Becoming a fox fairy from Liaozhai

Chapter 885 Saving the Ghosts

Chapter 885 Saving the Ghosts

When Yue Zhen came to see Jinse, the female immortal was simply sitting calmly on a rock by the Naihe River, the surging waves washing over the rocks on both sides of the Yellow Springs, and the turbulent water vapor filling her body.

She chanted scriptures for the deceased, the sound of which echoed along with the sound of the Naihe River, making it difficult to hear clearly.

Banished from the Heavenly Palace to the Netherworld, from a high and mighty goddess to a helpless ghost, Jinse had no time to plan for her future or to appreciate the contrast in her circumstances. She was already immersed in the grief of losing her father. Whenever she came to a stream, she would recite scriptures to save the souls of the dead, and send her longing and prayers for her deceased father into the rolling Yellow Springs.

As she continuously recited scriptures, she not only prayed for her deceased father's soul but also gradually found peace within herself.

Haoli Kingdom is not the end of Jinse's journey.

Jinse was banished to the Netherworld, stripped of her celestial register, and stripped of her divine power, but this was not a "death of life" in the ordinary sense. The Heavenly Palace did not allow her to be reincarnated, nor did it forbid her from cultivating again.

When Lord Xue ascended to heaven, though not to the point that even his chickens and dogs ascended to heaven, his daughter, Jinse, was also honored. Jinse ascended to godhood to some extent thanks to his good fortune. Because of her father's good fortune, she also suffered misfortune because of his misfortune.

Now she is implicated in the Xue Hou incident, but in the end, she was given some leeway, and she had to undergo three calamities and be tested by the Heavenly Demon before she could return to the path of immortality. But which cultivator does not have to undergo three calamities and nine tribulations and be tested by the Heavenly Demon?

So after I was taken to the Yue residence and registered there, Jinse was banished from Haoli Kingdom. This is the place where the dead rest, and although Jinse became a ghost, she was not a dead person.

The Yellow Springs flow in different directions, traversing different realms, and have different names. Some call it Fengquan, some call it Kuquan, but it is most well-known for having nine names, and is therefore collectively known as the Nine Springs. In the Kingdom of Haoli, it is called the Naihe River.

After leaving the Kingdom of Haoli and beyond the Naihe River, the Netherworld gradually revealed its true nature. Jinse wandered aimlessly, frequently encountering fierce ghosts and malevolent spirits. Had she not been a celestial being, she might have even faced mortal danger.

The area near the Underworld is a relatively safe place. Besides the terrifying deterrent power of the warships that travel to and from the Underworld, the great river that runs through the netherworld itself is also a great threat—the Underworld has a natural attraction for the dead.

All the vengeful spirits and malevolent souls who still possess some sense understand that if they don't want to be swallowed up by the underworld, it's best to stay far away—except for wandering, ownerless spirits.

The Yue family's definition of unclaimed souls is narrower than that of the human world. In the human world, those who died violently or tragically, without descendants to offer sacrifices, are collectively referred to as unclaimed souls.

But the unclaimed souls mentioned by Da Pan are spirits that have no origin and no destination.

A person's lifespan is recorded in the Book of Lifespan, and it can increase or decrease to varying degrees depending on their circumstances. When their lifespan ends, a person dies and follows the guidance of various deities such as the Underworld, City God, Earth God, mountains, rivers, and lakes to reach the netherworld.

However, if one's fate is interfered with and one experiences an "unnatural" death that differs from what is recorded in the register of lifespan, it is easy for such a person to be left without anyone to guide them. If there are no relatives, friends, or descendants to offer sacrifices and provide guidance, and one does not encounter the Three Officials' pardon, and there is no human or divine guidance, then one will become a wandering soul.

Wandering spirits can still remember where they came from and where they are going. But as time goes by or they are disturbed, their wisdom will dissipate, and they will forget where they came from and where they are going, becoming unclaimed, lonely souls with no way to be found.

