After returning to the village, start chasing the mountain from binding Emei

Chapter 752 Cenotaph, Chen Yang's Speculation! [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

As soon as the three entered, Tong Chuan stopped what he was doing.

Chen Yang picked up a book at random and looked at it. It was a thick book, the Tong family genealogy.

He glanced at it briefly and then put it back in its original place.

"Master, please give me a little more time. I'm almost finished reading my family's genealogy, and I'll give you an answer then."

Tong Chuan naturally assumed that Xuan Jing and the others came here to confirm with him whether the Tong family ancestors had any connection with the wandering masters of Corpse Eye Pool.

Was the traveling master named Wang Xuance mentioned in their family history?

"Please stop for a moment."

Everyone sat down beside them, and Xuan Jing said, "We came to see you for something else."

"Oh?"

Tong Chuan was slightly taken aback, but he still put down the book in his hand, pulled over a stool, and sat down.

"Master, is there anything I can help you with?"

Facing Xuan Jing and Zhou Mingyuan, Tong Chuan felt somewhat uneasy. Looking at Chen Yang again, he had a sense of being in a joint trial.

Xuan Jing didn't rush to ask questions, but instead gave Chen Yang a wink.

Chen Yang understood what he meant and, without hesitation, immediately went to Tong Chuan and said, "Grandpa Tong, look into my eyes."

Eye?

Tong Chuan paused for a moment, then almost instinctively looked into Chen Yang's eyes.

It would have been better if I hadn't looked at it; once I did, problems arose.

My eyes were immediately drawn in; I couldn't look away.

Eye Technique!

Before Tong Chuan even had this concept in mind, he felt dizzy and disoriented. Chen Yang's eyes seemed to possess some kind of immense magic, directly sucking his consciousness into them.

My head spun and I almost collapsed on the spot.

Those eyes are so strange...

The moment Tong Chuan had that thought, he was already exhausted to the extreme, and his consciousness began to fade into darkness.

In just a moment, Tong Chuan's eyes went from clear to cloudy, filled with confusion, before returning to clarity.

Tong Chuan was in the late stage of the Spirit Realm, and his spiritual cultivation was only around the thirtieth rank. Chen Yang could easily subdue him using his pupil technique.

In the blink of an eye, Tong Chuan had already entered a state of deep hypnosis.

Chen Yang turned around and gestured to Xuan Jing.

Xuan Jing nodded slightly, then sat up straight and asked Tong Chuan, "Who set up the White Python Devouring Evil Formation in your village?"

Direct and straightforward, without any euphemisms.

Since Chen Yang possesses pupil techniques and can hypnotize Tong Chuan, Xuan Jing doesn't need to go through all those roundabout ways with Tong Xin. She can simply let Chen Yang hypnotize her before asking questions, which saves time and effort.

Tong Chuan paused for a moment upon hearing this, then said, "As far back as I can remember, the village has been in its current layout. Our ancestors taught that descendants are not allowed to alter the village's layout, and existing houses are not permitted to be demolished. At most, they can only be repaired. Even if a new house is to be built, it can only be built by the roadside, not elsewhere, otherwise, disaster will surely follow..."

"As for which ancestor set up this layout, I really don't know. Our ancestral hall used to be over at Tiangongtang. I heard my grandfather say that it was my great-great-grandfather's generation that moved here from Tiangongtang..."

Under the influence of hypnosis, Tong Chuan naturally spoke freely and without reservation.

"Your great-grandfather?"

Xuan Jing raised an eyebrow, seemingly trying to recall who Tong Chuan's great-great-grandfather was.

Tong Chuan is over seventy years old this year. Even if we consider the twenty-year-old generation, Tong Chuan's great-great-grandfather would be at least over one hundred and fifty years old.

In terms of age, he and Hyun Jung are roughly the same age.

Tong Chuan said, "My grandfather's name is Tong Xiao, and my grandfather's grandfather's name is Tong Bai."

Chen Yang raised an eyebrow. He did know Tong Xiao; it was Tong Xiao who had used tricks to frame Shi Ling back then.

When Tong Xiao broke through to the Dao True Realm, he died under the Heavenly Tribulation, which can be considered as retribution for his evil deeds.

As for Tong Bai, Chen Yang had never heard of him.

Xuan Jing nodded slightly. "Tong Bai, I vaguely remember him. He's been dead for over a hundred years, hasn't he? When he died, he was in the mid-stage of the Spirit Realm. Back then, when he was searching for Zhang Xianzhong's treasure at Pengzu Mountain, it attracted many experts from Panshan to fight fiercely. If I remember correctly, Tong Bai died at the hands of Pan Dehai, the sixth brother of the Punishment Hall of the Grand Elders' Association, during the battle of Pengzu Mountain..."

