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

Chapter 263 Go Home Obediently
White smoke curled up in the incense hall. The Goddess of Life Protection bowed her head and lowered her eyes. Under the drum stele in the hall, a little girl curled up with her knees drawn up, looking just like a kitten that had lost its mother's love.

At the mortuary, Xu Qing couldn't help the child because the child knew nothing. She only knew that her father didn't want her and her mother was gone. She knew nothing else, including where her home was.

Xu Qing couldn't report it to the authorities because he couldn't report it to the authorities either.

Yang has its own laws, and Yin has its own rules; nothing is more true than this.

The little girl seemed to sense something. She looked up in confusion at the statue on the altar. When she saw the gaze of the Goddess of Life Protection, she rubbed her eyes hard, thinking she was hallucinating.

But when she opened her eyes again, the statue on the altar had returned to its original state. The little girl was anxious, so she ran to a worshipper who was making a wish, knelt down and kowtowed repeatedly.

Xu Qing heard the other person muttering indistinctly, "The Goddess of Life Protection has appeared! The Goddess of Life Protection has appeared!"

This little girl
Xu Qing didn't appear, because a little bear cub with a pigtail sticking straight up came running in through the temple entrance.

The little boy was holding a wild rabbit with a round belly in his arms, but the rabbit's leg had been injured by the hunter and it could no longer run normally.

The nanny in charge of taking care of Chen Liuer smiled and said, "This child is kind-hearted. When he saw that the hunter was going to take the rabbit back, he insisted on saving it. The hunter was initially reluctant, so I planned to give him some small change to buy the rabbit."

"But who knew that when the hunter heard that the young master and I were going to the temple to worship the Goddess of Life Protection, he refused to accept any money and even gave the rabbit to the young master."

Sister Jin asked curiously, "Why is that?"

The old woman explained, "Master doesn't know, but that rabbit was actually a female rabbit. The reason her belly was so round was because she was pregnant with a litter of baby rabbits! The hunter, remembering that Baosheng Temple protected the mother and her babies, felt that he had almost committed a sin, so he let me and the young master bring the mother rabbit back."

"Liu'er is such a good boy." Sister Jin patted Chen Liu'er's head, her eyes filled with kindness. "Go and put it behind the hall. In a little while, the Goddess of Life Protection will appear and send a celestial messenger to heal its wounds and send it back to the forest."

When Sister Jin praised Chen Liuer for being so well-behaved, the little maid kneeling in front of the incense table subconsciously turned her head to look, but when she realized that the other party was not calling her, she looked away again.

Holding the mother rabbit, Chen Liuer first greeted the little maid kneeling in front of the incense hall. Seeing that the latter was lost in thought and unwilling to follow him, Chen Liuer happily went to the back of the hall by himself.

In front of the palace, Sister Jin and the nanny who takes care of Chen Liuer are chatting.

Bringing up the rear, Chen Liuer skillfully placed the injured rabbit on the altar. The child tiptoed, stroked the rabbit, murmured a few heartwarming words, and then skipped off to play with 'Good Boy'.

At this moment, the white snake that had been coiled under the altar table emerged from the ground.

Liu Xian was skilled in medicine and possessed a divine medicine within her belly. Bai Xiaoxian was the same; she opened her snake mouth and spat out a crimson berry hidden inside her body.

The immortal willow, who possesses profound spiritual cultivation, has a self-contained space within her body that can store many things. Besides the crimson berries, the white fairy also hides many treasures in her belly.

The mother rabbit ate the berries, and her wounds visibly healed, but she still dared not leave on her own.

Bai Xiaoxian said irritably, "Hurry up and get out of here! If it weren't for the fact that you're pregnant, I would have swallowed you whole!"

The snake saving the rabbit is utterly contrary to the natural order, but what can we do when it's now a deity in the Baosheng Temple?

The pregnant rabbit, carrying a pardon, ran out of the Baosheng Temple as if granted a reprieve.

Inside the coroner's shop, Xu Qing's thoughts drifted away from the Blood Lake Dharma Realm. At the same time, a sound rang out at the shop entrance.

"Which of you is the owner of this shop?"

Her voice was crisp and clear, a tone that, just by listening to the sound, was not something an ordinary woman could produce. What normal young woman or married woman in a family would have such a heroic air?

