Chapter 281: Boji Dun

"We're here, it's right ahead!"

Turning around a mountain ridge, Squire Tian points to the side.

His voice carries a trace of trembling.

Unlike other wealthy merchants in Ezhou, although Squire Tian has some family property, he can only be considered a landlord in the village, and the three brothers started from scratch.

Because of some reasons, he rarely returned to his ancestral home.

His descendants grew up in Hanyang City since childhood, so naturally, they have no feelings for this isolated small mountain village.

But for Squire Tian, this is his home.

Li Yan and others also look up to observe.

Only to see a mountain path crossing the mountain ridge and going down, at the end of which is a village, built against the mountain, surrounded by green mountains and forests, like a screen and a barrier.

Below the mountain, there is a lake, the waves as flat as a mirror, reflecting the mountain colors.

Most villages in the Shenzhou basically have three types of patterns.

One is a single family, gradually developing to form a clan living together.

Two is several large families united due to marriage relationships.

Three is a village of mixed surnames living together.

This old home of Squire Tian is the third type, named Boji Dun, named after the terrain.

On the way, Squire Tian had already told the origin of his old home.

At that time, the Daxing Dynasty and the Golden Tent Wolf Country were confronting each other north and south, and every battle had its own victories and defeats, and the national border also changed accordingly.

The people of Ezhou suffered from war, and people fleeing from various places found remote places, isolated from the world, to survive and multiply.

Therefore, the village has mixed surnames, and the roads are not easy to walk.

It was a treasure land during the war, but in peaceful times, it was inevitably a burden; for many years, only Squire Tian's family walked out of the mountain village.

Around the village, terraced rice fields are layered.

At this moment, it is the time for early rice transplanting.

Looking around, it is a scene of lakes and mountains, and pastoral scenery.

Not far away, a family is busy in the fields, and the leading old farmer is singing loudly: "Planting fields, planting fast, bacon fried rice, planting fields, planting slow, chives fried eggs..."

Sha Hearing Sha Lifei laughs upon hearing this, "This food is good enough."

And Squire Tian has already ridden his horse forward, stroking his beard and smiling, greeting, "Hu Er-kui, how is the harvest this year?"

"Tian Da... Squire Tian is back."

The old farmer smiles honestly, his face clearly a bit unnatural.

He and Squire Tian grew up together, catching snakes and fishing in the mountains with their bare bottoms, but now their status is worlds apart.

One is a master, living in luxury, and it is said that he is a big figure in Hanyang City, while he is just a rural farmer, so naturally, he has to be cautious when speaking.

Squire Tian sees this, feeling sad in his heart, but his expression remains unchanged, smiling, "I brought the children back to sacrifice to the ancestors."

After saying this, he led the team into the village.

Halfway there, Wang Wang Daoxuan suddenly stops, takes out a compass, looks around, and strokes his beard and smiles, "Mountains on both sides like wings, playing in the water of the lake, what a 'Flying Goose Land'."

"Daoist truly has a good eye!"

Squire Tian smiles, "I heard from the elders that among the people fleeing, there was a feng shui master who took a fancy to this place at a glance."

"The comment at the time was: blessings are abundant, but the flying goose is hard to leave. It's enough for the descendants in the village to live a peaceful life, but if they want to be rich and noble, they can only leave the village."

Wang Wang Daoxuan nods, "Everything is hard to have both; if there wasn't this Flying Goose Land, how could it have continued from the war until now."

"Daoist is right." Squire Tian also nods in agreement.

While talking, they have already entered the village.

This village is ancient, many residential houses are old-fashioned brick and earth houses, mixed with a style similar to stilt houses, with livestock raised on the first floor and people living on the second floor; the sounds of cattle, sheep, and ducks are endless, and the smell is also strong.

The small roads in the village have uneven bluestone slabs.

There are old people squatting at their doors, holding long dry tobacco pipes, seeing Squire Tian's team, they smile, showing toothless mouths, surrounding them from all directions.

