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

Chapter 753 Stone Spirit Awakens, A Century of Cause and Effect!
Once the brain starts racing, it's impossible to stop.

Chen Yang felt as if he had grasped something important, and by following the clues, many vague details seemed to become clear.

Xuan Jing and Zhou Mingyuan also felt that Chen Yang's guess made a lot of sense.

But speculation is just speculation, and there is no evidence to prove its authenticity.

Chen Yang asked Xuan Jing, "Master, did Tong Bai really die on Pengzu Mountain back then?"

“I wasn’t there at the time, but it’s probably true. A lot of people died that time for the so-called treasure. Afterwards, the Grand Elders’ Association verified the identities of all the dead. At that time, seven or eight out of ten people in Panshan, Shu had joined the Grand Elders’ Association. The power of the Grand Elders’ Association and the number of experts were beyond imagination. It was absolutely impossible for this person to fake his death under the noses of so many powerful people…” Xuan Jing said.

Upon hearing this, Chen Yang asked with some curiosity, "Seven or eight out of ten have joined the Council of Elders? Isn't that a bit exaggerated?"

"Ha, is that an exaggeration? Not at all?"

Xuan Jing shook his head. "Back then, the Grand Elders' Association was under the banner of saving the country, and countless people in the cultivation world of Shu responded. Let me put it this way, I also joined the Grand Elders' Association back then and was a member of the Gelaohui for a while..."

"Uh……"

Chen Yang paused upon hearing this, looking at Xuan Jing with a strange expression.

More than a hundred years ago, Xuanjing, the Grand Secretary's Association, and the Gelaohui?
He found it hard to connect the words "Xuanjing" and "Pao Ge" (a secret society).

Influenced by some movies and TV shows, Chen Yang's impression of the Gelaohui (袍哥) was that they were gangsters, bandits, robbers, and hoodlums.

Zhou Mingyuan said, "Back then, the power of the Grand Elders' Association was indeed unparalleled. Master Xuanjing's words were not an exaggeration at all, especially in the Luoshan and Emei areas, where there were secret societies everywhere..."

Of course, that's not the point. The point is about Tong Bai himself.

But with so little information, they can only make unfounded guesses.

Chen Yang took a deep breath; there was someone who could give them a definite answer.

Stone Spirit!

Shi Ling has lived for so long and has been entangled with the Tong family's grievances for so many years, so he should know the Tong family's affairs best.

Given her level of understanding, she couldn't possibly be unaware of the existence of wandering monks in Dawa Mountain.

At that moment, Tong Yaohua rushed in from outside.

But when he saw Xuan Jing and Zhou Mingyuan, he hesitated.

The unnatural aura emanating from the two individuals, though unintentional, was enough to exert immense psychological pressure on ordinary people.

"Is something the matter?" Xuan Jing asked.

Tong Yaohua quickly bowed and said, "Seniors, I've come to tell Chen Yang that Tong Xin has woken up!"

"Oh?"

The three of them were startled.

If Tong Xin has awakened, it means that Shi Ling should also awaken. Shi Ling should be able to give them the answers they want.

That was just in time.

……

-

Tongxin's Home.

Tong Xin was indeed awake, but he seemed a little different. He sat on the edge of the bed in the room, his demeanor somewhat cold, as if he didn't care about anyone.

All the mother knew was that her son had woken up, and the collapsed sky had risen again. Overjoyed, she wept tears of joy.

Tong Chuan stood at the door, looking somewhat worried.

He had already discovered the problem; the one who had awakened was probably not his grandson, but rather the being within Tong Xin's body.

He wanted to have a proper talk with the other person, but the other person's aloofness and the invisible pressure emanating from their soul made it impossible for him to take a step.

Left with no other choice, he had to ask Tong Yaohua to invite someone.

In the room, Tong Xin sat cross-legged on the edge of the bed with her eyes closed, seemingly meditating and resting.

Tong's mother placed a bowl of chicken soup beside him, but he ignored it completely.

When Chen Yang arrived, there were many clansmen outside the room, but they were all stopped at the door and not allowed to enter.

"Chen Yang, come in! Everyone else, get out!"

A child's clear, bright voice came from inside the room.

roll?
Tong Chuan's face twitched slightly, and the rest of the Tong family members were all displeased upon hearing this.

What is this child saying?

Everyone came to visit him out of concern for his condition, but this guy not only refused to see them, he even told them to get lost.
So rude.

"let's go."

Tong Chuan roughly understood what was going on, so he asked Chen Yang for help and then called everyone downstairs.

Tong Chuan still held considerable authority in the Tong family, and everyone came downstairs.

