Chapter 39: The Root of Yīn Mén

  I was shocked, this might be what Li Yan meant by "family matters" all along.

  "In the world, everything can be controlled, but what cannot be controlled is people's hearts. And in the heart, what is most entangled and tied down are the emotions that arise from life." The light words of Qing Shan Dao Zhang had spoken out some shocking truths to me.

  The two factions were like fire and water, yet they couldn't stop the spread and growth of a certain feeling. The leader of Zhengling Sect was in his prime, while the leader of Wuying Sect was already old. This was just a natural law, nothing unusual. However, it was the youngest daughter of Wuying Sect's leader who had fallen deeply in love with the leader of Zhengling Sect. This was unexpected, as the two families were like fire and water, yet they had formed this bond.

  "There was actually a chance encounter here. One time, the leader of Zhengling Gate went out for an inspection as usual and happened to meet a woman who was attacked by all the hanging coffin ghosts because she had greedily reached for fresh flowers on the cliff. These ghostly souls knew that she was the daughter of Wuying Gate, whose father had expanded his power by binding some uncooperative lone souls and wild ghosts to the high cliffs, not giving them a place to rest. To be reincarnated peacefully, they had no choice but to listen to Wuying Gate's orders. Of course, some lone souls and wild ghosts with character were left stranded there by Wuying Gate. This time, an opportunity arose, and the young lady went alone to the cliff to have fun, so she encountered the attack. Coincidentally, she was rescued by the leader of Zhengling Gate, who had a detailed discussion with the lone souls and wild ghosts and promised to comfort them properly, so the woman was saved. This young lady was also a passionate and strong-willed woman, who fell in love at first sight with the majestic and handsome leader of Zhengling Gate."

  I interrupted and asked if what you said was the wonderful and mysterious Ghost Cave.

  "Yes, you're right," said Qing Shan Dao Chang. "The Zheng Ling Men immediately sent their most kind-hearted maid, Ling Miao Ran, to comfort the souls and built the Gui Ling Cave. As a result, not only did the leader of Wu Ying Men fail to thank Zheng Ling Men for saving his daughter, but he also thought that Zheng Ling Men had ulterior motives and deliberately wanted to expand their own power, and finally took in an additional branch of Yin spirits."

  I suddenly thought, why did the southern barbarians and Fengchunju want to destroy the Guilindong? It turned out that there was such an unusual emotional entanglement in it. And then, Qing Shan Daozhang said a story of humans and ghosts crying together.

  The two factions are like fire and water, but the master of Zhenglingmen and Wuying Qianjin are as harmonious as milk and water. However, there have been some subtle words within Zhenglingmen, with several senior protectors having spoken to the master, saying that if things continue this way, it will not be good for our sect. Our sect has always acted in accordance with heaven's principles and human emotions, but now everything we do is seen as intentional by the other side, even the great kindness of guiding souls across the river is seen as a deliberate attempt to expand our power, what kind of wild ambition is this? If things go on like this, we will be looked down upon by the yin realm and it will harm our sect's reputation. It's fine that people within the sect are saying such things, after all, the master of Zhenglingmen has always been fair and just, everyone knows that the other side is just slandering and creating a stir. But Wuyingmen is taking advantage of the situation to cause chaos, everywhere they say that Zhenglingmen not only deceived the yin realm but also seduced Da Qianjin, this is an attempt to unify the yin realm, we will be doomed forever.

  Attacked from both sides, Zheng Lingmen's master was so bitter that he couldn't speak, while the great golden one was on one side with fatherly love and on the other side with heartache, washing his face with tears every day, and finally becoming bedridden. In fact, Wuyingmen's master loved this daughter the most, which is also the reason why he never took drastic measures.

  Before, Zheng Lingmen was still able to meet Qianjin a few times, but in the end, things developed to the point where not only could they no longer see each other, but Qianjin was also placed under house arrest in the name of protection, and she was not allowed to go out. Of course, she became lovesick and pale.

  Zheng Lingmen's master was anxious to the point of being at a loss, and You Yingmen's master was also heartbroken to the point of having no way out. But since it involved both doors, and there were many subordinates watching, this family matter couldn't affect the major affairs of the door. So, they froze for a moment.

  The incident broke out on Sancai Road.

