"Receive the proclamation!"
The red-robed ritual master on the platform shouted.
The Daoist in blue struck the gong nine times!
"Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Only after the ninth strike did the ritual master chant, "The previous round of paying respects and presenting the treasured penitential text has been completed. All merits have been fulfilled, and all sins have been pardoned. Every transgression has been released and dispersed. We humbly pray that the sacred mercy will condescend to shine upon us, so that our sins may be wiped away and disasters and impurities swept aside... The boundless Great Dao, with its inconceivable merit."
"The ceremony is complete! Respectfully send off the saints of the heavens."
The eight Daoists in blue each took up an instrument and began playing the Curtain Hymn, thereby sending the deities back to heaven.
Only then did the "Jade Talisman Grand Ceremony" finally draw to a close.
The nine people on the terrace nodded toward the nine people seated above them, then went down the stairs at the side.
It was already two in the afternoon.
After watching for so long, everyone's stomachs were already completely empty.
Suddenly, another Daoist walked onto the terrace and said to the people below, "Please enter the rear hall first and enjoy the vegetarian meal."
At the head of the gathering, Li Taixu stood and said to the other eight, "Fellow Daoists, please."
The nine rose from their seats one after another and left through the corridor on the right.
Lin Yuan's group of six below also followed the crowd along a road to the right of Sanqing Palace and entered the rear hall.
Before leaving, Lin Yuan glanced toward the northeast corner, only to find that the scruffy old Daoist had already vanished.
After passing through a courtyard, they arrived at