Chapter 53 True Lord
Chapter 53 True Lord
Liu Jiao was stunned: "... Him!? Are you sure?"
"It must be him, he looks exactly the same as he did then." Chen Xin sighed with mixed feelings, "He hasn't changed at all, but I've aged so much... I recognized him when I was at Xue's house, and I talked to him when I came back, but he ignored me. I don't know if Zhao Qi made him lose his mind... Zhao Qi said he was a villain, but I don't believe it. There must be something wrong with this."
Liu Jiao slowly let out a breath, and then grabbed Chen Xin's hand again: "Then we have to save him!"
Chen Xin gritted his teeth and said, "I know. When I brought him back, I wanted to let him go, but Zhao Qi is still at home. He is a skilled martial artist with many tricks. I thought I would make plans after I got back. But as you saw just now, evil spirits have started to appear in the town—"
Liu Jiao frowned: "I think this is not right. I heard that some Qigong practitioners want to be worshipped..."
"He's playing tricks on me, I understand." Chen Xin sighed, "I was thinking about this last night, it's a common thing and nothing to worry about. But no matter if he's playing tricks on me or if there's a real evil spirit, everyone in the town is afraid of him now, and I have to ask him to finish this. After he's done, I'll tell him to hand the person over to me for disposal. If he doesn't agree then... I'm not someone who can be bullied, I've been through this for long enough! All right, you two, get going!"
Chen Xin helped Liu Jiao out of the window. When he was about to close the window, Liu Jiao grabbed the window board and said, "Master, we didn't come back to Jinshui for wealth and glory, but just to relieve our anger. You——"
Chen Xin nodded: "I know. I will protect him and I will be careful."
After the window was closed, Chen Xin drew out the sword from his waist, looked at it and put it back. At this time, he saw that Zhao Qi seemed to have started performing a ritual.
When he was in Qingjiang City, he had seen the Qigong practitioners perform rituals. They usually lasted for a long time, burning talismans and shaking bells, waving magic swords, stepping on the steps and chanting. He knew that they had to communicate with the gods first to see if they could use their magic power.
But Zhao Qi's way of performing the ritual seemed completely different from those of the Qigong practitioners. He lit the incense and candles first, and then neither touched the magic bell nor the magic sword on the incense table. Instead, he solemnly took out a piece of slightly yellow paper from his arms, spread it on the table, picked up the fine brush dipped in cinnabar, and began to draw with great concentration.
Chen Xin was inside the house and couldn't see what Zhao Qi was painting. He was about to go out to take a closer look when he suddenly heard a knock on the window behind him. He immediately stopped and turned to open the window: "What are you doing——"
The people outside the window were not Liu Jiao and Chen Xiu, but a young man with dark skin and chapped lips.
Chen Xin was stunned: "Suizi, you're back?"
The young man wiped his face and said, "Master, I'm so sorry. I should have come back a few days ago, but the road from Lijiawan to our home was completely washed away. I thought that since I couldn't come back for a while, I might as well take a look at the situation in Lijiawan so that I can have an explanation when I come back. But guess what, I met someone. Who do you think it was?"
At this moment, Chen Xin was not interested in listening to the story of Lijiawan, but this garrison soldier had been following him since Qingjiang City, so he could only nod and say, "Good job, who is it?"
"Li Jiye! He's from the Li family in Lijiawan! He's the only one left in the family and asked me to save him!"
“Okay—” Chen Xin’s eyes widened suddenly, “Who?!”
"Li Jiye, that is..."
"Where are the people? Really?"
The young man chuckled, "Master, look, when Madam and Xiujie heard me say that the person I brought back was Li Jiye, they were just as surprised as you. Haha, did I do a great deed this time? I met them on the way, and someone told them to seize the item from me. They said they were heading east of the town, and asked me to come back to find you. What happened? What are you doing in the yard?"
Chen Xin glanced back at the courtyard, then immediately jumped out of the window: "Come on! Take me to see it!"...
Li Wuxiang was just two steps behind Zhao Qi and could see it clearly - Zhao Qi first drew a square, then drew two smaller long strips in the middle of the square, then drew a small portrait of the Kitchen God on the larger one, and circled some dots with cinnabar on the other one.
