Chapter 208: 207: Luring to Qingping Temple

Words : 1502 Updated : Sep 23rd, 2025

Chapter 208: Chapter 207: Luring to Qingping Temple Tie Banxian felt somewhat dazed as he tucked Old Man Guan’s body into the coffin. How on earth had he been muddled enough to run into the trap that was Qin Liuxi? He straightened the white silk over Old Man Guan’s face and silently recited the Rebirth Mantra in his heart while arranging everything inside the coffin neatly. Once finished, he turned around, only to see Qin Liuxi personally hanging two white lanterns at the shop’s entrance, the glaring characters for “offerings” piercing through the eyes. Looking again at the Coffin Shop, then at Old Man Guan. Forget it. Tie Banxian sighed. Watching Yu Changkong and his companions setting up a simple Mourning Hall, Tie Banxian also lit incense candles in preparation for the ritual. Visitors arrived. Qin Liuxi welcomed them, giving Chen Pi a knowing glance. The latter handed out incense to the mourners who had come to pay their respects. They were all shopkeepers from the same street, or familiar with Old Guan from Shouxi Square. Upon receiving the news, they came to offer incense in mourning and to send him on his last journey. Sifang stood by the door, distributing exorcism needle seals to the mourners as instructed by Qin Liuxi. This was the custom for conducting funerals. As Tie Banxian prepared for the occasion, he heard the mourners discussing and learned of Old Guan’s situation – his entire family gone. Qin Liuxi was merely helping with the afterlife preparations, the Coffin Shop his compensation, of course. Tie Banxian sized up the old and rather dilapidated Coffin Shop. Frankly speaking, it didn’t amount to much – just a shop. And located in Shouxi Square, an area with frequent funerals, it would likely continue in this vein when reopened, wouldn’t it? “Let’s start,” said Qin Liuxi, seeing the time was right. Tie Banxian hastily donned a worn Daoist robe and felt the disdain in Qin Liuxi’s gaze, his face burning as he stuttered, “If I were wealthy, I wouldn’t have stumbled into this place...” It was only because he was destitute that he played the role of God Stick. Noticing Qin Liuxi’s impatience, he cleared his throat and began chanting and praying before the altar, performing the Gang Step Fight, burning talismans, and intoning spells with controlled gestures. Qin Liuxi watched from the side, noticing that he seemed quite the part and did not err in the ceremonial steps, so she sat down cross-legged. Yu Changkong handed her a cup of water and knelt beside her. Qin Liuxi smiled her thanks, “Why did you come over too?” “You also said, meeting is fate.” Qin Liuxi glanced at the coffin and sighed, “Having Yu Family’s Changkong managing the funeral, this old man is indeed being sent off with honor.” Yu Changkong replied, “What truly honored him is your presence.” Qin Liuxi chuckled. Without saying more, Yu Changkong sat with her, watching Tie Banxian perform the rites and commented, “What he’s doing does have some of the Daoist’s demeanor, not like those imposters who deceive and swindle.” “He may have been slightly unscrupulous in his work, but he carries a proper demeanor, has never harmed anyone nor done any evil. As a traveling Taoist, he’s quite passable. Moreover, he has some yin de gathered faintly on his forehead. Although I do not know what he did, having that alone is sufficient,” Qin Liuxi said, “The ritual is neatly done as well. If he’s interested, I’m thinking of inviting him to the Daoist Temple to be ordained as a Taoist.” “Did you decide to recruit because you heard Daoist Qingyuan mention a shortage of hands?” “He’s hardly talented, just now he got two lines of the spell wrong,” scoffed Qin Liuxi, before adding, “But it’s true that the Daoist Temple is short on Daoists. Winter is coming, there’s a lot to be done in the temple. Relying solely on Qing Yuan and a few others is not enough.” If they’re short on people, she’ll have to step in, and just the thought of that is terrifying and exhausting. So, they must recruit more talented Taoists. Although Tie Banxian’s not well-versed in Daoist Skills, at least he knows a bit, and most importantly he can perform rituals; that’s sufficient. If there’s a Daoist temple ceremony in the future, they could send him out and he’d be of use. Tie Banxian, forming a