The Cycle of Reincarnation in the Four-Courtyard House: A Journey Through the Heavens

Li Xiao and Lin Jiu slowly descended the mountain and soon returned to the mortuary. The servants of the Ren family carried Ren Weiyong's coffin back to the mortuary and placed it there.

Lin Jiu immediately ordered the servants to bring a table and begin setting up an altar in front of Ren Weiyong's coffin.

After the altar was set up, the servants took their leave, and Lin Jiu lit three sticks of sandalwood and placed them directly into the incense burner.

Just then, two hurried and flustered footsteps came from afar. Wen Cai and Qiu Sheng were seen running and stumbling, their faces full of anxiety.

Wen Cai rushed to Lin Jiu's side and hurriedly handed him the three extinguished incense sticks: "Master, look! The incense has burned down like this!"

Lin Jiu reached out and took the remaining incense sticks. His gaze suddenly sharpened as he stared intently at the strangely broken ends—two short and one long—and said in a deep voice, "People fear three long and two short pieces the most, and incense is most averse to two short and one long. What we fear most has come true—a very ominous sign!"

Seeing this, Li Xiao asked, "Uncle Jiu, what's the significance of this unusual incense phenomenon?"

Lin Jiu explained solemnly, "An old saying goes that if this kind of incense is emitted from a house, someone will surely die. This divination is extremely ominous; the Ren family will likely face a difficult time in the coming days, and disaster is imminent!"

Upon hearing this, Li Xiao's heart skipped a beat. Recalling the strange corpse he had seen when the coffin was opened, he asked again, "Uncle Jiu, I saw that Old Master Ren had been dead for twenty years, yet his body was completely incorruptible and his muscles were intact. Does this mean he's about to turn into a zombie?"

Lin Jiu turned to look at Ren Weiyong's coffin, stood silently for a few seconds before saying, "The body has been buried for a long time without decaying, accumulating death energy and absorbing the earth's yin energy. The mutation has already occurred, and the possibility of it turning into a zombie cannot be ruled out."

As soon as he finished speaking, Qiu Sheng, who was standing to the side, immediately looked worried and subconsciously asked, "Master, will... will something happen to Miss Ren?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Jiu immediately glared at him. Seeing his disciple's absent-minded expression, he said irritably, "The yin and yang, fortune and misfortune, are predetermined; the Taoist methods for suppressing evil have their own rules. These are none of your business to worry about!"

After being reprimanded by his master, Qiu Sheng shrank back dejectedly, not daring to say another word.

Ever since they met Ren Tingting, the two of them have been unable to forget her, despite her beautiful appearance and gentle, lively demeanor. Even though Miss Ren is indifferent and cold towards them, she still can't help but think of her secretly.

A moment later, unable to contain his curiosity, Qiu Sheng stared intently at the black lacquered coffin, slowly walked forward, and muttered to himself, "This person has been dead for a full twenty years, yet his body hasn't decayed at all. It's too strange; there's definitely something wrong!"

After saying that, he turned and exchanged a glance with Wencai. The two of them walked forward in tacit understanding and together pushed open the heavy coffin lid.

The scene inside the coffin was revealed once more. The moment the two men saw the corpse's appearance, Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai's pupils constricted simultaneously. They shuddered and cried out in alarm, "Master! Master, look! This corpse... it's covered in hair!"

Upon hearing the sound, Lin Jiu and Li Xiao immediately stepped forward and bent down to look. They saw that Ren Weiyong in the coffin had changed drastically.

The skin, which was originally just dark and withered, is now covered with a dense layer of fine white down, covering the exposed skin such as the neck and the back of the hands, making it look extremely eerie.

Not only that, his fingernails also became long, sharp, curved and pointed, with the nail plates being jet black and shiny, exuding a fierce aura.

"Cover it up quickly!"

Upon seeing this, Lin Jiu's expression changed drastically. He shouted in a low voice, and Wen Cai and Qiu Sheng were terrified by the strange changes in the corpse. Upon hearing this, they hurriedly pushed the sliding coffin lid back into place, but the cold and evil aura surrounding them did not dissipate at all.

