Chapter 220: Chapter 220

Bailin Kingdom, Guangyang Province, Guangyang City.

Just yesterday.

Li Qi stood atop an altar.

After more than eighty days, the Grand Ritual was finally prepared.

A day earlier, various rural Shamanes and village elders had gone door-to-door, urging everyone to extinguish their lights and go to bed early to avoid disturbing the rats, and to scatter some rice grains and pastries in the corners of their houses for the rats to eat. This was called “Rat Soil Mound Money,” signifying sharing the year's harvest with the rats to receive their blessings.

Originally, such an act would certainly not have received everyone's consent.

Because, over the past eighty-plus days, almost all the crops in Guangyang had begun to wither and die.

Anyone with eyes could see that Guangyang this year would likely face… a total crop failure.

No food to eat.

So, with no grain to begin with, how could they possibly share it with rats?

However, these days, almost all the common people in Guangyang who couldn't afford food found rats delivering grain to their homes.

Golden-furred and silver-furred rats, carrying grain from an unknown source, delivered it to every household.

Every family received grain delivered by these rats.

At the same time, more than a month ago, many Jianghu people, carrying wooden boxes, walked through the streets and alleys. Inside the boxes were rat cages, and on top of the boxes was a small, brightly painted wooden stage. Performers sang folk songs, beat gongs and drums, and directed the rats in performances.

Rats performed in the boxes of these Jianghu street performers, with acts like “Rats Grinding Grain” and “Rats Swinging,” making people laugh uproariously and linger, unwilling to leave.

Jianghu people are not all great heroes who kill a person in ten steps and leave no trace for a thousand miles.

In fact, most true Jianghu people are these bottom-tier performers, medicine peddlers, thieves, swindlers, and wandering Taoists.

These people have no fixed abode or assets; they can only wander around, making a living through various means, thus calling themselves ‘Jianghu people.’ Some even sarcastically say, “Once in the Jianghu, all are fated to suffer.”

But it was this group of people who understood the grassroots common folk the best.

Zhang Lan rallied the Jianghu and greenwood forces of Guangyang, gathering almost all the Jianghu street performers, and, in cooperation with Rat Soil Mound, jointly staged this drama.

They had the performing Jianghu people and Rat Soil Mound work together to transport grain from the homes of wealthy families, such as the Guangyang Zhang Family.

They had hoarded an enormous amount of grain, enough to feed everyone in Guangyang for more than two years.

This way, as long as the Shanshui Qi was restored, surviving until next year's autumn harvest should not be a problem.

But a total crop failure this year was certain, so it was necessary to calm the public's panic.

For this purpose, Wang Baiyan rallied some clan elders and village elders to promote “Rat Soil Mound Money,” and then used various unusual rat performances to soothe their minds.

With rats constantly delivering grain to their homes, influential clan elders promoting that rats were not to be feared, and various cultural and entertainment activities, the first wave of grain panic was successfully quelled.

This was Li Qi's first move.

Rat Soil Mound was also very willing to help, as this meant they participated in the Grand Ritual.

The first stage of the Grand Ritual benefited Rat Soil Mound; although their initial blood sacrifice was interrupted, leading to their Soul Transformation failure, they now had a chance to compensate.

Li Qi also needed their assistance.

Rat Soil Mound had tens of millions of small rats, tens of thousands of Ninth-Rank, a dozen or so Eighth-Rank, and a Seventh-Rank Rat King. Such a force, with the cooperation of the government, could fully penetrate every household.

Then, by leveraging this point, they could more deeply promote other things required for the sacrifices.

The Mountain and Water Deities of the entire Guangyang were already dead; at this moment, the thousands of Ninth-Rank from Rat Soil Mound could completely fill in and become new Mountain and Water Deities .

Thus, Rat Soil Mound's path to Soul Transformation could be fully realized.

After all, Rat Soil Mound's goal from beginning to end was only one: to shed their demonic form and achieve Soul Transformation.

At this moment, it was their most likely chance to achieve their goal.

Thus, both sides hit it off immediately.

With the help of Rat Soil Mound and the Jianghu people, whatever rituals a certain village needed to perform could be well conveyed and executed.

These rats didn't even care that Zhang Lan had killed their people; they wholeheartedly cooperated with the Jianghu people rallied by Zhang Lan, beginning to convey Li Qi's intentions.

In a small mountain village in Guangyang.

A clan elder with a grizzled beard nodded to a few rats, then turned to the people waiting behind him and cleared his throat: “Ahem, the Mountain God has spoken!”

“Listen closely, everyone! Tomorrow is the day when all the stars descend to the Lower Realm! As long as we pray for blessings, there will be blessings from the Star Lords. The withered crops won't grow back; that's the Earth Mother's business, and the Star Lords can't control it. But the Star Lords can bestow grain upon us to help us through until next year!”

The clan elder's words brought hope to the village men and women behind him.

