Hu Baosong arrived outside the Five Elders Temple, knocking on the door to ask clearly. At the time, Zichen was just inside the door, and the two were separated only by the door, with Zichen speaking clearly.
The Temple Master is aged, and she cannot abandon the old Temple Master for her selfish desires.
Zichen spoke a lot, and when there was no sound outside, she opened the door but found Hu Baosong's figure had disappeared.
At the door, only a lonely leaf fell from the tree, just like the leaf she caught while playing flute in front of the temple before.
Once Zichen closed the temple door, Hu Baosong's figure suddenly flashed out from behind a tree not far away.
He looked at the temple door, a breeze blowing, scattering fallen leaves, leaving only a trace of melancholy in front of the deep quiet temple.
After that, Hu Baosong continued to travel the world. In between, he made some female confidants, but he always took out only half of the Heart Moon Fox jade ring to admire alone in the dead of night.
The jade ring was left by Hu Baosong's mother; originally there were a pair, but the other one was at the Five Elders Temple...
At about two hundred years old, Hu Baosong returned to Underground Street, and by then, his coffin shop had already been reclaimed by the government and rented to someone else.
Hu Baosong was shocked and, despite the obstruction of the shopkeeper, rushed into the courtyard. Only when he saw that the peach tree was still flourishing did he relax.
After that, Hu Baosong produced a house contract that had been stored for two hundred years, claiming he was his own great-grandson and said his ancestors lived here.
The shopkeeper didn't care about these things. Nowadays, it's the Yong Dynasty's world; the old house contract from the previous dynasty is useless.
Hu Baosong was silent for a moment, then exchanged the house contract for two hundred taels in silver notes.
That day, the shopkeeper drafted a simple contract with him, and after the government verified his identity, they brought the official contract and temporary Tooth Card to Hu Baosong the next day.
A skilled old fox, coupled with the tried-and-tested power of silver coins, in just two days, Hu Baosong regained his residence.
Yet, when everyone left, looking at his family's courtyard, he couldn't help but laugh at himself.
"I return to my own home, and now I still have to pay to get in..."
After running the shop for about two or three years, one day, with nothing better to do, Hu Baosong came alone to the Ancient Yin River Dao and looked southward.
It was also on this day that Celestial Fire suddenly fell outside the Ghost King Mausoleum. At this moment, Yang Fire sealed the tomb, and all ghostly apparitions hid in the grave, not daring to emerge.
Hu Baosong had never seen the scene where Celestial Fire spread over the graves, and just as he was in awe, he saw an old man wielding an iron shovel emerge from the grave freshly scorched by the fire as if he had just finished digging.
Seeing that the ghosts, intimidated by the Celestial Fire, dared not come out, the old man turned and ventured into the Ghost King Mausoleum, stealing one of the pair of Twin Coffins stored in the Princess Yan Ning's Princess Tomb.
Watching the old man running off with a coffin, Hu Baosong found it inexplicably amusing.
The old man had a sense of humor. After seeing Hu Baosong, he hesitated for a moment and then came forward to greet him.
"I recognize you, you're Hu Shopkeeper of the street coffin shop..."
"Oh, you are?" Hu Baosong feigned ignorance.
"I am Liu Youdao, pleased to meet you, fellow Daoist."
Both old men were solitary beings without family, and since that encounter at the Yin River, Liu Youdao often sought out Hu Baosong for drinks and chats.
As for what happened afterward, Xu Qing no longer needed to continue watching since he saw his own silhouette in Hu Baosong's memories.
"Young man, are you here to order a coffin or place an order?"
"I'll take two coffins; they don't need to be too good, preferably with a lot of space, warm in winter and cool in summer, and good ventilation..."
...
The phantom lantern ended, and the Sutra of Salvation evaluated the body, of excellent earth grade, awarding a coffin that allows the living to rest in peace without death.
Dynasties rise and fall, beauties turn to bones, lands remain unchanged, yet human affairs have all altered.
This ageless coffin lets the living's appearance stay youthful, and when the coffin is finally opened, those who rest within shall appear as they did in life, with the same lifespan.
Xu Qing looked at the coffin before him, covered in longevity patterns, and felt a long-standing frustration.
Could you believe it, early or late but now they give such a thing after old Hu has passed, and this thing is now as useless as farting without pants.
Xu Qing thought about it, ultimately sighed, and carefully placed the ageless coffin into the Box Garden.
No matter, it's best to keep it well; maybe one day it can come in handy.
Having stored the coffin, Xu Qing again looked at Hu Baosong's face, which bore a smile.
"This old man..."
Shaking his head, Xu Qing closed the coffin lid and, after adding two layers of coffins, stored it away in the Box Garden as well.
...
Ancient Yin River Dao, a forest of clustered graves.
From an inconspicuous mound within a small grave came a youth in bridal attire, draped in a white fur cloak, walking out of the burial chamber.
Outside the grave, the yin wind howled, and Xu Qing took a deep breath of the unique atmosphere of the Ancient Yin River Dao.
This place is isolated from the world, devoid of living energy, only the rest of the dead.
Ordinary people cannot find the entrance to the Ancient Yin River Dao, and if they accidentally wander in, it's even harder to leave alive than to enter.
Xu Qing was aware of the dangers here, but upon stepping onto this land again, his heart was surprisingly calm.
Vaguely, he even felt like he had returned home.
Xu Qing grew cautious, as the saying goes, 'a cradle of tenderness, a hero's grave.' This Yin River looks like a feng shui treasure suitable for a zombie's retirement, but it might just be a millennium-old trap waiting for outsiders to get ensnared, only to be slaughtered when deeply entrenched.
Consider how many masters throughout the ages have attempted to establish a Heaven-Reaching Road at the Ancient Yin River Dao; eventually, they all became nothing more than wild grasses over these graves.