Lin Jiu quickly ordered, "Go and prepare paper, pens, ink, swords, and knives immediately!"

Qiu Sheng was momentarily stunned, standing there blankly, and asked with a confused look, "Master, what is that?"

Seeing his apprentice's dullness, Lin Jiu was both angry and anxious. He glared at him and said impatiently, "Yellow paper, brush, black ink, kitchen knife, and peach wood sword! Not a single one can be missing!"

"Okay! I understand, Master!"

Qiu Sheng and Wen Cai quickly responded and, in a short while, prepared all the items and arranged them neatly on the incense table.

Lin Jiu reached out and picked up the rooster from the table, his five fingers firmly gripping the rooster's neck, securing the rooster's body in place.

Qiu Sheng, who was standing nearby, immediately picked up a kitchen knife and, with a swift stroke, slit the rooster's neck.

Warm, bright red chicken blood gushed out instantly, dripping precisely into the white porcelain bowl in the center of the incense table. Drip, drip, drip, and soon half a bowl of bloody water accumulated, and a fishy smell slowly permeated the room.

Lin Jiu looked solemn. He picked up a plump grain of glutinous rice from the bowl of glutinous rice beside him and gently twirled it over the candlelight.

A strange scene suddenly unfolded: the ordinary grain of glutinous rice was instantly ignited, illuminating a small flame.

With a flick of his finger, the burning glutinous rice grains fell directly into the bowl of chicken blood, instantly igniting the chicken blood in the bowl, and a ball of pale red flames rose up.

In Li Xiao's abnormal perception, the bowl of burning chicken blood actually dispelled most of the cold atmosphere in the room, and the temperature inside the mortuary rose significantly.

Lin Jiu reached out and grabbed the ink from the side, pouring it all into the burning bowl of chicken blood.

When black ink meets blazing chicken blood, the two blend together, sizzling and producing wisps of black smoke. He then extends his index and middle fingers to stir the burning bowl, thoroughly mixing the blood and ink into a bowl of specially made ink that is jet black and translucent, containing the essence of yang blood.

Then, he took a Bagua compass and placed it steadily over the rim of the bowl to lock in the blood and spiritual energy within, preventing the loss of yang energy.

After letting it sit for a while, Lin Jiu poured the special ink mixture, which combined rooster blood and black ink, into the inkwell made of peach wood. This combined the effects of peach wood to ward off evil, rooster blood to promote yang, and black ink to lock away evil.

With everything prepared, Lin Jiu handed the inkwell, soaked in spirit ink, to Qiu Sheng, solemnly instructing, "Take this! Fill the entire coffin, from top to bottom, on all four sides, with ink lines. Not an inch of the coffin can be missed!"

"Understood, Master!"

Qiu Sheng took the ink line and immediately pulled Wen Cai to start snapping lines on the coffin.

Lin Jiu picked up three more incense sticks, lit them, and placed them in the incense burner. He then explained to Li Xiao, "In our Taoist view, people are divided into good people and bad people, and corpses are divided into zombies and dead corpses..."

Before he could finish speaking, Wencai beside him laughed and said, "Master, people aren't just divided into good and bad, there are also men and women!"

Lin Jiu glared at Wen Cai: "I was talking to young friend Li, what are you doing interrupting?"

Wencai shrank back after being scolded by his master, but continued working.

Lin Jiu continued, "Judging from what just happened, it's very likely that Old Master Ren is about to turn into a zombie."

Li Xiao nodded, then asked, "Uncle Jiu, why do some corpses turn into zombies?"

"A corpse becomes a zombie because it gains a final breath!"

"An extra breath?"

Lin Jiu nodded and explained, "If a person is angry, holding their breath, or suffocating before they die, there will be a breath gathering in their throat after they die!"

Wencai, standing nearby, interjected, "Master, doesn't that mean the person is still breathing even after death?"

Lin Jiu scolded his two apprentices impatiently: "That's why I always tell you, a person should strive to live up to their potential. After death, you must stop breathing. If you don't stop breathing after death, you will harm yourself and others!"

Lin Jiu smiled and said to Li Xiao, "Let them handle things here. Let's go to the backyard for tea!"