Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Xie Lingya hesitated, realizing that instead of explaining to the old man what the “Reporting God” was and why he called him “Little Cutie,” it was better to let him be. He was so old; it hadn’t been easy for him.
“…Okay.” Xie Lingya gave the old man the flashlight and turned on his phone’s flashlight.
The old man thought for a moment and said, “I’ll go stay at my brother’s house in the back. Call me if you need anything.”
Xie Lingya nodded.
After the old man left, Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan entered the ancestral hall and turned on the lights. The lights in the ancestral hall were the old-fashioned kind, with bulbs hanging down, casting a yellow light.
However, the ancestral hall was too large; and the light couldn’t illuminate every corner, leaving some areas still dark and mysterious.
Xie Lingya walked through the courtyard, which was covered in moss, exuding a deep, eerie atmosphere in the darkness.
Xie Lingya slowly walked to the altar, where ancestral tablets and clay statues of several generations were enshrined. He took three incense sticks, intending to offer them as a greeting and show respect.
But seeing the situation in the incense burner, Xie Lingya turned and called to Shi Changxuan, asking him to come and look.
Shi Changxuan, who had been looking at the ceiling, also came over. He saw that besides incense ash, there was some black charred ash in the burner. An experienced person would immediately recognize it as “the incense has ignited.”
Xie Lingya nodded. “The incense has ignited” meant that the incense sticks in the burner had spontaneously combusted, not because the incense was too dense or large, causing the ash to ignite the sticks, but because they burned from the bottom up.
In temples, this symbolized divine efficacy and was considered a miracle by believers.
If one’s own ancestral altar ignited, it meant the ancestors had something to tell them; but whether it was good or bad required consulting a professional diviner, such as the local shaman.
No one had told the Shang family ancestral hall about the incense burning, but it was likely they weren’t unaware, given the presence of both a shaman and elderly people there. Xie Lingya thought that there must have been other warnings, and they had already concluded that the ancestors were angry, so there was no need to say anything more. Compared to those commotions, this was indeed a minor matter.
“If it really was the ancestors’ discontent, why couldn’t the masters get an answer by performing rituals? Could it be that their magic was ineffective?” Xie Lingya muttered to himself.
Shi Changxuan said, “In that case, let’s go and have a talk.”
Indeed, if this matter truly concerned the Shang clan ancestors, then they would eventually have to be invited.
Fortunately, everything was prepared, and Xie Lingya started the ritual, burning incense and praying to Taiyi Tianzun, trying to invite the Shang clan ancestors.
—Since Xie Lingya began his practice, he had almost always succeeded in summoning spirits and calling back souls, unless, like last time, when Hongyang Dao had imprisoned the soul.
Therefore, when Xie Lingya discovered that he couldn’t invite any of the Shang clan ancestors, his and Shi Changxuan’s surprise was beyond words.
It was impossible that all the Shang clan ancestors had reincarnated; if they had, what was the matter with the furnace? Could they have been imprisoned? Who would want to capture the ancestral spirits of a merchant for no reason? What deep-seated hatred could there be?
“…Could there be some evil sorcerer?” Xie Lingya was completely baffled. “But, even when fleecing someone, there’s always someone who keeps going back and forth. Why would they take away someone’s soul?” This was highly illogical. As the saying goes, old ghosts are not as powerful as new ones. In ordinary families, descendants tended to offer more sacrifices to the closest ancestors, gradually ceasing sacrifices to more distant ones. If those ancestors hadn’t reached the end of their lifespan and were still in the underworld, without food or clothing, their mental state and strength were thus naturally inferior to newer ghosts.
Furthermore, the ghosts of ordinary people who had died of old age, sickness, or other illnesses were not as powerful as vengeful spirits. If a sorcerer were to capture someone, a normal sorcerer would be selective; they wouldn’t just indiscriminately take them all.
Just then, Xie Lingya heard a “plop” sound. He turned around but didn’t see anything. Then, the plop sound continued, and he realized it was raining.
Large raindrops fell heavily into the courtyard, and the distant rumble of thunder could be heard.
