Chapter 34 The Dead Burn Paper Money for the Living
No wonder Nezha didn't sense any demonic aura when they arrived.
Some people die with resentment that transforms them into ghosts, but here they are just simple souls.
"Why would the Yin God go to such lengths to build two towns, one for Yin and one for Yang?" This was something the girl still couldn't understand.
"You mean it needs incense offerings?"
Ping Yu reacted immediately.
She had experienced both of the first two cultivation models the boy mentioned. Nezha cultivated based on the former, while the Heavenly Maiden cultivated based on the latter.
Ancestral halls are used for burning paper money by descendants, while temples are used for burning incense by believers.
“Yes, incense.” Nezha nodded: “Incense can communicate with gods and Buddhas, and can also reveal ghosts through smoke. The wishes of those who burn incense will be conveyed to the ears of the object being burned. There is the power of faith in people’s obsessions. The more wishes that can be fulfilled for believers, the stronger the power of gods, Buddhas, ghosts and monsters is.”
"No wonder it's a golden toad..."
Eating, drinking, having fun, birth, aging, illness, death, taxes, and corvée labor—what doesn't cost money?
When people bow three times before the gods, they are still asking for wealth, wealth, and more wealth.
The two pondered deeply, while Muzha stood guard outside the door.
At this moment, Nian Youyu spoke up: "But in the Golden Toad Temple, very few people burn incense and light candles. Most people just go there to make money, and leave once their bags are full of money. If no one lights incense, can the gods still cultivate themselves based on the incense offerings?"
and......
“Those above can simply pour money into the toad’s mouth,” he said. “Only those below need to burn money and incense.”
The bell tolled loudly when the year was said to be auspicious, startling Pingyu and Nezha.
Why do a person's three souls seek wealth above, while their seven spirits burn incense below?
"There are rules for life and rules for death." Upon hearing this, Muzha suddenly interjected, "After a person dies, their soul leaves the body and should be influenced by the Heavenly Way. They can cultivate the ghost path through the incense offerings of their descendants. Otherwise, why would descendants always burn paper money before festivals to pray for the blessings of their ancestors? It is under the jurisdiction of the Great Emperor of Fengdu. The underworld is different from the human world and the heavenly realm, and has its own system. Human gods are those who ascend to godhood after death, and human ghosts are those who become ghosts after death. Both consume incense offerings and compete with each other. Therefore, the deceased burn incense and paper money without any religious belief."
Nezha finished the girl's sentence: "Let's go back and check first."
Muzha carries two others, while Nezha helps Pingyu.
The five men, wearing bronze masks, blended back into the crowd and walked in openly.
The temple was crowded with people during the worship ceremony. Trying to sneak into the toad's mouth unnoticed was clearly a pipe dream. If they got even a little closer to the statue, they would be watched. The scene of being chased earlier was still vivid in Yan Erlang's mind. He said nervously, "What should we do? Maybe we should do what we did before and try to climb it at night."
“Then there’s no point.” Pingyu disagreed. “We wanted to enter the toad’s mouth while they were worshipping the gods to see what would happen. If we wait until night, wouldn’t we be wasting a good opportunity to find out the truth?”
For a moment, no one answered.
If it were just Muzha and Nezha, it would be easy; with their skills, climbing back from the toad's mouth would be a piece of cake. But now, there are three mortals with them. Since crawling requires the use of all four limbs, each person has to rely on themselves. And in this place, they can't freely use magical artifacts.
The ghosts here have no evil intentions or demonic aura. Killing innocent ghosts will bring divine punishment.
No one noticed that Nian Youyu bit his lip, as if hesitating about something. He turned around and looked into the crowd. People burned a bag of paper money and received two bags back. They dragged the two bags back to the end of the line and continued burning them. He knew that in the vast worship procession, as numerous as a school of fish in the ocean, a dead version of himself was doing the same thing.
Pingyu once said that a person has three souls and seven spirits.
In other words, he is neither Nian Youyu nor the child wearing the bronze mask.