The clan elder slammed his staff down and sternly shouted: “Listen well! No one is allowed to make a mistake! If you make a mistake and the grain supply is cut off, then you can kneel and die in the ancestral hall yourself!”

The village men and women nodded repeatedly but dared not speak, only swallowing nervously.

Then, the clan elder began to explain what they should do tomorrow.

First, they needed to make small lanterns and light them for the sacrifice, called “Shunxing,” also known as “Jixing” or “Jiexing.”

Two divine talismans for the sacrifice had already been prepared: the first printed with constellations, the second printed with a large golden-furred rat. They were placed together, clamped in a paper holder, and positioned in the central rear of the courtyard to receive the sacrifice.

In front of the talismans, lamp wicks made of yellow and white paper soaked in sesame oil needed to be placed in “lamp bowls” about an inch in diameter. Forty-nine of these were required and lit.

Cooked grain and clear tea were also offered.

After dusk, they would sacrifice towards the stars. After the sacrifice, when the remaining lamps were about to extinguish, the talismans, incense roots, sesame stalks, and pine and cypress branches would be burned together. Only then would the sacrifice be considered complete.

The village men and women didn't know what this ritual represented, but they all firmly remembered how to do it.

After all, this concerned their food supply for the coming year.

In reality, this was using human Qi as an offering, borrowing the power of the heavenly stars, and injecting it into the Mountain and Water Deities formed by Rat Soil Mound. This way, the Mountain and Water Deities would have the ability to regulate the basic Shanshui.

As for the cooked grain offered, it was actually just a carrier of human Qi, not the main body of the offering.

This was actually the principle of ‘Jiao Di does not exceed cocoons and chestnuts, and Zheng Chang does not exceed a handful.’

The sacrificial offerings used in Jiao Di, their corners do not exceed the size of silkworm cocoons and chestnuts; the sacrificial offerings used in Zheng Chang, their corners do not exceed the length of a handful.

The reason for using such small offerings is that gods descend upon the people through essence, thus seeking complete items, not abundance or grandeur.

The essence of offerings is not that the gods need to eat your food or livestock; in reality, they merely serve as a carrier. It is sufficient for the offerings to be complete; there is no need to demand a large quantity.

But the common people didn't need to remember any of this; Li Qi arranged and deliberated over everything bit by bit before distributing it downwards.

Even those Mountain and Water Deities didn't know why they had to do this; they were merely executing Li Qi's orders.

This village was a place for star worship.

This area was Lixian, with forty-three villages, all responsible for Shunxing, guiding the power of the heavenly stars.

And other counties also had their own tasks.

For example, Qinghe County to the east was responsible for guiding chickens.

In the extreme east of the world, there is a place called “Fusang Valley,” where the sun rises every day. In the sea, there is a giant tree called “Fusang,” whose height and thickness are unknown.

On the tree is a white jade chicken, which is the Heavenly Chicken. When the sun is about to rise, the Heavenly Chicken crows to announce the dawn, and all the mundane chickens in the world crow in response, spreading the news of the sun's rise in all directions. This is called “One crow of the rooster, and the world turns white.”

Besides being able to guide the power of the sun, this could also regulate the entire Grand Ritual, as the saying goes, ‘Chickens are for checking, they can check time.’ People use the crowing of chickens as the dividing line between night and day.

Qinghe County's guiding of chickens could not only lead the power of the sun to descend but also serve to standardize the scale of the great formation.

Similarly, the more than twenty counties in Guangyang Province each had different responsibilities, various different rituals and methods, symbolizing different powers, and simultaneously bringing different effects.

The entire Grand Ritual was composed of these small sacrifices, bit by bit, gathered from over ten million people in Guangyang.

Li Qi racked his brain, searched countless books, and borrowed countless powers, finally planning out such a usable set of Grand Ritual regulations.

Arranging the entire day's schedule for over ten million people, setting up tens of thousands of rituals, creating tens of thousands of different effects without conflict, and finally consolidating them to revive the Earth Qi of the entire Guangyang.

Just thinking about it reveals the difficulty.

However, with Shen Shuibi's help, Li Qi spent over eighty days and finally completed this task, which was a miracle to him.

Tens of millions of people would benefit from this, saving millions of lives, earning the gratitude of thousands of Mountain and Water Deities , and forming a solid Alliance with Rat Soil Mound.

He even had a faint premonition.

If he successfully completed the Grand Ritual, he would likely directly advance to Eighth-Rank.

Everything was proceeding systematically.

Li Qi stood on the altar, his clothes clean, his spirit invigorated. Although he had rested, the fatigue on his face simply wouldn't disappear.

He had actually rested for a long time; his body had fully recovered, but he was still mentally exhausted.

Shen Shuibi had gone to sleep; she was probably mentally exhausted too.

Preparing for the Grand Ritual was truly a very difficult task.

He had completely underestimated the difficulty of this matter.

