Xie Lian never expected that someone would actually hand him a wine glass.

Blame him for reacting too quickly, taking the drink without thinking, and then being stunned. However, looking at the person who handed over the drink, the other person was also stunned - it was Ming Yi.

It turned out that the wine glass had just been passed to Shi Qingxuan, who deliberately passed it to Mingyi for fun. Mingyi was drinking and eating without even looking at it, and only realized what had happened after it was passed, and was speechless. At the same time, the thunder stopped abruptly, leaving the two of them staring at each other.

Although it was Xie Lian who took the wine cup, everyone's eyes were on Feng Xin and Mu Qing. It was not difficult to understand the reason. Xie Lian had been unknown for more than 800 years. 800 years ago, there were certainly many books about his good deeds, but they had long been lost. Moreover, no one would set up a stage for him to perform on this day. So if you have to find a play with the character "Prince Xianle", then the only play with Feng Xin or Mu Qing as the protagonist.

Because, when folk operas were making up stories for these two priests, they would occasionally use Xie Lian, usually as a foil, or even as a minor role, to make the play more exciting, and directly change Xie Lian into a villain, arranging some jokes such as bullying Mu Qing who was lonely and helpless or stealing Feng Xin's love with a sword. If such a play was really performed at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, no matter whether the protagonists of the story were happy or not, the rest of the spectators would definitely be happy. Xie Lian was holding the small jade cup, and a priest had already urged him to open it: "Your Highness, come on, come on, drink it!"

There were a few more people urging him to drink, and Feng Xin said from a distance: "Your Highness the Crown Prince cannot drink."

Everyone said, "It's just one cup! It's okay."

Jun Wu had been resting his hand on his forehead, not saying a word, but now he stood up slightly, as if he was about to speak. Shi Qingxuan also asked from the side: "Can you do it? If not, forget it. I will help you to pay 100,000 merits to draw the curtain."

“…” Xie Lian was afraid that he would really waste the 100,000 merits in an impulse. No matter how generous he was, he would not be so generous. Besides, he had seen all kinds of plays, so there was no particularity. He hurriedly said, “No, no, one glass should be fine.” After saying that, he drank the wine in one gulp.

The wine went down his throat, and the place where it slid down was first cool and then hot. Xie Lian felt a little dizzy, but after a while, he suppressed the dizziness. The curtains on all sides of the small building were slowly drawn up, and everyone shifted their gaze, ready to concentrate on watching the show.

At first glance, I was surprised to see two people standing on the stage. One was dressed in white, with powder on his face, covered in dust, and carrying a bamboo hat on his back. It must be Xie Lian. The other was dressed in red, with black hair like lacquer, handsome and lively, with a look of spirit. A long snake was coiled in his hand, and was snatched away by "Xie Lian". The red-dressed man immediately snatched the snake away and held "Xie Lian's" hand and wouldn't let go. His expression was really as if his heart had been stabbed with a knife.

This scene stunned all the priests who were waiting to see the show. Of course, Xie Lian himself was also stunned. At this time, Jun Wu, who was at the head of the banquet, laughed and said, "What kind of book is this? Why does it look like I've never seen it before?"

Lingwen immediately asked someone to check it out and said, "This play seems to be called "A Strange Journey to the Half Moon Kingdom". It is a new play, so I have never seen it before. Tonight is the first time it is performed in the human world."

Shi Qingxuan said to Xie Lian, “It must have been written by someone from the group of merchants from Ban Yue Country who returned last time. It saves merit, so there’s no need to draw the curtain.”

Xie Lian did not comment. The only people who knew about the Half Moon Kingdom were the merchants. He remembered that a young man named Tiansheng in the caravan did say that he wanted to thank him and offer him sacrifices. Could it be that Tiansheng paid someone to write this play? However, he did not tell Tiansheng his name, and a young boy might not be able to do this.

On the other side, although the priests did not see the drama they imagined, the drama before their eyes was certainly more exciting. After all, if the rumors were true, then the man in red was Hua Cheng!