The old man has a very good memory; he can still remember things that happened hundreds of years ago.

Tong Chuan nodded. "That's right, that's exactly what's recorded in the clan records. The ancestral hall was also moved to its current location during the time of our great-grandfather..."

Chen Yang's eyes flickered slightly. "If that's the case, then this scheme was most likely set up during Tong Bai's generation."

In the "White Python Devouring Evil Formation," the python's head is key. The formation is determined by when the ancestral hall was built.

But what is the purpose?

Xuan Jing looked at Tong Chuan and asked, "Do you know why your great-grandfather set up this scheme?"

Tong Chuan shook his head. It happened a hundred years ago; how could he possibly know?
He had read the clan records, but there were indeed no useful entries.

Zhou Mingyuan said, "Can't you see the malevolent energy in your family's ancestral hall?"

"You can see it."

Tong Chuan answered readily, "But the Tong family has ancestral rules that forbid altering the layout of the ancestral hall. Ever since I mastered the art of observing qi, for decades, I have been able to see the yin and evil qi emanating from the ancestral hall. I have asked my father, and when my grandfather was alive, I also asked him, but neither of them gave me an answer..."

"The malevolent energy in the ancestral hall gathers from the beginning of each month until it reaches its limit at the end of the month, but then disappears at the end of the month. This cycle repeats itself and has not had any substantial impact on us, so we have stopped paying attention to it..."

"I've studied it carefully, and I think the layout of the ancestral hall was designed to ward off evil spirits for the village..."

……

Tong Chuan's words left the three of them somewhat puzzled.

Xuan Jing said, "You just said that these evil energies disappear at the end of each month?"

Tong Chuan nodded. "Yes, it's the same every month. It disappears at the end of the month, clearing away the Yin energy gathered in the ancestral hall. Then it slowly starts to gather again, with almost no exceptions..."

"How did it disappear? Did it vanish into thin air?" Zhou Mingyuan asked.

"This one……"

Tong Chuan paused for a moment upon hearing this, seemingly unable to answer. "I don't know how it disappeared either. The end of the month is approaching in the next couple of days. If you two seniors are curious, you can come and see for yourselves then."

He seems to genuinely know very little.

The group exchanged glances but said nothing.

Zhou Mingyuan suddenly asked, "Where is your great-grandfather, Tong Bai, buried?"

“Our Tong family’s ancestral graves are all in Luerping. My great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, grandfather, and my father are all buried there,” Tong Chuan replied.

Zhou Mingyuan nodded slightly. "Is there anything else you want to say about the roaming troops at Corpse Eye Pool?"

Tong Chuan shook his head.

Zhou Mingyuan raised an eyebrow. "You've lived in Dawa Mountain for so many years, and you know nothing about the Corpse Eye Pool?"

Tong Chuan gave a wry smile. "That area is forbidden. Our ancestral rules forbid us from going there. Back then, my father brought the Mountain-Suppressing Stele, but he only placed it about a mile away from the valley where the Corpse Eye Pool is located. Not to mention me, all the members of the Tong family know that we can't go there..."

"So, before this, you didn't know there were roving troops in the mountains?"

Zhou Mingyuan was speechless. "Something right next to you, and you didn't even notice it?"

The Tong family of Dawa Mountain knows absolutely nothing about Dawa Mountain. Would anyone believe them if I told them?

"It's not that I didn't know, it's just that I didn't know it was this serious."

Tong Chuan explained, “Many years ago, when my grandfather was still alive, the village was harassed by something from the mountains. I was young then, and my grandfather and the others said that wild beasts in the mountains couldn't stand the loneliness and came down to cause trouble. But I saw it with my own eyes. Besides wild beasts, there were also some humanoid monsters. Later, I asked my father and found out that they were the Five Witches' soldiers of the Fa Sect…”

"So, I actually knew that the Five Witches' army was hiding on Dawa Mountain, but I didn't know that there were such terrifying wandering masters. If I had known earlier, I would have definitely asked the association to send an expert to deal with it..."

He spoke with such sincerity that he didn't seem to be hiding anything at all.

Under hypnosis, he has no choice but to keep quiet.

This old man doesn't really know much.

Chen Yang had also heard about this matter from Shi Ling. According to her, when the Tong family harmed her, she summoned wild animals from the mountains to harass the Tong family.

However, according to Tong Chuan's account, there were also treacherous soldiers mixed in at the time.

