Exclamations came one after another, and the barking of dogs reached its peak in an instant. The whole village was like a kennel, and all the dogs were barking like crazy.

Chu Sen and I looked at each other, and Luo Tianbao's expression was obviously a little panicked. He stared at his uncle without moving his eyes.

I saw my third uncle stand up and walk to the statue of the infant spirit . Only then did I realize that the three incense sticks I had just lit had all burned out.

You have to know that this is not thin incense, but tribute incense, each of which is as thick as a thumb and nearly half a meter long. Such long incense burned into ashes within ten minutes. It would be really strange if it was not a ghost.

More and more tears and blood flowed from the eyes of the infant statue, and later they became two thin streams. The dark red blood dyed the brocade cloth on the altar red, and soon soaked the mud ground as it flowed. Now even people who were far away could see it clearly.

It was definitely abnormal for a lifeless statue to have tears and blood flowing from its eyes. Then I heard my aunt yell, "Third brother, the strange creature seeing blood is a sign of disaster. Hurry up and use the Gangtian Seal to smash the Dharma body."

Uncle San turned a deaf ear to her. He stood motionless in front of the statue, thinking intently, as if he was trying to figure something out. Auntie became even more anxious and screamed at the top of her voice again.

Uncle San turned around and said to her, "Calm your mind, sister. You're so impatient before anything even happens. How did you memorize the Calmness Technique?"

"Third brother, I'm worried about your safety." said my aunt.

"Third brother, it's okay. Just let me calm down and think about things." Uncle San said to Auntie with a smile.

After saying that, he walked around the statue a few times before stopping and saying, "You Qing, come here and talk to your sister."

You Qing was already scared silly, and she stayed far away from the execution ground, "looking like she was ready to run away at any time." When she heard what her uncle said, her face was full of reluctance, and her legs did not move at all.

"If you don't come this time, you'll have to prepare to spend the rest of your life with your sister." Uncle San threatened her.

"Ah, then, I'll come over." She reluctantly moved closer to her uncle . "What should I say to her?" You Qing timidly asked.

"It stands to reason that the infant spirit doesn't understand the ways of the world, but she has been with you for eighteen years and should understand the pain of being abandoned. But now she has no anger, only pain. As her sister, don't you even have a little compassion?" Uncle San questioned her.

"Well, even if I feel sorry for her, what can I do? My parents created her, she died in my mom's womb, and was abandoned by my dad. Ultimately, I didn't harm her. On the contrary, if it weren't for her, I wouldn't be like this now. If we really talk about it, we don't know who is right and who is wrong."

After You Qing finished speaking, a gust of cold wind blew up from the ground. Several white lanterns hanging high up were blown around, and the flames flickered. Then, You Qing's long hair suddenly fluttered against the wind, as if someone had blown a breath on her face.

The wind blowing past her face must be very cold. You Qing was so shocked by the cold air that she closed her eyes tightly and even had difficulty breathing.

In the blink of an eye, the cold wind blew past my face. This subtle change was clearly seen by people nearby, but few people in the distance noticed it.

You Qing's face was pale and she stared at Uncle San in amazement. I could feel that she wanted to call for help, but she was no longer able to speak.

Uncle San immediately picked up a candle, blew it out, and then used the wick that was still burning with a faint flame to poke the center of her eyebrows. You Qing cried out in pain and then made a sound.

Uncle San said, "I advise you to stop talking nonsense, otherwise no one can help you."

Only after You Qing suffered a loss did she realize how serious this was. At this moment, the tears of blood in the statue's eyes gradually diminished, and it seemed as if they were stopping. Uncle San said, "Don't hesitate. Say a few words from the heart, even if it means begging her to let you go."

You Qing quickly bowed to the baby statue and said, "Sister, please forgive me. You know I'm innocent in this matter. I certainly didn't intend to harm you. I once blamed my father for his beastly behavior, and you must know that. I also know how hard it must have been for you to die before you were born. I'm not a heartless person, and I feel sad when I think of what happened to you."