Xu Qing looked up and saw three women barging into the shop. All three women were dressed in red clothes and red pants, with red headscarves on their heads, bright silver knives stuck in their backs, and their legs were tied with zip ties. They were clearly not to be trifled with!

The woman at the head of the group wasn't the tallest, but she had the most imposing presence. She had a cinnabar dot between her eyebrows, and her first glance wasn't at Xu Qing, but at Shang Shaoyang, who was reclining on a grand chair enjoying the cool air.

In contrast, Xu Qing, who was sticking to his post at the counter, seemed more like a shop assistant or accountant.

Shang Shaoyang reached for his sword and sized up the woman in red before him: "Red-Clothed Cult traitor?"

"Who is the traitor!" A woman with the build of a strong man standing next to the leading woman spoke up: "Our sect's Holy Maiden Red Lotus is the descended Mother of Heaven, upholding the principles of Heaven, to overthrow the dog emperor's empire and support the true dragon to relieve the suffering of the people. If there is a traitor, then it should be the dog emperor who murdered his brother and killed his loyal subjects!"

Shang Shaoyang raised an eyebrow. You have to admit, what the other party said makes some sense.

"The real dragon? Who is the real dragon?" Shang Shaoyang asked.

"The Holy Maiden consulted the heavens and divined, and it was prophesied that the true dragon is in the wild. Anyway, killing the dog emperor first is never a bad thing!"

The leading woman raised her hand to interrupt her subordinate, saying, "We have not come here for matters of family or country, but only to ensure that our former brothers and sisters can be laid to rest."

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing immediately stood up.

It's so hot today! Where's the body? What? It hasn't been delivered yet? Is this how you treat your brothers and sisters? Hurry up and send it over, or the body will start to smell!
The three red-robed disciples looked at each other, momentarily at a loss as Xu Qing, who had taken the initiative, did not know what to do.

"Aren't you afraid we're traitors?" the leading woman couldn't help but ask.

Xu Qing retorted, "Then are you rebels?"

"."

"This is different. Our Red-Clothed Cult is wanted by the government. Aren't you afraid of being implicated?"

"Hey! What's wrong with that?" Xu Qing said, "When two countries are at war, the corpses of those who die on the battlefield are still buried together. This is a rule passed down from our ancestors. What if a plague breaks out if no one takes care of these corpses?"

Xu Qing said earnestly, “After a great war, there will be a great plague, and after a great plague, there will be a great famine. This is not a joke. I am a funeral director. I do not know about great benevolence and righteousness. I only know that corpses cannot be left to rot in the wilderness. Not to mention your corpses, even the corpses of officials will be buried by me.”

"Sir, you are a man of great righteousness. Why not join our Red-Clothed Cult and together overthrow this chaotic world?"

"."

Xu Qing flatly refused.

He just wanted to sit down and collect the body; he didn't want to run around doing nothing.

As the red-robed disciples paid their deposits and prepared to leave, Xu Qing suddenly remembered something and asked, "Why don't you go to the funeral parlor to handle the aftermath?"

The woman in the lead explained, "The funeral parlor is crowded and noisy. We only went there twice before word got to the government troops. Now, Wu Tingwei's men are guarding outside day and night, so we have to find somewhere else. In Linjiang County, besides the funeral parlor, there's only this one funeral parlor on Jingxia Street, and there's really nowhere else to go."

Xu Qing understood. After the Red-Clothed Sect disciples left, Shang Shaoyang clicked his tongue and sighed, "It is said that the Red-Clothed Sect has a Red-Clothed Women's Army, personally led by the Red Lotus Saintess. Every woman in it is heroic and valiant. Now it seems that the reputation is well-deserved."

"What, Brother Shang, do you also want to join the Red-Clothed Cult?"

Shang Shaoyang was about to retort, but before he could finish, he suddenly changed his mind: "It's not impossible."

Looking at Shang Shaoyang's restless appearance, Xu Qing had a bad feeling. Would this spoiled brat relapse into his old ways?
For the next two days, Shang Shaoyang would bring his little mongrel dog to Xu Qing's place to rest in the cool air. The key thing was that he would rest in the cool air at noon, but now he would do so early in the morning, and he would not leave until evening.

