The Monk

Chapter 63 Ancestor Worship Day

At this time, there was a noise on the street, and many people ran and dodged. Looking in the direction of the sound, a long team slowly passed through the long street. There were guards in front to lead the way, and dozens of horses ran side by side behind them. There were knights in fine armor on the horses. Behind them was an extremely luxurious carriage, pulled by four white horses, with dragons and phoenixes carved on the rails and edges, and thick brocade curtains. There was a cavalry team of about 200 people behind the carriage. Zhang Pa couldn't help but sigh: "What a grand show, the head master's uncle has never had such a grand show."

Someone behind him said: "How high is your head? How high is his official? This is the younger brother of the Emperor of Song, Sheng Wang Song Que." Sheng Wang Song Que? What kind of official is he? Zhang Pa didn't know these things, so he turned around to see who was talking.

A young man stood beside him, in his early twenties, wearing a plain shirt and a headscarf, with a fair complexion. He looked out and said, "People live their whole lives just to seek world-class fame and glory. When can I achieve this? A lifetime is enough."

There was a table of guests behind him, and there were three young men sitting there, all dressed as scholars. One of the tall ones smiled and said, "Dream on, come back and drink your wine."

The young man snorted, "How can a sparrow know the ambition of a swan?" He returned to the wine table and drank from the glass.

The glory of the world is interesting, at least it looks very glorious. Zhang Pa went to see the Shengwang cavalry again.

Four young men were drinking and chatting. One of them said, "I heard that the north is a little unstable." Another one followed up, "Unstable again? Don't those long-haired ghosts know how to write the word death?"

"Don't interrupt me. It has nothing to do with the long-haired ghosts. They say that there is a demon in the north. He has a green face and fangs and is over ten feet tall. He specializes in harming young girls. If there is a virgin, he will go there when he smells the smell and eat the virgin after harming her."

"Is it true?"

"Of course it's true. My family has a business in the north. The errand boy told me that hundreds of people have died."

Listening to them, Zhang Pa thought to himself, "Could it be the demon that the scholars mentioned? What's so special about killing women? Does it require so many scholars to do it?" He was a little skeptical.

The young men continued to talk: "He only dares to act arrogantly in the small town in the north. If he has the ability to come to Song City, the national master can kill him with a sneeze." The three young men looked at one of them and asked: "Your uncle is a disciple of the national master, you must have learned some skills." The man smiled bitterly and said: "What nonsense, my uncle is just a servant, but the family is proud of him..." "Nonsense, serving tea and water to the national master is not an ordinary person. If it were me, I would be willing to empty the toilet." Several people laughed: "Then go and empty the toilet." The four young men were drunk and talking, laughing and cursing, and Zhang Pa was amused. It turned out that normal people talk very differently from monks, and they care about different things. The young men also agreed that in a few days it would be the Double Nine Day of Ancestor Worship, and everyone agreed to go to appreciate the beauty. There is a custom in Song State that the Double Nine Day is for ancestor worship, and the ancestors are worshipped. The elderly worship at home, but the active or young people have to go to the ancestral temple outside the city to worship, for the sake of excitement. If young men and women meet by chance and their hearts are moved, they will always create a good story, so the ancestor worship day is the favorite day for young people every year.

Zhang Pa thought about it and decided to go and watch the excitement. Even if the excitement is not yours, it is good to participate. Lin Sen once said to him when he was drinking: "Watching others in pairs with drunken eyes is better than secretly shedding tears of lovesickness in the dark."

In the next few days, Zhang Pa played in the city during the day and stayed in the inn at night. Soon the ancestor worship day came. On this day, Zhang Pa left the inn early, playing with the shadowless knife in his right hand, and walked out of the city leisurely with the crowd.

It was a rare grand festival in a year. The young people were all dressed in new clothes and were in high spirits. They walked in groups of three or two on the street. Occasionally, they would laugh and whisper, run and jump, showing the festive atmosphere. Zhang Pa was the only one who was leisurely.

After leaving the city gate, the road became wider, but it still couldn't squeeze in many people, so some people walked on the green grass. The ancestral temple was five miles outside the city, and there were soldiers guarding along the road. Passersby whispered and asked each other: "Who will preside over the ceremony this time?"

Zhang Pa was a little happy. He relaxed his mind in the crowd and felt the joy, expectation, and happiness of the people. Even the guards were smiling. The more he relaxed his mind, the farther his consciousness went, and it easily covered the five miles around him. He could sense the bustling crowd and the huge flow of people at the ancestral temple five miles away.

Zhang Pa smiled with the corners of his mouth bent, and suddenly his face froze. He felt a trace of panic in the crowd, but this panic flashed by and soon disappeared without a trace. Then the panic started again, in groups of three or two, very close to each other, and then these groups of panic disappeared together. What is this? Zhang Pa used his consciousness to search and found more than a dozen immortal cultivators at the end of the crowd, whose realms were not high.

With a slight movement of his mind, his figure suddenly disappeared in the crowd, and appeared not far away from the group of immortal cultivators a moment later. They were dressed in the same outfit, wearing bright purple Taoist robes and Taoist buns, and accompanied by some officials. Listening to them talking, I knew they were disciples of the national teacher, preparing for the ancestral worship ceremony. But what was all that panic about?

At this time, the panic and fear in the crowd in the distance reappeared. When Zhang Pa arrived, the panic and fear disappeared again. He looked around and found nothing. This place was far from the road, sparsely populated, and few people paid attention to it. Just as he was frowning and thinking hard, a silver sword stabbed his back silently. Under the violent shock, Zhang Pa fell far away and spurted blood. Looking back, a handsome boy was holding a sword and frowning in thought.

Zhang Pa sent his spiritual consciousness to the boy, but he could not feel anything. Knowing that his cultivation was higher than his, he immediately reached into his arms, took out a life pill and stuffed it into his mouth, stood up and showed the snake whip, ready to fight the enemy.

Seeing that he was fine, the handsome young man became even more suspicious and asked, "No injuries at all?" His voice was soft and crisp, and very nice to hear. Before Zhang Awei could answer, the young man's expression changed again. He looked behind Zhang Awei, then waved his sleeves, and his figure appeared inside and outside, and then disappeared in a flash.

At this time, more than a dozen figures flashed past, gathered around Zhang Awei, and looked at him with doubts. The leader was a bearded man in his forties. His consciousness swept over Zhang Awei, and he changed his color and said: "I don't know why the senior has arrived. ? The three disciples of Song Yinglong, the elder of the Wuliang sect of the Song Dynasty, paid homage to their senior."

Zhang was afraid that he had just seen them, so he frowned and said, "It's okay." He used his spiritual consciousness to search for the handsome young man, but he tried his best to find nothing.

Suddenly there was a loud noise on the road, the sound of horse hooves rumbled, and a group of people appeared on the road. When Yu Bukai saw the cavalry, his expression changed, and he immediately ordered: "Thirteenth Lang, you take good care of the seniors, and the others will follow me to protect the princess."

After speaking, more than a dozen people dispersed, surrounded a chariot in the cavalry, and moved forward slowly. There was only a dark and strong young man left in front of Zhang Awei. He had a cold face and cold eyes. He always paid attention to Zhang Awei. Zhang was afraid that he would know that the young man was spying on him, so he just pretended not to know and stood there, looking in the direction where the handsome young man disappeared.