Li Shimin faked his death? Then I will be powerful enough to conquer the world!

Hu Bugui's abnormal behavior instantly aroused Hu Lingyun's strong curiosity.

Hu Lingyun put down the sword in her hand, took a few steps to Hu Bugui's side, and stared at the manual intently.

Hu Bugui stretched out his index finger, lightly touched the tip of his tongue with it, and then slowly turned the pages of the manual one by one. Every time he turned a page, he seemed to shake out a past event buried by time.

Hu Lingyun took a closer look and found that the handwriting was crooked and the strokes were irregular. In some places, the ink was uneven in thickness, as if it was scribbled in a hurry. Many of them could hardly be called handwriting, but more like symbols, which made people confused.

His face was filled with confusion, and his gaze shifted from the manual to Hu Bugui. With some hesitation, he couldn't help but ask, "Dad? Did you write all this? Why can't I understand it at all?"

In Hu Lingyun's memory, although her father always looked careless on weekdays, once he spread out the rice paper and picked up the brush, the words he wrote were vigorous and powerful, and elegant and graceful, and the neighbors and villagers all praised him.

Now, looking at the childishly scrawled handwriting and the strange symbols on the medical manual, he could not believe that it was written by his father.

Hu Bugui did not answer immediately, but nodded solemnly, his eyes fixed on the manual, as if he was deeply attracted by the contents, or as if he was lost in distant memories.

His eyes were sometimes focused, sometimes confused, and his brows were tightly furrowed from time to time, as if he was having a difficult conversation with his past self, trying hard to recall those meanings that had long been blurred. For some symbols, even now, after repeatedly looking at them, he could not remember what they represented when he wrote them down.

"Dad, the words on this are just like dog's crawling. Did you really write them?"

Hu Lingyun was still full of doubts and asked again, her tone full of surprise.

Hu Bugui then turned his head and looked at Hu Lingyun, saying unhappily, "Nonsense! Your father painstakingly wrote this down stroke by stroke when he was young!"

"At that time, being able to recognize a few words and write your own name was considered an educated person in the village. It was something to be proud of."

"It's nothing like today, when the world is peaceful, there are schools everywhere, and everyone has the opportunity to learn to read and write."

After saying this, he sighed softly, as if lamenting the passage of time, then turned his attention back to the manual and continued to search patiently.

As the manual was slowly turned, the room was silent, with only the faint sound of paper rubbing against each other.

Suddenly, Hu Bugui stopped moving, and his expression instantly became sad and solemn, as if something had hit the softest part of his heart.

His eyes were fixed on a pattern in the manual, which was a large circle with a small circle nested inside.

Hu Lingyun looked from time to time at her father's face, then at the incomprehensible pattern in the booklet. Her doubts grew stronger and stronger. Unable to contain herself, she asked again, "Dad, what does this mean?"

Hu Bugui raised his eyes, looked deeply at Hu Lingyun, and said slowly, "You have been obsessed with martial arts since childhood and have no interest in studying medicine. You always want to rely on martial arts to make a name for yourself, but you don't understand that studying medicine can also help the world and achieve great things, and can save countless people suffering from illness."

He paused, took a deep breath, and spoke slowly with a slightly trembling voice, "This records that your grandfather passed away due to illness. Under his earnest pleas and repeated instructions, I followed his wishes and personally opened his head..."

"what?"

Hu Lingyun's eyes suddenly widened and he cried out in shock. He had previously been indifferent, but now he stood there in a daze, unable to move. "Dad, what did you say? You opened Grandpa's head?"

In the Tang Dynasty, the concept of "filial piety is the most important virtue, and one's body and hair are inherited from one's parents" was deeply rooted in people's minds. Destroying the remains of elders was a serious crime of treason and an act of great filial piety that would be despised and criticized by the world.

Looking at his son's stunned expression, Hu Bugui shook his head helplessly, his gaze drifting into the distance.

"Lingyun, you are still young. You haven't experienced many of the hardships in the past, so it's difficult for you to understand."

"When Dad was young, Xianyang City was far from being as prosperous, bustling, peaceful and harmonious as it is today. It was often plagued by wars and famines."

"Your grandfather struggled to support the entire family and prevented us from starving to death on the streets. But who could have predicted that he would contract a strange disease?"

"Since then, your grandfather's health has deteriorated. Not only has he had difficulty doing heavy physical work, but even walking and living in his daily life has become extremely difficult."

"With the loss of our family's breadwinner, life suddenly fell into despair. We often had no food to eat and were starving and cold."

"In order to treat your grandfather's illness, we asked around and searched for all the doctors nearby."

"Even if I borrowed money from all my neighbors and raised the expensive consultation fee, the doctors who came would just feel my pulse, shake their heads, and prescribe some expensive but ineffective medicine."

"Not only did I fail to cure your grandfather's illness, but I also put our family in heavy debt, making it difficult for us to make ends meet."

"At that time, I prayed to the sky, hoping that an immortal could come down to earth and cure your grandfather's illness."

"I'm willing to exchange everything I have for him, as long as he can stop suffering."

"But fantasy is just fantasy after all. There are no immortals in this world. All sufferings can only be faced and endured by oneself."

"I'll never forget the horrific pain your grandfather endured. At first, he only felt dizzy occasionally, but he endured it, not wanting to worry his family. He still dragged his frail body to do what he could."

"But later, the pain became more severe. He lost his mind and kept banging his head against the wall. Several times, the pain forced him to pick up an axe and want to split open his head to see what was hidden inside and why he was being tortured like this. But your grandmother stopped him with tears in her eyes."

"Later, your grandfather didn't survive that winter. After he passed away, grandma was devastated and cried all day long. Her spiritual pillar collapsed, and she passed away soon after."

"Just like that, I'm the only one left."

"Before he died, your grandfather used up his last bit of strength to hold my hand tightly and told me his final wish. He said he didn't want to leave this world with this mystery. He wanted me to open his head after he died and find out what was causing him so much pain."

"I gritted my teeth and agreed to it."

"I opened his head according to your grandfather's will."

"It was a huge tumor. The tumor took up most of his head, squeezing his brain. Damn it, when I think of the pain my father went through at that time, my heart..."

Hu Bugui's voice gradually choked, tears welled up in his eyes, slid down his cheeks and dripped onto the old manual.