There is a god in the sky

Chapter 1 Adopted Daughter Lanxiang 1

"Ring... Ring..."

At midnight, a rhythmic ringing of bells came from afar.

Old Zhao, the night watchman, quickly put away his tools and nimbly moved to the eaves of a building on the side of the street, peeking out from behind a pillar to stare ahead.

Soon, a funeral procession turned onto this street.

The leader wore a blue demon mask, had two horns on his head, bulging eyes, a blue face, and fangs, and was quite terrifying.

He held a bell in his left hand, shaking it rhythmically, and a soul-guiding staff in his right hand, chanting incantations. Sometimes he would jump high into the air, and sometimes he would turn around and wave to the back of the room.

Behind him, four young men carried a small coffin, with a brazier on top of it.

Unlike daytime funeral processions, according to the customs of Aoki Prefecture, funerals held at night are for those who died unjustly or for children who died young.

Judging from the size of the coffin, it should be the latter.

Old Zhao had been a night watchman for twenty years and knew this all too well, so as soon as he heard the soul-guiding bell, he quickly made way.

Children's souls are too fragile. If there is no "soul guide" to guide and stabilize the soul after death, it will easily dissipate into the world.

Therefore, when a child from an ordinary family dies young, they are simply wrapped in a tattered straw mat and that's it; they don't go to great lengths to hold a funeral.

Most families who could afford to hold funerals for children who died young were wealthy households in the county.

As the procession passed Old Man Zhao, the gaze of the leader, the soul guide, swept over him, sending chills down his spine.

That ghost mask was truly terrifying.

"This old Taoist priest Wei is quite skilled. I wonder if I can ask him to guide me after I die."

Nowadays, people value their funeral arrangements. High-ranking officials and nobles can hire a Taoist priest or sorceress to guide them through the funeral procession, while ordinary people can only hire a Taoist priest or sorceress to perform rituals.

After the procession had gone some distance, Old Zhao wiped his sweat, came out from the corner, and continued to beat the drum as he walked forward.

"Tuk tuk tuk..."

"The weather is dry, be careful with fire... At midnight, close doors and windows to prevent theft..."

As dawn broke, Old Master Wei returned home.

He lived with his adopted daughter in three dilapidated thatched houses on the outskirts of the county town, with a large earthen courtyard in front of the door, surrounded by a fence.

On the left side of the yard, there were several rows of vegetable plots, which were sparsely growing, while on the right side, there was a shed where a few chickens and ducks were kept.

Although the house was dilapidated, it was kept very clean.

Seeing the light still on inside the house from afar, Old Master Wei was filled with emotion, thinking that the girl must have waited for him all night again.

Ten years ago, when he picked up this girl from outside Guli Town, he never imagined that he, an old Taoist priest, could become someone's father.

During that time, we did consider finding a good family to adopt the child, but most families were unwilling to raise a girl.

Moreover, his adopted daughter has a strange temperament. After adopting the child for a while, she would come to him to return the child and would say, openly or secretly, that the child was mentally ill.

There was no other way, so Old Master Wei had to raise her himself.

Pushing open the courtyard gate, Old Man Wei walked toward the room with the light on. Through the wooden window, he saw his adopted daughter handling a corpse, and his heart skipped a beat.

A thin blade twirled nimbly between the girl's fair fingers, then she swung it a few times, and a clump of hair fell to the ground.

Old Master Wei closed his eyes, thinking: Does this mean I'll have to have my brain opened again?

He walked in close to the wall, chuckling awkwardly as he asked, "Lanlan, did you go to the mass grave to collect corpses again?"

Old Master Wei did not know his adopted daughter's original name. When he found her, she had not spoken for a whole month.

So he named her Lanxiang, taking his surname.

Come to think of it, he was all alone, so getting a young woman for free was a real stroke of luck for him.

But this girl is truly somewhat wicked.