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

Chapter 83 Immortal Family Banquet
In addition to the immortal name, several people also gave the black cat a common name, called Xuanyu.

Xu Qing returned to the coroner's shop. Xuan Yu scurried back from the backyard wall, walked around to him and asked:
"When will you go to the port to buy me some fish?"

"What fish?"

"I heard everything you said just now, the fish used to hire a cat."

Xu Qing pointed at the tablet at the entrance of the hall and said, "Look at that tablet of the immortal family. Qing is my name, and Qing is your name. Together they form the whole hall."

"In other words, I'm an immortal, you're also an immortal, and we run this hall together. We don't have any disciples who can perform rituals, so where do the offerings come from?"

"But hiring a cat doesn't count as establishing a sect."

Seeing that he couldn't fool anyone, Xu Qing had no choice but to look at the cat in front of him, who had a clear mind, and agreed: "Our hall is not yet completed. Once it is completed, not to mention fish, even if you want to eat the pig dragon, it won't be a problem!"

"Zhupolong, what kind of dragon is that?"

"Things that swim in the water, run on the ground, and the only thing missing is a flying dragon."

While drawing the pancakes and lighting the yellow strips, Xu Qing also prepared a jar of Haraqi, also known as Hongliangxishui, to use as a reward for the opening of his own restaurant.

White smoke curled up, and Xu Qing recited the "Bang Bing Jue". The moment the yellow incense stick was lit, it seemed to be spiritual, and the wisps split into several strands and floated towards the outside of the coroner's shop.

The yellow incense he ordered was not an ordinary yellow incense, but a spiritual incense that he had carefully blended.

Xuan Yu resisted the urge to smoke and let the incense smoke penetrate into the netherworld to search for the nearby immortals.

Xu Qing used the magic of looking ahead, and he saw shadowy figures outside the coroner's shop, including wood ghosts, snakes, and rats.

Under the guidance of the Helping Soldiers Technique and the Spiritual Incense, all the wild immortals, real immortals, or other dirty things were attracted to him.

The smell of spiritual incense is despised by powerful evil spirits, so Xu Qing is not afraid of attracting something he cannot deal with.

When the yellow strips were burned out, the shadowy figures outside the coroner's shop disappeared again.

Xuan Yu's eyes widened, and his childish voice was filled with disbelief: "How can they eat for free?"

Xu Qing frowned slightly, wondering what went wrong.

Logically, to set up a temple, one must first build up connections with immortals. As long as proper notification is given, no matter which immortal they are, as long as they are local, they will come to support the newly established temple.

According to Xu Qing's understanding of the spirit mediums, everyone is like a small group that is united against the outside world and keeps each other warm.

In order to prevent foreign immortals from stealing their business and offerings, local immortals are usually very united. Occasionally, they will choose a respected hall to gather together and share what they have.

But why is it that when it is his turn to set up a temple, these immortals are unwilling to come?

Xuan Yu wondered, "Don't they like the Cat Fairy?"

"What's the logic here? If a gray mouse can become an immortal, why can't I?"

Xu Qing remained silent. Looking at the situation now, the problem was probably not with Xuan Yu, but with him.

Family members know their own business. All disciples who go out to perform as spirit mediums have yang bodies. No matter how well he acts as a zombie, he doesn't meet the requirements to be a spirit medium, right?

As to whether Xuanyu could support the hall on his own, Xu Qing fell into deep thought.

The common immortals include Hu, Huang, Bai, Liu and Bei. These are the five mainstream branches. There are also miscellaneous immortal branches outside, such as chickens, monkeys, cats, dogs, and so on.

Xu Qing once discussed this kind of issue with Lao Chuma, a performer at the White Horse Temple.

There was an immortal who was a monkey. After possessing a disciple named Xiang Tong, the disciple could climb a tree as if he were walking on flat ground. If you threw a stick at him, he would dance into a flower for you.

There are also roosters who are the spirit mediums. These spirits have the ability to walk in the underworld and call out to the underworld. If a child in a family has lost his soul, the spirit medium disciple will ask the "crown-wearing gentleman" to possess his body, walk around the house with a clucking sound, and crow to call back the child's lost soul.

The dog fairy is good at finding people and things, and is specialized in defeating evil spirits. After the dog fairy possesses a disciple, the person's nose can be as sharp as a dog's, and he can also have a mouthful of iron teeth and copper jaws. No matter how hard a bone is thrown to him, he can chew it into a pulp.

Xu Qing looked at the cat fairy in front of him and thought to himself, if this thing possessed him, he would probably be unable to resist catching mice whenever he saw one.

That's so shameful!
Fortunately, he doesn't need to possess a body. Other disciples who go out to perform rituals need to offer delicious food and drinks, and coax and lick the spirits to possess them.

After the immortals have eaten and drunk their fill, in order to enjoy the taste of being a human being, they have to use the bodies of their disciples to have fun and act crazy, revealing their true nature.

This is also the reason why, in the eyes of outsiders, most of the disciples who go out to perform rituals are crazy.