Only when they come together is it a complete year of abundance.
A person who died young, and whose spirit tablet even exists.
There's nothing we can do.
Thump!
A loud bang, almost within reach.
The four of them looked over and saw Nian Youyu kick someone down and take the person's money bag for himself.
"What are you doing?!" Pingyu exclaimed in surprise.
Yan Erlang screamed, "I knew he was a dead man who would betray us!"
Two bags of paper money were tossed high into the air, tracing beautiful arcs before landing perfectly in the arms of Muzha and Nezha.
He robbed two incredibly wealthy ghosts; their paper money and gold bricks were overflowing.
The more money they burned, the more money the demon toad spat out, and the more they could experience the toad's abnormality.
Of the seven souls remaining here, Queyin is used to sense changes in the outside world. With their money stolen, everyone in the temple turned their attention to Nian Youyu.
"Don't talk nonsense!" Pingyu tried to pull her back, but Nezha grabbed her by the back of the neck in an instant: "Let's go now."
The wisps of smoke from burning paper money drifted into the mouth of the demon toad, like flying insects being caught in its long tongue.
The four men were enveloped in smoke and climbed inside.
"Why are you touching it like that?" Nezha pulled the object from her hand, leaned down, and shielded the girl in his arms. Ping Yu pointed to the surface of the "teeth" and said, "This is a spirit tablet."
Nezha lit the Samadhi Fire and used its light for illumination.
These "serrations" have a base on which the name and age of the deceased are engraved.
He hesitated for a moment, then stuffed the memorial tablet back into Pingyu's hand.
"All the dead who were moved from the town that year are here." The densely packed memorial tablets resembled weeds on the ground, countless and endless, and staring at them for too long made one's scalp tingle. With so many deceased, it's no wonder that the spirits of the underworld could use this to create yin water, mimicking the underworld.
"Look at this," Yan Erlang said, pointing in a direction.
With improved visibility, the direction of the smoke became clearer. It continued forward, and its end was not far away. Pingyu looked ahead, then back.
The entrance she came from was already quite far away. Thinking of Nian Youyu, she felt a pang of sadness: "Are we just going to leave him like this?"
"No." Nezha glanced at her, then flicked his wrist: "Let him come back."
In an instant, the Hun Tian Ling swept across her hair. The crimson silk moved so fast that it even made a whistling sound in the air.
At this moment, outside the toad.
Nian Youyu, who was constantly grabbing money and throwing it into the fire pit, was now surrounded.
His clothes were disheveled from being pulled and tugged by those around him. The worshippers drew closer, and he leaned against the scorching fire pit, gazing at the toad's mouth: "They're all gone now..."
Suddenly, a familiar crimson hue appeared in my field of vision.
Nian Youyu lowered his head as his waist tightened: "Eh?"
The bronze masks that formed a human wall before him receded like fleeting shadows, and an overwhelming force pulled him into the toad.
Close your eyes, then open them again.
Nezha gently stroked the Hun Tian Ling (a magical ribbon) that had brought them back, then put it back into his high-tied hair. Nian Youyu, along with the equally bewildered Ping Yu and Yan Erlang, looked at each other in confusion.
He asked, "You didn't manage to leave?"
After he finished speaking, a sharp pain shot through the back of his head. Mu Zha slapped him with a hand the size of a clay pot and said, "My brother brought you back."
Nezha gave an uneasy snort.
Overwhelmed with gratitude, Nian Youyu was about to climb up with the others when he noticed several pieces of cloth slipping from his arms. The boy then realized he had just been in a perilous situation, and his current disheveled state was probably indescribable.
Knowing he was joking around, the others said in unison, "Nobody's watching you!"
.
She didn't know how long she had been climbing when suddenly, something poked her palm. She gasped in pain, grabbed the object, and lifted it up to look at it.
"What's wrong?" Nezha asked.
The girl, holding her things, moved closer to the firelight.
The velvety edges reflected the light, giving it a slightly cold feel. Ping Yu squinted, and after making out what was in his hand, he asked uncertainly, "...Gold?"
