the bus and each took on their assigned tasks.
There was no unnecessary chatter, and no one gave the desolate surroundings a second glance.
Le Zheng Fengye said, "There are eight tables in total. The first seven will be arranged as a banquet for the dead."
Cold food, incense, chicken, duck, fish, and meat—all the chopsticks are stuck upside down in the bowl, with the tips pointing down, directly at the bottom of the bowl.
The wine cup was tilted, spilling half of it onto the ground, as a seat for the passing souls of the dead.
The last and eighth photo was placed alone at the far end of the courtyard, with no seat available.
All the porcelain bowls were turned upside down, leaving no bowls or chopsticks behind.
This is the empty seat for luring evil spirits at the exorcism banquet, and also the core of the entire spirit-trapping array.
Su Zixu immediately settled the score:
"Seven tables attract scattered souls, one table entices fierce evil."
Once everything is in place and all the ghosts have taken their seats, we will seal the formation and nail them all to this spot.
This is exactly the outcome the steward wants. Success, we live. Failure, we're just offerings at the banquet.
"clever."
Lezheng Fengye glanced at him and said, "You don't need to know magic. You can keep an eye on people for me."
Keep an eye on things. If anyone seems off, or if anyone makes a mistake first, call me immediately.
Zhao Hu picked up the table: "I'll set it up. It's hard work, don't worry."
Lin Tian lit incense and distributed candles, and said solemnly, "Master, I have prepared the incense, candles, cinnabar, red thread, and five-emperor coins in advance."
Everyone instinctively looked at Li Zheng.
Li Zheng's one eye swept over, and he said indifferently:
"I'll help you spot the blind spots."
Things hidden in the dark, which are invisible to the living, I can see.
You let me go afterwards.
These words were directed at Yue Zheng Feng Ye, but Yue Zheng Feng Ye was not buying it and replied indifferently, "Let's survive tonight first, then we'll talk about other things."
Every step of the banquet setup process must be done correctly.
Le Zheng Fengye whispered the rules:
"When the dead attend a banquet, their chopsticks are stuck upside down, so that they can eat with their hands."
The wine is spilled on one side, which means that yin and yang drink together.
We, the living people, must face away from the table the entire time, and are absolutely not allowed to turn around, peek, or speak.
If you turn around, they will target you.
The last and eighth empty table is against the wall.
The table was spotless, with eight porcelain bowls, all upside down, firmly placed on the table.
There was no food, no wine, nothing at all.