Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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On the second day, Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan took the high-speed train back to Qiyang. When they were sitting at the ticket gate waiting, a girl waiting for the bus next to them couldn’t help but say: “Your doll is so cute…”
The Phytophthora God with long hanging shoulders had lifelike facial features and was also wearing suspenders, and especially had an owner who was so good-looking. In fact, when he was walking outside with the Phytophaga God hanging on his head, many people kept staring at him.
After the girl finished speaking, she looked to the side and added: “Isn’t it very popular to hang dolls on your body now?”
Was it very popular?
Xie Lingya followed her gaze and looked to the side. At the ticket gate on the left, a queue had begun to check in. At the end of the queue was a man in his thirties or forties, wearing a peaked cap and his face could not be seen clearly.
It was worth noting that this man had a small wooden figure over two inches high pinned to his hat. It seemed to be harder than the Phytophthora God. After all, it was wood, and the Phytophthora God was a plant rhizome. The head of this little wooden figure was painted black, just like hair. It also had clothes on the body, but it was rough, reminding Xie Lingya of the one he made originally.
The Phytolacca God whispered in Shi Changxuan’s ear: “Liu Linglang, Liu Linglang, was born on the side of a wild road in the wilderness. Please serve as the servant of the god.”
Shi Changxuan frowned slightly.
The Phytolacca God said again: “Fortune meets fate…death…life is overwhelming…ah!”
He paused several times, and finally shut up in frustration, as if he had encountered some difficulty.
At this time, the man turned his head slightly. Although the brim of his hat was lowered, Xie Lingya always felt that he was looking here. Logically speaking, from this distance, he shouldn’t be able to hear them talking about him, and he couldn’t see the person’s eyes. But Xie Lingya just felt like he was being watched.
However, the man only looked at them for two seconds and then turned back, as if his action was just a coincidence. However, Xie Lingya always felt that it was not an illusion.
The queue next door gradually moved forward, and the man checked the ticket to enter. Xie Lingya looked up and saw that the train next door was bound for the provincial capital of Quedong, running in the opposite direction from where they were going.
“…This person gives me a very uncomfortable feeling.” Xie Lingya murmured.
At this time, the train they were on also started checking tickets, and everyone around them stood up and stepped forward to queue, including the girl who had been talking to them.
Shi Changxuan said at this time: “The thing hanging on his hat is a Liu Lingtong.”
When they went to dig up the Reporting God before, Shi Changxuan gave him a brief explanation of the origin of this technique.
Both Liu Lingtong and Phytolacca God were Reporting gods, and the methods of sacrifice were roughly the same. However, the difference was that Phytolacca God was a natural wood spirit, while Liu Lingtong, also called Liu Linglang, was a statue of a broken willow branch, and was made by imbuing it with the souls of the dead which was called “pretending to be a god”, and the souls of children who died violently were the best for this, because their vitality was not released and there was less anger.
Whether it was the Phytophthora God or the Liu Lingtong, if the cultivator raised them and practiced meritorious deeds, their souls would ascend to heaven and be reincarnated. If they did unjust acts with them, they would be punished by the underworld.
“No wonder he seemed to know that we were talking about him…” Xie Lingya didn’t expect to meet a second person with a Reporting God, even though he only saw him from a distance.
Just now, he felt that this person gave him an uncomfortable feeling, and now he couldn’t help but wonder if this person’s Liu Lingtong was a murderous soul with great resentment.
The man had already disappeared. Shi Changxuan frowned and said, “Just now, the Phytolacca God wanted to predict him, but he kept repeatedly changing his mind and failed to predict accurately.”
Xie Lingya was surprised. The time for prediction by the Phytolacca God would not be very long, it may take a few minutes, or it may take a few days at the moment. As destiny could change, it would usually predict the likeliest one.
A person’s fate usually did not change repeatedly in a short period of time, and it felt wrong for them to change like Mr. Gao did.