Wandering souls who linger in the mortal realm are reluctant to go to the underworld. Once they become ownerless and lonely souls, they drift aimlessly back to the underworld along the flow of yin and yang, wandering near the Yellow Springs and displaying all sorts of death symptoms—those whose destinies are interfered with rarely die a good death.

Jinse discovered these unclaimed souls only after leaving the Naihe River and wandering along its banks. There are no unclaimed souls in the Naihe River; those have long been taken in by the Yue Mansion, awaiting the end of their lifespan to become wind and earth.

But once outside the Naihe River, the number of unclaimed and lonely souls increases. When the world is at peace and humans and gods are in their proper places, the number of unclaimed and lonely souls decreases; when the world is in chaos and humans and gods seek change, the number of unclaimed and lonely souls increases.

Jinse couldn't help but feel compassion for these pitiful, ownerless souls as she looked at them. She wanted to ask them about their plight, but found that they were all empty shells.

Physically incomplete, with lost intelligence, they basically do not respond to the outside world.

Yue Zhen, disguised as an old man, mingled among the wandering souls and followed Jinse for a while. When she once again recited scriptures to save the souls of the dead and prayed for her deceased father by the Yellow Springs River, he stopped beside Jinse and gazed at her with his cloudy eyes.

Jinse sensed the gaze of this strange, ownerless, and lonely soul. When she recited the scriptures for saving the dead, this soul, which was originally without consciousness, seemed to be listening as well.

Although the scripture was not recited for him, he stopped to listen to it.

"Do you know what I'm reciting?" Jinse asked him.

But this wandering spirit cannot give her any feedback; it only pauses when she chants scriptures. After she finishes chanting, it will drift away like duckweed along the flow of the Yellow Springs, just like other wandering spirits.

Jinse noticed that this wandering soul was different. Although she had lost all her divine power, she still retained some "eyesight" and knew that these pitiful wandering souls were empty shells that had lost their spirits. Without the guidance of the underworld, they were born and died naturally as the Yellow Springs flowed.

But there seems to be something left inside this empty shell.

Jinse became curious about this, so she traveled with the old man. The old man did not change his route for her, but he would stop and listen when she was chanting scriptures.

Jinse wanted to pray for his soul, but her deceased father had a place to come from and a place to return to, while she knew nothing about the person in front of her. The scriptures also had no direction, so the effect was minimal.

The so-called unclaimed wandering souls are not recorded in the register of life, have no name in the world, are out of place in the gods and have no guidance, and have even forgotten themselves.

But it wasn't entirely useless, because even without the past, there is still the present. Jinse performed a ritual for the person before her, even though he was practically an empty shell.

Jinse didn't know how many times she had recited scriptures for him. Whenever she missed her deceased father and prayed for him, she would also pray for this stranger in front of her.

Then he suddenly spoke up, saying, "I also have a daughter."

Jinse suddenly stopped, turned around, and saw a glimmer of light in those cloudy eyes for the first time.

The old man had no injuries, but his face was bluish, as if he had frozen to death. He said, "Your father must be thinking of you too."

In just two sentences, he had already vanished.

Before Jinse could even say a word to him, he had already transformed into a wisp of wind on the banks of the Yellow Springs River and disappeared before her eyes. Only a piece of silk as thin as a cicada's wing floated and gently covered the ground.

Jinse was happy for her new friend. She picked up the gift her new friend had left behind, a piece of silk embroidered with a scripture in dense gold thread.

The Repentance Ceremony for Saving Souls from Despair

It seems that this friend was able to find liberation through her ritual because of this scripture.

As Jinse silently recited the scriptures, a faint, almost imperceptible divine light emanated from her, attracting the attention of the wandering, ownerless souls.

Jinse looked up at the drifting duckweed, which seemed to come from nowhere and go nowhere, and realized what she needed to do next.

(End of this chapter)