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

Chapter 296 Baosheng Temple System, Reencountering a Fated Soul

"The Art of Living"

The characters on the booklet were ancient and solemn. Although Xu Qing had never studied this kind of writing, he could recognize the meaning of the characters at a glance.

Xu Qing felt something and focused her mind on the booklet.

In an instant, the booklet's surface shimmered with light, and a power distinct from the "Scripture of Salvation" spread out. At the same time, the "Scripture of Living People" slowly turned a page under Xu Qing's control.

The pages weren't paper; they carried a faint scent of blood lake incense. Within the smoke, many pale gold, barely visible names appeared on a single page—some bright, some dim, some new, some old.

Before Xu Qing even actively touched the words on the page, the content of those words appeared very clearly in his mind.

Xu Qing instantly realized that this "Living Person's Scripture" actually recorded the names of all the children who had been protected by the divine power of the Goddess of Life Protection or had a karmic connection with her!

The clarity and brightness of a child's name directly reflect the child's current state.

The clearer and more profound the name, the stronger and more lively the child; the more blurred and dim the name, the weaker the child is, and even the more likely they are to die.

Disappearance means the passing of life.

Xu Qing's mind was focused on those names.

Among them, Chen Liuer's name is the most eye-catching, followed by the names of Shang Shaoyang's children, Chen Zi'an's name, and the name of Feng Erye's child.
Xu Qing glanced at the list and noticed that it contained the names of many acquaintances' descendants.

Continuing to read, Xu Qing noticed a name that was quite unusual—Shi Xiaoyu.

The name, formed from incense smoke, was unusually dim in color. Not only were the edges of the strokes blurred, but the entire name was also gradually becoming transparent and fading, as if it would dissipate into the smoke at any moment.

Xu Qing frowned slightly and subconsciously mobilized more incense and prayer power to attach to Shi Xiaoyu's name. The dim name, which was formed by the smoke of incense, instantly rippled out like water, turning into an "incense mirror".

The mirror, woven from incense smoke, was filled with swirling mist. As the mist parted, Xu Qing saw a child struggling and thrashing about on the surface of the water. As the struggles lessened, the child's small figure began to sink into the water.

Through the connection of a living person and incense, Xu Qing can clearly perceive the location of the child in the mirror.

That's the riverside wharf.
Xu Qing instantly realized that in addition to recording the names of children who had a connection with Baosheng Temple, the Living People's Scripture could also see the "living people's lantern images" of each registered child at any time through the connection of incense and vows.

Besides, the book in front of him seemed to have other functions that had not yet been revealed, but Xu Qing had no time to investigate them at the moment.

Upon seeing the child about to sink in the water on the other side of the mirror, Xu Qing instantly withdrew the magic power of his Corpse Transformation and used the Divine Travel Book to instantly arrive at the Linjiang Wharf.

As he plummeted from a hundred feet in the air, Xu Qingguang activated his vision and instantly locked onto the waters where Shi Xiaoyu was drowning.

The golden banner shot out, followed closely by Xu Qing, who appeared before the still-rippling water.

With the water field expanding, Xu Qing parted the currents and, in just two breaths, pulled the drowning child to the surface.

After a massage and acupuncture, the child in front of him, who had been in a daze, finally came back to his senses.

Having just recovered from his shock, Xu Qing subconsciously looked at the books in the Blood Lake Dharma Realm.

Turning to the first page, one sees the name of Shi Xiaoyu's incense offering recorded. After a series of flickering changes, the originally dim and blurry edges of the characters began to solidify at a visible speed, and the pale red glow that symbolized vitality also lit up again!

Although it still cannot compare to the radiance of a healthy child, it is no longer a bleak sight of someone on the verge of death.

At this moment, the child's weak but gradually calming breathing rose and fell in sync with the name gradually brightening on the booklet, perfectly corresponding to each other.

Xu Qing felt a strange mix of emotions.

No wonder he always felt that Baosheng Niangniang's divine status was missing something.

Xu Qing had never understood what other purpose the special incense gathered in the Blood Lake Dharma Realm served, besides warding off calamities.

Now that the conservation manual has been returned to its original place and the living mantra has appeared, all the fog has been dispelled, and Xu Qing has also seen the unique path of cultivation belonging to the deities of the Baosheng Temple.

This is a path completely opposite to the way of praying for the deceased.

Without the Blood Lake Dharma Realm and the incarnation of the Goddess of Life Protection, even if Xu Qing wanted to come into contact with this path of cultivation, it would be absolutely impossible!
Everything was a matter of chance.

After regaining her senses, Xu Qing turned to look at the trembling child beside her.

A wisp of incense from the Blood Lake silently enveloped the child's body. Although it was early winter, Shi Xiaoyu felt all the chill disappear and her whole body felt warm.

Xu Qing sized up the child before her and asked in a tone behaving like an adult questioning a child:
“You child! Let me ask you this: how did you end up at the wharf and fall into the water so late at night instead of staying at home? Where are your parents?”

