Twilight Boundary-Chapter 682 - 673: Ten Surnames Ancestral Hall
"The question you just asked was actually quite insightful." Old Master Li looked at Hu Ma, his eyes showing a hint of surprise. He sighed slowly and said, "In this world, people either view evil spirits and ghosts as a terrible scourge, not daring even to mention them, or they have simply forgotten their existence.
"Yet, very few people truly ask how they appeared, or how they came to be regarded by the world as evil spirits and ghosts, entities that everyone desires to kill.
"Actually, it all started with that sacrificial ceremony one hundred and seventy years ago. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺
"That ceremony was led by Magical Master Shangxuan of the Daluo Dharma Sect, who was also the first State Preceptor appointed by the Emperor.
"Originally, its purpose was merely to explore the mysteries of heaven and earth and to inquire about the origin of the Tai Sui Blood and Flesh. Yet, unexpectedly, during that grand sacrificial ritual, the ancestral altar was disturbed, leading to the collapse of heaven and earth."
He had likely heard these things from his ancestors, yet as he spoke now, his voice carried traces of pain and remorse, as if he had personally witnessed those events. "People nowadays only know of the Ten Surnames and perhaps have forgotten the ancestral altar.
"However, my Dongzi Li Family was implicated because of this, so we remember these matters more deeply than others. That altar... it was once the very bone of heaven and earth, the heart of all people, the fount of all deities...
"The so-called ancestral altar was, in reality, just a hearth.
"This altar stood before Chengtian Hall in Shangjing. However, it predated Chengtian Hall, predated Shangjing itself, and even predated all dynasties recorded in the annals of history.
"If one were to trace its origins truly far back, it would likely extend to the very dawn of creation. Unfortunately, all written records concerning the ancestral altar were burned by the Douyi. All that remains today is oral tradition.
"According to what my ancestors said, the ancestral altar originated in ancient times when the world was collapsing. A Human Ancestor protected all people by shouldering the blame of Heaven. This ancestor was struck down by heavenly lightning, their body turning to ash, and the place where the lightning struck became a hearth.
"Later generations revered this Human Ancestor. They built dwellings around the hearth, established cities, gathered worldly fortune, rallied soldiers, and drove out evil spirits. As this tradition was passed down through generations, the custom of interring esteemed ancestors within the altar gradually developed.
"Of course, not everyone was qualified to rest in this place.
"Throughout the dynasties, even the royal family couldn't just casually inter their ancestors in the ancestral altar. Only those renowned throughout the land, heroes and great figures whose accomplishments were unparalleled, were qualified to be placed in the hearth. They were interred there only if all clans and common folk revered them.
"Once placed in the hearth, they would receive incense offerings from clans and royalty for millennia. The common folk respected them, erecting golden statues, building temples, and vying to pay homage.
"Eventually, it came to be that only those buried in the ancestral altar were deemed worthy of receiving incense and being worshiped as deities!"
"Deities..."
As Hu Ma listened, his emotions surged, and he vaguely guessed something. "Hall Gods?"
Old Master Li sighed and said, "When exactly the ancestral altar first appeared, or from where it originated, can no longer be verified. Even that Human Ancestor who bore the blame for all people and suffered Heaven's Punishment might merely be a legend. But that is no longer important...
"Throughout the dynasties, with countless offerings directed towards it by the people, such was the power and sanctity of the ancestral altar. Three sticks of pure incense offered there could stabilize the cosmos and safeguard the fortune of the human world!
"The place where the ancestral altar stood was the most sacred ground in the human world. It received incense from all under Heaven, and the world's heroes considered it the highest honor to be interred there. Successive royal families, too, regarded serving the ancestral altar as their foremost duty.
"In those times, it was even said that the successive royal families were but the Incense Burners for the ancestral altar.
"Generations of royalty rose and fell, but if a ruler did not burn a single stick of incense before the ancestral altar, they were not considered qualified to govern the world!
