CHAPTER 150: CHAPTER 149: RITUAL

Finally, as everyone’s thoughts varied, daylight nearing its end and twilight descending, at the moment when the soldiers concluded a day of drills and prepared to have dinner, the camp suddenly bustled with activity, and before long, personal soldiers came to report that Deputy Capital Commander Zhou Kang had brought more than a dozen people into the camp from outside, causing quite a commotion.

Situ Jing and Lu Qing exchanged a glance and almost simultaneously got up to walk outside, while Zhu Yu hurriedly followed.

Outside, from a distance, they saw a crowd gathered together, chattering and discussing, appearing both excited and eager.

Everyone was craning their necks to look into the circle and didn’t even notice that their military chief had arrived.

Only when someone was pushed aside and turned to see who was so rude did they realize it was Situ Jing’s personal soldiers, with Situ Jing himself walking behind them!

No matter how upset they were secretly, no one dared to act rashly in front of the Commander.

The young soldier, scared, quickly stepped aside, also warning his comrades to make way.

Gradually, more people noticed Situ Jing, quickly moving aside to make a path for him and the others to pass through.

In the middle of the crowd, Zhou Kang and a dozen strangers were surrounded. Those strangers were dressed very strangely; though not tall, they all wore large masks. The masks were brightly colored but had grotesque patterns, decorated with black feathers of unknown birds, making their heads appear extraordinarily large.

Their clothing was not ordinary but made of a patchwork of various animal skins, unlike the shiny and lightweight armor of official army camps. Their armor was covered in animal fur and seemed old and grayish, with some dark stains that might be blood.

The one leading them stood at the front, right behind Zhou Kang. His armor was different from the others; it was a whole tiger skin, with even the tiger’s tail hanging at the back.

His sinister mask looked scarier, with a pair of large eyes painted on it, white with dark green pupils. The mask was fringed with bright red hair of unknown material, giving it a devilish appearance paired with the green eyes.

Zhu Yu couldn’t help but click her tongue in fear.

If this was the expert Zhou Kang invited to conduct a ritual to ward off Evil Spirits, she couldn’t help but think, this fellow seemed even more sinister than any evil spirit!

Seeing Situ Jing arrive, Zhou Kang hurriedly greeted him with respect, saluting him, "General, I’ve brought the expert capable of driving out evil spirits here, planning to meet you, and then I’ll take the master around to prepare the things needed for tonight’s ceremony."

The person with the red hair and green-eyed ghost mask stood right behind Zhou Kang, his eyes behind the mask’s holes seemingly fixed on Situ Jing, but he didn’t move and showed no intention of greeting him.

Situ Jing glanced at him and didn’t mind the rudeness, just impatiently waved to Zhou Kang, "Since I’ve already permitted this, go ahead with it.

Whether it works or not, this ceremony will at least give the soldiers some peace of mind."

Zhou Kang smiled ingratiatingly and hastily led those strangely dressed people away.

"Everyone else, don’t follow!" Seeing the curious faces of the soldiers, Situ Jing sternly said, "Do what you should be doing.

If you have the ability to perform rituals, tell the Deputy Commander to send away the outsiders, and you do it yourself.

If you lack the skill, what’s the point of following?"

The curious soldiers, scolded by him, dared not follow further and reluctantly dispersed.

The previously noisy and chaotic scene returned to calm again.

Situ Jing glanced at Lu Qing, a hint of unease in his eyes.

If it were a battle or a one-on-one confrontation with an enemy general, he wouldn’t even blink. As a military general, open combat only excited him.

But in this situation, where both sides were playing tricks, Situ Jing wasn’t as familiar with this game.

He couldn’t shake the sense of unease in his heart.

They say it’s easy to dodge a visible sword but hard to avoid a hidden arrow; now, the other side was truly a hidden arrow—how it would be launched or from where was uncertain. Could they be sure to defend against it?

He saw that Lu Qing remained calm, even more relaxed than before, without a trace of tension.

There’s no turning back now, Situ Jing gritted his teeth and decided to trust them this time.

Afterwards, Zhou Kang stayed with those dozen people, busy with them, and the other imperial guard soldiers, following Situ Jing’s order, stayed away and didn’t disturb them.

When darkness fully descended, those people lit a particularly large bonfire in the camp’s center. Beside the bonfire, they set up a table filled with various items – swords, nails, hammers, and an ominous black incense burner, along with piles of talisman-like objects with red, florid, indecipherable writings that appeared more like totems than script.

As everything was almost ready, and the hour had arrived, Zhou Kang summoned the Generals to gather the soldiers around the massive bonfire, announcing the start of the master’s ritual to ward off evil, urging all to be devout and cooperate with the expert. Whatever the master instructed, they must comply.

Situ Jing, Lu Qing, and others stood among the crowd, observing everything coldly.

The red-haired, green-eyed ghost-masked expert walked to the table, drew a copper bell from his waist, and with one hand holding the bell and the other grabbing the sword on the table, he waved it and shook the bell, making a jingling sound while chanting incomprehensibly.

The expert jumped, danced, and sang for a long time, suddenly shouting aloud, intensifying his movements, circling the bonfire while wielding the sword, making slashing gestures, and chanting even louder with each turn.

When he returned to the table, he tossed aside the copper bell and sword, grabbed a handful of talisman papers, chanted over them, ignited them, and threw them into the incense burner. As the talisman papers hadn’t burned out completely, he, as if unafraid of pain, reached inside to grab the paper and incense ashes, throwing them into the bonfire.

With a loud "boom," the once blazing red flame suddenly transformed into a faint green light.