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

Chapter 355 Welcome and send off
In early March, the green hills were covered with grass.

While Song Tu and Dou Yun were keeping vigil, Xu Qing had already selected a burial plot at Wujiu Slope.

This cemetery is located on a high hill, surrounded by pine trees, quiet and secluded, making it an excellent place of tranquility. Even in the feng shui theory of both civil and military geomancy, it is a superior layout that gathers and retains energy, with the four elements protecting it.

Xu Qing has fenced off this burial site separately, and he will not sell it to anyone, no matter how much money they offer.

This is the place where he specifically buried his deceased relatives.

In Xu Qing's eyes, the old acquaintances buried here seem to be dead, but in a sense, they are closer to him.

Life is the life within death, and death is the death within life. Xu Qing transcends life and death, and sees things more clearly than Song Tu and Dou Yun.

Furthermore, the distance between a living person and a zombie is not necessarily closer than the distance between a zombie and a dead person.

After selecting an auspicious burial site, the next steps are the funeral procession, the roadside memorial service, and the burial.

Xu Qing personally led the team, scattering paper money along the way as a way to appease the poor.

Behind him were funeral staff holding up memorial banners, elegiac couplets, and mourning banners.

In the middle, Wang Lingyuan's coffin was topped with a large character for "offering sacrifices," and the pallbearers were the highest level of service that ordinary people could enjoy under the ritual regulations of the Great Yan Dynasty, consisting of thirty-two pallbearers.

The next level up requires holding a noble title or being a high-ranking military official to enjoy this privilege.

The eldest son carried the banner, and the second son held the spirit tablet.

Beside the coffin, Song Tu, the filial son who was carrying the coffin, held the memorial tablet in his hands, while his eldest apprentice, Dou Yun, acted as the eldest son, carrying the memorial banner on his shoulder.

In front of his two apprentices, Dou Yun's son held a portrait of Wang Lingyuan.

The portrait was hand-painted by Xu Qing using his painting skills. It was a novel addition by the mortuary, belonging to the category of trendy burials, aiming for a high-end and fashionable look.

Normally, these are services that require additional payment, but today Wang Lingyuan experienced them all for free.

I wonder if Senior Brother Wang, if he were alive today, would be moved.
Behind the coffin, Zhao Zhonghe and other yamen runners led the funeral procession horses, with paper offerings placed on the carts for burning.

The procession wasn't over yet; behind them were young boys and girls leading paper horses that carried souls.

Along both sides of the procession, musicians playing funeral music accompanied the elderly residents of Xu Qinggang's house.

In short, the moment the suona started playing, the whole street was filled with a warm and welcoming atmosphere.

Some families, fearing bad luck, cut a strip of red cloth and tied it to their door.

Some children who wanted to join in the fun tried to get closer, but were pulled back by their collars by adults.

Even so, it couldn't stop the curious eyes peeking through the crack in the door.

The long procession, like a dragon, swept through the streets and alleys, with monks and Taoist priests chanting sutras and sweeping dust at the very back.

Some of those monks and Taoist priests were wandering monks or hermits. In previous years, natural disasters and man-made calamities occurred frequently, and these monks and Taoist priests fled from all over the country to Tianjin, but they had no way to make a living.

Seeing that the number of monks gathering was increasing, Magistrate Chen Guangrui realized that this situation was not sustainable. So he built a temple in Xinyaofang and a Taoist temple north of the City God Temple as a landmark.

These monks and Taoists were allowed to participate in the construction of Linjiang City on a regular basis, so that they could support themselves.

At first, some lazy monks and Taoists thought they could support themselves by running temples and collecting incense money. However, they never expected that the local people did not believe in their beliefs at all. People only believed in the Cat God and the Goddess of Life Protection. Even the merchants and fishermen who came and went from the port believed in the Sea Goddess of Tianjin.

There was no other way for these monks to live comfortably except by engaging in production.

What's the fastest way to make money?

