I Only Want to Lie Flat But Am Forced to Cultivate Immortality

Ah, it's the mortuary business.

Upon hearing of the Funeral Shop on Underground Street, Mrs. Jin immediately understood.

This shop is well-known, and it's said that it not only offers credit for funerals but also takes care of the affairs for lonely and dependent elderly people. Many people in the surrounding areas have heard of it.

If it were another business that was so famous and thriving, it might have been coveted already, but the business on Underground Street is neither coveted nor possible to covet.

The business accumulates virtue, with no competitors, and doesn't affect the business of others. Besides the Funeral House, there are no other practitioners.

Knowing Xu Qing's identity, Mrs. Jin was somewhat puzzled, wondering why the shopkeeper would look for her.

When she saw Xu Qing looking at the coarse incense she made with great interest, Mrs. Jin suddenly understood, "Could it be that the shopkeeper wants to buy incense?"

Xu Qing was taken aback, and after a moment's thought, he said, "That's a possibility."

Although Mrs. Jin didn't have a husband, only a daughter already married off, she belonged to a military household. Her husband had achieved military merits in the past, and the family still had military records and documents.

Otherwise, the whole family might have been bullied long ago.

Xu Qing looked at the woman in front of him and liked her more and more. Her conditions and conduct perfectly matched with his Baosheng Temple.

Answering Xu Qing's questions, Mrs. Jin felt a strangely familiar sense, reminiscent of when the matchmaker came to propose a marriage for her long ago.

"What exactly do you want from me?"

Mrs. Jin, over thirty and approaching forty, truly didn't believe anyone would be interested in her.

Xu Qing smiled and, avoiding the question, said, "There is a temple on Ziyun Mountain, housing a statue of Lord Yuanjun. Sister Jin must have heard of it."

Upon hearing of Lady Baosheng, Mrs. Jin perked up, "Of course I know. Lady Baosheng is merciful. Just a few days ago, the Chen family's child was saved by her divine intervention."

Xu Qing sighed, "Although the temple is good, it lacks a devotee for daily maintenance. If left unchecked, not only might it be covered in spider webs, but Lady Baosheng might also not be aware of urgent pleas for help."

"But if there was a temple priest, someone could offer prayers and inform Lady Baosheng if someone sought help. Do you agree?"

Mrs. Jin frowned and said, "You make a good point, but there is no temple priest at Baosheng Temple. If necessary, I can frequently clean the courtyard, as we cannot let the temple fall into disrepair..."

Seeing the time was ripe, Xu Qing decisively stood up and said, "It's getting late. Here's some silver for the incense. If you have more in the future, you can bring it to my shop. I'll take as much as you have."

"Are you really just buying incense?"

"What else could I, a funeral shopkeeper, be buying if not incense?"

Xu Qing said with a hint of amusement, "No need to see me off, Sister Jin. I'm leaving now."

After leaving Mrs. Jin's house and reaching the village entrance, Xu Qing patted the horse's back, and in the next moment, a thick white snake slithered out from the saddlebag.

"Little Immortal, it's up to you now."

In Qiao Village, while Mrs. Jin was rolling incense, she kept thinking about Xu Qing's words. The thought of Baosheng Temple overgrown with weeds and covered in cobwebs made her uncomfortable.

After some thought, Mrs. Jin changed into clean clothes, took a basin and cloth, and set off towards Ziyun Mountain.

Upon reaching Baosheng Temple, Mrs. Jin first burned incense and offered prayers, muttering a few words before carefully wiping the statue with her cloth.

Outside the temple, a clear spring was present. Mrs. Jin made several trips to fetch fresh water, cleaning the altar, sacrificial table, the sacred drum, and even the inscription plaque, in addition to the statue.

She pulled out weeds and swept the temple courtyard, and by the time she finished, it was past noon.

After burning incense again and thanking Lady Baosheng, Mrs. Jin was about to leave when she suddenly heard an ethereal voice from inside the Incense Hall.