"Tian family's eldest is back."

"Haven't seen you for a while."

"Come, come, come home for a cup of tea."

Squire Tian hurriedly dismounts, bowing and smiling to the surroundings, "Fellow villagers, Tian is back to sacrifice to the ancestors, and there are still a pile of things to do, I'll come to visit later."

Saying this, he gave a wink.

The servants immediately opened the oilcloth on a cart, took out some gifts from it, and distributed them to everyone.

The things are not valuable, just coarse cloth and tea, but for the common people in the village, they are heavy gifts.

"This isn't necessary?"

"Every time you come back, it's like this."

The old people were polite on the surface, declining for a while before accepting the things.

One of the old men grabbed Squire Tian, saying in a low voice, "Tian Da-lang, the person you invited isn't decent; helping you look at the ancestral house, but secretly letting outsiders live in."

"This time you came back suddenly, I estimate they haven't left yet."

Squire Tian's expression immediately becomes gloomy, nodding, "Old Uncle Lu, thank you, you reminded me."

Without him reminding, the servant sent another gift.

Other old people around saw this, feeling regretful in their hearts; if they had said a word earlier, the things would have been theirs.

Li Yan glances at it, already having a count in his heart.

Sure enough, after walking a few more steps, Squire Tian says in a gloomy voice, "The person looking after the ancestral house was hired by my second brother."

"In the past, when we came back to sacrifice to the ancestors, it was at a fixed time; I felt something was wrong, so I didn't notify this time, and sure enough, there was a problem."

"Tian Cheng, you take people and go first, block them!"

"Yes, Master!"

Seven or eight retainers and guards speed up their pace and rush out...

The Tian family is considered one of the best families in the village.

But because they are of mixed surnames, they have to build an ancestral hall separately, so the ancestral house is not in the center of the village, but on a flat ground at the highest point north of the village, occupying a large area alone.

When everyone arrived, arguing sounds were already coming from ahead.

"I am Second Master's person!"

"Why are you arresting me? Let people go!"

Only to see in front of a large old mansion, the Tian family's servants and guards were pushing and shoving with several people.

The accents of those people were completely different from the common people in the village, and judging from their clothing and attire, they were completely outsiders.

The leader was an old man, his clothing was decent, his hair was white, his body was thin and dry, and his palms were thick and rough.

Looking at the others, although there were old and young, they were the same.

"What are you doing?!"

Squire Tian saw this, immediately scolding.

That old man's eyes flashed with a trace of unnaturalness, a dry smile squeezed onto his face, bowing and arching his hands, "Master is back suddenly this time, why didn't you notify us."

Squire Tian laughed angrily, gritting his teeth and scolding, "This is my Tian family's ancestral house, I spent money for you to look after the house, and you dare to mess around for me!"

That old man gave a dry laugh, bowing, "Master misunderstood, this is all Second Master's meaning."

"The old house has been in disrepair for a long time, and it has been leaking water recently; my hands and feet are not agile, so I called some young people to help."

Sha Hearing Sha Lifei, who was on horseback, gave a sneer, "This old brother, why is there such a heavy smell of earth on you?"

Squire Tian heard this, his heart sinking. He has traveled north and south, and also understands quite a few martial world secret languages; Sha Hearing Sha Lifei is clearly saying that these people are tomb robbers.

Sure enough, hearing this, the old man's face changed immediately, roaring, "Exposed, run!"

Those people immediately pushed away the retainers and guards and wanted to escape.

"Leave them all for me!"

Without Li Yan and others taking action, Squire Tian's son-in-law Liu Yizhong pulled out his precious sword and rushed out.

He is a thousand-household officer of the Guard, and has already stepped into Dark Jin; dealing with these people is simply easy.

Sword light flickered, accompanied by screams, and those tomb robbers were all cut in the foot tendons, lying on the ground gritting their teeth and cursing.

