After all, this is a world that believes that science is truth. The so-called ghosts and gods are inherently absurd. If I hadn't seen and experienced it in the past few days, in my heart, I would probably always think that we are just a family that uses the tricks of the gods to meet the needs of firewood, rice, oil and salt. As for the saying of the ritual official, it is almost just to exaggerate the mystery for myself, just like every vendor selling stinky tofu will put the word Changsha on it to prove that their taste is authentic. I said this to others more and more, and gradually I believed it.
This is probably the difference between me and my father. He believes in all this, while I am half-believing and half-doubting. I deal with things with the mentality of believing it is better to believe it than not, so that there is an insurmountable gap between us, and then there is a communication barrier.
Now, maybe because Zhang Daoxuan was also present, my dad finally let go of the wall in his heart that he had to defend against even his family members, as if he was worried that knowing too much would affect his beliefs. I could see that he opened his heart and told us everything he knew about our family, from ancient times to the present, which could be called a long speech.
Although he also heard many things from his elders, I don't know how much truth is left in this oral inheritance model.
About the last ancestor who can still be called a ceremonial official, about the Heavenly Master Blade, about the Feather People...
In my dad's cognition, which needs to be questioned in terms of accuracy, this series of events should be related to half a diary!
This half of the diary was left by the nameless ancestor. It records some things in his life, as well as some plans before his death. It was stuffed into the swaddling clothes of the orphan. Many contents were soaked in blood and blurred. There were too many missing contents. Moreover, this diary was lost when the family was avoiding the war more than a hundred years ago. My grandfather might be the last person to see it. He only mentioned it to my father when he was dying.
The ancestor said in the diary that the Five Barbarians invaded China, human lives were worthless, corpses were everywhere, and the land was barren. There was a moment of resentment and evil spirits were rampant in the world. It happened that at that time, the people moved south, the rituals and laws collapsed, and the court had no time to protect itself, let alone care about the lives of the people. As a ritual official, he wanted to sort out the yin and yang but was unable to do so. He was almost exhausted, so he decided to set up a tomb for the ages to bury the most vicious corpses, ghosts and monsters.
He should have succeeded, but he was also buried in it.
My dad didn't know how thrilling the process was. My grandfather was already holding his breath when he told him this, so it was impossible for him to tell him the story properly, but he still mentioned the key points to him.
First, the Heavenly Master Blade was left in the demon burial tomb. My ancestor vaguely mentioned in his diary that there was an extremely vicious feathered people who harmed the world at that time. It seemed that it had an object that was unrestrained and extremely difficult to deal with. My ancestor had already planned to suppress the feathered people with the Heavenly Master Blade when burying them, and it might succeed.
Secondly, the demon tomb set up by the ancestor is in the Luliang Mountain. The Luliang Mountain is majestic and supports the backbone of the land of Shanxi. Many emperors have come out of the places where it passes. The empress Wu Zetian grew up in the wind of Luliang. This mountain has a long-lasting luck and is definitely a dragon vein. The ancestor died in the demon tomb, and the earth spirit beads he collected must have been left in this tomb. The earth spirit beads are born from the dragon veins and are nourished by the dragon veins. They will not escape far away if they are sunk in the dragon veins. In other words, there must be earth spirit beads in the demon tomb!
"That demon tomb is the key to the rise of the ritual officer lineage. The Heavenly Official Blade and the Earthly Spirit Pearl are both there!"
My father said, "Since the family fell into decline, many ancestors have been looking for this demon tomb. The Luliang Mountain has been almost torn apart, but they have never been able to find it."
"You mean, the place I went to is the demon tomb?"
I was a little confused. Good guy, according to my father's words, now I have found the Heavenly Official Blade and the Earthly Spirit Pearl in one go, but there is only one Qihe Tomb in that place. This kind of tomb only appeared in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. At that time, many Manchu nobles were down and out, and they had a lot of concubines. They couldn't build any magnificent tombs, so they simply built such a tomb, which is very characteristic of the times.
Suddenly, I thought of the drawings in the secret room of the Xing family. The drawings of the Qihe Tomb were full of question marks. For a moment, I had a guess in my mind, and hurriedly asked: "Is the Demon Burial Tomb under the Qihe Tomb?"
My father nodded and said, "So many people died in the past, and there is only a small space. It is normal for tombs to be piled up on tombs. In my opinion, the Yumin family that harmed your family has long been eyeing the Demon Burial Tomb. They buried his father there, just under the banner of ancestor worship, which is convenient for them to explore!"
My father firmly believed that Xing Wei's real plot should be the thing that is said to have no taboos. That thing belongs to the Yumin. Once he gets it, it will be extraordinary. Unfortunately, it is suppressed by the Tianguan Blade. After he succeeded, he could only take it all away.
My dad had never heard of the sacrifice Zhang Daoxuan mentioned, but he also had a guess. He thought that it was to use the evil spirit and resentment of the dead to fight against the Heavenly Official Blade, so as to release that thing. He should have succeeded, but he was also injured by the Heavenly Official Blade. When releasing that thing, it also meant releasing the Heavenly Official Blade. I have experienced how powerful this thing is. Xing Wei is probably not much more powerful than me who has become a paper man. It is normal that he was almost beaten to death. In the end, he took the object and fled in a hurry.
I have to admit that my dad has some potential as a detective. This speculation can be said to be reasonable and well-founded.
"But I just shoveled the soil in the grave and never entered the grave. How could the Earth Spirit Pearl end up in my stomach?"
