Douluo: A Century-old Legend I Am the Second Uncle Chenxin

Chapter 1651 Their Deaths
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……

The moment you step into the central plaza, a deathly silence washes over you like ice water.

As far as the eye could see, there was a chilling white forest—countless banners of mourning stood densely packed, their pale paper banners motionless in the frozen air.

Beneath the white banners were rows of cold-colored coffins, like huge black boulders, silently pressing down on the ground.

In front of each coffin stood a memorial tablet, its wood dark and its inscription glaring.

The straight lines of these memorial tablets and coffins cruelly depict the devastation suffered by the mortal realm.

The Chen family used the best and most qualified morticians, and it took them two days.

In front of each coffin were some caretakers, dressed in white.

There were only three coffins in the front row.

The first body: Ji Shuran.

The second one: Yan Chengyi.

The third item: Jian Hesong.

The memorial tablets of these three occupy the front row alone, silently proclaiming their status among the many fallen—the three Soul Saint level experts of the Dust Mansion that day, and also the backbone that resisted that sneak attack.

Yan Chengyi, the leader of the Chang'an team; Ji Shuran, the captain of the Chang'an team's security team. They are teachers at the academy, fulfilling their duties as teachers.

Because of their high cultivation level, they were naturally the first to be targeted by the attacking Soul Douluos, resulting in a fierce battle.

In particular, the successive falls of Ji Shuran and Yan Chengyi caused the central defense to lose its strong support from the very beginning, and the situation took a sharp turn for the worse, with signs of collapse beginning to emerge.

Chen Hong walked heavily, step by step through the cold array of banners, and stopped in front of the coffins of Ji Shuran and Yan Chengyi in the front row.

Two elderly men with white hair stood silently before their respective sons' coffins.

Chen Hong stopped in his tracks.

He reached out, his calloused and wounded fingers gently patting Ji Chengjian's hunched back, which was hunched from grief.

The old man's body trembled slightly, and his face was filled with lingering sorrow.

He slowly turned around, his cloudy eyes straining to focus, and after recognizing the person, his lips trembled a few times before he uttered a dry, hoarse voice: "Elder..."

Beside him, his daughter-in-law Liu Yuezi was trying to hold back her sobs, her shoulders trembling uncontrollably, while his granddaughter Liu Ruyi knelt with her head down, her little hands tightly gripping the hem of her clothes.

Liu Ruyan was comforting her, while Ji Boda, as her nephew, was kneeling beside her.

Ji Shuran is also Liu Ruyan's second uncle, which is why Liu Ruyan has been able to perform these past few days, but no one has called her name.

Chen Hong's gaze then shifted to another old man a few meters away, and he remained silent.

The old man was always taciturn.

He stood ramrod straight as a spear, but his face did not show the outward grief of Ji Chengjian; instead, it was a rock-white ashes.

He met Chen Hong's gaze and nodded very slightly, so slightly that it was almost imperceptible.

Without saying anything more, Chen Hong also stretched out his large hand and patted Yan Jinzhong's taut, iron-like shoulder firmly.

The force, transmitted through the fabric, conveys a silent sense of weight-bearing and support.

The Ji family's steward, Feng Qisheng, patted his daughter, Feng Min. They were also present, because Yan Chengyi had saved Feng Min's life.

Kneeling beside Yan Jinzhong was a teenager—Yan Chengyi's son, Yan Xiaolai.

The boy lowered his head, his thin shoulders were hunched, his eyes were red, and he bit his lower lip hard.

Ji Tiantian (Chen Duling) stood behind Yan Xiaolai. Chen Hong patted her head and then chatted with her father, Ji Xiang, who was standing next to her.

After comforting the two elderly fathers who had lost their sons, Chen Hong's gaze swept over the people standing behind him.

Zhuo Qianren, the vice dean of Chang'an Academy, and Wang Wei stood solemnly beside the row of coffins.

Chen Hong nodded very slightly to the two of them.

Zhuo Qianren and Wang Wei returned the greeting with solemn expressions.

As vice deans, they were also deeply saddened; Chang'an Academy had never suffered such a loss.

Immediately, Chen Hong stepped forward and walked towards the third coffin—Jian Hesong.

Two people stood before the coffin, surrounded by members of the Jian family. Leading them was Jian Hesong's eldest brother, Jian Hezhi.

His features, which bore a striking resemblance to Jane Hesong's, were imbued with a deep sorrow and solemnity.

Beside him was a pale-faced girl, Jane Hesong's daughter, Jane Xinyue.

