Chapter 13 Back to the Ancestral Shrine

With gongs and drums, suonas wailing, and blue and white paper streamers fluttering, the procession made its grand way to the ancestral shrine.

At this moment, Hu Ma couldn't help but raise his head to look. What entered his eyes caused him to freeze in place.

He had heard countless tales of the ancestral shrine, but only now did he truly understand the appearance of this legendary foundation of the Ten Clans.

He saw that it was located north of Shangjing, on elevated terrain that faced away from the imperial city, vaguely forming a yin-yang balance. All around, only dense pines and cypresses grew on the gently sloping land.

Even the stones here, no matter which one you picked up, seemed round and smooth, rarely with sharp or jagged edges. In the large open space in front, ten ancestral halls stood together in a subtle formation.

The ten ancestral halls were all built very tall and large. In theory, they had only been built for about twenty years, but now they possessed an ancient and solemn aura, gloomy and heavy, as if even the sunlight couldn't penetrate.

It was when he arrived here that Hu Ma suddenly realized:

The faint ghostly aura that always permeated Shangjing actually came from these ten ancestral shrines?

In that instant, he even instinctively felt a sense of alarm, but at that moment, he felt a trace of warmth from within the endless gloom.

He suddenly realized where this warmth came from, and his heart softened.

Raising the white banner, he slowly stepped forward. Out of the corner of his eye, he swept past the surrounding ancestral halls and saw that each one had its door only half-closed. He could vaguely see a few memorial tablets inside, but only the one next to the Hu family's was tightly shut.

He understood that this must be the Meng family's.

Before the ancestral hall, an old man with a hunched back was already waiting. He didn't speak, but seemed to carefully size up Hu Ma.

When Hu Ma reached him, the old man took the banner from Hu Ma's hand and handed him a bundle of incense.

Holding the bundle of incense high above his head, Hu Ma came before the ancestral hall and slowly knelt down. He spoke with a voice that seemed to summon all his strength, loudly proclaiming:

"Grandmother, I've brought Father home..."

"..."

He didn't know why, but when he said these words, he inexplicably felt a pang in his heart, and his voice became somewhat choked.

At that same moment, the wind rustled through the mountains and forests. When it reached him, it was gentle.

The smoke from the incense Hu Ma held in his hand drifted past his face.

The old man guarding the ancestral hall raised his eyes and looked ahead. Commoners were not qualified to come before the Ten Clans' ancestral shrine and had long been blocked outside the mountain.

But the Qingyuan Hu family members, the Ren family members, and the Shangjing Bai family members, as well as some people from the inner circles or those holding official positions, were still watching from afar, not to mention the coffin bearers.

Hearing the urging of an old man in his ear, he felt somewhat helpless and gently shook his head. He slowly took a few steps and nodded.

"Ooo!"

From the depths of the earth, something massive seemed to surge, emitting a muffled roar like thunder. At that moment, the sky suddenly darkened. Hu Ma felt as if the world was drifting away from him, and the boundary between yin and yang became blurred.

"Grandmother..."

Hu Ma heard Xiao Hongtang's joyful cries and felt a gust of cold wind sweep past him.

His body tensed slightly as he kowtowed four times before slowly rising to his feet. Then, he saw Grandmother.

"Good grandson..."

Her appearance was the same as when she had left Hu Ma: a face full of wrinkles, a kind expression.

But in reality, Grandmother was not someone skilled at expressing herself. Her usual appearance seemed strange and frightening to others.

But in Hu Ma's eyes, she was only the grandmother who worried about him. In just that one look, he felt her love, felt that no one else in the world cared about him more than she did.

"You're back, you're back..."

Grandmother looked at Hu Ma with joy, then raised her head to look at the coffin. She sighed softly, and in her eyes, one could see endless sorrow, but when she spoke, she scolded: "You stubborn brat, you left without a word back then, and only now do you come back..."

"...But this time, you can't even say a word to me."

"..."

Hearing Grandmother's scolding, Hu Ma's heart trembled. He couldn't describe the sorrow in his heart.

Grandmother was a zou gui ren (a spirit medium). Her specialty was talking to the dead. She had dealt with countless deceased people in her life, but she couldn't say a word to her own son.

"Grandmother..."

He suppressed the emotions surging in his heart and said, "I came too late."

"I learned my skills too slowly, took revenge too slowly, and understood things too slowly..."

"..."

"Not slow, not slow..."

Hearing him say this, Grandmother's voice seemed to tremble a little. One hand held Xiao Hongtang, who was nestled beside her, and the other hand trembled as she reached out.

A gentle breeze caressed Hu Ma's hair. Her words seemed somewhat incoherent: "Grandmother, I thought, several times, that I wouldn't be able to wait for you, but you're more promising than I thought."