After figuring out the problem, Xu Qing retreated behind the scenes and let Xuanyu go to burn incense and pray for the Yin by himself.

Without this zombie blocking the way, it didn't take long for the nearby immortals to leave messages.

Xu Qing could only hear the crowing of chickens and the hissing of snakes in the darkness, as well as a burst of chirping noises, like a baby learning to speak, but not yet fully fluent.

Perhaps these immortals were not powerful enough and could not speak human language. Xu Qing did not understand what they said after listening for a long time. However, it sounded like they were trying to flatter and please others, as if they were very friendly to Xuanyu, the cat immortal.

"What do they say? Can our temple be established or not?"

Xu Qing's tone was obviously unfriendly when he said this.

Xuan Yu jumped onto the altar. At this time, the tablets of Yang Qiying and Liu Youdao had been pushed to the sides, and the position in the middle was occupied by the tablet of Maoxiantang.

"They have no objection. Gray Master and Gray Lady will come to visit us in two days. Master Feng and Mr. Liu have things to do. They can only come to visit us after they finish their work as disciples."

Xu Qing's heart moved when he heard this. Judging from their names, Gray Old Man and Gray Lady were most likely Gray Fairies. He could ignore the other two for now. If he really waited for them to come as guests, maybe he could ask them to help him with his advice when he inspected the coffin.

When he just returned to the shop, he had thought of assigning Xuanyu to inspect the two coffins at the foot of the west wall. However, when the cat said that it might make the things inside come back to life, Xu Qing refused to let Xuanyu inspect the coffins no matter what.

The taboo between cats and corpses seems to imply some kind of rule, which, if violated, will lead to bad consequences.

To be on the safe side, he finally decided to set up a gang and sing the soldiers' songs to mobilize people to solve the problem.

Xu Qing is a half-baked disciple of the Taoist priest, and Empress Qingqing is also a half-baked cat.

Fortunately, the two halves of the bottle of water swayed together and actually formed a hall.

Xuan Yu sat in front of the tablet, looking at Xu Qing with a very focused look.

"Other immortals will be visiting soon. The Xu family should make plans early and prepare some offerings."

Seeing Xu Qing looking over, Xuan Yu added, "I don't have any silver. Don't even think of asking me to buy offerings. I can only steal. But doing so would be a loss of my status as an immortal."

Xu Qing rubbed his chin and asked, "Red Beam and Fine Water Candles and Yellow Strip Candles are available in the shop. I'll go to the market tomorrow and buy some more for the others."

"Going to the market?" Black Cat's ears twitched, and he was obviously very interested in this matter.

The next morning, Xu Qing brought Xuanyu and arrived at the pawnshop early.

During his months away, his business with the funeral industry had long since ceased. Now, he wanted to restore the former glory of the funeral industry, and he had to rebuild his connections. "Manager Xu, if you had come a month and a half earlier, you would have presided over the funerals of the brothers who lost their lives in the funeral industry. But you were away, and I couldn't let the brothers' bodies dry out, so I had to find another funeral house to handle the funeral."

During the two months that Xu Qing was away, there were several conflicts between the Linhe Yahang and the Jinmen Gang, during which many people died. Seeing that he could not be found, Mr. Li Si went to a funeral home and booked a funeral service for the same price.

However, things in the business world are always unpredictable. Xu Qing explained the pros and cons to Mr. Li Si in detail. After all, when it comes to funerals and funerals, there is no other company in the whole of Linhe that is more professional than him.

"Master Li Si, my sect has been engaged in this business since my master's grandfather Yang Qiying. Even now, we can be regarded as a funeral family with an orderly inheritance. You must trust my ability."

"Also, this is my student certificate. Think about it, Mr. Li Si. It would be so impressive if someone with a good family background presided over the burial. Who knows, maybe in the future, there will be smoke rising from our ancestral graves, and a scholar or juren will emerge from the grave."

"In addition to the hardware conditions, I will give a 20% discount on all funeral expenses for all jobs introduced by our agency. This is the 20% discount on the market! The extra profit will belong to the agency."

Mr. Li Si picked up the student certificate and looked at it again and again.

"You're truly a scholar! No wonder I haven't seen you for the past two months. It turns out that Shopkeeper Xu went to take the imperial examination."

"Of course not. We have to keep up with our academic qualifications. Only then can we demonstrate our professional level, right?"

"That's great! Just based on this business attitude, Manager Xu deserves to be rich!" Seeing this, Mr. Li Si had no objection and immediately made a decision to re-establish business relations with Xu Qing.

Linhe Port.

Xu Qing bought two fresh fish from the water market, one was a sturgeon and the other was also a sturgeon.

Xuan Yu looked at the fish that was even bigger than himself, and his eyes could not move away even half an inch.

"This is your betrothal gift. From now on, you must take good care of the hall and don't let me down."

Xuan Yu tilted his head and said, "You gave me a betrothal gift, should I also give a gift in return?"

Xu Qing shook his head, indicating that he had never heard of this.

