God's Gift

Minghua looked at Qinghe's painful expression, closed his eyes reluctantly, and said in a dull voice:

"Now he... killed Master's wife because of me..."

Minghua slowly lowered his head, feeling overwhelmed with guilt. The world is unpredictable and things always go wrong.

"I told him not to help Master's Wife harm people again, but Master's Wife wouldn't let him leave. They had a fight, and the demon accidentally killed Master's Wife."

But it is impossible to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong in this matter. In the end, it is greed that leads to self-destruction.

Qinghe didn't expect things to turn out like this. He stared at Minghua blankly, tears rolling down his eyes unconsciously. He held a breath in his heart and didn't utter a word for a long time.

The world seemed to have fallen silent in an instant. Qing He looked up at the roof, his confused eyes filled with pain, and he actually spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Master!" Minghua saw Qinghe vomiting blood, and ran to Qinghe anxiously, half-knelt beside Qinghe, took out a handkerchief and handed it to Qinghe.

Ali realized that the situation in the room was not suitable for her to stay any longer and quietly left the room.

Qing He looked at Ming Hua with dim eyes, shook his head and pushed away the handkerchief he handed to him, raised his hand and wiped his face which was mixed with blood and tears, then lowered his head and hugged Fu Jing tightly, closed Fu Jing's eyes which had been open, and said slowly to Ming Hua:

"Minghua, prepare for your master's wife's funeral."

Minghua looked at Fujing who finally closed his eyes, and then looked at Qinghe who seemed to have aged in an instant.

Before his junior brother passed away, Fu Jing and his master were still in love. At that time, his master still had long black hair, a clean and tidy Taoist robe, and a dignified demeanor.

Now, only twenty years have passed, but his hair is gray and his back is bent. The hardships he experienced on the journey to find his master's wife are engraved on his face, and the light in his eyes has dimmed a lot.

Times have changed and things and people are no longer the same.

After a long silence, Minghua withdrew his gaze, knelt in front of Fujing, kowtowed to her three times solemnly, and said to Qinghe:

"Yes, Master."

Qing He looked exhausted and unable to respond. He just closed his eyes and held Fu Jing in silence.

Minghua lifted his robe, stood up and looked behind him. There was no one where Ali had been standing just now.

The midday sun shone through the willow branches and slanted down from the wooden window. The mottled light fell into his eyes, flickering and unable to see clearly.

He sighed slowly, turned around and walked out the door. As soon as he walked out the door, he saw Ali, who was wearing a scarlet dress, leaning against the wall, seemingly waiting for him.

Minghua paused, but did not walk towards Ali immediately. Instead, he stood where he was and looked at Ali quietly with eyes as gentle as misty rain.

"Little Taoist, what's wrong with you?" Seeing Minghua so silent, Ali felt a little worried.

"It's okay." Minghua subconsciously wanted to raise his hand to press his forehead, but the blood on his sleeve appeared in front of him again. He paused, put his hand down, walked to Ali, and said slowly:

"I'm sorry for what happened just now."

"Are you apologizing for what your master said?" Ali raised his eyebrows and said nonchalantly, "What's the big deal? I am a demon. Humans and demons are different after all. I have seen many Taoists in the past hundred years, and they are all like this."

"My master was not like this before." Minghua shook his head and explained, "He taught me since I was a child that everything in this world has its own way. Humans have their own way, and demons also have their own way. We maintain peace in the world and only subdue the evil demons that bring disaster to the world."

"As for the demons who have never done evil, they should also be allowed to live."

Ah Li listened to Minghua's words, his unfocused gaze paused for a moment, and he sighed as if nothing had happened:

"But among these alien races, there is no distinction between good and evil. It's just the winner takes all, and the strong prey on the weak."

After saying that, she seemed not to want to continue discussing this topic, and changed the subject and said, "I am sorry for your Master's wife's matter."

"But since your master's wife is gone, the Yin-Yang Reversal Formation will no longer be activated. Shouldn't everyone from Mount Mao come to Gusu again?"

Minghua sighed and shook his head, saying, "As long as the Yin-Yang Reversal Formation exists, there will be no peace in this world. We must completely destroy it to prevent it from being used by those with ulterior motives."

Ali's expression froze, and she tightened her arms, but she quickly corrected her expression and said, "That's fine."

She stood up straight, walked downstairs, and said goodbye to Minghua:

"I have taken the souls killed by your master's wife back to the ghost realm."

Seeing that Ali was about to leave, Minghua immediately spoke up to stop him, "No."

Ah Li paused, turned to look at Ming Hua, raised a charming smile on his face, and asked casually: "Why, do you still need these souls?"

"Of course not." Minghua walked towards A-li and said to her, "Although the ghost realm is a place where hundreds of ghosts who are stranded in the human world live, they cannot enter the cycle of reincarnation."

"The grudges of these souls can be resolved. I can liberate them and send them back to reincarnation."

Ah Li's eyes gradually darkened, but the smile on his face did not fade. He asked, "Shouldn't you be busy with your master's wife's funeral now? Do you still have time to pray for their salvation?"

"I don't have time these days." Minghua naturally considered this issue and answered readily, "I can wait until the uncles arrive in Gusu City, and then I will do it together with them."

"That will be a few days later." Ali looked Minghua up and down and said, "You can't place these souls now, so you can just put them in the ghost realm and wait for your uncles to arrive before performing the ritual."