When he started to draw three thin lines on the small frame, Li Wuxiang understood - Zhao Qi seemed to be drawing a bird's-eye view of the incense table. Zeng Jianqiu said that the talisman technique of the Ranshan School was very magical, and Li Wuxiang now knew where the magic was. The talismans he had seen in his previous life all had a similar fixed format, which was essentially a kind of official document that was sent to the upper world after burning.
But the talismans drawn by the Ranshan School were truly “drawn” talismans, whether it was the talisman that turned into a big ghost to scare him that night, the talisman placed on the roofs of every house, or—
Thinking of this, he suddenly knew what was written on the talisman that Zhao Qi used to trap the ghost last night. At that time, he thought it was a "皿", but with an extra horizontal dot in the middle, but now thinking about it, it was obviously a locked cage drawn on paper! But these talismans of his had no unified style at all, so which god did he invite?
At this time, Zhao Qi drew everything on the incense table, and then he drew a little in front of the incense table, as if to represent himself. Then he put down the pen, held the talisman paper in his hand and shook it gently. A line of fire immediately burned from top to bottom, and then turned into ashes and dissipated in the air.
He began to perform the ritual!
Li Wuxiang immediately took two steps forward.
Zeng Jianqiu said that the talisman method of the Ranshan School was strange, and it was hard to tell at which step Zhao Qi was calling on the gods. But he had already hidden the seal on his body, and he would take action immediately when Zhao Qi was attacked by the power of the wish.
Therefore, Li Wuxiang also asked himself to get closer to Zhao Qi. There was nothing special about the things Zhao Qi arranged. He had seen what he had just drawn. His special trick to summon the gods might be a unique spell. He wanted to hear more clearly what Zhao Qi might say, even if it was silent, so as to read his mouth shape. If Zeng Jianqiu accidentally missed, he could immediately pounce on him and wrap Zhao Qi's head and upper body first. Then no matter what magical spells he had, he would not be able to do anything.
No, he can't get through!
When he took two steps forward, Zhao Qi seemed to be three steps away from him! Li Wuxiang's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately took two more steps forward - he knew he had moved, and the red soil under his feet rustled. He should have walked in front of Zhao Qi at this time, but Zhao Qi and the incense table near him were still far away, as if the world around him was completely separated from this world, and the concept of distance had completely lost its meaning to him and the things around him!
At this time, Zhao Qi stretched his shoulders and turned to look at him. When he was ordering people to prepare the incense table and draw the talisman, he had frowned and was extremely anxious, but now he seemed to be in a good mood and smiled slightly: "Disciple, do you understand the magic of my sect's magic now? Your master has entered the painting and created his own world!"
Then he suddenly frowned, raised his hand to the sky and shouted: "I wish that the old ancestor, the three thousand worlds, and the Lord Siming will return to this world!"
He shouted this three times in a row, but nothing happened. Zhao Qi reached into his pocket and took out another piece of yellowed bamboo paper. He grabbed a fine brush and quickly drew a little figure of the Kitchen God on the paper. He also burned this one and shouted for the fourth time: "May the old ancestor of the heart, the three thousand worlds, and the Lord of Destiny return to this world!"
This time, it seems to work!
Li Wuxiang suddenly felt that the light around him dimmed slightly, and Zhao Qi's original shadow cast on the ground suddenly became two, as if a sun in the zenith was shining on him, and a second sun appeared in an invisible place.
Then Li Wuxiang's heart trembled again - he felt that he was falling towards Zhao Qi, as if the land he was standing on began to tilt, making him slide towards Zhao Qi. He quickly took two steps back, and then realized that he was still standing fine, the land under his feet was flat, and even the place where Zhao Qi was standing had not changed at all from the naked eye.
But, it was a feeling of being pulled, tipping, and sliding, as if something so heavy that it was hard to describe was falling towards the Chen family's yard, and that thing was so heavy, so heavy that it distorted all perceptions of the world!
The next moment, Li Wuxiang realized that this was not just a feeling - the sky that was bright and white before suddenly dimmed and turned into a colorful glow, as if even the light was crushed by the thing that was about to come into this world!
Zhao Qi suddenly put down his hands, first looking up with eyes wide open, then taking a few steps back, shouting towards the sky in ecstasy: "I did it! I did it this time! I really invited the Kitchen God down this time! Did you see that, my good disciple?! The Kitchen God has descended, and the sky is full of rosy clouds! Hahahaha!"
(End of this chapter)