Chapter 224: The Higher the Dao, the Higher the Demon

"Xiuniang, I will be going on a long journey soon. You must look after the house well. If you encounter any trouble you cannot resolve, you may seek help at the Guanmen Village in Mount Laotai or deep within the Western Jing Mountains."

Hiding behind the locust tree, Xiuniang floated out and asked, "Where is the Master going?"

"To perform a funeral."

Hearing this, Xiuniang breathed a sigh of relief; it was only to perform a funeral.

"Is it very far?"

"Quyang, about a thousand li away."

"Are they paying a lot of silver? Why must the Master travel so far..."

Xu Qing paused, then shook his head. "No silver. It is just that I am a kind-hearted person; I cannot bear to see corpses exposed to the wind and sun, so I must go to help them be laid to rest early."

Xiuniang looked at Xu Qing, her eyes seemingly filled with light.

What female ghost could resist a man so warm-hearted toward the departed?

"The Master has such a kind heart!"

A kind heart? Hearing this familiar praise, Xu Qing's thoughts stirred, and he reached out to take a mirror, handing it to Xiuniang.

Xiuniang did not understand, but she instinctively took the mirror and looked into it.

The next moment, the plain bronze mirror suddenly spoke in a human voice:

"Oh, you poor girl. Such a lovely child, why did you have to die? What a pity!"

Xiuniang was startled and dropped the mirror immediately!

The mirror tumbled in the air; it was not just Xiuniang who was frightened, 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 steady, don't scratch or bump it. If the face gets marred, my life is over..."

Xu Qing leaped to catch the mirror as it was tossed outside the courtyard.

"Oh, great philanthropist! Living Bodhisattva! You truly are a merciful and compassionate Living Bodhisattva reincarnated here. With such accumulation of virtue, you are bound to have great fortune!"

"..."

Xu Qing frowned. This mirror...

Originally, he thought this mirror could only reflect the dead or inanimate objects, but he had not expected it to include ghosts as well.

Thinking of the ghosts gathered in the Ghost King's Mausoleum, Xu Qing dared not imagine what would happen if he took this mirror for a stroll through the Yinhe Ancient Path. This thing would likely strip every ghost there of their secrets!

People say that when someone has ill intentions, they are "harboring ghosts in their hearts." Ghosts usually hide things; if you hold a mirror that exposes all their little secrets, do you think those ghosts would be happy?

Xu Qing had no way to control the mirror's loose tongue. The only solution was to keep it covered; if he didn't have to use it, he wouldn't.

Otherwise, it would surely bring him a heap of trouble.

"Is the Master not afraid?" Xiuniang asked, still lingering in fear as she looked at the object in Xu Qing's hand.

"Afraid? Afraid of what?"

"The mirror monster in the Master's hand—it can talk, and it might even bite..."

"Xiuniang, you must work on your courage. You are a ghost; you cannot always be so timid."

Xu Qing felt a headache coming on. His original intention was to raise a fierce ghost to guard the house, but looking at it now, this fierce ghost did not seem very reliable.

"What is Xiuniang's cultivation base now?"

"This servant now has nearly a hundred years of cultivation."

Xu Qing frowned. "Less than a hundred years? Do you know how many years of cultivation the ghosts of the Yinhe have?"

"Which of those Ghost Generals has less than a hundred years? And the Ghost Kings in the Mausoleum—don't they have over a thousand years of cultivation?"

Xu Qing's expression was exceptionally stern. "The feng shui of this courtyard is no worse than that of the Ghost King's Mausoleum. Even in all of Yuzhou, it is a top-tier tomb layout. Living in such a place, you should hold yourself to stricter standards; you must never be slack."

Afterward, Xu Qing specifically asked about Xiuniang's studies with the opera troupe owner, Liu.

In order for his house-raised female ghost to develop morally, intellectually, physically, and aesthetically, Xu Qing had truly exhausted his efforts.

When leaving the residence, Xu Qing taught Xiuniang the method to control paper figures.

"Here are sixteen paper spirit figures and a paper sedan chair. If you truly encounter a problem you cannot solve, you may seek help from the immortals at the hall."

Having said this, Xu Qing suddenly remembered something and added, "There is a Baosheng Temple on Ziyun Mountain outside the city. The Baosheng Mother enshrined there is an old friend of mine. If you truly have an urgent matter, you may go there and burn incense to seek her."

