Ghost Immortal

He looked at his three disciples and continued, "If we want to stop Gu Zhenren from using wandering ghosts, we must take the first step and control or exorcise these ghosts."

"But there are only the four of us, master and disciples, in the mortuary. It's impossible to capture all the wandering ghosts in the city, so I plan to ask the underworld officials for help."

Qiulan was shocked; she never expected her master to have such abilities.

"Master, can the underworld officials listen to us?"

"They're not listening to us, they're making a deal with the underworld officials."

Master Si Mei explained, "When the underworld officials escort ghosts back to the mortal realm to visit their relatives, they also need to rest. According to the rules of the underworld, if a mortal cultivator hosts a banquet for them during their stay in the mortal realm, the underworld officials can temporarily suspend their duties and take a break. This rule is called 'ghost rest'."

"I plan to set up a ghost opera stage outside the mortuary on the night of the 14th of July and perform a ghost opera to entertain the underworld messengers passing through Qingyan City."

Qiu Sheng was stunned, completely bewildered: "Master, do underworld officials enjoy watching plays?"

"Do you think the underworld officials aren't human? They were human in life too, and were only chosen by the underworld to be soul-collecting messengers after death. They have all the preferences of humans. A good show, a few cups of good wine, and some paper money are enough to make them turn a blind eye to us."

Master Si Mei said meaningfully, "As long as the underworld messengers are willing to rest at the mortuary, the ghosts they are escorting will have to stop outside the mortuary. At that time, I can take the opportunity of entertaining the underworld messengers to inquire about information from them. Perhaps I can find out the whereabouts of Gu Zhenren and the true source of the black evil energy."

Qiu Sheng grinned mischievously and blurted out, "Oh, I see. Master is trying to bribe the underworld officials, isn't he?"

The Taoist priest with four eyebrows glared at him and corrected him in a tone of disappointment.

"What bribery! This is called rewarding the troops, a rule permitted in the underworld. How can you call it bribery?"

Qiu Sheng shrank back, still muttering, "Isn't that still a bribe..."

The Taoist priest with four eyebrows ignored him and turned to Li Feng and Qiu Lan, saying, "Go to the city and buy some incense, candles, paper money, and puppet show supplies. The more the better, don't try to save spirit stones."

Qiulan exclaimed in surprise, "Master is so generous!"

"roll!"

On July 13, Li Feng and others set up a simple puppet stage in the open space in front of the mortuary.

The stage was made of bamboo poles and wooden planks, twelve feet high and nine feet wide, and the stage surface was covered with red cloth.

A row of offering tables was set up in front of the altar, and the tables were filled with incense, candles, paper money, fresh flowers and fruits.

On either side of the offering table stood bamboo poles, with white paper lanterns hanging from them. The lanterns bore the four black characters "Yin Yang Tong Le" (meaning "Joyful Harmony Between Yin and Yang").

Qiu Sheng bought ready-made puppets from a carpenter's shop in the city; they were left behind by old puppeteers.

There are more than twenty puppets, including all the different roles of male, female, painted-face, old man, and clown. Although they are a bit old, they are still in relatively good condition.

Li Feng was in charge of setting up the stage.

He hung the puppets on the crossbeam behind the stage with thin strings, arranging them neatly in the order of male, female, painted-face, old man, and clown.

Each puppet's joints were coated with tung oil to ensure flexible movement.

Qiulan then scattered a circle of glutinous rice on the ground below the stage.

Glutinous rice is used to ward off evil spirits, but Master Simei specifically instructed that no exorcism was needed this time; he only used glutinous rice to mark out an area called "Ghost Seat".

Let the ghosts know where they can stand and where they cannot.

While giving instructions, Master Si Mei said, "Ghosts are different from humans. Ghosts don't have a physical form. When they watch a play, they float below the stage. If you don't draw a circle around them, they can drift away."

Qiulan shuddered at his words and quickly spread the glutinous rice rings wider.

July 14th arrived quickly, the night before the gates of hell opened.

On the offering table at the entrance of the mortuary, all the incense and candles were lit.

The Four-Eyebrowed Taoist priest changed into a brand-new yellow Taoist robe, with a black silk sash tied around his waist, cloud-patterned shoes on his feet, a newly repaired peach wood sword on his back, a Bagua mirror in his left hand, and three large incense sticks in his right hand.

His expression was stern.

"Tonight is the eve of the Ghost Festival. The gates of hell are beginning to loosen. The first batch of ghosts escorted by the underworld officials will pass over Qingyan City at 9 PM. We must prepare everything before 9 PM."

He asked Qiu Sheng to bring over a copper basin filled with water.

Then, three large incense sticks were placed in front of the copper basin, and the incense smoke rose straight into the night sky, condensing and not dissipating.

"This is called the guiding incense. The direction the incense points is the passage between the Yin and Yang realms. When the Yin messengers smell the guiding incense, they will know that there are cultivators from the Yang realm hosting a banquet here, and they will lead the ghosts this way."

