Hm. It's common when you have a soul that might risk getting unfettered in the afterlife. It helps them settle down and move on.

[Xie Lian is very, very used to the physical effects of curses, unfortunately, so that part was the least surprising to him. He didn't like the particular effects themselves, though.]

Well, the easiest way is for you to start from the ancestor's specific curse. normally, they should have told you what they did to get cursed. working from there, you can try to find a way to atone for it.