Ritual

This morning, the sky was heavily overcast, and the north wind howled incessantly, threatening a heavy snowfall.

Liu Yuanzhou didn't go out after getting up; he just stood in the kiln for a while, practicing his stance. It had been seven or eight days since he had entered Samadhi, and he made a little progress every day. This morning, he finally broke through ten segments.

As the stance practice lengthened, his body was indeed getting stronger, such as increased strength and faster reactions, but how much stronger was impossible to quantify. The stance practice was subtly changing his body.

But there were also downsides, such as an increased appetite, especially for meat. He felt listless if he didn't eat meat for a day. Fortunately, Third Master's house still had a lot of beef, pork, and mutton that Miss Qin had brought, about two hundred catties left, which, at his current rate of consumption, would probably last two months.

As for what would happen after two months? Liu Yuanzhou had no good solution and could only take it one step at a time.

After breakfast, Liu Yuanzhou and his elder brother Liu Yuanbo were chopping firewood next to the woodpile, splitting the large logs into small, forearm-length pieces for easier burning.

"Second Child, Second Child." Liu Chuang and Zhang He ran over.

Liu Yuanzhou put down his axe, straightened his back, and asked, "What's the rush?"

"Come with us to see a good show." Liu Chuang said excitedly, pulling at Liu Yuanzhou's clothes.

Zhang He nodded vigorously, saying, "Yeah, hurry up, or you'll miss the good stuff."

"What good stuff? Explain yourselves. Can't you see I'm busy?" Liu Yuanzhou said, pushing Liu Chuang's hand away.

"It's Li Laocai; his family is holding a ritual right now," Zhang He blurted out.

Liu Yuanbo also stopped his work and stood up, looking at them.

"Oh? Didn't his family hold a ritual last time? What, is the house haunted again?" Liu Yuanzhou asked curiously.

"I don't know about that. Ugh, are you coming or not? We're leaving." Liu Chuang said impatiently.

Liu Yuanzhou glanced at his elder brother and said, "Brother, should I go take a look?" He was also curious and wanted to see what was happening.

Liu Yuanbo was quite wary of ghosts and gods but didn't want to stop his brother, so he said, "Go ahead, but watch from a distance and be careful not to offend anything."

Liu Yuanzhou immediately nodded, patted the dirt off his body, and followed Liu Chuang and Zhang He towards Li Laocai's house.

On the way, Liu Chuang whispered, "Guess who I saw?"

"Who?" Liu Yuanzhou asked.

"It's Wang Wu, that hoodlum Wang Wu. He came with the Taoist priest; they seem to be together," Liu Chuang said.

"Oh, really? That Wang Wu, really." Liu Yuanzhou shook his head, feeling a bit strange about how a hoodlum could be mixed up with a Taoist priest, but he didn't pay much attention to it. In his view, all these rituals were scams; how could there be ghosts in the world?

But this time, Li Laocai had hired a Taoist priest again. What could be the reason? The last few times were because of Miss Qin; what about this time? Liu Yuanzhou pondered.

Soon, they arrived outside Li Laocai's house.

Liu Yuanzhou saw that many villagers had gathered outside Li Laocai's house to watch the spectacle. A crowd was blocking the gate, and some children had even climbed onto the large willow trees by the courtyard wall to get a better view.

Liu Yuanzhou approached the gate, tugged at the corner of someone's clothes, and asked, "Xiao Lin's Mother, why is everyone blocking the gate? Why not go inside to watch?"

The woman called Xiao Lin's Mother turned around and saw that it was Liu Yuanzhou. She said, "It's Second Child. They're holding a ritual inside, and Li Laocai won't let anyone into the courtyard to watch." She pointed inside.

"Didn't they just hold a ritual a few days ago? Why is the house haunted again?" Liu Yuanzhou asked quietly.

"Who knows?" Xiao Lin's Mother looked around, then leaned closer to Liu Yuanzhou and whispered, "I heard that this time, it's not about losing things in the house. Instead, Li Laocai saw a light outside the window in the middle of the night. He went out to look and saw a human head the size of a millstone on the courtyard wall, almost scaring him to death. He quickly called his family out to look, but there was nothing there. That's why he hired the White-Haired Taoist to perform a ritual to exorcise the evil spirits."

"Is that so?" Liu Yuanzhou said, thoughtfully. Could someone be targeting Li Laocai again?

Liu Chuang and Zhang He jumped up and peered inside, but couldn't see anything. Liu Chuang then said, "Let's climb up the wall to take a look."