There are many plays about the Blood Rain Scholar in the human world. However, they are often the kind of scenes that make people in the heaven shed tears silently after watching the scenes like "The red-clothed ghosts burned down the thirty-three temples and the heaven dared not fart" and "The Blood Rain Scholar beat the civil and military gods with one hand with one hand". I wonder what this script will be like? Anyway, the protagonist is Xie Lian. Everyone always feels that he is out of place and does not classify him as one of the "insiders" of the heaven, so it doesn't hurt to watch it. Moreover, the stage of this play is exquisite, the production is excellent, and the characters in the play look very good. It is simply a conscientious masterpiece. Therefore, it is inevitable that people will shout out in their hearts that it is addictive, and comment on it while watching:

"Really? You must be making this up. Hua Cheng would never talk to someone like that!"

"Nonsense, absolute nonsense!"

"What kind of story has this drama made about Hua Cheng? Wake up! This isn't a romantic story, how dare you make it up like this!"

After all, it was a play written specifically for him, and Xie Lian watched it carefully. To be honest, this play is good. The appearance is good, and the acting is good. However, as the actor, he has a small opinion: the two protagonists seem a little too close.

The actor who played himself was quite skilled, but every time he called out "San Lang", although his tone was not particularly ups and downs or lingering, Xie Lian felt that it was more unsettling than when "Feng Shi Niang Niang" called "Shui Shi Da" "Lang Jun" or "Husband". Moreover, there seemed to be too many small movements, such as hooking hands, hugging shoulders, and hugging people, which always felt a little inappropriate.

But, thinking carefully, he did call Huacheng like that, and he did do those actions. He thought it was okay at the time, and now he should think it is okay. Looking at the other priests, although they cursed and talked nonsense, they were still watching with great interest, staring intently, and were very excited, so he had to shut up. As they watched, Shi Wudu suddenly said, "What are those two servants at the back doing?"

When they heard the word "servant", Feng Xin and Mu Qing both froze for a moment without noticing.

Ling Wen said: "Those are not two servants. They should be two junior military officers from the Zhongtian Court. At the beginning, they were recruited from Nanyang Palace and Xuanzhen Palace to help His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in an emergency."

It was a strange story that someone from Nanyang Hall and Xuanzhen Hall would come to Xie Lian's rescue. It sounded as incredible as Pei Ming righteously rejecting a stunning beauty who threw herself at him. All the priests looked over. Lingwen added, "They went there voluntarily."

Xie Lian smiled and said, “I forgot to ask, are Nanfeng and Fuyao okay? Why didn’t I see them hanging out today?”

Feng Xin said: "The south wind... is..."

Mu Qing said calmly: "Fuyao is in solitary confinement."

Feng Xin immediately said, "Nan Feng is also in confinement."

Xie Lian said, “Oh,” and said, “Both of them are closed? What a pity.”

As they were talking, the play came to an end. Although it was unanimously considered to be the fantasy of ignorant believers, the fantasy of Huacheng was so exciting that it won the applause of the whole audience. However, Pei Su was exiled because of Banyueguan, and after everyone had enough of it, they had to pay some attention to Pei Ming. Shi Wudu said: "General Pei, how is your little Pei now?"

Pei Ming poured himself a drink and shook his head, "What else can I do? He doesn't pay attention to the things he should pay attention to. I can't control him."

On this side, Shi Qingxuan couldn't listen any more, and said with a chuckle: "So, in General Pei's eyes, what should be taken seriously? Your future is your future, but the future of the girl is not, right?"

His tone was not good, and Shi Wudu glanced over and said, "Qingxuan, you are not allowed to be rude!"

As soon as he reprimanded, Shi Qingxuan lowered his head in embarrassment. Seeing this, Pei Ming laughed and said, "Brother Shui, your brother is so powerful, and only you can control him. It's okay for him to provoke me now, but if he provokes someone he shouldn't in the future, he won't give you the same face as I do."

