The children imitated what they saw and kowtowed to him.
Xu Qing was overwhelmed; in this deep forest with so many adults and children, dealing with them was indeed a troublesome matter.
He instructed everyone to stop kneeling and then began to question the adults.
He didn’t know before he asked, but once he did, the place names like South Mountain and North Ridge, East Village and West Village were enough to confuse anyone.
Fine, sending Buddha to the west, isn’t it just sending some people!
Xu Qing immediately asked Old Huang to summon the Galloping Immortal Disciples from each village.
Previously, those immortals had retreated at the last minute and did not perform well. Now there was a ready opportunity; if they didn’t come, they shouldn’t cry in the future when no one offered incense.
While waiting for those disciples to arrive, Xu Qing wasn’t idle. He took the Water-Soaked Bowl and asked the sticky and dirty children to line up, washing them one by one.
Once they were clean, he gave each of them a sip of the Healing Talisman water.
After all this was done, the crowd once again cheered, calling him a living Bodhisattva, a living deity.
Xu Qing remained unmoved until he heard someone in the crowd saying, "The two goddess immortals are truly compassionate."
"It’s a man, not a goddess. This one is the female immortal. I am not!"
After correcting the person’s wording, Xu Qing took the opportunity to remove the phoenix crown and wedding robe he was wearing.
He didn’t want tales of a female Immortal Hall being spread about the Cat Immortal Hall!
Soon, the summoned Galloping Immortal Disciples arrived one after another.
Besides the disciples, immortals from the Hu Immortal, Willow Immortal, and White Immortal halls also came in person to pay their respects.
Xu Qing and Old Huang entered the forest, surrounded by an assembly of various small animals like foxes, hedgehogs, monkeys, and green snakes. They chattered incessantly as if holding a grand meeting.
When Xu Qing and Xuan Yu arrived, the place fell silent instantly.
Some immortals scrutinized the two of them, while others quickly stepped forward to pay their respects.
Xu Qing glanced around, skipping over the small animals and focusing on a red-clothed ghostly figure floating behind the trees.
It was a melancholy spirit.
Xu Qing stepped over the immortals who were thanking him and walked directly to the red-clothed female ghost.
"Which hall do you belong to?"
The red-clothed female ghost smiled and said, "I am the melancholy spirit from Qushui Stockade."
"Qushui Stockade’s melancholy spirit? You look more like an evil ghost that buys and sells livestock, feasting on human flesh and blood!"
Xu Qing still remembered when he followed Liu Youdao walking through the forest and graves, they encountered this red-clothed female ghost on a secluded forest path.
As she floated past the corpse-moving team, she murmured "Sheep, delicious" in her sleep.
And the direction the female ghost floated towards was where Chen Mancang was driving his flock of sheep.
Later, after Liu Youdao’s death, Xu Qing returned to Linhe along the way, and met this female ghost again, with a sheep on her shoulder.
Exposed by Xu Qing, the female ghost appeared uneasy and said, "Comrade, don’t slander me. As a member of the immortals, how could I do such a thing?"
Xu Qing was still preoccupied with the Child-Giving Temple matter and had no time to argue with a female ghost.
He grabbed the female ghost with one hand and took out several Peace Talismans with the other, sticking them on the ghost’s face.
Peace Talismans could ward off evil and bring safety for ordinary people, but sticking them on a Yin Ghost was like pressing a red-hot iron against their heart.
Black smoke billowed from the ghost’s body as the places covered by talismans sizzled and smoked.
Some immortals wanted to step in to stop him, but Xuan Yu, baring his teeth and hissing, blocked them.
"Will you confess or not?" Xu Qing said, pulling out a stack of House Protection Talismans.
At the sound of her screams, the female ghost finally couldn’t hold back and admitted:
"I confess! I confess everything! Just take the talismans off!"