mantra with his hands, felt a chill down his spine, a foreboding sense of being targeted. Could it be this Little Evil God is planning to do something nasty to him? The distraction caused him to mispronounce another line of the spell. Qin Liuxi scolded, “Focus on your chanting, and don’t get distracted.” Tie Banxian shrank his neck in fear, thinking to himself that once this matter is over, he’ll run as far as he can. He can’t confront the issue, but he can always dodge it! “What if the Daoist Temple can’t recruit more Daoists, and there’s still so much to do?” Yu Changkong asked curiously. “In the past, we relied on believers and laymen to help out with things like distributing porridge and medicine. Other matters, like collecting farm rent, had to be handled personally by Qing Yuan.” “The Qingping Temple has its own farmland property?” Qin Liuxi replied with a laugh, “What, did you really think the Buddhist Sect is truly empty of possessions?” Without waiting for him to respond, she continued, “They say becoming a monk means leaving worldly life, but isn’t the Buddhist Sect still a Sect? They need shelter and sustenance just the same. They can’t survive solely on fasting forever. Therefore, they need sources of livelihood. Why else would both the Buddhist Sect and the Taoist Sect need burning incense and sufficient incense oil? These are the sources needed to maintain the Sect’s operations. If one wishes to do greater charitable deeds, then even more is needed.” Yu Changkong seemed to understand, saying, “The Buddhist Sect is also part of this mundane world.” “You’ve understood correctly,” Qin Liuxi said with a faint smile. “No matter the sect, one can’t escape worldly concerns, nor can one avoid the mundane world. Only like him, when life comes to an end, can one truly be said to leave this world.” Yu Changkong followed her gaze to the coffin. “Qingping Temple also has its own farmland, and because it’s a great kindness of the Taoist Sect, it is rented to farm tenants. The rent isn’t high and in years of disaster, we don’t charge anything at all. In disaster years, the temple does even more charity work, which requires a lot of incense money to buy supplies,” explained Qin Liuxi. “Winter is approaching, and the temple will start distributing porridge and medicine. If you are still around by then, you could come and help.” “Alright.” Into the night, Qin Liuxi did not go home but instead held a night vigil until dawn when the city gates were opened. Only then did she take Tie Banxian and Chen Pi with her to transport the coffin out of the city towards Yizhuang for cremation. Tie Banxian, having been busy all night and barely able to keep his eyes open, still had to follow Qin Liuxi to Yizhuang to cremate Old Man Guan’s body. Then they collected the ashes in a small pot, sealed with a yellow talisman, which Chen Pi carried. Qingping Temple had a collective graveyard on the back mountain, where the remains of those like Old Man Guan, who died without a family, would be cremated if the Qingping Temple encountered them. The ashes would be brought back to the cemetery for burial, with memorial tablets placed in the specially set-up Rebirth Hall, where incense and offerings would be made during festivals. This was a bit of kindness bestowed by the Qingping Temple. Of course, this also depended on the life story of the deceased; for those who did evil, Qingping Temple would only offer prayers for their afterlife. With the ashes collected, Old Man Guan’s afterlife affairs were settled—simple, yet significantly kind, definitely better than being utterly neglected after death. “I can go now, right?” Tie Banxian saw there was nothing left for him to do and thought about sneaking away. Qin Liuxi glanced at him and asked, “Going where?” With caution, Tie Banxian replied, “You needn’t worry about that, Master.” “The Qingping Temple is currently recruiting Daoists. If you have nowhere else to go, you can stay at the Qingping Temple. You could help with the daily rituals, divination, and incense ceremonies. You’d have a roof over your head, meals to eat, and Daoist robes for all seasons—surely that’s better than wandering around and swindling people?” Qin Liuxi persuaded him persuasively. “So, what do you say, will you join?”

Chapter 208: 207: Luring to Qingping Temple

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