Setting up a stall on an overpass isn't a good idea. There are too many competitors, and some swindlers, like a female fortune teller who only charges a few coins but is incredibly accurate. With people like that disrupting the balance of the fortune-telling community, how can you easily raise prices and earn high fees?
You might as well go work washing dishes in a restaurant!
But at this time, some monks discovered that the Xu family's funeral parlor in the city had posted a notice seeking monks and Taoist priests to serve as funeral officiants.

Although the salary isn't high, the benefits are truly exceptional. Employees who work for ten years are even provided with housing, and if they stay until retirement, they receive free iron coupons, along with comprehensive services including care for widows, widowers, and the elderly, and even have their funeral arrangements taken care of.

When a group of monks heard the news, some of them were hesitant at first, but when they went to the coffin room again within two days, they found that it was already full.

Even so, the monks who had come from afar to seek employment were given a vegetarian meal in the coffin room, and each was given thirty coins for their journey home.

Today, Xu's Funeral Services is a true full-chain business integrating incense, candles, paper money, burial plots, coffins, burial services, and funeral arrangements.

Today, Xu Qing led the entire funeral procession, demonstrating the capabilities of the Xu family's funeral services to the people both inside and outside the city.

"Goodness, Manager Xu's return has caused quite a stir!"

"That's right. Ten years ago, it must have been autumn. I took a shortcut through Jingxia Street, and the corpses stretched from inside the mortuary all the way to the door. I estimate there were about two hundred of them."

"Now that this Xu guy has come back, he's caused such a huge commotion. This is really bad luck!"

As the two were talking, the person who had been scattering paper money at the front of the line suddenly moved in front of them and took two pieces of paper from the basket where the paper money was scattered, and handed them over.

Manager Xu didn't say anything. After handing over the items, he turned around and, with a stern face, continued walking out of the city.

"Scholar Kong, you can read, so what do the tadpole-like characters written on this paper mean?"

The old scholar, known as Kong Xiucai, lifted the paper, allowing the sunlight to shine on it.

"Funeral Shop Spring Sale: 20% off all incense, candles, and paper money (30% off for members). For all funerals and burials, receive three years' worth of incense offerings, a jar of sesame oil, and three liters each of five grains."

"."

The flyer also lists the market price of each type of incense and paper money, as well as the specifications of various funeral packages.

Anning Long-Term Package: Affordable permanent stay of 800 or 1200 (optional);

Blessing and Auspiciousness Package: Limited-time offer of 1,600 or 2,500 coins (optional);

En Huai Perfect Package: Includes feng shui burial site selection service, 16-person palanquin, ten miles of mourning music, and five taels of funeral money.

The "Smiling in the Afterlife Package" includes: twenty miles of funeral music, a religious ceremony performed by eminent monks and Taoist priests, and ten taels of funeral money.

The "Eternal Enjoyment Package" includes membership for three generations, permanent after-sales service for cemetery plots, and a funeral allowance of 30 taels of silver.

There are also additional special value-added items such as a funeral opera troupe, optional burial by land, water, or air, and foreign burial methods from countries such as the Western Regions and Nancuo specifically for foreigners.

In short, whether Da Yan has it or not, the coroner's shop and Xu's coffin shop can handle it.

Even if there are exceptions, the flyer specifically mentions customized funeral services at the very bottom.

"Bad luck! What bad luck!"

Seeing that Scholar Kong was furious with the leaflet in his hand, his attendant spat and crumpled his own leaflet into a ball before throwing it away.

After throwing away the crumpled paper, the attendant turned to look at Scholar Kong, only to find that his old friend was cursing as he stuffed the leaflet into his sleeve.

"Brother Kong, what are you doing? If you find it unlucky, why don't you throw it far away? Why keep it?"

After stammering for a while, Kong Xiucai finally told the truth: "It says here that if you take this leaflet to the mortuary or coroner's shop, you can get a pound of lamp oil and two candles for free."

The attendant said with exasperation, "You're literate, how can you be so easily swayed by a pound of lamp oil or a few candles?"

