Chapter 12

After passing through the tall city gate and walking into the capital city among the traffic of horses and carraiges, Lin Tuo observed the world with great interest.

This was the first time he entered the Chi Dynasty and everything he looked at was fresh.

Fortunately, many of the citizens who came to Kyoto for the first time in their lives would also have a similar look. In addition, before entering the city, Lin Tuo got a pair of local robes which were not very eye-catching.

And for the citizens of Kyoto, there were so many people in and outside the capital city due to the ceremony, it made Lin Tuo seem inconspicuous.

…

“This is the country of Chi.” Walking in the streets, Lin Tuo admired the shops and buildings on both sides. At this moment, the sun had already risen and the whole city was alive.

The streets were packed with people.

People’s conversations provided him with a lot of useful information.

One of the most frequent sentences were, “the ceremony of worship to the gods”.

“I’m so lucky? The first time I came in, I came with a festival taking place?” After confirming the meaning of the so-called celebration, Lin Tuo couldn’t help but think of dumb luck.

And realized that, perhaps, this could be an opportunity for his next action.

Yes.

Though, Lin Tuo didn’t intend to break into the palace directly.

As he said to the guard officer, his trip was just to see the world.

…

“Look! The royal carriages are here!” When Lin Tuo walked aimlessly to the Taochuan River that traverses Kyoto, he saw countless peach blossoms on both sides of the river and painted boats on the water.

The national style of the Chi Dynasty was bright, as is the folk customs.

“Royal carriages?” Lin Tuo immediately looked around, and saw a string of gorgeous carriages coming slowly under the guard of a crowd of palace people with music playing all around.

It turned out to be a ceremonial carriage.

There was no one visible from outside the carriage, only a flag was erected. The flag was bright yellow, painted with the ancient symbol of the Chi Dynasty, slowly fluttering in the spring wind.

“This is part of the ceremony of worshiping the gods. The emperor’s carriage arches the flag and travels all over the city before going to Xiyuan. The ceremony is really about to begin. It’s afternoon.”

There were many people beside Lin Tuo.

The local people in Kyoto immediately explained it, the tone wasn’t lacking in arrogance.

“Your Majesty isn’t in this team?”

Someone asked while standing on their tiptoes, looking out in the crowd.

The Kyoto native snorted, shook his head and smiled:

“How would that be possible? This car has to parade around for a few hours. If the monarch was in there, he would have no time to prepare for the ceremony.”

“It’s also…”

“It’s a pity, I still want to take a look at the current priest.”

“Let’s go to the Memorial Ceremony in the afternoon to watch. Maybe there would be so many people that we couldn’t watch even if we tried.”

There was a lot of discussion on the banks of Taochuan.

Lin Tuo switched back to his main body. His eyes lost focus for a short time, overlooking the city, he found the location of the Memorial Ceremony.

“Well, this forest garden should be it, right?” In the old martial arts house, Lin Tuo stood by the sand table, leaning over to the west of Kyoto, and saw that many humans had gathered there.

“The ceremony to worship the gods…Perhaps, it’s really a good opportunity.”

Lin Tuo got up, looking at the wisps of clouds above the sand table, lost in thought.

…

Since the time flow rate inside and outside the sand table was adjusted to 1:1, Lin Tuo wanted to observe the ceremony but had to wait patiently until the afternoon.

He was not in a hurry though, he just took advantage of this time to observe the city.

In a sense, the capital of a country could reflect the country’s style and social conditions.

In Lin Tuo’s eyes, this Chi Dynasty was similar to the Han and Tang dynasties.

Five hundred years had passed since the founding of the Chi Dynasty and dthere had been many wars in its history. Most of them belonged to the infighting of the royal family. Therefore, no matter who won, the name of the dynasty had not changed.

Today’s monarchs continued to memorialize their ancestors.

The approval rating for the current emperor was very good.

This made Lin Tuo very satisfied.

It was a pity that many problems couldn’t be solved at all because of the inefficient productivity of the current country.

‘It’s good to have the idea of reform, otherwise, I think the technology progression of this dynasty will inevitably be delayed for several decades.‘

On the bank of the Taochuan River, Lin Tuo leaned over, holding up a river lantern from the water, his eyes flashing.

……

At noon, he switched to his main body and ordered takeaway. In a blink of an eye, it was the afternoon.

When Lin Tuo switched his consciousness to the clone again and opened his eyes, he saw the pedestrians on the street, like weaving, in groups, walking westward.

Obviously to participate in the ceremony of worship.

Some people were dressed in ordinary clothes and there are some singers and dancers in the classical costumes of bright red, light pink, or goose yellow. Their faces were also painted with heavy makeup, dotted, like a peach blossom.

In fact, Lin Tuo noticed that almost half of the people in Kyoto, no matter what they look like, they all hold a branch full of peach blossoms.

This seems to be some kind of festive etiquette.

While walking, the fragrant wind blows people.

“The dynasty blessed by heaven, Chi Dynasty!”

