Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Those fierce ghosts all needed to be exorcised, but that was not possible here. They had to be taken back to set up an altar. It was said that Shi Changxuan came forward himself for this task.
What they were best at together was Zhai Jiao rituals[1] and talismans. Zhai Jiao rituals were many and complicated, and different rituals were different and time-consuming, which was a great test of the main person performing the rituals.
Xie Lingya thought that about the lonely ghost from before, and he didn’t know where it had hidden at this time. Anyway, he couldn’t see it within his field of vision.
People from Taihe temple drove over. They seemed to have found the person in charge of the construction site, and thus the car was allowed to be driven inside. Xie Lingya greeted them first, watched the car leave, and then turned back.
“Come out.” Xie Lingya said.
The male ghost showed up and stood shiveringly in front of Xie Lingya.
Xie Lingya wanted to ask him a few questions, but the male ghost was speechless. Xie Lingya said: “Then I’ll ask you, you just nod. I don’t know how you became a ghost, but since you helped me, do you want me to ask a Taoist priest to help you with your salvation?”
It would be the Ghost Festival in a while, and many Dharma gatherings would be held to help ghosts pray for salvation together. Although the male ghost looked scary, that was because he died tragically after falling from a building. He was not actually a serious ghost. He probably died in vain and became a ghost because of that resentment.
But after listening to his words, the male ghost shook his head vigorously, very reluctantly.
“That’s it.” Xie Lingya thought that he might still be a little obsessed. After all, he was helped by him, so he couldn’t force it, thus he said, “Tell me your name and date of birth, and I will burn some incense and paper money for you first.” After a while, he thought he could burn him some paper money to spend down there.
The male ghost was very happy and squatted down to write on the ground using water from the ditch. The water traces followed the movements of his fingers, showing words. If anyone else were here, they would probably see a strange scene of water characters appearing out of thin air on the ground.
“Ding Aima…” Xie Lingya read out the male ghost’s name, and the male ghost raised his head and smiled at him, his face looking even more terrifying.
Xie Lingya used his mobile phone to write down his birth date, then wiped off the cinnabar on his forehead with the back of his hand – he really didn’t want to see Ding Aima’s grimace anymore.
The magical power of possession disappeared, and Xie Lingya’s eyes felt sore and swollen, which was probably a sequelae from using this technique.
“No, I’m going back first, and I’ll burn paper money for you later. Be careful in the future and keep one code at all time. If you harm anyone, I’ll have to come find you.” Xie Lingya said in the direction where Ding Aima was before. Then with a goodbye, he walked in the direction of Baoyang Temple.
There was a vague sound of gasping in the air, which quickly disappeared in the wind.
….
When Xie Lingya went back, there were many people in the front yard of Baoyang Temple, and tonight was a bit livelier than usual.
This was all because there were no mosquitoes in Baoyang Temple. In a short period of time, this fact had gradually spread around. As it got darker, many residents who were out for activities stopped by to take a look after hearing about it. Some merchants also took the time to come over, to take a look around.
When they heard the word “mosquito repellent talisman”, many people’s first thought was that the Taoist temple was trying to trick people into buying their talisman.
However, in this hot summer when mosquitoes breed the most, it did not prevent everyone from observing on the spot. Anyway, they couldn’t force them to buy talismans, and they could just take a look.
As a result, after entering Baoyang Temple, everyone who had not been here before was shocked.
They originally thought that they must have exaggerated when they said that there were no mosquitoes to be seen in the temple. At most, there must be relatively few mosquitoes. But after spending ten or twenty minutes here, you would find that there were really no mosquitoes here!
This was really a good thing for people who wished to enjoy the cool air at night.
As for the mosquito repellent talisman, a few more people wanted to buy it. They saw the effect here and thought that it only cost twenty yuan. Even if they were trying to trick people into buying the talisman, the trick they pulled was powerful enough.
This place was in the open air, and some things were clearly visible. Everyone looked around for a long time, but they didn’t see where the trick was, or what method was used.
