Chapter 496 Digging Graves
The ashes of my senior brother's mother?
Song Chunxue looked at the person who said this, her eyes narrowed slightly, and a fierce aura rose from her heart.
The Taoist priest glanced at her, signaling her not to act impulsively.
He slowly walked down the steps and stood in front of the person who had spoken.
"As expected, you know how to exploit people's weaknesses. But he didn't dare mention my mother's matter just now, yet you clearly mentioned my mother's ashes. What, do you also want to be a child without a mother?"
The people on the ground looked at the black boots so close to their eyes and couldn't help but feel a chill run down their spines.
He forced a smile and said, "You are a cultivator, you cannot break the precepts, do you intend to kill someone?"
The Taoist priest snorted coldly, "There are many ways to kill people, why bother to do it yourself? I only need to tamper with our ancestral graves, and our entire clan will be wiped out. As a cultivator, I can protect myself. Do you want to give it a try?"
The man on the ground, his eyes bloodshot, gritted his teeth and said, "You mad Taoist priest, aren't you afraid of being cast into the eighteenth level of hell when you go underground?"
"With you all here, what do I have to fear?" The Taoist priest smiled brightly. "You should be glad that I still have some sense. If you anger me, you will suffer the consequences. Back then, your father, your grandfather, and your uncles forced my mother to her death because of her birth. If you dare to mention my mother's ashes again, I don't mind destroying my own cultivation and digging them up to be reduced to ashes. After all, from the very beginning, this has been my inner demon."
His tone gradually became relaxed and manic, and his smile sent chills down one's spine. "Taoists aren't stupid. Let alone whether the idea of killing one's wife to prove one's Tao exists, if you anger me, it's not difficult at all to send you all to the border as military rations."
Military rations?
Song Chunxue looked at her senior brother in disbelief. Was this what she thought it meant?
Turning around, he saw everyone else standing inside, watching their senior brother's retreating figure, angry but unable to speak out.
They should know that their senior brother is capable of doing it.
This also means that back then, their relationship with their senior brother's mother was exactly as their senior brother had described.
The hatred for killing one's mother is irreconcilable, but my senior brother is a gentleman among men, so I can't kill my father.
That's why he left his hometown, preferring to sever ties with the past rather than acknowledge him.
Song Chunxue clenched her fists. No wonder her senior brother said that this family was rotten to the core.
This shows how important family traditions are.
Without the constraints of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom, even if one is surrounded by mountains of gold and silver, what difference is there between a human and an animal?
The Taoist priest turned to look at Song Chunxue, "Let's go."
The old woman standing inside the house finally spoke, "Where are you going?"
“Zhang Chengxuan, I know you harbor resentment. It all started when your father wanted to marry me. But now he is dead, and you are his eldest son. You should observe mourning for him…”
The Taoist priest turned his head and asked in a deep voice, "You're not dead. You've managed to get by all these years without me. You're just hoping your son will be the eldest son, so who are you trying to disgust by saying such things?"
“Zhang Chengxuan, she is your elder!” a gray-haired man beside him scolded. “You’re supposed to be a cultivator, yet you say things like ‘stealing the destiny of your own ancestors’ without any fear of being laughed at.”
Song Chunxue shook her head slightly. If she really angered her senior brother, he might actually go to the Zhang family's ancestral graves and do something.
"A joke?" the Taoist priest scoffed. "Brother, you're really joking. Our family members have skin thicker than a city wall. We're not afraid of being criticized or laughed at. What you're saying is a joke."
"you……"
The Taoist priest strode out, saying, "Stop talking nonsense and do more work. My affairs are none of your business."
Song Chunxue followed closely behind, and the two left the Zhang family home without lingering for even a moment.
Outside the door, a man stepped down from the carriage and shouted, "Sixth Brother!"
Song Chunxue looked at her senior brother's expression.
"Ninth Brother, you've come quite quickly," the Taoist priest said gently. "Have you read the letter I wrote? Move out as soon as possible, for the sake of the children."
"Yes, thank you, Sixth Brother. I've been preparing for this for a while now." The man bowed respectfully to the Taoist priest. "When will you be leaving, Sixth Brother? How about we have a drink before you go?"
"Okay, I'll come find you."
Lao Jiu looked at Song Chunxue, "And this is..."
"My junior brother came here to give me courage, otherwise I'm really afraid I won't be able to get out of here." The Taoist priest spoke gently, stepped forward and patted his shoulder, "Alright, you go ahead with your work, I'll be going now."
Lao Jiu hesitated, as if he wanted to say something but then stopped.
"Alright, if I want to find Sixth Brother, where should I look for you?"
"The inn I used to love going to."
"good."
They took their luggage from the inn, led their carriage to another inn, called Yibai Inn.
Song Chunxue put down her bundle and went to her senior brother's room.
My senior brother was sitting by the window drinking tea, looking forlorn.
She sat down gently opposite him. "It looks like it's going to snow outside. Are you going out, Senior Brother?"
The Taoist priest looked at him, as if asking, "How did you know I was going out?"
"Where is your aunt? How will my senior brother take care of her?"
The Taoist priest gave a bitter smile. "Junior brother, you've become quite perceptive now. Or perhaps you understand my thoughts and feelings?"
"Junior brother wouldn't dare," Song Chunxue said gently. "If you need anything, senior brother, please don't hesitate."
The Taoist priest lowered his eyes. "Tonight, I will take you up the mountain."
Why at night?
Is it to cover up the truth?
The senior brother is wary of his half-brother; he might really be up to something.
As night fell, they ate a bowl of noodles, picked up shovels, and went up the mountain.
The shovel was secretly borrowed from a farmer, and returned quietly after use.
On the way there, Song Chunxue was still thinking that her senior brother wouldn't really dig up his mother, and that they would just bury her somewhere else with their own strength.
To everyone's surprise, after the Taoist priest burned incense, kowtowed, and burned paper money, he hid to the side and waited.
Song Chunxue sat down on the ground. Snowflakes began to fall from the sky. It wasn't cold, but it was too quiet.
She couldn't imagine how much pain her senior brother must be feeling at that moment.
Nothing is more disgusting than your own family members plotting against you at every turn.
After waiting for the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the snow stopped, and they suddenly heard someone walking towards them.
"This is it. Someone has burned incense here. It seems this woman's son has been here."
"Are we really going to dig this up? That's a terrible thing to do."
"Then don't dig. If you take the money but don't complete the task, how are we supposed to continue working for the Zhang family?"
"But digging them up and throwing them into the ditch is utterly immoral. Can you take the money and I just watch from the side?"
"Get out, get out! You've already come all this way, why are you still pretending to be a good person? Get down the mountain, and I'll tell the boss the truth and get you out of here."
As he spoke, the man picked up a shovel and pretended to dig.
"Who's in charge of your household?"
Suddenly, the Taoist priest appeared next to the grave mound, startling the group.
"My goodness, there's a ghost!"
Song Chunxue counted them; there were six in total.
"Speak, who is your leader?" the Taoist priest said in a chilling voice. "If you don't tell me, I will tie you up and interrogate you myself."
Song Chunxue kicked the leader, "Are you deaf? If you don't tell me, I'll break your legs!"
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