Chapter 150: A Culture Passed Down Through a Thousand Years

The first New Year back in Chang'an was wonderful in almost every aspect. The only thing that left Li Yuechen somewhat unsatisfied was that the artisan workshop still had not officially produced the new type of paper.

Fortunately, Fulai had noticed something amiss back in December and urgently transferred a batch of new paper from the Eastern Capital, preventing the newspaper supply from breaking.

During this time, Fulai had not been idle either. He had already reached cooperative agreements with numerous shops; as soon as the new paper was produced, it could immediately be put on the market for sale.

As for the aristocratic families attempting to launch their own newspapers, they had ultimately failed.

Although they knew Li Yuechen used paper made from bamboo to lower costs, the problem was that since such a product already existed, any subsequent entry by them would only leave them with scraps, making it impossible to turn a profit.

Moreover, because Li Yuechen had not deliberately kept it a secret, who among the newspaper buyers did not know that Princess Taiping herself was behind it?

Compared to the aristocratic families, most people were naturally more willing to read the imperial family's newspaper.

If they chose to use high-quality paper for production instead, they would only incur even greater losses.

For every fifty copies of Li Yuechen's newspaper sold, she lost one guan of currency. If they used high-quality paper, their losses would only multiply.

Therefore, the aristocratic families' newspapers never saw the light of day, getting rejected right at the initial budget stage.

Such matters, unless strictly confidential, inevitably leaked through the gossip of household servants.

And the transmission of news was often two-way; as word spread, Li Yuechen naturally came to know of it.

Upon hearing the news, Li Yuechen showed no particular reaction, as it was well within her expectations.

Thus, she paid little attention to the matter, continuing to live her life with extreme discipline according to her own daily routine.

Even during the New Year holiday, the Gate Guard garrison did not take a break. Li Yuechen carried her spear, staff, and twin hammers as usual, wearing her rattan armor, and had the guards act as her sparring partners.

Slightly different from before, aside from Geng Yunqiang, there were now two other martial arts experts accompanying Li Yuechen in her practice.

Because Geng Yunqiang alone could no longer keep up with Li Yuechen's intensity, it had evolved into a three-against-one training mode.

The four of them wore rattan armor, with the tips of their spears and staves wrapped in cloth, engaging in a fierce flurry of attacks and parries on the training ground.

As for the hammers... those weapons didn't really require sparring partners.

Setting aside whether they would even get used, if the day ever truly came when she went to the battlefield, a hammer meant one strike per enemy, leaving no need to ponder over stances or forms.

Especially for someone like Li Yuechen, who possessed innate divine strength; no matter how fierce your techniques or how ghostly your footwork, the result of a hammer blow was always the same. This was what people called absolute strength overcoming all skill.

As the four of them traded blows on the Gate Guard training ground, Fulai stood nearby, a smile unable to hide from his face.

There are only three of them now, but in a little while, Her Highness might truly be able to take on ten opponents single-handedly... Fulai thought to himself.

...

Holidays are always exceptionally brief, slipping away through one's fingers like quicksand before one even notices.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed, bringing the annual Lantern Festival.

Originally, Li Zhi had planned to do the same as the previous year: take the family out incognito to see how Chang'an's Lantern Festival compared to that of the Eastern Capital.

However, Li Hong's cough suddenly worsened again, forcing Li Zhi to abandon the idea and decide instead to view the festival with his family from the imperial city gate tower.

After finishing dinner, the family ascended to the imperial city ramparts.

Perhaps because the drought had ended, this year's Lantern Festival in Chang'an seemed even grander than when they had left a few years prior.

The most obvious change was the surge of various exorcism dancers and performers on the main streets, weaving through the crowds while wearing all sorts of ferocious ghost masks.

Most of the onlookers cheered, while some braver children ran a few circles around the ghosts.

A few mischievous kids even dared to kick at them, though their strength was minimal, and they were immediately yanked back by their parents.

The people disguised as fierce ghosts did not get angry; they simply continued skipping and bounding through the crowd.

At that moment, another group of people with extremely bizarre costumes rushed over from nearby, their faces smeared entirely with red paint.

Their headwear was adorned with props resembling swords, sabers, and even arrows, making it look as though their skulls had been pierced right through.

Combined with the bright red paint, they appeared bloody and gore-drenched, resembling fiends from hell.

This terrifying attire frightened the two elder princesses, causing them to take an involuntary step backward even while standing high atop the imperial city wall.

