indescribable cyberpunk.

Chapter 188 The Puppet Ballad (110)

life and death
canopy puppet

line break

Leisurely
——Zeami's "Flower Mirror"

The poem is engraved on the mottled light gray stone wall, and it is the first place that any visitor to Brahma Myoji Temple will pass by and see.

Someone just glanced at it and strode past, holding a doll under his arm, rushing to occupy the next good position for the blessing ceremony later.

Some people stopped for a while, not to have any insight, but to stand in front of it and ask friends to quickly take a few photos so that they can be posted on social networks to show off.

There were also people like Zhu Jue, who stood in front of the wall, silent for a long time, and were stunned for a while.

That was the man I saw in the mask shop before, to be exact, the man in the cloak beside him, he just stood aside, asking something in a low voice.

"The meaning of this poem is that life is just like a puppet manipulating the body of the body through the thread of the soul. When the soul leaves the body, the remaining body is just scattered waste like a puppet with a broken thread That's all."

A tour guide nearby was explaining to the tourists who followed him. Those people listened half-understood, and soon someone shouted to visit the Brahma Mingwang Temple instead of surrounding a stone wall outside for analysis. go.

"The Brahma Mingwang Temple is really a magnificent building."

Li Qinglian's gaze also didn't stay on the stone wall for too long, and soon shifted to the building behind the wall. In the shock, she really couldn't think of any fancy words to describe it, so she could only smack her lips and sigh repeatedly. Wu Tong and Ao Li next to her Wei is the same.

When they came here, it was almost dusk, and the sunset glowed thousands of miles away. The orange light and the deep blue sky set off this side of the world.

Brahma Mingwang Temple, which has an octagonal layout as a whole, stands like a heavenly palace among the clouds and mist. It is a kind of magnificence that cannot be described in words, because it cannot be seen at a glance. Under infinite emotion.

"We may have to go in earlier, otherwise the square inside will be crowded with a lot of people later. The ceremony should be about to start, let's go."

Zhu Jue finally took a look at the man and the cloaked man over there, and unexpectedly found that the cloaked man seemed to be looking at him too, because his body was turned sideways, but Zhu Jue didn't care much, and brought a few people with him. Follow the crowd into Brahma Mingwang Temple.

Quite a number of people have already gathered in the square in front of Brahma Mingwang Temple, and in the most central position are some performers in costumes who are holding some plastic knives, guns, swords and halberds. It caused applause from the people around.

Relying on his strong body, Zhu Jue forced a lot of people to move forward.

"Look, they all have puppets in their hands."

Li Qinglian stood behind Zhu Jue, pointing at the puppet in front of the person who was either grasping it with her hand, or holding it under her arm, or carrying it on her shoulder. She had mentioned this issue on the way here. But I never said that I would buy two dolls to burn.

"They're starting to prepare."

Zhu Jue's eyes were always on the two empty roads separated by colored ribbons on the other side of the square. At this time, someone was driving a tall mechanical horse with colorful satin and charms pulling two iron basins with a diameter of nearly ten meters. I'm walking inside.

This is the first time Zhu Jue has seen such a scene.

It should be that the iron basin is too big to be pulled by ordinary horses, but if it is replaced with something like a truck, it will make people feel that it is against the law. After all, it is such a solemn blessing ceremony right now, and two large trucks are really going to drive over. , the atmosphere here is probably not disturbed at all.

So I don’t know who came up with this method to build two mechanical horses, and they are not of ordinary size, not counting the horse’s head, and the height of the horse’s back alone is about three meters high. As a prop for pulling the iron basin.

It stands to reason that things in this form should be a bit weird, but the miscellaneous things on the horse completely cover up the original technological elements on it, or use these bright things to divert people's attention.

The sound of the horseshoes kicking seems to coincide with a certain pattern. There are a few people wearing bright robes and painted faces standing on the horses and making various movements, holding white strips in their hands, some like According to the Chinese legend, the spirit evocation stick of the hell ecstasy envoy kept waving, and at the same time, he sang some scripture-like content that Zhu Jue could not understand at all.

And their performance is also extremely effective in taking people's attention away from the mechanical horse.

At first, it was the local residents of Rongxia City who stopped talking, and then the silence seemed to be contagious and quickly spread among everyone. In just a minute or two, the square that was originally full of people was a little quiet. People panic.

At this time, Zhu Jue saw a few people wearing gray cotton robes looking up at a certain place, curiously followed their gaze, and saw a stone pillar standing in the center of the square. There seems to be a statue on the top, but it is not very clear because of the angle of view. Zhu Jue recalled the scene he saw on the plane when he first came here.