In other words, Shi Ling may know some of the cause and effect.

……

There was a brief silence.

It seems that questioning Tong Chuan now won't yield any useful information.

Zhou Mingyuan and Xuan Jing exchanged a glance. Xuan Jing then gave Chen Yang a meaningful look.

Chen Yang understood and immediately released Tong Chuan from the hypnotic eye technique.

Tong Chuan felt a moment of dizziness, as if he had suddenly experienced low blood sugar.

When he came to his senses, he looked at the three people in front of him with a bit of confusion, having no idea what had just happened.

Xuanjing stood up and said, "Please take us to see your great-grandfather's grave. Also, please compile some information about your great-grandfather for us."

"Uh……"

Tong Chuan paused upon hearing this, still completely bewildered.

During the period of hypnosis, he had some memory loss and couldn't remember what had happened.

Xuan Jing's words were not a consultation with him, but an order.

Faced with this Emei monk, a senior in the Dao Zhen realm, even though this was on his own territory, Tong Chuan could only behave obediently.

"Yes."

Tong Chuan responded and immediately led them out the door.

He called Tong Yaohua over and asked him to find information about his great-grandfather Tong Bai. Tong Chuan himself led Chen Yang and the others away from Tongjia'ao and headed towards Luerping.

……

Luerping.

This place is also at the foot of Dawa Mountain, a vast sea of ​​fir trees, a completely primeval forest.

The fir trees grow straight and tall, with a well-arranged and robust appearance. Many of them are over a hundred years old.

The forest was cold and damp. The fir trees were covered with moss, and there were bizarre vines and weeds everywhere. Occasionally, one or two strange birds would fly by, making eerie cries.

There were no cicadas chirping in the woods, but leeches were everywhere, on the trees and grass, and you could easily get one on your body if you weren't careful.

The sun was shining brightly, but the atmosphere in the woods was rather gloomy.

Chen Yang opened his Heavenly Eye and looked around, but he didn't find anything unusual. It was just the environment that made him feel a sense of despair and chill. The endless fir trees looked like an ancient army lined up in an orderly fashion.

Deep in Luerping, there is a cemetery with graves scattered haphazardly to the east and west.

This is the ancestral burial site of the Tong family. Backed by Dawa Mountain and facing the Jinkou River, it is located at the junction of Luoshan and Yashi, and its feng shui can be considered excellent.

Led by Tong Chuan, the group ventured deep into the cemetery and found the grave of Tong Chuan's great-grandfather, Tong Bai, in the northwest corner of the cemetery.

"An empty tomb?"

Chen Yang was somewhat surprised.

A quick probe with one's spiritual power reveals that there are no remains in the tomb.

Although a century has passed, the body must have long since decomposed, but it's impossible that not a single bone was left behind.

The coffin in the tomb had decayed, but it was indeed empty inside.

Xuan Jing and Zhou Mingyuan also looked at Tong Chuan with suspicion.

Tong Chuan said, "According to the clan records, our great-grandfather Tong Bai died at Pengzu Mountain. When his body was being transported back, an accident occurred, and it fell into the Jinkou River. After several days of searching, there was no result, so we had no choice but to build this cenotaph."

That makes sense.

However, they all felt something was off.

The fact that the body was never found obviously leads to a lot of speculation.

Their intuition told them that there was something wrong with this Tong Bai.

Zhou Mingyuan asked, "In your Tong family, have any ancestors in recent generations followed the path of the sorcery and witchcraft sect?"

"This……"

Tong Chuan paused upon hearing this, "Do you perhaps suspect that the roaming soldiers in the mountains were crafted by our Tong family ancestors?"

Zhou Mingyuan said, "Most of the wandering masters were shamans or priests of the sorcery sects in their previous lives, who refined themselves into demons. However, many steps in refining a wandering master are completed after death. They couldn't do it themselves, so someone must have assisted them. Therefore, the possibility you mentioned cannot be ruled out..."

The process of refining a wandering master is very complicated.

Before dying, the sorcerer must mix cinnabar with his own heart's blood and draw a corpse-refining talisman on his body for forty-nine days. Then, before the forty-ninth day ends, he must choose a way to die: struck by lightning, stabbed, or drowned. The more violent the death, the better.

After death, the body must be placed in a coffin filled with poisonous insects. On a full moon night, the coffin must be sunk in an extremely ominous, yin, and malevolent place. Moreover, after the coffin is sunk, it cannot be offered incense by descendants.

After many years, when the time comes for the evil spirit to emerge from the coffin, one can become a wandering master.

