Chapter 28: A Shocking Clue

Ten days after I returned from Shicun, Su Rou came to my house to find me. I was packing my bags at the time.

“You just got back, where are you going again?” Obviously, the kid was a little unhappy with my habit of wandering around.

“Tianjin, since you’re here, you can take me to the airport.” I zipped up my luggage bag and said to Su Rou, “I’ll be back when your wife gives birth.”

“Thank you for remembering. Qin Huai’s kid is coming too. You’re going to Tianjin anyway, it’s so close to Beijing, go with Qin Huai.” Su Rou said while taking out the car keys and complaining, “I’m just a miserable person. It’s only been a few minutes, and I have to run to send you to the plane.”

I took the luggage bag on my back and hugged Su Rou, saying, “It’s okay. Isn’t your car your little lover? Why don’t you let you and your little lover stay together for a while? Should I come with Qin Huai to see the situation? Remember to keep an eye on the house for me. Some of my master’s things are still here.”

“Okay, how much is the house-watching fee?”

“No matter how much it is, I won’t give it to you. I’ll give it to your unborn child, and tell him (her) to wait for his godfather to come back and give him a big gift.” I smiled and locked the door.

When I got downstairs, Su Rou suddenly remembered something and ran over to me, ignoring the strange looks around. She whispered to me, “Sanwa, can you help me find out if my wife is having a boy or a girl?”

“What? This is the modern age, and you’re still playing the son-preference game?”

“Nonsense, I like both sons and daughters. I just want to know in advance.”

“I have a sixth sense, not an X-ray vision. I don’t have that function. Do you think it will work?”

“Hahaha…” Su Rou laughed loudly as he opened the car door and said, “Get in, brother. I’m generous today, let you experience the charm of BMW.”

“Go, go, don’t learn to speak like Qin Huai.” I sat in the passenger seat with a smile.

Su Rou started the car and said to me while driving, “Do you know that after An Yu recovered, he started a big fight in his office and then dug up a jar containing a child?

I rolled down the window, lit a cigarette, and said, “This is for sure. After digging it up, bury it properly. This is a good deed for him.”

“He hired some monks to handle it. Don’t mention his good deeds. If he can do any good deeds, it’s all because of a woman’s belly.” Su Rou scolded.

I was silent, not wanting to remind An Yu of the curse. It would be useless to remind him anyway. The so-called virtue is from the heart, and the outward appearance is useless. If he wakes up, he doesn’t need my reminder. If he doesn’t wake up, it’s useless for me to remind him. That’s his own karma.

Or, this is also a kind of ‘indifference’ on my part. No one can ever sway your heart, and your own home is always your own.

“Everyone has their own destiny.” I was stunned for a moment, and then I commented on this sentence, and then I didn’t want to comment on An Yu’s affairs and talk about other things with Su Rou.

I booked a ticket for 3:30 p.m. After a brief farewell to Su Rou, it was almost time. This time I was flying to Tianjin.

On weekdays, I am always a person who has difficulty communicating with strangers, so on the plane, I couldn’t possibly communicate with the person next to me. After asking the flight attendant for a bottle of mineral water, I fell into deep thought.

The harvest in Shicun this time was actually quite shocking to me. Although there was no specific clue as to where Kunlun was, I was at least one step closer to the truth.

Thinking about this, I thought of the days I spent in Shicun. The village was indeed as barren as Xuanlin had described. It was already the end of the century, and if I hadn’t seen such a village with my own eyes, I would have had a hard time imagining such poverty.

If I had to compare it, it was like the 鈥榣ivestock village鈥� around the Miao village of Heiyan.

In that village, I quickly found out what Xuanlin had seen, but I was too late. By the time I arrived, Xuanlin had already passed away. His parents took me to see only a lonely grave.

