I was forced to cultivate immortality when I just wanted to lie down

Chapter 123 Hundred Infants Tower, Old Acquaintance

People guard against tigers, tigers guard against people, the same is true for people and immortals.

Therefore, when the immortals show their power, they must have disciples who can help them to act as a bridge.

The disciples who go out to perform rituals are messengers between yin and yang. Only when the disciples communicate and mediate in the middle will people not be afraid of the immortals, and at the same time they can convey the intentions of the immortals and people more accurately.

Xuanyu has been practicing Taoism for nearly four hundred years and has no problem communicating with others. He can negotiate with others without having to go out in person to convey messages.

But if you want the Cat Fairy Hall to be prosperous, you have to possess the spirit and show your power outside.

As the headmaster of the Cat Fairy Hall, Xu Qing has a lot of work to do, so how can he do the odd jobs of a horse?
He is the boss of Maoxiantang, and he gets some dividends every year. When he has nothing to do, he enjoys taking care of the fairies. This is what he should do.

Therefore, in order to make the hall run better, Xu Qing found two "stand-ins" for Xuanyu.

One is Sun Erniang from the Yinshi Sect, and the other is Princess Yanning from the Ghost King's Mausoleum.

Princess Yanning was originally a skeleton with a pale face. Although she had a face that could bring disaster to the country and the people, her body was made of bones.

This type of disciple is only suitable for traveling at night, as it is not easy for ordinary people to discover the clues. If he walks during the day, he may not be able to complete the mission and instead scare the victim away.

But Sun Erniang is different. After he dressed her up, this female zombie not only looks like an ordinary person, but is also suitable for use in various occasions.

After Xuanyu possessed Sun Erniang, she could not only help him run the store on a daily basis, but also save him from having to do everything himself when he needed to be a spirit medium.

Now that Xu Qing had taken Sun Erniang's body out of the box, Xuan Yu diligently possessed it and began to take on the miscellaneous tasks of rescuing the sheep.

He sat on the clean stone surface and chatted with Huang Laoxu.

The black crow is kind-hearted. It landed on the head of a big sheep and was helping Xuanyu maintain order in the flock.

It was not surprising that the crow could imitate human speech, and the sheep were not afraid. They just followed it to the stream to drink water.

Xu Qing looked at Xuan Yu working diligently by the stream and said lazily, "Old Huang, you're doing such a comfortable job as an immortal. You don't even have to do any work, and everything gets done."

"Fellow Daoist Xu, what are you talking about? This was done by the Cat Fairy Hall. Even if I have a thick skin, I will not take the credit for this to the Yellow Fairy Hall."

Huang Laoxu stood up and half-squatted and half-stood on the stone. In his hand, he was holding an old pipe as long as himself.

Picking up the pipe, Huang Laoxu rubbed it with his claws, and a bunch of sparks fell into the pipe bowl.

After taking two puffs, Huang Laoxu felt his tongue numb and his head dizzy.

"Don't tell me, this old man is really a heavy smoker."

With his tongue sticking out, Huang Laoxu sat down next to Xu Qing, feeling that his life as a rat had reached its peak.

"Don't worry, Fellow Daoist Xu. From now on, the affairs of the Cat Fairy Hall will be mine, Huang Laoxu's. This incense offering also belongs to the Cat Fairy Hall. I, Huang Xiantang, will not charge a cent."

Incense is of extraordinary significance to immortals. Not only can it increase the immortals' spiritual power, it can also be used to refine incense magic weapons.

However, the greater function of incense is to deal with disasters on the path of cultivation.

Inside and outside the Five Elements, in the Nine Netherworlds, anyone who practices cultivation, whether human, ghost, or monster, will be incurring disasters as long as they practice to a certain level.

Be it struck by lightning, eroded by wind, or burned to death, if one fails to survive any of the three disasters and five calamities, the end result will be death.

However, the incense can reach the heart of heaven directly, making it easier for evil spirits to survive disasters.

