Chapter 147 146. The Ordination Ceremony
After Xu Qing bathed and changed his clothes, he followed the Taoist boy in the temple to the main hall where the ordination ceremony was held.

On the way,

The Taoist boy who led the way would occasionally cast his gaze at Xu Qing in what he thought was a "secret" way, with unconcealable envy in his eyes.

Xu Qing roughly understood what this Taoist boy was thinking.

Because they are most likely the same batch of disciples who entered the Taoist temple in late autumn last year.

Yuanfu Temple only accepts disciples once a year, with students entering the temple in late autumn. The first ordination ceremony is held in early spring of the following year, when disciples with A and B mental qualities are ordained and formally accepted into the temple.

After that, the ordination ceremony will be held every three months, or one hundred days, for a total of five times a year.

It is now late April and two ordination conferences have passed. The other party is still a "Dao boy", which means that he has not yet completed the foundation building and his mentality is below average.

They clearly entered the Taoist temple together. One was still a Taoist boy, while the other not only completed the ordination and became a formal disciple, but was also about to be ordained as a Taoist priest.

The two sides, who once stood at the same starting line, now have a huge gap between them.

The two of them walked in silence, and the Taoist boy led Xu Qing to a large hall in the back mountain.

"Master, in front of us is the hall where the ordination ceremony is held. We Taoist children are not allowed to enter the front, so please let the Taoist enter the hall alone." The Taoist child had a respectful and flattering look on his face.

Xu Qing returned the greeting: "You and I are from the same sect. There is no need to call me Taoist priest. Just call me Senior Brother."

The Taoist boy had not been ordained and was not a formal disciple of Yuanfu Temple, so he did not dare to call Xu Qing "Senior Brother" and could only address him as "Taoist Master".

The Taoist boy was delighted when he heard this, but he still followed the etiquette: "Thank you, Taoist priest, but there are rules in the temple, and I dare not go beyond them."

Xu Qing nodded slightly.

Then he walked past the Taoist boy and calmly entered the hall.

There were already several people standing quietly in this hall, three elders and five disciples.

The three elders were the Taoist Qingning who appeared at the disciple-recruiting conference, the elder Jingyan who was seen at the ordination ceremony, and an elder who followed the path of preserving life and whose Taoist name was changed to "Jingyuan".

The formal ordination ceremony requires three master ceremonies and six guardian ceremonies to preside over the ceremony.

However, this is not a formal ordination ceremony, but a ceremony to grant the ordination to the disciples in advance, so only the "three masters in charge" are needed.
That is, the supervisor of the altar, the master of transmission of ordination, and the master of recommendation.

Xu Qing first bowed to the three elders and the five disciples. The three elders nodded with a smile in response, and the five disciples bowed in return.

Then Xu Qing walked to the five disciples and waited quietly, before finally turning his gaze to an altar set up in the center of the hall.

But I saw an altar lined up in a row.

Facing the center of the hall are statues of the Three Pure Ones, the Four Imperial Gods and other gods in heaven, while on both sides of the statues are portraits of the ancestors of Yuanfu Temple.

A series of ritual implements are placed on the table, and the golden lamps, incense candles and copper censers on both sides are burning slowly.

Green smoke and white mist curled up and diffused around the altar, making the statues and portraits look as if they were in the fog, ethereal and unreal.

After his eyes wandered around for a while, Xu Qing retracted his gaze and stood still with his hands hanging down like everyone else, without looking around.

Next, three more disciples came to receive the ordination.

Including the previous five disciples and Xu Qing, a total of nine disciples were ordained this time.

"it's time!"

Elder Jingyan, who presided over the ceremony, saw that the auspicious time had arrived and spoke loudly: "All disciples, follow me into the altar."

The nine younger brothers followed Elder Jingyan and stood in front of the altar.

"Please ask for the power of the sect altar!"

Elder Jingyan took out a talisman, lit it with the flames from the copper furnaces on both sides of the altar, then bowed from a distance in a certain direction.

Under Jing Yan's leadership, the other two elders and nine disciples also bowed from afar towards the altar.

Because this ordination ceremony was not an official one, the relevant ceremonial rules and regulations were not that complicated. However, the sect altar was a heavy weapon in the temple, involving the mountain protection formation, and could not be opened lightly.
Therefore, this ordination ceremony was only carried out with the help of the power of the clan altar.

The elders and disciples on the altar could clearly feel a mysterious and profound force descending from the air onto the altar in front of them.

The golden lamps, incense candles, and copper incense burners on the left and right sides of the altar suddenly burst into flames, with fierce tongues of flame, and a strong smell of incense emerged, drilling straight into everyone's nose.

Xu Qing took a breath.

I felt that the strong smell of incense was not pungent, but rather had a strange flavor that was refreshing and refreshing.

"The altar is now complete. We respectfully invite the gods and ancestors of all generations." Elder Jing Yan bowed again towards the statues of gods and portraits of ancestors facing the altar.

Others followed closely behind to worship.

Elder Jingyan was about to finish his words.
A mysterious aura emanated from the altar, and talismans illuminated the void. The corresponding spiritual charms of all the righteous gods of Taoism were immediately drawn over and circulated here endlessly.

The Six Dings and Six Jias in Xu Qing's mind also burst out with infinite divine light at the same time.

next moment,
His eyes blurred and his vision suddenly changed.

But above the hall, which originally had only smoke diffused, there now appeared a stream of righteous divine auras surging into the hall.

These righteous divine charms,

It may turn into a sea of ​​fire, or into a war, or into stars, or into pure white light.
Layer upon layer, intertwined,
A colorful and bizarre scene formed above the altar.

The eight disciples except Xu Qing did not have such a perspective.
But in a trance, they felt

The immortals and saints corresponding to the statues and portraits seemed to use the power of the altar to cast their gazes into the hall and above them.

For a moment, several people felt as if a mountain was pressing down on their hearts.

Fortunately, this feeling came and went quickly, and before anyone could react, the pressure had dissipated.

"The preparations are complete." Elder Jingyan turned and looked at the nine disciples, "Let's begin the ordination ceremony."

"Ning Ji, come forward first."

The disciple whose name was called by Elder Jingyan respectfully replied "yes", then walked up to the altar and took the three incense sticks.

"Do you know how to do this?"

"Disciple knows." Ning Ji nodded and said, "Use your own vital energy to light the incense sticks. The smoke from the fireworks will lift your mind up into the sky, where it will be tested by the gods in the heavens and by the ancestors of all generations."

"Then burn incense and worship the Three Pure Ones, the Four Imperial Gods, the gods of heaven, and the Dharma masters of all generations. Then a Dharma scroll will naturally be descended, and I will choose one."

"good."

Elder Jingyan gave up the main seat on the altar. Ning Ji took a deep breath, lit the incense stick with Yuan Qi, and inserted it into the incense burner in the center of the altar.

"Disciple Ning Ji calls for the bestowal of the sutras!"

Xu Qing looked carefully.

After the disciple lit the incense stick with Yuan Qi, a wisp of his own thoughts was drawn out from between his eyebrows and slowly cast into the flame.

As the flames burned, the smoke from the incense sticks floated toward the divine aura above the altar.

Do you convey your thoughts through incense?
Xu Qing lowered his eyes and thought.

Rumors of Taoism,

Incense can be smelled throughout the infinite worlds of the ten directions and can reach the three realms. It is a token of communication with the truth and the spirit.

The thoughts of mortals can reside in the wisps of smoke produced when burning incense, and these wisps of smoke can reach the ears of the gods directly.

(End of this chapter)