With drums, gongs, and suonas, accompanied by green banners and white paper, the procession arrived grandly before the ancestral hall.
At this mont, Hu Ma couldn't help but look up, and what he saw left him montarily stunned.
He had heard the na of the ancestral hall countless tis, but only now did he finally witness the appearance of this legendary foundation of the Ten Surnas.
He saw that this place was indeed north of Shangjing. Topographically, it was situated opposite the imperial city, vaguely forming a yin-yang configuration. All around were dense pine and cypress trees, and the terrain sloped gently.
Even the stones here, any one you picked, seed smooth and round, rarely showing sharp or nacing edges. In the vast open space ahead, ten ancestral halls stood clustered together.
The ten ancestral halls were all built to be grand and tall. Theoretically, they had only been constructed about twenty years ago, yet now they exuded an air of ancient simplicity and solemnity. They appeared dark and imposing, as if even sunlight dared not touch them.
It was also here that Hu Ma suddenly realized. Could the ghost qi that always seed to faintly perate Shangjing City be emanating from these ten ancestral halls?
In that instant, an instinctive warning arose in his heart, yet at the sa ti, he sensed a faint warmth emanating from the endless gloom.
He suddenly realized where this warmth was coming from, and his heart softened.
Raising the white banner, he stepped forward slowly. His gaze swept over the surrounding Ancestral Halls. He saw that each had its doors slightly ajar, with a few ancestral tablets vaguely visible inside. However, one Ancestral Hall, adjacent to the Hu Family's, had its main doors tightly shut.
He understood; this must be the ng family's.
Before the Ancestral Hall, an elderly man with a stooped posture was already waiting. He was silent, as if carefully assessing Hu Ma.
When Hu Ma reached him, the old man took the banner from his hand and placed a bundle of incense into Hu Ma's.
Raising the bundle of incense high above his head, Hu Ma ca before the Ancestral Hall, slowly knelt, and with a voice that seed to summon all his strength, cried out loudly, "Granny, I've brought Father back..."
"..."
Sohow, as he spoke those words, an inexplicable pang of sorrow welled up within him, and his voice choked with emotion.
At that very mont, wind rustled through the mountain forest. When it reached him, however, it was a gentle caress.
Wisps of smoke from the incense Hu Ma held curled upwards, brushing lightly across his face.
The old man guarding the Ancestral Hall glanced up, noting that common folk had no right to co before this Ten Surnas Ancestral Hall; they had long since been stopped outside the mountain.
However, mbers of the Qingyuan Hu Family, the Ren Family, and the Bai Family of Shangjing, along with others involved in certain Paths or holding official positions, still watched from a distance—not to ntion the coffin porters.
The old man guarding the Ancestral Hall heard another elder's urging. He seed sowhat resigned, shook his head gently, took a few slow steps forward, and nodded.
RUMBLE!
From deep within the earth, it felt as if so colossal creature stirred, emitting a muffled roar like thunder. At that very mont, the sky abruptly darkened. Hu Ma felt as though the world itself was receding from him, the boundary between yin and yang blurring.
"Granny..."
Hu Ma heard Little Hongtang's joyous, bird-like calls and felt a cold wind sweep past him.
His body tensed slightly. After completing four kowtows, he slowly rose and saw Granny.
"Good grandson..."
She looked just as she had when she left Hu Ma long ago, her face full of wrinkles, her expression kind and gentle.
Yet in truth, Granny was not one to express herself freely, and her usual deanor often appeared sowhat strange and even frightening to others.
But in Hu Ma's eyes, she was only the Granny who constantly worried about him. In that single glance, he felt her deep affection, felt that no one else in the world cared for him more than she did.
"You're back, you're back..."
Granny watched Hu Ma with joy, then lifted her gaze towards the coffin. A soft sigh escaped her, her eyes filled with endless sadness, yet when she spoke, it was to scold, "Stubborn one, you left without a word back then, and only now do you finally return..."
"...But returning like this, you can't even share a word with ."
"..."
Listening to Granny's scolding, Hu Ma's heart trembled, the sorrow within him indescribable.
Granny was a Ghost Walker. Her specialty was speaking with the dead; she had communicated with countless departed souls in her lifeti. Yet, with her own son, she could not exchange a single word.
"Granny..."
Suppressing the emotions surging within him, he said, "I ca too late."
"I learned my skills too slowly, I avenged our family too slowly, and I understood things far too slowly..."
"..."
"Not slow, not slow..."
Hearing him say this, Granny's voice seed to gain an added tremor. One arm embraced Little Hongtang, who snuggled close to her side, while the other reached out, trembling.
A gentle breeze ruffled Hu Ma's hair. She began to speak, her words sowhat rambling, "Granny, I... several tis I thought... I thought I wouldn't live to see you again. But you've done even better than I imagined."