Crown Prince Li Hong, who was well-read on many of Chang'an's customs, coughed twice and explained, "Elder Sisters need not be afraid; this is a ritual of the Sogdian Zoroastrian religion..."

Zoroastrianism was a religion quite popular among the non-Han peoples, belonging to foreign traditions.

Due to the open and inclusive atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty, there were many such foreign faiths within its borders: Zoroastrianism, the Church of the East, Manichaeism... and so on.

It could be said that religious freedom absolutely existed within the Tang realm, with all faiths coexisting peacefully.

The state religion was Daoism, yet it did not suppress other religions; such an atmosphere was truly wonderful.

The youngest, Li Lun, reached out and tugged at Li Hong's sleeve. "Elder Brother, why do those people look like that?"

"I suppose it must be some kind of divine magic akin to Daoist arts?" Li Hong replied uncertainly.

Leaning over the battlements, Li Yuechen could not help but smile upon hearing this.

She wasn't laughing at the ancients for their lack of knowledge; this was a completely natural phenomenon.

Her amusement stemmed from a sense of nostalgia upon seeing this scene.

Because in this land, even more than a thousand years later, a similar performance art still existed—she remembered a similar troupe coming to her orphanage to perform charity shows back in the day.

What was it called... Blood Fireplay? Li Yuechen searched through her memories.

In her memory, this kind of performance seemed particularly popular around Baoji, especially during her childhood.

Compared to the present era, the future versions possessed a much greater variety of props.

The people before her eyes only had swords or arrows thrust through their heads, whereas in the future, not only did they have kitchen knives or scissors, but sometimes even bricks and benches embedded into their skulls.

Unfortunately, Li Yuechen was not an inheritor of the craft and did not know its secrets, but rumor had it that they used real blood, such as chicken or pig blood, for their makeup, which was why it looked so chillingly realistic.

Watching the people with blood-soaked heads scurrying about the street below, Li Yuechen smiled softly. If she guessed correctly, the performance art of a millennium later must have been passed down and evolved from this very tradition.

It was just that the performance format differed greatly from the future. The kind from the future, as Li Yuechen vaguely recalled, seemed to recount the tale of Wu Song slaying Ximen Men and his minions.

In this era, the story of Wu Dalang and Ximen Qing had not yet been written, so the performance plots were naturally different.

Since it was a religious performance, its purpose was surely to recruit believers.

Especially in this era, performing a simple magic trick could lead people to believe you were an immortal, and such shocking displays were naturally a major draw for converts.

Just then, the lead cultist at the front of the procession took large strides forward and arrived right beneath the imperial city wall.

He wore a white mask covering the upper half of his face, made of a material that looked... like some kind of animal bone.

His clothes were ragged, with numerous cloth strips dangling from his shoulders and sides; if the color were changed, it could practically serve as a ghillie suit.

The man puffed out his chest, stood proudly under the imperial city wall, and then raised his head to look upward.

"Who goes there?" Third Brother Li Xian asked, looking puzzled.

Li Xian, standing nearby, remarked, "There are plenty of torches here; if one's eyesight is keen enough, I suppose they can see us."

Mother Wu Zetian also raised her eyebrows, intending to send someone down to ask what this person was up to.

Before she could speak, she saw the man suddenly pull open his garments to bare his skin, and then, holding a dagger in his right hand, thrust it directly into his abdomen!

"Ah!"

Princess Yiyang stepped back in fright and let out a gasp.

The others did not scream, but they too instinctively stepped back. After all, watching someone suddenly commit hara-kiri right before your eyes was an unsettling sight for anyone.

Yet astonishingly, the man did not fall. Instead, he continued to slice open his skin with the dagger, then used both hands to pull the wound apart to the sides, revealing a mass of bloody internal organs within his abdominal cavity!

Li Zhi frowned, just as he was about to speak, when the man below shouted in broken, accented Chang'an elite speech, "Believe in our sect, and attain eternal life!"

The surrounding cultists, whose heads were pierced by various props, burst into cheers.

Princess Chengxuan covered her mouth in disbelief.

Pei Qingwan turned and buried her face against Li Hong's shoulder, not daring to look.

Only Second Brother Li Xian wore a look of astonishment. "I never imagined there could be such divine magic in this world!"

Wu Zetian furrowed her brows and turned to look at Li Zhi.

Father Li Zhi's hands trembled slightly as he slowly raised his right hand, pointing down at the man beneath the city wall, his voice tinged with agitation: "Such heretics will surely plunge my Tang Dynasty into chaos in the future! Guards, capture this wretch who practices demonic arts and drive him out of our realm..."