"You little rascal, looking for a beating, aren't you? A few kids just climbed up the wall to look, and they got knocked down with sticks," Xiao Lin's Mother said, turning her head.

"How about we climb up a tree to watch?" Zhang He suggested.

The three of them looked around and found a tree with fewer people, scrambling up it in a few quick moves. At this point, some of the children who were already in the tree became unhappy. One of them, a child of seven or eight, shouted at them, "Xi Zi, it's too crowded, go to another tree." Zhang He turned around and said fiercely, "If you talk nonsense again, I'll chase you all down." The children dared not speak their anger and climbed a little higher.

Liu Yuanzhou didn't care about any of this. As soon as he got into the tree, he looked towards the courtyard. He saw an incense table placed in the center of the courtyard, with incense and candles lit, smoke swirling around it. A person stood in front of the table, wearing a Taoist robe and holding a sword in his hand. Since he was facing away from Liu Yuanzhou, his face couldn't be seen, but it was likely the Taoist priest.

Li Laocai's family of a dozen people stood not far from the incense table. Li Laocai seemed to be quite frightened, being supported by two people. Standing next to the incense table was Wang Wu, whom Liu Chuang had mentioned. He wasn't wearing a Taoist robe, but had a white cloth strip tied around his head, and was holding a small box in his arms.

The Taoist priest stood there chanting for a while, then began to perform the Yu step and dance with his sword. After finishing the sword dance, he roared loudly, then picked up a bowl of something from the table and drank it down, spitting it out towards the incense table. With a "poof" sound, the candles on the table were extinguished. The Li family and the villagers watching the spectacle were all stunned, and it became quiet for a moment.

"Did he screw up?" Liu Yuanzhou frowned, feeling puzzled.

At this moment, there was another change in the scene. The extinguished candles reignited, the flames growing larger and larger. With a "boom" sound, the entire incense table was surrounded by a ball of fire. The Li family retreated a few steps in fright, and the surrounding crowd was also shocked. The children in the tree with Liu Yuanzhou even screamed.

"Halt!" The Taoist priest didn't panic, roaring loudly and slashing his sword towards the fireball. The fireball disappeared instantly. The surrounding villagers watching the spectacle were all amazed, and some even applauded.

The Taoist priest handed the sword to Wang Wu, who was standing beside him, cupped his fist towards Li Laocai, and said loudly, "Landlord Li, this evil spirit has been eliminated by me."

Li Laocai said, "Thank you for your hard work, Taoist priest. Please come back to the kiln to have some tea."

The Li family left a few people to clean up, while the others and the Taoist priest went into the kiln. Wang Wu also followed them in.

With the ritual over, the surrounding crowd of onlookers also left in twos and threes. Everyone discussed in low voices, sighing, and so on. It seemed that this ritual would become a beautiful topic of conversation for everyone after dinner.

"Wow, that Taoist priest is really amazing." The three jumped down from the tree, and Zhang He exclaimed.

"Yeah, such a big fireball, and he extinguished it with a single slash of his sword. I wish I had that ability," Liu Chuang said, with a look of longing, constantly gesturing with his hand in the posture of wielding a sword.

Liu Yuanzhou remained silent. He was still thinking about the second haunting incident at Li Laocai's house. He suddenly asked, "Does anyone know the origin of this Taoist priest?"

"I heard that this Taoist priest is called White-Haired Taoist, and he came to Crouching Tiger Slope in the last month or two," Liu Chuang said.

"Yeah, I heard that this Taoist priest can use talismans to cure Disease, and many people go to ask for his talismans," Zhang He added.

With too few clues, Liu Yuanzhou couldn't figure out the key to it. He shook his head, deciding not to think about it. Anyway, this matter had nothing to do with him, Liu Yuanzhou.

The three of them talked for a while and then separated to go home.

After dinner, Liu Yuanzhou left the courtyard, planning to go to the river beach to practice his skills, but he saw Li Mingzhong, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, walking over.

"Second Child, I've come to say goodbye to you," Li Mingzhong said as he approached.

The two walked side by side to a mountain slope, looking at the forest below.

Liu Yuanzhou said, "I wish you success in the exam."

Li Mingzhong thanked him and then said, "Actually, there's another matter I came to you for. I only found out later that day about my mother going to your house. That really wasn't my intention."

Liu Yuanzhou believed this. Besides, having experienced a series of recent events, his mind had broadened a lot, and the resentment in his heart had long since dissipated. He sighed, "Ah, it's all in the past, let's not mention it."

"That's good," Li Mingzhong said.

The two stood there looking at the distant scenery, neither of them speaking.