If the incense is prosperous, one can even be exempted from the price and become a walking god in the mortal world, which is equivalent to being recommended to become an immortal.

These things are not secrets in the immortal circle. They are things that have been proven by the immortal ancestors from generation to generation. If they are useless, there would not be so many immortals devoting themselves to the incense business and working hard.

Xuan Yu obviously knew all these things, otherwise the cat wouldn't be so eager to open the Cat Fairy Hall and drag him into it.

Cats are lazy by nature and won't be anxious unless the fire burns their butts.

"Xuan Yu has practiced Taoism for four hundred years, and there are less than a hundred years left before the five hundred years of disaster." Xu Qing thought of his own progress in cultivation again. The practice required for the golden armored corpse to break through is also five hundred years.

In other words, the day he evolved into a golden armored corpse was the day he was struck by lightning.

My own cat fairy hall seems to be opening a little late.
For the first time, Xu Qing felt like she was getting into a bridal sedan, but found that there was no urgency to put on makeup.

There are records in the corpse theory of golden-armored corpses resisting thunder disasters. It is said that in ancient and modern times, only one in a hundred people can become a golden corpse under thunder and fire.

But none of these zombies used incense to resist disaster.

Come to think of it, most zombies don't even have the consciousness of living people, so how could they take the initiative to do good deeds to attract worshippers?
Xu Qing pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Friend Huang, you have a wide range of connections. Have you ever heard of the old mother who saved babies at the Songzi Temple?"

"Save the baby mother?"

Huang Laoxu shuddered violently upon hearing this, and he, who was dazed by the smoke, suddenly woke up.

"Not only have I heard of her, I've also dealt with her. That widow is not to be trifled with!"

Xu Qing asked curiously, "Your Huangxiantang has many descendants, so why would you be afraid of a widow?"

"It's not a question of whether she's a widow or not. You don't understand. She's a very special widow. She has no in-laws, no husband, but she gave birth to a stillborn baby with the deity enshrined in the Temple of Childbirth. Now she has locked the dead baby in the Hundred Infants Pagoda on the mountain behind the Temple of Childbirth."

Xu Qing frowned. There were obvious subtle differences between what Huang Laoxu said about the old mother who saved the baby and the information he learned from the shepherd's revolving lantern.

In Chen Mancang's memory, the mother who saved babies was the deity being worshipped, and the widow that Huang Laoxu mentioned should be the priestess in the Temple of Childbirth.

Xu Qing expressed his confusion: "I heard that the widow of the Child-Giving Temple was just a priestess. How come you're calling her the mother who saved babies?"

Huang Laoxu said unconcernedly, "This is nothing unusual. Immortals also need disciples to go out and perform rituals, and rescuing the old mother is no exception."

Xu Qing suddenly realized: "Since the temple keeper is dressed as the Infant Rescuer, then the deity enshrined in the Childbearing Temple is not the Infant Rescuer, but the deity who gave birth to a stillborn baby with the temple keeper!"

Huang Laoxu blew out a puff of smoke and nodded, saying, "That's not wrong. Within the area of ​​a hundred miles of the Temple of Childbirth, people say the Mother of Childbirth is efficacious. As long as you burn incense, you can pray for a son or a daughter. Yet, no one in the outside world is willing to stand up and say that all babies born after ten months of pregnancy are stillborn!"

"They simply thought it was their own lack of virtue and sincerity that caused the fetus to die. But what they didn't know was that Mr. Huang from Huangping Township and Mr. Shi from Jiugou Village were both absolutely good people, yet the children they prayed for also ended up stillborn."

Xu Qing continued to ask, "There has to be a reason why Songzi Temple is doing this. Is it to defraud incense offerings, or is there some other purpose? They can't just be doing it for fun; that would be too unethical!"

"Don't ask me. I'm just a stingray. How would I know about your affairs? Even if I knew, I'd be too lazy to get involved!"

"Stop smoking!"

