I am a wandering immortal in the mortal realm.

The basin for burning paper money was made of coarse pottery and cost four coins each. It was covered with gray-black stains, probably because it had been used for a long time.

The bottom has two cracks, and light shines through it when the sun shines on it.

Let alone dropping it, even a little force could probably break it into eight pieces.

But even with all his strength, Zhuang Ping, an adult, couldn't manage to scratch a mark on this broken basin.

Zhuang Ping seemed a little frightened, and couldn't help but take two steps back, swallowing hard, and stammering, "This...this..."

The hall erupted in commotion. Everyone stared wide-eyed, whispering among themselves, "Oh, it seems Zhuang Da doesn't want to protect his descendants!"

"That's impossible. He only has one son, Ping-ge'er. If they don't protect him, who else can they protect?"

"Who knows if the old man harbors resentment? They say that even the most filial sons grow weary of caring for a chronically ill parent. Zhuang Da has been sick for so long, who knows if Zhuang Ping has been taking good care of him?"

"That's impossible. Even if Zhuang Ping's character is flawed, Cui'er is a good person. Besides, she just gave birth to Qing'er, the Zhuang family's only grandson!"

"..."

In no time, all the villagers who had come to watch began pointing and whispering about Zhuang Ping.

Shen Yuan frowned, staring at the earthenware pot still spinning on the ground, a chill inexplicably rising in his heart.

Hearing the neighbors' gossip, Zhuang Ping blushed. Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, a look of fear flashed in his eyes. He cried out, "Father!" He hurriedly crawled forward on his knees, picked up the earthenware basin, and smashed it a few more times.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The mourning hall was now completely silent, save for the dull thud of the earthenware basin hitting the hard floor.

No matter how Zhuang Ping smashed it, the ceramic basin remained completely undamaged.

The earthen-gray ceramic basin stood there starkly in the center of the mourning hall, drawing everyone's attention, as if mocking them.

Just then, a gust of cold wind blew by, carrying all the paper scraps and ashes on the ground into the air.

Everyone shuddered, staring at the ashes flying everywhere, their hearts filled with fear: "What...what does Zhuang Da mean? It seems he harbors a lot of resentment!"

"Wow...a ghost! A ghost!"

Suddenly, a child's cry rang out from the crowd.

The child and adults immediately covered his mouth, smiled apologetically at the Zhuang family, and then ran home with a pale face.

Her departure seemed to set off something, and the crowd of onlookers instantly dispersed.

Out of their natural fear of ghosts, everyone now regretted coming to watch the Zhuang family's funeral.

Only two or three relatives remained in the mourning hall, making it feel quite empty in an instant.

"Father, what is your last wish? Tell us, and we'll fulfill it for you. Please stop torturing us and reincarnate peacefully!"

Zhuang Ping stood there, stunned and terrified. His three daughters rushed to the coffin, crying and saying, "If you have anything you want to eat, use, or are short of money, just ask us in your dreams, and we'll burn it for you. Father, please... please don't blame us!"

"Father! It is your unfilial son's fault!"

Just then, Zhuang Ping also snapped out of his shock and knelt down in front of the coffin with a thud, his head hitting the ground repeatedly.

After kowtowing, he started slapping himself, crying and wailing, "You must be resentful that your son didn't continue to spend money on your treatment, but your son has his reasons! You've been sick for a year, and we've sold everything we could. Your son only earns eighty coins a day at work, and he has to support the whole family. Even this funeral will require Uncle Zheng's help. Your son... your son truly has no way to help!"

His words only made things worse, as the wind howled even more fiercely, and the spirit banner flew high, almost grazing the roof beams.

As luck would have it, two crows flew in from outside, cawing mournfully as if in response, sending chills down one's spine.

"Knock knock!"

Suddenly, another muffled thud was heard.

The women who had been lying on the coffin scattered like birds and beasts as if they had been set off by firecrackers.

"W-what's wrong, Orchid?" someone asked, barely suppressing their fear.

Then a woman dressed in mourning clothes, her face pale, pointed at the coffin and said in a trembling voice, "There's...there's movement inside the coffin!"

"what?"

As soon as the words were spoken, the people who were originally standing next to the coffin immediately moved away, not daring to even look at it again.

"Is Uncle Zhuang not dead?" someone suddenly asked.

"If he's not dead, we'll bury him, but that won't do..."

The word "buried alive" was never uttered, but everyone felt a chill run down their spines.

"No wonder that pot didn't break when it was smashed, and Zhuang Bo didn't die. How can he protect his descendants?" someone boasted, as if they had seen through the truth.

Immediately, someone shouted in agreement: "Quick! Open the coffin! We have to bring Zhuang Bo out!"

It was the elderly laborers carrying the coffin who reacted quickly, grabbing a young man who was rushing towards them and shouting, "Stop!"

Facing the questioning gazes of the crowd, he said, word by word, "When a person dies, their coffin is sealed, and the living and the dead are separated; this is an age-old principle. Now, before the coffin has even been moved, you are already disturbing the deceased's rest. Do you want to incur the ghost's resentment and prevent your home from ever having peace again?"

"What...it's not as mystical as you say!" someone mustered their courage to say. "Zhuang Bo...he's clearly not dead!"

Li Fu shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Impossible. In my whole life, I've carried no fewer than three hundred coffins. The deceased already showed signs of livation and smelled of decay. There's absolutely no way they could still be alive!"

"The sound just now was..." the eldest daughter of the Zhuang family said, her voice trembling with tears.

The relatives nearby became increasingly frightened and began to tremble.

Li Fu thought for a moment, then walked up to Zheng's father, who had a stern face, and cupped his hands in greeting, saying, "Old Zheng, what do you think of this..."

