On the 28th day of the first lunar month, this day without any special significance is the most important day of the year for the entire southern Yunnan, because it is a great day for them to worship the God of Spring and pray for good weather and all the best this year. It is more valued than New Year's Eve, Mid-Autumn Festival and other festivals.

This is not only due to the habits of the barbarians in southern Yunnan for hundreds of years, but also affected by the geography of southern Yunnan. Because there are many mountains, few plains and poor land in southern Yunnan, the local grain output has always been low. Only those years of good weather can fill the granaries and the people do not have to endure hunger, which makes their demand for a good climate far exceeds that of the people elsewhere.

In their tradition, the Spring God is in charge of the existence of the year of storms. This god can control the four seasons of storms, which determines the survival of everyone. At this time of year, various parts of southern Yunnan naturally have to sacrifice and celebrate. Even Han officials from the Central Plains must participate with all their hearts and dare not slackew on the slightest.

Today, tens of thousands of people gathered on the plain more than ten miles outside the suburbs of Chuxiong Mansion, waiting for the start of the final sacrifice. This made Li Ling and others, who were at the forefront of this team, unconsciously opened their eyes and were amazed. This almost brought the entire city residents and several groups of troops here. This scale alone was more grand and lively than the celebrations of many festivals in the Central Plains.

Moreover, this was due to the fact that many changes occurred in the city yesterday, and the soldiers and horses came out to take down many suspicious people. The enthusiasm of the people has not diminished slightly. When they saw the huge statue of the Spring God made of colorful soil in the high place in front of them, they cheered and prayed. Many people have already kneeled down and bowed down first. How pious it is.

However, amid the continuous prayer of the people, the crowd in front of them was one point. Then hundreds of people wearing colorful dresses, disheveled hair, and difficult to distinguish between men and women rushed forward quickly. When they came to the statue of the Spring God, they suddenly dispersed and danced with rhythmic dances. At the same time, they chanted a tune with extremely strange rhythm and vocalization, buzzing like a sing of Sanskrit and chanting mantras.

Seeing that Li Ling and others were confused, Xiao Chengzhi next to him smiled and introduced: "This is the beginning of today's sacrifice to the God of Spring. These people are the most famous wizards in various places. They are dancing and calling the God of Singing and singing the tune of the God of Summoning. Only in this way can the God of Spring be invited from heaven and communicate in the next step."

After Li Ling and his wife understood this explanation, they all showed curiosity, and they took two steps forward without realizing it, trying to see the dance movements of those people and hear the changes in the strange syllables.

However, the singing and dancing are too weird, and everyone's dance movements are different. In Li Ling's eyes, they often look like crazy dancing, and the singing sound is even more difficult to be unified. The high and low scales are mixed together, and listening carefully makes people dizzy and they can only give up in the end.

Of course, the Han people who had just come to southern Yunnan were a little dissatisfied with this, but the people around, whether they were officials, leaders, soldiers or ordinary people, were all kneeling down and muttering. Even Xiao Chengzhi looked solemn and bowed his knees.

Seeing this, the few people were not easy to be special, and they knelt down one after another. However, their eyes were not only swept across the statue of the gods over there, but they often looked around, and they always felt that this time they went out of the city to worship the god of spring, which made people feel uneasy.

However, when tens of thousands of people gather here and in front of such an important statue, Li Ling really doesn't think those guys dare to attack Xiao Ding. After all, if they really want to attack here, they will be disrespectful to the God of Spring, which will inevitably arouse the anger of all the barbarians.

As time went by, the crowd of people who were kowtowing and praying here was nothing, but the wizards and priests dancing madly around the statue in front were obviously a little tired. As another high-pitched singing turned low, their movements gradually slowed down. Finally, the group of people paused at the same time, and knelt on the ground in one go, just in a circle around the statue.

It can be said that this chaotic dance was the most uniform one. However, the chanting in their mouths continued, but the sound was no longer as loud as before.

At this time, a wizard located in the middle of the statue suddenly shook his body, then quickly turned around and shouted something in the local dialect of barbarians. Just when Li Ling and others were still a little confused, everyone around was already boiling and worshiping again, and the local dialect of the Mandarin continued to gush out, praying for the blessing of the God of Spring, and wishing for good weather and all peace this year.

Obviously, what this person said should be that the gods have arrived, so everyone seemed particularly excited and pious at this moment. Even Xiao Ding bowed solemnly and did not dare to be careless.

After these prayers were over, everyone stood up, and then Xiao Ding and Gao Duan, two leader of the clan, and many other noble tribe leaders, took steps forward.