Xuan Jing and Zhou Mingyuan waited downstairs.

Chen Yang was the only one left upstairs. He pushed open the door and went inside.

In the room, Tong Xin opened her eyes and looked at him.

Those eyes were so deep that Chen Yang felt as if he were naked, completely exposed to them, and that they could see right through him.

The two were only about two meters apart, and the room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop; the atmosphere was eerie and oppressive.

The person in front of me is definitely not a child.

Chen Yang chuckled dryly, "Senior Shi Ling?"

If it's not childlike innocence, then the only one who can control this body is the Stone Spirit.

Shi Ling nodded slightly. "You're the one who saved me?"

Although she had been in a state of spiritual dormancy for some time, she regained some consciousness after last night, and she was aware of Chen Yang replenishing her spiritual energy this morning.

"Ah."

Chen Yang did not deny it, but asked directly, "How is Tong Xin now?"

"You only care about him, but you didn't say you cared about me?" Shi Ling said.

"This……"

Chen Yang paused, Shi Ling's words sounded strange, a little sour, like she was jealous?
"He's fine."

Shi Ling shook her head. "But if you had come a few days later, it would have been uncertain. His mental energy was overexerted, and his consciousness was damaged, but there's nothing seriously wrong. He's currently recuperating and will probably need a few more days to wake up..."

Hearing this, Chen Yang breathed a sigh of relief. "Senior, how is your injury recovery going?"

“My primordial spirit was seriously injured. I thought I would have to sleep forever. Fortunately, you are reliable. Now I have recovered to about 70-80% and am fine. Where did you get so much spiritual energy?” Shi Ling was both relieved and curious.

The spiritual energy she absorbed was considerable, enough to help him repair most of the damage to his primordial spirit. Where did Chen Yang get so much spiritual energy?

Chen Yang just smiled and said, "This is not important. We can talk about it later. Senior, how did you get this injury? Were you injured by those wandering masters?"

Shi Ling was injured on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival while defending against the wandering army in the mountains, but Chen Yang did not know the specifics of how he was injured.

Given Shi Ling's strength and his primordial spirit body, it's somewhat unbelievable that his primordial spirit was injured by You Shi.

After all, those three wandering masters were only at the Creation Realm. Their combat power was indeed fierce, but how could they have the means to injure Shi Ling's primordial spirit?
Chen Yang was very curious about how Shi Ling got injured.

When Chen Yang asked her this, Shi Ling opened up, "That day on the top of Dawa Mountain, the Tong family was suddenly attacked by the barbarians. Tong Xin begged me to help, and I had no choice. If I didn't help, Tong Xin would have died there too. So, I revealed my primordial spirit body and used my primordial spirit energy to repel the barbarians..."

"But when I was withdrawing my primordial spirit, I was suddenly attacked. Someone summoned a bolt of lightning that struck my primordial spirit, severely injuring me. I only had time to withdraw my primordial spirit before I fell into hibernation due to my severe injuries. After that, I have no memory of what happened."

……

"Thunder magic?" Chen Yang frowned slightly.

To be able to summon thunder in a dry season, one must be a master of thunder magic.

Chen Yang subconsciously thought of the wandering master who was undergoing tribulation. That wandering master knew thunder magic and had a high level of cultivation. When he was undergoing tribulation, he even directly used the energy of the heavenly tribulation as his own attack method.

"Yes, Leifa."

Shi Ling nodded, her expression serious. "Besides, I roughly know who this person is."

"Oh? Who?" Chen Yang immediately asked.

Shi Ling said, "An old geezer from the Tong family, Tong Chen!"

Chen Yang paused upon hearing this.

He had assumed it was the wandering master named Wang Xuance, but he hadn't expected Shi Ling to directly mention Tong Chen's name.

Tong Chen?
Chen Yang frowned slightly.

So, my previous guess was right. Tong Chen from the Tong family is indeed still alive?

He hurriedly sought advice from Shi Ling, for Shi Ling was probably the only one who could answer his questions.

She certainly knows more about the Tong family than Tong Chuan does.

“Right now, forcibly using his body is taking a huge toll on my mental energy,” Shi Ling said.

Chen Yang paused for a moment, then understood her meaning. He immediately took out about ten dzi beads and handed them to Shi Ling.

Shi Ling touched the celestial bead, feeling the spiritual energy within it, and was very satisfied.

He immediately started talking and began to tell Chen Yang the whole story.

The actual situation was similar to Chen Yang's guess.

Back then, Tong Chuan's grandfather, Tong Xiao, was still alive, and Shi Ling was still enshrined in the Tong family ancestral hall by Tong Xiao. Before the feud broke off, Shi Ling still knew a fair bit about the Tong family.

