In Panjiayuan, the first thing they did was trick Lao Hu into going tomb raiding.

The three of them crossed the bridge and came to a stone gate. The stone gate was not closed, but left with a small gap.

The only mechanism installed in the Zhang Family Ancient Building was a poison gas machine, so Su Mo did not hesitate at all and pushed the door open to enter.

"There's something strange about this layout."

Upon entering, they saw a long corridor with rooms on both sides, which inexplicably reminded them of a mortuary where corpses were kept.

When Wu Xie randomly opened one of the doors, he actually saw a coffin, and the coffins inside were all very special.

"Who exactly is this person from the Zhang family inside?" Xiao Hua stepped forward and turned the flashlight to its brightest setting. Seeing that the coffin inside seemed to be open, Wu Xie's curiosity was piqued. Despite feeling uneasy, he still stepped forward, as if a strange force was pushing him to open the coffin lid.

"Master Su, shall we open the coffin?"

Wu Xie instinctively asked Su Mo for his opinion, "I think if we open it, we might be able to get some important information. After all, this is the Zhang Family Ancient Building, and all the secrets and truths are here!"

"People in ancient times particularly liked to take secrets with them in their coffins..."

"Whether in material form or written form, even a corpse could be the ultimate truth behind a secret, let alone a large family like the Zhang family, the most mysterious family in thousands of years!"

From the Lu Palace to the Zhang Family Ancient Building, every adventure and tomb raiding Wu Xie has experienced has been inextricably linked to the Zhang family. He is eager to know the answers, and the closer he gets, the less he can control his curiosity.

Upon arriving at the Zhang Family Ancient Building, Wu Xie not only sought to uncover the origins of the mute Zhang, but also made no secret of his own desire to know the truth.

“This is actually the burial site of the Zhang family, and it took so many years of painstaking construction. Placed in such a mysterious and secluded location, everything here must be a clue.” Xiao Hua agreed to open the coffin.

Su Mo thought about it and agreed with their point of view, because he knew that the person in the coffin was not an ordinary member of the Zhang family.

The three of them walked into the room together.

Xie Xiaohua said, "I don't know who opened the coffin lid. Judging from the marks, it shouldn't have been Xiao Ge and the others..."

As he spoke, Xiao Hua took out his wooden stick and carefully examined the dust marks on the coffin lid.

It's obvious that this wasn't newly opened.

Su Mo naturally sensed something amiss. "It's been a long time; it must have been that funeral procession, the year Zhang Tata and the others came in..."

With a little force, Su Mo flipped the coffin lid aside.

Dust billowed up in the flashlight beam, and a stench of decay filled the air. Su Mo held his breath, while Wu Xie and Xie Xiaohua covered their mouths and noses.

The three of them lowered their heads and looked inside the coffin at the same time.

What came into view was a corpse that had long since decomposed, with dry skin and ribs stuck together, like a dehydrated mummy, and white, cotton-like lint on its clothes.

The putrid smell comes from these things.

"I thought the Zhang family would do some embalming, but it turned out to be a very ordinary burial; they just put the body in a coffin and didn't care..."

"They emphasize mass burial, but judging from the degree of decomposition of these corpses, they should be less than two hundred years old!"

Su Mo drew his Crimson Sky Sword and lifted the rotting clothes, only to find there were no burial items. So he simply flipped the coffin lid over.

Just as he expected, there was a clear line of text on it!

Chapter 468: The Ancestors of the Zhang Family

Su Mo drew his Crimson Sky Sword and lifted the rotting clothes, only to find there were no burial items. So he simply flipped the coffin lid over.

Just as he expected, there was a clear line of text on it!

Wu Xie exclaimed in surprise, "He's also named Zhang Qiling!"

The coffin lid had a few lines of text, three very conspicuous characters: Zhang Qiling.

Wu Xie and Xiao Hua opened their eyes wide and looked at the next few lines of text, discovering that it introduced this person's status in the Zhang family.

"So he was also a clan leader, and his original name was Zhang Ruitong!"

