Patriarch enjoys meal

Zhou Jiran looked at the house full of memorial tablets in Tao Zhai's ancestral hall and was silent.

There are roughly two types of ancestral halls, ancestral halls and ancestral halls. This kind of ancestral hall set up at home is a place for worshiping modern ancestors, and usually enshrines ancestral tablets below the great-grandfather.This is also related to the saying that 'within five servings is relative, and outside five servings is sparse'.

If there is no great merit and virtue, the ancestors and first ancestors other than the five robes generally cannot enjoy the incense of family sacrifices.

Tao Zhai's ancestral hall is a bit nondescript. Zhou Jiran took a rough look and found that some of the memorial tablets placed here have been dead for hundreds of years, and some have died in the past 20 years.

The dates of birth and death recorded above are also very confusing. If arranged according to time, there may even be a gap of more than 100 years. Could it be that the Tao family finally succeeded in cultivating immortals during this period?No one died?

Regardless of these small problems, what surprised Zhou Zeni the most was the name on the tablet.

None of them have the last name Tao.

What kind of people's ancestral hall is full of outsiders?

Zhou Jiran was really puzzled: "I'm curious, what is the standard for entering your family's ancestral hall?"

Tao Jiang lit three sticks of incense and put them in the incense burner, bowed earnestly before replying: "I don't know, I just heard from my grandfather that the people enshrined in the ancestral hall are all ancestors who gave up their lives and forget their deaths. For descendants who have no relatives, you should be grateful and worship carefully."

"Then your house is not a family ancestral hall, but a martyr's ancestral hall." After so many generations of worship, the Tao family is quite benevolent, and Zhou Jiran sighed while watching.

This ancestral hall may be the most well-repaired place in Tao's house. Tao Jiang takes care of it diligently every day, offering incense continuously, and there is no trace of dilapidation.

The murals on the walls are brightly colored, not the usual realistic painting methods. The red that almost floods the wall is like fire and blood, and the faintly visible statues of gods have a strong religious color.

It took a long time for Zhou to see the huge black shadow hidden in the red wall.

"What kind of freehand painting is this?" Zhou said hesitantly, "Stickman vs. Hydra?"

Perhaps in order to highlight the hugeness of the shadow, the people around it are getting smaller one by one, and it can only be vaguely guessed from the movements of their clothes that they are all Taoist priests.

Tao Jiang said, "You need to squat down to look at this picture."

Zhou was puzzled: "Why?"

After squatting down, I realized what Tao Jiang meant. This angle is exactly the perspective of the Taoist priests in the murals. From this angle, it is clear at a glance what the black shadow is.

A gigantic fox screamed and roared in the fire, and its nine thick tails were entangled and coiled in the architectural statues of the Taoist temple, like a red lotus blooming in the karmic fire.

Obviously it's just a rough black shadow, not the slightest bit of refinement, but it makes the observer think of the power of the ancient times.

Zhou already crouched by the wall, staring blankly at this magnificent scene, as if he really heard the sound of the raging fire burning everything that day...

Zhou has slowed down for a long time, and secretly reflected in his heart. He was almost confused by a fox shadow on a mural hundreds of years ago, and his cultivation was still not enough.

Turning his eyes away from the fox shadow, Zhou Weiran discovered that there were words on the plaque of the burned building.

"Qingyun Guan? The name is a bit familiar, where have I heard it?"

Tao Jiang reminded: "I told you before that Qingyun Temple is the only recorded religious place in Xincheng for hundreds of years. It was destroyed by a fire in the late Qing Dynasty. The Taoist priests in the temple disappeared without a trace after the fire."

Zhou Jiran looked at the mural and asked, "Was the nine-tailed fox caused the fire?"

Tao Jiang hesitated for a moment: "There is no historical data to clearly point out this."

You can see the meaning of this mural.

Looking at pictures and making up stories is not an option, Zhou Jiran was silent for a while and said, "What does this matter have to do with your Tao family?"

