On April 16th, the day before the Opening Stele Festival, Moral Prefecture, Gobbling Province, the entire Moral Prefecture had been boisterous before sunrise.
Actually, Moral Prefecture was not called Moral Prefecture. Before the 687th year of Black Iron Calendar, Moral Prefecture was called Anping Prefecture. However, after the 687th year of Black Iron Calendar, Anping Prefecture gradually became Moral Prefecture. On April 17th, the 687th year of Black Iron Calendar, an earthquake happened in Anping Prefecture. As a result, Hongyu Mountain collapsed. From the collapsed mountain range, the Far-ancient Moral Stele appeared, shocking the world.
15 years after the Far-ancient Moral Stele appeared, a teenager called Meng Shidao who was born in the same year as the Far-ancient Moral Stele in Anping Prefecture had promoted to a black iron knight at the age of 18. As a result, the Far-ancient Moral Stele became the immortal object in the mouths of many people in Anping Prefecture. In the following 30 years, the teenager became a middle-aged man and promoted to an earth knight once again. As a result, the influence of the Far-ancient Moral Stele extended to the entire Gobbling Province and attracted the attention of the whole world. Gradually, Anping Prefecture became Moral Prefecture. After that, Meng Shidao started to write books and become popular across the country. Gradually, the Gobbling Party came into being. Of course, Meng Shidao became the leader of the Gobbling Party.
In the following 200 years, as Meng Shidao gradually increased his cultivation base and made greater meritorious deeds, Meng Shidao became well-known across the country. Finally, he became the teacher of the crown prince and one of the top three chancellors. As a result, the influence of the Gobbling Party spread over the country and could almost match that of the top six sects …
Since the Gobbling Party came into being, there had been tens of thousands of morality associations across the Gobbling Province. Each city in the Gobbling Province had dozens of morality associations. Even in the rural towns and mountain villages outside the city, morality associations could be found everywhere. All the morality associations were united and controlled by the backbone of the Gobbling Party. In the beginning, it was voluntary to join morality associations. Later on, as more and more morality associations appeared, the Gobbling Party grew more and more powerful. Those who didn't join morality associations would gradually be excluded and suppressed by the Gobbling Party and morality associations as they were treated as exceptions. No matter what they did, they would meet various obstacles and shackles. In such an environment, those people and families who didn't want to join morality associations had to leave the Gobbling Province and settle down in other places.
Over the past 200 years, with Meng Shidao's promotion step by step, very few people who didn't join the Morality Association in the Gobbling Province, from officials of major clans to peddlers and pawns, could still survive in the Gobbling Province.
On the day before the Opening Stele Festival on April 16th, many capable people in the Gobbling Province had arrived at Moral Prefecture by airboat or airship in the early morning with a pilgrimage mentality. As a result, the entire Moral Prefecture was crowded with people. All the boites and inns were full. People were rushing towards Moral Prefecture from the border cities of Moral Prefecture, shoulder to shoulder, filling all the official roads.
…
In the early morning of April 17th, Zhu Laosan, who opened a tofu shop in the east street of Zhujia Village outside Yellow Rock City, Moral Prefecture, got up. After lighting an oil lamp, he woke up his 13-year-old son who was sleeping in the same room with him.
"Guangsi, get up …"
His 11-year-old son was sleeping soundly at 1 am. Zhu Laosan called him twice and finally woke up his son by pushing him.
"Ahh, papa, what's up …" Zhu Laosan's son opened his eyes. However, he was still sleepy.
"Have you forgotten that papa told you that it's the Opening Stele Festival today. We're going to" touch the stele ". We have to arrive at Vast Universe Mountain before daybreak. Hurry up, wash up and put on the new clothes that I've prepared for you!" Zhu Laosan's tone turned strict at once. His son who had been strictly disciplined by him for a long time dared not say anything anymore. Rubbing his eyes, he hurriedly got up and started to prepare for it.
Zhu Laosan was a widower. Since his wife died of dystocia after giving birth to a son for him, he had never remarried. He raised his child alone and lived in Zhujia Village with his ancestral tofu making skills.
Actually, Zhu Laosan almost didn't fall asleep last night. Although he was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, he was so excited that he couldn't fall asleep on the day before the Opening Stele Festival like taking medicine.
Since the head of the Morality Association of Zhujia Village, who was also the constable of Zhujia Village, gave him a big gift plate and told him that he could take his son to "touch the stele" in this year's Opening Stele Festival, Zhu Laosan had started to lose sleep.
He had been waiting for this day for 10 years. During the past 10 years, he had donated almost half of the money that he made from selling tofu to the Morality Association of Zhujia Village so that he could get a big gift plate one day. After that, he could take his son to "touch the stele" in the Opening Stele Festival and see and touch the Far-ancient Morality Stele.
