Chapter 57 Guiding the Souls of the Dead into Reincarnation

Song Yin followed Old Lady Zhao to every household they were looking for, feeding each family a first-grade elixir that ordinary people could consume to strengthen their bodies.

After finishing her chores, Aunt Xiu had already prepared dinner.

Unable to refuse the kind invitation, Song Yin ended up having a simple meal at Grandma Zhao's house.

After finishing her meal, Song Yin bid farewell to Grandma Zhao and her family, and in their eyes, she flew towards the horizon.

Grandma Zhao looked at the horizon and felt that today's events were like a dream.

After dark, everyone went back inside.

Song Yin hadn't actually gone far. When Grandma Zhao and the others thought she had left, she returned to Xiaosong Village and stood in front of the former Song family house.

The house has been completely renovated and is unrecognizable from its former self. A new family has moved in, and the yard is spotless with everything neatly arranged—it's much better than the Song family's house was back then.

The family's child was still awake and, feeling thirsty, ran out to the kitchen to get some water.

The moonlight was bright enough to see the road clearly. The chirping of cicadas, crickets, and katydids filled the air, creating a continuous chorus. A gentle breeze brought the coolness of summer.

"Who are you?" The little girl saw someone standing at her door and called into the house, "Father, Mother, Grandma, there's someone outside the door."

Aunt Qian was the first to run out, picked up her granddaughter, and asked, "Where is she? Where is she? Could she be a kidnapper?"

"Grandma, where are the kidnappers?"

"Mother, where is the kidnapper?" Aunt Qian's son picked up the hoe placed at the door and looked around.

Aunt Qian asked her granddaughter in her arms, "Yes, where is she?"

The child pointed outside the door, "I just saw someone, but they suddenly disappeared when I called out."

Aunt Qian shuddered, goosebumps rising on her skin. "This whole family in this house was murdered before. I heard even the pregnant woman died. Could it be that we encountered something evil? Hurry inside." She looked at her granddaughter: "Don't go out at night anymore. Daya will sleep with me."

After Aunt Qian entered the house, she put her granddaughter on the bed and muttered to herself, "Every wrong has its perpetrator, and every debt its debtor. If you want to find someone, go find those bandits. Our family has never done anything wrong, and you shouldn't follow my granddaughter. If all else fails, come find this old woman. I'm old and nearing the end of my life, and my granddaughter is still so young. Please be kind and let her go..."

Song Yin appeared under the big locust tree at the village entrance and sat in the spot where the old ladies Zhao and the others had been sitting during the day.

The communication stone just contacted Shi Heming, who is on his way to the entrance of Xiaosong Village.

Not long after Song Yin sat under the tree, Shi Heming arrived.

The moonlight was bright and clear. Song Yin sat casually under a tree, surrounded by three or five fireflies. She teased the fireflies with spiritual energy at her fingertips, just as she had used spiritual energy to tease the fish in the stream during the Foundation Establishment Competition.

"Have you finished your business?" Song Yin noticed Shi Heming's arrival and stopped teasing him.

Shi Heming came to his senses and said, "Yes, I killed all the bandits and laid their bodies in front of the yamen, making their crimes known to the public."

Song Yin patted the seat next to her, gesturing for him to sit down: "How does it feel to have avenged your great grudge? Do you feel any lighter?"

Shi Heming strode over and sat down next to Song Yin. “It’s definitely much easier now. It feels like the mountain that’s been weighing me down has disappeared, and my cultivation has also loosened up. I can try to break through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage when I get back.”

Song Yin was taken aback: "So fast? I haven't even sensed any signs of a breakthrough yet, and you've already felt it?"

Who is the true Aotian, and who is the Pure Spirit Body? No, no, I can't let him outdo me. I'll double my cultivation from now on.

Shi Heming was completely unaware of Song Yin's inner thoughts and truthfully described his situation: "I just feel a loosening, but I haven't broken through yet."

Where did you come from?

"...to my parents."

Song Yin suddenly thought of something, "I mean, if, note that it's just if, there's no guarantee of the outcome." She frantically stacked her armor.

Shi Heming: "We can talk about anything directly, and I will never be angry with you."

Song Yin: "That's not necessarily true. Who can predict the future? But what I want to say is, do you remember the spells we learned in the outer sect academy when we were in the Qi Refining stage? One of the spells was to guide the souls of the dead. If a living being's resentment and obsessions don't dissipate after death, the soul will linger in the world. In this case, we need to help guide it back into the cycle of reincarnation."

Shi Heming's heart began to pound wildly, "You mean..."

Song Yin: "Go and see if there are any wandering souls. If there are, you can talk to them. If not, that's even better, it means they have no more attachments and have entered the cycle of reincarnation, starting a new life."

"good."

Song Yin noticed a barely perceptible tremor in Shi Heming's voice.

Shi Heming led the way, and the two flew one after the other toward the graves of Shi's parents.

Shi Heming immediately used his magic to guide the souls of the dead into reincarnation. First, he had to make the souls of the dead appear and summon them to his presence.

Song Yin saw that as Shi Heming used his magic, more and more ghosts appeared in the moonlight and began to drift toward the two of them.

Shi Heming's divine sense covered the surroundings. None of these souls had parents, and he couldn't tell whether he felt lost or happy.

Suddenly, he noticed two souls emerging from the grave and immediately stopped his spell.

"Mother? Father?"

Is the soul still there? Song Yin quickly went over to check the situation.

After Shi Heming's parents died, their souls stood together, seemingly shocked that they could uncontrollably emerge from the void.

A closer look reveals that the souls of these two individuals have been in a deep slumber for many years. It is unclear whether their resentment has not dissipated and they are unwilling to enter the cycle of reincarnation, or whether their obsession has not been extinguished and they are unwilling to enter the cycle of reincarnation.

