Xie Lian stood up at once. Shi Qingxuan also stepped onto the table, rolled up his sleeves and seemed ready to rush down. But Xie Lian quickly held him back and said, "It's okay, Master Feng, calm down."

Shi Qingxuan asked: "Is it okay even if the eyeballs are squeezed out???"

Xie Lian said, “It’s alright. It’s really rare to see the Blood Festival here.”

Shi Qingxuan quickly took his feet off the table and asked, "Blood Festival? What is that?"

The two of them sat down again, and Xie Lian said, “Different places have different schools of community fire. The blood community fire is a special school, which is extremely rare. I have only heard of it, but never seen it, because its performance is bloody and bizarre, and the makeup technique is top secret and not passed on to outsiders. Now it is becoming less and less.”

Shi Qingxuan was stunned: "Makeup? Are these all fake? This, this, this... this is too realistic, I thought it was some evil trick!"

What he said was not an exaggeration. Xie Lian also sighed, "There are so many talented people among the people."

Look at the performers in the parade. Not only do the weapons on their foreheads penetrate the wood, but some of them have broken intestines, missing arms and legs, crawling on the ground, crying and screaming. There are also a few people carrying a tall wooden frame, with a woman hanging on the beam, with a rope tied around her neck, as if she had hanged herself. Two more people came, dragging a girl's legs. The girl's clothes were torn to shreds, and she was dragged face down all the way, leaving a long bloodstain on the ground. It was really like a scene in hell. It was clearly a performance by people, but it was much more terrifying than the ghost market where ghosts were everywhere. Compared to this place, the ghost market was simply a bustling human market. I really don't know how that makeup was done. Even though Xie Lian had heard of this tradition, he almost thought it was a demon when he saw it for the first time.

Many women and children could not help but squeeze in front of the crowd to see out of curiosity, but when they really saw it, they were so scared that they screamed and retreated. Shi Qingxuan said, "Your Highness, didn't you say that the community fire was for celebration? How can you celebrate like this? People will be scared away, and the little girls will have nightmares. Can people really feel happy after watching this kind of performance?"

It is hard to say whether people will be happy after watching this kind of performance. In fact, killing and seeing blood can indeed make people excited. Regardless of whether there is fear or not, after the fear, many people will also feel a sense of pleasure in their hearts. This kind of bloody social fire seems to have a name in the dialect called "刺快乐火". Xie Lian's understanding is: if you stab someone hard with a knife and kill them, you will feel happy in your heart.

Deep in people's hearts, there is a desire for "killing".

However, Xie Lian certainly would not say so much, and only watched intently for a while. In the mighty parade, there was a white-faced man in black, tall and skinny, holding a sharp weapon, and suddenly smashed it on the head of a performer in gorgeous clothes. The knife immediately pierced into the other person's head. He then used a knife to pick up the other person and hung him in the air. It was extremely cruel and bloody, just like a real murder on the spot, which scared the crowd and made them scream and cheer. Xie Lian said: "I guess they are performing a story. This man in black should be the protagonist, and the people he killed should all be villains, the evil ones. The whole story is to express 'punishing evil and promoting good'."

At this point, Xie Lian’s heart suddenly moved, and he said, “Master Fengshi, look carefully.”

Shi Qingxuan said: "I'm watching."

Xie Lian said, “I want you to watch the story. To see who they are acting out and what kind of story it is. The Immortal Baihua must have sent you here for a reason. It just happened to be today, maybe just to let you watch this bloody festival.”

The black-clothed man frowned, his expression painful. He "killed" hundreds of "evil men" in the team by himself, and was stabbed by various sharp weapons. In the end, he hugged several "corpses" with torn skin and flesh and white silk hanging from their throats, and hung his head motionless. It turned out that they all died together. As one team passed by, the next team continued to perform, and the cycle continued. Xie Lian said, "Do you see what the story is?"

Shi Qingxuan frowned and said, "No. I don't think I really understand it. He just kills people."

Hua Cheng was beside Xie Lian, and he said leisurely, “I don’t think this story is well-known. Ask the locals if it’s selected from the local biography.”

Just then, the waiter came up to serve the dishes and asked, "Dear guests, is it good? Is it exciting?"

Xie Lian said, “It’s beautiful and exciting. Second brother, may I ask, who is the actor in the Blood Festival in your town?”

Sure enough, the waiter said, "Well, outsiders usually don't know about this, so they have to ask. The community fire in our Bogu Town is about the story of a local legendary figure. According to legend, hundreds of years ago, there was a scholar here named He.

"This He Sheng, although his family is very poor, he is very capable. He has been extremely smart since he was a child. He learns everything very quickly and is well-known for being a filial son. Nothing he does can be said to be impeccable. But he is just very unlucky. Any good thing that happens to him never lasts long.

"He studied and took exams, and clearly scored the best. However, because he did not give gifts to the examiners, he offended his superiors, and his papers were deliberately hidden and replaced with blank papers. He was not on the list for several years. He was engaged, and his fiancée was his childhood sweetheart, beautiful as a flower, gentle and virtuous, but his wife and sister were both taken away by wealthy families to become concubines. One refused and was beaten to death, and the other could not bear the humiliation and committed suicide. He went to argue, but was falsely accused of adultery and theft, thrown into prison and not given food, and almost starved to death. His parents, who were in their seventies, kowtowed all night to plead for him, but it was useless. He was imprisoned for two years before being released. His mother had no one to take care of her and died of illness early, and his father, who was still old, had to work hard to support the family and was only left with one breath. He stopped studying and went into business, but because he was too successful, other big merchants united to suppress him, and the little money he earned was taken away, and he still owed a lot of debts."

“…”

The guy sighed and said, "Tell me, everyone, how could this person be so unlucky?"