The turn of events happened so fast that Zheng's father didn't even have time to react. After a long while, he took a deep breath and asked, "Old Chen, tell me the truth. What exactly happened today?"

The laborer named Old Chen paused for a moment, then sighed and said, "It's already this ominous before the burial; I'm afraid it's not a good sign!"

Mr. Zheng's heart sank. He nodded and said, "You're the experts in this field. Do you have any good ideas?"

"This..." Old Chen hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "I only have some folk remedies, and I don't know if they will work."

"At this point, who cares about being old-fashioned? Just bury the person whole and intact!" Father Zheng declared decisively.

Old Chen thought for a moment, then nodded and said in a deep voice, "Then I'll have no choice but to give it a try!"

With the host's permission, he quickly fetched a lot of dry straw from the yard, then sprinkled it with ink. As the ink dried, he skillfully wove it into a long straw whip.

Holding a long straw whip, Old Chen walked slowly to the coffin, his steps faltering. Though he was alone, he exuded the aura of a thousand troops.

Everyone stared at him expectantly.

Old Chen's eyes widened in anger. Suddenly, he raised his long whip and lashed it hard at the coffin, shouting.

"Strike the ghost's head with one whip!"

"Snapped!"

Then, another fierce lash came.

"Strike the demon's body twice with the whip!"

"Snapped!"

"Three whips of evil spirits!"

"Snapped!"

"Four whips, yin and yang separated!"

After the four lashes, the eerie wind subsided considerably, and the swirling ashes from the paper began to fall.

"Hey, this looks promising! This looks promising!" someone exclaimed.

Old Chen's eyes lit up, and he took out a handful of glutinous rice from the wooden box beside him, sprinkled it on the coffin, and chanted:

"Dust to dust, the evil wind dies down; earth to earth, the evil fire is quelled; do not covet the path of the living, do not disturb the peace of the world; now that you have received this decree, quickly return to the netherworld!"

No sooner had he finished reading than a furious shout rang out: "Smash the basin!"

Upon receiving the order, Zhuang Ping immediately smashed the basin on the ground, and with a loud crash, the earthenware basin shattered.

Seeing this, everyone felt relieved.

Even Shen Yuan was dumbfounded. No, it really is that strange?

"Lift the coffin!"

Old Chen's sudden roar brought the onlookers back to their senses.

The daughters swarmed over and cried again.

Shen Yuan also composed himself, shook the Anshan Bell, and chanted Taoist scriptures.

"rise--!!!"

"Hey--!!!"

The laborers, holding onto the poles, shouted in unison, like a work chant.

Then he lowered his body, spurred the horse, and lifted it upwards with all his might.

But with that one lift, everyone's expression changed!

The coffin couldn't be moved!

You should know that each of these laborers has a strength of at least several hundred kilograms. With the combined strength of four people, they can even lift a stone coffin.

But this thin coffin in front of them seemed to be rooted to the ground, and no matter how hard they tried, it wouldn't budge.

Old Chen, however, reacted quickly, realizing he was experiencing "ghost pressing down on the coffin." He immediately focused his energy in his dantian and loudly chanted, "Golden light shines upon my body!"

Upon hearing this, the other laborers, as if given some kind of instruction, also began to sing in unison.

"Riding a horse to cultivate one's primordial spirit!"

"A thousand mountains move, the earth shakes—ah—hey!"

"The four seas can be filled in!"

Whether it was an illusion or not, Shen Yuan felt a mysterious force projecting down upon him amidst the shouts and cries of the laborers. It was as if a fire had been ignited in his heart, and a surge of energy rose from his feet, making his whole body feel warm and comfortable.

"Lift the coffin!"

Riding on this momentum that was almost overwhelming, the laborers tried to lift the coffin once again.

"Hey!"

The laborers gritted their teeth and strained, their foreheads bulging with veins.

The two forces clashed silently, and after a while, the coffin finally showed signs of shaking.

"become……"

Someone exclaimed in surprise, but before they could finish speaking, a loud "bang" was heard.

The straw ropes binding the coffin, as thick as a child's arm, crumbled into dust.

The coffin fell back down, and the laborers, unable to stop their efforts, tumbled over.

"Old Chen!"

Mr. Zheng's expression changed drastically, and he quickly went to help the old laborer up.

Old Chen's face was frighteningly pale. It took him a long time to catch his breath. He said with surprise and doubt, "Old Zheng, I'm afraid I can't do this deal. I've never encountered such a ferocious corpse, with such deep resentment, in my entire life. If I fight it head-on, I'm afraid I'll lose my own life!"

Father Zheng panicked: "Then...what should we do?"

"Master Chen, you can't just stand by and watch someone die!"

Zhuang Da's children swarmed over and grabbed Old Chen's legs, trying to get him to open his mouth.

Old Chen was caught in a dilemma, and after thinking it over carefully, he said, "Since unorthodox methods don't work, we can only turn to the orthodox teachings!"

"The orthodox school of Taoism?"

A sudden realization dawned on Zheng's father, and he couldn't help but look in the direction of the Taoist priest.

The reason I didn't approach him before was because I thought the Taoist was too young and didn't have much real magic power.

Looking at it now, the mourning hall was in a mess, but the other party remained calm throughout, perhaps he really did have some kind of supernatural power.

If Shen Yuan knew what he was thinking, he would definitely yell angrily: "Was that calm? I was scared out of my wits!"

Then he saw Zheng's father strolling over.

Shen Yuan: "..."

"Master, it seems we still need your help today. Rest assured, we will repay you handsomely afterward!" Father Zheng said sincerely.

Shen Yuan just wanted to cover his face.

Is this a matter of whether or not to help?

I'm just a fake Taoist priest; exorcising evil spirits is completely outside my area of ​​expertise!