Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Wei Xi, as the head of the sect, certainly couldn’t just sit back and watch as his interns fought the local ghosts. So, he let go of the old man with the goat beard and was about to stand up to help, but someone grabbed his shoulder.
It was the second disciple’s voice whose was filled with anger: “Why didn’t you dodge just now?”
It took Wei Xi a while to realize what he said: “If I dodge, your brother will be hit.”
He thought his disciple was just asking casually, but after he answered, his gaze became even more intense, with a compelling warmth and a bit of disbelief: “You…protected him?”
Even though Wei Xi’s temperament had changed drastically now, it was hard to believe that he would be associated with the concept of “protecting others.”
“Of course.” Wei Xi was unaware of this and naturally began to speak in a sweet tone, “Not only your senior brother, but Master also protects you. You are also my treasure.”
On second thought, Tuan Tuanyi often said that he favored his junior apprentice. Wouldn’t the second apprentice be jealous when he asked this question? Master Wei, who was determined to be a good master, quickly spoke to comfort him and said, “Just now, I heard that when you kicked that thing, it made a loud noise. Are you hurt? Does it hurt? Come and let me have a look.”
As he spoke, he sincerely reached out to lift his apprentice’s trouser leg, but before he could finish speaking, his shoulder was grabbed.
Looking up, the disciple’s expression seemed confused and helpless. After looking at him deeply for a while, he silently pulled him up from the ground and changed the subject: “…The souls here have no obsessions, so there is no need to save them.”
There was a difference between ghosts who died unexpectedly and those who died unintentionally.
Sudden death was an abnormal death, such as the new interns from Taicang Sect, who had obsessions and no one to help them, so they would wander around in the human world. Souls that did not die suddenly were different. When their life span was up, they may die of illness or old age. After death, ghost messengers would come to collect their souls according to the soul-collecting table and take them to the next reincarnation naturally.
The group of old ghosts in front of them were the latter, so the ordinary Taoist methods of salvation were completely useless to them.
Wei Xi, who was not very smart, immediately let go of his apprentice’s trouser leg and was distracted: “I see, the rumor that this place was once a mass grave must be true. No wonder the two door gods invited by Bai Hao and his men were useless. Door gods are gatekeepers and they only watch out for the evil spirits outside. How can they care about the residents inside?”
Shuo Zong nodded. What Wei Xi mentioned was also a problem that was very troubling to the people in the Xuanmen sect. After some people settled down and bought houses, they all wanted to go to Taoist temples to pray for statues and talismans to keep their homes “clean and tidy”, but the land was so small. Looking around, those brightly lit commercial districts and communities all had more or less corpses buried underground. Even if the souls of these corpses were still there, they were fundamentally different from guest ghosts. Guest ghosts would inexplicably cause trouble for your home. They were the kind of shameless burglars. No matter how cruelly they were dealt with, they had a good reason. There was nothing to say about their souls being scattered. But those souls who were originally here, if you count carefully, had lived here longer than people. Going back hundreds or thousands of years, this piece of land might still be someone else’s private property. You, a later resident, not only moved into someone else’s home, but also wanted to drive them out of the house for no reason. Wasn’t this quite unreasonable? The gods who were invited back home would not be willing to get involved in such an excessive matter.
Therefore, as long as there was no real ghost, most people in the Xuanmen would choose to turn a blind eye to such requests and appease the believers. Everyone was a ghost, so why draw a sword? After all they had no ill will towards you. Can’t you live in peace with each other under the same roof? If you meet an old tenant with a good temper, he may occasionally help the new tenant.
A few years ago, there was a post on a local forum in Beijing that went viral. The post was from a homebody who lived alone. She went out for a few days and came home to a house that was not only clean but also had piles of dirty clothes washed. She called her relatives, but they all said they had never come to help her. She was confused but also felt it was magical. Netizens in the comments scolded her for making up stories, but in fact, experts knew at a glance that it was obviously the old residents under the eaves who disliked the girl’s slovenliness and cleaned up the room. Ghosts and monsters were originally untouchable, and no one knew what the old resident was forced into.