When Lin Tuo followed the crowd, passing a street corner.

A dancer pulled a branch from the huge flower basket beside him and handed it to him with a gentle voice.

“Thank you.” Lin Tuo was startled and took it. At this moment, he finally felt the festive atmosphere.

The memorial ceremony had been held for hundreds of years. It had long since evolved from a purely royal ceremony to a folk festival for the entire dynasty.

…

When Lin Tuo finally came the with the flow of people, he saw that the spectators were already shoulder to shoulder.

There were guards from the Royal Forest Army in front that blocked the crowd there.

Moving forward, you could see a huge circular altar above the ground.

At this moment, the altar was already full of flags. The current emperor of Chi Dynasty led his officials under the altar. The ceremony to worship the gods was about to begin.

Lin Tuo was submerged in the crowd, extremely inconspicuous. He didn’t try to squeeze forward. He only needed to switch his consciousness back to his body occasionally and he could overlook what was going on.

Dun

Dun

Dun

Suddenly, there were people beating drums around the altar. Around the entire garden, thousands of Kyoto people were still talking in low voices, a mess.

But eventually, the onlookers stopped talking. And for a while, tens of thousands of eyes all looked at the Memorial Ceremony altar.

“Quiet! Respect God! The ceremony has started!”

The priest sang a loud hymn and immediately the ceremony began to operate according to strict rules.

The first step, the second step…

The ceremony proceeded in an orderly manner and the Royal Army walked through the crowd to prevent riots.

Among the crowd, Lin Tuo looked at it for a while at first and found it interesting, but gradually, he started to get bored.

Through the understanding of the whole morning, he already knew the procedure of the whole festival.

He knew that when the previous steps were over, the Emperor would ascend to the altar, present himself to God, count the merits and demerits of the past year, and then conduct divination and pray.

Hmm… The latter part is basically the sofficials reading according to the prepared lines. Anyway, no one has seen God, and what God said was all nonsense made up by those officials.

After learning about this, Lin Tuo had a plan.

He slowly raised his head and glanced at the sky.

It was quite clear today, with only a few faint clouds floating in the sky. The scorching sun showed that many people watching the ceremony were exhaling, not to mention the emperor and the officials.

“It’s so thick, it won’t make you sweat.” A simple-looking citizen next to him whispered.

Lin Tuo glanced at him, let out a chuckle, and said in a low voice, “I think it might be cloudy later.”

“No way, that’s nonsense…”

Seeing that others didn’t believe it, Lin Tuo didn’t explain, but just continued to wait.

After another half an hour, with a burst of music, a figure in a yellow robe was seen ascended to the altar under the eyes of everyone.

“The monarch is coming up!”

“Is that the emperor?”

“He’s out, he’s out…”

Seeing this scene, the soft spoken and bored crowd suddenly became spirited again. Fortunately, there were guards from the Royal Army and soon calmed down again.

Almost everyone, at this moment, cast their eyes on the figure on the altar ahead.

No one noticed that the eyes of a certain young man in the crowd suddenly lost their brilliance, his expression was dull and he was standing in place, like a puppet.

…

Inside the old house.

Sitting on the wicker chair, Lin Tuo suddenly ‘woke up’ and looked at the location of the Memorial Ceremony in the sandbox, a smile appearing on his face.

“Finally, I won’t make you wait.”

Speaking softly, Lin Tuo suddenly raised his hand, leaned slightly, plunged his arms into the sand table, and he hugged the sky of Chi Dynasty at a high altitude.

Gather slowly!

So, at this moment, the countless clouds that were originally scattered and floating in the sky were being forcibly held to Kyoto by two invisible arms!

He even put his head into the height below the clouds, and then coughed vigorously.

…

At the same time, the Chi Dynasty in Kyoto.

The sweaty Chi Emperor slowly stood still, then glanced at the several bronze cauldrons placed on the altar in front of him.

In the largest pot in the center, a flag pole was erected and a book that traveled around the city hung on it.

That was the ceremonial book written by the head of civil servants before the ceremony began.

The content was also very simple.

The rough meaning is to pray for enlightenment from God and guide peace for the world.

It’s not that they really wanted or expected God to say something, it was just a tradition, nothing more.

And as Emperor Chi came to the stage and finished reading a set of sacrificial poems, the courtiers next to him threw something into the cauldron, and immediately, a raging flame rose in the bronze cauldron.

The fire gradually burned the entire totem.

This was the most important ceremony in the ceremony of worship.

The letter to God was ignited and then special officials would “interpret” the decree of the God.

Everyone watched this scene calmly.

No one thought it would be different this time.

After all, similar processes have been carried out countless times.

However…

Just today, just now.

When the flames in the cauldron were blazing and tens of thousands of Kyoto citizens stared quietly, the blazing fire suddenly disappeared.

…

In the crowd.

The Kyoto native who had just complained silently was stunned, then raised his head and glanced at the sky that was still clear for a second.

Immediately, his face was stunned, and he exclaimed:

“This… God!!!”