Originally, everyone was worshiping the God of Spring more than a mile away from the statue of the gods, and only those wizards stepped forward. At this time, these patriarchs representing various tribes came forward to sacrifice. This was obviously one part of the entire spring sacrifice, and it should be the most critical part, otherwise these noble clan leaders would not come here deliberately.

However, when he saw Xiao Ding standing out surrounded by the barbarian leaders, Li Ling's heart suddenly tightened. This was the most dangerous moment after coming to Chuxiong! If the thieves were really willing to plot against Xiao Ding, this was obviously the best opportunity, because at this time he had already escaped from the protection of the guard team. Once he was assassinated, there would be no time for everyone to rescue him.

Especially the barbarian leaders around him, they all looked so burly and fierce, with some people wearing weapons on their waists. If they wanted to stab them with their backhand, Xiao Ding would be in danger.

"You all look at it, don't make any mistakes here." Li Ling quickly whispered to remind him.

In fact, it was not necessary for him to tell me that the Yang brothers had already held the hilt of the knife tightly and stared at the front without a moment. If anything happened, they would definitely take action in time.

But soon, the situation ahead changed a little. After a few steps, the teams that were originally going forward suddenly became disconnected and pulled apart. Many people stopped and continued to bow, and only a few people in the middle continued to move forward. After such changes, only three people were left standing under the statue of the gods, which were Xiao Ding, Duan Siyu and Gao Wenyi.

Obviously, among the many people present, the three of them had the highest status, especially Xiao Ding, who represented the imperial court. So he was in the middle, facing the statue of the Spring God, and knelt down again. Although the other two people were the same, they became foils.

Seeing that the two of them had also distanced a certain distance from him, it seemed difficult to threaten them, Li Ling's heart slowly fell. Perhaps this was because he was too concerned. Even if those people were brave, they would not dare to attack Xiao Ding on such an important spring festival. After all, the entire southern Yunnan barbarians would offend this.

Xiao Ding, who was already performing sacrifices, seemed to have no concerns at all, and was still conducting the worship that he should have, muttering words, kowtowed from time to time, and then slightly raised his head to glance at the tall statue of the god. The statue of the god of spring is indeed high enough, and its magic is more than three meters high. Such a condescending posture will really put a lot of pressure on the ordinary people kneeling in front of him.

After the prayers were completed, Xiao Ding and the other two rose up one after another, walked around the statue of the gods, and then turned around and rushed to the people who were still praying devoutly in front of them: "Dear fellow villagers, the God of Spring has accepted our prayers. This year, our southern Yunnan will surely have good luck and good harvests..."

"Kow on thanking the God of Spring..." Almost everyone bowed down again at this moment, loudly thanking the God of Spring. The voices of tens of thousands of people gathered together and soared into the sky. This momentum could shock the birds in the sky.

Just as everyone bowed and was about to get up, Li Ling heard Xiao Chengzhi beside him suddenly whisper: "He's coming, Brother Li must be careful."

"Hmm?" Li Ling's heart suddenly tightened. Did he notice that something was going to happen? The Yang brothers and Li Moyun even tightened the hilt that had just been released again to prevent a sudden change.

"Fight for spring. The last of the spring festival every year is to compete for spring, which can bring good harvests to all ethnic groups and cities..." Xiao Chengzhi said, his body, which was originally kneeling on the ground, was full of strength, and his hands and feet were full of strength.

Li Ling and the others looked around again in a daze, and then they found that almost everyone, regardless of men, women, young and old, had all taken the stance of rushing forward with all their might. What are they going to do?

When they were still a little confused and wondering what would happen next, Xiao Ding on the other side had suddenly thrown a colorful silk tied around his waist into the air. The thin silk cloth drifted in the wind for a few times and then slowly landed on the ground.

As soon as the colorful silk touched the ground, a howl rang out of the crowd. In a whirlwind, countless figures were running forward at full speed, including Xiao Chengzhi.

His speed was also extremely fast, which made Li Ling and the others not have time to ask, but there was only one afterimage still left in the same place, but after he had already knocked away the two people in front, he rushed towards the statue first.

The others also reacted normally. Everyone tried their best to rush towards the Spring God more than a mile away, as if the statue of the god turned into real gold and silver at this moment. Looking at the way they opened their hands to grab them while running, they knew that it was completely aimed at the statue of the god itself.

This... Li Ling and his friends were tilted around while being constantly stormed by the people behind them, and then they understood that this was obviously an important ceremony for the Spring Festival. Only when they didn't know about it would appear out of place.
Chapter completed!