Nezha and she got close and watched together.
The object that caused the pain to subside, with its four straight corners, was undoubtedly a gold brick.
Immediately afterward, Nian Youyu cried out, "What hit me!"
“These are cowrie shells,” Mu Zha said, his hands also holding something.
Coins, coins, gold nuggets, were poured from the hands of several people.
The crackling and popping sounds never ceased. Unlike the flat ground, this place was covered with gold, copper, and shells—countless riches spread out across the land. Grab a little, and new wealth would fill the gaps, an endless flow.
Pingyu looked up and saw that he was only a few steps away from the exit.
The white smoke dissipated abruptly upon reaching this point.
"Look."
The smoke in the air transformed into countless coins that fell downwards. The toad's mouth tilted upwards, and gold, silver, bronze, and shells gushed down the slope like a waterfall.
Nezha carried Pingyu and managed to get through with one hand.
They slid out along with the gold and silver, peering out from the exit.
Below, an open sack is receiving the money.
The slave, seeing the people emerge from the golden toad, trembled with fear: "Who are you?!"
These two children are exquisitely beautiful, unlike ordinary children.
Another man and a woman... Could it be the Golden Toad Boy?
Nezha ignored him and focused his attention on the burlap sack in the other's hand.
It was already quite full, the gold and bronze gleaming brightly, dazzling the eyes.
All of it was money transformed from smoke.
The little girl didn't answer. She swung her legs inside the toad's mouth and asked with a smile, "Uncle, the money the living burn for the dead is ghost money. Then, what do the dead burn for the living?"
The slave was stumped by the question, but he quickly realized what was happening. This was his master's money; if anything went wrong, he would surely be sacrificed as a human offering!
He shouted, "What dead or living? What nonsense! Could it be that you stole the Toad God's gold and are now acting guilty?"
The boy, holding the girl's hand, jumped out of the golden toad.
Muzha, with the remaining two, followed closely behind.
Ignoring the slaves' questions, they came to the front of the hall.
The Golden Toad Temple is magnificent and extremely extravagant.
Its statue is made of gold, and its toad eyes are made of pigeon blood red stone.
Such a magnificent presence is the renowned God of Wealth. No matter how much gold or silver believers ask for, he grants it all.
The living burn paper money for the deceased, which is then sent to the underworld to be converted into ghost money.
The seven spirits in the Ferry of the Broken Lamp burn paper money for the living, ascend to the human world, and transform into money for the living.
Nian Youyu looked at the coins lying on the ground and silently clenched his fingers.
No wonder the gold in his hand turned into paper gold bricks when he first fell into the twilight.
The gold was brought back to the town of the dead by the dead, and naturally revealed its true form.
Those around seemed drawn to the commotion. Pingyu, looking at the sacks in their hands, exclaimed, "The gold bricks poured in here could buy countless paper bricks. And those paper bricks are burning non-stop, turning into money that spews out here. Isn't that a lifetime of wealth? This is truly a case of making a fortune with a small investment!"
“But someone has to turn the money here into paper money,” Pingyu said. “If it weren’t for the collusion between humans and demons, it would be impossible to accomplish something like this.”
Based on the current situation, Ping Yu understood what it meant to "make the devil turn the millstone".
Yan Erlang strode over: "The gambling den is the biggest source of incense offerings in the entire Cihangwu."
They worship the gods daily and offer sacrifices every year, and they burn the most offerings.
Nian Youyu also agreed: "It's impossible for the fishing woman and the Taoist priest not to come when we worship the gods today."
"Oh, a casino..."
Both Pingyu and Nezha sighed meaningfully.
Even without Yan Erlang providing information, they already suspected the casino wasn't entirely innocent. After all, their fall into the Broken Lamp Ferry was due to the trap in the casino's secret room. Now was the perfect opportunity to settle old and new scores!
"Actually, you can't say that. What if we've wrongly accused an innocent person?"
The girl's eyebrows were drawn in a V-shape, her expression feigned. She twirled a strand of hair around her temple and said, "I have a way to make the person behind this walk right into my trap."