There are so many Taoist tablets enshrined in the ancestral hall, and this mural is still left behind...the connection is so closely related, you might as well make a bold guess.

"Could it be that the ancestors of your family were the surviving Taoist priests of Qingyun Temple? The family hall enshrines the teachers and elders who died that year?"

In this way, it can be explained why this mural of Qingyun Guanjianghu appeared in the Taozhai ancestral hall.

Tao Jiang: "My guess is the same as yours. The ancestors of the Tao family must be inextricably related to the Qingyun Temple back then. The ancient books of Taoism in the house may come from the Qingyun Temple... I once asked my grandfather, but when he talked about this topic, he turned around and talked about other things, and only told me to guard the ancestral hall."

This kind of bright and hidden reaction...

Originally, I came to the ancestral hall just to find some clues. In Zhou Weiran's prediction, this process should be very difficult and full of twists and turns.

It turns out that there are as many clues here as there are threads on a ball of wool scratched by a cat, but none of them seem to have anything to do with Tao Jiang's five senses...

For a while, Zhou Jiran really didn't know where to start.

After walking around the ancestral hall twice dejectedly, Zhou Jiran was suddenly blessed and asked, "Has this nine-tailed fox been subdued after sacrificing so many people?"

"I don't know." Tao Jiang thought for a while, and said his guess, "But there should be none at that time. Judging from the dates of birth and death of the tablets in the ancestral hall, the fire only stopped for 100 years after that, and the ancestral hall was destroyed after that. Some tablets have come in."

"I always feel that the tablets that can enter Tao Zhai's ancestral hall after death should all be victims of the same incident."

Zhou has calculated the time, and there is only one tablet closest to now, which was 23 years ago, and it is a Taoist priest named Tao Ran.

Although this is the Tao family ancestral hall, there are really not many people with the surname Tao in it, and it is rare to see one. Zhou Ziran said: "This should be a real relative of your family."

"This is my grandfather's son."

This kind of talk around the circle made Zhou already a little confused, so is he your uncle, uncle, or... father?

The confusion on Zhou Jiran's face was too obvious, Tao Jiang replied: "I don't know either, Grandpa didn't tell me."

Why is your family's relationship determined entirely by your grandfather's dictation?Is it so thin?

Tao Jiang is also very helpless. He has lived with his grandfather since he was a child and has never met other family members. He only knows that several children of his grandfather have passed away. He really doesn't know who his father is!

As long as he asked this question since he was a child, his grandfather would look like he was old and bereaved, and he would burst into tears on the spot if he asked a few more questions.

What can he do in the face of such a situation?You can't really force the old man, you can just let it go.

After listening to Tao Jiang's explanation, Zhou already felt that there was something tricky about it.

"Your grandpa might know the reason why your five senses are suddenly sharp."

Tao Jiang: "It's just that I can't contact him now."

The problem is back to the original point, and they still have to rely on themselves.

"Ancestral hall and ancestral hall..." Zhou already looked at the oldest memorial tablet on the top, "Actually, it makes sense that the ancestral hall only enshrines the ancestors within five clothes. Worshiping ancestors can at most go to the great-grandfather, and I am afraid that even the names of the ancestors are unknown. If we really want to worship the past generations, those families with a little clearer inheritance will be endless."

"Secondly, even if you line up and hold the reincarnation number plate, hundreds of years have passed, and the ones in front of you should have become human again, and it is useless to worship."

It is very strange that the tablets here are complete, unless it is really to commemorate the martyrs for future generations to look up to.But there is no need to be so secretive, the achievements of the ancestors should be well recorded and sung.

Zhou already squatted on the ground with a headache, as expected, he still couldn't stay up too late at night.

Seeing his painful and tangled appearance, Tao Jiang was a little worried: "Don't worry, you go to rest for a while to catch up on sleep."

After hearing Tao Jiang's words, Zhou Jiran hugged his knees and looked up at him.

It was this glance that made Zhou Weiran suddenly enlightened.

