Chapter 288

As these lantern-carrying children appeared, the raindrops instantly grew much larger.

In the dark sky, lightning kept shuttling through the heavy black clouds.

With the lightning flashing on and off, the children's faces appeared and disappeared.

We were astonished to discover that, at some point, the children's faces were covered in smiles.

Some widened their eyes and opened their mouths, as if laughing loudly.

Some pursed their lips and bent their brows, as if chuckling secretly.

Others revealed a standard set of eight big white teeth…

Without exception, as far as the eye could see, every child within view was laughing.

They seemed to be playing a fun game, laughing and frolicking.

But those smiles were like masks fastened onto their faces, giving off a lifeless feeling akin to paper effigies.

It was a stiff expression of smiling with the mouth but not the heart.

I also finally saw clearly the white lanterns they were holding.

They were not paper lanterns made of pasted paper, but white porcelain lanterns fired from white ceramic, fragile and shattering at a strike.

Hui Yuemo couldn't help but whisper, "What kind of netherworld trick is this? Why do all these children have such a ghostly expression?"

Fang Luo, well-versed and knowledgeable, her voice now solid as if stuck in her throat, asked with difficulty, "Have you heard of… the Hundred Children Rousing the Dragon Lantern?"

"The Hundred Children Rousing the Dragon Lantern?" Hui Yuemo immediately nodded, "Of course I've heard of it; I recall it's used for praying for rain."

Fang Luo nodded and said, "Yes, it's used for praying for rain; many know of the Hundred Children Rousing the Dragon Lantern, but few know the story behind it…"

"'The Hundred Children Rousing the Dragon Lantern brings abundant grain,' I interjected with a trembling voice, 'Laughter in the children's lanterns, when the lanterns break the gods are sent off… This is a rain‑prayer ritual, and also… a rite of sending the gods as sacrifice!'"

"'The Hundred Children Rousing the Dragon Lantern' nowadays is an auspicious rain‑prayer ritual, wishing for a bumper harvest next year."

But in the Great Witch's witchcraft notes, 'The Hundred Children Rousing the Dragon Lantern' is an evil ancient witchcraft.

In its earliest form, this ancient witchcraft did not use white porcelain lanterns.

They selected a hundred boys and girls, tied them together one after another with ropes, holding torches, led by a dragon boat clearing the way, dragging the hundred children step by step into the water.

When the river water rose past their waists, they would be controlled by the witchcraft to ignite their own heads with the torches they held.

One after another, the burning heads linked together, slowly sinking into the water, like a fire dragon entering the sea.

With a hundred children as sacrifice, the true dragon crosses over to ascend.

Fang Luo glanced at me in surprise, evidently not expecting that I also knew the latter part of 'The Hundred Children Rousing the Dragon Lantern.'

Besides me, Hui Moqiong surely knows as well.

Otherwise he wouldn't have shown such despair just now.

"'This is a dead‑end situation with ten deaths and no life,' Hui Moqiong said, 'Did you hear the chanting from over there? The moment the chanting stops, all the children's white porcelain lanterns will collide and shatter; at the instant the lanterns break, these hundred children will be swallowed by the river, with not a single survivor.'"

Hui Yuemo urged, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's snatch the white porcelain lanterns from their hands now, or simply pull the children out of the water—wouldn't that work? Brother, my people plus yours should be enough."

I shook my head: "No, these hundred children are trapped within a formation array; whether we touch the children or the lanterns, we break the array, and once the array is broken they will suffer backlash and still have no survivors."

Behind the hundred children stand a hundred families.

If we let them be sacrificed, after tonight half of Changshi's sky will be overturned!

I cannot imagine that tragic scene.

Yet all of this stems from a great lama's selfish desire to become a Buddha and a god.

What crime have these children committed?

What crime do the families behind these children have?

On what grounds should they pay with their lives for someone else's desire to become a Buddha and a god?

"'To save them, the only way is…'"

Fang Luo spoke hesitantly, then suddenly stopped.

Hui Yuemo grabbed her sleeve and pressed, "What method? Come on, say it!"

"'The only way is to find a dragon head for them,' I said, gazing at the 'White Dragon' silently moving on the river surface, 'Or to find a guide who will lead them onto the proper path.'"

Hui Yuemo fell silent at once.

Everyone present is clever.

When I spoke those words, they all turned their gaze to the Soul‑guiding Lamp in my hand.

Then their gaze moved upward and finally settled on my face.

Hui Moqiong immediately said, "No! Xiao Jiu, you can't go! This is too dangerous; if Seventh Lord finds out, he certainly won't let you take the risk, and if you fail, you and those children will be swept into the river and sacrificed together!"

I glanced back at the sinister monk's figure standing on the Buddha's head and said, "He is striving, he is persisting; he needs me."

Everyone fell silent again.

One step forward is a dead end; one step back is also a dead end.

Everyone understands that if we cannot take this step, what awaits us is likely total defeat.

And Liu Junyan… may never return.

He will become the stranded Dahui Chan Master in that tower of Songshan Gorge.

He will become the Copper Coin Person sealed in the west room of the Dang Pu.

He will forever… forever be left upon the Buddha's head at the Small Camp Mouth ancient battlefield…

"Hui Fifth Lord, Yuemo, Little Jumper, I need your help."

I no longer hesitated and began deploying: "I need you to immediately gather a hundred members whose cultivation is under a hundred years but whose swimming is superb, to join me in this endeavor—can you find them?"

"Can!"

"Possible!"

"Good!"

Three sounds rang out at once, then instantly hurriedly merged into the night.

They went to get the person I wanted.

Animal immortals with less than a hundred years of cultivation are like human children just starting out.

But they ultimately have a cultivation foundation, and do possess a certain self‑preservation ability.

This is a grand gamble.

I will bring them into the game, using them to replace the hundred children in the river, then lead them to complete the upcoming 'Hundred Children Dragon Lantern Revelry' ritual.

If we lose, Changshi Gray Immortal Hall and Wufu Town Pawnshop will set up memorial tablets for them, offering worship for a hundred years, to help them ascend early to Ultimate Bliss.

If we win, they... Merit is boundless!

Fang Luo stepped closer a few paces, lowering his voice to ask: "Xiao Jiu Zhanggui, will anyone really volunteer to join this deadly game? Or are there a hundred of them?"

I gazed blankly at the river, then countered Fang Luo: "What is cultivation? And why cultivate?"

Fang Luo's every thought: "Cultivation……"

"In my view, cultivation has nothing to do with how long one has practiced or outward form." I asked and answered myself, "Cultivation is cultivating the mind, not the form. Mao Jingxuan cultivated his whole life, his fame was great, his virtue high and respected, but did he truly attain the true fruition?"