Xu Qing narrowed his eyes slightly and reached out to snatch the pipe from Huang Laoxu's hand.

"You're already so confused, and you're still smoking!"

Huang Laoxu wanted to stretch out his claws to reach the pipe, but not only did he fail to reach it, but Xu Qing hit him hard on the head with the pipe!
Huang Laoxu covered his head and jumped up and down, but Xu Qing calmed him down with just one word.

"Immortals must keep their word. You just said that the Cat Immortal Hall's affairs are yours. Why are you hesitating when I ask you about something?"

Seeing that Huang Laoxu had regained consciousness, Xu Qing reached out and threw the cigarette holder to him.

"Tell me, what's going on with all those dead babies in the Birth Temple?"

Huang Laoxu lowered his eyebrows and said, "I don't know much. I only heard that the mother who saved the baby wanted to cultivate the nine-life resentful babies, and use the obsession with life of those dead babies to feed her children."

Xu Qing's eyelids twitched when he heard this. It's true that birds of a feather flock together!

He had just sent away the shepherd who kidnapped the child, but he ended up getting involved in this kind of thing again.

The purpose of the old mother who saved babies taking in living children was most likely to refine those dead babies.

"No, this has to be done for him!" If he knew about this and didn't do it, then even if he slept in the best coffin or favored more concubines in the future, it would still be meaningless!

Xu Qing sat up straight and asked, "Besides the temple priest, there are also many old nuns in the Songzi Temple. Do you know the origins of those old nuns?"

In the shepherd's memory, every time he sold a lamb, an old nun would take out silver or other treasures in exchange. It was unknown whether these people knew about it or not, and whether they were good or evil.

"Those old nuns were originally from Hongxing Temple, but later on, for some unknown reason, the temple burned down. Since then, these nuns have been taken in by the Infant Rescue Mother, where they learned the skills of midwives and usually do midwifery work."

"Most of the women who became pregnant in the temple were delivered by these nuns."

It turns out that this is a whole black industry chain.

As soon as Xu Qing heard the name Hong Xing An, he felt something was wrong. What kind of serious nunnery would have such a name?

It might be a nunnery in disguise, but actually it's engaged in some flesh trade.

"Friend Huang, have you ever been to Hongxing Temple before? How do those nuns make a living?"

Huang Laoxu went into great detail and told a lot about how those old nuns seduced pilgrims when they were young.

"Those nuns usually dress up as young girls who have been betrothed to ghost marriages, while the guests pretend to be zombies and ghosts in the coffins. As soon as the nuns are placed in the coffins, they hear the nuns screaming, and the guests pretend to be zombies inside, shouting and yelling."

"I couldn't understand what was going on inside. I only saw the coffin swaying for a while, and then the nun opened the lid and came out naked with the guests."

"."

Xu Qing gritted his teeth when he heard this.

They say young people know how to have fun, but who hasn't been young once? Those old nuns have tried many more tricks than he knows!

Seeing that Huang Laoxu wanted to explain more, Xu Qing decisively raised his hand to stop him.

The reason was simple, simply because the Xuanyu Immortal was walking towards him at this moment.

He didn't want his cat to hear these dirty things.

"Is everything done?" Xu Qing smiled and glanced at the adults and children following Xuan Yu.

These people's clothes were all sticky, and some had already rotted, like the placenta of a newly born baby. Some children may have been transformed into sheep for too long, so even though they had turned into human form, they still crawled on all fours in a strange posture.

Xuan Yu, who possessed Sun Erniang, had a tense face and looked as if she wanted to keep strangers away.

When she came to Xu Qing, her expression suddenly relaxed, and she felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Xu Xianjia is the headmaster of the Cat Fairy Hall. You don't have to kneel to me anymore. If you really want to thank me, you can kowtow to Xu Xianjia."

Xuan Yu grabbed Xu Qing's arm and was about to push him forward.

"."

Xu Qing's smile froze for a moment. He looked at the crowd. Those adults were kneeling on the ground and thanking him.

