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  "Summoning the soul" is also called "doing holy summoning", and it's also known as "inviting the soul". This thing exists in northwest Zhejiang too, it's a sacrificial activity held before the funeral, aiming to prevent the deceased person's soul from wandering around outside and becoming a "wandering soul". In ancient times, every household generally had a plaque, there was a piece of furniture called "case head", placed in the main room against the wall at the innermost position, stuck to the wall. Earlier it was often in the shape of an eight immortals table, now it has gradually simplified into a cabinet combination.

  What is this thing used for? It's actually used to worship the spirit tablet or the gods on the wall, and in some areas, it needs to be done during festivals. Generally, there will be an incense burner on the table, with two sides of fruit and dry goods on the left, and six different kinds are placed if it is particular.

  Later, due to a certain condition, most of the newly built houses no longer had such exquisite case tables. Secondly, customs were gradually diluted, and few people placed their ancestors' plaques in their own hall rooms. This is because the function of the hall room has been simplified from its original multiple functions to its current use as a living room. As a result, the ritual of guiding the soul before burial, which was once common in western Zhejiang, has become increasingly rare over the years. It's almost unheard of among people of Cha Wenbin's generation, and only those who are slightly older may have some recollection of it.

  The thirty-six bamboo doors in the courtyard had all been cut down, leaving only one lonely bamboo standing there. The Kong family's gate was now open, and the house was dark inside, with several red candles flickering, making people feel uneasy from a distance. This invited meticulous attention to extinguishing lights, and before taking action, repeatedly requested that guests in the courtyard refrain from making noise, lest they disturb the spirits of their ancestors.

  From the big gate to the courtyard door, about 20 meters of road, all the way is sprinkled with a layer of quicklime, just like a red carpet. On the courtyard door, there is also a white lantern, which is called a ghost lantern, used to guide the souls outside. The names and birthdays of the ancestors are posted on the door, meaning to tell those lonely ghosts that this place has an owner, don't wander around randomly.

  Inside the main house, there was a square table with a whole half-cooked pig's head on it, half-cooked home-made fish and meat, as well as rice cakes and other offerings. The rice cakes were particularly large, about the size of a person's face, stacked high one on top of another. The zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings) were also quite big, definitely not something you'd find in a regular market; one zongzi could feed a whole family for two days. After these things were done, they would be taken out and distributed to the guests who came to attend the ceremony, known as "return gifts". In the past, people said that taking them back home to give to children to eat could cure illnesses and ward off disasters, and was also considered auspicious.

  In front of the table was an oil lamp, but it wasn't placed under the table. Instead, two stools were stacked on top of each other to hold it up. This was quite different from what Zhang Wenbin used. On either side of the stools were two candles, and in front was a brazier for burning paper money.

  On the innermost octagonal table, there were also many offerings, mainly dried fruits and nuts. The ancestral tablets of Kong's two elders were placed there, with a pair of couplets on either side, written by the village's old teacher himself.

  On both sides of the hall sat a row of elderly men, all familiar faces in the village, holding basins, cymbals, and suonas, beating them to the rhythm of the hundred-year-old mouth's singing-like tone, not to mention that they sang quite well, even Fatty and the melon seeds here could keep up with the beat, occasionally nodding their heads and humming along.

  "What's with this singing, Old Zhang?"

  Zha Wenbin smiled wryly and said, "I don't understand it either, it should be Minnan dialect."

  He didn't say wrong, this Ba Qian Li sang is indeed Minnan language, telling the story of Lushan Jiulang Jun. The content is roughly that Jiulang Jun invited his ancestors back, and there are good food and drink here, with a group of filial sons and grandsons setting up a scene for you. That Ba Qian Li inside was jumping around, turning left and right around the Eight Immortals table, estimated to have been tossing about for half an hour, finally suddenly throwing a broken gourd ladle in his hand into the fire basin, then a burst of flames rose into the air, he just flicked his sleeve, and the two candles went out.

  There were a lot of people in the courtyard, and after a moment of darkness, it suddenly boiled over. Half of these old men came to watch the excitement, not caring about the rules or not, and that person had a lot of matches in his pocket. Coincidentally, at this time, the wind started blowing, and it was quite strong. The match would be extinguished as soon as you rubbed it, and after several attempts, those who were brave became calm, while those who were timid couldn't even speak, their sweat hairs standing on end.

  The entire scene suddenly fell silent, except for the fat man who was heartless and ruthless. Cha Wenbin noticed that the white lantern at the door also swayed twice, and inside the lantern was a candle flame that was not small, but instead grew bigger and bigger.

  Flickering, the flame "swoosh" pulled upwards, in just a few moments, the lantern was ignited, amidst the crowd's gasps of surprise, it instantly turned into a ball of flames.

  With a loud "boom", the lantern was instantly reduced to ashes, and the ball of fire fell to the ground, rolling a few times before also going out.

