xymnovel Chapter 357 The Moon Goddess Cult's Methods of Bewitching the Masses
Chapter 357 The Moon Goddess Cult's Methods of Bewitching the Masses
Qin Mu caught up with that group.
The procession passed through several narrow alleys, left the city, and arrived at the foot of a hill on the outskirts of the city.
A temple stands on the hill, its architecture strange, neither like a Buddhist temple nor a Taoist temple.
The roof of the palace is round and painted silver-white, gleaming with a cold, eerie light in the twilight.
Two tall stone pillars stand in front of the hall, each topped with a stone-carved crescent moon.
The temple gates were wide open, and the dim candlelight shone through, illuminating the open space in front of the gates in a half-light, half-dark manner.
The procession stopped in front of the temple gate; the gongs and drums ceased, and the chanting stopped.
People in white lined up on both sides, while believers in gray knelt in two rows. Women in colorful clothes placed flowers and incense burners on the stone steps in front of the temple.
The white-clad men carrying the sedan chair gently lowered it and stood with their hands at their sides.
Hundreds of people surged forward from behind and knelt down in a dense, dark mass.
They faced the temple gate, clasped their hands together, touched their foreheads to the ground, and chanted incantations.
Qin Mu stood under a banyan tree at the very edge of the crowd, his hands behind his back.
Zhao Qingxue stood beside him, gripping the "Frost Moon" sword even tighter than before.
Jiang Zhaoyue stood behind him, her gaze fixed on the white sedan chair.
Yunluan's hand rested on the hilt of the sword, her knuckles turning white.
The sedan curtain was lifted.
A white figure stepped out of the sedan chair.
The man was wearing a snow-white robe, the hem of which trailed on the ground, his clothes fluttering in the wind.
He wore a white jade mask on his face, with a crescent moon carved on it, revealing only his two eyes.
The eyes were deep and bright; it was impossible to tell whether they were male or female.
The man's steps were light and steady, making no sound as he stepped on the bluestone slabs.
Zhao Qingxue turned her head slightly and asked in a low voice, "Could this guy be the Moon God?"
Qin Mu shook his head. "No. His strength is only at the Vajra Realm."
The man walked up the stone steps, stopped, faced the kneeling people, and slowly raised his hands.
"I am the messenger of the moon goddess, and I have descended upon this place today to resolve the matter of the evil spirits for you."
His voice was deep and resonant, with a peculiar magnetism. Each sentence trailed off with a faint echo, like a sound coming from an empty valley.
It's impossible to tell if it's a man or a woman.
The kneeling people shouted in unison, "Long live the Moon Goddess! Long live the Moon Goddess!"
The sound surged up like a tide, wave after wave, echoing in the twilight.
Some people kowtowed until their foreheads bled, some were moved to tears, and some raised their hands and shouted to the sky.
Yunluan watched this scene, a cold glint flashing in her eyes, and said in a low voice, "These people are really foolish and laughable."
Qin Mu smiled, his voice soft. "This place is too far from the capital, a remote and impoverished area where the people are ignorant. It's understandable that things are like this."
Yun Luan turned to face Qin Mu and bowed slightly. "Your Majesty, please allow me to handle this."
Qin Mu shook his head. "No need. Let's wait and see what other tricks these people can pull."
On the stone steps, the messenger of the moon goddess, wearing a white jade mask, had already begun his ritual.
He drew a peach wood sword from his sleeve. The sword was covered with densely packed runes and gleamed with a dark red light in the candlelight.
He made a hand seal with his left hand and held a sword in his right, drawing one strange arc after another in the void.
His steps followed a peculiar rhythm, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes forward, sometimes backward, as if he were dancing a dance that only he himself understood.
He was muttering incantations, his voice rising and falling, sometimes slow and sometimes fast, like chanting scriptures or incantations.
"Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits, the moon goddess descends, and all evil cannot invade—"
"In the east is the Azure Dragon, in the west the White Tiger, in the south the Vermilion Bird, and in the north the Black Tortoise—"
"By the Moon Goddess, grant me the power to slay demons and protect all living beings!"
He suddenly pointed the peach wood sword at the palace gate, and a burst of fire suddenly appeared on the tip of the sword, which was particularly dazzling in the twilight.
The flame flickered a few times on the tip of the sword, then transformed into a fiery serpent and darted into the hall.
A piercing scream came from inside the hall, as if something was on fire.
The people kneeling on the ground gasped in surprise; some collapsed to the ground in fright, while others trembled with excitement.
"The moon goddess has appeared! The moon goddess has appeared!"
The Moon God's messenger sheathed his peach wood sword, but suddenly staggered, as if he had been attacked by something.
He took two steps back, barely managing to stand by holding onto a stone pillar, and heavy breathing came from beneath his mask.
"Not good," his voice still carried that strange echo, but it was a little weaker than before, "This evil spirit is too powerful. My magic power is insufficient to completely destroy it."
The people kneeling on the ground let out a wail of grief.
"Your Excellency! Please save us!"
The Moon Goddess's messenger shook his head, a hint of helplessness in his voice. "It's not that I'm unwilling to save you, but your sincerity is insufficient, and the Moon Goddess cannot grant me greater power."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over the kneeling people. "If you wish to persuade the Moon Goddess to unleash even greater power, you will need your offerings."
