The next day, around ten in the morning.
Lu Chen and Sun Yourong finished packing and left the hotel.
"Miss Sun, Mr. Lu, take care! We welcome you both back anytime!"
At the entrance, hundreds of hotel employees stood in two neat rows to see them off.
Only after Lu Chen's luxury car had driven away did the hotel return to normal, allowing other vehicles through and guests to check in.
"How was it? Did you sleep well last night?" Sun Yourong asked, looking at Lu Chen beside her, who was still yawning.
"Not bad. How could a five-star hotel be uncomfortable? Thanks to Sister Sun, I got to enjoy imperial treatment too."
"Smooth talker." Sun Yourong smiled reproachfully. Seeing that Lu Chen's backpack seemed even more stuffed than yesterday, she could not help asking curiously, "What exactly is in that bag of yours? Why is it so bulging?"
"Some props for the ritual later," Lu Chen explained casually.
After returning to the hotel last night, he had not rested at all.
Drawing talismans, preparing scriptures—he had been so busy his feet barely touched the ground.
Lu Chen had named this ritual the [Dragon-Invoking Rite].
A "jiao" was one type of Daoist Ritual Liturgy.
"Ritual liturgy" meant a "Daoist rite," divided into two categories: "zhai" and "jiao."
"Zhai" leaned toward personal cultivation, while "jiao" was used to worship deities.
It could also be understood that "zhai" was preparation for "jiao."
Before conducting a sacrifice, one had to cleanse body and mind through bathing, abstaining from meat and alcohol, refraining from sex, and other such practices, thereby showing reverence toward the gods.
Thus, from last night until now, Lu Chen had not touched so much as a morsel of meat.
Before setting out that morning, he had even bathed and changed