"Xiu Niang, I'm going on a trip soon. You need to take care of the house. If you encounter any issues you can't solve, you can go to Guanmen Village at Old Platform Mountain or seek help in Xijing Mountain."
Hiding behind the locust tree, Xiu Niang hurriedly floated out and asked, "Where are you going, sir?"
"I'm going to attend a funeral."
Upon hearing this, Xiu Niang breathed a sigh of relief; it turned out he was just attending a funeral.
"Is it far?"
"Quyang, roughly a thousand miles away."
"Did they give you a lot of silver? The fact that you're going so far..."
Xu Qing paused and shook his head, "No silver, I just have a good heart. I can't bear to see the body exposed to the elements, so I'm going to help them bury it sooner."
Xiu Niang looked at Xu Qing, her eyes seemed to shine.
Who could resist someone so warm-hearted towards the deceased?
"Sir, you have a really good heart!"
Good heart? Xu Qing listened to the familiar praise, his mind stirred, and he reached out to take out a mirror, handing it to Xiu Niang.
Xiu Niang, confused, instinctively accepted the mirror and looked at it.
The next moment, the ordinary copper mirror suddenly spoke:
"Oh dear, poor girl, such a good child, why did she die! Such a waste, such a pity!"
Xiu Niang was startled and immediately threw the mirror away!
The mirror flipped in the air, frightened not just Xiu Niang, but the mirror itself.
"It's going to break! It's going to break! Don't just stand there! Reach out and catch it, catch it properly, don't let it get scratched or bumped. If the surface gets ruined, I'm done for this lifetime..."
Xu Qing leaped to catch the mirror thrown towards the yard.
"Oh, kind person! Living Bodhisattva! You truly are a great kind person, like a reincarnated Living Bodhisattva who has come here, doing good deeds with accumulating virtue; you will surely be blessed in the future!"
"..."
Xu Qing's brows furrowed, this mirror...
He originally thought this mirror could only reflect dead people or objects, but never expected ghosts to be included.
Thinking of the ghosts gathered at the Ghost King Mausoleum, Xu Qing didn't dare imagine; if he took this mirror to the Ancient Yin River Dao for a stroll, this thing might strip down all their secrets!
People say there's a ghost in one's heart, evidently most ghosts have hidden matters; if you take the mirror and reveal their secrets, do you think the ghost would be happy?
The issue is, Xu Qing can't control this pesky mirror's mouth; the only way is to cover it up, if it doesn't have to reflect, then don't.
Otherwise, it might attract a group of vile ghosts who would kill to snatch the mirror and then break it to silence it.
"Aren't you scared, sir?" Xiu Niang looked at the item in Xu Qing's hand with lingering fear.
"Afraid? Afraid of what?"
"A monster mirror in your hand, sir—it talks and might even bite people..."
"Xiu Niang, you need to toughen up; you're a ghost, you can't always be so timid."
Xu Qing was somewhat troubled; his intention was to foster an evil ghost to guard the house, but this evil ghost seems unreliable.
"Xiu Niang, how advanced is your Tao now?"
"I have nearly a hundred years of Tao now."
Xu Qing's brows furrowed, "Not quite a hundred years? Do you know how many years of Tao the ghosts in Yinhe have?"
"Which of those Ghost Generals hasn't a hundred years of Tao? The Ghost King in the Ghost King Mausoleum, has a thousand years or more?"
Xu Qing's expression was particularly serious, "The feng shui of this courtyard is no worse than the Ghost King Mausoleum. Even if you compare it with the entire Jin Sect, it's a top-tier burial layout. Living in such a place, you should demand strictness with yourself, without any laxity."
Afterward, Xu Qing specifically asked Xiu Niang about following Boss Liu from the opera troupe and learning opera skills.
For the home-raised female ghost's comprehensive development in morals, intelligence, physique, and beauty, Xu Qing was truly concerned.
When leaving the courtyard, Xu Qing also imparted Xiu Niang with the technique to control papermen.
"There are sixteen straw spirit papermen and also a paper sedan chair here. If you encounter a problem you can't solve, go to Xijing Mountain to find the local Immortal, or Guanmen Village to seek help from the Immortal Hall here."
As he said this, Xu Qing suddenly remembered something and supplemented, "Outside the city on Purple Cloud Mountain is a Lady Baosheng Temple, where Lady Baosheng, whom I have an old connection with, is worshipped. If something very urgent arises, you can go to burn incense and ask for help."
"Lady Baosheng? What's this temple, I never heard of it when I was alive..."