Shi Wudu spread out his fan and continued to teach his brother a lesson, saying: "Did you hear what General Pei said? Also, how many times have I told you not to walk around outside like this all the time? It's unbecoming. I don't care what you like to look like, you must show your true appearance when you go out!"

Although Shi Qingxuan loved women very much and was very dissatisfied, he still didn't dare to contradict his brother. Xie Lian thought: "Master Feng said he was not afraid of his brother, but that might not be entirely true." Unexpectedly, Shi Wudu finally said: "What if you meet someone like General Pei who has great magical powers and bad intentions!"

Ling Wen laughed, and Pei Ming almost spit out his drink again. He said, "Senior Brother Shui! If you keep doing this, we won't be able to talk."

After a round of eating, we finally welcomed the final Doudeng section with toasts.

In the fairy capital, all the candles and lights were extinguished, except for the moonlight, everything was dark. Feasting by the lake, waving away the smoke and fog on the lake, through the clear flowing lake water, you can see the dark world below, as dark as the abyss.

The lantern competition is about the number of ever-burning prayer lanterns enshrined in the largest and most famous temple of a priest on the Mid-Autumn Festival. A long-burning prayer lantern is worth a fortune and will never go out. The order of the lantern competition is from the fewest to the most. When it is the turn of a priest, the lanterns offered by his followers will float up from below to the heavens, illuminating the long dark night, which is extremely beautiful.

This year, the Shenwu Hall has 961 ever-burning lanterns, a number of nearly a thousand, unprecedented. The priests all think that the number will definitely exceed a thousand next year, but this is not the point. If the first is always the first, then the first loses its meaning, so everyone has automatically eliminated the Shenwu Hall in the lantern competition.

What was really funny was that when the lantern competition started, the first one to appear was actually the Rain Master. When Xie Lian saw a small bright lantern slowly and crookedly rising into the sky, and then heard "Rain Master Hall, one lantern!", he almost suspected that he was actually drunk and hadn't sobered up yet. In any case, there wouldn't be only one lantern. In order to confirm that he was not drunk, he asked Shi Qingxuan: "Did you report it correctly?"

Shi Qingxuan said, "No. It's really just one. It's just this one, and it was provided by the cow in Master Yu's family just to support the show."

Offering to oneself, this behavior is really kind. Xie Lian thought about it. The Rain Master is in charge of rain, so he is also the god of agriculture. He guessed, "Could it be that most of the followers of the Rain Master are farmers, so there is no money for offerings?"

Shi Qingxuan said, "Your Highness, do you have any misunderstandings about farmers? Many farmers are very rich, okay? In fact, it is because Master Yu said that it is better to farm than to have money to offer lamps, so believers always offer fresh fruits and vegetables."

After hearing this, Xie Lian was extremely envious and thought to himself, "There is such a wonderful thing."

However, Master Qingxuan added: "Later, Master Yu said not to waste anything, so generally the offerings are left for two days and then the believers take them back and eat them themselves."

“…”

There were a few minor priests in the front, and the number of ever-burning lanterns ranged from a few to dozens, and no one was interested. However, as time went on, the light became brighter and brighter each time the lanterns were raised, and everyone became more focused. If it weren't for the special priests announcing the number, the number of lanterns could be seen at a glance, and the dense array of lanterns flying up would be impossible to count. Xie Lian didn't know anything, so he didn't make any comments. He concentrated on appreciating the beauty of the bright lanterns illuminating the dark night, and by the way, listened to other people's analysis of the current situation of the lantern battle. Although he felt that there was nothing to analyze about this matter. About two incense sticks later, the finale finally arrived. The Mid-Autumn Festival Lantern Battle began, and the final battle between the top ten began.

As Xie Lian heard the priest announcing the last of the ten, he said in a loud voice, “Qiying Hall, four hundred and twenty-one lamps!”

