Chapter 366: with translation of chapter title

When I heard the words "bird totem," my heart skipped a beat.

Among the Three Realms and Six Paths, whenever birds are mentioned, the Feng Clan cannot be avoided.

And such totems are usually the faith of a clan.

Now this totem not only appears on the Buddha amulet left by the blood corpse, but the vein‑like pattern of the deep ravine at the bottom of Zhupan River also resembles it, which is quite thought‑provoking.

One can even boldly speculate that the Ditian and the Feng Clan are likely connected in countless ways.

Ditian... Luan?

Luan is also a bird… Could the dharma name Ditian hold a deeper meaning?

My head buzzed, and a layer of cold sweat appeared on the palm holding my phone.

Liu Junyan saw I was off, immediately came over, placed her large hand on my lower back, and softly asked, "What's wrong?"

I shook my head, leaned against her, steadied myself, then asked, "Old Fang, could this bird totem be the Feng Clan's totem?"

"No," Fang Chuanzong replied succinctly, "As far as I know, the Feng Clan's totem should be a fire‑bathed golden phoenix."

Fire‑bathed phoenix… Yes, that fits the Feng Clan's faith.

I continued asking, but Fang Chuanzong's side had no more information to share.

However, he said he would look for other channels to ask for me.

After hanging up, I told Liu Junyan, "I don't know if Aunt has seen this totem; maybe I can ask her."

After Tang Xun returned from Wufu Town, she went into seclusion on Hu Shan.

I specifically had Liu Junyan send people to inquire; it should be about a week before she emerges.

By then I will go to Huicheng to visit Tang Xun, and also take the chance to see Yu Nian.

After Yu Nian contracted the Buddha Eye, she disappeared; I know she is also hiding away in seclusion.

After all, contracting the Buddha Eye still requires an adaptation period.

The totem matter can only be set aside for now; we'll talk about it in a few days.

Wufu Town endured this calamity; the whole street fell into chaos, and people were panic‑stricken for a time.

After the heavy rain came a sudden drought, the air filled with a foul stench; Hui Moqiong and Huang Fan led people to clean the streets, soothe hearts, and were busy nonstop.

Chen Fuying was taken back to the pawnshop and then ran a persistent high fever, her whole body as pale as paper.

Bai Shulan came to see her and said she had been struck by the Yin evil qi of the human‑skin puppet; she needed to take medicine, soak in medicinal baths to dispel the evil, and after recovery required at least half a month of nourishing tonics before her body could gradually recover.

Li Qingying patted her chest and said, "Rest assured, with me here I will surely replenish all her deficiencies."

I wasn't idle either.

That afternoon I first followed Liu Junyan along the Zhupan River, walking and observing the ravine's veins, then went into the teahouse.

The passage in the teahouse kitchen was open, and inside it was completely empty.

Even the passage that had previously been shrouded in dark qi now was merely somewhat chilly.

Liu Junyan took my hand, and we crouched low as we moved forward.

From the secret chamber we entered the passage, walked forward over two hundred meters, then entered another secret chamber.

In that secret chamber lay a crystal coffin, its interior lined with bright yellow brocade; it appears that Chen Ping's human‑skin puppet had previously lain there.

After passing through the second secret chamber and moving forward, the Yin Cold Qi grew stronger.

This stretch of the passage was pitch black, and each step sounded like stepping on slag.

Shining the flashlight down, my body's hairs instantly stood on end… Beneath our feet were actually bones!

At first those bones were small, scattered, looking like animal bones.

They were probably used for some kind of sacrifice.

But further ahead, it was human bones piled upon human bones.

Those bones were not intact, all showing clear burn marks; the broken limbs and fragments held a strange struggling pose, appearing to have suffered greatly before death.

Upon reaching this point, Liu Junyan said, "Xiao Jiu, let's go back; let Mo Qiong's people come first to investigate."

"No, I want to go a bit farther to personally verify some things."

I was quite resolute; Liu Junyan, helpless, could only use her true qi to clear the way while holding my hand and pressing on.

After walking like that for about a quarter of an hour, a "bone mountain" suddenly appeared ahead.

Skulls piled up like a small hill, all facing upward; shining the flashlight up, I saw the mouth of the Bagua well… Indeed, the teahouse passage leads directly to the Bagua well beneath the pawnshop.

However, although it now seems unobstructed, in fact the passage was previously sealed tightly at every node, each section isolated.

What surprised me was that this passage was not, as I had previously guessed, branching at some node to various places in Wufu Town.

It has only a single passage, connecting to the pawnshop.

We did not disturb that bone mountain; we simply turned back the way we came.

As dusk fell, Chen Fuying finally broke her fever after a medicinal bath and woke up.

Li Qingying had her lie on her own bed so she could attend to Chen Fuying closely.

Chen Fuying was moved to the point her eyes turned red.

Li Qingying cooked fragrant millet porridge, steamed an egg custard, the side dish was stir‑fried greens with soybeans; Chen Fuying ate a small bowl and repeatedly praised Li Qingying's kindness and cooking skill.

After I took a bath, I also went to Li Qingying's room.

Li Qingying knew I wanted to talk with Chen Fuying, so she placed a small low table on the bed, laid out some snacks, and the three of us gathered, eating while chatting.

I asked Chen Fuying, "Can you tell me about Chen Peng? Just say what you know."

Chen Fuying briefly organized her thoughts, then began to recount.

"What I know comes from the troupe members who escorted my grandmother away back then, so my information is fragmentary; some parts may differ from reality, you can only listen."

I quickly said those aren't big problems.

"Chen Peng's imperial dream had its seeds planted before he raised his army; it is said that someone once calculated his birth‑year horoscope, declaring he bore the visage of an emperor and pointed out a precise direction for him, and that direction landed in Wufu Town."

After Chen Ping took Wufu Town, he settled there, built the Marshal's Mansion, recruited troops and bought horses, everything went smoothly, he was victorious in every battle, he increasingly believed he had the appearance of an emperor, so he continuously led troops on campaigns, constantly expanding outward, and finally in the battle at Prosperous City's Small Camp Mouth he encountered the Yin Soldiers.

When the first battle at Small Camp Mouth was lost, Chen Ping's body suffered serious injury, killer qi entered his body, he almost died, later receiving guidance from an exalted person, he turned defeat into victory, that is, from that time on, in order to preserve his life, he almost always followed the words of that exalted person, thereby creating endless killing karma.

It is laughable that the exalted person, under the pretense of helping Chen Ping free himself from the shackles of the flesh and become a Buddha and a god, was actually just using Chen Ping as a vessel for his own becoming a Buddha and a god; when Chen Ping realized this, it was already too late.