Xu Qing dodged the topic, "It's a temple newly overseen by County Magistrate Chen, originally nothing special, you don't have to mind these specifics, Xiu Niang. In short, if there's an emergency, you can go and ask, she will surely respond in some way."
The funeral director, Shopkeeper Xu, seems to always have unending tasks and business to handle.
Here, after handling matters at the courtyard, Xu Qing hurriedly arrived at Guanmen Village again.
At this moment, the Mountain Lord Temple near Guanmen Village had transformed into the 'Guan Madam Temple'.
The god statue inside is none other than Guan Dazhuang and Sun Erzhuang's foster mother—Guan Hua Madam.
On the divine seat, Guan Hua Madam is holding a bamboo basket filled with multicolored silk ribbons and a spindle in her other hand—the flying threads seem to be alive.
More eye-catching is a two-color divine tiger under the statue, gold-eyed with black stripes; although it appears fierce on the outside, its eyes convey compassion.
On the porcelain stool to the right sits a protector child with a Wenwang Drum in one hand and a divine chasing whip in the other, plump, joyful, and very likable.
The stool the child sits on is inscribed with tiny characters.
On it is written: "Fierce tiger retracts claws to transform into auspiciousness, compassionate mother threads for the salvation of the world."
Xu Qing walked into the Incense Hall, offering a stick of incense to Guan Hua Madam.
Guan Dazhuang sensed it immediately and hurriedly arrived at the Incense Hall, but with other devotees around, he dared not speak carelessly.
Only after Xu Qing finished offering incense and came outside did Guan Dazhuang embarrassingly say, "How dare I let the Sect Leader burn incense and worship, truly foolish of me."
Xu Qing shook his head, saying, "I'm worshiping Guan Madam, your foster mother, what's there for you to be foolish about?"
"Dazhuang, I'm just here to have a look, get on with your business, don't mind me."
Pushing aside Guan Dazhuang, Xu Qing walked around the temple, then went to take a look at Guanmen Village.
He never strayed far from Jin Sect even when he went to the Imperial Mausoleum outside the Capital City to evade calamity—it wasn't far.
Capital City and Jin Sect regions are inherently connected.
But this time is different; Yunmeng Mountain is located in Quyang County, a thousand miles distant from Jin Sect. Xu Qing, who always stayed in Jin Sect, had never gone to such a far place before.
Xu Qing wandered around, after visiting Guanmen Village, he came to Xijing Mountain.
The crows on Chaotic Stone Mountain had, under the regulation of the Immortal Hall, many developed spirituality, starting on the path of cultivation, becoming official employees of the Cat Immortal Hall.
Leaving Chaotic Stone Mountain, adjacent to it was the Yellow Stripe Mountain where Old Yellow Beard resided.
Though Xu Qing and Old Yellow Beard hadn't met for a long time, they should exchange warm greetings, but when they met, the words they exchanged were more biting.
"You've raised so many Immortals, how do you still look so well? It shouldn't be..."
The Dao grows a foot, the evil grows ten feet, Old Yellow Beard clearly underestimated Xu Qing's ability.
Now looking at Xu Qing, whose energy is stronger than before, Old Yellow Beard sensed things were awry.
It was waiting to outlast this frail human, so Old Yellow Beard could fulfill its promise sooner, allowing Huang Xiaoliu and others to return and inherit its estate.
But now, things didn't seem to be as easy as it thought.
Seeing the lively Old Yellow Beard, Xu Qing was equally surprised, "Never expected Daoist Huang to still be so hearty. If I'm not mistaken, Daoist Huang has lived for more than a hundred years, which is considered long-lived among Immortals."
Immortals who haven't endured thunder disasters typically live around a hundred years. Xu Qing came to visit Old Yellow Beard this time with a mindset of comforting an old patient but didn't expect the old fellow's limbs to still be nimble, enjoying everything.
Putting down some wrung-necked little phoenixes and a basket of boiled eggs, Xu Qing remained quite calm.
"Daoist Huang, take care of your health, I'll come back to visit you in a while."
Old Yellow Beard also stood upright, clasped hands in salute, "Daoist Xu, you're kind. Once another day comes, I'll surely visit the city, and also you take care."
An interspecies friendship between old and young, both were quite courteous. It shows genuine friendship is regardless of age or race.
"Now that I've visited old acquaintances, it's time to set off to meet those impolite outsiders."
Xu Qing gazed southwest towards the Quyang County area, maintaining the demeanor that a funeral director should have.
He has always been a refined and affable zombie gentleman.