Chen Feng saw a spirit medium on the distant platform, dressed in bright clothes and muttering strange incantations. She knelt and shouted, while wails like ghosts crying and wolves howling rose and fell. The people below kept kneeling in worship as well.
Perhaps the spirit medium was getting tired. Sweat covered her forehead, and the ritual was clearly exhausting, yet after all that chanting, nothing happened.
In previous years, the River God would have emerged by now. But today, no matter what, the River God refused to appear. There was no sign of it at all.
The burly men behind them exchanged puzzled looks, unable to understand what was happening. Why had the River God not appeared yet?
But they could only continue kneeling, and it went on for a long time.
As Chen Feng approached, he saw the situation on the platform clearly. Good grief—three children were up there, while all these people below were helping the spirit medium conduct a sacrifice.
The spirit medium was still shouting, asking the River God to reveal itself and accept their sacrifice. She also begged the River God to bless their village with bountiful harvests and favorable weather in the coming year.
In the past, a whirlpool would appear in the river at this point. Once they threw the children into it, the ritual would be complete.
But this year, the river's surface remained utterly still.
At that moment, the spirit medium suddenly noticed someone approaching from afar and froze.
The River God had not appeared, but a Daoist had?
The spirit medium was stunned, and the others panicked as well. Someone even cried out, "Could this be the young form the River God has taken?"
"Is this the River God's true body?"
The spirit medium's eyes gleamed with excitement. Had their