Tong Xiao has a grandson named Tong Chen, who is quite intelligent and stands out among his peers, but he is also a bit mischievous.

One day, while playing in the ancestral hall, they climbed onto the roof beams to play hide-and-seek and unexpectedly discovered a box on the roof beams of the Tong family ancestral hall.

The box contained some items, including a letter left by their Tong family ancestors.

The contents of the letter deeply shocked Tong Chen, and afterwards, Tong Chen's personality changed drastically. He often went to Dawa Mountain and later became fascinated with the scriptures of the Fajiao Wumen sect.

Tong Xiao had high hopes for this grandson. Knowing that he was studying witchcraft, he thought he was just ignorant and was furious. He dragged him to the ancestral hall to punish him.

But after Tong Chen showed the letter to Tong Xiao, Tong Xiao's attitude changed. He even contacted the Zhao family of Luoshan and sent Tong Chen to Erlang Temple for further study.

The children of the Treasure-Seeking Boy family, who were perfectly capable, ended up at the Erlang Temple learning to be dukes.

At the time, this was indeed a bit puzzling, and others simply assumed that the Tong family had given up on Tong Chen.

But Shi Ling knew the whole story perfectly well; it all started with the letter that Tong Chen had discovered.

……

More than a hundred years ago, the Pingtian Sect's leader, Shi Zun, was defeated, leaving behind only a few remnants of his army. One of these remnants escaped to Dawa Mountain.

The leader of this group of remnants was named Wang Xuance, a member of the Wang family in southern Fujian and a follower of the Meishan branch of the Fajiao sect.

At that time, this person was just a minor general under Lord Shi, with a cultivation level of only the late stage of the Spirit Realm. He also had three or five deputy generals at the Spirit Realm level and a force of four or five hundred soldiers.

Such a force was not small, and the Tong family had a Creation Realm expert in charge, so they were not afraid.

Originally, the Pingtian Sect and the cultivation community in Sichuan were hostile to each other. In order to wipe out the Pingtian Sect, the cultivation community in Sichuan, led by the Qitian Temple of Emei, fought several bloody battles with the Pingtian Sect.

Logically speaking, as one of the eight major mountain ranges of Panshan, the Tong family should have directly notified Emei to send people to wipe out these remnants.

However, the Tong family did not do that. Instead, they defied public opinion and took in these people, allowing them to set up camp on Dawa Mountain. The Tong family even provided them with food and supplies.

At that time, the old master of the Tong family was named Tong Kui, who was also Tong Bai's father. He had already reached the Creation Realm, but due to some experiences in his early years, he had overdrawn his foundation and his lifespan was severely shortened.

For many years, he had been searching for ways to prolong his life without success, and there was even less hope of breaking through to a higher realm. With the five signs of decay approaching, he was filled with fear of death.

He had heard that the Pingtian Sect members possessed many extraordinary skills, and this Wang Xuance was a member of the Wang family of Minnan, which was a prominent family of the Meishan Witchcraft Clan. He was sure that Wang Xuance knew even more extraordinary witchcraft skills.

This is also why he risked taking in these remnants of the Pingtian Sect.

Tong Kui sought advice from Wang Xuance, and Wang Xuance did not disappoint him, giving him a way out.

……

After Shi Ling finished speaking, Chen Yang had a general idea of ​​what kind of road this was.

That's right, become a wandering master!
Wang Xuance was even more enthusiastic, stating that although Tong Kui was not a member of the Fa Sect, he would help Tong Kui cultivate the body of a wandering master in order to repay the kindness of being taken in.

In this way, immortality is no longer a dream, and one can even possess greater strength.

However, upon becoming a wandering master, one will inevitably become neither human nor ghost, unable to live like an ordinary person. They will be regarded as an outcast, hunted down by the righteous path as evil cultivators. Moreover, influenced by evil and malevolent energy, wandering masters become violent, cruel, and bloodthirsty, easily harming their own loved ones...

Tong Kui really wanted to live. He had finally cultivated to the Creation Realm, but he only had a lifespan of a hundred years. It was such a pity that he died like this.

After much deliberation, Tong Kui decided that it was better to live a miserable life than to die, and ultimately chose the path that Wang Xuance had pointed out to him.

Wang Xuance kept his word and changed the layout of Tongjia'ao, moved the ancestral hall, and set up a White Python Devouring Evil Formation to gather the Yin energy in the mountains, artificially creating an extremely Yin and evil place at the location of the ancestral hall.

Then they arranged for Tong Kui's violent death, and his coffin was sunk in the ground beneath the Tong family ancestral hall.

