Chapter 83: The Four Gods of Stopping War, Mourning, Controlling Floods, and Exorcising Plague
Even though they were separated by a mobile phone screen, Pinggong Qianye still frowned slightly.
This year, many unfamiliar faces of gods appeared at the Gion Festival in Kyoto, and they tended to be more and more abstract.
He remembered that there were not so many new gods last year, and the statues did not exude a gloomy and eerie aura.
Over in Kyoto, this year's summer festival seems even more terrifying.
The summer festival in July is not as lively in Tokyo as in Kyoto.
The Tokyo Kanda Festival in May is the real celebration in Tokyo.
Pinggong Qianye still remembers that in May of this year, he did not go out to play, but just stayed in the temple, chatting and preaching with some elderly believers, and did not pay too much attention to the celebration itself.
Speaking of which, that Moon-Swallowing Toad tried to swallow the moon and erode the Moon God authority belonging to Yaezakura Jingu. Could it be that it was anxious to do something in this summer festival?
It holds the priesthood of plague in the Kinko Cult, and happens to have a strong connection with the Gion Festival.
It seemed that he had killed a god of high status.
I wonder if other gods from the Golden Light Cult will also appear at this year’s summer festival?
They don't feel like real gods.
Just as the Great Light said: "They are all the seeds of disaster in the world!"
Be punished!
Monday, April 7th.
The hot wind of the summer festival blew to the campus, and after school in the afternoon, many clubs began to get busy.
The whole month of July is full of celebrations, and for students, there are few bigger and more fun entertainment activities than this.
For the supernatural society, the plan of building a haunted house was also put on the agenda.
After discussion, they set a time of one week, with the president Horii Suzune responsible for the overall planning, Hiramiya Chiya responsible for the safety guidance on the site, and the other members responsible for renting the venue, renovating and building the haunted house, etc.
Given that the Sumida River Fireworks Festival is extremely famous in Tokyo, the area around the summer festival will surely be very lively, making it a great place to build a haunted house.
To this end, Horii Suzune also found a partner with the Housekeeping Department and the Photography Department, inviting them to set up small stalls providing food and beverage near the haunted house.
Seeing that Horii Suzune and other members of the supernatural club were so passionate about this, they were researching every day how to make the layout of the haunted house look more terrifying.
In order to prevent any accidents, Pinggong Qianye specially hung a string of magic bells at the entrance of the haunted house, and posted three talismans to suppress evil spirits in different places inside the haunted house.
Behaviors such as imitating ghosts and inviting ghosts are actually a ritual to attract ghosts to come.
The more focused you are on it, the more likely ghosts will appear.
Matters concerning ghosts and gods are difficult to predict, so ordinary people should avoid taking dangerous actions unless necessary.
"Hiramiya-san, do you think that a camera can capture ghost images?"
In his spare time, Pingu Kang came to ask.
"If conditions permit, yes."
"What counts as permitted conditions?"
"President Pinggu, being able to avoid ghosts and gods is a lucky thing for ordinary people. Don't make the mistake."
Pinggong Qianye gave him an earnest advice, telling him not to be obsessed with photographing the traces of ghosts and gods.
“For a photographer who has experienced that firsthand, it’s hard to ignore their existence.”
Pingu Kang looked gloomy and gave a wry smile.
Pinggong Qianye didn't say anything else. He had already said all the good words he could. If he insisted on getting involved in matters concerning ghosts and gods, then one day the ghosts would find him.
People and ghosts are like different poles of a magnetic field. When you reveal your magnetic field, ghosts will come to you by smelling the scent.
Monday, April 7th.
A new week has passed and the summer festival has truly begun.
The Gion Festival in Kyoto has already begun the rituals of lighting lanterns and welcoming the mikoshi.
During every sacrificial ceremony, local residents would carry the mikoshi, chanting the same slogans and circling the streets.
On weekdays when there are no festival celebrations, the mikoshi is placed in temples and shrines. When a festival celebration is approaching, it will be checked for defects, cleaned of dust, and some damaged items will be repaired in advance.
