I'm caught in the cycle of endless competition, you're waiting for me in the apocalypse.

"Since the village chief has a son, why does he still defy the villagers' misunderstandings and prevent Zhang the butcher from recognizing his ancestors? And who is this Zhang the butcher's mother?" An Xin took a sip of tea from the water glass and continued to analyze.

"So that's why! This Butcher Zhang isn't the village chief's son!" Wei Ran nodded, feeling that his idea was correct!

An Xin really wanted to glare at him and wake up this third senior brother who was dragging her down!

"There's an 80% chance that Butcher Zhang is the village chief's child. The reason he doesn't acknowledge it is because he doesn't like the child. Think about it, he doesn't want to marry a woman from another village. If he did, like the other men with the surname Dong in the village, he wouldn't be hiding it like this. I heard from Aunt Tian that the village chief also doesn't like children born to women from other villages. So he wouldn't like Butcher Zhang either."

Seeing that Wei Ran still didn't believe what he and An Xin said, Li Qingchuan patiently and carefully explained the situation to him in detail.

"Didn't Uncle Dong say that the village chief is very good to the village children? He even tutors them and gives them snacks!"

"That's what Uncle Dong's parents said, not Uncle Dong himself!"

“Hey! Second Brother, if the village chief doesn’t like the children born to outsiders, then why is he so nice to them? There’s no reason for him to be so attentive!” An Xin seized on another suspicious point.

"In short, there are too many suspicious points about this village chief. If we can't figure it out ourselves, we'll tell our senior brothers and sisters and let them worry about it!" Li Qingchuan felt that there were more and more mysteries, but too few clues to support further investigation. So he decided to just go with the flow.

"That's the only way! By the way, Second Senior Brother, what did you do before you came to Qingshan Temple?" An Xin was genuinely curious. Seeing that Li Qingchuan was not very old, had a meticulous mind, and had a good grasp of many medical terms, she wondered if he was a doctor or psychologist like Qi Mingxuan.

"Ahem... I studied forensic medicine and criminal investigation in college, and then worked as a forensic doctor for two years!" Li Qingchuan put his fist to his lips, cleared his throat, and spoke a little embarrassedly.

His words left two dumbfounded groundhogs speechless, their mouths agape, practically screaming.

"My God, Second Senior Brother, you're amazing!!! No wonder you always have a purpose and a guiding quality when you make people speak! No wonder you're so observant and familiar with many genetic traits and skeletal outlines! So this is your job! How come we couldn't tell at all on the mountain~" An Xin said with admiration.

Wei Ran was the same; he had never known that his senior brother was a forensic doctor.

"Well... on the mountain, people never talk about their past, right? I encountered a few strange cases back then, and I had no clue what to do. Sometimes I would also encounter particularly unlucky things. Later, some relatives said that it might be because I had been exposed to too much yin energy from the forensic doctor. They suggested that I go somewhere to pray or ask a Taoist priest to take a look."

"And then you came to Qingshan Temple? You met your master, and he said you were a destined person and took you as his disciple?" Wei Ran finally caught up with the situation. Thinking about his own master, he felt that this trajectory was quite normal.

"Pretty much. I had only heard that Qingshan Temple was efficacious, and I thought it would be nice to travel here to change my mood. After I came here, I met my master by chance. My master said that I had good aptitude and that I was destined to be with him. He asked me if I wanted to become his disciple. At first, of course I refused. But after many things, I gradually accepted it and came to the Taoist temple to cultivate without any distractions."

"Damn! Master accepted you as a disciple, and you still dared to make excuses?" Wei Ran looked incredulous. He had been an unofficial member for a long time, and his family had been supporting the Taoist temple all along, before he finally became his master's disciple!

"Well... I didn't believe it back then, but later, with my master's guidance, I solved those two strange cases, and I actually saw ghosts. I can only say that when fate brought us together, I really became my master's disciple." Li Qingchuan scratched his head shyly.

"No wonder my second senior brother and Qi Mingxuan have similar thought processes; they both studied human anatomy-related majors! Even their current majors are similar." An Xin nodded repeatedly, feeling that she had figured it out.

"Haha, you're talking about Qi Mingxuan, who's always hanging around with Uncle Qiu. He's definitely got a sharp mind! I see. But he's better than me. He's been cultivating for a shorter time, but he's learned just as much as I have. He just has less practical experience. And his body tempering is better than mine too."

"Second Senior Brother, what realm are you at now?"

"I'm now at the advanced stage of Qi Refining. I'm ashamed to say that I started cultivating so much earlier than you, yet I'm still not at the same level as my junior sister!"

“You can’t compare to me. My cultivation method is different from everyone else’s. Coming to the temple has really broadened my horizons and made my cultivation much faster. If I started on the same footing as you, I would never be able to catch up with your cultivation speed.” An Xin waved his hand, completely unconcerned about his own realm.

"Then may I ask, junior sister, besides body tempering, how is your cultivation method different from ours?" Li Qingchuan asked his junior sister with great humility.

