Chapter 143: Chapter 86: The Girl with Snow Sleeves and a Red Skirt
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Sitting in the hotel room, with a damp world outside the window, the sound of water pouring from the dome formed into splashing miniature waterfalls, washing over the underground streets and buildings.
Hexia embraced the large spider, listening to the rain outside the window, then turned her gaze toward the small memory card on the desk beside her, which she had found and bought yesterday with Feng Jianxue in an old movie store in Jielou City.
After agreeing to help the young girl search for Chenxiang Street, the two of them visited many places, continuing their search for a way to enter the Underground Core Zone, and then at dusk when they temporarily parted, Feng Jianxue had purchased this card for the girl in an old shop.
Stored inside was the celebratory scene of the "Streaming Fire Festival" from twenty years ago.
"Why look for this?" Hexia asked Feng Jianxue with puzzlement at the time.
Although he wanted to state some other reasons, under Hexia's gaze, he eventually decided to reveal some truth.
"Hexia, don't you think that the sword-dancing girl who performed twenty years ago looks really similar to you?" he asked, and after saying that, he handed the memory card to Hexia with a mysteriously.
"This card can be viewed in immersive mode as well as played like a normal video, but I still recommend you experience it immersively."
After saying that, he waved goodbye, his departure somewhat more carefree compared to his enthusiastic approach earlier.
Latter, Hexia found an immersive theater, rented a private room, and inserted the card. Then, the Phantom Mist Crystal slowly filled the room and took her back to the "Streaming Fire Festival" from twenty years earlier.
("The Poems, Bin Feng, July": "In July fire flows, in September clothes bestowed."
The location of Mars at dusk in May of the Xia calendar is overhead, while in July it starts moving westward from its zenith. It often refers to the time when the seventh month of the lunar calendar hints at summer's retreat and the approaching autumn.)
The sun blazed overhead in the brilliant blue sky, bathing everything in radiant light.
The view descended from the sky, then plunged toward a wilderness dotted with high-roofed buildings.
People wearing high hats with red ribbons followed the procession, walking slowly on the grey, desolate earth to form a red river. They walked over the dried-up riverbed, over the high bridges between buildings, through tunnels deep underground, and then converged towards the elevated altar platform surrounded by high buildings in the city center.
Beside the altar stood Godly Generals in bright armors, and a large incense stick was inserted into the massive cauldron at the center.
The sacrificial personnel, as elders, held up silks high in front of them and chanted ancient words of prayer to the heavens; then, the silks caught the wind, ignited, and turned to smoke.
And amidst the team conducting the sacrifice, Hexia saw a woman who resembled her closely. She wasn't old, about 17, dressed in snow-white sleeves, and her underdress was a striking red that attracted people's attention.
Following the steps of her elders one by one, the young girl in white sleeves and red dress proceeded, not looking sideways, exuding a dignified and gorgeous aura.
Next came a ritual similar to today's incense circling of the city. Hexia saw the girl, escorted by the Godly Generals, step into the palanquin covered in layers of red gauze, sit down, and then the palanquin was lifted, moving slowly with the procession.
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Within layers of red gauze, a silhouette vaguely appeared, the figure of a young girl hazy, drawing countless residents to worship from afar. This was the grand ritual of praying to the heavens and summoning the gods, and when the girl took her seat in the palanquin, she no longer represented herself but acted as the proxy for the command of the Five Phoenixes.
In the distant past, five 'Phoenixes' brought knowledge and enlightenment to the world and thereby initiated all that came after in the East's Huazu culture. Thus, the worship of the Five Virtues Phoenixes became prevalent in the world, a tradition that has never ceased and whose incense has never been extinguished.
The procession slowly made its way through the city while the girl inside the palanquin sat upright throughout, her posture neither leaning nor tilting. It continued like this until late into the night, when, having arrived at the 'Traveling Palace Pavilion,' she was finally able to step out and rest. And this round-the-city tour was to last for three days.
Following the recording's visual perspective, Hexia floated toward the girl sitting in the palanquin and, after a long time, finally saw the face of the girl stepping down from the palanquin up close.
Though still somewhat youthful, Hexia could confirm that she was her mother in her younger years.
"Mom was so beautiful when she was young," Hexia even felt that she might have been more attractive than Temisia at 17, probably due to a difference in their style of dress.
Her long black hair, silky as satin, was swept up and then coiled into a bun, with a hairpin adorned with beaded flowers on one side and a red-feathered ornament on the other. Under the sunshine, the gems on the hair ornament twinkled subtly, the bright, changing layers of red complementing the jet-black hair, adding exceptional beauty.
When the circumambulation ended, the procession stopped in front of a towering building, where a high platform had already been constructed.
Nearly a hundred swordmaids stepped forward, entering both sides of the palanquin to protect it, then two of them carefully assisted the girl in the snow-sleeve red dress out.
Slowly, the bell atop the high building began to toll, and the girl in the snow-sleeve red dress walked step by step toward the high platform. Approaching the platform, a swordmaid stepped out from behind her, knelt to the side, and presented an ancient sword she was cradling in her arms.
The girl slowly drew the sword, its blade shining like autumn waters, bright and clear.
At the celebration's site, surrounded by hundreds of thousands, a hush fell over the crowd as they strained to see that peerlessly graceful girl. Then, the sound of a zither gently began to play, and within the high building, musicians sat on every level in solemn readiness, each holding an instrument, be it zither, flute, harp, pipa, or drum.
After a soft prelude, a distant and majestic melody of strings and bamboo instruments started to play, and the atmosphere gradually intensified. Meanwhile, the girl on the platform slowly began to move.
Her sword dance was slow but seamless, with no hint of awkwardness. Her wide sleeves fluttered gently against the sky, as if even the air had stilled at that moment.
Although it was greatly different from what she remembered, Hexia still recognized it as the swordsmanship her mother had taught her. But at this moment, her mother's executions bore a contrasting charm, marked by a generous and splendid elegance, even giving off the faint illusion of influencing the flow of magic power around the stage.
As the girl in the snow-sleeve red dress danced with her sword, the atmosphere at the site became more and more animated, her body seemingly lighter and lighter, until she gently 'floated' upward.
Indeed, without wings or employing any extra transcendent abilities, the girl lightly touched the ground and her figure leapt up effortlessly, resembling the scene of a Flying Immortal in a mural. It was changes in the environment on the high platform that made this possible; at that moment, if a feather were to fall from above, it too would spin slowly, floating instead of falling.
Her form was elegant as if a cinnabar phoenix were spreading its wings, her sleeves fluttering and sword light dazzling. As she danced and brandished her sword, the tips of her toes gradually touched the air, carrying her figure aloft amidst the high buildings, like a phoenix stretching its wings, or a redfish swimming.
At last, the music slowly came to a stop, and the girl also gently descended from the air, standing in place, her fingertips casually trailing along the sword's blade, and her gaze emerging slowly from behind her sleeves, revealing a dreamlike and splendid beauty.
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