At first he didn't notice the changes in his facial expressions, but when he saw that our expressions were not right, he asked, "What's going on?" As soon as he spoke, he could tell that there was something wrong with his voice. The old man touched his mouth and immediately said in panic, "What's wrong? What's wrong with me?" The voice was completely unclear, and one could only roughly understand what he meant.

Luo Tianbao grabbed his hand and said, "You've had a stroke, go to the hospital for treatment immediately." After that, he made a series of gestures to You Qing, who quickly took her father away.

Chu Sen watched the two figures disappear into the woods before asking, "Second brother, I'm afraid he didn't have a sudden stroke, right?"

Luo Tianbao nodded and said, "Definitely not. He is just a little ghost lighting a lamp. He has angered the ghost . If we don't bury Luo Jingfeng as soon as possible, he will suffer."

"Serves you right. Such a scumbag father still wants to make money. He's simply a beast." Chu Sen said angrily.

About half an hour later, You Qing came back. I asked, "Where's your dad? Has he been taken to the hospital?"

"Yeah, the doctor said it was a stroke, but I know that's definitely not it, right?"

Luo Tianbao said, "Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go to our destination after your father is settled."

"Just send him to the hospital and it will be over. My dad has really gone too far. He must suffer a little." You Qing said angrily.

The farce was over quickly, but what needed to be done still had to be done, and the cost of this ritual was as high as 120,000 yuan. Although You Qing felt painful, she had no choice but to agree.

This time , relatives from my hometown drove here, because a lot of things are needed to perform a hell- breaking ritual. In summary, there are four major categories, namely, offerings, ritual instruments, talismans, and paper-made items.

I believe everyone knows the first three, so I will not elaborate on them. Here I will just talk about paper-making.

Generally, paper-made items are used in both weddings and funerals. The most common one is the horse. The horses used in both weddings and funerals have their own characteristics. In addition to the different colors, the horses used in funerals have no tails, while the horses used in weddings have tails. The role of paper-made items in weddings is to add joy and pray for good luck, while in funerals they are used for ferrying, sending off, watching, and guarding.

Simply put, a funeral requires the use of gods, ghosts, and beasts from myths and legends to send the deceased on his final journey and protect the deceased's soul from being bullied by little ghosts or mistreated by the King of Hell in the underworld . These gods, ghosts, and beasts are all made of paper. In addition, in recent years, there has been a trend to bury paper-made items with the deceased, including boys and girls, villas, luxury cars, and even "beautiful girls and handsome guys".

The paper-made items used for Hell Breaking are relatively complicated, as they require the Ten Kings of Hell and a City of the Dead.

Luo Tianbao said, "The Ten Kings of Hell are made entirely of paper according to their appearance in mythology and legends. The City of the Wrongly Dead is also a large-scale paper-made artifact. There are many craftsmen who can make paper-made artifacts, but only my grandfather can fully make the Ten Kings of Hell and the City of the Wrongly Dead ."

Luo Tianbao's grandfather is named Luo Shiba, who is the most famous paper-making craftsman in our family. It is said that the paper figures he made were so lifelike that they were possessed by ghosts and spoke without any magical power to summon them. Although funerals are rituals for the dead , their essence is to seek good luck and avoid disaster. Although the fact that paper-made products can attract ghosts shows his magical power, it is also an unlucky thing.

So after Luo Shiba, he never made any paper-made items related to people again, and I have never seen the old man make anything. There are indeed a lot of paper-made items piled up in the warehouse in his hometown, but they were all made by Luo Tianbao's father and a group of brothers.

"What role do the Ten Kings of Hell and the City of the Dead play in this ritual?" Chu Sen asked.

" The infant spirit died in the womb and was later abandoned in the wilderness by the father. This is a person who died unjustly. The soul of a person who died unjustly is naturally in the City of the Unjustly Dead in the underworld . So, from the perspective of ritual, the paper-made City of the Unjustly Dead is to receive and bring back the child's soul. The Ten Kings of Hell are the supreme rulers of the souls in the underworld. Naturally, we need their consent to receive the soul and attach it to a Dharma body. So the former is for receiving and bringing back, and the latter is for praying."

"I understand. I have learned a trick. In the future, I can pretend to be a master and perform rituals for people." Chu Sen said with a smile.

