He took out the stick that he didn't know what it was for, and the dead soul immediately knelt down again. It seemed that it was really afraid of this thing in his hand, but the dead soul couldn't communicate except for making some noise, so he couldn't ask anything out of it. Zhang Wenbin decided to send him off anyway, muttered an incantation, and returned to the real world, leaving the white shadow still kneeling on the spot.

  He took out a bell to ward off evil spirits and some incense paper, and simply performed a Buddhist ritual. For him, it was just a matter of minutes, but for the thousand-year-old wandering soul, Zha Wenbin adopted a more traditional approach, allowing it to wash away the worldly dust.

  First, a stick of incense is offered and inserted into the ground. A report is made to the heavens, earth, four bureaus, and the Supreme Emperor, and a petition is submitted to the True Official. The document is then presented to the Eastern Sacred Emperor Palace, the Eastern Extreme Mysterious Severity Palace, the Northern Yin Fengdu Palace, the Ten Kings of the Earth Palace, as well as the four seasons and months' time windows. Notification is given to these great ones: Today, I am performing a ritual, please take care of me.

  After muttering to himself, he took out the rootless water and flicked a drop in the direction of the white shadow. He shook the exorcising bell with his right hand, and indeed the shadow followed him over, kneeling down in front of Cha Wenbin, becoming even more tenuous.

  He then took out a small handful of tea leaves and millet from the Qiankun bag, sprinkling them finely around the deceased's surroundings. This is called "Jiexi". It means you can leave with peace of mind, I have freed you from worldly ties and washed away the dust of this world.

  For such a poor soul, why is he still so afraid of this stick after death? Cha Wenbin sighed again, holding the exorcism bell and circling around the shadow three times, then reciting: "Grant amnesty to the deceased, absolve their past sins." This is called redemption, allowing the person to be free from their past mistakes and misdeeds after death, eliminating the accumulated guilt and punishment of their lifetime, and not bringing old debts into reincarnation. Specifically, there are three disasters, four calamities, five emptinesses, six consumptions, seven injuries, eight difficulties, nine evils, and ten entanglements, among others.

  After doing all this, Zha Wenbin took out a small bowl again, poured some clear water into it, placed it in front of the dead soul, lit another incense stick, and put half a corn cake in front of it. He then took out seven copper coins from his pocket and dropped them into the bowl with a "ding-dong" sound, splashing some water droplets. Zha Wenbin recited: "Golden money falls into the water to resolve grievances and calamities, all obstacles can be thrown away!"

  With a loud "hum", the talisman paper in his hand had already caught fire. Before it fell to the ground, the Seven Star Sword swooped up and brought the still-burning talisman paper back down to the top of the deceased's head, where it was completely incinerated. With another "whooshing" sound, he stood the treasure sword upright in front of him, then knelt down devoutly, clasped his hands together, and said: "I respectfully invite the Three Pure Ones, the ancestors of the Dao, to welcome the High Truth from above, to receive the invitation of Yanluo from below, and to request the Five Old Emperors of the Five Directions to protect this deceased soul and allow it to be reborn soon!" The Three Pure Ones, Yanluo, and the others all understood that the Five Old Emperors referred to the Eastern Green Emperor Qingling Shilao Jiutian Jun, the Western White Emperor Haoling Huanglao Qitian Jun, the Southern Red Emperor Danling Zhenlao Santian Jun, the Northern Black Emperor Wuling Xuanglao Wutian Jun, and the Central Yellow Emperor Xuanyu Huanglao Yitian Jun!

  After finishing speaking, he heavily knocked his head on the ground again, got up once more, patted the mud off his body to show respect, and said towards the deceased soul: "Go!"

  The shadow of the dead soul began to thin out, until it disappeared. This section of the ritual was considered complete by Zha Wenbin. As for its entry into the earth, what would happen later would depend on one's own karma. Zha Wenbin picked up the half piece of corn bread from the ground, blew off the dust on top, and put it back in his bag, wondering if this would make San Zu Chan despise him.

  In the past, he would never have competed with ghosts and gods for this tribute, but now that only half a cake is left, he can't afford to care about that anymore, and doesn't even know how long he'll have to rely on it.

  In Taoist deliverance rituals, why are offerings laid out and respects paid to spirits?