Xu Qing had no idea what the other party was planning until the third day, when the Red-Clothed Sect sent thirteen gruesome corpses, temporarily wrapped in lime powder.

However, even with lime powder to prevent moisture and kill bacteria, these corpses still had an unpleasant odor.

During the hot summer months, it is difficult for ordinary people to preserve a corpse for a long time; the only option is to bury it as soon as possible.

However, Xu Qing did not mind. In front of the red-robed disciples, he dressed the corpses in burial clothes and made them look like corpses.

Seeing Xu Qing's serious attitude and lack of disdain, the woman in red at the head of the group relaxed her tense expression.

“My name is Xie Hongying. I will always remember Manager Xu’s kindness.” Xu Qing, who was busy with his work, said without turning his head, “I have no relation to your Red Robe Sect. You pay for the funeral expenses, and I am responsible for the body’s preparation and burial. It’s just a business transaction, not a matter of friendship.”

Xie Hongying laughed freely and said, "It's not the Red-Clothed Sect. It's just that I, Xie Hongying, am grateful for Boss Xu's kindness. If Boss Xu ever needs my help in the future, he can draw a red circle on this street with a red pen and tie a red ribbon in front of his house. As long as I am alive, I will come to help Boss Xu."

Xu Qing waved his hand behind his back and continued to deal with the corpses. He didn't take Xie Hongying's words to heart. He could see through her martial arts cultivation at a glance. What help could someone who had just entered the Condensation Realm and was even stronger than Sha Zhu be?

The corpses of the Red-Clothed Cult members were all homeless in life and had no place to be buried after death. Xie Hongying paid the funeral expenses and instructed that there was no need to buy a burial plot. Even if her body was seen one day, she only needed a place to be buried, and that would be enough for her to rest in peace.

Xu Qing had no objection. In the past, customers who couldn't afford to buy a burial plot didn't care where they were buried. All they cared about was the eight words: "May the dead be buried with a complete body and find peace in the earth."

As Xu Qing finished performing the ritual to deliver people from suffering, he discovered that most of these people had a similar fanatical devotion to the Heavenly Heart Sect. However, unlike the Heavenly Heart Sect, the Red-Clothed Sect followed the rules and did not use their weapons to bully the poor and weak.

Even on the occasions when they went to the brothel, they were given enough money.

This surprised Xu Qing quite a bit.

At the shop entrance, Shang Shaoyang stopped Xie Hongying and the others. The group whispered among themselves for a while, and Xu Qing overheard words like "reform and innovation," "Cangyi Group," "silver," and "manpower."

Xu Qing frowned slightly. Shang Shaoyang had only been in Tianjin for a few days, and he was already starting to get restless again.

"Brother Xu, where do you intend to bury these bodies?"

“A chaotic graveyard outside the city.”

"A mass grave? Is that a suitable place?"

Xu Qing called to Sha Zhu, and as they drove the cart piled high with thin-skinned coffins, he said, "The mass grave isn't such a bad place. There are separate enclosed burial plots inside, and in terms of feng shui, they might even be better than some people's own chosen burial plots. Besides, people in the Red-Clothed Cult die every day. Do you think all of them can buy their own burial plots?"
If I were to bury him, there would only be more trouble. On the contrary, burying him in a chaotic graveyard filled with tombstones would likely draw less attention.

"These people were restless in life, and now they're buried in a noisy, chaotic graveyard after they die. Maybe that's exactly what they wanted, don't you think?"

Xu Qing patted the coffin on the vehicle and said with a smile, "Look, their silence means they agree."

"."

The horses pulling the coffins were strong and powerful, and they didn't seem to be struggling at all. Xu Qing wasn't in a hurry either, and he drove the carriage slowly out of the city.

Shang Shaoyang and a Red-Clothed Sect disciple dressed casually followed behind the car, chatting amongst themselves about the situation in the Great Yong Dynasty and the future development of the Red-Clothed Sect.

Xu Qing didn't say a word from beginning to end. He was just a funeral attendant who also did part-time maternal and infant care. He cared about the dead, children, and mothers, but he had nothing to do with other people's rebellion, defection, or reform.

Even regarding the recent rumors circulating in the Northern Frontier that the world's destiny has been divided in two, with the Northern Frontier losing one and the Great Yong taking the other, Xu Qing absolutely refuses to acknowledge any connection to him.