Besides Zhang Qiling's name, they also learned the original name of the coffin's owner, and that's how they found out who this person was.

Su Mo smiled and said, "He is Zhang Dafoye's grandfather!"

"Master Zhang the Great Buddha?"

Wu Xie and Xiao Hua were somewhat surprised to hear this.

Wu Xie raised an eyebrow, "I remember that Buddha isn't a pure Zhang family bloodline, is he?"

Regarding Zhang Dafoye's background, Wu Xie, Xiao Hua, and other younger generations had only heard about it occasionally from others and didn't know much. It seemed that someone was deliberately hiding it from them.

Su Mo explained, "Because Zhang Dafoye's father eloped with a woman from another ethnic group, and that's how Zhang Dafoye came to be..."

"When he was eight years old, he was still removed from the Zhang family, so his father took him from Northeast China to Changsha!"

As Su Mo spoke, he looked at the inscription on the coffin lid, "All the patriarchs of the Zhang family are named Zhang Qiling. Go to the next room and open it; the name on it is definitely Zhang Qiling!"

Wu Xie and Xiao Hua couldn't wait to verify it, so they immediately went to the next room and pried open the coffin lid.

Sure enough, a mummified corpse appeared, its clothes rotten, and even white things were growing on its body. The coffin lid also had Zhang Qiling written on it, and it introduced him as the clan leader before him.

Moreover, because the coffin lid was well preserved, there was a simple biographical introduction, including the person's life story, how long they served in the clan, the relationship between three generations of relatives, how many coffins they had excavated, and what contributions they had made to the Zhang family. It was all very detailed.

As they read, Xiao Hua and Wu Xie realized something was amiss. They were surprised to discover that these clan leaders had served for over a century.

Xiao Hua exclaimed, "Holy crap, based on these timelines, they're all over three hundred years old?"

Wu Xie exclaimed in surprise, "Are all members of the Zhang family this long-lived? No wonder... when my third uncle met him, he was still so young. Could it be? What's the secret to the Zhang family's longevity?"

Su Mo looked down and realized that these people were not immortals.

After the Ming and Qing dynasties, no more Earth Immortals existed!

This is the result of Su Mo and Blind Chen's joint deduction.

Feng Shigu of the Guanshan Taibao lineage plotted for many years to achieve the status of an Earth Immortal, even sacrificing the entire Qingxi Town with living people as funerary sacrifices, but in the end, he still failed at the last hurdle.

This shows how difficult it is to become a "terrestrial immortal".

Besides Su Mo, the only other earth immortal whose history can be traced back to is Zhang Junbao of Wudang during the Song and Yuan dynasties. He was known as the "Hidden Immortal" and lived for more than three hundred years.

Earthly immortals can live for three hundred years, but the Zhang family has lived for hundreds of years simply by virtue of their bloodline. No wonder the people of "It Organization" have their eyes on this place.

Compared to achieving immortality, those humans who hold power and stand at the top of the food chain are more interested in exploring the secrets of the Zhang Family Ancient Building.

"Look, it says on it that their father and mother both have the surname Zhang, so they are actually all members of the Zhang family!"

The names of all the relatives across three generations were clearly written on the other coffin, and the clan chief's wife also had the surname Zhang.

Wu Xie smiled. "So that's how it is. Little Brother is Zhang Qiling. I wonder what his name was before?"

Xiaohua was speechless. "How come your thought process is so clear? Shouldn't you be concerned about the aftereffects of such incest? And why do they insist on intermarriage within their clan? What secrets force them to do this?"

Based on this series of events, it can be concluded that the Zhang family possesses the greatest secret. To prevent this secret from leaking out, all members of the Zhang family intermarry within the clan.

At this moment, Wu Xie seemed to realize something, "Consanguineous marriage goes against nature and human ethics, no wonder so many members of the Zhang family have illnesses, including Xiao Ge. Xiao Ge also frequently suffers from amnesia..."

"Hiss... Could it be that the entire Zhang family has a certificate of soul loss??"

