That Taiping Daoist sat down blankly, only then remembering to offer a salute, but Wei Yuan raised his hand to stop him.

"Just sit. No need for such formalities."

Wei Yuan simply said "sit down," and the soul readily complied.

The expression on his face was one of bewildered uncertainty.

Wei Yuan sighed inwardly.

After death, the true spirit erodes.

By the time of the first seven days (a traditional Chinese mourning period), only the last vestiges of attachment remain. This attachment drives the soul to the place it most yearns for before finally dissipating.

Usually, it returns to the body, or rather, to find itself.

The soul gazes upon the corpse, watching itself, realizing its own death, and thus either laughs in sudden understanding or weeps in sorrow, before returning to heaven and earth.

Or perhaps it returns to the side of its parents and blood relatives, watching them mourn, observing them throughout the night, and finally relinquishing a trace of its attachment, sighing, turning its head, and walking out of the house without looking back, slowly dissipating.

But for a Taiping Daoist to find Wei Yuan instead of his body or family after death was something of a mystery, which Wei Yuan could only attribute to a special circumstance. He had vaguely sensed something watching him during the day, and so he had stayed awake after midnight.

He had moved the soul-nurturing wood to the center of the museum, waiting for a guest to arrive.

He hadn't expected it to be the solitary ghost of the Taiping Daoist.

…………………

Wei Yuan didn't ask anything, simply sitting calmly.

Perhaps it was because the night was growing darker, the yin qi rising, or perhaps it was the effect of the soul-nurturing wood, but the expression on the Taiping Daoist's face gradually cleared, no longer blank and dazed. Finally, at three in the morning, when the yin qi was at its peak, a glimmer of intelligence returned to his eyes.

He looked around in confusion, then turned to Wei Yuan, a trace of hope and joy surfacing in his eyes. He stood up and bowed, saying,

"Second Celestial Master…"

Wei Yuan stopped him from bowing further, asking the Water Ghost to bring the bowl of rice and place it on the table, saying,

"Today is your first seventh day."

"No need to be so formal."

He paused, suddenly feeling that the statement sounded a bit strange.

His tone unchanged, he changed the subject and asked, "You came to me. Is there something you want to say?"

Just don't tell me that you think you can still be saved.

Wei Yuan jokingly said to himself in his heart, but he still felt quite heavy, the Taiping Daoist was holding the bowl, but did not move his chopsticks to eat, saying: "Disciple just wants to tell the Second Celestial Master the means and abilities of that traitor, and beg the Celestial Master to execute him and correct the atmosphere of the Taiping."

He was now merely a soul.

Ordinary people could lie without changing their expression, able to disguise.

But if the true spirit spoke vaguely, there would be external signs.

This was not his purpose in coming.

There must be other plans.

Wei Yuan looked at the Taiping Daoist, withdrew his gaze, did not expose him, just nodded with a smile:

"Very good."

………………

The Water Ghost went to fetch a stack of paper.

To record what the Daoist said.

"No one knows that person's name, but after he obtained the Taiping's inheritance, he called himself the Taiping Heavenly Duke. Sometimes he also said that he was the Heavenly General of this era. After making a name for himself, it was rumored outside that he was the contemporary Taiping Dao Master."

"He is extremely cunning and is proficient in the Yellow Turban Warrior Curse, the Daoist Golden Light Curse. He also has遁術 (dùn shù, escape techniques) from the Miao region, designed as two types: art of corpse liberation and Gu worm escape. He is most skilled in driving souls and controlling spirits, as well as bewitching techniques. He has a slight grasp of thunder, wind, and fire spells, but he is probably not very proficient, just able to use them."

"But if he can grasp the *Taiping Essential Arts*, even if he is not good at them, their power can be greatly enhanced."

"Among the magical treasures he uses, a soul-summoning bell was obtained after killing a sect in western Hunan, and there is also a magic sword… Later, he gained some fame in Shenzhou, once angering the Celestial Master. The old Celestial Master had not yet inherited the title at that time and seemed to be planning to descend the mountain. When that traitor heard the news, he was afraid and fled Shenzhou to Sakura Island overnight."

"It wasn't until the old Celestial Master inherited the title and couldn't easily descend the mountain that he dared to return after several years."

"During that time, we followed him to Sakura Island as well."

The soul of the Taiping Daoist, taking advantage of the fact that his true spirit was still somewhat clear, revealed everything he knew, including the general experience of the Taiping Dao Master and the spells that the latter was good at. The Water Ghost moved the pen like flying, and finally, when it didn't work, he directly controlled the water flow to turn into words on the paper.

It took about an hour to finish speaking.

Wei Yuan looked peacefully at the Taiping Daoist cultivator with his hideous death and said peacefully: "Is there anything else you want to say?"