"you say."
Nezha understood Pingyu's unspoken message and placed his fingertip on the golden ring on his earlobe.
She raised her head towards the golden toad.
The girl's words were resounding and powerful:
Smash it!
Pingyu clenched his fist in mid-air and then slammed it down.
Instantly, a golden ring rose up behind her.
Nezha stood behind Ping Yu, expressionless, and swung the Qiankun Ring. The magical weapon grew larger and larger, until it was as tall as the entire three-legged toad statue, and then smashed it towards the statue.
The crowd erupted in uproar.
Just a hair's breadth from touching the toad statue, an angry shout erupted from the crowd: "Stop!"
The longsword clashed with the golden ring, and Nezha recognized it as the one belonging to the gambling den demon.
Having been stopped once, Nezha would never allow the opponent to stop him a second time. The golden ring exerted its force, and the longsword only slowed it down for half a moment before being smashed in half by the Qiankun Ring.
Seeing that the Taoist priest was no match for her, the old woman shouted, "Are you just going to stand by and watch this brat smash the statue? If we cut off his source of income, no one will benefit!"
Before the crowd could be swayed, another dissenting voice rang out: "You're talking nonsense!"
The old woman looked up and saw that it was a tall young man who was lifting the girl up.
Pingyu was lifted up by Muzha and looked down at the old woman fishing not far away: "Your gambling den only cares about making money for yourselves, and you haven't even told everyone the correct way to use this statue! My relatives and I just came out of the toad's mouth, and there's no need for a hundred coins inside. Even if you have empty hands, just shout twice to the toad god, and it will conjure up money!"
The old woman said, "You little brat, you're full of lies, aren't you afraid of losing your tongue? Don't believe her, everyone. There's no such thing as a free lunch."
Ping Yu said calmly, "Since that's the case, why don't you let everyone climb inside the toad and try it themselves?"
The old woman was speechless for a moment. Her master had indeed said that no one should approach the golden toad. She assumed that her master was afraid that people would disturb the gods, but seeing the child in front of her making such a solemn vow, the woman also began to have doubts.
Could there really be some hidden meaning behind this?
Ping Yu pressed on: "What? Feeling guilty? Don't dare to do it anymore?"
When arguing with someone, you can't lose in terms of volume.
The woman, provoked, also angrily retorted:
"Fine, then crawl. Anyone who incurs the wrath of the gods and loses their silver in the future shouldn't say I didn't warn them!"
Every one of those who come to worship is a shrewd old fox. When it comes to anything related to money, they're all incredibly attentive. The current court is also quite superstitious, and commoners would rather offend the powerful and wealthy than dare to offend the gods. She wants to see who dares to show such disrespect to the three-legged golden toad during this crucial worship ceremony!
The woman looked at Pingyu and, seeing that no one spoke for a long time, felt relieved.
She grinned smugly, about to speak to the girl, when she saw a fleeting smile cross the other girl's face.
Oh no!
Pingyu's argument with the old woman was merely a delaying tactic to buy time.
The crowd was so captivated by her words that they forgot to stop the boy from smashing the statue.
By the time they realized it, it was too late.
The Universe Ring, carrying the force to shatter a thousand armies, smashed into the toad's body.
Cracks appeared, the golden toad broke out of its shell, and a piece of it was smashed by Nezha.
As the gold leaf fell, what was exposed by the crack was a patch of skin covered in raised bumps.
etc……
Nezha was also surprised to see this.
He retracted the Qiankun Ring and put it on his wrist.
Their original plan was to smash the golden toad, thus exposing the entrance where Cihang Dock and Candeng Ferry intersect.
The Yin God Toad is underground; the human statues should only be a medium or channel.
The skin rose and fell, as if it were breathing.
Pingyu, being at a high vantage point, sees things most clearly.
She murmured, "Why do I feel like this golden toad statue... is alive too?"
Author's Note: Most of the foreshadowing has been resolved, and this arc is almost over.
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