  The so-called three talents refer to the talent of people, the talent of yin, and the talent of dao. The talent of people cannot be stopped, the talent of yin cannot be severed, and the talent of dao is not to be questioned. The talent of people is a matter of the yang world, it cannot be broken, easy to understand; the talent of yin is a matter of the yin realm, it is a proper thing, also easy to understand; as for the talent of dao...

  Up to here, Qing Shan Dao Zhang smiled meaningfully and continued: In our Daoist circle, there is an unwritten rule, that once one path is chosen, another path is not asked about. So no matter if you are real or fake, as long as you don't harm living beings, just go ahead and do it. I suddenly understood why the old Daoist from Nan Village could deceive people's ears and eyes, he was like a fish in water, with nothing but empty talk... It's also because there are many Daoists in this world who truly have dao skills, probably wouldn't be so casual about going around soliciting business and making a big fortune.

  But I digress, let's get back to the main topic. Qing Shan Dao Zhang said:

  In the two lower realms, thoughts of each other were simmering. The great guardian of the No Shadow Gate had a change of heart, and this great guardian was the confidant of the gate master, almost like a family member of the gate master's household. In their words, this precious girl was raised by this great guardian from childhood, and the girl was also clever, meeting face to face would be coquettish and asking Guardian Uncle to hold her. The great guardian's feelings for this precious girl were no less than the gate master's feelings for his daughter. One day, the great guardian went to see the precious girl, with tears streaming down, the woman on the bed had not a bit of color on her face, almost without any vitality. Seeing the great guardian, she weakly said: "Uncle, hold me!" At this moment, the great guardian completely collapsed, his teeth were clenched so hard that they bled, according to the waiting maid's account at the time, no one had ever seen the great guardian like that, his whole body suddenly turned bright red, his eye sockets cracked, and what flowed out was not tears but blood. Without saying a word, he did something earth-shattering, perhaps this was the only thing he would do in his lifetime to betray the gate master. Simply put, using his authority as a guardian, he dismissed a group of guards, opened the Three Talents Way with magic, and secretly entered the Zhengling Gate to inform the master of the Zhengling Gate. After returning, he used magic to cover up the rear palace, and for a moment, the moon was without shadow, and the trees returned to silence. Don't underestimate this; generally, only in times of great disaster would this formation be used in the Yin realm, mainly to cover up the surroundings and make the enemy unaware of their whereabouts. The precious girl successfully met with the master of the Zhengling Gate. And this meeting was a huge reversal.

  Qian Jin was a fierce and determined woman. After meeting the master of Zhengling Gate, she and he hugged each other and wept. Those tears flowed forward, forming a river on Sancai Road, which immediately led to disaster. It turned out that these tears later became a river and remained, known as Liu Lang River. This is also why I asked you to go to the banks of Liu Lang River to report to Zhengling Gate in the first place, it was for this reason.

  It's not wrong to meet, but the outcome is bad. Qianjin knew that she and the master of this sect were destined to be sacrifices for the sect, so she just said that seeing each other once would be enough to comfort her life. She died by biting her tongue and severing her spirit. The master of Zhengling Sect was almost driven mad, holding her corpse and returning to Zhengling Sect in a frenzy, not eating or drinking every day, washing his face with tears.

  On the other side, things have also become chaotic. The master of Wuying Gate has lost his beloved daughter and declared to the Yin realm that Zhengling Gate is cruelly harming the Yin realm, killing his daughter and harming many yin souls, using the excuse of robbing corpses to launch a large-scale attack on Zhengling Gate. At the same time, there was no way out, and the master had to give an explanation to the door, so he removed the Great Protector's spirit, but did not take his life. In fact, this gate master knew that he was doing it for his daughter, so he only removed the spirit and made him a normal person. By the way, you have seen the descendant of this great protector, who is Fengchen Residence.

  I suddenly understood that this wind and dust, the ghostly path, is actually a chance encounter. In his heart, he has always been thinking about the Ghost Yang Knife, but it turns out that he still remembers his father's affairs. Of course, no matter how things go, he will definitely put the blame on Wuying Gate's head. It was Wuying Gate who crippled his father, but he is too weak and can only temporarily rely on Wuying Gate for now. This is also why he schemed to deceive Ghost Yang Knife. Perhaps in his heart, he thinks that as long as he possesses the spiritual knife, he can unify the Yin realm and avenge his father's death. This old guy, who appears to be crazy and demonic on the surface, is actually very meticulous inside.