Shi Xiaoyu pouted and tears welled up in her eyes as she said, "My mother and my third father were resting in the aft cabin, and I was alone in the front cabin. At night, I got up to pee and went to the bow of the boat. I accidentally slipped and fell into the water."

However, children as young as five or six are not yet fully developed mentally. Xu Qing asked several times, but still couldn't find out where the "Iron Head Boat" that Shi Xiaoyu mentioned was, or even the names of his parents.
Shi Xiaoyu only knows that his mother's name is Shi Chunlan, while he has four or five fathers. He usually calls his fathers "Big Father," "Second Father," and so on. If you ask him what the names of his fathers are, he can't answer any of them.

Following the principle of seeing things through to the end, Xu Qing decided to reopen the "living scripture" once again.

A wisp of incense smoke was poured in, and the pages of the book floating above the blood lake changed again. Below Shi Xiaoyu's name, several lines of small characters slowly condensed from the incense smoke—

Father: Jiang Yuanyang, a native of Shanyang County, Guangling Prefecture.

Mother: Shi, maiden name Chunlan, from Linjiang County.

They were married on the 27th day of the Peach Month in the Dingyou Year.

Ying Shi, whose given name was Xiao Yu, was born on the ninth day of the cold month of the year Gui Mao.

Upon seeing the information about Shi Xiaoyu's biological parents, Xu Qing's expression became quite strange.

So his living testimonies also have the function of paternity testing?

Jiang Yuanyang, a native of Guangling
Xu Qing recalled how Shi Xiaoyu's mother had arranged for the child to have four or five godfathers, and then it dawned on her.

Surely the child's mother knows who Shi Xiaoyu's biological father is?
Xu Qing took out two paper ingots and a paper little girl with rosy cheeks, and said, "Stay here and don't move. I'm going to find your mother. If you feel scared, you can play with these little things."

The children were too young to understand the taboos surrounding burning paper effigies. When they saw the little paper figures and paper ingots, their eyes were instantly drawn to them.

After calming Shi Xiaoyu down, Xu Qing searched along the river and finally found the iron-headed boat where Shi Xiaoyu's mother was three miles away.

Listening to the sound of waves crashing against the shore, Xu Qing hesitated for a moment, then picked up a stone from the shore and threw it at the moored iron-headed boat.

Before long, a burly man with his shirt off stepped out of the boat, followed by a disheveled woman.

The burly man cursed and pulled the boat ashore, then jumped out, intending to teach Xu Qing, who had interrupted his plans, a lesson.

Xu Qing turned sideways, tripping the burly man and sending him sprawling to the ground. Without even glancing at him, he turned to the woman at the bow of the boat and said...

"Since you are the child's mother, you should take good care of him. It was just a coincidence that I happened to see it today and saved your child from drowning. If there is a next time, you may not be so lucky!"

Shi Chunlan immediately came to her senses. She ran to the front cabin, but when she couldn't find Shi Xiaoyu, her eyes instantly welled up with tears.

Where is my son?

Before Shi Chunlan could finish speaking, the burly man who had just climbed up from the riverbank asked urgently, "Where's my child!"

Xu Qing glanced at the burly man who seemed more anxious than anyone else, then pointed towards the distant riverbank. The two men, disregarding everything else, ran in the direction Xu Qing indicated.

Xu Qing followed slowly behind. When they got closer, Shi Chunlan was constantly checking her child's body, afraid that he might have bumped or hurt himself.

The big man tried to step forward, but Shi Chunlan pushed him away.

"Don't touch us, mother and child. If you hadn't insisted on leaving the child alone in the front cabin, Xiaoyu wouldn't have fallen into the water."

Knowing he was in the wrong, the burly man could only force a smile and approach Xu Qing, saying with a grin, "Brother, I'm so grateful for your help! I'll remember this kindness!"

Xu Qing asked curiously, "What's your name?"

"My surname is Tian, ​​and my given name is Dashan."

"Is Shi Xiaoyu your child?"

"Of course! I've known Madam Shi for five or six years. If it wasn't my child, whose would it be?"

"."

Xu Qing remained silent.

After the mother and daughter finished crying, Shi Chunlan came to Xu Qing and thanked him repeatedly.

She said that if anything happened to Xiaoyu, she wouldn't be able to live either.

Taking advantage of the moment when Tian Dashan and Shi Xiaoyu were talking, Xu Qing seized the opportunity to ask, "Madam Shi, I heard Shi Xiaoyu say that he has several fathers. Does Madam Shi know which one of Xiaoyu's biological fathers is?"

Shi Chunlan's smile froze, and she said somewhat awkwardly, "I'm an incompetent mother; I don't even know who the father of my child is."

"You didn't even look for it?"

"Of course I've looked into it. Years ago, when I was pregnant with Xiaoyuer, I even went to Baosheng Temple to pray and try to find out about the father of my child, but I still haven't gotten any results."

Xu Qing glanced at Shi Chunlan; his Baosheng Temple had never offered paternity testing services!