I frowned and asked the question in my mind: "Besides, since Xing Wei's family has been eyeing the demon tomb for a long time, what does it have to do with me? Why must they drag me in?"
"This is the blessing of our ancestors!"
My father firmly believed that the ancestor was in heaven and sensed that I, a descendant, had arrived at the demon tomb, so he gave me the Earth Spirit Pearl.
As for whether this explanation was reasonable, I glanced at the butcher knife on my father's lap and didn't dare to ask.
Then, my father fell into deep thought again. After a moment, he said: "As for your matter... After thinking about it, there is only one possibility... You were sacrificed alive!"
Sacrifice alive?
I shuddered. In my understanding, living sacrifices are all bloody and cruel without exception, but I didn't die. Except for being tricked by the devil, everything was basically normal...
"There are some things you don't know..."
My father sighed. This seemed to be the thing he was most reluctant to face. He pointed to a large area of ancestral tablets far away from us and said softly: "These ancestors were all sacrificed alive. After we ritual officials lost our ability, for those ancient rulers, our greatest use, apart from looking at feng shui and designing tombs, was to be used for living sacrifices. Maybe our ritual officials were too hated by those dirty things. In short, whenever they encountered evil spirits and monsters making trouble and it was difficult to calm them down, as long as we ritual officials were offered as sacrifices, those evil spirits would stop!
Your classmate probably heard this from somewhere, so he set his sights on you, or in other words, he approached you from the beginning with the intention of sacrificing you alive, so that the dirty things in the demon tomb would be more obedient, making it easier for them to go down to the tomb to look for things! "
This may be the greatest sorrow of the ritual officer.
When this sorrow spread to me, I suddenly fell silent at this moment. I couldn't say whether I was angry or sad. I had felt this way before, but at this moment, it all disappeared without a trace.
But I am sure of one thing. If I have the chance to meet Xing Wei again, I will definitely chop off his head with my own hands, and I will not have any psychological burden.
It was also at this time that I realized that when hatred or anger accumulates to a certain extent, the only thing left is... calmness.
These are just some of my father's guesses. Apart from the sacrifice, he can't think of any other possibilities. As for why I didn't die, and even said that except for accidentally taking the Earth Spirit Pearl and causing persecution by ghosts, there were basically no symptoms. My father is not very clear about these. He only said that the answer may have to be found in the demon tomb.
I still have doubts in my mind. Whether it is Zhang Daoxuan or the ferryman of Yinren Inn, when they mention the word "Ceremony Officer", their first reaction is danger, and they are very secretive about it.
Where is the danger?
When I really asked, my father showed some irritation, and just vaguely said that in the era when the ceremony officer still existed, all kinds of ghosts and monsters could only tremble in the dark. Maybe they were too hated. It was not easy to wait until the ceremony officer declined. Naturally, they would not see anyone regain their ability, so it was reasonable to cause trouble.
Is the truth really that simple?
I looked at Zhang Daoxuan. He sat upright with his eyes half open and half closed, as if he had heard nothing.
"Okay, I've told you everything I know."
My dad waved his hand to block my doubts and said expressionlessly: "You should go!"
These strange actions made me more confused. I instinctively felt that he seemed to be deliberately hiding something, and his performance was too intense. In desperation, I could only change the subject and ask about my mother's situation. I wanted to go see my mother, and then ask around.
Unfortunately, my dad didn't give me a chance at all. He picked me up and pushed me out. As for my mother, he only said that he went out to buy vegetables and didn't make lunch for the three of us.
Zhang Daoxuan didn't mind this speech. He stood up and looked at the sky, and quietly pulled Zhang Xinya away. Zhang Xinya grumbled reluctantly, muttering that she hadn't eaten yet and was hungry. Zhang Daoxuan glared at her and immediately dared not say a word.
My father pushed me out of the yard and hugged me just before I got in the car. His arms were very strong and he just leaned over to my ear and whispered three words to me - stay alive.
Then he pushed me into the car.
At that moment, I felt as if he was saying goodbye to me, and it was a farewell forever.
I wanted to rush out of the car to find him, but Zhang Daoxuan's hand was on my shoulder, and I didn't see him exert any strength, so I couldn't move.
I was anxious and said, "Master, my dad..."
"It's even worse if you stay."
Zhang Daoxuan said expressionlessly, "Don't worry, he's fine, but the time has come. It's twelve o'clock noon now. We have to leave."
These words were mysterious and I wanted to ask for the truth, but Zhang Daoxuan closed his eyes and pointed upwards. The meaning was unexplainable, but he finally gave me an explanation, which made me feel a little relieved. Since Zhang Daoxuan said it was okay, my dad should be fine. He didn't look like a liar. I might have thought too much before.
Zhang Xinya had already started the car. I subconsciously looked back. My dad was still standing at the door. His back was straight. The distance between me and him was getting farther and farther. In the end, his figure was a little blurred.
I suddenly felt that my dad was a warrior. In such an era where everyone pursues fame and fortune, he still struggled to stick to a heritage that had been cut off for nearly two thousand years. It was not easy.
Two thousand years is enough for a nation to forget its past, but as a person, he has always been fighting against the world and the torrent of time. What kind of belief is this?
His image is changing silently in my heart. I used to think I understood him, but now I find that I can't understand this man whom I have always called father. What kind of secrets does he hide? What is he or Zhang Daoxuan deliberately hiding...