Quan Yizhen had already left the scene, and the other priests could not hide their sighs after hearing this number. This Western Martial God was still young, but he was extremely powerful. For a priest with the same qualifications as him, having two hundred Eternal Lamps was already a lot, but he had more than double that. Lang Qianqiu, who had ascended a little longer than him, had slightly fewer Eternal Lamps than him, which was really amazing. But Xie Lian felt that this young man was not very popular in the Upper Heaven, because apart from himself and Shi Qingxuan, almost no one was truly amazed by this amazing number.

Next, the Earth Master Hall, 444 lamps. Mingyi drank two more sips of soup and didn't show any other reaction, but Shi Qingxuan was even more excited than him, saying "lower, lower" repeatedly. Since everyone was not very familiar with the Earth Master, they clapped their hands as a routine, thinking it was a congratulation. Then it was Shi Qingxuan's turn, the Wind Master Hall, 523 lamps.

It is easy to tell whether a person is popular or not. After announcing the number of eternal lanterns in the Wind Master Hall, Shi Qingxuan hadn't spoken yet when the applause at the banquet suddenly became louder, with "congratulations" and "well-deserved" everywhere. Shi Qingxuan was very proud, and he stood up and bowed to everyone, and shouted to Shi Wudu: "Brother, I am eighth this year!"

He looked like he was asking his parents for a reward after being praised by the master. Xie Lian couldn’t help laughing when he saw this, but Shi Wudu scolded him, “It’s only eighth. What’s there to be happy about?”

His words were actually very arrogant. In the entire Upper Heaven, who is an ordinary person? Five hundred eternal lamps, ranked eighth, but he said it was "just", then the priests ranked after the eighth place were not even as good as "just"? He was not unaware that this was inappropriate, but he just wanted to say it because he was not afraid. Shi Qingxuan's face fell, Shi Wudu shook his fan, and reluctantly said: "However, there are more lamps than last year, and there must be more next year."

Hearing this, Shi Qingxuan laughed again. In the entire banquet, Mingyi was the only one who was eating with an indifferent look on his face and didn't cheer for him, so Shi Qingxuan patted him twice and wanted to ask him for congratulations. Mingyi didn't want to pay attention to him at all and continued to concentrate on eating. Shi Qingxuan was furious and demanded that he must applaud him. Xie Lian was almost laughing so hard that he almost choked, so he didn't mention it.

Next one, Lingwen Hall, five hundred and thirty-six lamps.

Among the literary gods, Lingwen was the winner, but not many literary gods showed their support, instead it was mainly the martial gods who showed respect. Xie Lian congratulated him from afar, and heard Shi Wudu and Pei Ming asking him to host a banquet, and heard some priests muttering that Lingwen had many followers simply because he had transformed into a man, that Lingwen saw that the current martial gods were powerful and tried to curry favor with them instead of the literary gods, that Lingwen was the most enthusiastic priest in the heavens about hosting banquets, and that Lingwen was said to have invited guests and prostitutes, etc. He shook his head and had only one thought in his mind: it is not easy for a female priest to be a good priest.

Next, it was Nanyang Hall and Xuanzhen Hall, with 572 and 573 lamps respectively. Mu Qing's brows relaxed, Feng Xin was neither happy nor angry, and seemed not to care. Xie Lian was puzzled, how could the numbers be so close? Isn't this too coincidental? He asked Master Qingxuan in a low voice and found out that because these two people were of similar origins, similar territories, similar strengths, and not on good terms with each other, the believers on both sides were holding their breath to win, and vowed to offer one more lamp for every number of lamps offered in the other side's temple. They don't seek to be first, but only to be higher than the other. They tried their best and risked their lives, and each won and lost every year. This year, at the last minute, Xuanzhen Hall finally squeezed out one more lamp, surpassing Nanyang Hall. Now it seems as if they have won a victory and are celebrating. After hearing this, Xie Lian couldn't help but think to himself: "They are fighting for one more lamp for the other side. Don't they go home for the festival? Today is Mid-Autumn Festival."

Next one, Mingguang Hall, five hundred and eighty lamps.

