"I really don't know what your grandfather and the National Preceptor, along with those others, were whispering about back then."

"But I do know how the Hu family rose to power."

Facing Hu Ma's question, Grandma sighed softly. As if feeling sorry for Hu Ma kneeling, she gently pulled him up and sat him down on the steps of the ancestral hall.

Gently embracing Little Hongtang on one side and patting Hu Ma's hand on the other, she sighed, "Now everyone says the Hu family is one of the Ten Great Families, with unimaginable wealth and a huge reputation. Heh, they don't even put the emperor in their eyes anymore."

"But the ancestors of the Hu family have always been law-abiding commoners. They haven't been nobles for even a few days."

"Your Hu family's rise began with your first generation ancestor, more than one hundred and seventy years ago. Back then, they weren't a prominent family at all. It was just that the world was too chaotic, and the emperor invited Jianghu (martial world) eccentrics to the capital. Even then, the Hu family didn't belong to these capable families."

"The first generation ancestor of the Hu family was just a minor official in the government, assigned to the Zhensuifu (Demon Suppression Bureau) to help with liaison work for these Jianghu eccentrics, recording merits, and assigning tasks."

"But he had a keen eye. When recording merits and assigning tasks, he saw that the number of ghosts and gods was gradually increasing, and evil spirits were rising day by day. He knew that the general trend of the world had arrived. Those Jianghu practitioners who were not taken seriously by the court in the past were probably all learning great skills."

"So, he also aspired to learn skills, but the methods of this world are all taught with great secrecy. Without any basis, who would be willing to casually teach you the real stuff?"

"He learned this and that, but he couldn't find the right way. Instead, he went deep into the countryside. Of all the ways in the world, only the wandering ghosts in the countryside don't avoid people, and there aren't so many rules and restrictions. So, he abandoned his official position and traveled through the countryside, visiting villages and stockades, just to learn all kinds of methods."

"He learned the basics from those villages, learned how to set up altars, consume Tai Sui (Grand Duke Jupiter), exorcise evil, and appease spirits, walking between Yin and Yang, and gradually became skilled."

"Although he became skilled, he ultimately didn't find the right path and didn't live long. But at least he gave the Hu family some skills. So, starting from the second generation ancestor, he returned to the Zhensuifu, and gradually relied on these skills to rise from being the son of a minor official to gradually making a name for himself."

"Generation after generation, he established the Hu family's position in the wandering ghost business, and also became the person in charge of punishments in the Zhensuifu. Together with the Meng family, who used the seal at the time, they became the pillars of the Zhensuifu, one on the left and one on the right."

"And then, it was twenty years ago..."

"..."

Grandma gently patted Hu Ma's hand as she told him about the past.

It was as if the years gone by were unfolding before Hu Ma's eyes.

"Those years, they changed so quickly..."

"Although evil spirits were rampant and the world was uneasy, these various schools of thought also gradually gained momentum in those years."

"Doctors call themselves Siming (Controllers of Fate), warriors call themselves Shousui (Guardians of the Year). Originally, they were just a bunch of Jianghu vagabonds, but because their skills became greater and greater, they became more and more disdainful of mortals. After they gained power, even the old emperor couldn't suppress them..."

"However, because the Zhensuifu was still suppressing them at the time, they were all relatively well-behaved."

"Until the National Preceptor came to their door."

"..."

"The Da Luo Fa Jiao (Great Luo Dharma Sect) has the greatest skills. The other schools of thought only gradually rose to power after the Tai Sui descended, but the Da Luo Fa Jiao has always been famous."

"Especially after being recruited into the palace and named National Preceptor, their skills became even greater. Even the Zhensuifu, which could control other schools of thought, couldn't manage them."

When Grandma mentioned this National Preceptor, her voice clearly carried a hint of coldness and dissatisfaction.

She had tried her best to tell Hu Ma everything objectively, but as a soul, this dissatisfaction couldn't be hidden.

"It was from him that everything started to change."

"When he first came to the door, he met with the Hu family, who was in charge of punishments, and the Meng family, who used the seal. But what they talked about, even I don't know. It wasn't until one day when news suddenly came from the court that I realized how bold some people could be..."

"That was the emperor..."

"The true Son of Heaven, the emperor with deep blessings, could actually disappear overnight..."

"Looking back now, wasn't it just an old woman like me? Everyone in the world couldn't have imagined that such a thing would happen."

"At that time, the skills of these Jianghu vagabonds were already getting greater and greater, but no one had ever thought that they could be so great that they could skin the emperor alive in the Jinluan Hall (Hall of Golden Bells), and then curse the entire Shangjing (capital) into a ghost-like underworld."

"And when that earth-shattering event happened, the Zhensuifu, which should have been shouldering the imperial mandate to suppress evil spirits, had no intention of taking action at all..."

"Without the control of the Zhensuifu, the other eight families were even less inclined to pay attention."

"So, overnight, Shangjing changed. Such a huge event, behind closed doors, seemed like a minor matter."