As for high-tech, this Taoist temple was so poor, how could it still afford such equipment?
They all thought about everything, but only a small number of them really had some respect for Taoist temples and went to offer incense to Sanqing.
Zhang Daoting remained unmoved even when people grilled him to death because of the function of the talisman. Of course, it was indeed the function of the talisman, but many people always felt that there was something mysterious in it.
Zhang Daoting only sold the talismans. He wanted to sell other talismans, but everyone came for the mosquito repellent talismans, and gradually the inventory that Xie Lingya drew before was gone.
Zhang Daoting had no choice but to ask those who still wanted it to come back tomorrow. There was no other way, since Xie Lingya was not here at the moment.
Therefore, by the time Xie Lingya came back, a group of people had already come to “participate in shares” and it was not so crowded. Even so, there were more people than usual, and most of them were residents who often stayed here.
Xie Lingya was still holding the Three Treasure Sword in his hand, and he caught everyone’s eyes as soon as he came in without warning.
“Hey, what are you doing, Xiao Xie? Why are you still holding a sword?”
“I said I didn’t see Xiao Xie… so he just came back now.”
Xie Lingya went out through the back door before, and not everyone was sitting here all the time. Wanting to avoid the topic, he stiffly laughed twice and said: “I… went to the square to practice Tai Chi sword.”
Uncles, aunts, grandparents said one after another: “Xiao Xie, you can do it. You can also teach Tai Chi sword to us later!”
“Yes! Ah, why should you go out to practice? Just practice here.”
“There are not many people here. There were a lot of people shouting just now. They were all looking for mosquitoes. I think they were eager enough to use a magnifying glass to look for them.”
For this group of very laid-back residents, how the mosquitoes were driven away was no more important than why the well water was so sweet.
Xie Lingya went to put away the sword, poured some hot water for himself, and then soaked a towel and put it on his eyes, which made him feel much better.
It was almost time for the Taoist temple to close. Zhang Daoting was shocked when he came over and saw Xie Lingya. His eyes were fine without hot compress, but they turned a little red after applying the hot compress.
Zhang Daoting: “Boss, why are you crying?”
Xie Lingya: “…I’m not crying, my eyes are tired.”
“That’s good.” Zhang Daoting asked again, “By the way. You can even do the Tai Chi sword?”
Xie Lingya: “…”
Xie Lingya sighed, “Thank you for reminding me, I will start learning Tai Chi sword tomorrow.”
Zhang Daoting: “…”
Boss, why are you doing this…
Xie Lingya started to draw the talisman despite fatigue, and after a certain amount, he stopped and said to Zhang Daoting: “After selling these, we will no longer sell mosquito repellent talismans. It’s up to you to deal with it.”
He saw that there were many people watching today, and they bought so many mosquito repellent talismans. The news that there were no mosquitoes in Baoyang Temple must have spread. It could be seen that more and more people would come to verify the fact after hearing the news. It was time to control the output of mosquito repellent talismans. That was where the mosquito-free front yard was anyway.
Zhang Daoting nodded, “Okay, actually there were people buying other talismans today, but it was just those ‘repeat customers’ who said they would go back and try it as well.”
“That’s good.” Xie Lingya went to look at the incense burner again and estimated the number of people who must have offered incense today, more than ten people had offered incense.
Although this was not a huge number of people, for Baoyang Temple, it may be the day with the largest number of people offering incense this year.
After fighting for so long at night and doing some more work when he came back, Xie Lingya was tired and hungry, so he pulled some green onions from the backyard, made two bowls of chopped green onion noodles, and ate supper with Zhang Daoting before going to bed.
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[1] In this connection jiao has historically been associated with zhai, the rites of abstinence and penitence. Under Buddhist influence, zhai took the form of rituals for the salvation of the individual and ancestors, whereas jiao sacrifices were performed by ordained Daoist priests to renew the community’s covenant with the highest powers for blessings and protection.