People were in a state of panic and disquiet!
In just one short night, that terrifying "Child Rhy" had spread throughout the streets and alleys of Yunjing City, stirring up a lot of noise.
Not only among those sowhat inford officials, soldiers, scholars, rchants...
Even the lower-class peddlers and errand runners, and even the old won who woke up early to pick up bargains at the vegetable market, were all gathered in groups, discussing fervently.
Because of the manifestation of Daoist Magic, the common people naturally had a particularly strong belief in all things divine, deceitful, monstrous, and abnormal.
"Lao San’s family, have you heard? What were those kids singing about last night?
Are we going to have bandits causing trouble right under the Emperor’s feet?"
"Scholar Sun, you’ve been educated, you have classmates, now you explain to the folks what exactly is going on here?"
"..."
On this morning of July 16th, such conversations could be heard everywhere one went, almost to the exclusion of any other topic.
It was the sa at a simple breakfast stall set up in front of the Cloud Jade Restaurant in the west of the city.
And because there sat a fortune teller who, though in ragged clothes, had a clear and emaciated face, appearing sowhat celestial and possessing the charm of a hermit.
The diners and the stall owner all wanted to hear his esteed opinions on that "Child Rhy."
"Demi Immortal Ding, I’ve seen you setting up your stall here to make a living since the previous month, and there doesn’t seem to be much business every day.
If you can say sothing insightful today, this ’staring food,’ I’ll give you ten extra chopstick servings for free,"
the breakfast stall owner generously offered, and the other custors circled around the pot joined in egging him on.
But even as he spoke, that stall owner with shining eyes watched the diners’ chopsticks intently.
As soon as soone fished sothing out of the pot with their chopsticks, he would instantly put a soybean in the corresponding small bowl, marking down a charge of one copper coin.
This was one of the rare opportunities for the poor in the capital to enjoy a al with at—staring food!
In fact, it consisted of odds and ends gathered together, leftovers from feasts and food from diners,
combined with scraps of at and offal picked up from the market, as well as various vegetables, all boiled together in one pot.
Heavy seasonings were liberally added, along with so herbal juices used to treat diarrhea.
The strong seasoning reliably masked the odd sll of the ingredients, so there was no need to worry about the diners getting upset stomachs.
After being cooked thoroughly, the pot, with its original broth, would be picked up with carrying poles and set up in busy areas to be sold specifically to the craving poor.
These diners squatted around the pot, each holding a pair of long chopsticks, targetting their desired morsels in the bubbling, rolling, hot soup, and dipping in chopsticks.
What they might lift out could be a piece of chitterlings, a chicken leg, a slice of tripe—of course, it could also be a bone or a piece of cabbage...
As for what one could pick up, it all depended on the diner’s own eyesight and quickness of hand.
One chopstickful for one copper coin, no matter the size, quality, or fat content—pricing was by quantity, with diners eating first and paying afterward.
When it was crowded during al tis, the stall owner would keep his eyes glued to the pot and count ticulously, hence the na of this type of food stall: staring food.
Despite many of the high families in the capital living lavishly with an entourage of attendants,
as long as resources were not unlimited, there would always be a social divide everywhere.
The number of poor at the bottom was countless, or rather, they were the main body of the population.
This sharing of a little from the leftovers of restaurants, pubs, and wealthy families, naturally beca popular as "staring food."
It may have seed disgusting in the eyes of respectable people, but for these citizens of Yunjing, compared to those outside the city who could starve to death at any mont, it was already a hundred tis better.
Upon hearing the stall owner’s promise, the Fortune Teller hurriedly agreed.
"That is indeed kind of you!"
Having to resort to eating "staring food," the Fortune Teller was clearly not a rich man.
Watching the assortnt of ingredients rise and settle back down with the boiling of the soup, appearing and disappearing intermittently.
A quick stab with his chopsticks netted half a chicken leg that soone had gnawed on.
He wasn’t squeamish, and amidst the wincing gaze of several diners and the stall owner, he polished off the chicken leg in two bites and then leisurely expounded:
"The Child Rhy goes: Flowing Thief, thief flows by, Upper Realm orders to sever heads high. Should there be one whom the blade can’t fell, the Plague Spreader follows, as the rhy can tell.
When the year of the Water Goat arrives, these lands will run red in strife. Houses empty, not a soul to live, fields barren, none to till or sieve!"
"The very first line of this Child Rhy indicates the identity of those who will commit violence.
Nowadays, rebels are rising up in all directions across Jiuzhou. This Demi Immortal deduces a forty percent chance that bandits or robbers will flee to the capital.
The other sixty percent possibility is that the Naiman tribes beyond the White Cloud Pass will attack Yunjing and a terrible battle will ensue here.
And the ti is ’the year of the Water Goat,’ which is this year, Year 16 of Jianming, and it could begin at any mont!
A bloodbath is certain to be inevitable."
Although the new Emperor Zhou Jingliang has been enthroned for half a year, the courtiers, headed by Xue Jiexi, have not yet chosen a suitable new era na for him.
They continue to use the old era na of the forr Emperor Zhou Wenrui, at least until the Supre Emperor has yet to breathe his last.
It goes to show how perfunctorily they treat this new Emperor, the third prince.
Knowing well the outco of the Dynasty, they don’t even bother to go through the motions.
Having said this.
Demi Immortal Ding’s hand moved like lightning, snatching another chopstickful of pork with skin and bristles, and stuffed it satisfyingly into his mouth.
