Chapter 106: The Smoke and Fire of the Human World

Xu Jia had just stepped out the door when a "Duowen" ghost found him.

"Immortal! I finally found you. Your house is 'no entry without invitation,' so why does that even count those of us on the Hall Genealogy?"

Xu Jia thought to himself: I don't take on work when I'm off the clock.

But he said: "I was refining techniques last night and feared disturbance, so I closed the doors."

The Duowen ghost dared not complain much, only saying he was in a great hurry: "This little one followed the Creek God to trace the Water Vein and found the Dizang An well. I eavesdropped on a conversation—those Evil Sect members plan to release the Ghost King suppressed within the Dizang An temple!"

"I heard the Evil Sect people say: Dizang An was originally a Corpse Forest. Due to the wars and chaos of the previous dynasty, corpses were cast there to pile up. It wasn't until the current dynasty established laws that officials presided over a 'Diamond Dharma Assembly' to deliver the wandering spirits, and built the Dizang temple beside the original Corpse Forest."

"If they release the Ghost King, it could form a human-realm ghost domain!"

Xu Jia was not surprised upon hearing this. Building temples to suppress places of great baleful energy was a very normal matter; it was just that some could be suppressed, while others could not.

Temples that cannot suppress the evil often fall into ruin and misery quickly; the common folk worship the Buddha, yet do not know they are actually worshipping ghosts.

If they could truly be transformed by good intentions, that would be fine, and they could serve as Protectors; if not, there might eventually be legends of "temple hauntings."

"I know of this matter, you need not be too impatient. If it is merely a ghost, the City God can handle it. The City God has allocated me two thousand troops; you go find Hu Jinhua and Huang Pipo, and we shall head to Dizang An together today."

Dizang An had quite a bit of influence in the surrounding area, and it had extended to the periphery, becoming a first-and-fifteenth-day temple fair—that is, a market fair.

Xu Jia had arrived at Dizang An by sticking on "Armor-Horse Talismans." Armor-Horse Talismans have the power of "traveling three hundred miles by day" and "two hundred miles by night." When used, one ties them to their feet, allowing them to move like the wind without consuming much stamina.

Dizang An was located at the foot of Yushan, surrounded by ancient trees reaching toward the sky.

The two large gates were already wide open, welcoming believers from all directions.

Dizang An was not particularly large, but it was enclosed by high walls made of blue brick, upon which some ferns were already growing.

Prayer flags hung before the mountain gate. Looking inside through the gate, one could see a large Incense Burner, with incense smoke curling around it.

Inside the temple, the Golden Body of the Buddha statue was brilliant, and the offering tables were filled with melons, fruits, fresh flowers, and incense candles offered by believers.

Outside the temple was a plaza paved with blue flagstones. The people attending the temple fair wore cloth garments and bamboo hats or straw hats, some carrying shoulder poles, some holding a Basket, some leading donkeys, and some pushing wheelbarrows.

These were all local farmers, small vendors from village markets, and artisans. The things they sold were their own melons, fruits, and vegetables, or homespun cloth and coarse pottery.

Cries of hawking rose one after another. They were all singing, not interfering with one another, yet it seemed to form a symphony, the shouts echoing above the market.

An old man selling glutinous rice candy struck his hoe, ding-ding-dang, ding-ding-dang... "Selling glutinous rice candy~ maltose~ sesame candy~." The master selling sugar figurines treated the blown sugar figures like puppets, telling stories on a small stage, attracting quite a few children who were drawn by both the sugar figures and the stories.

There was also a shed with a stove boiling out white steam and thick fragrance; this was a rice noodle shop. Jiangnan West Circuit had produced rice noodles since ancient times. A husband and wife managed the rice noodle soup, and a banner with the large characters "Noodle Shop" served as their sign.

There were stir-fried noodles, mixed noodles, soaked noodles, boiled noodles, and soup noodles. Adding an egg, some shredded meat, and green vegetables made for the most comfortable meal.