The steps of sinking and sealing the coffin alone cannot be done by a dead person alone; someone must help, and this person must also understand some of the ways of magic and witchcraft, otherwise it is very likely that improper operation will lead to failure.

After listening, Tong Chuan said, "There isn't much information about our great-grandfather in the clan records. I can't be sure if he was involved with the Fajiao and Wumen sects. Our Tong family has its own lineage, which comes from the Lingbao Temple of Emei Mountain. It's an orthodox Emei Taoist lineage. There are so many cultivation methods in our clan that we can't even learn them all. It's unlikely that we would switch to Fajiao..."

"That's not right."

At this moment, Chen Yang suddenly spoke up, “I once heard my uncle mention that he had a senior brother named Tong Chen, who was from your Tong family. When he was young, he and my uncle practiced together at Erlang Temple, which was the nominal ancestral temple of the Fajiao Wumen in Shu at that time.”

Chen Yang suddenly remembered this person.

When Chen Yang inquired about the "Three-One-Five Tooth Classic", it was his uncle who told him that when he was young, a senior brother named Tong Chen had told him that the Tong family's "Qi Observation Technique" was derived from the "Three-One-Five Tooth Classic".

That's why Chen Yang sought out Tong Xin to inquire about the "Art of Qi Observation," which led to many subsequent events.

"he?"

Tong Chuan was taken aback upon hearing this.

"What, you're not saying the Tong family doesn't have this person?" Chen Yang raised an eyebrow, already considering whether to hypnotize him again.

Tong Chuan came to his senses and shook his head. "Tong Chen is my third brother, but he has been dead for many years. When Erlang Temple was destroyed, he was killed by Yang Dongguan in that fire. He was not even thirty years old when he died. Because of this, we almost had a major conflict with the Yang family. Later, the authorities intervened and mediated, and the Yang family made some compensation to settle the matter."

……

Xuan Jing asked, "Is Tong Chen's grave here too?"

"Ah."

Tong Chuan led the three to another grave in the corner. "Back then, the Erlang Temple was burned to a crisp, and the bodies were unrecognizable. It's impossible for a family to just bury a body in the ancestral grave, so this is also a cenotaph."

Before Chen Yang and the others could speak, Tong Chuan began to explain.

It is also a cenotaph.

Chen Yang used his mental power to probe into the tomb, and sure enough, it was empty.

This……

"Since the body is unrecognizable, how did you confirm that he was dead?" Chen Yang asked.

Hearing this, Tong Chuan was somewhat speechless.

He said with a wry smile, "There were survivors at Erlang Temple. Some of them saw Third Brother being beaten to death by Yang Dongguan. And even if their words are questionable, so many years have passed. If Third Brother were still alive, how could he not contact his family?"

This left Chen Yang speechless.

If the body cannot be identified, it can only be considered missing. However, if the missing person has been missing for a certain period of time, the person will be legally considered dead.

If you insist that they didn't die, then you're really just arguing for the sake of arguing.

Xuan Jing asked, "What kind of person is this Tong Chen?"

Tong Chuan said, "My third brother is indeed an oddball. He is quite talented and is considered one of the best among our generation. However, he has never been interested in our family's martial arts since he was a child. Instead, he prefers to study the teachings of the Dharma. At first, my grandfather and father were very opposed to it, but later they somehow changed their minds and sent him to Erlang Temple..."

“I was only eight years old when he left home, and he was only twelve or thirteen. We rarely saw each other after that, and I didn’t have a deep impression of him until he died at Erlang Temple…”

……

After leaving Luerping, the group returned to Tongjia'ao, where Tong Yaohua had already retrieved the information.

On the first floor of the library, several people were looking through the files on Tong Bai and Tong Chen.

The content is indeed pitifully little.

But both of them are indeed suspicious, as neither of them has been found dead.

Chen Yang pinched his chin and brainstormed.

"The White Python Devouring Evil Formation must be related to Tong Bai. This man died a violent death on Pengzu Mountain. Is it possible that he cultivated himself into a wandering master?"

"This Tong Chen, why would he abandon his family's heritage and insist on studying at the Law Sect and the Witchcraft Sect? What future can he have? Just for fun? Probably not. I think he probably knows about his ancestors and wants to control the powerful force of the Wandering Army..."

"If that's the case, then I think that at least this Tong Chen is probably still alive. When Erlang Temple was destroyed, he might not have died. Perhaps he escaped and hid."

"Is it possible that the person who sounded the horn at Corpse Eye Pool yesterday was Tong Chen?"

……

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(End of this chapter)