"Your family 's business is enough for you to live comfortably, and you are planning to get involved in other industries?" I said with a smile.

"Hey, my old man's business is really boring. I just sleep every day when I get to the company. I don't want to do it anymore. Old Yu, why don't we set up a ritual team? We can start with the most basic work, and then work our way up step by step. In the end, we can do great merits for others like the elders in your family, how about that?"

"This thing looks magical, but it's too difficult to do. It might even be dangerous if you don't do it right. I advise you to be more cautious."

Luo Tianbao listened with a smile while we talked, but did not express any opinion.

Chu Sen asked him, "Second brother, do you think I can do this job?"

"This line of work isn't that complicated. As long as you find your niche, you'll definitely be able to do it. But ultimately, it's not easy to do well, and you might run into trouble."

"Nothing is difficult in the world if one sets his mind to it. As long as it is something I am willing to do, I am willing to pay any price. It is really difficult for people to do a career that they like." Chu Sen answered very seriously.

"It's okay, you can come and watch the fun with us. If you really want to do it, I advise you to forget it and don't ask for trouble."

As we were chatting, we didn't feel the journey was far, and we soon arrived at our destination, which is a small mountain village nestled in the mountains and beside the water in Jiangsu. It is called Wanghu Village. Because the village was built around Taiwei Lake, the scenery of the whole village is as beautiful as an ink painting. To be able to live in such a place is really a blessing from heaven. It can be seen that You Qing's father was really unlucky. He lived here when he was poor, and when everything changed drastically, he didn't even have a house in the local area.

The You family is a prominent family in the local area, with more than a dozen relatives and friends. The land and ancestral home of You Qing's father were occupied by his brothers. Now his brothers are living a prosperous life in the countryside , while You Qing's father, as a resident of Shanghai, can only work as a security guard in a bank.

We contacted the patriarch of the You family, an old man in his eighties. When he learned that we were performing a ceremony for the deceased You Qing and her son, the old patriarch was very cooperative. Because they believed in these things, they also held ancestor worship ceremonies every year. It’s just that You Qing’s father never came back after he fell out with his brothers.

He personally took us to the You family's ancestral tomb area.

Wanghu Village is separated from the cemetery by a mountain. Standing on the top of the mountain, you can see the area below the mountain is well-arranged, more clearly divided than the fields. The cemetery is covered with green grass and shaded by various pine and cypress trees. A circular waterway flows slowly through the area on one side of the cemetery, echoing with the green mountains on the back. Although it is already afternoon, the cemetery is still filled with smoke, and living people standing in it even feel relaxed and happy.

I heard my third uncle mutter in a low voice, "The terrain is the original vein, the mountain is the original bone, winding east and west, or north and south. A thousand feet is momentum, a hundred feet is shape. When momentum comes, shape stops. This is called a complete and harmonious place, a place with full energy. If you are buried there, you will have wealth and honor for three generations. Good land, good land."

The old patriarch stroked his white beard with a rather pleased look and smiled, "You all really know a thing or two. To be honest, this cemetery was once pointed out to us by a capable man in the village, Xun Huawai. I was just over twenty years old at the time and was assigned to build a tomb here. I heard him call this place the Land of Riding the Wind, and that after a person buries their body here, their soul can ride the wind to the sky. This is the foundation for our prosperity for generations to come."

At this point he chuckled and said, "To be honest, I didn't believe it at all when I heard it, and even secretly cursed that expert as a money-swindling sorcerer. I never imagined that after the remains of our ancestors were moved here, the fortunes of everyone in the village changed dramatically. Soon, every household had enough food and drink, and now they can even build houses and buy cars. Even though we're from the countryside, we're probably better off than you city folk."

"Old man, the feng shui of your land is really good. It is the best choice for building a cemetery. This is your good fortune." Uncle San said with a smile.

"Yes, the green mountains, green waters and red days are also thanks to that master."

You Qing asked, "Grandpa, where is my mother's grave?"

"Your mother died in childbirth, and her body couldn't be buried in the ancestral tomb, so your father only built a cenotaph for her. But for some unknown reason, a thousand years later, the mound of your mother's grave suddenly collapsed inward, and the mound is gone, leaving only the tombstone."