It could be said that Shen Shuibi alone bore more than seventy percent of the workload in finally completing the preparations for this Grand Ritual. She worked much faster than Li Qi.

Most of the data calculation and material coordination were handed over to her by Li Qi; Li Qi himself was only responsible for the overall framework design.

Bo Yue also took on a part, but he had his own things to do, only helping Li Qi process some data when he had time, probably accounting for half a percent of the workload.

After presiding over a complete Mountain and River Grand Formation, Bo Yue's foundation was already sufficient, and he was also preparing to advance to Eighth-Rank, so he was currently busy with his own affairs and couldn't help Li Qi much.

The Mountain and River Grand Formation, in essence, was also like the Grand Ritual presided over by Li Qi, both being vast and complex systems covering an entire province.

It was just that Bo Yue was much luckier than Li Qi.

The Mountain and River Grand Formation Bo Yue presided over was something others had already completed; he merely presided over it and learned.

Li Qi wanted to achieve the same effect, but he had to design it from scratch and then preside over it.

One can only say that people are indeed different.

As fellow Young Masters of Shaman God Mountain, the two's luck was indeed quite different.

However, after such a long preparation and the mobilization of so much manpower, it was finally about to begin.

This Grand Ritual had reached its opening moment.

The sacrificial animals were ready, the millet and sorghum had been offered, the altar was clean, the sacrificial robes were solemnly donned, and the sweet wine was filtered.

This was the pureness of one, the two essences of jade and silk, the three sacrificial animals of ox, sheep, and pig, the grains born of the four seasons, the five colors, the six rhythms, the seven sacrificial matters, the eight sounds of metal and stone, the nine sacrificial methods, the adjusted heavenly stems and earthly branches, and all the common people and sacrificial officials, all brought together.

The pureness of one heart, the two essences of jade and silk, the three sacrificial animals of ox, sheep, and pig, the grains born of the four seasons, the five colors, the six rhythms, the seven sacrificial matters, the eight sounds of metal and stone, the nine sacrificial methods, the adjusted heavenly stems and earthly branches, and all the common people and sacrificial officials.

With clear virtue to illuminate it, and harmonious sound to listen to it, thus announcing its widespread arrival.

Everything was ready.

The hour had arrived.

Li Qi solemnly ascended the altar.

This was a Seventh-Rank altar forged by Guangyang Sicheng, which could be large or small, allowing one to gaze at the heavens above, observe people in the middle, and connect with the earth below.

This was exactly what Li Qi was about to do.

This was a sacrifice hundreds of times grander than the river-opening ceremony!

It was a Grand Ritual involving over ten million people!

At this moment alone, there were tens of thousands of rituals similar to the Boat Towmen' ‘first and second routes,’ spread throughout Guangyang!

Receiving from heaven, following the people, appeasing the earth.

In the entire Guangyang, he was the center.

He was the bridge for communication between Heaven, Earth, Man, Gods, and Ghosts.

All Qi would pass through his altar, and he, as a just and solemn Invoker, would uphold righteousness and justice, maintaining this balance enduringly.

Under the blessing of the entire Guangyang, he was like… some existence even nobler than a god.

The altar was very high, and countless people in Guangyang looked towards it. Everyone knew that a grand ceremony was to be held there, so while they were busy with their own affairs, they were all paying attention to this place.

His Qi was dignified, like the nobility of a thousand chariots, surrounded by a multitude, like the wealth of ten thousand gold.

However, none of this was enough to describe Li Qi's appearance at this moment.

At this moment, he was like someone possessing extraordinary wisdom, and the surging power caused the altar to produce astonishing vibrations!

Le Ya, as a protector, stood on a tall building not far away, watching Li Qi there.

A sentence popped into his mind.

“In ancient times, the people whose spirits were not divided, and who were also reverent, solemn, and upright, whose wisdom could compare with the righteousness above and below, whose sagacity could illuminate far and wide, whose clarity could shine upon it, whose keenness could hear through it—only then would the bright spirits descend upon them.”

“One who possesses proper ritual etiquette, dignified bearing, noble appearance, and loyal and trustworthy character is called a ‘Zhu.’ ”

This was the true Shaman, the true Zhu.

It should be so heroic, so grand.

Only such a person deserved to be called a Young Master of Shaman God Mountain.

This Fifth-Rank Shaman of Shaman God Mountain sighed.

What a pity.

If nothing unexpected happened, Gongzi Qi should be able to use this to advance to Eighth-Rank.

Of course, the premise was… if nothing unexpected happened.

He thought so, then flew up and set up a circle of defenses near Guangyang City.

Actually, it had been set up long ago.

He just wanted to add a little more.

Even a little bit helps, he thought.

Uh… the classical Chinese in the previous two chapters isn't showing off; it's very, very important to the plot. The reason for using this form of expression is to fit the characters. It wouldn't be appropriate for both sides to speak in colloquial language in such a setting, right…