"Tao Jiang! Come and take a look!" Zhou Jiran was so excited that he pulled Tao Jiang's clothes, and Tao Jiang could only squat down obediently.

"Does it look like a formation?"

Tao Zhai's ancestral hall is not small, but it is still a bit reluctant to place hundreds of memorial tablets.Except for the wall facing the door which is full of memorial tablets, shelves are also placed in several other positions, even on both sides of the door.

The entire ancestral hall is like a "Hui" character, with murals on the outer circle and memorial tablets on the inner circle.

I don’t feel it when I’m standing, but when I squat down and look up, I feel very depressed.

Zhou Jiran raised his finger on the ground and wrote a reply, and looked at Tao Jiang with clear eyes: "I think this is suppressing something."

Tao Jiang looked at him for a few seconds and understood what he meant: "That nine-tailed fox on the mural?"

"Yes! The collapse of your room may also have something to do with it."

......

Just after coming out of the ancestral hall, Zhou Jiran was yawning and preparing to go back to his room for a nap when he received a message from Fang Xuanzhen.

He and several of his classmates wanted to visit Tao's house, but they had already arrived at the gate of Luoshu community.

Zhou already washed his face with cold water and ran to open the door for them after he became more refreshed.

A few Taoist priests in Taoist robes and buns are still very eye-catching, and there are bold and playful children who follow them all the way from the gate of the community.

Zhou already welcomed them in, and Tao Jiang had already set tea on the table in the yard.

As soon as he was seated, Fang Xuanzheng asked hurriedly without taking a sip of his real water: "You are fighting against Kunmu, how do you feel about his current strength?"

Zhou Jiran was really hard to answer. They didn't have a serious fight that night, so they could only say cautiously: "There is only a head left and a stomach, which really affects his strength...and when he was found, He has already been hung by ginkgo branches."

After hearing his words, several Taoist priests looked up at the ginkgo tree that was protecting them from the sun.

A priest with gray hair stood up and walked around the tree a few times, counting with his fingers and muttering words.

Fang Xuanzhen explained: "This is Senior Brother Chen Xuanqing, who is quite good at deduction."

Since he is Fang Xuanzhen's senior brother, he must be quite capable. Zhou Jiran is really looking forward to what he can figure out.

"This tree has spirits!" Chen Daochang was so excited as he swung the fly whisk. He looked like he wanted to touch it but was afraid of breaking it, and continued to circle around the ginkgo tree. "Given some time, maybe I can succeed in cultivation!"

No, it has been cultivated for hundreds of years, and I don't know how many years it will take.

This senior brother has a bit of an obsessive personality, and he is obviously obsessed with ginkgo now, which probably doesn't make much sense.Fang Xuanzhen changed the subject a little bit embarrassed.

"We will stay in the new city until Kunmu is captured. The temporary residence I rented with the brothers and I with Kunmu's body is not far from here. When Kunmu comes again, we can provide timely support."

"This is naturally the best!" Zhou Jiran suddenly remembered something, and quickly asked, "Kunmu's body is with you now?"

Fang Xuanzhen nodded and said yes.

Zhou already reminded them: "Then you have to be careful, don't be reported."

He was very curious about how these people brought a headless corpse all the way to the new city.

Fang Xuanzhen smiled and opened the black cloth bag that had been carried on his back, revealing a chunk of white bone.

"It's all right, it's all here."

"Kunmu has succeeded in practicing the flying head technique. The half of his body left behind is neither rotten nor broken, and the human body is closely connected. Fearing that Kunmu has a secret method to summon his original body, the master spent a lot of effort to concoct this skeleton. "

This is absolutely.

Zhou Jiran slowly praised Fang Xuanzhen.

Just, I'm looking forward to Kunmu's reaction when he sees his own bones...

The author has something to say: I am very busy with my graduation these days (T▽T), the author of Xianyu has no manuscripts, and will try to write as much as possible!Crazy bow (つД`)