Xuan Yu continued, "I once lived with a young lady from an official family for a while. Later, someone proposed to her, and she returned the favor."

"That's a man and a woman getting married, which is different from betrothing a cat."

Xuan Yu jumped onto the steps by the roadside, followed Xu Qing's steps, and asked, "What's the difference?"

Xu Qing was so annoyed that he turned around and asked, "The young lady has a dowry and a trousseau, do you have any?"

"Besides, I'm not interested in cats! By comparison, I still appreciate the roast chicken at Cuiyunlou more."

"Roast chicken? Isn't that the offering we want to buy, the crooked-necked little phoenix?"

Xu Qing was speechless.

When immortals come to visit, one has to spend time and effort to prepare a banquet and offerings as a treat.

The crooked-necked phoenix refers to the roast chicken, not the kind from Cuiyunlou, but the roast chicken cooked with authentic five-spice.

In addition to the crooked-necked phoenix, the banquet also requires necessary offerings such as snowflakes, large bowls of tea, phoenix eggs, incense and precious medicine, and red beam water.

These things sound mysterious, but they are actually just jargon used by immortals.

To put it bluntly, "Xiaohuapiao" refers to white flour buns; "Dawanqingcha" refers to plain water; "Phoenix Egg" refers to chicken eggs; "Fragrant Medicine" refers to incense sticks, and "Hongliangxishui" refers to ordinary wine.

Xu Qing has a drinking habit, so he doesn't need to go out and buy wine unless it is necessary.

In his eyes, what's the point of drinking wine for a group of small animals? Will they be able to possess the spirits of the disciples and make them go crazy everywhere after drinking too much?
After purchasing the items needed for the immortal banquet, Xu Qing took a detour to the inspection office.

He hadn't used his wine bug to make wine for a while, so this time he actually bought a few pots of good wine.

When the doorman, Uncle Qin, saw him, he put down his chopsticks with an exclamation and quickly invited him into the doorman's room to talk.

"But I haven't seen you for a few days. Where have you been?"

Xu Qing handed over a pot of freshly brewed wine and said, "I'm going to study abroad now. Lao Qin, try this. It's a local specialty I brought back from Jiangnan. It's really good wine."

Uncle Qin was having breakfast. When he saw the snacks, he was so happy.

After pouring a cup of wine and sipped it, Uncle Qin sighed, "It's a good wine, but I still think the wine you brought me before is more delicious. It's just that you're not telling the truth. I've tried all the wine shops you mentioned, but I can't taste the flavor of your wine."

Xu Qing thought, is he addicted to fake alcohol? He even complains that the alcohol he bought with real money tastes bad.

After leaving the gatehouse, Xu Qing met Zhao Zhonghe training new yamen runners in the yard. He didn't intend to pay attention to him, but the other party took the initiative to greet him.

Xu Qing thought that the sun was rising from the west, or that he was possessed by an evil spirit?

This big and strong guy will eventually learn some etiquette!
Arriving at the coroner's room, Xu Qing felt like home as soon as he entered the morgue, and his heart was filled with relief.

There were corpses in the morgue. In order to prevent Xuanyu from running around and disturbing the corpses, Xu Qing specifically told it to restrain its breath and not to touch the cold beds at will.

When Wang Lingyuan saw the young man smiling and greeting him at the door, his nose felt sore, and he felt like a prodigal son returning home in glory.

"Brother, how are you?"

While saying soothing words, Xu Qing's eyes involuntarily drifted behind Wang Lingyuan.

He hadn't touched a corpse in two months of seclusion and was now really hungry.

Xu Qing told Wang Lingyuan about what he had seen and heard along the way, describing all the scenery of the six regions of Jiangnan, as if he had actually been there.

These were the stories about Jiangnan that Guo Dongyang had told him, and they came in handy now.

As he was talking, Xu Qing's eyes fell on a nearby cold couch.

"Brother, have you encountered a new case?" Looking at the stripped corpse lying on the cold couch, he walked over naturally.

"Junior brother, you've come at the right time." In front of Xu Qing, Wang Lingyuan lifted several paper quilts, revealing corpses, men, women, young and old.

"This is a major case of annihilation of an entire family. The county lieutenant has been ordered to solve the case within three days. If he fails to do so, his official position will be in jeopardy."

"Could this corpse have been from a prominent family when he was alive?"

Wang Lingyuan shook his head and said, "They're not from a famous family, but the old lady was a servant in the mansion of General He in her early years, and she was once a salt smuggler on the Linhe Salt Road."

"General He is in charge of the Beijing Camp and holds great power. Now that the general has sent a letter to inquire, the county lieutenant has promised to solve the case soon. If there is still no progress by then, not only the county lieutenant, but also the entire government office will be implicated."

Xu Qing looked at the corpses of men, women, and children before him, straightened his expression, and said, "Brother, don't panic. You must know that even when a bird flies across the sky, it leaves a shadow. Even when the wind blows across the lake, there are ripples."

"I don't believe that there is a case that you and I, brothers, cannot solve together."

(End of this chapter)