I am an immortal in heaven and earth

Chapter 316 July Sacrifice
Xu Jia has already started the summer harvest sacrifice ceremony. It happens to be July, which is also the Zhongyuan Festival. From the first to the thirtieth day of the lunar month, the gates of hell are gradually opened. Ghosts that have families to worship at can return home to visit their relatives, while ghosts that have no families to worship at can receive offerings from people on earth.

Holding a harvest festival and a memorial service in this month can pray for the living and accumulate merit, and can also help the dead to transcend and enter the reincarnation process sooner.

Xu Jia recruited twenty chefs who knew how to make pastries. He didn't require anything else, just that they could make steamed buns, and that the buns they made could come out of the pan well and not be dry.

This item is needed to offer sacrifices to lonely ghosts. No matter how delicious the fish and meat are, a steamed bun is not as good as it.

It would be best if this steamed bun could be molded into various shapes, but it doesn’t matter if it can’t.

In addition, they also fried vegetarian meatballs, which were made without meat but with vegetables and flour.

In addition, there are hand-made rice cakes, glutinous rice balls, fried rice cakes, frozen rice candy...

Basically, it is made with staple food, because if you want something else, your current financial situation does not allow it. If you want to offer sacrifice yourself, you can also prepare three small animals, a whole chicken, a whole fish, and a piece of pork belly, which can be eaten after the sacrifice.

It was summer now, and Xu Jia was afraid that these things would spoil quickly. The steamed buns could still last for a while, but they could not be kept for two or three days. So after the ceremony of giving alms to orphans was completed, he distributed them to everyone.

Ghosts eat incense and people eat rice and flour. They are both offered sacrifices to reward their spirits and soothe their five internal organs.

This time, the Dharma Assembly for Giving to Orphans was carried out in parallel by Buddhism and Taoism. It was carried out in advance on the twenty-four bridges by Xu Mu, Elder Xianhuan and others from Jinshan Temple. It began when the moon was as sharp as a crescent. With the assistance of the little dragon king Shunji, the clouds and fog were dispersed, allowing the true shape of the moon to be seen.

The main venue was still held in the Shanju Temple. Five hundred Taoist children who had just learned to chant sutras, together with the Taoist priests of the Shanju Temple and those invited from other places, performed the "face burning altar" together.

When Xu Jia made a wish, 3,600 hungry ghosts transformed into celestial beings came out of his stomach again and went to the Dharma Realm to "distribute Buddhist scriptures". They received the scriptures from Xu Jia and now passed them on to other hungry ghosts. Each of them looked like a "Ghost King", with flames on their faces, sitting cross-legged on lotus flowers, making secret gestures with their hands, and reciting Buddhist scriptures. What scriptures were they? They were spiritual treasures that could save people of the highest quality.

Therefore, the main venue of this event was for Xu Jia to display his magical powers, aiming to liberate at least one million wandering ghosts in one breath.

The disaster situation this year is severe. If we can liberate these lonely ghosts, there will be fewer of them who will be reborn as hungry ghosts in the future. There may also be plague ghosts, frozen ghosts, or animal ghosts and demons that are transformed by mountain spirits and wild monsters after death... all the souls of sentient beings will be liberated together.

Because he needed to save a large number of wandering ghosts and give alms to all directions, Xu Jia did not plan to use the method of water and fire as he did before. Otherwise, how much true fire and true water could he ignite with the true yin and true yang in his body?

A single spark can start a prairie fire. The scriptures that Xu Jia passed down are all methods for self-salvation.

"How many ingots did you fold?"

"How many Jade Emperor coins were printed?"

"Has the memorial to the orphan that my father wrote with great righteousness arrived?"

"The most important thing is, have you finished embroidering the silk pattern of the Palace of Sun, Moon and Light?"

Xu Jia asked about the important matters one by one, and did not miss any of them. Otherwise, the offering to the orphans would fail, and millions of hungry ghosts would attack him. Then, Xu Jia and all the monks who dared to perform this ritual would be eaten up to nothing, and they would become paralyzed, demented, and crazy on the spot. As the saying goes, if you don't have the diamond drill, don't take on the porcelain job. This kind of imperial examination and ritual cannot be performed unless you are a person of great virtue.