Wu Xie gasped, "I can't believe such a family could exist for thousands of years..."

Su Mo shook his head. "Not everyone will develop Soul Loss Syndrome. It depends on the purity of their bloodline. Young Master's Qilin blood appeared during the period when the Zhang family was falling apart, making it the purest and most powerful..."

Su Mo knew that Zhang the Mute's mother was not a member of the Zhang family; she was Tibetan, and Zhang the Mute was not related by blood.

Su Mo continued, "There are also factional struggles within them. The former patriarch of the Zhang family, Zhang Dafoye's grandfather, Zhang Ruitong, actually died in an internal struggle, and his death was very sudden, without any opportunity for handover. Young Master took over as patriarch, presumably only because of his Qilin blood!"

Because Zhang, who is mute, often suffers from amnesia, he does not know what the core secret of the Zhang family is.

He had no idea what the core of control of the Zhang family was.

As Su Mo spoke, he led Wu Xie and Xie Xiaohua to the third room, where the three of them opened the coffin again.

However, before opening the coffin, they first looked at the contents on the coffin lid, which gave them a better understanding of the Zhang family.

Wu Xie understood. "So the Northeast region is the Zhang family's stronghold. The Chessboard Zhangs are the core branch, and the others are just branches!"

After piecing together the text, Wu Xie finally understood the gist of it. "Xiao Ge must belong to the Chessboard Zhang lineage, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to become the clan leader. Even though the Zhang family's clan system has declined, as long as there are still people, the position of clan leader wouldn't be so hastily filled!"

Su Mo nodded, thinking of Zhang Rishan, Zhang Dafoye, and the Zhang family overseas.

The world is truly unpredictable. Now, only Xiao Ge remains of the clan leader's lineage. Over the years, Zhang Qiling has suffered a lot and wandered from place to place, while the people of these branches are doing very well.

"But do you think this body is different from the others? I have a feeling it's been disturbed..."

Xiaohua pointed to a mark next to the corpse in the coffin.

Because severe decay produces dust, any removal of anything from inside will inevitably leave traces.

Even a novice tomb raider would understand this principle.

The first two coffins they opened had no burial goods, but the third coffin seemed to contain some.

Several marks were found under the clothes.

"There should be a knife or a sword placed in this spot..."

Xie Xiaohua analyzed, "And here, it looks like there are two round... or rather, ring-shaped things placed here!"

Su Mo said in a deep voice, "The Black Gold Ancient Sword! This is where the Black Gold Ancient Sword is kept!"

Chapter 469: Corpse Transformation

"There should be a knife or a sword placed in this spot..."

Xie Xiaohua analyzed, "And here, it looks like there are two round... or rather, ring-shaped things placed here!"

Su Mo said in a deep voice, "The Black Gold Ancient Sword! This is where the Black Gold Ancient Sword is kept!"

Wu Xie looked down, startled, and exclaimed, "My God! This length is indeed Brother's Black Gold Ancient Sword. It will definitely fit perfectly when placed down... But look at these marks, they must be from many years ago. Brother only got his hands on the Black Gold Ancient Sword last year..."

"Could it be two ancient black gold swords? The one the young man has isn't from here..."

Su Mo smiled slightly, "How did you obtain the Black Gold Ancient Sword, young man?"

Wu Xie knew the answer to this question, of course, so he blurted out without hesitation, "It was a gift from my third uncle. He specially gave it to me so that I could ask Xiao Ge for help..."

"..."

As he was talking, Wu Xie fell silent. He remembered something else: his third uncle had participated in the funeral procession in Banna. If the Black Gold Ancient Sword was taken from the Zhang Family Ancient Building by his third uncle, then all the causes and consequences would make sense.

Su Mo said, "Although I don't know the real truth, this is the most reasonable explanation: it was Wu Sansheng who brought the Black Gold Ancient Sword out of the Zhang Family Ancient Building back then..."

Xie Xiaohua then asked, "What are these two ring-shaped things? They're about the size of bracelets, so they look like jewelry..."