Xie Lingya walked to the edge of the courtyard, reached out to feel the rain, and his palm immediately became wet. “What heavy rain!”
“The weather forecast said there would be thunderstorms tonight, it should stop in a while,” Shi Changxuan said.
Xie Lingya felt relieved and started walking back.
Just as he reached the beams, a white flash appeared above the courtyard, followed by a deafening roar of thunder. A bolt of lightning then struck the eaves of the courtyard!
Caught off guard, Xie Lingya was pulled back by Shi Changxuan, who shielded him and made him take a few steps back.
Behind him, where Xie Lingya had been standing, several tiles lay scattered.
The eaves of the courtyard had a large gap, and most of the broken tiles and wood fragments were scattered in the courtyard, smashed to pieces and scorched.
“Holy crap?” Xie Lingya was stunned. He had only been a few meters away from that lightning bolt, it was the first for him who always used lightning talismans to scare others.
Xie Lingya was speechless for a moment, then after a long pause, he yelled, “Are you kidding me? My ancestor’s master is Sa Zhenjun of the Jade Pivot Thunder Palace! Have some compassion!”
Shi Changxuan: “…”
This thunderbolt was truly astonishing, waking up the entire Xiaoba Village. Lights gradually came on, and people came out to see what was happening. The news spread from the ancestral hall all the way to the other end of the village.
The ancestral hall had been struck by lightning.
This was a major event in Mao County, where the reverence for ancestors was prevalent. Many villagers thus came to the ancestral hall in their pajamas and slippers.
The old man who guarded the ancestral hall even more so. Upon entering and seeing the scene, he had no interest in asking Xie Lingya and the others how their divination had gone. He just knelt before the clay statue and couldn’t get up, muttering incessantly in his dialect.
The villagers gradually arrived at the ancestral hall. The thunderstorm came and went quickly, and when they came out, only the wet ground proved that it had just rained.
The direct descendants of the eldest son’s family also arrived, standing out conspicuously in the crowd. Everyone kept their distance from them, whispering amongst themselves and glancing in their direction every now and then.
The whispers were nothing more than, “Look, they’ve done something terribly wrong such that their ancestors were struck by lightning.”
Some even said that ever since the feng shui pond was filled in, many misfortunes had befallen the village, and now even the ancestral hall was in trouble— it was simply a sin.
The descendants of the eldest son’s family turned pale and then flushed.
The man advocating filling the pond couldn’t wait any longer. He was the fifth son, and everyone called him Shang Wu. He pulled at the old man who looked after the ancestral hall: “Third Uncle, I stopped the work a long time ago. Didn’t you invite a master? Hasn’t the master done anything yet?”
The old man wiped away his tears. “The master only arrived today. He came to see what was going on tonight, and then there was thunder here.”
Following the old man’s directions, Shang Wu saw Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan. He said in a panic, “Are you two really capable? Haven’t you communicated with the ancestors yet? Why don’t you invite a shamanic troupe?”
“We’ve invited the two most famous shamanic troupes in Mao County. What’s the use?” the old man said angrily. “You’re so concerned. Why don’t you invite them yourself? These two masters are from the Zhuyang Baoguan Temple. Last time in Fengping Village, in front of so many people, they helped their shaman get things done!”
Shang Wu immediately deflated.
Xie Lingya didn’t reveal the fact that none of the Shang clan ancestors could be sensed yet. Tonight’s events and the lightning strike were too strange; Xie Lingya felt he must have overlooked some details, and he needed to sort out his thoughts further.
“Elder Shang, please everyone go and rest tonight. We need to think about this matter some more,” Xie Lingya said, pressing the old man’s hand.
Seeing Xie Lingya’s determined gaze, the old man felt he was reliable and told everyone to go back and rest. He also called a few men to come and repair the roof the next day.
“We still need to find a tile setter; these tiles are all old…” the group whispered as they left the ancestral hall.
Xie Lingya took one last look at the old ancestral hall before going to Pang Yuan’s house to rest with Shi Changxuan.
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