"Then, then…"

The soul, whose true spirit was worn away and only the attachment remained, paused and suddenly fell to the ground, kowtowing for a long time, choked with sobs:

"Disciple begs the Second Celestial Master to have mercy."

"For the sake of the disciple's atonement, please... please take care of my mother."

"After I leave, she will be all alone, I can't rest assured, I can't rest assured..."

The Daoist's words were incoherent, and he kowtowed heavily, his eyes already red.

Wei Yuan was silent.

This Daoist wandered in the human world for seven days, and finally his attachment drove him to come here, instead of going to see his mother, in order to find a support for his lonely old mother in her later years.

He raised his hand to help the Daoist's soul, and said, "Stand up and talk."

………………

"Don't you have a wife?"

When the Daoist barely stabilized his emotions, Wei Yuan suggested that he write a few letters.

While the Daoist was holding the pen, he suddenly thought of when he wanted to save the Daoist before, there was a wife and children in the latter's illusion, the Daoist's movements paused, and said:

"That's just an illusion, disciple, disciple has been away from home for thirty years, I didn't dare to go home, I was afraid that the traitor would secretly attack my family, but in the illusion, I ran home desperately, I didn't care about anything at that time, I just wanted to go home and see my mother."

"Away from home for thirty years?"

"Yes."

"I was taken away when I was a child, when I was a little over nine years old. My mother said that there was no oil at home and asked me to get a pot of oil back. I still remember that the pear tree at home had just been planted. My mother said that in another year, I would be able to see the pear blossoms, and in the autumn, I would be able to pick a few small pears, so I wouldn't have to go out to buy them."

"When I went out to get oil, I saw that a pear blossom was blooming on the pear tree, it was very small, but it really bloomed." The Daoist emphasized: "I was thinking that when I came back after getting the oil, I would tell my mother that it was blooming this year, would there be pears to eat this year?"

"I can still remember it very clearly."

He paused for a long time, and said: "Then I met that person."

"I followed him vaguely."

"After several years, I couldn't remember my mother. I often saw that pear blossom in my dreams. Sometimes when I woke up, the pillow was wet. Later, later, I couldn't even have this dream anymore. It wasn't until I was thirty years old and my cultivation was considered stable that I remembered again, but I was afraid, I only dared to take a distant look at my home when I passed by, and I didn't even dare to change my expression."

"I have seen a lot of pear blossoms and eaten a lot of pears, but no flower can compare to that one."

"Second Celestial Master, if you have the opportunity, you can go and see it. That pear blossom must be very beautiful."

Wei Yuan was silent for a while, and said: "Then, your wife."

The Daoist was stunned, smiled, and just said:

"She's the girl I liked when I was a child, the daughter of a neighbor."

"I moved out a long time ago. I guess I'm married now, and my children are going to high school."

His tone seemed understated, but his eyes were slightly red.

In the end, he wrote letter after letter, until the morning light was faint and the yin qi was about to dissipate, he stopped writing. Generally speaking, the souls of people die and dissipate after seven days. If the attachment does not dissipate and resists the catastrophe of heaven and earth, it will turn into a fierce ghost, but like the three in Wei Yuan's museum, who are neither fierce ghosts nor can live in the world for a long time, it is too rare.

Wei Yuan put away the letter and said, "Go and see your mother again."

The Daoist was stunned.

Wei Yuan took out the black umbrella that had been sealed for a long time. This was something he had used when he first came into contact with Crouching Tiger. He opened the umbrella and shook it, taking the Daoist's soul into it. At this moment, the yin qi had not completely dissipated, and the yang qi had not really shone all over the earth, it was just when yin and yang were about to divide the twilight.

Wei Yuan pushed open the door of the museum and stepped out.

Following the guidance of the soul in the umbrella, Wei Yuan drove the flowing wind. It was also at this time that there were not many people on the road. He didn't need to hide. Soon, when a glimmer of light rose in the sky, Wei Yuan arrived in a small city.

Urban construction is becoming more and more changing with each passing day.

The Daoist's mother had not moved away from here for thirty years.

There are only some old streets and old people left here, lifeless. The pear tree in the courtyard is still there, and it has grown taller and thicker, but now it is already autumn, and the pear blossoms are naturally gone, and the pears have also fallen. The Daoist's soul stood in front of the window, and through the curtains, he saw his mother.

His eyes were already red.

But the soul has no tears, he couldn't even cry.

After a long time, he took a deep look at his mother and retreated step by step.

Wei Yuan said, "Don't you want to see more?"

The Daoist grinned and said, "I won't look anymore, if I look again, I'm afraid I won't be willing to leave."

"Then it will become an obsession, and if the obsession does not die, it will become a fierce ghost."

He wiped his eyes and said:

"Disciple is led by the Taiping Department, no matter what, I don't want to become a man-harming fierce ghost."