Xie Lian coughed lightly and said sincerely, “Yes.”

How could anyone else be so unlucky besides him!

After the clerk finished sighing, he said with great joy, "Then this man went crazy and lost his temper. One night, just like today, the day before the Cold Dew, he brought a bunch of weapons and hacked to death all those who had hurt him! The killing was so bloody and fleshy, and it was so satisfying! Because those people he killed had been bullying the villagers for a long time, everyone applauded. So later, every day before the Cold Dew, the town would hold a blood festival to commemorate him, hoping that Lord Hesheng would bless us and kill the evildoers."

It is said that they punish evil and promote good, but in the end, neither good nor evil has a good ending. The man went down, and Xie Lian saw that Shi Qingxuan was thinking about something, so he asked, "Master Feng, do you have any ideas?"

Shi Qingxuan came back to his senses and said, "I seem to have some inexplicable ideas, but... it's still too inexplicable to explain. What about you, Your Highness?"

Xie Lian said, “I was wondering, could this He Sheng be the predecessor of Bai Hua Zhen Xian?”

As he was talking, the next parade started to play out the story again. Shi Qingxuan looked down again and asked, "Predecessor?"

Xie Lian said, “Yes. The origin of this kind of humanoid spirit is often related to a person’s particularly strong resentment or obsession. For example, I heard that there is a kind of ghost in Japan called ‘Hashihime’, which is formed by the resentment of a woman. Rumor has it that it is caused by the sadness of a woman who waits for her husband to return, and there are also rumors that it is caused by the madness of a jealous woman. If it is said that the formation of the Baihua Immortal was originally caused by someone who was entangled in misfortune, hatred for the unfortunate fate, or jealousy of the lucky people, it is not impossible?”

Mingyi said, "Check the local history. We need the exact time."

Xie Lian said, “Yes, we need to check.”

To know whether this possibility is true, we need to check whether this "He Sheng" appeared hundreds of years ago. If the time of his appearance is later than the earliest record of Baihua Xianren, then it is not true. Shi Qingxuan nodded, thought about it, and said: "There is another small thing..."

At this moment, a voice suddenly came from below, laughing: "Just wait! Your closest relatives and best friends will all die without a burial place because of you!"

Hearing this, Shi Qingxuan's face changed suddenly. He pressed his left hand on the table and floated down to the restaurant.

The sound came from the parade crowd!

Xie Lian shouted from upstairs, “Master Wind Master! Come back!”

Shi Qingxuan landed among the bloody zombies and shouted angrily, "Get out! Get out!!!"

However, the performers looked expressionless, completely ignoring him, and continued to sleepwalk forward. Shi Qingxuan was carried around by the crowd in the team, and he couldn't tell which one was suspicious. He saw this one suspicious and was about to hit him with a fan, and then he saw that the other one was even more suspicious. If he hit the wrong one, it would be a life. Hua Cheng arranged the untouched vegetables on his plate into a smiling face, without raising his head, and said, "It's useless. It's easy for an old monster with thousands of years of practice to hide his fox tail."

It would be too easy for something inhuman to sneak into such a strange parade. Moreover, the Baihua Immortal's appearance is very similar to that of a human, not to mention that he is the most powerful Baihua Immortal among them.

After a while, Ming Yi also jumped down the stairs and carried Shi Qingxuan out. The group left the street and walked towards the Feng Shui temple. Shi Qingxuan's hand holding the fan was still shaking slightly. Compared to being frightened at the beginning, he seemed to be angry now. He walked out of the restaurant with a wine pot, walked for a while, took a big sip, and the bloodshot in his eyes gradually dissipated. He said: "Brother Ming, you should not be my best friend for the time being. Wait until I kill this ghost thing and then you can be my best friend again!"

Ming Yi said bluntly: "Who is that? I am not that person."

"..." Shi Qingxuan was furious, "Brother Ming, this is really boring. Can't you just turn your back on me when the situation becomes critical???"

They argued and quarreled for a while. Xie Lian shook his head, took out two things from his sleeves, and said, “I think you should use these, Master Fengshi.”

Shi Qingxuan picked up the phone and asked, "Earplugs?"

Xie Lian nodded and said, “Although this method is stupid and can’t cure the root cause, it is still effective for the time being. As long as you can’t hear, that thing can’t do anything to you. I have set up a formation, and the password to enter the formation is ‘Blessings from the Heavenly Officials, no taboos’. From now on, let’s all be in the formation first while we talk to you.”

Shi Qingxuan plugged his ears and could hear nothing. The four of them entered the formation one after another. At this time, Xie Lian suddenly heard Hua Cheng's voice whispering in his ear: "Brother, brother."

Xie Lian looked up, only to see Hua Cheng blinking at him without saying anything. However, his voice was still ringing in his ears: “Don’t you have something to tell me? Since you didn’t come to me, I had to come to you.”

Xie Lian smiled and replied, “Who told you to set the password like that?”

Hua Cheng said: "Okay, okay. My fault."

Shi Qingxuan adjusted the position of his earplugs and saw that the two of them were silent but smiling at each other. He wondered in the spiritual communication array, "Your Highness the Crown Prince and Xueyu Tanhua, what are you two doing? Are you exchanging passwords and talking secretly?"

Xie Lian coughed lightly and said solemnly in the formation, “That’s not the case.”

Hua Cheng raised his eyebrows slightly and said in a voice transmission: "You are lying."

Xie Lian’s feet slipped, and while pretending to be serious and walking forward without looking sideways, he replied, “Sanlang, please stop teasing me… I need your help with something.”

The two walked side by side, their eyes not meeting. Hua Cheng asked, "What's the matter?"

Xie Lian replied, “Cooperate with me to test whether this person is the Baihua Zhenxian.”