"Donate whatever you have at home: money, rice, ironware."
"The more you offer, the more sincere you are, and the stronger the Moon Goddess's magic will be."
The people kneeling on the ground were silent for a moment, then some of them stood up, turned around and ran towards the city.
"I'm going home to get the money!"
"I still have a few bags of rice at home!"
"I have an ancestral iron knife!"
One by one, people stood up and ran into the city.
As dusk fell, the running figures were stretched into long, twisted shadows, like a herd of tireless, driven beasts.
On the stone steps, the messenger of the moon goddess stood in the candlelight, his eyes slightly narrowed beneath the white jade mask.
Jiang Zhaoyue watched the people carrying money and grain running back and said softly, "So that's how they hoarded money and grain. How cunning."
Qin Mu narrowed his eyes, a cold glint flashing within them. "The methods are exactly the same as those of the Taiyin Holy Sect back then. So many years have passed, and they haven't improved at all."
Zhao Qingxue gripped the Frost Moon Sword, her gaze fixed on the white sedan chair.
"Now it's confirmed, they are indeed remnants of the Taiyin Holy Cult. I suspect they will select another group of 'lucky ones' to join the cult and take them to meet the Moon Goddess."
Before long, the people who had run home returned one after another.
Some people carried heavy silver ingots, some carried bulging rice sacks, and some held rusty ironware.
They piled the things up in the open space in front of the temple, and soon it became a small mountain.
The masked man stood on the stone steps, looked down at the offerings, and nodded.
"Your sincerity has been seen by the Moon Goddess. Now, I will perform my ritual once more to completely annihilate the evil spirits of this place."
The masked man stood on the stone steps and slowly closed his eyes.
His body began to tremble slightly, the tremors growing stronger, as if something was awakening within him.
One by one, the runes on the peach wood sword lit up, their dark red light particularly dazzling in the twilight.
The light on the sword grew brighter and brighter, changing from dark red to blood red, and then from blood red to blazing white, illuminating the entire open space in front of the temple as bright as day.
He suddenly opened his eyes, raised the peach wood sword above his head, and pointed the tip of the sword straight at the sky.
A silvery-white beam of light shot up from the tip of the sword, piercing the clouds and splitting the gray sky above in two.
The clouds surged to both sides, revealing a large expanse of deep blue night sky. A full moon hung in the sky, its light several times brighter than usual, illuminating the entire hill as if it were daytime.
Everyone looked up at the split sky and the blinding full moon, and gasped in surprise.
"The moon goddess has appeared! The moon goddess has truly appeared!"
Some people knelt on the ground, their foreheads hitting the stone slabs hard, causing blood to flow freely.
Some people raised their hands, looked up to the sky and shouted, tears streaming down their faces.
Some people slumped to the ground, trembling all over, their lips quivering and unable to speak.
The masked man's body slowly rose up.
It was as if an invisible hand was supporting him, lifting him little by little from the stone steps into the air.
He hovered three feet above the temple gate, his moon-white robe fluttering in the night wind.
He suddenly pointed the peach wood sword in his hand at the palace gate, and the silver-white light on the tip of the sword transformed into a huge dragon of light, baring its fangs and claws as it rushed into the palace.
The dragon was as thick as a water bucket, its entire body was silvery-white, and its scales shimmered with a dazzling light under the moonlight.
The dragon's head was held high, its claws were sharp, and when its tail swung, it brought up a gust of wind that scattered the offerings of money and grain in front of the temple.
The moment the dragon rushed into the hall, the entire temple shook violently.
The roof tiles fell down with a crash, smashing to pieces on the ground.
The cracks in the palace walls spread outwards like a spider web, from the base of the wall all the way to the eaves.
The silver moon pattern on the palace gate suddenly lit up, shooting out a dazzling white light that shot straight into the sky.
A series of piercing screams echoed from inside the hall. The sounds didn't seem to come from humans; they were more like the wailing of wild beasts before their death.
One cry after another, each one higher and more mournful than the last, as if countless evil spirits were being burned by raging fire inside.
The candlelight flickered wildly, casting an unpredictable glow that made the entire temple appear as if it were a projection of hell on earth.
The masked man brandished a peach wood sword in mid-air, and the light dragon on the tip of the sword rampaged through the hall, leaving streaks of silver-white light in its wake.
The streaks of light intertwined to form a huge rune, which floated below the palace ceiling.
Every stroke of the rune was burning, sizzling and emitting a pungent, acrid smell.
The smell spread, a mixture of sandalwood and blood, making one want to vomit.
The screams inside the hall grew weaker and weaker, eventually turning into a faint, intermittent sob.
The masked man suddenly pointed his peach wood sword at the palace door, and the sword flew out of his hand, embedding itself directly in the center of the door panel.
A deafening roar erupted, the entire temple shook violently, and the runes on the temple doors shattered into countless points of light, which fluttered down like a blanket of silvery snow.
The last sob in the hall also disappeared.
Everything fell silent.
The masked man slowly descended back onto the stone steps, drew his peach wood sword, turned around, and faced the kneeling people.
"The evil spirit has been slain; from now on, there will be no more trouble in this place."
The people were stunned for a moment, then erupted into a deafening cheer.