The old ghost's kick was no light one. Zhao Bo winced in pain, and big beads of sweat rolled down his forehead.
Old Zhao hung his head and shoulders, with a chilling aura radiating from his body. He stared at Zhao Bo menacingly.
Zhao Bo forced a smile. "Dad—"
Before he could finish, he got another kick on the butt.
"Good for you! You still remember I'm your dad? You've really screwed your old man over."
Old Zhao never thought that after working hard all his life, not only did he not enjoy any blessings, but he was also badly betrayed by his son after his death.
Now facing his son, he felt a mix of love and hate.
If you said Zhao Bo was unfilial, he had taken good care of Old Zhao by his bedside until his death when the old man was seriously ill. But if you said he was filial, he had easily believed the slander and left his father's ashes in a tiny room for several years.
Zhao Bo was kicked several times by the old ghost. He felt dizzy and his whole body was sweating. He looked at Yu Nian for help.
But Yu Nian was just standing by the door, smiling, showing no intention of coming to his rescue.
Zhao Bo felt desperate. He quickly shouted, "Dad, I was wrong! I'll get you a proper cemetery as soon as possible. I guarantee the feng shui of the cemetery will be good, and the neighbors around will be nice too. Maybe you can even go square - dancing with the old lady ghosts when you're free..."
Old Zhao snorted and finally took back his foot. He let out a long sigh and looked at Shi Ce, who was shivering behind Feng Chengyuan.
Shi Ce felt Old Zhao's gaze and instinctively wanted to run.
Old Zhao said, "Kid, come here."
Shi Ce:???
Old Zhao hooked his finger, and Shi Ce slid towards him uncontrollably.
Shi Ce cried with a mournful face, "Uncle, I've already found your son for you. Please let me go!"
Old Zhao stared at Shi Ce for a while, and his expression suddenly softened.
"Xiao Shi, I'm sorry for what happened before. I've been suffering at the border between the living and the dead every day. Having those dreams was really out of desperation. I've caused you so much trouble these days. I'm here to apologize."
Shi Ce quickly waved his hand.
As long as the old ghost didn't harm him, he was already grateful. How could he accept his apology?
Old Zhao suddenly asked, "Do you still remember the day you first dreamed about me?"
Shi Ce tried to recall. "It seems to be the 14th day of the sixth lunar month?"
Old Zhao suddenly smiled and gave Shi Ce a meaningful look. "That's right. You should remember this well."
Shi Ce was a bit confused and didn't understand what Old Zhao meant.
It seemed that Old Zhao didn't intend to explain either. He turned to Yu Nian, with respect in his tone. "Master, I've been wandering in the human world for a long time, and my ghostly lifespan has been greatly reduced. I wonder if I can still return to the underworld now..."
Yu Nian nodded and said calmly, "I can send you to the underworld."
Yu Nian asked Zhao Bo to find a porcelain basin, then threw several tin - foil paper ingots and a stack of ghost money she had prepared in advance into the basin.
After lighting three incense sticks, Yu Nian instructed everyone, "Later, I'll open the passage to the underworld. No matter what you see, don't make a sound."
After everyone agreed, Yu Nian made a hand gesture with her left hand and murmured a few incantations. Suddenly, a dim blue light flashed in the originally pitch - black room.
The next moment, a door large enough for one person to pass through clearly appeared in front of everyone. Behind the door was a straight road that seemed to have no end.
A cold voice suddenly rang out, hoarse and terrifying.
"Who summoned me?"
The atmosphere was so solemn and eerie that Zhao Bo's eyes rolled back in shock, and he fell to his knees on the ground.
Shi Ce covered his mouth to keep from making a sound, staring intently at the door. Vaguely, he seemed to see a two - meter - tall shadow.
The shadow held a very long iron chain. It was broad - shouldered and thick - waisted, with a strange figure, not like an ordinary person.
Yu Nian said calmly, "It's me. There's a poor ghost here who couldn't enter the underworld due to an accident. Please, Mr. Ghost Messenger, take him down. Let the underworld judge his merits and demerits, and then let him be reincarnated."
The room fell silent for a moment.
Old Zhao felt a very oppressive gaze on him. It was an innate sense of oppression that made his legs go weak and cold sweat pour down.
Old Zhao stammered out his situation. The ghost messenger's tone rose, sounding a bit hesitant.
"This is not an easy thing to handle."
According to the rules, a ghost like Old Zhao, who died a natural death but failed to report to the underworld within the specified time, would lose the qualification to enter the underworld and would wander in the human world forever until his soul dissipated.
Unless a celestial master was willing to send these ghosts on their way, but this was extremely rare.
Firstly, if the celestial master's power was not strong enough, they would easily be backfired by karma. Secondly, not all celestial masters had the ability to summon ghost messengers. Looking around, there were only a handful of celestial masters who could open the passage to the underworld by themselves in today's world.
Yu Nian didn't seem surprised by the ghost messenger's reaction. She calmly lit the things in the porcelain basin. The ghost money and paper ingots burned away at a visible speed. After a flash of golden light, the ashes in the basin suddenly disappeared.
Feng Chengyuan looked at the huge figure inside the door and saw that there seemed to be something heavy in his left hand, which was originally empty.
Suddenly, two soft chuckles came from behind the door. "The little celestial master is too polite. This matter is easy to talk about and easy to negotiate."
The ghost messenger whipped out his soul - catching chain, which suddenly hooked onto Old Zhao's arm, and guided him into the door.
Old Zhao was extremely excited. He kept nodding and thanking Yu Nian, then turned to Shi Ce and said, "Xiao Shi, go and take a look behind the wall clock in your house."
After the old ghost completely walked into the door, the light and the door immediately disappeared without a trace.
It was extremely quiet all around, as if nothing had happened.
Shi Ce was a bit confused. "Wall clock?"
He walked to the wall clock and tentatively moved it. With a soft "click", something wrapped in red cloth fell out. Shi Ce was startled.
After experiencing all these supernatural events, he was always scared when he saw something wrapped in red cloth.
Did this old ghost still want to screw him over before leaving?
But with Yu Nian around, Shi Ce felt a bit more at ease.
He held his breath and opened the red cloth. A bank card was lying quietly inside.
Shi Ce recalled the old ghost's meaningful smile and suddenly realized. "So that was the password..."
After inquiring, he found that there were 20,000 yuan in the card.
Shi Ce's mood suddenly became complicated. He turned to Yu Nian. "Master, can I accept this money?"
Yu Nian nodded. "You've handled this matter very well. Not all ghosts have a hard - luck story like Old Zhao. Most of them just want to harm people. Whenever something keeps begging you to do something in your dream, never go rashly. Just find a person from the metaphysical world to handle it. Since this is what Old Zhao left for you, you can take it."
Zhao Bo came to his senses and stood up from the ground. His tone was a bit sour. "I'm my dad's real son. Why didn't he ever tell me about this money..."
Yu Nian smiled. "If you're not afraid that your dad will come back to find you, you can take it."
Zhao Bo twitched the corner of his mouth. The place where he had been kicked by the old ghost still ached faintly. He quickly forced a smile and shook his head.
.........
Old Zhao's matter came to an end.
As the Ghost Festival approached, all the Taoist temples got busy.
A slender finger painted with red nail polish was flipping through the information on the tablet. The woman said to the man beside her, "Lao Chen, this Qingxin Taoist Temple seems to be quite effective. How about we go and pay our respects one day?"