People worship their ancestors: I'm just burning some paper money, how did I become a Taoist ma

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Looking at Zhou Lingsu's gentle and dignified face in the photo, Li Mu felt a chill run down his spine.

A woman, under the guise of traditional culture, established a spiritual society that infiltrated the upper echelons of society, secretly engaging in the business of raising ghosts and harming people.

"And Zhou Maolin? He's from a branch of the Zhou family, and what role does he play in this industry chain?"

Shen Xiao spread a piece of paper on the table, picked up a pen and drew a few circles on it, then connected them with lines.

"Zhou Maolin was in charge of distributing 'magical artifacts' like the bronze tree. He's been in the antique business for twenty-three years, and the connections and channels he's built up are enough to let these things slip into the homes of wealthy people in Tianhai City without anyone noticing." Shen Xiao circled the name "Zhou Maolin," "But he's just a pawn; the one who's really playing the game is Zhou Lingsu."

"Where's Sun Zhiming?" Li Mu asked. "What's his job in this bureau?"

"Sun Zhiming is Zhou Lingsu's financial backer and her spokesperson in the business world." Shen Xiao crossed out Sun Zhiming's name. "Zhiyuan Group invests tens of millions of yuan in the Lingxiu Association every year, and Sun Zhiming himself is a devout follower of Zhou Lingsu. When he organizes business association gatherings and invites entrepreneurs from Dongcheng District to participate, he is essentially helping Zhou Lingsu select targets."

Li Mu leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest.

"What happens after you choose your target?"

"After selecting a target, Zhou Maolin's men would set up a stall in Qingxi Ancient Town, waiting for the younger generation of the target family to come to their door. Those children thought they had just happened to like the jar, but in fact, someone was deliberately guiding them. Once the jar entered the house, the evil spirits would start causing trouble."

"What's your purpose?" Li Mu pressed. "To scare them? To extort money?"

Shen Xiao shook his head, pulled out a yellowed photo from the bottom of the document, and pushed it in front of Li Mu.

The photo showed a huge bronze tree, more than ten times larger than the one he had seen in Shen Yi's villa. Its branches were covered with bells, numbering at least a thousand at a glance.

"This is something enshrined in the Zhou family ancestral hall." Shen Xiao's voice was very low. "One hundred and twenty years ago, Zhou Yan imprisoned hundreds of souls in Tianhai and forged the first bronze soul bell tree. But his real purpose was not that tree, but to use it as an experiment to create a prototype for this large one."

Li Mu stared at the huge bronze tree in the photo, a chill running down his spine.

"Where is the big one?"

"I don't know." Shen Xiao shook his head. "One hundred and twenty years ago, when the Xuanmen was investigating Zhou Yan, this large bronze tree disappeared along with Zhou Yan. Some say it was taken away, some say it was hidden somewhere. But one thing is certain—most of the bells on this tree are empty."

Li Mu's pupils contracted slightly.

"Empty? You mean...?"

"Everything Zhou Lingsu is doing now—selling jars, raising ghost children, scattering bronze trees—is most likely all to 'replenish' this giant bronze tree." Shen Xiao's voice carried a hint of coldness. "Every time she successfully transforms a soul into a ghost child, she injects it into the bells of the giant bronze tree. Once all the bells are full, she can initiate a certain ritual, and what will happen then is anyone's guess..."

Li Mu remained silent for a long time.

He remembered the words the City God had asked Master Zhao to tell him—not a single bell on the tree could ring.

Think about it, perhaps the City God already knew about this.

"The Xuanmen you mentioned," Li Mu looked up at Shen Xiao, "does it still exist?"

Shen Xiao gave a wry smile and shook his head.

"One hundred and twenty years ago, the Xuanmen sent my great-grandfather to Tianhai to deal with Zhou Yan's affairs. Less than ten years after my great-grandfather's failure, the Xuanmen disintegrated. Its lineage was broken, its scriptures were lost, and its disciples went their separate ways. What exactly happened to the Xuanmen at that time remains unknown!"