"Is that so..."

Finally, the Daoist knelt down and kowtowed three times to the old house, and turned to leave.

But a hand was placed on his shoulder. The Daoist turned his head in astonishment and said, "Second Celestial Master..."

Wei Yuan said, "What did you call me?"

The Daoist was stunned, and said, "Second Celestial Master?"

Wei Yuan looked into the distance, and said in a serious manner:

"Since you call me Second Celestial Master, then I can't sit idly by…."

He paused, and shook his head self-deprecatingly: "Forget it, this is just an excuse."

"I always have to help when I meet someone."

He slapped the Daoist on the shoulder, causing the Daoist to stagger, walking forward staggeringly, Wei Yuan turned the black umbrella in his hand lightly, and said:

"Go ahead."

He injected a divine power, but did not cast a spell, just followed the trend, the law arises from the heart, he watched the Daoist walk forward staggeringly, standing at the door, just a trance, he saw the Daoist collapse into light dust, the light dust flew upwards, and poured into the pear tree.

"True spirit residing in the tree, avoiding the rules of heaven and earth?"

"That's also a way."

Wei Yuan shook his head, put the umbrella away, and turned to leave.

The Water Ghost and the Qijia Army's military soul were on the left and right.

The Water Ghost smacked his tongue and said, "It's a pity, I thought he would be able to see his old lady."

"As a result, he became a tree, which is no different from being scattered into the heaven and earth."

The military soul retorted: "How could it be as you said?"

The Water Ghost啧 (zé) said, spread his hands, and said:

"He is now taking advantage of the loopholes, avoiding the fate of dissipating, but when his spirituality comes out, it will 100% dissipate, so he can only be a tree, he can't speak, and he can't take care of his 阿娘(ā niáng, mother), what's the difference from dissipating?"

The Qijia Army's military soul shook his head and said, "The difference is huge."

He said sternly: "In spring, there are pear blossoms all over the tree, sending fragrance in dreams, isn't this also considered being with one's parents; in summer, it is hot, so it shades the mother from the coolness, isn't this also considered filial piety? In autumn, when you are free, the leaves fall all over the ground, and when you step on them, the sound is soft and crisp, in winter, it is cold, so it is a decoration, covered in silver, it is also very good."

"He can accompany his mother in the years to come, even if he is silent, isn't this more filial than most people in the world?"

The Water Ghost was silent for a while, and said, "That's true."

"But, they will never be able to see each other again, right?"

Wei Yuan said, "They can see each other again."

The two ghosts were stunned, Wei Yuan tapped the ground lightly with the black umbrella in his hand, did not turn his head, and said softly: "In these years, we have letters written by him, sent every few months, or when the spring flowers bloom, or when the winter snow falls, when his mother's life is about to end, he should come out of the tree..."

"See the mother one last time."

"Let the mother see him again."

"Even if it's the next soul is scattered."

The two ghosts were stunned, the Water Ghost suddenly froze, sniffed, and said strangely: "Where does the fragrance come from?"

The Qijia Army's soldier soul said: "What are you talking about, it's already the end of autumn."

"Huh? No, there really is a fragrance."

Wei Yuan stopped, surprised, and turned his head.

I saw the pear tree branches and leaves in the old courtyard stretching out, and in this season at the end of autumn, white flower bones were blooming one by one, and then just a slight breeze blew, and the whole tree was covered with white snow, and the fragrance was faint and long, and it spread out, and stuck to the sleeves of Wei Yuan.

The pear blossoms all over the tree swayed slightly on the squeaky, like the Daoist拱手(gǒng shǒu, cupped fist salute).

Wei Yuan took a deep look, took out the first letter written by the Daoist before, flicked his finger, the clear wind flowed, and the letter brushed past the top of the pear tree, bringing a trace of wind, a white flower, and gently falling in front of the window.

The heat at the end of autumn makes people angry.

But when the pear blossoms bloom, the plain white appearance makes people feel that they have returned to spring or midwinter, adding a touch of coolness, and people who get up early push open the window, first see white, and then are caught by the fragrance of the flowers, and say in surprise: "Why are they blooming?"

"Or is it snowing?"

The whole ancient, not so advanced and prosperous small city was awakened by this old pear tree, and it was pulled back to spring in an instant, and one person after another opened the door, surprised at this unbelievable scene, and the previous coldness became lively.

The Water Ghost and the soldier soul were lost in thought.

De de de, de de de.

The black umbrella gently tapped the ground, and the two ghosts turned their heads and saw the crowd rushing towards the pear blossom tree.

The young curator, against the flow of people, holding an umbrella with his hands behind his back, had already gone far away.

ps: Today's first update... 4,200 words, thanks to Chen Zhou for the reward, there should be three updates today~