"Mrs. Jin, Lady Baosheng appreciates your sincerity and wishes to appoint you as the temple priest here, acting in her stead in the mortal realm. As long as you fulfill your duties, there will be incense offerings to support your household. Additionally, Lady Baosheng will teach you the skills of childbirth and midwifery in your dreams whenever she's free. Will you accept?"

Mrs. Jin was initially startled but soon overjoyed. She clasped her hands in devotion and said, "If this is truly Lady Baosheng's divine intervention, I willingly accept."

"I am White Little Immortal, a guardian before Lady Baosheng. From now on, we will both serve Her—Sister Jin as temple priest, and me as Protector."

Mrs. Jin looked up expectantly toward the direction of the voice.

She then saw a white snake slithering out from behind the statue.

The ethereal voice was coming from the mouth of the white snake before her.

...

Outside Linjiang County.

Sensing something, Xu Qing looked back in the direction of Ziyun Mountain, as if seeing the scene of Mrs. Jin and White Little Immortal praying for divine assistance and establishing a divine pact.

"The incense offerings of Baosheng Temple combined with those of Cat Immortal Hall should suffice for Xuan Yu to overcome this tribulation."

Xu Qing smiled, pulled the reins, and turned the horse around, heading back to Linjiang County.

With a long-standing concern finally resolved, Xu Qing felt great relief. Upon returning to town, he strolled along the streets.

In Linjiang, Tongyue Restaurant is known for the best fish, often attracting guests from the Prefecture City, who come just to savor its freshness.

Each time Xu Qing returned from errands, he never forgot to bring back some items, mostly food, but occasionally some trinkets meant to amuse a cat.

It's just unfortunate that while these cat-attracting items work for regular house cats, they seem to have little effect on Xuan Yu.

Every time Xu Qing would bring back bells or strings, he would even be met with disdain by Xuan Yu.

At Tongyue Restaurant, Xu Qing ordered braised octopus and sautéed fish fillets.

While the kitchen was preparing the fish, a fisherman coincidentally came in to deliver fish.

The fisherman, with his long limbs, looked like a shrimp.

Xu Qing glanced and saw that the fisherman was holding a fish basket full of golden carp!

Even the experienced shopkeeper of the restaurant was surprised and exclaimed, "So many golden carp! Did you fish out the entire nest from Baisha River?"

Normally, the shopkeeper would buy the fish at any cost, but today, he changed his usual behavior.

"Eagle's Beak, these fish won't be cooked today. My wife recently became pregnant; this is heaven's favor, so I need to accumulate more virtue. Look at the Gate God statue, it holds golden carp in its arms."

"The fish must be released. If cooked, I won't have peace of mind." The shopkeeper covered the basket and gestured for Eagle's Beak to return the fish to where they were caught.

Eagle's Beak was unwilling to heed the shopkeeper's words. After all the hard work to catch the fish, was he just supposed to release them because he was told to?

You might accumulate virtue, but he would be starving without money in his pocket and food on the table!

Seeing Eagle's Beak's iron-like countenance and potential for verbal outburst, the shopkeeper quickly took out some silver fragments from his pocket and handed them to the fisherman, saying, "Eagle's Beak, you're the best fisher in the Jin Sect; these few golden carp mean little to you. Even after release, you can easily catch them again later. Take this money as the fish were sold to me, and ensure they're released properly, not sold to butchers, so I can have peace of mind."

Receiving the silver, Eagle's Beak's stern face instantly brightened with a smile.

"Alright! Don't worry, shopkeeper, I'll definitely release them back into the water just as you want."

Witnessing the scene, Xu Qing found it quite amusing.

Once the fish was prepared and Xu Qing paid at the counter, he casually asked, "What deity does the shopkeeper believe in?"

Seeing Xu Qing glance towards the altar in the west corner, the shopkeeper chuckled and said, "It's the compassionate Lady Baosheng, whom we just invited yesterday. Check the ink; we commissioned a new painting from a Painter."