Beside it was a tofu stall. Besides selling tofu, dried tofu, and fried tofu puffs, they also sold tofu pudding, soy milk, fried dough sticks, and sesame balls. Over there, three or five men were holding wooden mallets, pounding glutinous rice, one after another, shouting out loud—this was making "ciba."

There was also a large steamer emitting heat, inside of which were steamed white rice cakes, rice balls, green rice balls, and even zongzi, buns, and mantou, carrying a unique aroma of wheat flour.

Alongside the hot food, there was cold food: herbal jelly made from grass jelly, tortoise jelly made from boiling tortoise plastron, sour plum soup with hawthorn, as well as pear soup and loquat soup. The large characters for "Sweet Water" were even more attractive to passing pedestrians.

There were also those shouting loudly: "Selling sesame oil! Vinegar, soy sauce for sale!" which carried a heavier flavor.

The smoke and fire of the human world, with a hundred kinds of flavors, were all embodied in this small temple fair.

Huang Pipo and Hu Jinhua had both transformed into the appearance of old women, following by Xu Jia's side, though neither was in the mood to savor these things. Hu Jinhua was fine; he was upright and often went to markets to sell vegetables, though he did not come here often since it was, after all, in front of a temple.

Huang Pipo had a Yellow Immortal Temple on Tianliang Shan, and the surrounding commoners would also hold gatherings there, but she found it noisy.

Weasels were also notoriously stingy. Previously, someone held a wedding and came to the temple to borrow tables, benches, bowls, and chopsticks. As a result, when they were returned, ten bowls, ten saucers, ten plates, and ten cups were missing. This was a complete set for one banquet table, all carried out in a basket, but missing when brought back.

This Huang Pipo felt even more that the surrounding commoners were looking at her as a widow with orphans, her husband dead, and were testing her there, wanting to slowly seize her family property. If she forgave them this time, everyone would take things next time—"giving grace breeds resentment, giving a peck breeds hatred"—so she threw a fit and never lent things to the surrounding commoners for weddings or funerals again.

The surrounding commoners were distressed by this. After all, everyone was poor. Gathering bowls and saucers was possible, but the styles were not uniform, unlike the complete set from the Yellow Immortal's house, so they hated those who stole and hid the bowls and dishes even more, while also feeling the Yellow family temple was too stingy.

Besides those selling these things, there were even more incense pilgrims. They came to attend the market, but first went to the temple to offer incense and pray for blessings.

There were many old women and old men, carrying a Basket and holding a bundle of Incense Fire, as well as young men and women, either praying for marriage or for their future.

Xu Jia sighed: "The Incense Fire here is quite prosperous."

"If only the Incense Fire of our Fox Immortal Hall could be that vigorous in the future," Hu Jinhua said enviously.

"Hmph, my Yellow Immortal Temple originally had Incense Fire many times more vigorous than this place. Dizang An has only been here a few years, while my Yellow family temple has centuries of heritage!"

Xu Jia said: "Back then, Huang Muchun must have walked the righteous path, which is why the Incense Fire was prosperous. What path does your family walk? To have such arrogance?"

Huang Pipo instantly lost her spirit. In the end, she was a heterodox path, while Dizang An was the righteous path.

However, this righteous path was also being bullied by an evil path, so that was even worse than a heterodox path! Xu Jia had sharp eyes and saw the "Xia Laohan" and "Sha Huofo" sitting on small stools at the entrance of Dizang An.

Their faces were even more weathered, and they were pulling on strings, singing of the encounters along this journey.

Beside them, women were already gathered, secretly wiping away tears.

Only Sha Huofo was smiling, though seeing others cry, he also felt a sense of helplessness and didn't know what to do. He wanted to step forward to comfort them, but looked at Xia Laohan instead.

Xu Jia walked up and greeted them: "The two of you, green mountains and clear waters have their reunions; we meet again."

(End of chapter)