"You've learned great skills. You alone brought down the ng family and avenged the Hu Family..."
"But I... even so, I can't find any happiness in it..."
"My poor, ill-fated grandson. You've learned such great skills, and now they're going to place this burden on your shoulders too..."
"..."
"I..."
Hu Ma's heart trembled slightly as he looked up. He saw endless sadness in Granny's eyes as she said, "The most understanding child endures the most hardship."
"Truthfully, I once wished you could continue being so willful—not needing to be as obedient as others, perhaps even a little less sensible. The Hu Family mbers have never shirked their debts nor avoided their duties. With such a family, couldn't we have protected one willful grandson?"
"Back then, I would rather have stayed by your side, just the two of us, your granny and you, living out our lives together in the village..."
"..."
Fragnts of their life in the village suddenly flashed through his mind.
Hu Ma recalled how Granny used to always watch him, the worry in her eyes that he hadn't understood back then, the way she kept everything suppressed deep within her heart.
This feeling gnawed at his heart like a snake, making him miserable.
So he could only manage a smile. With that smile, he said to Granny, "But that would have been far too dull."
"Granny, this ti, I returned to Shangjing of my own accord."
"I also know many things await . But I am a son of the Hu Family; I must naturally bear the responsibilities that are mine."
"It's not for others. I just feel it's pointless for a situation like this to always be dictated by others. It's only fair that soone like steps in."
"..."
Granny was surprised to see a confident, proud expression on Hu Ma's face. It was like a tacit understanding between elder and younger; when reunited, not everyone chooses to weep bitterly in each other's arms.
More often, people subconsciously hide their sorrow and show their best side. Granny understood this. She looked at Hu Ma admiringly, at the smile on his face.
She sighed softly with emotion, "So much alike..."
"Just like your late grandfather, and just like your father. All cut from the sa cloth. It feels as if there's no one else in the world but you Hus."
"It's just..."
She had resolved not to be sad, but as she spoke, a mournful sorrow still overca her, and she couldn't stop herself from wiping away tears. "They, at least, enjoyed a few days of happiness in their lives..."
"I've enjoyed happiness too, back when I was in the village," Hu Ma said with a smile. "The Blood Food that others couldn't even get, I could eat as regular als."
"Other people's fates are decided by God. Only I, even after dying, had family who could bring my life back."
"I was able to learn great skills, witness the splendors of the jianghu, and enjoy a reputation that others respected and feared..."
"If that isn't enjoying good fortune, what is?"
"..."
His words were deeply sincere, yet to Granny's ears, they only brought forth an even deeper sorrow. Tears seed to stream down her face. "But you... you are the child with the bitterest fate in this world! You were being plotted against even before you were born..."
"Then that's their misfortune! Of all people to provoke, they had to provoke our Hu Family?"
Hu Ma raised his head. His palm underwent Death Transformation as he slowly reached out. After the transformation, his hand grew numb and cold, yet in that state, he felt as if he could touch Granny's hand.
Gently, as if holding Granny's hand, he looked at her earnestly and said, "But this is also what I ca to ask. Granny, back then, what was the true purpose behind what our family did?"
"Were the Hu Family mbers also seeking immortality?"
"..."
"Immortality?"
Granny slowly leaned closer, her expression a mixture of complex emotions. "Granny has heard them ntion such things too. But people like that..."
"I say their legs should be broken, to stop them from having such absurd pipe dreams..."
"..."
"..."
"It seems this descendant of the Hu Family has returned with much to say to the ancestors..."
At the sa ti, the entire area around the ancestral hall seed to grow hazy with mist. Even the coffin porters were nearly engulfed by it, as if they had lost consciousness.
They felt dazed, as if in a dream. So of the more powerful individuals present understood what was happening; finding it unwise to resist, they simply withdrew, positioning themselves a great distance away to observe the indistinct figures before the ancestral hall.
The coffin had already arrived before the ancestral hall and been set in place. Even if they were to first pay respects to the ancestors and then bury Hu Ma's father, it shouldn't be taking this long.
Undoubtedly, they were discussing sothing.
However, recalling that Granny Bai was known for her ill temper, a few of the nobles observing the ceremony from afar exchanged glances, a hint of inquiry in their eyes.
"No matter, as long as he has returned, it's fine," soone sighed softly. Lifting their head, a slight sneer touched their lips. "After all, he too is one of the Ten Surnas."
"Born in the mountains, unexposed to the wider world, it's understandable that his temperant differs sowhat from ours."
"But as long as he is one of the Ten Surnas, as long as he learns the true standing of the Hu Family, then he will, sooner or later, walk the sa path as us..."
"Heh. Granny Bai... although she married into the Hu Family and has beco their sole remaining elder, she is, after all, a Bai by birth. Deep down, there's a certain outdated way of thinking she can't quite shake off..."
"She... is destined for sorrow."
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