Seeing this, the children followed suit and kowtowed to him.

Xu Qingtou was as big as a bucket. It was a hassle to deal with so many adults and children in the deep mountains and old forests.

He asked everyone to stop kneeling and then began to question the adults.

You don’t know until you ask. Once you ask, you will be confused by the place names of South Mountain, North Ridge, East Village and West Village.

Well, to send a Buddha you have to send him to the west, isn’t that just sending some people away!
Xu Qing immediately asked Huang Laoxu to invite all the immortals from each village.

Previously, those immortals retreated at the critical moment and did not perform well. Now there is a ready-made opportunity. If these immortals do not come, they will not have to cry when no one offers incense to them in the future.

While waiting for the disciples to arrive, Xu Qing was not idle either. He took a water bowl and asked the sticky and dirty children to line up and wash their bodies one by one.

After rinsing it clean, use the talisman water soaked with the disease-eliminating talisman and let everyone drink a sip.

After doing all this, the crowd shouted "living Bodhisattva, living god" again.

Xu Qing remained unmoved until a voice from the crowd said, "The two goddesses are truly kind-hearted like bodhisattvas." Only then did he begin to be moved.

"He's a man, not a female fairy. This one is the female fairy, not me!"

After Xu Qing corrected the other party's wording, he took the time to change out of the phoenix crown and bridal bridal gown.

He didn't want the joke of the Female Fairy Hall to spread in the Cat Fairy Hall in the future!
Soon, the disciples who were notified to go out on missions arrived one after another.

In addition to the disciples who went out to perform rituals, the immortals from the Huxian, Liuxian, Baixian and other halls also came here in person to pay a visit.

Xu Qing followed Huang Laoxu into the woods. Foxes, hedgehogs, monkeys, green snakes, and all kinds of small animals were chattering non-stop as if they were having a meeting.

As soon as Xu Qing and Xuan Yu arrived, everyone immediately quieted down.

Some immortals were still there examining the two of them, while some sensible immortals hurried forward to pay their respects.

Xu Qing took a look and passed by these small animals, instead his gaze fell on the red ghost figure floating behind the tree shadow.

That is a sad fairy.

Xu Qing stepped over the immortal who was thanking him and walked straight to the female ghost in red.

"Which hall are you from?"

The red-clothed female ghost laughed and said, "I am the Sad Immortal of Qushui Village."

"The Sad Immortal of Qushui Village? To me, you look more like a demon that buys and sells people and animals and eats their blood!"

Xu Qingke still remembered the female ghost in red that he met in the secluded path in the forest when he followed Liu Youdao through the forest and visited the graves.

As the other party passed by the corpse-driving team, he was still muttering "Sheep, delicious" in his sleep.

The direction in which the female ghost flew was exactly where Chen Mancang drove his flock of sheep away.

Later, Liu Youdao died, and Xu Qing returned to Linhe along the way. On the way, he met the female ghost again, and there was a sheep on her shoulder.

The ghost girl was exposed by Xu Qing's past, and she said with an uneasy expression: "Fellow Daoist, please stop talking nonsense. As an immortal, how could I do such a thing?"

Xu Qing was still thinking about the matter of the Songzi Temple, so he didn't have the time to argue with a female ghost.

He held the female ghost with one hand, and with the other hand he took out a few amulets and stuck them on the ghost's face.

Amulets can ward off evil and eliminate disasters for ordinary people, but when applied to ghosts, it is like pressing a red-hot iron against one's heart.

The female ghost was covered in black air, and smoke was coming out of the place where the amulet was stuck.

Some of the immortals around wanted to step forward to stop them, but were stopped by Xuan Yu who was baring his teeth and breathing heavily.

"Are you going to admit it or not?" As he said that, Xu Qing took out another stack of house-guarding talismans.

Amidst the screams, the female ghost finally couldn't help but let go:

"I confess! I confess everything! Take the talisman away!"

(End of this chapter)