Kong Xiucai glanced at his attendant and snorted, "What do you know? This list shows the prices of incense and paper, which are much cheaper than those at the incense and paper shop. I'm short of paper for writing calligraphy. As long as the paper he sells is genuine from the incense and paper shop, what can I do even if I go to the funeral shop every day?"

"."

The attendant couldn't help but ask, "Don't you find it unlucky?"

"We scholars possess an inherent sense of righteousness; why should we be bound by ghosts and gods? Besides, talk of ghosts and gods is mostly wishful thinking and may not have any real existence!"

"These people who run crematoriums are human too, and the manager of the coroner's shop can't be a demon. I'm a scholar who has studied the classics, and I'm a human being. Why would I be afraid of this?"

Looking at the upright and dignified Scholar Kong, the attendant thought to himself, "He's just short of money and has no silver. What's with all this talk about righteousness and evil?"
As Kong Xiucai headed towards Jingxia Street, his attendant looked around and, seeing that no one was paying attention, quickly ran to the middle of the road and picked up the leaflet that had fallen next to the paper money.

It's at least a pound of lamp oil!

Wujiu Slope.

After the burial was completed and everyone had left, Xu Qing sat alone in front of Wang Lingyuan's tomb for a long time.

Wang Lingyuan was a coroner who spent his whole life dealing with various cases and corpses in the government. Xu Qing had previously learned a small skill that allowed him to see clearly and understand the true nature of things after performing a ritual for the deceased in the mourning hall.

This technique allows one to see the traces of information left behind at the scene after the activities of all living things. For example, Xu Qing can see that there are many abnormal fluctuations of different shades of light around Wang Lingyuan's tomb.

Those are all traces left by people who came to worship.

According to Xu Qing's understanding, this minor technique of revealing one's true nature is able to manifest the abnormal flow and causal traces of the surrounding energy, and it is no exaggeration to say that it is all-perceptive.

When the Cave Manifestation Technique was dispelled, the surroundings returned to normal, as if everything that had just happened was in another dimension.

At this moment, as Xu Qing gazed at his senior brother's grave, he began to contemplate for the first time the impact of the Great Calamity and the severing of the Heavenly Path.

With the balance of Yin and Yang disrupted and the corpse controlling the cycle of reincarnation in the underworld, can his senior brother Wang Lingyuan truly be saved by the Scripture of Salvation and sent to his rightful place?
Before the familiar people around him left one by one, Xu Qing never investigated the matter in depth. His ritual to deliver the dead seemed to be just a formality. As for where the sutra of deliverance would send the soul of the deceased, or how to determine the soul's affiliation, he never thought about it.

Now, with the passing of Hu Baosong and Wang Lingyuan, Xu Qing suddenly wants to find the true origin of the Salvation Sutra and the meaning of its existence.

And this feeling was stronger than ever before.

Besides the Scripture of Salvation, Xu Qing's thoughts sank into the Blood Lake Dharma Realm. Above the Blood Lake, a white-covered Scripture of Living People was also emitting a faint glow.

Opening the Book of Living People, one sees the names of children who were once protected by the divine power of the Goddess of Life Protection, or who had a karmic connection with her.

The clearer and more profound a child's name is, the stronger and more lively the child will be; the more blurred and dim the name is, the weaker or even near death the child will be in reality.

If a name fades or disappears, it signifies the passing of a life.

Xu Qing looked at the thousands of names on the list, feeling inexplicably conflicted.

The origin of this "Living Man's Scripture" is quite mysterious.

On the surface, the Living Man Sutra is a transformation of the conservation manual, blessed by the incense and vows of the Blood Lake.

However, Xu Qing had never heard of any deity who cultivated through incense offerings ever conjuring up a similar object.

"The Exorcist Lord, the King of Hell"

Xu Qing suddenly recalled the old story of how Yama, the King of Hell, had re-refined the treasures of the Underworld, split them in two, and sent them into the vast mortal world to evade the Heavenly Emperor's pursuit.