"While the ancestral altar stood, no strange people dared enter Shangjing to attend court. Mountain spirits and other evil spirits dared not harm people or drink their blood. Even treacherous ministers and villains did not dare approach the court to offer incense."
As he spoke these words, he seemed to be reminiscing about that bygone era when the ancestral altar stood proud, and the world was clear and bright under a benevolent sky. But as he continued, his voice grew heavy, "But it was during that grand sacrificial ritual that the heavens surged with red lightning, and the earth stirred with dark winds.
"Upon the sacrificial altar, the cries and wails of demons could be heard. From within the ancestral altar itself, a gray miasma surged forth, obscuring the sun and moon.
"For three full days, an oppressive darkness blotted out the sun and moon. All the city's inhabitants remained barricaded indoors, hearing only the ceaseless sounds of battle and the unending clash of weapons. After three days, a rain of blood fell from the sky. In Hall God Temples across the land, the golden bodies of the deities shattered and crumbled. Black water then began to surge from the ancestral altar...
"Incense smoke was never seen there again. It was then that the State Preceptor prophesied that evil spirits had invaded the human world, and that we—our people—had committed a monstrous crime. From that day forward, he declared, we were to atone for this sin for generations to come..."
He only sighed lightly here, glanced at Hu Ma, and quietly said, "Although these evil spirits only began to gradually reveal their presence decades later, their true origin can be readily traced back to this very moment—the time they first arrived in this world.
"And the first thing they did upon appearing was to destroy our ancestral altar, which had been worshiped by countless multitudes of people for thousands of years.
"That is why they are called evil spirits!"
Listening to this, Hu Ma felt a heavy oppression in his chest. For a moment, countless words welled up within him, but he suppressed them and asked softly, "And then?"
"Later, many things happened that you have already come to understand," Old Master Li said softly. "My Li Family ancestor was dispatched here to guard the Ghost Cave in atonement, tasked with using his living body to guide the yin souls of this world into the underworld.
"And when the new emperor ascended the throne, he urgently issued a decree: the Mansion Gods were to be canonized. Golden bodies were erected for them, Divine Registers were created, and the populace was compelled to worship them. It was proclaimed that these Mansion Gods would replace the ancestral altar and suppress the evil spirits in all four corners of the land.
"These Mansion Gods are the Lords of the various Mansions you see today.
"It can be said that these Mansion Gods were either personally appointed by Emperor Yi—perhaps they were high-ranking generals of the court—or they were formerly deities of local, unofficial shrines who were then elevated and enshrined in proper temples."
Strangely, Hu Ma detected a fleeting hint of mockery in Old Master Li's words. It vanished as quickly as it appeared. The old master then looked at Hu Ma intently and said, "It was also at that time that the Zhensui Mansion was constructed in Shangjing, and various strange people from the jianghu were recruited into the service of the court.
"Most of the ancestors of today's Ten Surnames began to enter the court at that time."
"Zhensui Mansion?"
Upon finally hearing what he was most concerned about, Hu Ma's spirits lifted, and he hastily asked, "It appeared at that time?"
"It didn't just appear at that time..." Old Master Li, after pondering for a long time, seemed to make a monumental decision before slowly speaking, "It is said that during that period, as the Hall God Golden Bodies across the land shattered, the Emperor decreed that all these fragments of the golden bodies be collected and brought to the capital. There, they were to be melted down and forged into a single mace.
"Furthermore, he commanded the ancestor of the Noble Zhang Family to lead all the skilled craftsmen of the realm. They were to use the remaining embers and ash of the ancestral altar, mixed with clay, to make bricks for the construction of the Zhensui Mansion. In addition, certain strange people were tasked with setting up the altar for soul-summoning. Employing secret techniques, they called upon ghostly gods from all directions to forge Alchemical Armor Warriors. These warriors were to wield imperial authority, suppress all manner of ghosts, demons, and evil spirits, and maintain the balance between yin and yang...