That old man was even more furious, "Tian family, I didn't dig your ancestral grave, we are all working for your brother!"

Squire Tian's expression changed, "Shut up!"

As soon as the voice fell, the retainers and guards hurriedly stepped forward, slapping those tomb robbers until they were dizzy, and stuffed broken cloth into their mouths.

Li Yan and others were not surprised to see this.

!.

Seeing all the way, this Squire Tian cares very much about his reputation in the village; if it were spread, he would inevitably be pointed at by others.

However, no one expected that the one making trouble was his brother.

Squire Tian was clearly furious.

But just at this time, the village head who got the news brought a group of people to ask for greetings.

Squire Tian had to order the retainers to lock those tomb robbers into the mansion, and after dealing with the village head and others, he hurriedly entered the door to interrogate.

After a beating, those tomb robbers confessed one after another.

"It was Second Master Tian who hired us..."

"Several Chu tombs were discovered in the back mountain, Second Master Tian's business had problems, so he hired us to secretly rob the tombs for turnover..."

Learning the cause and effect, Squire Tian gradually calmed down, his eyes full of sorrow, "We are all born of the same mother; when something happened, he would rather take a crooked path than come to me; does he hate me that much?"

Lady Tian hurriedly comforted, "Master, don't be angry; a family making such a scene is not a good thing after all."

"This is also an opportunity, why not take the initiative to go to the door, offer help, and explain this matter."

Seeing Squire Tian still hesitating, his wife shook her head, "We are all old people, what else can't we let go of? Could it be that we really want to die without interacting?"

Squire Tian was silent for a moment, "Madam is right."

And Wang Wang Daoxuan on the side continued to inquire, "You robbed tombs in the back mountain, have you ever found anyone moving the Tian family's ancestral grave?"

Although the old man had already confessed, he was still unhappy in his heart, spitting and scolding, "Although we eat the food of the dead, we also pay attention to martial world morality. Helping people work but digging the employer's grave, who would do such a rotten thing?"

"Unlike you wealthy gentlemen, going back on your word!"

While Wang Wang Daoxuan was inquiring, Sha Hearing Sha Lifei on the side narrowed his eyes, seemingly sloppy, playing with the teacup in his hand, but actually paying attention to everyone's expressions.

Seeing a young man's eyes dodging, Sha Hearing Sha Lifei sneered, "We are all walking in the martial world, what are you pretending for?"

"The Daoist asked you, naturally there is a reason. As for why, why not ask the disciple behind you."

His rambling words were completely used to bluff people.

And that old man Wu Jui suddenly felt a thump in his heart, turning his head suddenly to look at several disciples, his eyes gloomy.

Tomb robbing is a line of work that fears internal ghosts and being harmed by one's own people, so the rules are very strict; any violation is a three-knife six-hole punishment.

That disciple was timid in his heart, hurriedly kneeling and kowtowing, "Master, the disciple had no choice, they bewitched me, I really couldn't hold on."

"Get lost!"

The old man was furious, hitting him with his head, then gritted his teeth, stiffening his neck, and said coldly to Squire Tian, "I lost, kill or cut or send to the yamen, whatever you want!"

Li Yan said in a deep voice, "Who are the people you mentioned?"

Things had reached this point, and the disciple didn't hide it anymore, trembling, "I don't know, I only know they are a group of Miao people."

"By the way, several of them were coughing frequently, their faces were dark, and their fingers were deformed by rheumatism."

"They are kiln workers!"

The leading tomb-robbing old thief said in a muffled voice, "Kiln workers are in contact with fire kilns all year round, their lungs are damaged, and mass production also ruined their hands; I have seen it before."

He was clearly resentful towards those who bewitched his disciples to break the rules, so he spoke out to remind them.

"Kiln workers... Miao people?"

Squire Tian was thoughtful, waving his hand to let the retainers take those tomb robbers away.