Combining the functions of the Sutra of Salvation and the Sutra of Living People, Xu Qing frowned.

If that were the case, the souls of the dead who were saved by the Duren Sutra could never have taken the Yinshan route. That place is now ruled by the Dharma Corpse. Even the King of Hell, who gathered the power of the Nine Courts in his lifetime, could not succeed there. How could half a fragment of the sutra possibly overcome all the obstacles and escort those souls to the other side?
Not to mention the complex procedures in the underworld, such as examining the good and evil deeds of the deceased in their previous lives, guiding them to see their past and present lives, washing away their memories, and reincarnating.
Xu Qing wanted to go to the Yin River to ask the Exorcist Lord, but he was afraid that the other party would notice something and cause unnecessary trouble.

“The Demon Exorcist Lord is already prepared to sacrifice himself, so I may not need to ask him about this matter.”

"Just like my senior brother once discussed with me, corpses sometimes talk, and they never lie, much less betray others."

After making up her mind, Xu Qing's tightly furrowed brows relaxed.

Before parting, Xu Qing took out a handful of chrysanthemum seeds and scattered them in front of the grave. Then, he transformed into a zombie and used the wind from the Lihe Wind to urge the growth of plants.

"Spring begins with the growth of plants, autumn ends with the falling of all things. A cycle of union and separation, of life and death."

When the wind subsided, a patch of green plants without flowers appeared in front of the lonely grave.

After putting away the He Feng, Xu Qing once again used the water-cultivation and fire-weeding method to cultivate many white flowers, which bloomed extremely vigorously.

Even with the tradition of using flowers for ancestral rites, the weather in March is often overlooked because no one can obtain flowers that are only available in September.

Meanwhile, in the cemetery that was set aside at Wujiu Slope, the air was filled with the fragrance of flowers.

Inside Linjiang City, Xu Qing had just returned from Wujiu Slope and had not yet returned to Jingxia Street when he heard shouts and cries behind him, accompanied by the sound of iron hooves pounding.

Xu Qing took precautions in advance, and all the pedestrians around him also made way for him.

He glanced to the side and saw a hundred or so imperial guards riding towards him in the distance. These guards were all dressed in red silk military uniforms and had black cloaks draped over their shoulders, looking quite imposing.

The leader in the lead carried a black banner that cleared the way, with the words "Dingyuan" written on it.

At this moment, the marketplace fell silent, with only the clanging of horses' hooves on the bluestone and the scraping of armor and weapons.

As the imperial guards departed, the surrounding vendors and pedestrians chattered amongst themselves.

"Who's going on this trip? What a grand display of power!"

"These are imperial guards from the capital; they must be important figures from the capital."

Someone who recognized the banner said, "The banner has the words 'Dingyuan' written on it. Could it be General Dingyuan, who has only recently returned to the capital?"

"General Dingyuan?"

Since Beijing and Tianjin are adjacent to each other, some merchants from Beijing and Tianjin who came out to watch the excitement chimed in from the teahouse: "He's not General Dingyuan anymore, he's now the Marquis of Dingyuan, appointed by His Majesty!"

Xu Qing raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but look in the direction the guards escorted the carriage as it walked.

If he was indeed the Marquis of Dingyuan appointed by Zhu Huai'an, then wouldn't the person sitting in the carriage be Wang Liang?
Xu Qing smiled slightly. It seemed that this rascal hadn't forgotten his little sister. He had probably come back because he had heard about Wang Yue'e and wanted to reunite with her.

"After seeing off the deceased, we welcome the returning ones; the workings of fate in this world are truly wondrous."

Xu Qing felt relieved and immediately strode back to Jingxia Street.

Upon arriving at his own funeral street, before Xu Qing even reached the coroner's shop, he saw a group of imperial guards blocking his doorway. Meanwhile, Li Tiezhu from the paper offering shop and Sun Erniang from the coroner's shop were talking to a dignified marquis.

(End of this chapter)