"Well, the biggest difference is that your cultivation, whether it's absorbing spiritual energy or tempering your body, is all about seeking power externally, while mine is about sudden enlightenment, comprehending the true meaning of the Dao, constantly expanding my divine sense, and perceiving the natural world. Just like last time, because of Master Du's words, I made significant progress." An Xin was as willing as ever to share her experience, hoping that all her fellow disciples could also advance smoothly. "After this matter is settled, I'll have a good exchange with my second senior brother!"

"Okay! It's a deal!" Li Qingchuan's eyes lit up with excitement, and he gave An Xin a high five to show his determination.

"Hey hey hey~ Xinxin~ Junior Sister! You can't favor one over the other, you have to include me too!" Wei Ran said to An Xin with a pitiful look, and even blinked!

"Enough, enough! Third Senior Brother, stop acting cute! I've been good enough to you! Body tempering, medicinal baths, sharing experiences—when have I ever missed you?" An Xin looked at Wei Ran's large, European-style double eyelids and thick eyelashes, blinking them, and felt incredibly envious! She quickly told him to stop!

Wei Ran thought about it and realized that An Xin's words were indeed true, and he began to feel secretly pleased.

"Next, we just need to wait for news from Senior Uncle Qiu. Let's all get some rest and wait for further instructions." Li Qingchuan, showing the self-awareness of a senior brother, told An Xin to go back and rest after he had said enough about the matter.

Back in her room, An Xin summoned Di Ting again to carefully reconstruct the events. She ultimately realized that she still needed to investigate the Dong residence and the small courtyard behind the village.

..........................................

After dinner, the three of them strolled around outside to digest their food, just like before.

The village was quiet and serene, with even the chirping of summer insects being sparse and intermittent.

The few scattered streetlights and the lights on in each house did not illuminate the village's desolation; such a scene inexplicably evoked a sense of melancholy.

Thinking about how these poor villagers were being schemed against by the village chief and might lose their lives, An Xin felt terrible. After taking a stroll, she pulled her two senior brothers back to their room.

"Buzz buzz buzz..." Li Qingchuan took out his phone and glanced at it. He then immediately set up an isolation array in the room.

Seeing their senior brother set up the formation, An Xin and Wei Ran, having already reached a tacit understanding, obediently sat down, leaving a spot for their senior brother.

"It's Uncle Qiu. He said he came with Uncle Zheng! Master is still in seclusion, and there are many affairs in the temple. The other uncles can't leave. If too many people come, it will easily alert the enemy."

"Alright, I'll tell Uncle Dong and Aunt Tian first thing tomorrow morning!" Wei Ran felt much more at ease knowing that his uncles and aunts would be coming tomorrow.

"Our senior master asked the three of us to assist them, so everyone should go to bed early tonight, as there will be a lot to do tomorrow."

"Well... then, my two senior brothers, I'll head back to my room now, meditate for a bit, and then go to sleep. Goodnight!"

An Xin quickly returned to her room and summoned Di Ting: "Xiao Jiu, it seems we must go and investigate at dawn. I think that village chief is very strange. He didn't really trust us to begin with and kept testing us. If Uncle Qiu and the others come, I think he will be even more suspicious. That would be too easy to be exposed. We must act quickly."

"Xinxin, you're right. Such a big thing needs to be resolved as soon as possible. You should rest now, I'll wake you up at 3 o'clock."

"Okay! But I can't sleep, I'm a little excited, hehe, I'll meditate. Just remember to wake me up when it's time!"

With everything arranged, An Xin sat cross-legged on the bed, adjusted her breathing, and began to clear her mind.

3:

Attentive listening awakened An Xin.

An Xin put on the prepared black clothes, activated her third eye and third ear, observed the area, and made sure everyone in the courtyard was asleep before putting on a large hood and quietly leaving the house.

After a whirlwind journey, An Xin arrived at the rear building of the Dong residence. Looking around, she climbed over the corner of the rear building and entered the house. Once inside, An Xin quickly found the ancestral hall in the backyard. Using her lock-picking skills, she easily opened the door, revealing the entire ancestral hall before her.

Although the ancestral hall is not large, it contains a large number of neatly arranged ancestral tablets. From the largest tablet of the Dong clan at the very back, to the bottom row...

—Hey, why are there two small wooden memorial tablets here, and their arrangement is different from the other tablets?

An Xin looked at the two small memorial tablets at the very bottom, in the far corner, with a strange expression.

"My wife, Dong Mo'er, my son, Dong Chuanzhi..." An Xin looked at these two extremely simple memorial tablets and was quite speechless. Not only were there no birth and death dates, but there wasn't even a record of who erected the tablets! At least it should be as detailed as the last tablet, "Dong Clan Twelfth Clan Head, Dong Changming, Wife Dong Zhu, Son Dong Wenyu, Daughter Dong Mo'er"!

"Huh? Xiao Jiu, this is the village chief's memorial tablet. Dong Mo'er is the village chief's deceased older sister. Wasn't it said that this woman was physically weak and mentally challenged? It didn't say she was married! Who erected these two tablets? And what is the relationship between Dong Chuanzhi and Dong Mo'er?" An Xin's mind was a complete mess, and she scratched her head with both hands...

Just as she was racking her brains trying to figure out the relationship, a voice from within her mind shouted, "Watch out behind you!"

"Damn, not again?"