Maybe it's the statue of Guan Erye?
The iron basin was erected on the central square, followed by another ceremonial performance, but this time it was more of a religious nature.

Some held two pieces of cymbals and kept beating, some held a staff with a strip of paper connected by a prismatic piece of paper in their hands, and some held a bell high and kept shaking it.

During this period of time, Zhu Jue has been staring at the pillar. As time goes by, the sunlight that can shine on the bottom of the stone pillar at first continues to move upwards, and the shadows continue to spread across the entire square from the Brahma Mingwang Temple. As the day came, the light in the square became increasingly dim, and the remaining sunset light finally turned into a somewhat decadent, gloomy golden brown.

When the sunlight did not reach the middle of the pillar, several people were divided into two teams. The person at the front was holding a mechanical stick with fireballs at both ends. The chanting of the people behind became mournful and long, and they circled the iron basin , singing non-stop.

It wasn't just them. After a while, the locals in Rongxia City also began to chant words. Like the quietness before, it was only a small-scale chant at first, and soon spread to the entire square. The content was not dry prayers, but It was the cadence that sang the words like a ballad:

Even if there is no moonlight day and night

The tiger thrush mourns as before

Looking back suddenly

It seems that comfort is gone

The New World of Gods

Nightingale tiger thrush

pray to god

Floating life and self-sorrow
dream is gone

Hate drifting

These people are not humming indiscriminately, it is more like they have been practicing for a long time, and they only show their abilities at fixed times of the year. The rather ancient style of singing is matched with the strange and sad style of music, like Zhu Jue The foreigner, just listened to a short passage and couldn't help but be completely addicted to it. Immediately, the whole person's spirit was a little relaxed, and he merged into this decadent and sacred atmosphere.

Yes, Zhu Jue privately thought that this atmosphere was decadent and sacred, and what happened next deepened his thinking.

As the ceremony progressed, the iron basin suddenly burst into flames.

The darkness that has been waiting for a long time is illuminated by the fire, as if the light is rekindled in the darkness or it symbolizes the new life in the last days
At this time, everyone began to wear masks quite solemnly.

Zhu Jue looked around, and what he saw were hideous ghost faces illuminated by the firelight, and strange facial makeup. For some reason, he felt that it seemed normal for such scenes to appear at this time.

But the so-called normal here is actually normal in line with the surrounding atmosphere. In his opinion, this is still a slightly weird ritual behavior.

Of course, he also put on a mask at this time.

The most important part of the ceremony began at this time. Wave after wave of people came forward and threw the puppets enshrining their sins and desires into the brazier, expecting that the fire would completely destroy them and save them for themselves. Reward.

Even this kind of prayer itself represents some kind of desire
Zhu Jue just stood quietly in the crowd, his eyes fell on the puppets in the brazier, those delicate and lifelike puppets were burned by the flames and their gorgeous shells were peeled off, revealing the ashes underneath The brown body and long hair like a waterfall were burnt to nothing.

The so-called burning of sins means that they will bear it on their own behalf.

Zhu Jue always felt that something was wrong.

"Why let them be burned?"

someone asked.

"Because these people are unwilling to atone for their sins, they want these dead things to atone for their sins in exchange for spiritual comfort."

The young man looked at the man in the cloak beside him with love in his eyes.

"They are not puppets, how do you know that those puppets are dead things without souls? I remember that some of you humans said this sentence: Zi is not a fish, how can I know the joy of fish? Then can I say that Zi is not a human?" Oh, Anzhi puppet is painless and fearless?"

"Haha, how can dolls and fish be confused? They don't have life and emotions at all. Not every doll is like you."

In his eyes, only the "person" in front of him is unique, and the others are lifeless dead objects.

"Is it different? In my eyes, you are different, and I and they are of the same kind. Will you throw me into that brazier one day to atone for your sin?"

"Of course not! Suzi, you are my beloved wife, this is a matter of fate, since you suddenly have self-awareness, can't you still not see my love for you, I will not allow you to leave me, Absolutely not allowed, even if I try my best, I will not let those people take you away from me!"

Speaking of this, there was more determination and sadness in the young man's eyes.

The person under the cloak did not respond to his words, but looked at a special machine in the brazier. Compared with the puppets around it, it was obviously more advanced. It was a drivable mechanical doll
"Do you hate it?"

Talk to yourself softly.

The mechanical puppet in the fire suddenly stood up the next moment!

　I have thought about this chapter for a long time, and I hope everyone is satisfied. I may ask for a leave tomorrow to sort out my thoughts.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)