Perhaps for some people, the rite of "touching the stele" was pious and sacred; however, for Zhu Laosan who lived at the bottom of the society, he was not that pious. He joined the Morality Association because all the people in Zhujia Village had joined it. If he didn't join it, he would not survive in Zhujia Village. Even if he did a small business of selling tofu, he might suffer a loss. At the same time, he would have a lot of troubles. The reason why he insisted on completing the rite of "touching the stele" was that he wanted to take his son to seek for a chance to bring honor to his ancestors instead of staying in Zhujia Village to make tofu all his life like him.
Zhu Laosan didn't expect that his son could be favored by Taoist Master. Although 7-8 kids were favored by Taoist Master each year, compared to those kids who came from all over Taixia Country to "touch the stele" in the Opening Stele Festival each year, the 7-8 kids might not even have a 1/10,000 chance to be favored by Taoist Master. Besides Taoist Master, all the heads of the Morality Associations across Taixia Country would also come here on this day. Meanwhile, they would select some kids who were worth cultivating and bring them back.
Zhu Laosan hoped that his son could be chosen by the heads of other big cities. Perhaps, he could find a backer in the Morality Association of Yellow Rock City based on the fact that he had done the 'touching the stele' ceremony at such a young age. As long as he could be supported by a noble person, he would be satisfied. For Zhu Laosan who only knew how to make tofu since he was young, he had racked his brains and exhausted all his strength to find a way for his son to stand out.
In less than 30 minutes, the father and son had been ready. After putting on new clothes, they ate something that they had prepared last night. After that, Zhu Laosan carried dry rations and a kettle on his back, holding a fluorite lamp by one hand and his son by the other hand before going out.
It was midnight when they left home. The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. The lotus pond beside the gate of Zhu Laosan's home was filled with frogs croaking and crickets chirping in the grasses.
When Zhu Laosan left home with his son, many families had already prepared to leave home with their elders and young children.
At the sight of Zhu Laosan and his son, many people greeted Zhu Laosan as they watched Zhu Laosan with admiring looks. The news that Zhu Laosan won a big gift plate in this Opening Stele Festival had long spread over Zhujia Village. Besides the president of the Morality Associations, only two other big gift plates won by Zhu Laosan and Zhu Laosan.
Under the envious eyes and enthusiastic greetings of all the people in Zhujia Village, Zhu Laosan felt more encouraged. Pinching the big gift plate that he kept close to his body, he pulled his son and walked out of Zhujia Village with his head held high.
Thankfully, it was a nice day. Even without fluorescent lamps, they could still recognize the road by moonlight. After a short while, Zhu Laosan and his son walked out of Zhujia Village and came to the hillside path that was connected to the official road outside Zhujia Village.
Looking down from the hillside, although it was midnight, the entire official road below had been brightly lit, which was even more boisterous than the most boisterous night market. Numerous people, male and female, old and young, were walking on the official road with simple luggage and lanterns or fluorite lamps in hand. Some young people didn't even take anything with them; instead, they just walked on the official road in groups. All of them were moving forward in the same direction.
Zhu Laosan also pulled his son into the huge stream of people and hurried along with them.
Zhujia Village was over 25 miles away from Vast Universe Mountain. As long as they didn't stop, they would arrive at Vast Universe Mountain before daybreak.
In order to show their piety, when they were 60 miles away from Vast Universe Mountain, nobody would take carriages or any other means of transportation; instead, they all walked to Vast Universe Mountain.
"Papa, my feet hurt …" After walking for 20 miles, Zhu Laosan's son couldn't walk anymore.
"If your feet hurt, take a rest. Drink some water before walking …" Zhu Laosan said as he took off his kettle and gave it to his son.
After a few minutes, although his son didn't have enough rest, Zhu Laosan still continued to walk forward while holding his son's hand. When his son couldn't walk anymore, Zhu Laosan forced his son to walk together with him with a cold look.
On the way, Zhu Laosan felt tired and thirsty; however, he still arrived at the edge of Vast Universe Mountain before daybreak.
More than half of the people on the way stopped before arriving at the edge of Vast Universe Mountain. Closely after that, they gathered in dozens of huge squares around Vast Universe Mountain. Each square was as large as a large airport, which could hold hundreds of thousands of people. They were connected to the roads leading to Vast Universe Mountain from all directions. In normal times, these squares would not be so crowded; however, on the day of the Opening Stele Festival, all the squares around Vast Universe Mountain would be overcrowded.
Because of the big gift plate, Zhu Laosan and his son Zhu Guangsi passed through two checkpoints and entered Vast Universe Mountain along the paved road under the admiring eyes of so many people. After walking for a few more miles, Zhu Laosan saw a long line which stretched over 6 miles like a long snake. The tail of the line was in front of him; however, the head of the line was behind a ridge.
Everyone was waiting for it. Even Zhu Laosan had to stop.
All the people here were here for the rite of "touching the stele". However, the rite of "touching the stele" didn't start until the first light of the sun shone on the Far-ancient Moral Stele. As there was still some time before daybreak, they were all waiting there quietly …
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