"Of course..." He sighed at last and said, "Even so, people today have almost completely forgotten the Zhensui Mansion; who among them even remembers its origins?"
"The Zhensui Mansion... built with bricks made from the ashes of the ancestral altar? And this Demon Suppression Golden Mace... forged from the golden bodies of countless Hall Gods?!"
At this moment, Hu Ma struggled to describe the shock of this revelation. Only now did he truly begin to understand the origin of the Zhensui Mansion. He couldn't help but recall the shadowy figures he had seen and the voices he had heard when he first received the Demon Suppression Golden Mace, connecting them now to the entities lurking beneath the City of the Dead...
So, are there no more Hall Gods in this world?
But that didn't seem to be entirely true. At least, among the Reincarnators, there were still Hall God Negative Spirits.
Furthermore, if the Zhensui Mansion was built by the Dou Clan from the ashes of the ancestral altar to control the world, why was he not suppressed by imperial power when he took it over?
Moreover, if the Reincarnators destroyed the ancestral altar, what was their reason? Why would they destroy the ancestral altar from the very beginning?
"I know you have many questions in your heart, but I cannot answer them all." Old Master Li looked at Hu Ma with a gentle sigh, saying, "Ultimately, the Dongzi Li Family is only here fulfilling the State Preceptor's command: to guide ghosts into the underworld and repay a seemingly endless debt...
"It is said that those reincarnated Evil Ghosts crawl out from this cave. However, I have guarded this place my entire life and, truth be told, I have never seen any such reincarnated Evil Ghosts..."
At least today you saw two...
Hearing his somber voice, Hu Ma also sighed inwardly. After a long pause, he softly asked, "So, did the ancestral altar truly vanish completely one hundred and seventy years ago?"
Old Master Li was silent for a moment, then sighed lightly and said, "The ancestral altar will not truly disappear. It simply... no longer exists in this world...
"After that grand sacrificial ceremony, the ancestral altar was shattered. The Emperor then decreed the creation of the Twelve Ghost Altars to be built upon the ruins of the ancestral altar, effectively suppressing it. Since then, no one has dared to speak of the ancestral altar again.
"More than a hundred years later, it is said that powerful grievances began to fester within these Twelve Ghost Altars. Consequently, twenty years ago, someone summoned practitioners of the Walking Ghost Path to forcibly seal all Twelve Ghost Altars. That duel was earth-shattering, though few outsiders know of it.
"Even I only know that the Twelve Ghost Altars have now disappeared, replaced by the Ten Surnames Ancestral Hall."
"The Ancestral Hall?"
Hearing this, Hu Ma felt a sudden wave of enlightenment.
Is this why there are no longer seniors like Shangqiao on the Walking Ghost Path?
And Granny... The place Granny returned to must also be this ancestral hall, built upon the ruins of the original ancestral altar, right?
He had pondered this question for a long time. Qingyuan also had an ancestral hall, but since the families had completely and irrevocably separated, Granny could not possibly have returned to that one.
As Hu Ma struggled to digest these revelations about the past, Old Master Li paused, as if resting for a moment, then smiled and said, "Young friend, I do not know if it is you, or someone else who instructed you, who has come to me asking about these matters.
"It is said that the Dongzi Li Family does not concern itself with worldly affairs and merely observes with a cold eye. Indeed, we have witnessed these events unfold clearly. However, because we do not participate, our understanding of the intricacies is not profound.
"And if he wants the Dongzi Li Family to offer some advice..."
He paused briefly before slowly saying, "I only have this message for him: If the Hu Family wants to rise, merely suppressing the Meng Family will not suffice.
"The Hu Family possesses a strong destiny, but they lack sufficient accumulated blessing. When the triennial black wind disaster returns, who will they rely on for protection?
"That old lady in the Upper Capital Ancestral Hall?
"I'm afraid that alone... will not be enough..."