“Madam Shi, to tell you the truth, the reason I came to stroll by the river today is because I dreamt of the Goddess of Life Protection appearing in my dream, which is how your child’s life was saved.”

"Is there still this?"

Shocked, Shi Chunlan immediately knelt down and kowtowed several times in the direction of Ziyun Mountain. Then, she put her hands together, closed her eyes, and mumbled some words of gratitude to the goddess for appearing and saving her.

Xu Qing thought for a moment, then finally spoke up to offer some advice: "The Goddess of Life Protection said that the child's father's surname is Jiang, and he is from Guangling."

Shi Chunlan stood there, stunned, for a long time before she came to her senses.

Xu Qing didn't say much more. As for Shi Xiaoyu's godfathers, they might not be as confused as they seemed on the surface, and they all thought they were Shi Xiaoyu's biological fathers.

Shi Chunlan was all alone in the port area, and it wouldn't be easy for her to raise a child. Xu Qing wouldn't interfere with the complicated interpersonal relationships involved.

Before leaving, Shi Xiaoyu carefully held the paper ingots and paper dolls on the ground in her arms like treasures. When Tian Dashan saw this, he was so frightened that his face turned green!

"Where did you pick up this unlucky thing? Throw it away!"

"It was given to me by the man in white."

"."

Xu Qing reached out and touched his cheek. When did he become an uncle again?

Seeing Tian Dashan looking at him questioningly, Xu Qing explained, "I work in the funeral industry, so it's perfectly normal for me to carry paper money and paper offerings with me. If Brother Tian needs anything in the future, you can always come to Jingxia Street to find me."

"If you don't need it, you can also help me promote it at the port and introduce more friends and relatives. I can give you a discount for acquaintances. Of course, if Brother Tian wants a commission, that's fine too!"

"."

Tian Dashan's already green face seemed even greener.

Is this something a person can say?
It was only because the other party was his son's savior that he swung his fist, which was as big as a sandbag, at the other party's expense!

The coroner's shop.

For the first time, Xu Qing neglected the "Scripture of Salvation" and instead spent the entire night studying the newly acquired "Scripture of Living People".

Compared to the Scripture of Salvation, this scripture serves more to nurture new life, monitor births in the secular world, and ensure the continuation of the human race's bloodline and ancestral lineage.

Anyone who has worshipped the Goddess of Life Protection and made a vow at the Temple of Life Protection will have their offspring appear in the book.

Xu Qing, as a deity of the Baosheng Temple, is more like a record keeper who reviews memorials and needs to complete one random question of faith and wish after another.

Xu Qing could choose to ignore it during this period, but if he fulfilled his duties, the popularity and fame of Baosheng Temple might be further enhanced.

During this time, Xu Qing also discovered some situations that were out of control, namely believers who were thousands of miles away.

He was unable to respond to the wishes of these people in a timely manner.

In this age of great calamity, demons roam freely. Thousands of miles away, who knows how many monsters and demons he might encounter? With Xu Qing's current magical powers, even his own safety is uncertain, let alone crossing thousands of miles to fulfill the wishes of others.

On the other hand, if it weren't for the Celestial Master's Mansion and the dog emperor's obstruction, and if the conservation manual had been circulated earlier, even if there were a barrier of thousands of miles, Xu Qing would have had a way to arrive in an instant.

The solution was to build a Baosheng Temple in each of the sixteen states, so that Xu Qing could travel between the various temples using his Dharma Realm.

Once the incense and divine power reach a certain level, the temple deities appointed by Baosheng Temple, such as the Dharma Protector Bai Xiaoxian and the Childbirth Guardian Shiyue, can also handle the wishes and prayers of the believers in the temple.

"The Baosheng Temple system still has a long way to go."

Besides the most basic uses of the Living Man's Manual, Xu Qing also discovered something very interesting.

That is, Xu Qing can sense the location of every child registered in the scriptures and use them as coordinate anchors for traveling through the Heavenly Book.

The Divine Journey to Heavenly Book is listed in the Heavenly Gang Division of the Heavenly Books. It is the general outline of the method of escaping to heaven and entering the earth. Wherever one's thoughts go, that is where the Heavenly Palace is located!
The Living Man Scripture can connect with Xu Qing's thoughts, allowing him to go to places his original body has never been.

However, all of this is based on one premise: that his magical power is sufficient to support the consumption of the escape technique.

The next morning, Xu Qing greeted Xuan Yu and then hurried off to the county magistrate's mansion.

He was still eyeing the green scale in Chen Liuer's hand. How could a child carry such a dangerous thing around all day?
Xu Qing would not be at ease if this matter were left unresolved.

Walking through Dongdaokou Hutong, you'll see a barber shaving someone's head.

Xu Qing kept walking. When he arrived at the street where the county magistrate's mansion was located, before he even entered the gate, he saw a familiar figure lingering at the street corner.

A tattered patchwork robe, torn monk's shoes, and a shiny bald head.

Who else could it be but the monk Xinyuan?

(End of this chapter)