Chapter 360: Performing Rites

Twenty-fourth year of Jiajing, October 11th.

9:15 AM.

Through the announcements of hundreds of eunuchs, all the people of Nanjing City knew that at noon today, Immortal Master Zheng would perform rites to eliminate demons and distribute silver on Tianjie Street.

If it were just eliminating demons, the people might not have been so enthusiastic. But distributing silver, and endorsed by the government, the people couldn't help but be tempted.

In less than an hour, Tianjie Street was packed with people who had heard the news, and from the streets in all directions, people were still constantly pouring toward Tianjie Street, struggling to squeeze toward Tianjie Street.

In the middle of Tianjie Street, hundreds of guards had already drawn their swords, their eyes staring at the surrounding people from behind the blades, forcefully carving out an empty space in the crowd.

In the middle of this space stood an altar.

The whole body was framed with sandalwood, the outer layer wrapped in gilded copper plates, carved with lotus patterns and cloud-thunder patterns, the altar base had nine steps, three zhang, three chi, and three cun high, and twelve gold-woven brocade banners hung from the top of the altar, with glazed bells on the corners of the banners, ringing with the wind.

The crowd below the altar was boisterous.

"Whoa! Just looking at this altar, you know Immortal Master Zheng must be a true immortal with real skills!"

"When will Immortal Master Zheng start the rites?"

"Almost there, almost there, the time is almost up!"

Before the words fell, a commotion came from the front of Tianjie Street.

A figure floated over from the front.

Wearing a high crown and a wide belt, with wide sleeves hanging like clouds, the hem of the clothes was embroidered with dark patterns in silver thread, showing shimmering waves when the sunlight swept across. The appearance was heroic, the temperament was high and distant, and the fluttering corners of the clothes were like an immortal.

The most important thing is that he "flew" over.

With a touch of his toes on the eaves, the whole person floated dozens of zhang like a tree leaf, without a trace of wind, floating onto the altar.

It was Zheng Zheng Anqi.

How could ordinary people understand the light martial arts of the Heaven-and-Man Realm? They only felt that this person was truly a Daoist master, and they clapped and cheered one after another!

But this action made Zheng Zheng Anqi frown.

"Heh... commoners."

He had always regarded himself highly and never felt that others should be equal to him. These people had never seen the world and only felt that clapping and cheering was respect, but Zheng Zheng Anqi felt that this placed him in the same position as a street performer, and a trace of anger arose in his heart.

But he didn't care or correct it.

There is no need to care about the dead.

The guards around the altar shouted in unison, stopping the noise of the people.

On the altar, Zheng Zheng Anqi picked up the ritual sword, and at the same time operated the wonders of the "Profound Vision" realm, and the protective true energy, which was as thin as a cicada's wing and extremely condensed, appeared again, swaying slowly around his body like a light veil.

In the eyes of those who didn't know the truth, he was truly like an immortal at this time.

For a time, the human voice gradually subsided.

Sss—

Zheng Zheng Anqi waved the ritual sword, making a sharp explosion! Then he made several sword flowers in the air, and the air made a sound as it passed through the holes in the ritual sword.

This sound became sharper and more urgent as Zheng Zheng Anqi accelerated, and finally converged together—forming a melody that drilled into the mind.

The people under the altar only felt it was pleasant at first, but as Zheng Zheng Anqi's ritual sword danced faster and faster, they felt their bodies gradually begin to heat up, and their originally clear minds gradually became dull and fanatical.

They raised their hands high and waved excitedly toward Zheng Zheng Anqi.

In a residential house on one side of Tianjie Street, the ground suddenly made a series of strange sounds.

Ka-la-la-la—

A series of mechanical sounds rang out, several floor tiles were turned over, a figure jumped out from it, and then several figures followed.

It was Cao Cao Hanyan, Gao Gao Anyu, Gu Gu Feixuan, and Wang Hai.

As for Xiaosi, she was not good at fighting head-on, and today's affairs were mostly tied to her, so she had already arrived at a secret room under another Tianjie Street, ready to urge the Gu insects.

As soon as the four of them came up, they frowned in unison and raised their hands to cover their chests.

"Something's wrong, this is... martial arts."

Wang Hai said with a frown.

"When the people of Yingzhou exterminated the Mount Emei Sect, they used a kind of evil sound technique. Before, when the Commander confronted the people of Yingzhou, they had also used long flutes to urge sound techniques to fight the enemy."

Cao Cao Hanyan pursed her lips and opened the window to look at the people outside.

"Not good."

"That Immortal Master Zheng's martial arts can already cover the entire Tianjie Street with this sound technique... The minds of these people have been affected, and as long as he wants, he can kill thousands of people at any time."

Wang Hai suddenly realized.

"No wonder he knew the Commander had arrived and still dared to do this openly... The people on Tianjie Street at this time are his hostages!"

The four looked at each other.

Wang Hai said in a deep voice.

"The Commander should be here soon. Our task is to let the people here disperse as much as possible before he takes action, giving the Commander space to act freely."

"Brother Cao, you and Brother Gao go to the houses along the street and kill as many guards as possible so they can't pour out the property."

Cao Cao Hanyan bowed his hands and left with Gao Gao Anyu.

Wang Hai said to Gu Gu Feixuan again.

"Brother Gu, I have prepared a good bow for you, which is a private collection in the Nanjing Embroidered Uniform Guard Prefectural Prefectural Yamen, a personal weapon of a Heaven-and-Man."

He turned to the wall, triggered the mechanism, revealed a space, took out a long bow from it, and handed it to Gu Gu Feixuan.

"You use a bow and are best at assassination, so go see if you can kill those four garrison eunuchs. Do your best, don't force it."

Gu Gu Feixuan took the bow, bowed his hands, and also flashed away.

Only Wang Hai was left in the room.

Wang Hai stood still, listening to the strange sounds coming from Tianjie Street and the fanatical shouts of the people, counting the time in his heart.

After a while, he suddenly nodded.

"It's time."

Wang Hai took out a Gu insect from his bosom, urged it with true energy, and this cicada-like Gu insect buzzed its wings, making an extremely subtle sound.

This was the signal he agreed upon with Xiaosi.

As the Gu insect began to flap its wings, a scream suddenly came from outside the house.

"Bugs! Bugs!"

"There are snakes! So many snakes! Watch your feet!"

"Ah ah ah—"

As time passed, the screams gradually became surging, counteracting the strange sounds coming from the altar.

More and more people were awakened by the instinctive fear of poisonous insects, broke away from the previous fanatical state, began to struggle and flee in the crowd, and gradually transmitted the influence to under the altar.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Wang Hai opened the door, flashed into the crowd, and disappeared.

On the altar, Zheng Zheng Anqi looked at the people below and showed a leisurely smile.

"Petty tricks."

With a spit of true energy, the ritual sword in his hand suddenly accelerated, and a more shrill sound came from the hole, about to take the minds of the people back into his hands!

Just at this moment, a sword sound!

A figure suddenly jumped up from the house on the side of the altar! Killing toward Zheng Zheng Anqi!

Zheng Zheng Anqi turned his head, and his gaze met Zheng Yi's mother's in mid-air.

"I've been waiting for you!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 363 =====