This historical legacy had also given rise to many folk traditions. For example, for projects that required excavation, such as digging mountains, building roads, and constructing buildings, certain rituals were always performed before construction began, including opening an altar and offering incense, candles, and other sacrifices to appease the souls of the dead who were sleeping underground and were about to be disturbed.
Normal undead ghosts were generally very reasonable. Everyone had a hard time and there was no grudge between them. If they saw that you are sincere enough, they would take a step back and not make a fuss about it.
People like the indigenous residents of the Hong Kong-Vietnam Building who come out to cause trouble were definitely a minority among the minority.
Shuo Zong frowned, not knowing what this group of old, weak and sick people were trying to do.
….
The melee over there finally came to an end. Although Taicang Sect did not have the advantage in terms of the number of ghosts, they had the advantage of youth. Most of the scapegoats had terrifying appearances, and ordinary ghosts were afraid when they saw them. In the end, they won a great victory.
The old residents didn’t win the fight, but they were still very unconvinced. The old ghost who had been practicing Tai Chi said angrily: “How can this be? You broke into my house for no reason and did evil. It’s simply going against the harmony of nature!”
The interns of Taicang Sect were also angry: “You stole our tributes from our dormitory, and that’s justified? Isn’t that also against the harmony of heaven. You even caused people to jump off the building, which is even more serious!”
The old man became furious: “I told you! He fell down by himself!”
Kuang Zhiming and his wife were stunned. They both sat cross-legged outside the battle, speechless as they watched the two groups of ghosts arguing with each other. Thinking of the truth about Xiao Ke’s fall from the building told by the old ghost, they felt that they could get up and leave.
Fortunately, at this time, the second disciple of Taicang Sect came over, his face frighteningly cold: “Since you have no intention of hurting anyone, why did you throw the helmet from the upstairs just now?”
Kuang Zhiming and his wife immediately came back to their senses, and their faces became solemn as they thought of the accident just now.
The old ghost snorted and said nothing. It was obvious that he couldn’t get anything out of him. Kuang Zhiming was just about to reason with him when Wei Xi stood up viciously and said, “I don’t care why he did that. After all, he scared you and your brother. I’m going to pull his head off to vent your anger!”
Wei Xi was about to take action, and the old ghost was simply stunned: “How can you Taoists be so unreasonable!”
Kuang Zhiming: “…”
The old ghost knew he couldn’t beat Wei Xi, so he could only angrily defend himself: “Who wants to hurt your apprentice? I want to hit that kid!”
He stared at Bai Hao with a grim gaze. Although Bai Hao was distracted at the moment, he instinctively felt a chill all over his body and shivered.
Tuan Tuanyi was also stunned when he heard it: “Why?”
The old ghost said, “If we don’t knock him out, can we ask him to go back and bring people to continue the work? He’s dreaming!”
The obvious implication of their words was that the project should continue to be unfinished, which was very confusing. The capital was so big that there were quite a lot of leftover cemeteries. Later, when the urban area expanded, many schools and residential areas were built on the original sites. This was the first time they had encountered indigenous people who were so dissatisfied with this that they actually delayed the construction of a shopping mall for nearly ten years.
Shuo Zong narrowed his eyes: “It’s just a burial ground. You will be reincarnated sooner or later.”
The old ghost glared at Bai Hao coldly: “Even if we invest, we won’t build houses for them!”
His stubborn look really didn’t seem like that of a ghost who died of old age. Unless he died a violent death, which ghost would have such a strong obsession?
Kuang Zhiming was in a very difficult situation. The people had indeed been buried here for many years, and their seniority was justified. They refused to cooperate no matter what. He really couldn’t do anything like using force to drive them away. The matter had obviously reached a deadlock at this point.
Tuan Tuanyi felt that something was not right. Why did the old man’s words sound as if there was an old grudge between the two sides?
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