In the Incense Hall, white smoke curled upward, and the Lady of Bao Sheng Temple nodded with lowered eyes. Underneath the drumstone in the hall, a little girl curled up, hugging her knees, looking just like a kitten without its mother's care.
When they were at the Funeral Shop, Xu Qing couldn't help the child because she knew nothing. She only knew that her father didn't want her anymore, her mother was gone, and she knew nothing about anything else, including where home was.
Xu Qing couldn't report to the authorities, nor could he predict the little girl's fate. The former was because the matter couldn't be reported, and as for the latter... fortune-telling requires fate to be told.
The laws of the living world and the rules of the underworld, it is no different.
The little girl seemed to sense something. She looked up in confusion at the statue on the altar. When she saw the Lady of Bao Sheng Temple looking down at her, the little girl rubbed her eyes strenuously, thinking she was seeing things.
But when she opened her eyes again, the statue on the altar had returned to normal. The little girl, anxious, ran to a worshiper making a wish, knelt down, and kowtowed repeatedly.
Xu Qing heard her mumbling words like 'The Lady of Bao Sheng Temple revealed herself! The Lady of Bao Sheng Temple revealed herself!'
This little girl...
Xu Qing wasn't the one who manifested, because, at the temple's entrance, a wild-haired boy came huffing and puffing in.
This little boy was holding a rotund-bellied wild rabbit in his arms. However, the rabbit's leg was injured by a Hunter's trap, and it could no longer run normally.
The nanny responsible for caring for Chen Liu'Er laughed and said, "This child has a kind heart. Seeing the Hunter wanted to take the rabbit home, he insisted on rescuing it. The Hunter wasn't willing at first, so I intended to give him some loose change to buy the rabbit."
"But who knew, upon hearing that the young master and I were going to the temple to pray to the Lady of Bao Sheng Temple, the Hunter refused to take the money and handed the rabbit over to the young master instead."
Sister Jin curiously asked, "Why is that?"
The nanny explained, "Master may not know, but it turns out that the rabbit was a doe. Its belly was so round because it was carrying a litter of baby rabbits! The Hunter, mindful of the temple's blessing of mothers and children, realized he nearly incurred a sin debt and allowed the young master and me to take the doe back."
"Liu'Er is really good," Sister Jin said with a kind look, "Take it to the back of the hall. In a while, the Lady of Bao Sheng Temple will manifest, send a divine emissary to heal it, and send it back to the forest..."
When Sister Jin praised Chen Liu'Er, commenting on how good he was, the little girl kneeling at the incense table subconsciously turned her head to glance back. When she realized she wasn't being spoken to, she withdrew her gaze.
Chen Liu'Er, holding the doe, called out to the little girl kneeling before the Incense Hall. Seeing she was lost in a daze and unwilling to follow him, he happily went to the back of the hall on his own.
In front of the hall, Sister Jin and the nanny taking care of Chen Liu'Er were chatting.
Behind the hall, Chen Liu'Er, familiar with the place, placed the injured rabbit on the altar. The child stood on tiptoes, caressed the wild rabbit, muttered a few heartfelt words, and then joyfully went off to find 'Goody' to play with.
At this moment, a white snake slithered out from under the altar table.
The Willow Immortal was skilled in healing, and inside its belly was a divine medicine, as was the White Immortal. It opened its mouth, and an crimson-red berry hidden inside was spat out.
The Willow Immortal with cultivation had an internal space capable of storing many things. Besides the crimson-red berry, the White Immortal's belly held many treasures.
The mother rabbit consumed the berry, and its wound healed visibly, but it still didn't dare leave on its own.
The White Immortal grumbled, "Hurry along! If not for seeing you're expecting, I would have swallowed you whole!"
A snake saving a rabbit was against the natural order, but since it was now the divine creature of Bao Sheng Temple, things were different.
The expecting mother rabbit, holding an amnesty for its pregnancy, ran out of Bao Sheng Temple like a dream.
...
Back in the Funeral Shop, Xu Qing exited the blood lake of the Dharma Realm as a customer came into the shop.
"Who is the shopkeeper here?"
The voice was a brisk female one, indicating that it wasn't a voice typical of an ordinary woman. What noblewoman would speak with such boldness?
Xu Qing looked up and saw three women storm into the shop. Each woman wore red pants and a red top, with red headscarves and gleaming silver knives on their backs. Their trouser legs were tied with straps, clearly not people to be trifled with!
The lead woman's stature wasn't the tallest, but her aura was the strongest. Her brow bore a Vermillion mark, and her first glance wasn't at Xu Qing but at Shang Shaoyang, who was lounging on the Master's Chair.
By contrast, Xu Qing, standing dutifully by the counter, seemed more like a bookkeeper in the shop.
Shang Shaoyang reached for his sword and scrutinized the red-clad women in front of him. "Red-clad cult rebels?"
"Who's the rebel?" a robust woman, as sturdy as a man, next to the lead woman, spoke out, "Our cult's Red Lotus Holy Mother descended from the Celestial Mother, upholding heavenly law to overthrow the dog Emperor's rule and to install the true dragon to save the suffering common people. If there are rebels, it's the dog Emperor who kills brothers and loyalists!"
Shang Shaoyang raised an eyebrow. One must say, there was some truth in their words.
"True dragon? Who's the true dragon?" Shang Shaoyang asked.
"The Holy Mother divined and foretold that the true dragon lies in the wild. Anyway, killing the dog Emperor first can't be wrong!"
The lead woman raised her hand to interrupt her subordinate's words and spoke, "We didn't come here for state affairs, but to ensure the proper burial of our former brothers and sisters..."
Upon hearing this, Xu Qing immediately stood up.
It's such a hot day, where's the body? What? It hasn't been brought in yet? Is this how you treat your brothers and sisters? Hurry, bring it over, or it'll start to smell soon!