“Our ancestors were greedy and caused the destruction of a whole village. Now that debt has been completely repaid. Our family has lost Xuanlin, and with my death, it will be completely gone. If you say I regret it, I really regret it. Why didn’t I just stay in the village and follow the family tradition? Yes, if the gods really wanted us to leave, they would have let us go if they thought we had paid off our debt. Now, after so many generations, we finally don’t have to carry the debt.” These were the words my father said to me in front of the lonely grave.

“You’re only in your 40s, maybe you can have another child?” This is the only comfort I can give. It’s a heartache, a heartache that the lineage will be broken again, but there is nothing I can do.

“Let it be as the gods will. Xuanlin told me about your request. There are some ancient records in the family. This time you should copy one, including our family’s secret techniques. If you meet the right person, pass it on. You can’t let the heritage be broken.” Xuanlin’s father replied to me.

I could feel his despair. Xuanlin was a tough and intelligent child, but he was a bit extreme and emotional.

This reminds me of myself. My master has always worried that I have too deep a love for others, and that I will suffer a great deal because of it. But he never imagined that he would be my disaster, causing a great change in my life, with my goal set on the illusory Kunlun.

I stayed in Shicun for five days, and spent all five days copying some ancient books that had been passed down in the Xuanlin family.

While copying, I also learned some interesting stories about the secret technique and the specific requirements of the technique itself, which are actually quite harsh.

This also made me realize that Xuanlin really had no intention of using the secret technique, because the performance of the secret technique really requires the cooperation of architectural design skills, and the secret technique can only achieve the desired effect.

In modern times, reinforced concrete has replaced bricks and tiles. If Xuanlin really wanted to learn, he would have to go to the architecture department.

This is also An Yu’s good fortune. At the time, Xuan Lin’s deployment of the secret technique was a mess, barely achieving half of its effectiveness. If it had been fully effective, An Yu might not even have had time to come to me and call for help, and would have ended up in the worst possible way.

Of course, this trap was only set by Xuanlin when he infiltrated the construction site to work. If he were the designer of this office building…

This is also the luck and fate of ordinary people. They should not have received the retribution they deserved, and they have ultimately avoided it. Even the girl who had a miscarriage has saved her life, and her child has also been saved. And Xuanlin has also saved his life, right?

These things were settled in my notes on secret arts and various anecdotes, and the only thing that shocked me was the family chronicle of the Xuan family.

One of the most important clues I got was a passage from his ancestor Xuan Yi’s words, which were recorded in the family chronicle. The original words were in classical Chinese, but the meaning of the translation was that his Taoism was passed down from Kunlun, but the Taoism passed down from Kunlun benefited more than just him. He was a craftsman, and what he learned from Kunlun was just a craftsman’s skill, nothing special.

He said that since the transmission of the Dao from Kunlun, he could vaguely know that there were many successors, and the most powerful ones were the orthodox successors of the Daoist school.

He guessed that they might have the ability to penetrate the heavens and earth, have a long life, and have attained the Dao to purify the evils of the world, and might even return to Kunlun.

Finally, it was his own thoughts. He had spent his whole life wondering why he had received the teachings of Kunlun. In the end, he guessed that there might be a great calamity in China, and that the teachings of Kunlun were passed down to prevent the Tao from disappearing.

Xuan Yi’s guess is amazing. Although there are exaggerations, it is also very true. Indeed, China has experienced a great disaster. During those hundreds of years, the inheritance of many things was broken, and the country was also reduced to a very weak position for the first time.

It turns out that the Taoist way has always planted seeds of life. Is that why Kunlun preached? Perhaps that was part of the reason.

Xuan Yi’s guesses also reminded me of my master, and it seems that my master, Lao Li, was most likely a person who benefited from the Kunlun teachings, and it is also very likely that he was the orthodox successor of Taoism as Xuan Yi guessed.

Has he returned to Kunlun? I also remembered the legend of the Black Rock Miao Village that Ru Xue told me.

Everything is so shocking that I can’t accept it.