The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 229 The Secrets of the Ancient Tomb (Part Two)

Wu Chengyu stared speechlessly at the mural in front of him. It was indeed 90% similar to the one in the training room. But why was it Yang Zhuzi, the founder of the Quanxing School?

Wu Chengyu suddenly realized that ever since he met Master Mo, his connection with Quanxing had never been severed. His fundamental skill was the nameless divine skill passed down by Quanxing, but he had modified it based on the bamboo slips to make it more suitable for this era and for himself.

However, this improved nameless divine skill, in the end, bears the traces of Quanxing from head to toe, and cannot escape the Quanxing's constraints at all. Judging from martial arts alone, Wu Chengyu is a thorough successor of Quanxing.

However, after arriving in this world, apart from Master Mo, Wu Chengyu never encountered another Quanxing Daoist. It was as if the Quanxing Daoist sect had long since disappeared in this world. Apart from occasionally reading the Quanxing Daoist Scripture, he never considered himself a Quanxing.

Before seeing this mural, Wu Chengyu had almost forgotten the existence of Quanxing.

As for why there is a portrait of Yang Zhuzi in the Tomb of the Living Dead, Wu Chengyu can understand it quite well. Wang Chongyang was a man of great magnanimity. Since he could integrate the thoughts of Buddhism and Confucianism into his own doctrines, and Yang Zhuzi was, after all, a sage of Taoism, Wang Chongyang could certainly tolerate him.

However, Wu Chengyu found it hard to accept that he had run into Quanxing again. It seemed that he had never gotten rid of Quanxing and that he was already inextricably entangled with them in the dark.

Wu Chengyu took a few deep breaths, calmed his mind, and drove Quanxing out of his head.

Wang Chongyang would never have inexplicably carved the name of the Quanxing Patriarch on the ceiling of the two training rooms. He was the orthodox patriarch of the Quanzhen School of Taoism and had no relation to the Quanxing School, even if the doctrines of Quanxing existed within the Quanzhen School.

But that's how Taoism is. Every Taoist sect suppresses Quanxing, yet every Taoist sect also absorbs some of Quanxing's ideas. Quanxing is like a delicious dish that is divided and eaten, and then thrown into the dustbin of history.

Therefore, the image of Yang Zhuzi on the ceiling of the practice room must be related to the mural in front of us.

Wu Chengyu focused all his attention on the mural, first creating a three-dimensional image so that the mural would be fully imprinted in his mind for careful observation. At first, he gained nothing, but then he had a flash of inspiration and entered a state of profound insight.

With the combined support of three-dimensional images and a keen eye for detail, he finally discovered some clues.

The portrait depicts Yang Zhuzi with a smile on his face and one hand on his chest. This mural is a relief, so this hand protrudes from the stone wall.

With his other hand level with the mural, he made a sword-finger gesture and pointed in another direction. Suddenly, Wu Chengyu thought of the Buddha statue in Lin Pingzhi's sunny old house in The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. He also found the Sunflower Manual by pointing in the direction of the finger. So he looked in the direction that Yang Zhuzi's index and middle fingers were pointing.

At the end of the road, around the corner, there was a stone candlestick embedded in the wall. Wu Chengyu walked over and examined it closely, discovering that the candlestick had not been used for a long time and was covered in dust.

The woman in the ancient tomb seemed to be very comfortable in the dark environment; at least in these passages of the tomb, there were many candlesticks, but they were never lit on ordinary days.

These candlesticks come in various shapes, and the one in front of us even looks more like an incense burner.

Wu Chengyu reached out and pressed the candlestick, but it didn't move. Then he carefully examined the incense burner, which was about the size of a fist. The middle part was engraved with patterns that looked like talismans, but Wu Chengyu couldn't recognize what kind of talisman it was.

He reached out and grabbed the talisman section, immediately discovering that it could rotate, but only counter-clockwise. However, perhaps due to its long period of disuse, it was extremely difficult to rotate. Fortunately, Wu Chengyu's strength far exceeded that of ordinary people; he used a full 30% of his strength, equivalent to 300 jin (approximately 150 kg), to finally rotate the talisman section to its end.

Unfortunately, he vaguely heard some noise, but could only be sure that it came from inside the stone wall. However, he couldn't pinpoint the direction of the sound, and the sound disappeared after only a few breaths. Nothing had changed in the passage he was in.

Could it be that the mechanisms malfunctioned due to the passage of time? No, that doesn't make sense either. Wang Chongyang hasn't been dead for many years. When those ancient tombs were excavated, many of the mechanisms were still functioning. This Tomb of the Living Dead has only existed for a few decades at most.

When Wang Chongyang built the ancient tomb, he spent a lot of manpower and resources, so it was impossible for it to become ineffective so quickly.

Wu Chengyu carefully observed the three-dimensional image again but still found nothing. In desperation, he went to the portrait of Yang Zhuzi.

Looking at Yang Zhuzi's smile in the portrait, there is a hint of worldly wisdom and a touch of sarcasm, as if he is mocking the world for not being able to comprehend the true meaning of Quanxing and for not understanding his magnanimity. Just like what Master Mo said on his deathbed, they have all misread the true scriptures.

Over the years, Wu Chengyu has studied the Quanxing Daojing (Complete Nature Daoist Scripture) and gained some understanding of its doctrines. It is not selfish at all; in Wu Chengyu's view, it emphasizes following one's own heart.

Thinking of this, he looked at Yang Zhuzi's hand on his chest and realized that something seemed to have changed.

The mural was covered in dust, and Wu Chengyu hadn't touched it. But when he turned back, some of the dust on his hand seemed to have fallen off. If he hadn't reached the level of microscopic perception, he wouldn't have been able to notice this slight change.

Wu Chengyu had a sudden inspiration and reached out to press down on the hand protruding from the stone wall. At first, it did not move at all, but Wu Chengyu could feel that there was a gap between his hand and the stone wall. He had not discovered this gap in his three-dimensional diagram before turning the candlestick.

He channeled his inner energy into Yang Zhuzi's hand, which was resting on his chest. Soon, the hand seemed to come alive. The originally open palm gradually transformed into a certain Taoist hand seal. Then, the entire mural slowly retreated a foot and moved to the right. Soon, a door of the same size as the mural appeared on the wall.

Good heavens, a putrid smell immediately emanated from the cave behind the mural. This cave had been closed for who knows how many years, and it was filled with foul air.

After most of the turbid air had dissipated, Wu Chengyu stopped waiting, used the Turtle Grandson Technique to expel the turbid air, and entered the cave directly.

The cave was not large, about ten square meters in modern units of measurement. There was a table against the wall directly opposite, with a pair of memorial tablets on it.

The memorial tablet on the left reads: "The memorial tablet of my humble husband, Wang Zhongfu," and the memorial tablet on the right reads: "The memorial tablet of my beloved wife, Lin Chaoying."

Good heavens! Wu Chengyu exclaimed inwardly several times. He knew that Wang Zhongfu was Wang Chongyang's secular name, and Chongyang was his Taoist name after he began practicing Taoism.

It turns out that after Lin Chaoying's death, Wang Chongyang arranged a mourning hall for himself and Lin Chaoying in this secret room that no one knew about.

What's this all about? Can't share a bed in life, but can share a grave in death?

(End of this chapter)