Chapter 3565: Not That Simple

"The liar is the master uncle?! Why is Lady Ye saying this?!"

At this moment, Lin Wanner's face was full of surprise and confusion.

An Chengxi asked Lin Wanner: "Senior, do you know the biography of Meng Changsheng, such as what year he was born and what year he died?"

Lin Wanner blurted out: "Master Uncle, your old self, was born in the first year of the Lindé era of the Great Tang in Chang'an City, that is, 664 AD, and died in 1663, that is, the second year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty, exactly one thousand years."

An Chengxi shook his head and said: "Junior had people search through a large number of ancient texts in Chang'an, because Meng Changsheng once passed the imperial examination and once entered the court as an official, so some official histories have records, and according to the official histories, Meng Changsheng was indeed born in the first year of the Lindé era, no mistake."

"But, this contradicts what that Daoist said, so I hired some Tomb-Robbing Commandants to go to the ancient tomb of the Wu-surname family of the Tang dynasty to look for clues."

"After more than a year of searching, only until Senior and Chen'er went to the Dashan Mountains did we find a document from the Wu family over a thousand years ago, which recorded that the sixteenth-generation descendant of the Wu family at that time, surnamed Meng, named Sheng, courtesy name Changming, was born in the second year of the Qianfeng era of the Great Tang, that is, 667 AD, surname corresponding, name corresponding, courtesy name corresponding, Junior believes that this Meng Sheng is Meng Changsheng!"

Lin Wanner stared wide-eyed, her expression no longer calm, and blurted: "Does Lady Ye mean that Master Uncle changed his birthdate? Deliberately increased his age by three years?"

"Yes!" An Chengxi nodded and said: "Based on what Junior has found, it should be this way."

Lin Wanner furrowed her brows tightly: "But this makes no sense! I once chatted with the Young Master, and the Young Master once by chance encountered an old man, whose ancestor was precisely a Jiang-surname servant boy whom Master Uncle took in when he first began cultivating, and even that old man said Master Uncle was born in the Lindé era, so it seems Master Uncle was not yet a hundred years old then, impossible for him to have already begun laying plans for a thousand years later? Moreover, some Tang scholars, in order to pass the children's examination, would spend great manpower and material resources bribing examiners and altering their ages to be younger, and some officials, to delay retirement, would also alter their ages to be younger, but I have never heard of anyone altering their age to be older."

An Chengxi smiled: "Why Meng Changsheng outwardly claimed to be born in the Lindé era, Junior has actually analyzed a clue from other records, Senior can listen to Junior's analysis and see if it makes sense."

Lin Wanner nodded slightly, earnestly said: "I respectfully listen."

An Chengxi said: "Junior first analyzed human nature, Meng Changsheng's original name was Meng Sheng, courtesy name Changming, later after cultivating the Dao, he changed his name to Meng Changsheng, styled himself Changsheng Jushi, this is like a businessman originally named Meng Sheng, later changed his name to Meng Facai, except the two characters 'Changsheng' sound more ethereal, so it seems less vulgar, but actually, its underlying logic is no different from names like Meng Facai or Meng Danguan, Junior feels that someone who can change their inner desire into their name must have extremely strong inner desire, certainly not someone desireless and seekless."

Lin Wanner agreed: "Lady Ye's analysis is indeed very reasonable."

An Chengxi continued: "When Meng Changsheng passed the imperial examination and entered the court as an official, the emperor at that time was Gaozong Li Tang Gaozong changed era names fourteen times in his life, his wife Wu Zetian later ascended the throne and changed era names seventeen times in her life, as for Tang Gaozu and Tang Taizong, they each used only one era name, other emperors also mostly used one or two era names, Gaozong and Wu Hou frequently changed era names, it is said because both were deeply versed in Daoist arts and natural Yi Jing feng shui, each era name had special significance for them, very likely they frequently used Yi Jing hexagram divination for calculation."

Speaking, she again said: "Meng Changsheng's birth horoscope in the Qianfeng era, Junior had someone calculate, for him personally, his official career fortune is not particularly good, for the state and society, it also does not have much great effect, with his birth horoscope, plus Gaozong's devotion to Daoist teaching and Yi Jing background, he will not have any development prospects."