"Baosheng Mother? What kind of temple is that? This servant has never heard of it..." Xu Qing glossed over it. "It is a temple newly commissioned by County Magistrate Chen. It is nothing special. You need not worry about such minor details. In short, if there is an emergency, you may go and seek her; she will surely respond."

Having finished dealing with the residence, Xu Qing hurried to Guanmen Village without a moment's rest.

The Mountain Lord Temple near Guanmen Village had been renovated into the "Guan Mother Temple."

The deity enshrined on the throne was none other than the foster mother of Guan Dazhuang and Sun Erzhuang—Guan Huapo.

On the throne, Guan Huapo held a bamboo basket in one hand, filled with colorful silk threads, and a shuttle in the other; the dancing threads seemed to possess spiritual energy.

Even more eye-catching was the two-colored divine tiger at the base of the statue—golden eyes and black stripes. Though fierce in appearance, its eyes held compassion.

On the right sat a guardian boy on a porcelain stool, looking chubby, happy, and very endearing, holding a drum in one hand and a divine whip in the other.

On the porcelain stool where the boy sat, tiny characters were carved.

They read: *The fierce tiger retracts its claws to become an auspicious sign; the compassionate mother guides the thread to ferry the common people. *

Xu Qing walked into the hall and offered a stick of incense to Guan Huapo.

Guan Dazhuang sensed it and rushed to the hall, but with other worshippers around, it dared not speak recklessly.

Only after Xu Qing finished offering incense and reached the outside of the hall did Guan Dazhuang say shamefully, "How dare I let the Sect Master offer incense to me? It truly shames this subordinate."

Xu Qing shook his head. "I am paying respects to Mother Guan, your foster mother. Why should you feel shamed?"

"Dazhuang, I have no other business; I am just looking around. You go about your work; you need not mind me."

Dismissing Guan Dazhuang, Xu Qing walked around the temple and then circled back to look at Guanmen Village.

Xu Qing had never strayed far from Yuzhou. Even when he went to the Imperial Mausoleum outside the capital to avoid disaster, it was not a great distance.

The capital and Yuzhou were adjacent and connected.

But this time was different. Mount Yunmeng was located in Quyang Commandery, a thousand li away. Having always stayed in Yuzhou, he had never been to such a distant place.

Xu Qing strolled along. After visiting Guanmen Village, he came to the Western Jing Mountains.

Under the standardized management of the Immortal Hall, many crows on Chaoshi Mountain had developed spiritual intelligence and begun their path of cultivation, becoming official employees of the Cat Immortal Hall.

With Black Crow away, Xu Qing was the backbone of these little crows.

Leaving Chaoshi Mountain, right next to it was Huang Tiaoshan, where Huang Laoxu resided.

Xu Qing and Huang Laoxu had not met for a long time. By rights, they should have greeted each other warmly, but the moment they met, their words were more biting than the last.

"You brat, you've raised so many immortals, yet your complexion still looks so good? That shouldn't be..."

The higher the Dao, the higher the demon. Huang Laoxu had clearly underestimated Xu Qing's strength.

Looking at Xu Qing, whose vitality was even more robust than before, Huang Laoxu felt a hidden sense of unease.

It had been waiting for this fragile human to die of old age so that it could fulfill its promise and let Huang Xiaoliu and the others return to inherit its family business.

But now, it seemed things would not be as easy as it had imagined.

Seeing the lively Huang Laoxu, Xu Qing was equally surprised. "I didn't expect the Daoist friend's body to still be so sturdy. If I recall correctly, you have lived for over a hundred years. That is considered long-lived even among immortals."

Immortals who had not crossed the lightning tribulation lived at most around a hundred years. Xu Qing had come to visit Huang Laoxu this time with the intention of comforting an old, sick friend, but he had not expected the old fellow to still be so nimble and have such a healthy appetite.

Setting down a few crooked-necked little phoenixes and a basket of hard-boiled eggs, Xu Qing's state of mind was very peaceful.

"Daoist friend, take care of your health. In a few days, I will come to visit you again."

Huang Laoxu also stood on its hind legs and bowed in return. "Xu Daoist friend is too polite. Another day, I will certainly go into the city to pay a visit. I also hope the little Daoist friend takes care of his health."

This cross-species friendship between an old and a young one was quite polite, showing that simple friendship knows no age.

"Now that I have visited my old friends, it is time to set off and pay a visit to those impolite outsiders."

Xu Qing gazed toward the southwest, toward the territory of Quyang Commandery, his demeanor always maintaining the cultivation of a funeral director.

He had always been a refined and easygoing zombie.

(End of chapter)