"You learned great skills. You single-handedly defeated the Meng family and avenged our Hu family..."

"But, but I can't even be happy..."

"My poor grandson, you've learned such great skills, and they're going to put this burden on your shoulders..."

"..."

"I..."

Hu Ma's heart trembled slightly. He raised his head and saw the endless sorrow in Grandmother's eyes: "The sensible child suffers the most."

"Actually, I once hoped that you would continue to be so willful, not needing to be as obedient as others, nor too sensible. The Hu family hasn't evaded debt or shirked laziness, so if there's such a willful grandson, couldn't we protect him?"

"Back then, I would rather have stayed with you, and we grandmothers and grandson would have lived in the village our whole lives..."

"..."

Fragments of his time in the village suddenly flashed through his mind.

Hu Ma thought of how Grandmother always stared at him, thought of the worry in her eyes that he couldn't understand at the time, the suppressed emotions she hid in her heart.

This emotion coiled in his heart like a snake, making him sad.

So he could only smile, and with a smiling face, he said to Grandmother: "But that would be too boring."

"Grandmother, this time returning to Shangjing was my own choice."

"I also know that there are many things waiting for me, but I am a member of the Hu family, and I should naturally take on what I should."

"Not for others, but I just think that it's meaningless for this situation to always be controlled by others. It should be fair to have someone like me come in."

"..."

Grandmother actually saw a confident and proud look on Hu Ma's face. It was like a tacit understanding between elders and juniors. When they met, not everyone liked to cry their eyes out.

More often, they would subconsciously hide some sad things and show a good side. Grandmother understood, and she admired him, looking at Hu Ma at this moment, looking at the smile on his face.

She gently sighed, "So alike..."

"Just like your dead ghost grandfather, just like your father, it's like there's no one else in the world except you Hus."

"It's just..."

She had already decided not to be sad, but as she spoke, she still felt a little sorrowful, unable to control her tears: "At least they enjoyed a few days of happiness..."

"I also enjoyed happiness, when I was in the village."

Hu Ma smiled and said, "The blood food that others couldn't even eat, I could use as a meal."

"Other people's lives are determined by God, only me, even after I die, I have relatives who can take my life back."

"I can learn great skills, see the scenery of this martial world, and enjoy the awe-inspiring reputation..."

"If this isn't enjoying happiness, then what is?"

"..."

His words were already very sincere, but when Grandmother heard them, she couldn't help but feel even more sorrow. Tears seemed to fall from her face: "But you, you are the child with the most bitter fate in this world. Before you were even born, you were already plotted against..."

"Then they can only blame themselves for being unlucky. Who did they have to provoke? Why did they have to provoke our Hu family?"

Hu Ma raised his head, his palm turning to death, and slowly stretched it out. After turning to death, his palm became sluggish and cold, but even at this time, he had the feeling of touching Grandmother's palm.

He gently held Grandmother's hand and looked at her seriously, saying, "But what I want to ask is also this. Grandmother, what was the real purpose of the family's actions back then?"

"Did the Hu family also want to become immortals?"

"..."

"Become immortals?"

Grandmother slowly bent down, her face filled with complex emotions: "Grandmother has also heard them mention such things, but such people..."

"I think we should break their legs, so they don't keep dreaming such grandiose dreams..."

"..."

"..."

"It seems that the Hu family's son has returned and has many things he wants to say to his ancestors..."

At the same time, the entire surroundings of the ancestral shrine seemed to become misty, almost to the point where the coffin bearers were submerged in the mist, as if they had lost consciousness.

Dazed and confused, as if in a dream. Some capable people knew what was happening and didn't bother to resist. They simply withdrew and stood far away, a hundred zhang away, watching the blurred figure in front of the ancestral shrine.

Once the coffin arrives before the ancestral shrine, it has already entered the pond. First, one must worship the ancestors, and then bury one's father. It shouldn't take this long.

Without a doubt, they were saying something.

Just thinking that Bai family Grandmother's temper wasn't good, the few noble masters who were watching the ceremony from afar exchanged glances, and one could vaguely see a look of inquiry.

"It doesn't matter, it's good as long as he's back."

Someone sighed softly. When he raised his head, he revealed a hint of sarcasm: "After all, he is also a member of the Ten Clans."

"Born in the mountains, without seeing the world, so his temperament is somewhat different from ours. That's understandable."

"But as long as he is a member of the Ten Clans, as long as he sees the true identity of the Hu family, then sooner or later, he will walk the same path as us..."

"Heh, Bai family Grandmother, although she married into the Hu family and became the only elder of the Hu family, she is still surnamed Bai, and in her bones, she is always a bit stubbornly old-fashioned..."

"She is destined to be a person of sorrow."

(End of Chapter)