"I've met many people who call themselves Taoist priests or masters. When they perform rituals, they burn incense, light candles, chant scriptures, and draw talismans, doing each step very well, but it has no real effect. Their talismans are just paper, their incantations are just words, and it's as if they didn't do anything at all."

Shen Xiao stood up, walked up to Li Mu, and looked intently into his eyes.

"But Master Li, you are different. Your methods are all real and effective. In every case you have handled, the souls of the dead have either been taken away or sent away, and the problems have all been solved."

"My great-grandfather's notes say that in true Taoist practice, the talisman paper will 'shine' when drawn and the heavens and earth will 'respond' when incantations are chanted. This is the basic mark of a disciple of the Xuanmen sect. In the past 120 years, you are the first person in the Tianhai region to make the talisman paper shine."

Hearing Shen Xiao's words, Li Mu fell silent for a moment. Although he didn't say much, the information he conveyed was enormous!

Li Mu stood up, walked to the window, looked at the few pedestrians on the antique street outside, and fell into deep thought.

After waiting for a moment, Li Mu slowly turned around and asked.

"Tell me everything else you have, as much as you can. I also need to close the gap on the information I currently have!"

Shen Xiao opened the stack of documents and pointed them out to Li Mu page by page.

"This is a record of Zhou Lingsu's spiritual retreat activities. She holds lectures every Wednesday evening at the Tianhai Hotel and meditation classes every Saturday afternoon at a mountain resort in the suburbs. The participants are all prominent figures in Tianhai City, and each person's annual membership fee starts at 200,000 yuan."

"This is a record of antique transactions handled by Zhou Maolin over the past five years. It took me three months to obtain this list. Among them, seventeen items were traded to Sun Zhiming or his associates. Of these seventeen items, at least ten, like the bronze tree, are magical artifacts imbued with evil energy."

"This is a list of all the properties and land under Sun Zhiming's name. One of them is very special - the entire forest behind Dongshan Village in Qingxi Town, including the mass grave ditch, was bought by Zhiyuan Group three years ago under the name of 'ecological agricultural development'."

Li Mu's gaze lingered on the last item.

"Did Zhiyuan Group buy a mass grave?"

"Yes. It's nominally for ecological agriculture, but in reality, nothing has been done on that land since it was bought. There's been no development, no construction; it's just been left to lie fallow."

Li Mu recalled the large stone with runes carved on it in the mass grave ditch, and the dark red silk threads wrapped around it.

That stone was the key point of the array set up by Zhou Yan 120 years ago, and Zhou Lingsu bought that land 3 years ago.

At this moment, Li Mu looked at Shen Xiao again!

"To be honest, these things don't really concern you much, and they won't have much impact on you, so why are you paying so much attention?"

After listening to Li Mu's words, Shen Xiao remained silent for a while, then took out an old cloth bag from the deepest part of the drawer.

Opening the cloth bag, inside was a yellowed handwritten book, the writing on the cover already blurred and illegible.

"These are my great-grandfather's notes." Shen Xiao handed the handwritten copy to Li Mu. "On the last page, he wrote a sentence."

Li Mu turned to the last page.

The paper was yellowed and brittle, with some crumbs at the edges. But the writing was still legible, each stroke written with extreme force, as if carved with the last of its strength:

"Zhou Yan is not dead, and the evil weapon is not destroyed. Future generations will surely eliminate this scourge."

Below that was a line of smaller text, the characters even fainter, as if the person had run out of strength:

"The Shen family has sworn this oath for generations."

Li Mu closed the handwritten copy and returned it to Shen Xiao.

"So you're fulfilling your ancestor's dying wish?"

"I guess so. But it's mostly out of meddling and joining in the fun to do good deeds for myself." Shen Xiao rewrapped the cloth bag and put it back in the deepest part of the drawer.

Li Mu was silent for a moment, then took out a business card from his pocket and handed it to Shen Xiao.

"My phone number is on here. Contact me anytime if you make any new discoveries."

Shen Xiao took the business card, glanced at it, and carefully put it into his wallet.