Chen Hong walked up to Jian Hezhi.

Unlike his approach to his two fathers, Ji and Yan, which involved gentle physical contact to soothe them, he chose a more intimate and solemn stance when facing Jian Hezhi.

“He Zhi…” Chen Hong said in a low voice, “He Song… died very bravely, protecting the children behind him.”

"Elder," Jian Hezhi bowed respectfully, "this is his duty. When needed, the Jian family members of the Ink Crystal Bottle should stand at the forefront."

His words were clear and distinct, devoid of resentment, conveying only recognition and acceptance.

Chen Hong didn't offer much comfort.

Jian Hezhi is a level 78 high-level Soul Saint, the current head of the Jian family, and one of the most promising candidates to break through to Soul Douluo in Chenlin Village.

He was previously the manager of a medicinal herb market, where his outstanding performance led to his transfer to the Ministry of Education as Vice Minister, assisting Chen Wu.

The Jian family ranks among the top of the twenty-seven "high-grade" families. Their inherited sixth-grade initial-level martial soul, "Ink Crystal Bottle," has great potential and can be cultivated in both support and control modes.

Most members of the clan play important roles in education, craftsmanship, and even cultural inheritance within the Chen family.

This was also an important reason why the family appointed Jian Hesong, who was proficient in etiquette and in charge of coordinating part of the Chen family's cultural industries, to be stationed in Tiandou City, the core of the empire.

Chen Hong looked into Jian Hezhi's eyes and nodded.

Then, he moved his feet and stepped toward the denser, more silent line behind him—the coffins of the other heroic teachers of Chang'an Academy who had died in the line of duty, the coffins of the soul masters of Wushan Academy, and the guards of Chenfu.

In front of the coffins of teachers at Chang'an College, stood a middle-aged woman with a solemn face and red eyes, quietly guiding several family members—that was Lin Jingshu, the deputy director of the Student Affairs Office, who was responsible for compiling the list of those who died in the line of duty at Chang'an College and organizing the memorial ceremony.

Xia Yun was put in charge of Wushan Academy.

The atmosphere was particularly solemn in front of the group of coffins guarded by the Dust Mansion.

An elderly man with a lean, iron-like physique and a resolute face stood tall; he was Ding Bingming, the commander of the Chen Mansion.

His face was pale and his lips were dry, clearly indicating that his injuries had not yet healed.

These guards are all soldiers from the People's Liberation Army.

The Chen family is extremely strict in its selection of personnel for the Chen Mansion in Tiandou City.

These guards, now reduced to dust, were either elites from the Imperial Guards of the Duke of Chang'an's mansion, selected from among the youths of Chenlin Village, or directly transferred from the Xuanlin Guards.

All those assigned to the Heavenly Dou Duan Mansion, besides having a clean background and outstanding abilities, underwent the most crucial step—they had already undergone a rigorous second review and loyalty training by the Duan Family's Internal Affairs Department in places like Chang'an or Chenlin Village.

Not a single person stationed under this roof is from Tiandou City!
This is one of the fundamental reasons why the Chen family was able to survive amidst the turbulent waves.

Loyalty! Purity! Isolation from external influences!

It is precisely because of such strict isolation and personnel vetting mechanisms that organizations like the Crimson Church have been unable to discern the true nature of the Chen family at their core strongholds.

Chen Hong slowly walked past the rows of silent coffins.

He did not linger long in front of each coffin.

But at the end of each column, he would pause for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the names of the guardians and over the coffins that stood next to them.

Meanwhile, heavy funeral bells were tolling in different places and at different times.

In the center of the martial arts training ground of the Duke of Chang'an's distant mansion, beneath a sky full of white banners, another solemn and tragic memorial ceremony had begun.

In the ancestral hall of Chenlin Village, in front of the ancestral temple in Shanbao, and at the Xingluo City outpost, cries of sorrow pierced the sky.

Similar scenarios unfolded one after another, like sparks, in the areas where the true core power of the Chen family was stationed.

Chen Cong, Xia Ruxin, Shen Tianjun, and even Chen Xun and Leng Qingqiu each picked up a eulogy.

The grief of the same family resonated across this vast continent in the most poignant way.

The hearts of the living and the souls of the deceased, in a cold and solemn way, completed their final connection and farewell in this afternoon filled with the scent of incense and candle ash.

In this central courtyard square, only the occasional rustling of the funeral banners, caused by a gentle breeze, made the procession of coffins appear like a cold boundary marker, separating the line between life and death.

(End of this chapter)