Upon arriving at the mass grave, Xu Qing directed Sha Zhu to dig a pit to bury people, while Shang Shaoyang volunteered to pick up a shovel and dig a pit as well.

The Red-Clothed Sect disciple in charge of supervising the work thought, "Alright, I'll join in too!"
The three men dug the pits quickly, and in about half an hour, more than a dozen new graves were erected. On each grave, a simple wooden memorial tablet was inserted on a stone base.

Various offerings were burned, paper money was scattered, and the disciples of the Red-Clothed Sect acted as filial sons and grandsons, wailing loudly.

Xu Qing kindly reminded them, "It's fine for these people to cry together; there's no need for them to cry individually."

This Red-Clothed Cult disciple was an honest man. He insisted on crying for each of them, saying that they died for the sake of the people and were heroes. He said, "If I can't even cry when I'm mourning, am I still human?"

Fine, then go ahead and cry!

Xu Qing walked to the side and fed the funeral horse candy beans. Shang Shaoyang tried to snatch the food from the horse several times, but failed each time.

Finally, Xu Qing couldn't stand it anymore, so he tossed one of the Power Pills and another ordinary enhancement pill (whose effects he forgot) to Shang Shaoyang. This spoiled brat was really something else; without even asking what kind of pill it was, he swallowed one himself and then fed the remaining one to his little mongrel.

"."

In the mass grave, the Red-Clothed Cult disciple was still crying, but how could he possibly cry over a dozen graves by himself?

Just a quarter of an hour ago, he was truly heartbroken. His brothers and sisters, who once shared the same aspirations, were now separated by death in the blink of an eye. It would be a lie to say he wasn't heartbroken.

But after crying for a while, I suddenly felt less sad, the tears stopped, and I just felt my throat was hoarse and sore.

Looking at the graves again, there are still two graves where no one has cried.

This is really going to be a real pain!
As dusk fell and darkness descended, the graveyard suddenly became chilly, with rustling sounds and faint, dreamlike moans coming from the surrounding woods.

"Go home obediently, go home obediently."

Xu Qing frowned and turned to look in the direction from which the sound came.

Shang Shaoyang also heard the noise. A Red-Clothed Sect disciple next to him said in a hoarse voice, "It's probably some kind of bird. Listen, it seems to only know this one tune."

Before leaving the mass grave, Xu Qing glanced back one last time.

"Brother Xu, what's wrong?"

"nothing."

Xu Qing drove the carriage back to Linjiang County. After the group entered the city, the Red-Clothed Sect disciples left first, while Xu Qing took Shang Shaoyang to the yamen along the way.

Upon arriving near the yamen, Xu Qing suddenly stopped the carriage. Not far from the yamen gate, a little girl was holding a boy's hand and walking away into the distance.

"Chen Liuer?"

As soon as Xu Qing finished speaking, Shang Shaoyang also noticed Chen Liuer.

"Where is this little one thinking of going in the dark?"

Shang Shaoyang frowned, then shouted, "Chen Liuer! Come back here!"

To everyone's surprise, after hearing the shouts, Chen Liuer ran even faster, as if he were being pulled and pushed along!
Shang Shaoyang jumped off the carriage and quickly chased after him.

Seeing this, Xu Qing patted the neck of the Zombie and let it return to the hall on its own, while he followed Shang Shaoyang.

Chen Liuer's movements became faster and faster. Shang Shaoyang vaguely sensed something was wrong, but when he was about to use his lightness technique to catch up with all his might, he was stopped by Xu Qing.

"Let's go and see!"

A man, a stiff body, and a small mongrel dog followed Chen Liuer through a maze of twists and turns, finally arriving at an old locust tree.

"Chen Liuer, what are you doing here?"

Chen Liuer looked bewildered: "Guai Guai invited me to her house to play, and I followed her here, but then she disappeared."

Shang Shaoyang frowned, about to say something, when he saw his little mongrel panting heavily as it desperately pawed at the base of the locust tree.

In no time, a large pit was dug under the locust tree. I don't know where this little dog got such strength!

When the little dog stopped digging and started barking wildly at the pit, the group looked down and saw a corner of an old, worn-out box under the locust tree sticking out.

(End of this chapter)