Master Si Mei took out another stack of yellow paper and burned it in the copper basin.

The ashes from the paper dispersed in the water, slowly forming crooked and distorted characters.

Li Feng looked down and saw several lines of text floating on the surface of the water in the basin:

"Four-Eyebrows, a disciple of Qingyan Yizhuang, has set up a puppet show and prepared incense and offerings by order of the Maoshan Patriarch. We respectfully invite the passing underworld messengers to rest. We appreciate the hard work of the underworld officials and offer them simple wine and fruit as a token of our respect."

This is an invitation to the underworld messengers.

After burning the invitations, Master Si Mei asked Qiu Lan to go inside and fetch a pot of wine and several ceramic bowls.

The wine is yellow wine, brewed with glutinous rice and aged for three years. Qiulan specially went to the wine shop in the city to choose it.

Master Si Mei arranged the ceramic bowls in a row on the offering table, a total of seven bowls, each filled with yellow wine.

The aroma of wine wafted in the night breeze, rich and lingering.

"The underworld officials rarely get to drink good wine from the mortal world while they are on duty, so they won't refuse them this favor."

Everything was ready, and it was already 9 PM.

The moon rose high in the sky, and its silvery light illuminated the open space in front of the mortuary as if it were daytime.

The incense and candles on the offering table were more than half burned, and the smoke from the guiding incense curved and drifted into the distance.

The Taoist priest with four eyebrows looked up at the sky, his expression slightly changing.

"They're here."

No sooner had the words been spoken than a muffled bell rang out in the night sky.

This bell sound was completely different from the crisp sound of the requiem bell; it was deep and resonant, as if it came from the deepest underground, sending chills down one's spine.

The bell rang from afar, growing louder as the night wind grew colder.

Immediately afterwards, the moonlight changed color.

The originally silvery-white moonlight, as if veiled by a layer of gray gauze, gradually turned into a dark yellow.

A faint smell of decay filled the air, not the stench of a corpse, but more like the smell of old soil unearthed from a grave.

Outside the walls of the mortuary, the blurry ghostly figures crouching in the dark corners all raised their heads at the same time.

Their empty eye sockets glowed with a faint green light, like countless fireflies awakening at the same time, emitting a low moan.

The Taoist priest with four eyebrows gave a low shout: "Everyone be quiet, stand behind the stage!"

Qiu Sheng, Qiu Lan, and Li Feng immediately retreated to the back of the stage.

The stage curtains concealed their figures, leaving only gaps for them to observe the outside world.

The sound of bells in the night sky grew closer and louder.

Just as the bell rang so close it seemed to be right above our heads, the moonlight suddenly split open.

A crack appeared out of nowhere in the night sky.

The crack was as wide as a door panel and more than three zhang long, with dark green light emanating from its edges, like a giant eye opening in the sky.

The crack was filled with bottomless darkness, within which countless blurry ghostly figures could be vaguely seen.

This is the Gates of Hell.

The Gate of Hell is not a real gate, but a rift between the realms of Yin and Yang.

Every year at midnight on the 15th of the seventh lunar month, the underworld opens a crack at a specific location, allowing underworld officials to escort ghosts in and out.

On the eve of the Ghost Festival, the cracks had already begun to loosen.

It wasn't fully opened yet, but enough underworld officials had already brought out the first batch of ghosts.

A troop of people slowly descended from the crack.

Two underworld officials suppressed them.

They look just like the ones in the booklet by the Taoist priest with four eyebrows; one is completely black, and the other is completely pale.

Fan Wujiu, the Black Impermanence, was tall and thin, wearing a long black robe with an iron chain around his waist, the end of which dragged on the ground with a rattling sound.

His hat was a foot and a half tall, with four large characters written on it.

"I'm catching you."

Xie Bi'an, the White Impermanence, was half a head shorter than the Black Impermanence. He was slightly plump, wore a white robe, and carried a paper lantern with a ghastly green flame inside.

His hat was also towering, with the words "You've come too" written on it.

Both of the underworld officials had extremely eerie faces.

Black Impermanence's face was covered by a black cloth, revealing only two pure black eyes without any whites.

The face of the White Impermanence was clearly visible, but his features were like a mask pasted onto his face. His smile was stiff, his mouth stretched to his ears, and his whole face exuded an indescribable chill.

Behind the underworld official, a long chain pulled a string of ghosts.

These ghosts, strung together by extremely long iron chains, emerged slowly from the crack, one after another, in a winding line.

The chains pierced through the shoulder blades of each ghost, locking their souls and preventing them from escaping.

The ghosts are male and female, old and young, all kinds of dead ghosts, all retaining the appearance they were in before they died. Just imagine how terrifying it is.

Their footsteps were light and silent, their toes barely touching the ground, as they floated in the moonlight.

His face was blank and expressionless, devoid of any emotion, as if all his memories had been stripped away, leaving only an empty shell.