At this moment, Wu Jing and I, carrying incense and offerings, arrived at the foot of Old Huang Mountain, by the head of the stone bridge.
The moon was bright, the night wind howled, and the stream under the bridge flowed with a "gurgling" sound…
Old Mo had already set up his altar in the square, arranging eighty-one sticks of incense.
In the center stood a small folding table.
Seeing Old Mo still burning incense, I called out from afar:
“Old Mo!”
As I spoke, Wu Jing and I quickened our pace.
Upon hearing my voice, Old Mo looked up and grunted:
“The master drank too much and is sleeping soundly.
So tonight, it’s just us two.”
As he spoke, Wu Jing and I arrived.
“No matter, let Uncle rest well. We can handle it ourselves.”
After saying that, I placed the bag on the table.
Wu Jing helped by my side, taking out the offerings from the bag one by one and arranging them on the table.
Old Mo then took a blank memorial tablet and asked me:
“Old Qin, what should we write on this tablet?”
“Just write ‘For the passing Yin messengers.’”
I replied directly.
Without a word, Old Mo took out a brush and a cinnabar pen and began writing on the tablet.
Wu Jing and I also quickly finished arranging the offerings.
Fruits, white wine, glutinous rice, eggs, roast duck, barbecue, fried chicken, hamburgers.
If you say they were abundant!
Given the haste, they were still a bit lacking.
But if you say they weren't enough! The table was full, so it was passable.
Seeing that the items were arranged, Wu Jing said nervously:
“Daoist Qin, what should I do next?”
I looked at the very nervous Wu Jing.
I gave a faint smile:
“From now on, there’s nothing for you to do. We are going to invite the Yin messengers.
Your Yang Fire is low, so you can see Yin beings.
Ordinary people will lose lifespan if they see them.
So it’s best for you to stay away.
This is the key to my shop. Go rest there for a while.
Oh, right, take the Bagua mirror I gave you.
With this, evil spirits won’t dare to approach you.”
Although Wu Jing was a bit apprehensive, he nodded:
“Okay, okay!”
After speaking, he took my key and clutched the Bagua mirror I had given him earlier.
Then he hurried towards my shop.
Watching Wu Jing leave, only Old Mo and I remained at the stone bridge.
Old Mo placed the inscribed tablet in the center of the table.
He then lit red candles and incense in front of the table.
Since neither of us had ever invited Yin messengers, nor had any experience in this regard.
After doing these things, we were at a loss.
“Old Qin, what do we do now? Do we just wait here?”
With the tablet and incense set up, it was clearly not enough.
Unless a Yin messenger happened to pass within a few hundred meters of us, they wouldn’t sense the offerings and incense here.
Therefore, we needed to expand the invitation range.
And this range required performing a ritual.
The problem was, how to perform this “ritual.”
As there was no precedent, I could only proceed by feeling my way.
After a moment of thought, I said:
“Like this, set up the soul-summoning banner.
Let’s use the ritual for summoning ghosts and see if we can invite Yin messengers.
I’ll perform the ritual, and you burn paper and incense.
Write many paper charms, all asking passing Yin messengers to come, and stamp them with the official seal of my shop No. 81.”
Saying this, I took out the small seal.
Old Mo had no other ideas; he did as I said.
In a flash, we both got to work.
First, we wrote paper charms.
Paper charms are very common small talismans, usually drawn by pathfinding masters.
They are used for summoning souls and attracting ghosts, not particularly extraordinary talismans.
However, with the official seal of my shop No. 81 added to them, the situation changed.
My shop No. 81 is a Yang Envoy shop.
It’s a small, external branch of the mortal realm.
If there were indeed passing Yin messengers nearby.
Upon receiving these paper charms, seeing the official seal and the words “Invite passing Yin messengers,” they would surely show some respect, right?
I thought to myself.
As for whether it would succeed, we could only find out by trying.
After all, there was no precedent, and neither my master nor my uncle had taught us this.
Soon, we drew dozens of paper charms, wrote the words “Invite passing Yin messengers,” and stamped them with the official seal of my shop on Yellow Springs Road No. 81.
After finishing these, I raised my peach wood sword and began performing the soul-summoning ritual in front of the offering table.
The soul-summoning ritual is simple: burn a charm, recite it a few times, and scatter some yellow beans and glutinous rice around.
“Passing Yin spirits, please take a look.
Rest your feet by the stream near the small bridge.
Have two taels of wine, eat an egg.
Eat your fill, then be on your way…”
I slightly altered the soul-summoning verse. Anyway, I was feeling my way here, and shouting something was better than shouting nothing.
Old Mo had already started a pile of paper to burn beside me.
Small paper charms were continuously thrown into the fire.
The flames roared with a “swish swish” sound…
The soul-summoning ritual and the small paper charms were soon completed and burned.
But there was still no movement around us.
Not even the soul-summoning banner stirred.
Seeing no movement, Old Mo frowned and said to me:
“Old Qin, I don’t think it’s working?”
I put down my peach wood sword and sighed:
“We’ve done all we can, let’s just wait a bit longer!”
After speaking, I walked over to Old Mo.
Old Mo sat down on the edge of the stone bridge and took out a cigarette to light.
As the saying goes: do your best and leave the rest to fate.
All we could do now was wait…