And for Phytolacca God to change his prediction repeatedly, it showed that this person may have been “making trouble”, resulting in too many variables, and so Phytolacca God could not predict a relatively certain destiny.
“But Reporting God mentioned that he was destined to have Huagai[1], and since this person raised Liu Lingtong, he is probably a monk.” Shi Changxuan said again. The Huagai star was the art star. If a person was destined to have Huagai, then it was very likely that he was a Taoist. Aloof, intelligent, and destined to pray to gods and Buddhas, they were the materials for learning Taoism.
Shi Changxuan also repeated the sentence that Reporting God had read before, “Liu Linglang, Liu Linglang, was born on the roadside in the wilderness. Please be a god general, but you will be a servant. If he wants to be a villain, he will probably not use this Liu Lingtong to do a good thing.”
In that case, it would be difficult for the Liu Lingtong to be reincarnated.
Xie Lingya sighed when he heard this. The high-speed train bound for the provincial capital had already departed, carrying the man and Liu Lingtong away. They just met by chance, and he could only feel regretful at this time.
The Phytolacca god was hurting for its kind and whispered: “…Hold yourself tight!”
Shi Changxuan listened to the Phytolacca god’s nagging for a long time and looked at Xie Lingya for a long time. At this time, he couldn’t help but say lightly: “You can’t move.”
Reporting God: “Hey!”
….
After Xie Lingya returned, something good happened again. He had posted a recruitment notice before, and now two people had applied. This was also because Baoyang Temple had become more popular recently.
Both of them were over thirty years old and had experience practicing in other temples. Xie Lingya asked Shi Changxuan to test them. They found that their skills were still solid, so they were accepted into the temple.
One of the Taoists names was Hou Xuzhong, and the other was Liu Bohe. Not only could it relieve Zhang Daoting’s burden, but Hou Xuzhong also had experience with spiritual fortune sticks and could do fortune telling.
Spiritual fortune sticks were also a kind of divination tool. They were made of bamboo sticks and had signature numbers on them. You could shake your own signature out of the fortune stick and find the corresponding signature poem to interpret the signature. Many temples and Taoist temples had such divination tools. It would cost ten or twenty yuan to get your fortune interpreted, which was also a source of income.
As for Liu Bohe, he was also very skilled in Zhai Jiao[2]. It was said that he had also participated in some local high-gong music classes in the previous palace.
There was not enough accommodation in Baoyang Temple, so Xie Lingya had to tidy up the utility room and disperse the things into his own room and Zhang Daoting’s room, and then separate it into two bedrooms.
Hou Xuzhong and Liu Bohe had no objection to the merger. You must know that they had slept in and out of bed in their previous place.
Xie Lingya thought to himself that he had to save money quickly, otherwise he would not be able to recruit anymore Taoist priests to live in the temple. Baoyang Temple was too small. It was possible that as the number of believers increased in the future, their full-time Taoist priests would have to rent a house to stay. But how could they be called “taoist priests living in residence” then?
….
In addition, Xie Lingya also received an invitation from Ding Aima.
The shopping mall that Ding Aima participated in the construction of during his lifetime was finally renovated and opened for business recently. Ding Aima warmly invited people and ghosts he knew to visit his “new home”.
“…” Xie Lingya felt something was strange, but he still went to support it.
Before going out, Hai Guanchao asked Xie Lingya: “Where is Xie Lingya going.”
Xie Lingya thought about it and said, “I am going shopping.”
Hai Guanchao: “Then you bring a roll of toilet paper back from the supermarket…”
“Oh.” Xie Lingya sweated a bit and went out.
“Tsk Master Xie, you can get the coupon from there.” Ding Aima met Xie Lingya at the door, gave him directions to get the coupon, and introduced him to the business of each floor of the mall.