Pausing, An Chengxi continued: "As for him being recorded in the official histories with that Qianfeng era horoscope, Junior also had someone calculate, if calculated by that horoscope, it is absolutely top-tier official fortune, for the state and society, it is also a peerless talent able to support a great mansion on the verge of collapse."

"Meng Changsheng, when cultivating the Dao, exhausted everything in pursuit of longevity, when serving as an official, he would certainly also exhaust everything to climb upward, altering his birth horoscope to prepare for future official success, this kind of thing, he would certainly do it!"

After hearing this, Lin Wanner felt a chill down her back, her face turned deathly pale as she murmured: "If this is true, then in 1663, Master Uncle was actually only nine hundred and ninety-seven years old, still three years away from dying a natural death, my father and Wu Feiyan followed his last wishes to handle his posthumous affairs, it seems it must have been a fake death..."

"Exactly." An Chengxi said: "Meng Changsheng would not let Senior your father and Wu Feiyan know his true thoughts and all his layouts, feigning death in advance, deceiving his two disciples, to buy himself three years to prepare the blood lake hell that allows him to shed his mortal body before death, that is his true purpose."

After finishing, An Chengxi again said: "Junior also checked the local gazetteers of the areas surrounding the Dashan Mountains, from 1664 to 1666, these two years, the local area encountered rare natural disasters, large numbers of refugees fled their homes becoming refugees, numbering at least tens of thousands."

Lin Wanner looked at her, murmuring: "These people, could they not all have been harmed by Master Uncle?"

An Chengxi shook his head: "This point, Junior has no direct evidence, but according to what that Senior said, setting up the blood lake hell formation requires large amounts of fresh blood and resentful souls as sacrifice, and Junior has checked the gazetteers of the areas surrounding the Dashan Mountains, several hundred to nearly a thousand li around, in the same period and the one or two years after, no place has any record of receiving large numbers of refugees, and also no record of local banditry suddenly becoming severe, tens of thousands of refugees, not going to other towns, not becoming bandits, where then did they go?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Wanner's whole body involuntarily trembled violently, her eye sockets quickly filled with tears.

She is a smart person, knowing that what An Chengxi said, connected before and after, is sufficient to prove everything.

The Meng Changsheng whom her father revered immensely, had actually lost his humanity long ago on the path of pursuing longevity.

Using the lives of tens of thousands of people to forge a hellish formation, just so he could shed his mortal body within it, avoid the annihilation of his true spirit, this method is simply extremely cruel!

She used her sleeve to wipe away tears, chokingly said: "Master Uncle…… oh no, it's Meng Changsheng! He killed so many people, prepared all this, just so that this world could produce a person with the Ascending Dragon Fate, then lure him into the blood lake hell of the Dashan Mountains to seize his body, then reborn using the body of the Ascending Dragon Fate…… this step-by-step planning, layout spanning several hundred to a thousand years, just for his own longevity, this…… what difference is there from demons and monsters?"

An Chengxi sighed: "Even the demons and monsters in myths and folk tales rarely have such great wickedness."

Lin Wanner again asked: "By the way, Lady Ye, since Meng Changsheng must shed his mortal body in the blood lake hell, does that mean he can never leave that blood lake hell?"

"Yes." An Chengxi nodded and said: "He originally should not exist, only by staying in his blood lake hell can he hide from the Heavenly Dao, if he leaves the blood lake hell, he will certainly be shattered by heavenly thunder into powder, but if he remains in the blood lake hell, then he is the sole god within that blood lake hell, previously that Daoist said, the tens of thousands of resentful souls in the blood lake hell have already been refined by him into magical artifacts, with such powerful artifacts supporting him, whoever arrives wherever, it is very difficult to be his match."

Lin Wanner slightly relaxed, said: "This also means that as long as the Young Master never goes to the Dashan Mountains, never arrives at his home ground, he can never do anything to the Young Master, because he cannot leave his blood lake hell, right?"

An Chengxi pondered: "In theory, this is indeed the case, but Junior always feels that things are not that simple!"