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Chapter 243: Sect’s New Year Gifts
🕑 Added 2024-09-25 07:26:51 +0000 UTCThe next morning, Lin Xiao was taken by his father and Lin Yun to the Lin family's old residence.
The entire family was crowded in the courtyard and kitchen, washing and preparing, with some pots steaming and others boiling, getting ready for the noon ritual.
In Xiushui Village, the ritual customs are quite similar among all families.
On New Year’s Eve, everyone starts preparing early in the morning. Once everything is ready, they head to Tomb Mountain, where they perform the ritual precisely at noon, beginning the various ancestral rites.
Indeed, in Xiushui Village, the New Year's ritual does not take place in the ancestral hall.
On New Year’s Eve, people first go to Tomb Mountain for the ritual. After the ceremony, they bring the offerings back to the village, where they place them in the ancestral hall for three days before distributing them among the families.
The Lin family is not a large clan in Xiushui Village. Including Lin Laozi’s family, there are only five households.
Usually, these households have neither very close nor very distant relations. They don’t interact much daily, but during festivals, they maintain proper social etiquette and exchanges.
Although they live separate lives, small families struggle to survive in the village. So, despite the average relationships, they are keen to show their unity where possible.
For the New Year, Lingxian Sect, as a sect, also distributed some New Year gifts to everyone.
Liu Yunan gave each family from Xiushui Village a live pig.
He had specially gone to the county with Tie Tou a few days ago to buy the pigs, which were then transported back using the spirit boat Lin Xiao had previously made.
The pigs were kept well-fed and well-cared for in the back mountain for several days. By the previous evening, they had been collected by the respective families.
For the other non-Xiushui Village members in the sect—specifically, Senior Liao, Liu Chun, and Xiao Luan Da Tao—Liu Yunan provided substantial compensation in other forms.
Even if they might not care much about such things, fairness is essential when it comes from the sect’s name.
So now, early in the morning, the Lin family's old residence was filled with the sound of pigs squealing.
As the most promising young member, Lin Xiao was assigned the task of receiving the pig's blood.
Lin Da You and Lin Da Bo were responsible for holding the pig’s four legs.
Lin Lei, as the eldest grandson, was in charge of cutting the pig's throat.
Lingxian Sect’s leader and Golden Core cultivator, Lin Xiao, crouched beside the pig’s head with a large bowl, watching as his cousin Lin Lei cut the pig's neck, causing warm blood to splash onto his face.
Despite the pig’s desperate squeals and struggles, held tightly by Lin Da You, who was at Qi Refining Level 3, and Lin Da Bo, who had just begun to cultivate, its cries eventually faded as its blood drained away.
Lin Xiao was momentarily stunned but soon realized he needed to clean the blood from his face using his magic and protect himself with a thin layer of spiritual energy.
Then, after filling the bowl, he silently used his telekinesis to control another empty bowl to catch the continuously flowing pig’s blood.
Neither in this life nor the previous had he ever seen or experienced pig slaughtering.
In the past, when the Lin family was poor, not only did they not slaughter pigs, but they hardly even slaughtered chickens.
When others in the village did, they had to hire a dedicated butcher and gather a group of strong young men to handle it cleanly.
Now that the family had started practicing cultivation, everyone was stronger, and Lin Laozi decided it was a waste to hire help when they had so much labor available.
Although they had never slaughtered pigs themselves, they had often watched others do it.
Lin Da You and Lin Da Bo had frequently watched pig slaughtering in the past.
They had observed the techniques and procedures closely, even if they had never participated.
So, despite having no hands-on experience, they could follow the procedures they had seen.
Lin Laozi decided that, in future years, the younger generation should take turns learning to slaughter pigs.
After all, there’s always a first time for everything.
If they didn’t do it well this time, they could improve next time.
Lin Laozi believed that the family would only get better, and every year, their ancestors would have pigs slaughtered by their own family.
So, every year, there would be pigs for Lin Xiao and others to practice on!
Holding two large bowls of pig blood, Lin Xiao observed as his cousin Lin Lei cleaned the pig’s intestines, feeling a mix of emotions.
Lin Yun, meanwhile, brought out a red-hot iron clamp to remove the pig’s hair.
The women of the Lin family, led by Lin Lao Tai, were joined by Lin Da Bo’s wife and Lin Yan and Lin Ying to clean the house.
It was New Year’s Eve, and a thorough cleaning was necessary.
This signified bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new year.
Lin Yan and Lin Ying cleaned the window frames while curiously glancing at the pig slaughtering spot in the courtyard.
Unlike Lin Xiao and the other boys, who often joined in village festivities, the sisters could only listen to their brothers’ descriptions.
Seeing the actual pig slaughtering process helped them connect it with the scenes they had imagined.
After the pig was entirely processed, Lin Da You carried it to a large wooden tub, while Lin Da Bo brought two buckets of boiling water to pour over the pig.
Since Lin Laozi wanted the pig for the ritual, they hadn’t divided the meat.
So, he and his two sons decided to pour boiling water over it to cook it thoroughly.
Lin Xiao fell into brief contemplation.
Then he said to Lin Da You and Lin Da Bo, “Dad, Uncle, let me handle it.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Da You stopped pouring the water.
Lin Da Bo, puzzled, thought Lin Xiao wanted to play, so he handed the bucket to Lin Xiao.
Lin Xiao took the bucket but did not use it. Instead, he held it in his right hand.
He then used his left hand to form a magic seal and cast a small spell at the large pig in the wooden tub.
This spell was one he had just devised, combining water vapor and heat to create a heating spell.
Let’s call it the Distillation Technique.
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