Minghua thought for a few seconds and nodded, "That's fine."

Seeing Minghua agreed, Ah Li breathed a sigh of relief without making a sound. He rolled his eyes and asked, "Since you can liberate these souls, can you liberate the ghosts in the ghost realm?"

After being asked this by A-li, Minghua thought seriously for a while and replied: "If we gather the strength of everyone in Maoshan, we can resolve the resentment of the hundreds of ghosts."

When Ah Li heard Minghua say this, he had a look of joy in his eyes, but the next second he heard Minghua say:

“It just takes a little longer.”

Ali was stunned and asked, "How long?"

"It takes a lot of energy to liberate souls, so this method cannot be used frequently. If everyone in Maoshan were to gather their strength, it would take about a hundred years."

After hearing the time of one hundred years, the joy in Ali's eyes disappeared completely, his brows were twisted into a knot, and he did not speak for a long time.

Minghua looked at Ali's headache and asked, "Why do you ask this?"

"Nothing." After hearing Minghua's words, Ah Li looked at Minghua, who seemed puzzled, and said, "It's just that the resentment of the ghosts in the ghost realm has not dissipated. I also want them to enter reincarnation as soon as possible."

"If that's what you think in your heart." Minghua was silent for a few seconds, his eyes fell on A-li's face, he pressed his knuckles and whispered: "I can stay in Gusu City and devote my whole life to helping them enter reincarnation."

"Stay?" Ali subconsciously looked at Minghua, but Minghua lowered his head and didn't look at her.

Looking at Minghua like this, Ali gradually realized something and his expression became a little stunned.

For some reason, Ali found Minghua, the little Taoist priest, very interesting and often pestered him.

Minghua often looked helpless when facing her, so she became even more aggressive, often teasing Minghua with jokes and asking him if he had any feelings for her.

Every time this happened, Minghua would blush and angrily drive Ali away, and Ali would get amused and leave happily.

But to her, those words were like passing geese and falling leaves, passing through her heart without leaving a trace, leaving nothing behind.

But now Ali was panicking, and his usual eloquent voice was no longer able to be used. He could only stare at Minghua blankly.

"I'll go back first..." Ali came back from his trance, but didn't dare to look at Minghua again. He left quickly as if escaping after leaving only one sentence.

Minghua looked at Ali who was fleeing in panic. His body was as straight as a willow tree by the river bank. He stood there neither arrogantly nor humbly, and his clear eyes stared at Ali's back.

After a long time, he slowly closed his eyes, his expression seemed to be repentant.

-

In the general's mansion, Ning Yue had nothing to do and ordered people to set up a stage. He was wearing the same costume as usual, with his face so heavily made up that his original appearance could not be seen. He was singing a song among a group of actors.

Ning Jin sat in the audience, with a maid beside her holding a large umbrella to block out the bright sunlight.

Her hands glowed white in the sunlight, and her eyes were quietly fixed on Ning Yue on the stage, listening to the surrounding silk and bamboo music.

The servant came to Ning Jin with a plate of food and placed the food on the table next to Ning Jin.

Ning Jin looked at the two pottery figures that the servant had put down, with a hint of confusion in his eyes, and asked, "What are these?"

"I saw the pottery man on the street yesterday." Ning Yue jumped down from the stage, walked casually to the armchair next to Ning Jin and sat down, saying:

"I thought the pottery was very good, so I asked the vendor to make it and send it to my house. I didn't expect that he was so quick."

After saying that, Ning Yue raised a casual smile on his face, reached out to grab the two pottery figures, handed them to Ning Jin, and asked with interest:

"Ajin, do you know who they are?"

Ning Jin's gaze fell on the two pottery figures. After seeing their appearance clearly, the faint smile on his lips froze and his eyes turned cold.

"It seems that Ajin has guessed it." Ning Yue looked at Ning Jin's expression and didn't need her to answer. He sighed to himself, "The vendor's craftsmanship is really good. It's very lifelike."

While the two were talking, Yu Youyou, who had just returned from outside the mansion, hurried past them. When Ning Yue saw her, his smile became even more intense. He raised the pottery figurine in his hand, called out Yu Youyou, and asked:

"Youyou is back. Look at this pottery figure. Does it look like you?"

Yu Youyou was rushing to the toilet to urinate, but was stopped by Ning Yue. She glanced at the potter in a hurry and said perfunctorily:

“Like, like, like!”

After saying that, she ran away with an anxious expression, but was stopped by Ning Yue again.

"Does this look like Fang Ling?"

Yu Youyou had no choice but to stop and turned to look at the pottery man again, saying with a bitter face:

"Like."

"Youyou has really good eyesight." Ning Yueyan smiled and looked at Yu Youyou who ran away without looking back, and exclaimed to himself.

After saying this, he looked at Ning Jin again and asked with a smile:

"Ajin, do you want this pottery figure?"

Ning Jin looked at Ning Yue, who was in a state of disarray, with a puzzled expression. Finally, he nodded and reached out to take the pottery figure, but was stopped by Ning Yue when he was about to touch it.

"Ajin, you can't be so greedy and want both." Ning Yue looked at Ning Jin with a smile and said, "Ajin can only keep one."

After saying this, he handed the two pottery figures to Ning Jin again and asked:

"Who does Ajin want to choose?"