Grand Nuo Lord

Chapter 87
The sun shines on the water, and the golden light is like golden scales.

Above the Tao River, gongs and drums were roaring, colorful flags were fluttering, and a long team walked on the water.

There are houses built near the water along the coast. Incense is lit in front of every house, and two bamboo baskets are placed, which contain incense, candles, ingots, and various tributes.

When the procession arrives at the door of any house, firecrackers will be lit, and everyone, young and old, will kneel in front of the door and hold incense to worship at the Dalong Pavilion.

Taoxi is the only river in Taoyuan Cave. All believers live by the water. When Longting walks on the river, he will pass by the doors of everyone's homes and accept their worship.

This process is called wandering.

When the parade team has left, the congregants will get up, pick up the bamboo baskets with poles, walk on the river bank, and go to the altar with the parade team.

They carried the tributes to offer sacrifices and also to participate in sacrifices.

There are a total of more than 500 Nuo believers, some of whom are families, and some who live alone. There are only more than 200 households in Taoyuan Cave.

The frame tour team walked along the river, and soon completed the frame tour ceremony, and came under the old peach tree.

The congregants also arrived under the old peach tree, and everyone gathered around. The bamboo baskets containing the tributes were also placed on the ground.

The old peach tree has existed since the Taoyuan Cave was opened. It is now more than [-] years old, but it looks nothing special.

The tree is ten feet high, with luxuriant branches and luxuriant leaves and brilliant peach blossoms.

The branches are covered with five-color prayer ribbons, which flutter in the wind and are colorful and beautiful.

There is a tall ancient temple under the tree. The roof is covered with moss and peach blossom petals.

The outer wall is mottled with vicissitudes of life, and the roots of the old peach trees are entangled on the wall like a web.

At first glance, the ancient temple seems to be integrated with the old trees.

The temple door is closed, with two door gods carved on it.

They were dressed in golden and red armor and black cloaks, with majestic faces and powerful postures.

One person holds a golden halberd and a golden rooster stands on his shoulder.

One person is holding a roll of yellow rope, and a tiger stands next to him.

Next to the door is a couplet written in Nuo script, which reads, "We hold arms and shields to drive away plagues at home, and we welcome the cold against the summer and receive blessings everywhere."

Above the temple door, there is a plaque with peeling gold paint, with three Nuo characters written on it: Da Nuo Temple.

The Nuo Temple houses the statues of all the Nuo gods. It is the true core of Nuo religion and the real residence of the Nuo gods.

After the death of the Nuo master, the Nuo god will leave the Nuo surface and return directly to the Nuo temple.

For Nuo gods, Nuo noodles are only considered carriages and sedan chairs, and the Nuo temple is their temple and dojo.

In Nuo religion, except for the three priests and the Nuo God, no one can enter the Nuo Temple.

Now that Nizi and Longting were about to enter the Nuo Temple, the three of Xie Yi immediately broke away from the group of tourists.

The real bodies of the three of them are in Anping. They are projections transformed by a ray of spiritual thought, and they came back with the princes to send them off.

As soon as the three people came out of the team, the princes rushed directly to the Nuo Temple.

Golden light and shadow kept passing through the door. Whether it was a tall flagpole or a huge dragon pavilion, the moment it touched the Nuo Temple, it was completely integrated into it, as if it was absorbed by the temple.

When all the 120 disciples entered the Nuo Temple, three dots of golden light shone on the old peach tree, as if three golden flowers had bloomed.

Xie Yi looked up and saw three sacred tablets suspended among the branches and leaves.

The words on it were golden and flickering, making it hard to see clearly.

He knew that they were the thrones of the three Nuo gods, Kaishan Ye, Pioneer Miss, and Umbrella Dancer.

The name of God Nuo is written on the shrine, which is the proof and oath of Nuo God’s submission to Nuo religion, and there are laws and prohibitions on it.

Among the Nuo religion, only the three major priests and Fang Xiangzhi could read the words above clearly.

Xie Yi looked at the golden light on the god's throne and felt a vast and majestic power, and couldn't help but have some associations in his heart.

"In the past, the emperor of Zhou Dynasty wrote the names of gods into Tian Tiao to command the gods. The god's throne can control so many powerful Nuo gods. I'm afraid it has something to do with Tian Tiao."

More than 2000 years ago, the Great Zhou Dynasty canonized 360 five righteous gods and countless minor gods, and officially established the powerful Great Zhou Kingdom.

In order to restrain the gods and protect Zhou Guozuo's eternal existence, the emperor wrote all the names of the gods in the country into a sacred book when he conferred the title of god.

The book contains laws and regulations written by him personally, stamped with the seal of the Great Zhou Dynasty, which integrates the public opinion and national destiny of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and combined with the magical power of the divine book, it is enough to restrain all the gods in the country.

