Edge of Chang Le Pond, fireworks and lanterns bright as day, in the trailing blue smoke, the Grand Preceptor smiled genially, not resembling a ghost-driving general but more like an immortal above the Green Abyss, benevolent and loftily superior.
He raised the long sword in his hand.
Lin Danqing cried out in alarm, "What are you going to do?"
Lu Tong smiled faintly.
"Kill the Plague Deity."
The very Plague Deity that everyone avoided, that would bring disaster and epidemic, naturally had to be hit with a deadly strike; the sword filled with killing intent would drive away the epidemic ghost. That large, sturdy effigy, hollow in the middle, wasn't meant to hide anything, but rather, for the moment when the FangXiang Zi's "sword" pierced it, for that instant spray of blood.
The crowd's cheers mingled with the eerie masked dancers, and the jostling finally woke the person hidden within the effigy's belly.
Qi Yutai had a beautiful dream.