  In fact, this is also divided into two parts. One part is for the ghosts to eat, because there are many hungry people on the ghost road, and it lacks food, so we practice charity and offer food, which is equivalent to inviting them to dinner. After eating their fill, you can go on your way, at least you won't become a starving ghost, and you won't have to worry about not being able to reincarnate into a good womb in the next life. The other part is to show respect to those yin messengers who lead them away. You have to let others eat well, this can also be considered a kind of bribery, having money can make ghosts push mills, that's the principle.

  There is another one, which is burning paper money. This is also a form of treating guests, and burning paper is a way of giving alms. Reciting mantras for them is called dharma almsgiving. A true deliverance ritual usually involves three types of almsgiving: wealth, dharma, and fearlessness.

  The effectiveness of the offering can be accepted by the deceased and the yin messenger, which depends entirely on the Taoist priest who presides over the ritual. If this Taoist priest has the ability, everything in his hands is true, and the effect will be great; if he has no ability, he will follow the rules and recite incantations, draw talismans, and the effect will be slightly smaller.

  For example, the offerings on the table were just three steamed buns, how could they be enough for these gods and ghosts to eat? Especially when there was only half a corn cake left with Cha Wenbin, what's the point of talking about treating guests? However, he still had a way out, which was to change. How to change? Change in his heart!

  This is the skill of Taoist priests. You must understand this principle, that invisible things can change with one's thoughts, and if your heart is sincere, the power of the law is great, half a piece of cornbread can be transformed into ten pieces placed in front of you. The realm is indeed changing with one's thoughts, and if the Taoist priest can achieve a state where his heart moves with his thoughts, he can indeed provide enough offerings to these intangible spirits.

  Every Taoist is different, the magnitude of his heart's power determines the amount of offerings. We ourselves are ordinary people, but it doesn't mean we can't do it, if we do it sincerely and wholeheartedly, it will definitely be effective. Sincerity means that when reciting incantations, one must recite them with a sincere heart, without any distracting thoughts, then the incantation will take effect.

  It's like a Taoist drawing talismans, he draws this one stroke and doesn't have any distracting thoughts, the talisman is effective. If there's even a bit of delusional thinking mixed in, the talisman won't work. So many people can draw talismans, but they're just copying superficially, your drawings aren't effective, Zhang Wenbin's one stroke takes effect immediately, that's skill.

  After finishing this small ritual, Cha Wenbin patted the three-legged toad's head and said: "Buddy, you've led me to a great place. Shall we continue on our journey?" However, Cha Wenbin had gained quite a bit from this trip. Just the six Soul-Extinguishing Nails he obtained were top-notch ghost-fighting tools. If anyone dared to cause trouble, one nail would be enough to make their soul scatter. But such a vicious thing, Cha Wenbin still planned to bring back for He Lao to study.

  As he walked further forward, a large gate appeared, a bronze-cast gate! On it were inscribed several lines of text in ghost script, which looked like a pair of talismans had been stuck onto the passageway. However, even Daoshi couldn't decipher the contents, as if the ghost script had already been lost to the ages. The appearance of such things here was probably not a good omen. He glanced at the three-legged toad beside him, which seemed completely unbothered, still wearing its usual expressionless face. Since it hadn't cried out, there probably wasn't anything major going on, thought Cha Wenbin.

  He tried to push the door with his hands, but it didn't budge. The wall was made of stone and could be handled manually, but what about a thousand-jin heavy bronze gate? How can you open it if there's no way to push it?

  Cha Wenbin looked at the thing in front of him, and always felt that something was not quite right. This kind of door is often found where? Ah, a tomb passage! In ancient times, when building tombs, people would often create a tomb passage to prevent grave robbers from entering. They would reinforce the top of the tomb chamber with various methods, making it impossible for anyone to get in, and then place a large gate at the entrance where the coffin was placed, which could only be closed from the inside. People outside would never be able to open it, and those left inside would become buried with the dead. This door would forever separate the outside world from the main tomb chamber.

  Zha Wenbin thought to himself: Could it be that he had entered a large tomb? It seemed that this thing really couldn't be done with brute force. Zha Wenbin looked at the toad and said, "Pal, you also saw that this time we've reached a dead end. Even if you go up, you won't be able to push it. Let's just head back." After finishing speaking, he prepared to turn around and leave, but the toad suddenly flicked out its large tongue and wrapped it around his back. He only felt something being pulled out, and when he used his hand to feel, the staff was gone! Turning his head to look, it was being held in the mouth of the three-legged toad.

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