After this book was written, he led 360 five righteous gods to imprint the divine book into the yin and yang of heaven and earth with supreme magic power.

From then on, there was an eternal and supreme law between heaven and earth, dedicated to restraining the gods.

This is the legendary rule of heaven.

Later, when the Great Zhou Dynasty fell, Tiantiao did not disappear and was still imprinted on the world.

From ancient times to the present, when human emperors wish to enshrine gods, they will offer sacrifices to heaven and earth at Dongyue.

They would burn prayers and lists of gods, so that the names of the gods contained in the lists would be incorporated into the laws of heaven and bound by the laws of heaven.The gods who have ascended to heaven are the righteous gods. They have been recognized by the court and can enjoy the people's incense and sacrifices.

Gods without heavenly laws are just obscene gods worshiping wild gods. They are not bound by heavenly laws. Most of their actions are unscrupulous and unpopular with the court.

Xie Yi looked at the tablets on the trees and felt that the Nuo religion might have mastered some of the rules of heaven.

"Most of the world's Shinto gods are trapped in dojos. Once they leave their jurisdiction, their magic power continues to decline. Only the gods of Nuo religion can come and go freely in the world without restrictions. This must be related to the laws of heaven."

Just as he was thinking about it, golden light flashed above the door of the Nuo Temple.

An old man walked through the temple gate and walked out directly.

He is wearing a golden robe and a square mask on his face. He is the grand priest, one of the three major priests of the Nuo religion.

The three major sacrifices of Nuo religion practice in the Nuo Temple all year round, and they only appear during festivals or sacrifices.

They are the Nuo masters of Fang Xiang. They do not care about teaching affairs, but only care about sacrifices. They are respected in Nuo religion.

The three priests wore gold robes, red robes, and white robes respectively. Their statuses were generally the same, but they were called the Grand Sacrifice Duke, the Second Sacrifice Duke, and the Third Sacrifice Duke according to their age.

"Meet the Grand Priest." Xie Yi, the three of them, and the Nuo followers all bowed and saluted.

The Grand Priest Gong was thin and stooped, but his aura was very strong. His voice echoed in the peach forest like thunder, "No need to be too polite, let's start making offerings."

As soon as he finished speaking, the old peach tree shook, the peach blossoms on the tree glowed, and a voice kept repeating, "Offer, offer, offer..."

Xie Yi and the other three people and the congregation kept saying those two words, "Offer, offer..."

The Grand Priest suddenly shouted: "Come all -"

Everyone responded: "Congratulations!"

A shout shook the void, peach blossoms fell one after another, but the tributes in the bamboo baskets kept flying up.

Incense, candles, gold ingots, bacon, dried tofu, one after another, as if held by invisible hands, flew into the peach blossoms above.

After flying into the flower branches, these tributes all dispersed into golden dust and poured into the three divine tablets.

In front of the shrine, Master Liu stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the tablet of Master Kaishan on the old peach tree with complicated eyes.

In the depths of his eyes, a shadow of a white tiger appeared.

There are golden chains wrapped around the white tiger's body. Those chains are illusory, like they are composed of countless mysterious and obscure gold characters.

Deep in the peach forest, another call suddenly sounded, "Come all -"

Then countless people responded: "Congratulations!"

A desolate and simple song sounded between heaven and earth.

Hey, hey, hey... Hey, hey, hey...

An auspicious cloud swept the ground, and a fierce god descended from the sky.

My old brother used to be a military commander, but now he is a pioneering general.

The general who founded the mountain was born evil, his eyebrows were like fire and his eyes were filled with blood.

Two pairs of fangs and one horn, shaking the mountain with a roar that scares ghosts and gods.

Holding the sacred ax that created the mountain in his hand, he came to chop down the five plagues in the Nuo Hall.

The golden hoop can't stop five soldiers, the fangs are bloody and the mouth is ferocious.

……

The exact origin of Kaishan Ye is not recorded even in ancient Nuo books.

At that time, the Nuo religion created this sacred song for Kaishan Ye from some vague legends and records.

As the song floats between heaven and earth, the vitality in the sky surges.

A cloud of blood covered the sun, and the earth was shrouded in a layer of red.

There seemed to be the sound of swords clashing in the void, and countless bloody figures emerged from the ground, looking up to the sky and letting out ferocious roars.

　The origin of Kaishan Ye was read on the Guizhou Nuo Opera website and is based on one of the more powerful legends.

　　There is also the evolution of Pangu and Zhulong in it, but I didn’t write about it because it was too powerful.

　　The divine songs are partly original and partly borrowed from the lyrics and descriptions of Guizhou Nuo Tang.

　　The couplets come from the couplets at the Nuo Temple in Shajiang Bridge, Chixi, Tanbu.

　　The plot of today's sacrifice is over.

　　Get ready tomorrow and go to the ancient cave.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)