At the sound of the hanging Ritual Bell, Li Gao's father instantly felt his body and legs go numb. He remembered what had happened that night, dreamlike and unreal. His hand recoiled from the door as though it had been burned, then reached for the plaque around his neck. He wanted to clutch it and pray.
Before he could finish, the door in front of him gradually vanished. Beyond it, he saw a dark, dilapidated God Shrine.
Grayish-white hands reached out from every corner of the God Shrine, as though trying to drag him back inside.
Li Gao's father screamed in terror, turned, and stumbled back into the room.
But just then, the Ritual Bell rang even more violently.
Although Li Gao's father did not know what the Ritual Bell's ringing meant, he could still hear the fury in it.
An aura of withered decay drifted in through the doorway and instantly spread through his room. Before his eyes, the room became somewhere unfamiliar.
Only the area around the statue of God he had just brought home remained unchanged.
Li Gao's father could only rush toward the statue of God.
Before he could reach it, cracks appeared in the black walls around him. Clear voices reciting a text came through the gaps. Li Gao's father recognized it—he was rather fond of traditional culture, after all. They were reciting "All Possessed a Single Virtue" from the Book of Documents, one of the Four Books and Five Classics.
[The King of Xia failed to practice virtue, slighting the Gods and oppressing the people.]
[August Heaven would not protect him. Surveying the myriad lands, it guided those blessed with its mandate, seeking one of single virtue to make him lord of the Gods.]
[Yi Yin and Tang alike possessed Youzhi, a single virtue.