"You, you are, He'er?" Shi Heming's mother was the first to recognize the grown-up Shi Heming.

Shi Heming: "Mother, I am He'er."

"You've grown so much!" Shi Heming's mother exclaimed excitedly, feeling gratified that her child had grown into an adult, yet also saddened that she couldn't be there to watch him grow up.

Looking at the numerous dead souls around him, Shi Heming's father asked, "Did you do all this?"

"Yes, my son listened to you and didn't run away back then. He ran to Qing Shi Village the next day, and finally, his spiritual root was tested, allowing him to enter the immortal sect..."

Shi Heming slowly recounted his experiences over the years in a slightly hoarse voice, and then told how he avenged his parents.

"The bodies of those bandits are still hanging on the city wall. Shall I take you there to see them?"

Shi Heming's mother looked her son up and down, her eyes unwilling to look away: "They only need to pay with their lives. Your father and I were most worried about you. We were afraid that those bandits would find you and kill you when you were so young. Now that we see you are still alive, we are at ease."

Seeing that they still had a lot to say, Song Yin cast a spell and led the other spirits to the side, leaving the three of them to have a heart-to-heart talk.

"Come with me, I will send you into the cycle of reincarnation."

The departed spirit heard an uncertain question.

"Can we be reincarnated?"

Song Yin: "Of course, the reason you haven't been reincarnated all these years is because of your resentment and obsession."

She guided them one by one, and before long all these souls disappeared into the cycle of reincarnation.

Song Yin said to Shi Heming, "You can chat slowly for now. I need to go to the ancestral graves in Xiaosong Village to check on the souls that haven't entered reincarnation."

The debt is settled with death. She did her good deed to the end, hoping that God would see her sincerity and allow her cultivation to loosen up a bit.

Shi Heming immediately replied, "Okay, contact me via the message stone if anything happens. I'll come find you as soon as I know."

"I haven't asked yet, who is that pretty girl?" Shi Heming's mother asked her son.

Shi Heming: "She is Song Yin, whom I just told you about. She is my best friend. It is thanks to her that I was able to see you all again today."

The couple patted their child, but their hands missed and passed through their son's body.

Seeing this, Shi Heming protected himself with spiritual energy and took his parents' hands.

Song Yin flew to the ancestral graves in Xiaosong Village and, like Shi Heming, used magic to summon the souls of the dead.

A bunch of dead souls are drifting this way.

Song Yin saw many familiar faces, most of whom were people who died that night twelve years ago.

"Who are you?" the old man, covered in blood, asked ghostly questions.

Song Yin: "Those of you who are to be reincarnated, line up one by one, I will send you into the cycle of reincarnation."

"Really? We can be reincarnated?"

Song Yin: "I can summon you here, and I can also let you reincarnate. Anyone who doesn't want to be reincarnated and is trapped until their soul is scattered can leave the group; I won't force them."

"No, no, no, I want to be reincarnated, I want to be reborn! You must be an immortal! Thank you, immortal!"

Song Yin first cast a spell on the old ghost.

The other spirits watched as the old ghost returned to normal, his blood-stained clothes and body became clean, and he was surrounded by a faint light. He slowly turned into starlight and disappeared, and in the end, the old ghost had a smile on his face.

"Me! Me! Me! It's my turn next, thank you, fairy!" The old woman following behind the old ghost quickly ran forward a few steps.

Song Yin repeats the previous operation.

For a moment, these dead souls all calmed down.

When it was the young woman's turn, she was holding a child's hand, but she said something different.

"Fairy, my whole family was killed by bandits, and my child can't even grow up! I'm not reconciled! Fairy, can I beg you to help us kill the bandits? I'm willing to be your ox or horse in my next life to repay your kindness!"

Song Yin saw the child ghost staring straight at her with its big eyes wide open.

The little ghost shook his mother's arm and pointed at Song Yin, saying, "Mom, she has a red dot between her eyebrows just like Yin Yin. It's so pretty."

Song Yin first said to the young woman, "All seventy-odd bandits from Pingfeng Mountain have been killed. Their bodies are now hanging on the city wall of the county. If you don't believe me, you can go and see for yourself."

After saying that, Song Yin squatted down to be at eye level with the child ghost, her fingertips imbued with spiritual energy, and pinched the child ghost's face. "Song Xiaotao, I've never seen you praise me before. When you played with me, you even pointed at my forehead and said it wasn't pretty."

The child ghost, or rather Song Xiaotao, covered her mouth in surprise.

Song Yin gave her a good rub on the head. "I'll take you there."

The young woman overheard the child and the fairy's conversation and suddenly understood. Then she realized the bandits were dead, and though she wanted to cry, she couldn't. "They deserved it, that's good. I believe you, I believe you..."

The young woman repeatedly said, "I believe you."

The mother and daughter turned into starlight at the same time. As they were about to disappear, Song Xiaotao said to Song Yin, "I lied to you before. I really like red, but I didn't have any, so I deliberately lied to you and said it didn't look good."

Song Yin pointed at her and laughed, "You little rascal, Song Xiaotao."

Song Xiaotao smiled innocently and slowly disappeared.

The little incident involving the mother and daughter caught the attention of the remaining spirits, who then realized that the fairy before them seemed to be someone they knew.

The last four figures in the group were a pregnant woman. They huddled together whispering, wanting to go forward but not daring to, afraid of mistaking one of the people.

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Author's Note: Song Yin: Heavens above, please let me break through my cultivation level for all I do, after all my hard work guiding the souls of the dead! Otherwise, I, Aotian, will lose face! [Please][Please][Please][Please]

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[Empty bowl]