  This time, only killing the sky was dark and gloomy, the Yin world was filled with bloody rain and wind, turbulent and precarious. A group of lonely souls and wild ghosts had nowhere to settle, some fierce ghosts took advantage of the chaos to make trouble, that period was truly a great calamity in the Yin world.

  Wú yǐng mén is determined to destroy Zhèng líng mén, but it depends on how you look at it. They have been using the excuse of avenging their daughter's death all along, but in reality, there are also some ulterior motives involved. The corpse of Qián jīn from Wú yǐng mén has always been kept by the master of Zhèng líng mén and heavily guarded. However, every time the master sees the corpse, he is overcome with grief. Everyone in Zhèng líng mén, to varying degrees, has been affected. Of course, when there are many people involved, there will be all sorts of rumors and gossip, so gradually, they became unable to cope.

  This is what happened later, which is a matter of what Lin Miaoran said. But there's one thing that's not entirely true. The Zhenglingmen took it upon themselves to save the world from harm, and after the Wuyingmen took advantage of the chaos to wreak havoc in the mortal realm, the Zhenglingmen actually reached a consensus to put an end to this disaster and restore peace to the underworld.

  The master of Zhenglingmen was actually facing off against his future father-in-law, while the corpse of the latter's daughter lay at the gate. He still wanted to end things as soon as possible. The two sides negotiated. Wuyingmen said that as long as they returned the girl's corpse and retreated, they would not cause any more trouble. Having spoken these words, Wuyingmen also saw through the situation - it was all just a pretext, and if the other side met this demand, it wouldn't be good to let the underworld continue to be plagued by blood rain and wind. At that time, everyone would come out and criticize Wuyingmen for being unbeneficial.

  Zheng Lingmen thought about it again and again, and let his daughter return to her father's side to mourn in peace, which was the usual practice, and agreed.

  They agreed to hand over the body between the two mountains at the city site.

  Wuying Gate has arrived, Zhengling Gate has also arrived.

  The body was delivered, and Zheng Lingmen's master cried bitterly. Who would have thought that at this time, another unexpected event occurred, and Wuying Gate had a plan.

  The sudden killing sound rose again, the Zhenglingmen were at a loss, and when they came back to their senses, they found themselves surrounded by the Wuyingmen. Of course, it was a bloody battle, and after fighting to the death, they finally ended up with the result of being annihilated. That day, no one who went to the mountain valley returned alive.

  Wuying Gate finally traded its daughter's life for a unique and unparalleled skill. You may ask, then why is there still Zhengling Gate now?

  This is the heavenly mechanism, that day, it was also the father of Moonlight Lin's master, didn't she tell you that he was the last person to guard the yin soul? At that time, he was still young and a gate boy. Bai Shangjie told you that because he was not very understanding at the time, he went late and escaped this disaster. In fact, there is another person who is now one of the branches of Zhengling Gate, a partner, because he had to clean up the miscellaneous things in the door, he didn't go either. Originally, the master of Zhengling Gate was sincere, returning the most beloved corpse was a big deal, and all members of the gate should go to send it off. Because of this opportunity, two veins of Zhengling Gate were left behind. The partner vowed to revive Zhengling Gate, and his later generations are also the leaders of Zhengling Gate now. And the gate boy, under the partner's entrustment, tearfully promised to guard this vein land of the lonely souls and wild ghosts, waiting for the resurgence of the Eastern Mountain. You knew all these things later on, so I won't say more. By the way, from then on, Wuying Gate called its leader "Zhangzhu" (掌主), with a meaning of unifying the yin world, while Zhengling Gate still called its leader "Zunzhu" (尊主), continuing the original Zhengling Way.

  After listening to Daozhang's narrative, I was stunned. It turned out that the cause and effect of all things were so profound, everything had a reason and a consequence.

  Qingshan Daochang suddenly turned serious and said to me: "You understand the situation, what we need to worry about now is the Ghost Sun Blade, as well as the great matter of the Yin realm."

  One sentence, and my heart was hung up again.