Chapter 1035: Lion Dance

On the left side of the room stood a memorial tablet tower, surrounded by white candles. Each tablet was housed in its own niche and cabinet, and white couplets hung on either side of the tower. The upper couplet read: "Rituals follow generations," and the lower: "Order upholds human relations."

The grand decorations and numerous offerings around proved that this place was of a much higher caliber than the previous one. Wang Changxu's presence here clearly indicated his high status within the Minglun Hall.

Yet, at this moment, Zhuge Yuan's face showed no trace of joy. He stood frozen two zhang away, staring motionless at an item on the third offering table to his left.

It was a beast's head. More precisely, it was the head of an evil creature, a Jiaogua.

Zhuge Yuan recognized it so clearly because the grandmother who used to bring him meat every few days back in the village was a Jiaogua.

The beast's face from the past had always been so kind and amiable, but now, this one was exceptionally grim and terrifying.

Zhuge Yuan reached out, picked up the Jiaogua's head, and gently held it in his arms, then looked at the other offerings on the altar table.

Soon, he saw other familiar faces from the village. In this setting, these familiar faces brought him no comfort; instead, they sent chills through him.

"Little Brother Zhuge, what are you standing there for? Come quickly, this is not a place to linger!" Li Jinshu called out to Zhuge Yuan from a distance.

Zhuge Yuan, his expression now very complex, walked over. "Senior Brother Li, I understand that evil creatures and humans are irreconcilable, but why are these heads displayed? Do these items serve some special purpose?"

Li Jinshu, who was lighting incense, looked bewildered by the question. "What purpose could they have? They simply represent respect for our ancestors."

"But couldn't other things be displayed? They all possess consciousness and speak human languages."

"It is precisely because they possess spiritual consciousness that they are displayed. Otherwise, without it, they wouldn't even qualify to be here."

"But... why?" Bitterness filled Zhuge Yuan's eyes.

"There's no need for so many 'whys'; it's just the hall's rule."

"But—" Before Zhuge Yuan could finish his sentence, suddenly from the stack of memorial tablets, a bony hand with a whistling sound clamped over Li Jinshu's face, pulling him towards the stack of tablets.

Seeing him about to be dragged into the pile, Zhuge Yuan quickly took a few steps, abruptly grabbed Li Jinshu's arm, and held on tightly.

At this critical moment, Li Jinshu's third hand, holding a green-inked brush, emerged from his body.

As he quickly raised the brush to the back of his head, he first wrote the character "dou" (斗) in the center. Starting from the bottom of the vertical stroke, he circled right, turned sharply right downwards at the intersection, then abruptly flicked upwards to the right. The strange hand immediately released his face.

Pulled by Zhuge Yuan, Li Jinshu quickly retreated two steps, still shaken as he looked at the pile of memorial tablets before them. "Senior Li, what was that?"

"I don't know either; it wasn't here before. The hand had warmth, it seemed alive."

Before they could react, the strange hand emerged from the memorial tablets again. This time, it wasn't just one hand, but dozens, densely packed. As the white couplets on either side swayed, the pile of tablets seemed to come alive.

"Go! Something's wrong! Let's get out of here first!" Li Jinshu was about to turn, but arms extending from above and below wove together, forming a wall that blocked his path.

Seeing the situation was dire, a grim-faced Li Jinshu simultaneously took out brushes with all three of his hands, and began writing incantations on the ground around him.

The incantations were arranged in a spiral, deeply carved into the wood, and grew larger as he wrote.

A whistling sound arose, and the wall of hands pressed directly towards them.

Li Jinshu immediately used his three hands to grasp the edge of the spiral incantation, pulled it up into the air, and with all three hands, slapped its center firmly. The spiral design instantly flew forward, imprinting itself onto the wall of hands.

The spiral incantation, imbued with the sound of scripture chanting, rapidly rotated, and the sealed wall of flesh was forcibly twisted open, creating a hole.

Before the two could celebrate for a moment, more arms reached out, blocking their path again.

Li Jinshu gritted his teeth and picked up his brushes again, drawing towards the hands. Although he exerted himself greatly, it was clear he was no match for these hands. Before long, the situation became precarious.

Zhuge Yuan wanted to help, but this was a situation he couldn't possibly intervene in. His paltry skills were simply not enough in this predicament, and his eyes were filled with anxiety.

Seeing two of Li Jinshu's three brushes snatched away, Zhuge Yuan, whose mind was racing, glanced left and right, then turned directly and rushed towards the memorial tablet pile behind him.

"What are you doing going back?! Don't seek death!"

Li Jinshu's words were cut short; Zhuge Yuan had already rushed to the memorial tablets. He quickly searched among the offerings.

Just as two hands grabbed his arms, about to tear him in two, Zhuge Yuan's eyes suddenly lit up. He immediately reached out and picked up a large, evil beast's head from the offerings.

He raised the beast's head with both hands and swung it powerfully. As the left fangs of the beast's head slashed across an arm, the arm quickly withered and turned black. As the right fangs slashed across another arm, that hand rapidly turned inside out, its flesh and bones severed.

By utilizing the abilities of the evil creature's head, Zhuge Yuan's crisis was resolved.

Zhuge Yuan quickly made a few selections, then picked up two snake heads covered in long hair from the offerings and hung them from his sleeves, rushing towards the imperiled Li Jinshu.

As the snake heads hung on either side, his speed immediately increased significantly. Perhaps he didn't know much about other things, but he knew far too much about the various abilities of evil creatures.

Zhuge Yuan held the beast's head with both hands. Amidst the encirclement of strange hands, he twisted, turned, dodged, and attacked from left and right.

As the fur on the beast's head and the long hair on the snake heads flew up and down, Zhuge Yuan, at this moment, resembled a lion dancer performing a 'cai qing' or 'ascending to heights' routine, ducking, pouncing, spinning, and leaping.

The strange hands extending from the memorial tablets, under the attack of the beast head's fangs, had no power to resist at all. For a time, Zhuge Yuan slaughtered them, scattering them like defeated soldiers.

Before long, Zhuge Yuan, along with Li Jinshu, broke through the encirclement of strange hands, and rushed back to the wall of arms. They had escaped.

Seeing the arms rapidly emerging from the cracks in the wall of arms, still relentlessly pursuing them, Zhuge Yuan and Li Jinshu immediately pressed their hands against the wooden door and pushed hard.

With a "clank," the large door opened. Outside, the elderly man standing with his hands behind his back, exuding an aura of authority without anger, instantly dispelled the tense atmosphere in the room. Both the strange hands and Zhuge Yuan and Li Jinshu froze in place.

"Put them back." At the long-robed elder's light command, Li Jinshu quickly took the snake and beast heads from Zhuge Yuan's hands, and respectfully placed them back on the altar table.

"Nonsense!" A furious rebuke, laden with a mountain-like pressure, descended from behind. Zhuge Yuan strained with all his might to remain standing and not kneel.

"Grand-master, this disciple knows his mistake. I brought him here; this matter has nothing to do with him." Li Jinshu brazenly knelt and kowtowed.

Heavy footsteps sounded. The elder, whose beard was completely white, stepped forward and lit an incense stick for the memorial tablets.

He did not focus his attention on Li Jinshu, who was kneeling on the ground. Instead, his gaze settled on Zhuge Yuan.

"Boy, you're quite capable. Do you know that today's common folk's dragon and lion dances evolved from ancient people, just like you, using the heads of evil creatures to slay enemies?"