The Qingming Festival

Thinking this, Lin Xiao took out his copy of the "Original Essence Heart Sutra" and went straight to Sun Yigao's side in the cultivation room.

Sun Yigao, who was cultivating, felt someone approaching and opened his eyes. He saw Lin Xiao, smiled slightly, nodded at him, and then closed his eyes to continue cultivating.

Seeing this, Lin Xiao also began to meditate beside him.

After a while, Sun Yigao finished practicing the current section and felt that he could continue to the next part. He opened his eyes, opened the "Original Essence Heart Sutra" and began to study it.

Then Lin Xiao, holding the "Original Essence Heart Sutra," came over. Seeing the page number he was looking at, Lin Xiao immediately flipped to the same page and said:

"Yigao, look at this, this passage: 'With my true heart, I am fearless and boundless, my thoughts are pure and without evil'..."

The people in the cultivation room all turned to look at the two of them huddled together, discussing something earnestly.

When did Brother Xiao, who rarely sets foot in the cultivation room, become so diligent in cultivation?

Lin Xiao, who had promised to teach Lin Ying properly when they were at the Lin Household's old house, pouted when she saw her third brother, who seemed to have forgotten about her.

That stinky third brother doesn't keep his word.

Second brother is still the best.

Lin Ying pouted and turned her head away from Lin Xiao with a hint of disdain, then began to study diligently with Lin Yun.

With Lin Xiao's assistance, Sun Yigao's progress was rapid.

By noon, the two were still quite reluctant to part, but Lin Yun, holding Lin Ying's hand, walked over to Lin Xiao and said:

"Erlang, it's time to go down the mountain."

Lin Xiao was stunned for a moment, then looked at Lin Yun with a confused expression:

What are we going down the mountain for?

Hearing him say that, Lin Yun was also stunned. His younger brother was indeed still so unreliable.

He said helplessly:

Didn't our family plan to do Qingming Festival activities today?

His reminder jolted Lin Xiao awake.

Yes! I have to go sweep his mother's grave!

Lin Xiao immediately abandoned his cultivation and said to Sun Yigao:

"Yigao, I'm going home to do my Qingming Festival rituals first. We'll continue tomorrow!"

Sun Yigao nodded, not taking his suggestion to continue tomorrow seriously, since the entire sect knew that their sect leader rarely cultivated.

Lin Yun and Lin Xiao led Lin Ying back to the Lin Household's old residence, where they found that the Lin Household had already prepared offerings, including a large cloth bag full of paper money and paper ingots.

The offerings consisted of a whole steamed chicken, a whole piece of blanched pork belly, and a whole large fish.

The fish was carefully pan-fried by Old Madam Lin in plenty of oil until it was golden brown on both sides and had a wonderfully fragrant aroma.

The aroma made Lin Xiao's stomach rumble.

Eldest Uncle Lin's Wife went to the kitchen and brought out a few warm steamed buns, handing them to Lin Xiao and the other two.

There's no time for lunch; they have to hurry up the mountain.

In previous years, when they celebrated Qingming Festival, they would go there very early in the morning and stay for the whole day.

This year, because we were taking care of Lin Xiao and the others' cultivation, we specially set aside a morning for them, planning to hurry up the mountain at noon and try to be as quick as possible when sweeping the tombs.

There was no time to wait for the three of them to finish eating, so Old Master Lin waved his hand and led everyone off.

In Xiushui Village, there are two mountains specifically used for burial and tomb construction.

It's not in the same direction as North Mountain, but in the southwest, and a bit far from the village.

Their family is considered one of the earliest in the village to observe Qingming Festival.

Many families in the village usually wait until a few days after Qingming Festival to go, because many of the major surnames in the village belong to the same clan, and they have to wait for the clan chief to coordinate the time for each family to do it together.

The same applies to the families of Qin Jianghe, Liu Yunan, and Hu Liang.

Therefore, they didn't encounter many people along the way.

The mountains to the southwest are different from the northern North Mountain. These are mostly small hills, not very high, with flat, open green meadows between them. Some of the village's farmland is located nearby.

Of those small hills, the two highest are the ones that serve as Grave Mountain.

North Mountain, however, is a continuous mountain range, and it is very large.

The North Mountain Range is lush with vegetation and towering trees, and is rarely visited by humans. It is said that there are many ferocious beasts deep in the mountains, making it a veritable deep forest.

Therefore, unlike the North Mountain Range where few people venture out and at most search for mushrooms and other mountain products at the foot of the mountain, people come and go from time to time on the Grave Mountain.

Because some families in the village own land here, and the villagers often come here to gather wild vegetables and pig feed.

Along the way, the Lin Household occasionally met one or two villagers and greeted them.

Lin Dashan and Lin Dayou carried sacrificial offerings, while Lin Dayou carried tools such as hoes and shovels. The two little girls, Lin Yan and Lin Ying, picked a few flowers whenever they saw pretty ones along the way.

Old Madam Lin and Eldest Uncle Lin's Wife collected firewood along the way, while the three boys, Lin Xiao, Lin Yun, and Lin Lei, were responsible for carrying the firewood they collected.

And so, the Lin Household members went up to one of the Grave Mountain in a lively and bustling manner.

The Lin Household's graves are all located on the eastern side of this Grave Mountain, halfway up the mountain.

The first grave is that of the Lin Household's great-grandparents.

Scrolling down, Lin Xiao's mother was buried at the very bottom of the Lin Household's cemetery.

Upon arriving at the grave, Old Master Lin asked everyone to put their belongings down. The adults took hoes and sickles and began clearing away the weeds, while the children pulled them out by hand, helping out from the side.

Lin Yun was diligently pulling weeds when he turned around and noticed that Lin Xiao was somewhat distracted, pulling out weeds and about to throw them at their father.

He immediately reached out and took the weeds from Lin Xiao's hand, tossed them aside, then nudged his ribs and whispered:

"Erlang, what's wrong?"

Lin Xiao, who had been poked, finally came to his senses and looked at Lin Yun. He frowned and whispered to Lin Yun:

"I feel like something's off around here."

When Lin Xiao first arrived near the Grave Mountain, he sensed something was amiss, but the feeling was so subtle that he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

But he was certain that this was not his imagination; ever since he arrived, that strange feeling had been lingering in his senses.

He had never had this strange feeling before when he came here.

Upon hearing this, Lin Yun asked in confusion:

"What's so strange? I didn't feel anything."

Lin Xiao could only shake his head and say:

"I can't quite put my finger on it, but it's definitely not just my imagination. Bro, I feel like there might be something bad around here."

Hearing him say that, Lin Yun felt a chill run down his spine. He swallowed hard and said nervously:

"Don't scare me... We come to this Grave Mountain every year, there's nothing there..."

Lin Xiao carefully sensed it, but still couldn't perceive what this anomaly was. Logically speaking, now that he was at the Qi Refinement Seventh Layer, his perception should be much stronger...

He pondered for a moment and said to Lin Yun:

"There are two possibilities. One is that this thing arrived recently, and the other is that it has always been here, but I couldn't sense it before because I hadn't cultivated."