After the people left, he said, "The wharf trade here is prosperous, and the Jiangxia area produces 'Yingqing porcelain' and 'celadon', with many kilns, and almost every household has a kiln factory."

"But there are only a few Miao villages; telling this news to the Law Enforcement Hall should be able to catch the opponent's tail..."

Although this incident happened, there were clues to the black hand harming the Tian family, which could be considered a blind cat catching a dead mouse.

The customs in Ezhou are generally that the yang residence is in front and the yin residence is in the back, not far apart, just crossing a small mountain ridge.

Under the leadership of Wang Wang Daoxuan, everyone went to the ancestral grave to check.

Sure enough, although there was nothing unusual outside, there was a tomb-robbing hole in the nearby woods, leading directly to the Tian family's ancestral grave.

The servant crawled in to look, and the grave bricks inside had indeed been pried away, and some stones wrapped in red cloth and stained with filthy blood were placed to enhance the Yan Sheng technique.

Wang Wang Daoxuan looked at the sky, seeing the sunset reflecting on the lake, "It's getting late, it's not an auspicious time, let's come back early tomorrow to repair the ancestral grave."

After returning to the room, Squire Tian led people to clean up the mansion, preparing the evening meal, while Li Yan and the four gathered in the room.

On the table, there were several bundles of bamboo slips.

These bamboo slips were ancient, but still well-preserved.

Li Yan didn't tell Squire Tian's family

Sacrifices of birds and beasts, the giant alligator bestowing techniques, and a connection to the legendary Palace of the Lord of the Clouds—these bamboo slips were naturally extraordinary.

But at the same time, there was a major problem.

The characters on them,

they couldn't recognize!

The characters on the bamboo slips were transcribed in a special calligraphy style, but they had been altered; the lower parts looked like grass, and the upper parts like flowers.

Looking at them, the handwriting resembled a dense thicket of flowers, dizzying to the eye, and it was impossible to understand what was written.

Sha Hearing Sha Lifei was speechless, "What the hell is this? Daoist, you've read many books; can you recognize these characters?"

Wang Wang Daoxuan looked up helplessly and said, "The knowledge of the world is as vast as smoke and mist; I truly cannot recognize them."

Li Yan held the bamboo slips, "Brother Lu obtained these at the risk of his life; perhaps they are related to his inheritance, so we must figure them out."

"I will go ask the eldest son of the Tian family to take a look."

Tian Wei, who was busy, was quickly called over. After picking up the bamboo slips, his eyes suddenly lit up, "Where did you obtain this item?"

Sha Hearing Sha Lifei asked hurriedly, "Don't worry about that; just look at these characters—do you recognize them?"

Tian Wei replied, "I only recognize a few."

"A few?"

Sha Hearing Sha Lifei scratched his head, full of suspicion, and said, "Didn't you come from the Wenjin Academy? Could it be that you only spent your time sightseeing and neglected your studies?"

Tian Wei was immediately displeased and defended himself, "Don't talk nonsense. This thing has a significant background; ordinary people haven't even heard of it!"

"In ancient times, customs varied across the Shenzhou, and fonts and languages were diverse—Golden Magpie, Tiger Claw, Inverted Leek, Swelling Wave, Letter Banner... there were over a hundred types of fonts back then."

"If it weren't for the Qin Shi Huang Huang later unifying the Shenzhou, standardizing the script and the gauge of carts, you and I wouldn't even be able to understand each other's speech today."

"This act of the Qin Shi Huang Huang was a contribution for all eternity."

"This type of font is called 'Zhiyingli'. Zhiying refers to the legendary immortal herb, so it was used by people of the ancient Mystic Sects."

"Although I am not proficient, I vaguely recognize some."

As he spoke, he pointed to five large, flowery characters on the cover of the bamboo slips, "I can recognize these few."

"It is written: Classic of Mountain and Sea Spiritual Response!"

Second update at twelve o'clock

(End of chapter)