Sometimes, depending on the size and needs of the festival, some additional decorations will be installed on the sedan chair, most of which are magnificent and full of ritual sense.
This kind of traditional folk culture has been preserved relatively intact in southern China, especially in Fujian and Guangdong.
Pinggong Qianye vaguely remembered that every New Year's Day when he was a child, there were crowds of people everywhere, the sound of firecrackers was deafening, and the air was filled with thick white smoke from the burning firecrackers, making it impossible to distinguish people.
"Classmate, do you want to see the introduction of the god of this summer festival?"
Pinggong Qianye was walking on the campus when he met an older high school girl who was standing at the school gate distributing flyers.
"This is……"
Hearing about the summer festival, Pinggong Qianye subconsciously took the flyer. It began with: Great God of Golden Light, the golden light of heaven and earth, eliminates disasters and epidemics, and protects all people.
Below this sentence is a statue, golden all over, sitting cross-legged, with four faces and eight arms, each holding a different kind of magical instrument, and infinite golden light emanating from its back.
Is this the great god of Golden Light worshipped by the Golden Light Sect?
Judging from this picture alone, there is no problem. On the contrary, there is a sense of majesty and compassion displayed by the Buddha in the temple.
But a picture alone can’t tell you much, and with the advanced photo-editing technology available nowadays, even gods can put on new makeup and appear on camera again.
Pinggong Qianye looked down again. In addition to the golden god at the head, there were two other gods painted on the left and right sides of the flyer, a total of four gods.
At the bottom of each statue is written an introduction to the gods, and around them are spells in gold-plated fonts that appear to be prayers for blessings and warding off disasters.
Pinggong Qianye carefully scanned the introduction of each god, fearing that he had missed anything.
The God of Stopping War: Caring about the people of the world who have suffered from war, he came into the world to quell wars with weapons.
The God of Mourning: He is worried about the suffering of the displaced people in all directions, so he comes to the world, holding a drum to cause chaos.
God of Water Control: When there is a severe drought, it will rain; when there is a flood, boats will appear.
Plague-driving God: drives away plague, removes poison, and eliminates evil spirits.
There are five gods in total, headed by the God of Golden Light holding Gold, who controls everything.
Are these all the gods worshipped by the Golden Light Sect?
That’s quite a lot.
The Toad God who represents the plague has just been killed by me, which monster will take his place now?
Pinggong Qianye had many questions in his mind, but there was one question that was more important at the moment.
"Why would a senior stand at the school gate and hand out flyers like this?"
"Junior brother, senior sister also needs to make money!"
Hearing Hiramiya Chiye's question, the senior student looked him up and down, smiled and said, "For such a simple job of handing out flyers, you can get 3000 yen an hour!"
"Standing in the shadows at the school gate and handing out flyers is much easier than working in a convenience store."
"If you are interested, they are recruiting people throughout July. They don't mind having too many people. On the contrary, the more the better."
These people are really rich. They paid 3000 yen just for distributing flyers for an hour.
Pinggong Qianye felt emotional, suppressed his thoughts, and asked, "Are they short of people?"
"There is a severe shortage. From what I have heard, they have recruited more than 200 students to help distribute flyers."
"But I have never heard of this great golden god. Does senior know this god?"
"Of course I don't know. I hand out flyers just to earn some pocket money. Who would be interested in believing in any gods?"
The senior student held a stack of flyers in her hands and explained with a smile, "But I heard from those people that this golden god is very effective and often blesses believers. He is a kind and easy-to-talk god."
Kind and easy to talk to?
Pinggong Chiye expressed serious doubts about such a comment.
It is obvious that they want to expand their influence in this way. Whether you believe it or not is one thing, and whether you know it or not is another.
In the past, the belief of the Golden Light Sect might have really been able to protect all people, but now, it has been corrupted by the erosion of time.
Alas, the dragon slayer will eventually become a dragon, this seems to be an irreversible law.
(End of this chapter)