A year later, Tong Kui broke through the soil.

As expected, he was resurrected from the dead and became a wandering master. Although his cultivation level was still at the Creation Realm, his combat power had greatly increased.

Tong Kui kept the whole thing a secret from almost everyone in the Tong family, except for his son, Tong Bai.

After becoming a wandering master and achieving his wish of gaining power and immortality, Tong Kui's first act was to seek out Wang Xuance.

The purpose was not to express gratitude, but to silence them.

He certainly didn't want word to get out that he had become a wandering monk; otherwise, he would surely face an ambush and slaughter by the righteous path.

Therefore, there is no point in living for Wang Xuance and his group; they must all be eliminated.

And so, a great battle broke out on Mount Dawa.

Although Wang Xuance had anticipated that Tong Kui would betray him after using him, he had prepared a battle formation in advance. Moreover, as a highly skilled practitioner of the Fa Sect, he was able to help Tong Kui become a wandering master, so he naturally had a way to deal with him. He even thought about subduing Tong Kui and using him for his own purposes.

However, he overestimated himself, underestimated Tong Kui, and underestimated the combat power of the wandering monks.

In that battle, Wang Xuance's side suffered heavy losses.

Although Wang Xuance eventually succeeded in subduing Tong Kui, most of his soldiers and generals were killed, several deputy generals at the Spirit Realm were also slaughtered, and even Wang Xuance himself was almost fatally wounded.

Looking at the corpses scattered on the ground and the remaining defeated soldiers, Wang Xuance was overcome with grief and finally made a decision that went against his ancestors' wishes.

He then orchestrated a scheme in the mountains, transforming the Corpse Eye Pool into a highly dangerous place, turning the remnants of his army into a raging force, and transforming himself and several of his lieutenants into wandering warriors.

Later, Tong Kui's son, Tong Bai, noticing that Tong Kui had not returned for a long time, mustered up his courage and went into the mountains to investigate.

As a result, they discovered Wang Xuance's scheme at Corpse Eye Pool, and were so terrified they ran away in a panic.

After escaping home, Tong Bai was filled with anxiety every day. If one day these evil creatures succeeded, wouldn't the Tong family be completely ruined?
The situation was chaotic at the time, and all the sects were too busy to help themselves, so they naturally couldn't look after the Tong family. Tong Bai couldn't find any reinforcements, nor did he dare to.

So, after much thought, this man, in a moment of impulsiveness, came up with a plan: to follow in his father's footsteps.

When Wang Xuance helped his father cultivate the body of a wandering master, although he kept the whole process a secret from the rest of the Tong family, he was involved in it all.

He thought it would be easy; he could just copy what others did.

This man was a simpleton. He naively assumed that once he mastered the body of a wandering master, he could deal with Wang Xuance and his gang.

But he was also afraid of failure, so he left some things on the beam of the ancestral hall, found his son Tong Xiao, gave him a few simple instructions, and then left Tongjia'ao.

Not long after, news came that Tong Bai had died on Pengzu Mountain. His son, Tong Xiao, following his instructions, led a group of people to Pengzu Mountain to bring back his body and prepare to bury it in the Tong family ancestral hall.

However, on the way back, while crossing the Jinkou River, the ferry had an accident, and the coffin fell into the river.

As a result, their plan fell through.

Tong Bai's scheme turned out to be a joke.

Later, the rampant soldiers of Corpse Eye Pool took shape and did cause some trouble, but by then, the Tong family had already worshipped the Stone Spirit.

With the stone spirit's deterrent effect, the Tong family's safety was protected for a period of time.

Unfortunately, Shi Ling entrusted the wrong person. Tong Xiao was a wolf in sheep's clothing. Later, he broke off relations with Shi Ling and forced Shi Ling to pass on his skills to him.

Enraged, Shi Ling also summoned these rampaging soldiers to harass the Tong family, but by then, Tong Xiao's strength had already grown considerably.

Although Wang Xuance successfully cultivated the body of a wandering master, his consciousness had not fully recovered, so he did not settle the score with the Tong family for the grudges of that year.

Tong Xiao, still unsatisfied, was forcibly transferred his power by Shi Ling, and hastily dealt with the Heavenly Tribulation of the Dao True Realm, resulting in his death under the tribulation lightning.

Later, Tong Xiao's son, Tong Xian, who was also Tong Chuan's father, brought the Mountain-Suppressing Stele and placed it outside the valley of Corpse Eye Pool. Perhaps the stele really had some divine power, or perhaps Wang Xuance was too busy cultivating to bother with it. Over the years, things have been peaceful.

(End of this chapter)