Ding Aima said: “I usually like to stay in the cinema on the fifth floor and watch movies. Movies are always expensive, but it’s a pity that I can’t watch 3D movies. Or I can lie in the home furnishing store on the third floor, where there is a very big bed. I had never slept in such a big bed when I was alive…”
Xie Lingya: “…”
… Xie Lingya felt strangely sad when he heard it. Then he saw Ding Aima greet Qin Limin, who was also a guest, as he let him drift. But he told him to be careful when traveling, and not let it be discovered that there was a ghost here.
“Ding Aima, which floor is the supermarket on?” Xie Lingya thought of Guanchao saying that they were out of toilet paper, so he asked.
“On the first floor below.” A young beauty next to him, who was faster than Ding Aima, replied immediately and smiled brightly at Xie Lingya.
Xie Lingya was stunned for a moment. “Oh, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” When the beauty saw Xie Lingya’s appearance, she felt that they were destined, and she even started the topic, “Are you from the Northeast? We are half from the same country, as my mother is also from the Northeast.”
“No.” Xie Lingya answered in confusion before he realized. There were black lines one after another on his head. She felt he was from the Northeast, because when he was calling Ding Aima, she thought he was saying “Oh my God.”
Ding Aima stood aside and hesitated for a moment, “Shouldn’t I be here?”
“Thank you, goodbye.” Xie Lingya quickly thanked her again and walked to the supermarket.
“Teacher Xie, what are you looking for? I know the location of everything, I’ll tell you.” Ding Aima looked around the entire mall in a short period of time and showed Xie Lingya around very enthusiastically, even more actively than the shopping guide.
Xie Lingya lamented that he was also able to enjoy VIP service. Under Ding Aima’s guidance, he got the most cost-effective paper towels and bought several daily necessities at great discounts.
While waiting in line, Xie Lingya met the “half North-eastern” beauty again. She smiled at Xie Lingya, “What a coincidence.”
“What a coincidence.” Xie Lingya smiled awkwardly.
The beauty didn’t feel embarrassed at all and continued to chat, but this time she changed the topic: “Hey, did you know? When this mall was built, it was haunted.”
As soon as she said it, people who were also lining up next to her became interested. Looking over, an aunt said to her companion: “I think I’ve heard of it.”
Xie Lingya glanced at Ding Aima: “…I don’t know.”
The beauty said: “Don’t you know? Someone fell down when the construction started. Ah, and then he became an evil spirit, causing the workers here and passers-by to be harassed.”
Xie Lingya glanced at Ding Aima again and said dryly: “Is it so scary?”
Ding Aima lowered his head in shame: “It’s all old news.”
“But don’t be afraid, it’s no longer haunted.” The beauty said mysteriously, “Do you know why?”
Xie Lingya thought about it and said, “Maybe… I don’t know.”
The beauty pointed in one direction, “It is said that it was because he was suppressed by the nearby Baoyang Temple. They are worshipers of Wang Lingguan. Do you know Wang Lingguan? How could the great Taoist protector allow ghosts to haunt the place where he is, and then he was suppressed!”
Xie Lingya: “…”
The beauty added: “This is what my colleague said.”
Ding Aima curled his lips and said, “Nonsense. Qin Limin is still patrolling in front of the temple.”
The beauty looked at Xie Lingya and was speechless. She didn’t think about anything else, she just felt disappointed that she didn’t succeed in striking up a conversation.
In fact, apart from being speechless, Xie Lingya was in a good mood. Although what this girl said was a little wrong, it reflected a favorable situation, that was, their Baoyang Temple had become more and more famous and reliable in the hearts of the people, and the reputation of the founder had also spread.
From this point of view, it was still good.
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[1] Hua-gai is the symbolic star for someone interested in metaphysics and religions. People with this star are usually religious, intelligent but non-sociable. Most metaphysics students, including myself, have this star in their charts.
[2] A ritual commonly used by the Taoism to cultivate and release the souls and ghosts of the deceased with true yang.