This number is quite impressive. However, Pei Ming was not happy, because, compared with last year, the number of ever-burning lamps in Mingguang Hall this year was actually reduced. The incident with the deputy god Pei Su was a blow. This year, there were nearly 100 fewer lamps. If it weren't for Pei Ming's solid foundation and stability, I'm afraid the number would be even less. Shi Wudu and Lingwen didn't congratulate him, but just patted him on the shoulder.

At this point, Xie Lian discovered that the number of these several priests’ eternal lanterns was very dense, with dozens of them, as if there was no difference. In other words, everyone was actually the same, and no one was truly an absolute winner. Just as he thought this, he heard the priest who announced the scene say: "Water Master Hall, 718 lamps!"

There was a commotion at the banquet, with exclamations rising from all sides.

The priests reacted and began to rush to congratulate. Shi Wudu just sat there and didn't stand up. He didn't look arrogant, but just took it for granted. This was probably the closest time in hundreds of years that the second priest and the number of ever-burning lamps in the Shenwu Hall were ever-burning. It was too long ago when Xie Lian ascended for the first time. A blessing lamp at that time was more difficult to obtain than one today, so it is naturally impossible to generalize. However, as the saying goes, "People die for money, birds die for food", people's love for wealth will never decrease, and he is worthy of being the God of Wealth!

Shi Qingxuan was even more excited than he had been when he had lit up seven hundred lights. He clapped his hands vigorously and repeatedly said to Xie Lian, “My brother! My brother!”

Xie Lian smiled and said, “I see, he’s your brother!”

Ming Yi was the only one eating hard and out of place at the banquet. In fact, Xie Lian felt that he was the only one who took the banquet seriously and came here just to eat, as if he had been undercover in the ghost market for many years and had not had enough to eat, and tonight he wanted to eat his fill. Thinking of the snacks sold in the stalls on the ghost market, Xie Lian could understand it very well, and couldn't help but wonder if Hua Cheng would stroll leisurely on the streets of the ghost market?

The most exciting answer to the mystery had been revealed. Tonight, all the priests had watched enough of the show and talked enough. They were satisfied and were ready to leave. Unexpectedly, Shi Wudu suddenly frowned, put away his fan, and said, "Wait."

Others said wait, probably not so strong deterrent. But Shi Wudu, really like his nickname "Shui Hengtian", seemed to be born to give orders, once he opened his mouth, people could not help but obey, everyone sat back and asked: "Ten armors have been sent out, what else does the master of the water have to do?"

Xie Lian thought, “Could it be that I have to disperse my merits as well?”

Shi Wudu waved his fan and asked, "Has the tenth group come out?"

Everyone didn't know what he meant by asking this question, but Shi Qingxuan was surprised and said, "...No. No, no, no. The top ten haven't appeared yet! - Including the Shenwu Palace, there are only nine people reported just now!"

The priests were shocked and asked, "Only nine came out?"

"Really, I counted them, there are really only nine!"

"There is actually another person in front of Master Admiral???"

"What? Who else could it be? I don't remember."

At this moment, a light as bright as daylight suddenly burst out from the darkness.

That light is a lamp.

Like millions of fish swimming across the rivers and seas, countless bright lights slowly rise up.

They sparkle and shine in the darkness, like floating souls and magnificent dreams, extremely magnificent, illuminating the dark world. This wonder is beyond words, only frozen breath and broken words remain.

Xie Lian stared at the bright lights in the sky, as if he was suffocating and could not hear anything. He was in a daze for a long time. After this period of time, he realized that something was wrong.

At the banquet, all the priests looked over. It turned out that the announcing priest pointed at him with a trembling hand.

Xie Lian was confused and asked, “…What’s wrong?”

No one answered, so Xie Lian pointed at himself and asked, “…Me?”

Shi Qingxuan at the side patted his shoulder and said, "...Yes. You."

“…”

Xie Lian was still confused, and asked, “What about me? What’s wrong with me?”

The priest who announced the event swallowed hard and finally spoke again.

Then, all the hundreds of priests present heard an unbelievable and trembling voice.

"Qiandeng Temple, Prince's Palace, three... three...

"Three thousand!"