When the conversation really touched her heart, You Qing's eyes welled up with tears, and the tears and blood on the small black statue increased again.

You Qing wiped away her tears and continued, "But what could I have done? I was only eight years old when the accident happened. Even if I wanted to do something for you, how could an eight-year-old child help you? Sister, I'm not trying to excuse myself. I really was powerless at the time. Please, please don't blame me anymore, okay?"

When she said this, there was no longer any abnormality at the scene, and the barking of dogs in the village gradually stopped.

Uncle San finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's right."

"I'm speaking from the heart," You Qing's tone calmed, her expression no longer panicking. She glanced at the statue on the altar, shedding tears of blood, and said, "If I hadn't performed this ritual today , I'd have forgotten how happy I was when I was seven years old and found out my mother was pregnant with a little sister. I jumped and shouted that I'd have a little sister to play with in the future. I've even dreamt of playing with my little sister more than once."

"At that time, I was young and just wanted to play, but I really hoped to have a sister to accompany me from then on. We could grow up together, respect our parents together, and support each other in the future. I didn't expect that in just ten months, life would change so drastically. My sister and mother died overnight. The happy family of four I hoped for was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving only my father and me."

You Qing sighed slightly, raised her red and swollen eyes and looked at her sister's statue. Then she walked towards the altar. Her aunt was so anxious that she almost stood up and said, "Hurry back, be careful not to get into bloody trouble."

However, You Qing turned a deaf ear and walked straight to the altar. Uncle San thought for a moment and stepped aside. He did not stop You Qing, but waved his hand to signal his aunt who wanted to say something else.

You Qing opened her arms, held the baby spirit body in her arms and whispered, "I'm sorry, I'm really sorry." After that, big tears fell from her eyes.

This time she cried for a long time. Strangely enough, she had not shed tears of blood since the baby spirit was held in her arms, so there was not a drop of red liquid on You Qing's chest.

Finally, it was her third uncle who persuaded her, "Your sister is indeed pitiful, but she can be content to hear what you said today." After that, he made a gesture, and Luo Tianbao took out a torch from somewhere, lit the torch in front of the wind lantern, and then lit the paper-made City of the Dead.

The paper and bamboo strips were painted, and when they came into contact with fire, a burst of flames shot up into the air with a bang and then burned fiercely.

After Uncle San prayed softly to the infant spirit's Dharma body, he lifted the statue and placed it in the fire. The statue quickly caught fire and was reduced to ashes in a moment. Green smoke curled in the sky, and the smell of burning was not pungent at all.

Uncle San then took out a hand-cleansing talisman and handed it to everyone participating in the ritual to clean their hands. He said, "The infant spirit has been sent away. Everyone, have a good night's rest. Tomorrow we will relocate You Qing's mother's grave."

I asked Luo Tianbao in confusion, "Second brother, why is there no ritual to liberate the infant spirit this time?"

"The City of the Wrongfully Dead is a place of ritual. Ghosts like these who died unjustly stay there. Only after they see their killers punished or the people they hate punished can they rest in peace and be reincarnated . Tonight, Luo Jingfeng's old grudges were resolved through You Qing's prayers. After burning her Dharma body and the City of the Wrongfully Dead, her soul will naturally enter the cycle of reincarnation."

"So, people really do have reincarnation?" Chu Sen asked.

"I don't know, but the purpose of a ritual is to facilitate the reincarnation of a deceased soul. But as for whether reincarnation is actually the same as the rebirth mentioned in Buddhist scriptures, only by becoming a ghost myself can I know the final answer."

"I hope so, then I can live forever." Chu Sen said with a smile.

"It's not as good as you think. A person's life refers to one lifetime. Death is the end of one lifetime. So even if there is reincarnation, you will never remember what you did in your previous life. In this case, how can you talk about eternal life?" Luo Tianbao said with a smile.

Before he could finish his words, someone shouted, "Come and see, this is terrible, the dead are coming back to life ."