After Professor Sun heard Jiao Qi's words, he fell into a long silence and was actually at a loss for words, not knowing what to say.
He had grown up with Jiao Qi since childhood and had received a lot of kindness and care from the old lady.
If one were to say that Jiao Qi was unfilial, he had been by the old lady's side during her serious illness. But if one were to say he was filial, he would rather bend two of his mother's toes than bother to buy a new pair of burial shoes, refusing to handle properly the last important event in his mother's life.
Jiao Qi's voice grew softer and softer. He seemed to realize that he had done something rather despicable in this matter and didn't dare to say anything more.
Xiaolin suddenly bounced up from the bed and stared at Jiao Qi in disbelief. "How could you treat Grandma like this? She was so good to you, but in the end, you wouldn't even buy her a pair of proper burial shoes?"
Jiao Qi was scolded by his daughter out of the blue for a moment and felt a bit embarrassed, so he snapped.
"Xiaolin! What are you going crazy about? That was ages ago. Why bring it up?"
Xiaolin cried and told Jiao Qi everything she had seen in the dream just now. Jiao Qi's face immediately changed, and he hurriedly asked Yu Nian what he should do.
Yu Nian glanced at Jiao Qi. His eyes were wandering, and the yang energy around him was scattered and not gathered. He seemed half - drunk and half - awake, looking like he could fall asleep at any moment.
Especially his philtrum was pitch - black, clearly a sign of impending death, which meant that the karmic debts Jiao Qi was burdened with must not be just this one.
Yu Nian wasn't surprised either. The old lady was a very kind person. Although she complained about her son, she would never torture him to such a dying state.
Yu Nian had to solve the current problem first. She told Jiao Qi to buy a proper set of burial shoes and clothes according to the old lady's clothes size when she was alive, then take them to the old lady's grave, kowtow three times, and burn them.
On the day of the religious ceremony, Yu Nian stood in front of the old lady's tombstone and lit three vertical incense sticks.
The moment the vertical incense burned out, Yu Nian looked up at the sunlight and gently chanted the scriptures.
Her low - singing voice passed through the curling smoke and carried the lingering wandering souls towards a peaceful and distant place.
Feng Chengyuan, Professor Sun, Xiaolin, and Jiao Qi were standing not far away, and their hearts were unexpectedly calm.
The moment Yu Nian withdrew her gaze, it meant that the old lady had been sent away safely.
Xiaolin wiped the tears from her face and quickly walked up.
She bowed deeply to Yu Nian. "Thank you, Master. Now that Grandma has been sent away, will my dad recover his health?"
Yu Nian didn't answer. Instead, she walked slowly up to Jiao Qi and asked seriously, "Have you done any other immoral things?"
Yu Nian's eyes were pure. When she looked directly at Jiao Qi, he felt a momentary twinge of guilt.
But then Jiao Qi reacted. Although Yu Nian was powerful, she was just a junior after all. Questioning him in front of so many people gave him no face at all.
So Jiao Qi's face fell in an instant, and he said firmly, "No. You don't need to worry about my business."
Yu Nian didn't refute him. After all, resolving evil spirits depended on fate. If Jiao Qi wasn't willing, Yu Nian was too lazy to force him.
Before leaving, Yu Nian left her phone number for Xiaolin and instructed, "I'm fated to meet you. If you encounter any problems you can't solve in the future, you can contact me."
Xiaolin was taken aback and nodded gratefully.
The affairs at Qingxin Temple were very busy, and Yu Nian soon forgot about this matter.
It wasn't until half a month later when she suddenly received a call from Xiaolin that she remembered Jiao Qi again.
Xiaolin's voice on the other end of the phone was extremely haggard, as if she was about to faint at any moment. She pleaded with Yu Nian, "Master, something has happened to my dad again! Please come and save him!"
Yu Nian originally thought that Jiao Qi was in the hospital, but Xiaolin cried and said that her father's health had almost recovered after being discharged from the hospital last time. But unexpectedly, when he went up the mountain to pick mushrooms one day, he was suddenly hit on the leg by a rolling boulder. The blood soaked the ground under him, and Jiao Qi fainted on the spot!
Even more absurd was that Xiaolin's sister - in - law was three months pregnant at that time. She had a dream the night after Jiao Qi's accident.
In the dream, there was a very small child who always followed her.
Xiaolin's sister - in - law was a bit confused and asked the child, "Why do you always follow me?"
The little boy suddenly started crying. He said, "I was supposed to be born, but a weasel squeezed me out of your stomach. I was so angry that I went to the god to complain. The god helped me drive the weasel away, but I can't go back into your stomach anymore. I'm here to say goodbye to you. Goodbye, Mom."
After the little boy said this, a white light suddenly appeared on him and took the little boy away.
Xiaolin's sister - in - law woke up from the dream with a start. She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her heart, and tears welled up in her eyes and she couldn't stop crying.
She told this to her husband and father - in - law, and everyone laughed at her for having a rich imagination and didn't take it seriously. But unexpectedly, the next day, Xiaolin's sister - in - law had a miscarriage for no reason.
The fetus had already taken shape. Its hair was thick and long, and it actually looked exactly like a weasel!
Jiao Qi finally realized something was wrong, but still tried to stay calm and comforted Xiaolin's sister - in - law, saying it was just a coincidence.
From that day on, things at Jiao Qi's home got worse and worse. Not only did the poultry keep disappearing one after another, but animal corpses often appeared in the yard!
Jiao Qi had nightmares every night and hadn't had a good night's sleep for more than a dozen days.
Yu Nian wasn't surprised after hearing this. She called Feng Chengyuan and led everyone from Qingxin Temple to the village where Jiao Qi lived.
When they walked into Jiao Qi's house, everyone couldn't help but gasp.
If Jiao Qi had been very thin when he was in the hospital, now he was just skin and bones!
His eye sockets were deeply sunken, and he exhaled more than he inhaled.
Yu Nian dipped her finger in cinnabar and drew a talisman on Jiao Qi to keep him alive.
Jiao Qi took a deep breath and finally spoke. Unexpectedly, his first words were, "Master, save me!"
Yu Nian looked at Jiao Qi and found that the aura of death around him was getting stronger and stronger. She predicted that his creditor was a very resentful guy.
Yu Nian asked Jiao Qi, "What exactly happened?"
Jiao Qi's voice was like a broken bellows. He had to take a breath after saying a couple of words. "I met a talking weasel."
Everyone was taken aback after hearing this, especially Xiaolin. She thought Jiao Qi was delirious from illness and asked, "How could there be a talking weasel in this world?"
Yu Nian suddenly realized. "So it was a case of seeking enfeoffment."
"No matter how big or small an animal is, as long as it lives for a long time, it will absorb some of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. As time goes by, these animals will gradually develop spiritual wisdom and start to cultivate.
Animals strive to cultivate in order to break away from their current level and evolve to a higher level.
This is the same principle as humans who want to become immortals through cultivation.
The only difference is that if an animal wants to become an immortal, it has to become a spirit and then a human first.
There are usually two ways for an animal to become a human.
One way is to cultivate in silence. By practicing hard year after year, perhaps one day after a hundred or a thousand years, it will gain enlightenment, shed its fur, hide its animal form, and become a human. "
Just like Bai Suzhen. She cultivated for a thousand years before being reincarnated as a human and finding Xu Xian to repay her kindness. She took the steady and sure - footed path.
"However, this method has great limitations and depends purely on the animal's own understanding. Some can become spirits in a hundred years, while some can't gain enlightenment even after tens of thousands of years of cultivation. So there is a second method - seeking enfeoffment."