Although Xu Jia did not arrange the place completely according to the scriptures, he had his own understanding. The mandala he arranged was not a traditional four-sided mandala, but an eight-sided mandala. There were no gates, only bridge corridors. Various offerings were placed along the edges, and there were iron cans, candles, and oil lamps on both sides.

Sprinkle rice, noodles, and steamed buns into a tin can, and after a ritual, the fragrance will spread to the dharma realm, attracting all kinds of wandering ghosts.

"We have specially found children to fold the ingots. We provide ingot paper. We can get one penny for 20 ingots. Hundreds of children have received the ingot paper, folded the ingots and sent them to get the money. Now the ingots have filled up two rooms, one room with gold ingots and the other with silver ingots. It is a mountain of gold and silver."

"There are only two plates of Jade Emperor money, both of which were printed by an experienced old Taoist priest after he personally made a Jiao cup and asked for the Three Saints' Divination. However, the cinnabar ink was not enough, and the Golden Toad has already communicated with wealth. One plate is worth ten thousand taels of gold."

"This kind of money is ghost money, not god money. I still need to communicate with the gods and get some wish copper coins."

"Duobao has also prepared a million dollars."

"So rich?" The money Xu Jia had collected so far from the power of vows was only a little over 200,000, and he had used it to repair the altar. How long had Jin Chan been the God of Wealth, and how could he come up with a million?

Even if we can achieve safety and security, it is impossible to have so many such smooth and sexual wishes!

Xu Jia went to Jin Chan to ask about this matter. Duobao said, "Many people come to Jin Chan to worship in order to get rich. They borrow Yin debts. Jin Chan then turns the debts into capital. He borrows some from those who have bought Jin Chan bonds and have a lot of Yin virtues and blessings, and gives them some interest. With this in and out, it is not difficult to make 10 million."

"This is what you taught me, Master. This time, I am giving out these talismanic funds to help all lonely souls. I am also doing my part to help you." Duobao said, "Don't worry, I am definitely not doing anything wrong!"

But he was afraid of making Xu Jia unhappy again: "I am doing everything fine. I only trade with merchants and don't touch ordinary people. Merchants are destined to be rich, especially Sun Bao and the ten sea merchants. They all have the potential to become wealthy in the future."

Xu Jia did not blame him for doing so, and only said: "You have tasted a little sweetness, so you will take risks in the future. This is just this much at the beginning, but you will be more aggressive in the future. This Dharma Assembly does not need a million dollars, just a symbolic amount, 100,000 dollars is enough. I am Lingbao Tianshi, and this money is to reward the gods and generals, not a bribe."

Duobao nodded repeatedly.

Xu Jia thought about it and said, "As the Minister of Finance, you have a lot of money, but you can't spend it lavishly. The richer you are, the more careful you should be with your money. For example, I think this Sanqing Palace is too big."

"Teacher, you don't understand. A small temple is prone to evil. If people want to believe in it, it must be solemn and beautiful. Look at the Mahavira Hall and the golden statues of Bodhisattvas in Buddhism. They are all solemn and magnificent. That's why everyone believes in them and thinks they can be as solemn and magnificent as Bodhisattvas in the future. If we don't build our Sanqing Palace to be larger, how can we spread the spiritual treasures? How can we educate the people?"

"If someone criticizes this, it turns out that the more greedy people are, the more they care about integrity, while the non-greedy people, on the contrary, take it lightly."

"You are now lecturing me. Now that you are weak, you can save your money and build a Taoist country overseas. No matter how majestic and prosperous it is, I will not say anything to you."

As Xu Jia was talking to him, the silk map had already arrived in his hands. The map depicted the Sun and Moon Fairy Palace, as well as a pool of water and a swamp of fire, but it was not Xu Jia's true yin and yang, but the yin and yang between heaven and earth. By using this silk map to practice magic, one can reach Yu Yi during the day and Huang Su at night.

(End of this chapter)