Volume 1 Chapter 33: The Poor Way's Surname is Lin

  "Devil spirit revived?" For the past half month, he had been extremely cautious every minute, afraid of running into or hearing about ghostly things again. Unexpectedly, this time when he came back to see his seriously ill uncle, Medicine Jar Third Uncle, before he could even catch his breath, they told him an even more bizarre thing. If encountering a female ghost just a few days ago was not enough, this time it was even more unbelievable, as not only did the dead come back to life and speak, but there were also ghostly messengers and devil spirits. Hong Jun discovered that the events happening around him were becoming increasingly strange, and the people around him were far from what they seemed on the surface. Many of them had astonishing stories, such as Old Chui's Head and Third Uncle now. Although he still didn't know their true identities for the time being, Hong Jun knew they absolutely weren't ordinary people. Especially Medicine Jar Third Uncle - since the other three deceased uncles were all ghostly messengers, and Old Chui's Head had already said that Grandma gave birth to quadruplets who were all ghostly messengers born to guard coffins, then this Third Uncle was probably the fourth coffin guardian.

  "Yes, the demon spirit has revived." Old Jia pulled out a cigarette from his pocket, lit one up and started puffing away on his own, "This demon spirit is a powerful ghost messenger of the Yin realm, reborn every sixty years. Each time it appears, it absorbs all living essence within a ten-mile radius, leaving behind a desolate land devoid of human life or any signs of vitality. It does this to gather regenerative power for its master and create a clean slate for rebirth."

  "Then, after you entered the house, how was your uncle?" Rui Xin had been worried about Hong Jun's father's safety and couldn't help but ask, even though he had just seen him sitting there looking fine.

  "I went up to take a look, nothing's wrong, just scared silly. At that time, I was only ten years old, encountering something like this, let alone him, even an adult would be scared silly. He's considered brave." Old Qi said, "Seeing he's fine, I plucked up the courage to come to the coffin and took a peek inside. Big sister had completely become a corpse by then, with livor mortis on her face. I mustered up my courage to touch her forehead, wanting to try if her soul was still there."

  "What's a soul? What is it?" Hong Jun asked curiously.

  The human spirit can be divided into two parts, which are called the soul and the spirit. The soul has three aspects: the heavenly soul, the earthly soul, and the life soul. The spirit has seven aspects: the heavenly spirit, the spiritual spirit, the energy spirit, the power spirit, the central spirit, the essence spirit, and the English spirit. The soul is yin, while the spirit is yang. Among the three souls and seven spirits, each also has its own yin and yang aspects.

  The three souls are: the heavenly soul (yang), the earthly soul (yin), and the life soul (yang). The seven spirits are divided into three categories: two heavenly spirits (yin) - the heavenly spirit and the spiritual spirit; three human spirits (yang) - the energy spirit, the power spirit, and the central spirit; and two earthly spirits (yang) - the essence spirit and the English spirit.

  The three souls do not always gather together. The heavenly and earthly souls are usually outside, while only the life soul resides within the body. The seven spirits, however, are always attached to the human body and are controlled by the life soul. The life soul is also known as the human soul or the colored soul. Human life begins when this life soul enters the womb.

  After entering the womb, the life soul distributes energy throughout the human body's meridians, forming the seven spirits. The spirit is unique to the physical body and disperses after death, while the life soul departs, marking the end of life. After death, the three souls and seven spirits still retain memories from their past lives, so they temporarily linger together. However, this connection is very weak, and unless there was a strong sense of resentment during life, the souls and spirits will slowly disperse over time.

  Old Master Ji explained patiently.

  "Can you tell if a dead person's soul is present just by touching their head? What kind of magic is this?" Hong Jun asked again, and it wasn't until today that he realized that there was truly no end to learning. His fifteen years of studying and twenty-five years of life experience still left him completely ignorant of so many things.

  "This is a rather special technique of our school, and I'm afraid it's not something that can be learned in a short time. Moreover, the techniques of our Taoist school are strictly forbidden to be passed on to outsiders, so I won't be able to tell you the key to this technique." Old Qi said, "However, once you understand everything, you won't even bother with my clumsy technique."

  It's better not to say it, and treasure it, mysteriously. Is it rare? Hong Jun muttered in his heart. At the same time, he felt a shock in his mind, this old man, who was usually sloppy, if he didn't say so himself, he really couldn't tell that he was a descendant of Taoism.

  This time, Old Qi didn't see through his thoughts, but continued to recount the situation at that time: "When my hand was about to touch Big Sister's forehead, a sudden coughing sound came from behind me. Damn it, I almost got scared to death." The old man in his seventies suddenly cursed in an unbecoming manner.

  Suddenly, a scene flashed into Hong Jun's mind: a young man in his thirties, half asleep in the dimly lit mourning hall, stretched out his hand to touch the dead person inside the coffin. At this moment, an extra person appeared behind him and coughed.

  If it were me, I'd be scared to death. Hong Jun compared and found that this old man's courage was quite big.

  "I leapt up like I had been electrocuted, turned around, and under the dim light, I saw a person standing at the entrance of the mourning hall. A stranger in his thirties. Wearing a black Taoist robe, with a lotus flower crown on his head, his face was stern and cold, exuding an aura of killing intent."

  Old Jia swallowed a mouthful of saliva as he spoke, "When I saw his expression, I immediately swallowed back the curses that were about to leave my lips. I rearranged my thoughts and stuttered out a question: 'May I ask, Master Dao, what brings you here in the middle of the night?' As a fortune teller who has some connections with the Taoist community, I asked politely."

  Lao Diaotou felt a bit parched at this point, so he rummaged around the room and spotted a box of milk on Third Uncle's bedside table. Without hesitation, he grabbed a carton and gulped it down in one go.

  "A bit thirsty." Old Chui's head smiled slightly, touched his mouth, and felt a little embarrassed about his own impulsiveness. His face was originally dark, so it couldn't be seen if he had a red face or not.

  The Taoist looked at me with courtesy and asked, his face slightly softened, bowed his head, and said, "My humble surname is Lin."

  "I felt particularly strange at the time, I was a Taoist disciple and had a pretty deep understanding of Taoism. Most Taoist priests have a Taoist name, and when greeting others, they would also mention their own Taoist name. Looking at this Taoist priest in front of me, although he wasn't very old, the lotus crown on his head was the highest level of Taoist crown, not something an ordinary Taoist priest could wear. This person must be a high-ranking and respected Grand Master of the Taoist family, so why didn't he mention his Taoist name when going out, but instead reported his secular surname? Moreover, what's even stranger is that this Taoist priest looked like he was only in his thirties, yet he wore the lotus crown that only high-achieving Grand Masters could wear. There are only two possibilities: either he has a very high status or he has achieved a very high level of cultivation."

  Lao Jiezi chattered on and on, but Hong Jun didn't have any interest in the Daoist's attire. He was only concerned about what this Daoist was doing in the mourning hall at midnight.