Xu Qing looked at Hu Baosong, who was sitting facing south with an indescribable longing in his eyes.
Shaking his head slightly, Xu Qing said, "Please sit for a while, I'll go to the shroud shop first and be back soon."
The funeral shop was not far from the shroud shop.
Zhang Wan, temporarily acting as the shopkeeper of the shroud shop, was cleaning the dust with a tail brush.
Seeing Xu Qing coming, this former official's daughter hurriedly offered a seat and poured tea, with no hint of arrogance.
"I have urgent matters, can't stay long, I'll take a few shrouds and leave."
After choosing the shrouds, Xu Qing then went to the coffin shop.
At this time, Yizhen had just been sent away by Hu Baosong, leaving the coffin shop empty. Xu Qing placed the large coffin with two layers of caskets onto a cart by hand, closed the shop securely, and then pushed the cart back to his own shop.
In the shop, Hu Baosong still faced south, seemingly asleep.
Xuan Yu came forward, quietly watching Xu Qing dress Hu Baosong in the shroud and place him in the casket.
After everything was done, Xuan Yu hesitated for a while before speaking, "Humans are always so fragile, there's no need for the Xu Immortal Family to be too sad."
Hearing this, Xu Qing turned his head, chuckled, and shook his head, saying, "I wouldn't say sad, I knew this day would come fifty days ago."
Pausing for a moment, Xu Qing sighed, "On the Path to the Underworld, there is no distinction between young and old. This line of work is destined to send many people away, and even those Yin Practitioners who run the business can't escape being sent off in the end."
Hearing this, Xuan Yu, who initially intended to comfort Xu Qing, became melancholic himself.
"Is Xu Immortal Family saying that one day they'll also be sent off?"
"..."
Xu Qing expressionlessly looked at the black cat, who was speaking carelessly. He was referring to Hu Baosong, the coffin seller, as the Yin Practitioner running the business. Where was this cat's mind wandering?
At this time, the twin coffin in the funeral shop had already been moved by Xu Qing into the rat's nest, an underground chamber opened by Gu Zixu.
Temporarily closing the shop door, Xu Qing took the casket containing Hu Baosong to the underground.
Gu Zixu was out collecting incense money with Huang Xiaoliu, leaving only Gu Qiao'Er to manage the rat's nest.
When this rat lady saw Xu Qing, she immediately addressed him as Mr. Xu, and called Xuan Yu 'Lady Qing Qing'.
Xu Qing felt something was off and said, "Don't call me Mr., just call me Xu Sir."
"Miss Qiao'er, please guard the passageway outside and don't let anyone enter the rat's nest."
After saying that, Xu Qing turned his head to look at Xuan Yu again.
"I don't know how long I'll be in seclusion, so please take care of the household affairs, Xuan Yu."
Before Xu Qing entered the secret chamber, Xuan Yu suddenly spoke, "Xu Qing, you better come out of seclusion early."
"Alright." Xu Qing nodded in agreement.
"And you are not allowed to secretly undergo the tribulation of thunder."
Xu Qing shook his head and smiled, "I don't have that much courage. Until Grandfather Crow returns, I won't even stand in the courtyard on a rainy day with thunder!"
Though admitting fear of thunder was not something to boast about, coming out of Xu Qing's mouth, it somehow seemed tough.
In the dim underground chamber, Xu Qing opened the twin coffins and looked at Hu Baosong, who had a smile on his lips.
This old man was satisfied this time.
Next to the longevity pillow, there were a few sheets of gold paper. Xu Qing picked them up and saw the names of Hu Baosong's parents and grandparents written on them.
Besides the names, they also recorded the cultivation trajectory of several generations of Hu Baosong's direct lineage.
On the last page, the name of Hu Baosong's wife, Zichen Daoist of the Five Elders Temple, prominently appeared.
The last line in tiny handwriting read that the Hu Yang Clan's direct line still had a surviving descendant, his beloved daughter, and if their ancestors had spirits, please protect her...
What was this? Passing notes to the Hu Yang Clan's ancestors, asking for care?
Xu Qing was taken aback and then smiled wryly.
There's a saying that a mother's heart worries even if the child travels a thousand miles, yet one would never think that, even separated by life and death, parents still cannot let go of their children.
