Chapter 288
Chapter 288
The moment the children carrying lanterns appeared, the rain intensified.
Lightning darted ceaselessly through the heavy storm clouds blanketing the dark sky.
With every flash and fade of lightning, the children’s faces flickered in and out of view.
To our horror, at some point, smiles had appeared on every one of their faces.
Some had their eyes wide and mouths stretched open as if roaring with laughter.
Some pursed their lips and curved their eyes, as though snickering to themselves.
Others wore textbook grins, all eight big white teeth on display…
Without exception, every child within sight was smiling.
It was as if they were playing some entertaining game, laughing and making merry.
But those smiles looked like masks plastered onto their faces. They had the lifeless quality of paper funeral effigies.
They were stiff, hollow smiles devoid of any real joy.
I finally got a clear look at the white lanterns in their hands as well.
They weren’t lanterns made of paper, but white porcelain lanterns — brittle enough to shatter with a single strike.
Hui Yumo couldn’t help whispering, “What kind of Underworld crap is this? Why are all these kids making such freaky faces?”
Fang Luo was the most knowledgeable among us, but her voice was so tight that the words seemed lodged in her throat. With great difficulty, she asked, “Have you ever heard of… Hundred Children Frolic with the Dragon Lantern?”
“Hundred Children Frolic with the Dragon Lantern?” Hui Yumo nodded at once. “Of course I have. If I remember correctly, it’s a ritual for praying for rain, isn’t it?”
Fang Luo nodded. “That’s right. It’s used to pray for rain. Many people know of Hundred Children Frolic with the Dragon Lantern, but very few know the story behind it…”
“Hundred Children Frolic with the Dragon Lantern; all grains grow full and plentiful,” I continued in a trembling voice. “A hundred children laugh amid the lanterns; Shatter the Lanterns and Send the Deity Home… It’s a rain-summoning ritual, but it’s also… a Sacrifice to send a deity home!”
In modern times, Hundred Children Frolic with the Dragon Lantern was regarded as an auspicious rain-prayer ritual intended to bring a bountiful harvest in the coming year.
But according to the Grand Witch’s Witchcraft Notebook, Hundred Children Frolic with the Dragon Lantern was actually an evil form of Ancient Witchcraft.
In its earliest form, this Ancient Witchcraft did not use white porcelain lanterns.
A hundred virgin boys and girls were chosen and tied together one behind another. Each child was given a torch, while a Dragon boat led the way, dragging all hundred of them step by step into the water.
Once the river rose past their waists, Witchcraft would seize control of them and force them to use their own torches to set their heads on fire.
One after another, their burning heads would form a continuous chain before slowly sinking beneath the water, like a blazing Dragon plunging into the sea.
Offer a hundred children as a Sacrifice, and ferry a True Dragon to Ascension.
Fang Luo glanced at me in surprise. She clearly hadn’t expected me to know the rest of Hundred Children Frolic with the Dragon Lantern as well.
Aside from me, Hui Moqiong must have known about it too.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have looked so hopeless earlier.
“This is a Ten Deaths, No Life situation,” Hui Moqiong said. “Do you hear the chanting coming from over there? The instant it stops, all the white porcelain lanterns in the children’s hands will collide and shatter. The moment those lanterns break, the river will swallow all one hundred children. Not a single one will survive.”
Hui Yumo said urgently, “Then what are we waiting for? Can’t we grab the white porcelain lanterns from them now, or just carry the children out of the river? Between your people and mine, we should have enough manpower.”
I shook my head. “That won’t work. All one hundred children are trapped inside a Formation. Whether we touch the children or the white porcelain lanterns, we’ll be disrupting the Formation. The moment the Formation is broken, the backlash will strike them. Not a single one will survive.”
Behind those hundred children stood a hundred families.
If we stood by and let them be offered in the Sacrifice, half of Chang City would be turned upside down by tomorrow!
I couldn’t even imagine the devastation that would follow.
And all of it stemmed from one Great Lama’s selfish desire to become a Buddha or a god.
What had these children done to deserve this?
What had their families done?
Why should they have to pay with their lives for someone else’s desire to become a Buddha or a god?
“The only way to save them is…”
Fang Luo faltered, then abruptly stopped.
Hui Yumo tugged on her sleeve and pressed, “What way? Tell us!”
“The only way is to find them a Dragon head,” I said, watching the White Dragon glide silently across the river. “Or rather, to find them a guide who can lead them back onto the right path.”
Hui Yumo immediately fell silent.
Everyone present was smart enough to understand.
The moment I said those words, they all looked at the Soul-Guiding Lantern in my hand.
Then their gazes traveled upward until they settled on my face.
Hui Moqiong immediately said, “No! Xiao Jiu’er, you can’t go! It’s too dangerous. If Seventh Master knew, he would never let you take such a risk either. If you fail, you and those children will all be swept into the river and claimed by the Sacrifice!”
I glanced back at the silhouette of the Evil Monk standing atop the Buddha Head.
“He’s fighting. He’s holding on. He needs me.”
Everyone fell silent once more.
One step forward meant certain death, but so did one step back.
We all understood that if we couldn’t take this step, we would most likely lose everything.
And Liu Junyan… might never return.
He would become Chan Master Dahui, forever stranded in the tower within Mount Song Gorge.
He would become the Copper-Coin Figure held under a Seal in the Pawnshop’s West Room.
He would remain forever… forever atop the Buddha Head at the Xiaoyingkou Ancient Battlefield…
“Fifth Master Hui, Yumo, Xiao Tiao, I need your help.”
I stopped hesitating and began giving orders. “I need you to immediately gather a hundred members with no more than a century of cultivation but exceptional swimming skills. They’ll enter this game with me. Can you find them?”
“Yes!”
“We can!”
“All right!”
Three voices rang out at once before swiftly disappearing into the night.
They had gone to find the people I needed.
Animal immortals with no more than a century of cultivation were much like human children who had only just begun growing up.
But they still had a foundation in cultivation and possessed some ability to protect themselves.
This was a desperate gamble.
I would bring them into the ritual, have them replace the hundred children in the river, and then lead them through the rest of the Hundred Children Frolic with the Dragon Lantern ceremony.
If we lost, Chang City’s Gray Immortal Hall and Wufu Town Pawnshop would erect memorial tablets for them and make offerings for a hundred years. We would also perform Release from Suffering rites so they could swiftly enter the Pure Land.
If we won, they… would earn immeasurable Merit!
Fang Luo moved a few steps closer and asked softly, “Shopkeeper Xiao Jiu, do you really think anyone would willingly enter a death trap like this? Let alone a full hundred of them?”
I stared absently at the river and asked her in return, “What is cultivation? And why do we cultivate?”
Fang Luo murmured thoughtfully, “Cultivation…”
“In my view, cultivation has nothing to do with how long one has practiced or with outward trappings,” I answered my own question. “To cultivate is to cultivate the heart, not appearances. Mao Jingxuan cultivated his entire life. He earned great fame and universal respect, but did his cultivation truly bear righteous fruit?”