  At this moment, the atmosphere on the scene had reached its peak. Everyone was trying to control their breathing, and it was true that no one dared to breathe loudly. Experienced people had already buried their faces between their legs, and it was said that doing so would avoid trouble. As for Cha Wenbin, he had already opened his compass at this moment, and the needle on the compass was shaking violently, indicating that something was indeed coming...

  Ye Qiu pressed Bao Zi's face onto the table, and Bao Zi felt that Ye Qiu's strength was really great. With just one press, his two fingers couldn't move on their own, and the melon seeds in his mouth were stuck, causing his mouth to hurt so much he wanted to cry out but couldn't.

  The whole courtyard was filled with people, and it's estimated that only these two brothers dared to stand up. You really felt like the atmosphere around you had dropped to freezing point in an instant. With so many people, if you were to say that the yang energy was strong enough, there was still a kind of invisible pressure rushing towards you from all sides. Many times, things are just like this, just like when you see a Buddha statue in a temple, you can't help but put away your usual carefree attitude, even if you don't kneel down, you definitely wouldn't dare to be presumptuous.

  Cha Wenbin kept staring at the compass in his hand, the needle had already started to slow down, and now the direction should be pointing at that door. His eyes were stronger than ordinary people's in the dark, and he could see some things that ordinary people couldn't see. In a daze, he really saw a black thing entering from the gate of the courtyard, Cha Wenbin's immediate reaction was: this absolutely cannot be the soul of Kong's two old men!

  His judgment was based on evidence: Firstly, the two old men of the Kong family were ordinary farmers. Now there are dozens of people in the yard, mostly young and strong. The atmosphere is very strong when so many people gather together. Just the yang energy from these people's bodies can suppress ordinary yin spirits. Where would they dare to come over for a visit? Secondly, most yin spirits are green or white. Those who do this kind of work all know that if they encounter red yin objects, they must be careful, as they are not easy to deal with. Black ones are even rarer. In his impression, only those said to be from the underworld, the yin soldiers and little ghosts, were of this appearance.

  So, his reaction was that this thing is probably not an ordinary object, and the so-called "invitation method" might go wrong tonight. But that hundred thousand li looking at it seems to be a person with some skills, also didn't have the motivation to harm the Kong family, did he not know what kind of evil thing he had provoked?

  That black shadow slowly walked along the middle of the stone path, and except for him and Ye Qiu, probably no one else could see it. Just as Zha Wenbin was still standing, Ye Qiu gently pulled his clothes, and Zha Wenbin looked up to see Ye Qiu already sitting down with his head bowed, making eye contact with him.

  This guy has always been a tough cookie in Zhang Wenbin's eyes, how did he suddenly become so soft today? At this point, he had no way of opening his mouth to ask, and could only follow along, thinking that he would wait for a while before going to ask the black-headed monk to probe for information.

  A "master" invited by Kong Lao Da, Cha Wenbin opened his eyes today and knew what it means to have mountains outside of mountains and people outside of people. There are indeed many masters in this world. Something that can make Ye Qiu bow his head, Cha Wenbin suddenly lost confidence.

  The main hall was also unusually quiet at this moment, the descendants of the Kong family lined up in rows, kneeling according to their generation, with their heads pressed against the ground in reverence. Ba Qianli was also kneeling at this moment, his hands raised to the sky and muttering words as if welcoming a sacred moment.

  Suddenly, his voice increased several times in an instant, and after a string of "Woo Woo La La" incantations, he was seen rushing into the yard like a madman.

  In the courtyard, there was a root of bamboo, Bao Qianli and the monkey-like creature climbed up in three steps and two bounds. Many people had already dared to look up at this moment. In the dark night, Bao Qianli held a small knife with a one-inch blade in his mouth, using his hands and feet together, he reached the top in no time and opened the cage with one swift motion.

  The rooster in the cage was pinched by him, and it suddenly flapped its wings. Ba Qianli held the chicken upside down with its legs clamped on a bamboo stick, performing a "monkey scooping the moon" move. This skill is not fake. Cha Wenbin wondered what he wanted to do. Suddenly, Ba Qianli pinched the rooster's crest, and the chicken felt pain, immediately letting out a loud "Cock-a-doodle-doo".

  Just then, Cha Wenbin saw the black shadow in the house rush out like a flying arrow, but Bai Qianli suddenly pulled hard on the red threads tied to the bamboo, and instantly all the threads buried in the lime powder were lifted up, and a red net-like grid appeared in the middle of the yard.

  This series of actions was all done in one go, and when Cha Wenbin saw that the black shadow was firmly trapped in the grid, even Ye Qiu was also very surprised. What did this outsider want to do? The grid had copper coins hanging upside down, connected together, with a similar ingenuity to the Tianluo Net of the Maoshan Sect. As Baichengli slowly picked up the small knife, Cha Wenbin's heart suddenly began to feel a chill, and he seemed to understand something. He had never thought that the Lushan Sect's way of doing things would be so bold...

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