"Old Hu, you were the first person I knew on Underground Street, and it's been quite a cross-generational friendship."
"It's just that we were born at the wrong time, and didn't meet when we were of proper age, or else we might have shared a drink or two."
Muttering while speaking, Xu Qing felt a sense of melancholy in his heart.
However, those who are immortal are destined to be isolated from mortals, guarding solitude for thousands of years.
Hu Baosong would be the first friend he sent off, but definitely not the last.
"It seems I should keep fewer friends and handle more corpses in the future, as having too many friends doesn't seem to be a good thing either."
After chatting with the corpse for a while, Xu Qing felt more at ease, and then began performing the salvation rituals for Hu Baosong.
In the past, when he performed salvation for corpses, he would go through the motions and rarely paid attention to unnecessary details. However, for Hu Baosong's life story, he didn't rush or skip through it at all.
The Sutra of Salvation rustled as Hu Baosong's life played out like a lantern slide, page by page.
As a child, the old man never suffered hardships, having grown up in the coffin shop on Underground Street, which was run by Hu Baosong's mother at the time.
As for his father, he was a teacher in a private school.
When Hu Baosong was about seven or eight years old, his mother went on a trip, from which she never returned.
He only remembered that a few days after his mother's departure, distant skies rumbled with half an hour of thunderstorm.
Not long after that day, Hu Baosong's father became unkempt and developed a drinking problem.
Yet despite his drinking, his father never mistreated him; instead, he became more attentive than before.
When Hu Baosong came of age, his father suddenly called him to the peach tree in their backyard and pointed to it, saying that his mother planted this peach tree over a hundred years ago...
Hu Baosong thought his old father was drunk again, talking nonsense.
So he asked, "Father, how old are you this year?"
"Forty-two."
"Forty-two, so how did you see mother plant this tree over a hundred years ago?"
Hu Baosong believed he had exposed his father's drunken talk, but to his surprise, the next moment his father said, "I never saw her plant the tree myself; she told me this in person."
"Son, your mother is not entirely human; she is a fox girl!"
Your mother is not human; she is a fox girl.
Upon hearing this, Hu Baosong was more convinced that his father was drunk again; otherwise, why say such nonsense.
However, in the next moment, Hu's father picked up a hoe and dug out a jade box three steps away from the peach tree, containing the inheritance of the Hu Yang Clan.
Hu Baosong didn't believe it and thought his father was playing a trick on him, but when he tried to touch the items in the jade box, he realized his father was never talking nonsense.
Because he truly stepped into the gate of cultivation thanks to the jade box.
At the age of twenty-seven or twenty-eight, in the prime of his youth, Hu Baosong bid farewell to his father and started wandering the rivers and lakes, searching for traces of his mother's youth.
On the way, Hu Baosong encountered banditry causing havoc. Caught in grievances, he joined an anti-bandit militia. However, some things are beyond one man's power to change. Though fighting initially for the country and people, the militia ultimately faced demise.
At this time, Hu Baosong realized his mistake and resumed his journey to trace his mother's footsteps, visiting places like Tushanji, Taodu Mountain, Qingqiu...
For cultivators, time passes unnoticed. More than twenty years later, Hu Baosong, over fifty, still seemed like a young man in his twenties.
That day, walking in the ruins of Qingqiu, he met a female divination master.
The divination master and he hit it off instantly, and she took him around the desolate Qingqiu ruins, during which Hu Baosong acquired some cultivation techniques, including the 'Cave Heaven Treasure Talisman' scripture.
After they left Qingqiu, Hu Baosong couldn't resist asking about the female divination master's identity.
"My name is Bai Qiuyu, and Qingqiu is my hometown."
Only then did Hu Baosong realize he had met a genuine fox girl.
"Senior, may I take you as a master and follow you in cultivation?"
Bai Qiuyu shook her head with a light smile, "You hail from Tushanji, while I am a fox of Qingqiu. Even the techniques you acquired in Qingqiu do not belong to me, for my Qingqiu techniques cannot be taught to you."
"Moreover, you might have forgotten something important."
"What is it?"
"A mortal's lifespan is less than a hundred years. While you were wandering, unaware of time, your father has reached his appointed end."