To the several listeners beside him, who listened intently, he said aningfully:
"I advise you all, if you have family outside the city, it’s best to hurry up and bring them inside before the end of this month, and stay for ten days or half a month.
"Don’t wait until calamity strikes and it is too late for regrets!"
The Fortune Teller shook his head with absolute certainty.
Both the stall owners and the diners, upon careful consideration, felt that Immortal Ding’s words made perfect sense, to the point where even their rare servings of at started to lose their savor.
At the sa ti, throughout Yunjing City, from top to bottom, panic began to fernt, regardless of how it was interpreted.
If bandits were to co, where should one flee to?
The first thought in everyone’s mind was, what place could be safer than Yunjing City, the strongest fortress in the world guarded by the Martial Saint?
Moreover, it wasn’t just about getting people into the city; all the grain and livestock had to be gathered as well.
Many people, anxious, started making preparations right away, playing right into the hands of the No-Life Dao.
At this mont, right above the "Staring Kid" food stall.
Wang Yuan, Huang Wu, Guo Feihu, Xin Ruoheng, and Xin Xiaowei, these five Immortal Officials, had already been discussing matters on the second floor of Cloud Jade Pavilion all night.
Each of the five possessed at least the realm of Yellow Seal, with sharp eyes and keen ears, they naturally overheard the conversation below.
Xin Ruoheng, who had pushed aside her own daughter early in the morning to sit beside Wang Yuan, scoffed:
"This boastful Immortal Ding is clearly a shill.
He’s from the ’Fortune Telling’ branch of the ’Six Desires Worldly Dao,’ also called the ’Bone Weighing Sect.’
They have an inheritance of a ’Yellow Departnt Taoism Bone asuring Fortune Telling thod’ that can predict fifty-one types of life charts based on their weight.
The Fortune Teller who initially helped Tanhuan establish the ’Bone Grade System’ for the State of the Mountains was an ancestor of this sect.
This sect of Fortune Tellers, at best, only cultivate to the Red Seal, finding it difficult to live a few decades longer than ordinary people like the Yin Gods, and they’re most adept at cheating and deceiving among the common folk.
Moreover, among the Precept Taboos’ ’Five Deficiencies’: "widow, widower, orphan, solitary, and disability"; and ’Three Lackings’: "wealth, life, authority", they are all lacking in one aspect.
This Immortal Ding must lack wealth. He has the abilities of a Magician but dares not keep wealth, hence his descent to eating ’Staring Kid’s food.’
His life is barely better than a dirt-eating Fu Gui’er."
Ignoring Xin Xiaowei’s glaring eyes, she continued:
"He has most likely undertaken a task from the higher-ups, and after the Child Rhy spread, he’s responsible for pouring oil on the fire and intimidating the common folk.
By now, there are probably many deceitful ’Bone Weighing Sect’ Disciples in the neighboring villages, incessantly scaring those commoners into taking refuge in the Capital.
Then... they all fall onto the altar set up by the ’No-Life Dao’!"
Upon hearing this, Wang Yuan, who was feeling a bit agitated, simply reached out and grabbed a strand of Life Fire and a strand of Fortune Fire from one of Immortal Ding’s three flas.
He enclosed it in his palm and snuffed it out.
The next instant.
"Cough cough cough..."
As if Immortal Ding had eaten too quickly, a chicken bone got stuck in his throat. Grasping at his neck, he fell over.
It wasn’t long before his legs kicked up, and he passed away.
A few diners at first startled slightly but soon relaxed when they realized the stew wasn’t poisoned.
They soon exchanged glances filled with joy.
Quickly, they stood up and dragged his corpse into a nearby alley.
His sack and clothes were rare treasures; if left unattended, they would surely be taken by the lackeys of those gangs or Black Clerks from the Governnt.
Better to benefit from it themselves.
Wang Yuan didn’t bother with the declining social mores and people’s wayward hearts, but swept a gaze around his colleagues.
"Now there’s basically no doubt left.
’No-Life Dao’ intends to gather Warlords, Scholars, and Dragon Energy to initiate an unprecedented Blood Sacrifice in Yunjing City!
Regardless of wealth or status, all of the nearby two million people could be their Human Sacrifices.
If successful, it would be entirely possible to create multiple Green Seal Strange Immortals in an instant."
The others nodded heavily, their expressions grave.
Others thought there was a foreign invasion, a bandit incursion.
Only they were very clear that the enemy was within!
A petty thief is a thief, and a country’s stealer is its king.
They are just different kinds of thieves in essence, all thieves nonetheless.
And now, Zhou Xinglou and Xue Jiexi, who had stolen the Sacrificial Treasure, were the biggest thieves of them all!
"No-Life Dao" and the unsolvable Singing Rhy Child probably did not dare to sing a rhy that was more absolute, like:
"Armor gives birth to lice and fleas, all people et death indeed. Bones lie exposed in fields afar, across a thousand miles no cocks crow. Of the living, barely one in a hundred left, at the sound of this, hearts are cleft."
But Master Red Lotus had already explained the principle behind the Singing Rhy Child previously.
It must amplify the waves on the basis of the Human Dao Torrent; otherwise, it couldn’t achieve an "unsolvable" effect.
So, not daring to say more, by the ti that Child Rhy was sung.
Certainly, many lives will be lost in Yunjing City and blood will flow like rivers!
"But in the end, it’s uncertain who exactly will die!"
Wang Yuan’s eyes glinted coldly as he reached out and picked up a box brought by Guo Feihu and Xin Ruoheng, also accepting the next task assigned by the Great Fate.
——To seize the Nine Dragons Wall!
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