"I naturally asked your grandfather about these things, but he didn't tell me anything. I naturally knew the importance of things and wouldn't harm him. It was just a change of dynasty. I never thought I could see a change of dynasty, but if it changed, it wouldn't matter..."

"..."

Hu Ma could actually understand how shocking a change of dynasty would be to a traditional person like Grandma.

But looking at her current calmness, he figured she had already figured it out, so he didn't say much.

"However, I didn't expect that it was just the beginning..."

Grandma seemed to frown as she said this, "Many of the things that happened later, even I couldn't understand."

"The emperor's death was a shocking event at the time. On the first day of the palace coup, I don't know how many people were eager to pick a new emperor from the royal family."

"However, those evil spirits who showed their claws for the first time, no one expected them to be so ruthless. In Shangjing, a total of 170,000 members of the royal family, and tens of thousands more involved, died within a few days..."

"This kind of thing frightened everyone in the world and immediately triggered a great chaos."

"After that, demons and monsters were endless, and armies rose up everywhere, waving various banners, just to fight for the throne."

"And when the chaos was so great that everyone couldn't see the situation clearly, the National Preceptor invited the old man to the stone pavilion."

"..."

"The Stone Pavilion Alliance?"

Hu Ma couldn't help but stir in his heart when he heard this familiar name.

"At that time, even though I was the Hu family's madam in charge, I didn't bear the Hu surname after all, so I didn't enter the stone pavilion."

Grandma sighed softly, "The ones who went to the stone pavilion were your grandfather and your father."

"I don't know what they discussed inside the stone pavilion. It's just that the chaotic world at the time was actually suppressed by these ten families from Jianghu backgrounds."

"No dynasty in the past had ever seen such a thing. Clearly, the emperor was already dead, and the people around the emperor were also dead. No one in the court stood up to act as regent or anything, but somehow, the world didn't fall into chaos."

"It was as if they used their respective sect's methods to forcibly extend the life of the Du family's world for twenty years."

"..."

When Grandma talked about these things, there was no pride in her eyes, but a deep worry.

"After that, the fate of our Hu family changed."

She sighed and said, "Originally, the Hu family held positions in the Zhensuifu and had the power to wield the whip, but the Hu family's power was given by the emperor. So, in terms of skill and reputation, the Hu family and the Meng family were still somewhat inferior to the other eight families."

"But no one expected that someone would kill the emperor, and the Zhensuifu would not say a word. In this way, the Hu and Meng families became the great heroes of this great change..."

"Everyone said that after the new emperor ascended the throne, the Hu family and the Meng family would definitely become powerful."

"Even if the new emperor couldn't ascend the throne, the Hu and Meng families could still be proud and suppress the other eight families with the Zhensuifu, and glory and wealth would come from this."

"But unexpectedly, the old man asked me at this most glorious moment whether I was ready to endure hardship?"

"..."

Grandma's eyes began to become somewhat sad, distant. After a long silence, she gently sighed and continued, "Not to mention outsiders, even I, who had been married to the old man for thirty years, didn't receive any wind of it..."

"This old man summoned all the Hu clan relatives and, after discussing with them for a day, publicly separated from the Qingyuan Hu family and established a new family tree."

"All the family property, fields, manors, gold, silver, and even blood food mines, except for an empty mansion in Shangjing, were distributed. Only the position in the Zhensuifu was kept, and then he announced the plan to leave Shangjing..."

"No one knew why, but he was willing to give up all this and leave."

"But although he threw away a lot of things, many people still believed in him and were willing to follow. Your two uncles, one aunt, and the old people in the sect, a few old friends in the Zhensuifu, as well as the Wen Shi, Shuo Li, and Fen Xiang (Ask Questions, Reason, and Share Incense) elders..."

"They all volunteered to follow our family. Of course, I know the old man told them many things in private, but they all guarded it strictly and no one said anything."

"The Hu family, in this way, abandoned everything at their most glorious moment and quietly left Shangjing City."

"At that time, it wasn't even dawn yet, and no one came to see them off..."

"..."

Grandma's expression became somewhat emotional as she said this, and she sighed softly, "But on the road, some people still caught up."

"Some very skilled people, they said the Hu family had taken away things that belonged to them and wanted to take them back."

"Along the way, the Hu family members, your second uncle, your uncle-in-law, several disciples of your grandfather, as well as the Wen Shi, Shuo Li, and Fen Xiang grand hall officials and small hall officials, died or were injured along the way, treading a bloody path to return to Mingzhou City..."

"But at that time, even the Meng family came to join in the fun..."

"It was also at that time that this old woman finally understood what your grandfather and father had done."

"The news of the Hu family leaving Beijing was spread by the Meng family, but they were even more angry than the Hu family. They scolded the Hu family for secretly reaching an agreement with the National Preceptor, not hesitating to sell out their own bloodline, just to..."

"Just to exchange for the opportunity to dominate the Zhensuifu from the National Preceptor, and also, the name ranked second on the legendary Stone Pavilion List..."

"..."

Hearing this, Hu Ma was already stunned and looked up in disbelief, "Is it actually true?"

Chapter End