The Ninth Lady is a rebellious person.

Chapter 552 Unraveling the Mystery, Making Bold Speculations

Lang Jiuchuan took the scroll handed over by the Gong family head. She didn't know how many years it had been, but it exuded an ancient and simple aura of law that seemed to have weathered a lot. She couldn't help but feel a jolt in her heart.

Existence is its own justification.

The Xuan Clan exists in this world for a reason. Although they have a bad reputation now and are full of decay, and even as the Gong family head mentioned, his friend once predicted the decline of the nation, the Xuan Clan is also heading towards decline.

However, the profound knowledge they possess is something that many small Taoist sects or even Taoist temples do not have. For example, these ancient scrolls are treasured by the Gong family, and how can outsiders possibly discover them?
The heritage of a distinguished family is what makes it so important. Such heritage cannot be acquired overnight; it is accumulated slowly through generations, resulting in an unfathomable depth.

Lang Jiuchuan brushed past the scroll's aura of law and opened it.

A thousand years ago, there was a disciple of the Zhengyi sect under the tutelage of Zhang Tianshi, named Tantai Wuji. He had pure Taoist roots and was exceptionally talented. However, for some unknown reason, he betrayed his master and became a wandering Taoist cultivator. He then founded his own sect and led his family to glory. Later, he failed to break through to the highest realm of the Golden Core Dao and mysteriously disappeared along with his secluded cultivation place. His sect was then passed down from generation to generation by his son.

From then on, the Tantai clan seemed to be cursed. The exceptional bloodline in the clan seemed to be suppressed and became scarce. However, every hundred years, a bloodline with extraordinary talent and brilliance would appear. Without exception, these geniuses all showed comprehension and talent far exceeding their peers. It was as if the glory of the ancestor had reappeared, which made the prestige of the Tantai clan stand firm.

However, the ultimate fates of these geniuses were strikingly similar. Like their ancestors, they either mysteriously perished at the crucial moment of breaking through to a higher realm, or their cultivation regressed and they died mysteriously just before reaching the pinnacle of their lives and having the potential to break through to a higher realm.

As times changed and the spiritual energy in the world became increasingly shallow, it became increasingly difficult for those who entered the Dao to reach the highest realm. The strangeness of the Tantai clan had become a pattern, which made the clan members both fearful and confused. They believed it was a curse and had been seeking a way to break the curse and cleanse themselves, otherwise they would never be able to break through to the next realm.

Gong Tinglan pointed to a line of small characters and said, "Look here. It records that the age at which these geniuses of the century-old family were enlightened is completely unpredictable. Some showed extraordinary signs in their infancy, while others only had a sudden enlightenment in their childhood. As for Tantai Qing... what I saw in the clerk outside just now was that he was only enlightened at the age of ten."

The two looked at each other.

"The curse might be false, just their own idea, but this explanation is worth considering." Lang Jiuchuan read aloud the short passage she had seen: "Some clansmen believe that this is not a curse, but the return of the ancestor. He is like some reincarnated Buddhist masters, who did not truly perish, but are constantly searching for a suitable bloodline to be reborn and create new glories!"

This saying compares the ancestors of the Tantai clan to living Buddhas in Buddhism who were reincarnated after their passing.

Lang Jiuchuan sneered. This Patriarch Tantai was a disciple of the Zhengyi sect and entered the Taoist school. How did he become a living Buddha?
She stared at the reborn vessel, her gaze sharp as a knife, and said, "An overly regular occurrence once every hundred years is unnatural in itself. The cycle of Heaven and the innate talents of living beings cannot be as precise as a clock. Therefore, I also tend to believe in reincarnation rather than a curse. However, whether this so-called rebirth is natural or man-made is hard to say!"

She also believes that some dead people can be reincarnated into her family, which is why she often says that some descendants resemble their ancestors. Perhaps that's where it all comes from!

Even her biological father has now been reincarnated into the Lang family, but that might not be possible without some back door being opened for her in the underworld. As for Tantai, his ancestor has been reincarnated so precisely every time for thousands of years. Did he open the gate to reincarnation? Who would believe that!

"I also find it strange. It's too regular, and something feels off. But if what you're saying is true, then he wasn't a natural reincarnation at all, but rather someone who possessed his body..." Gong Tinglan paused, and a chilling conjecture gradually took shape in the sea. She said in a deep voice, "If the current Imperial Preceptor, Tantai Qing, is not the same Tantai Qing from before he was ten years old, is it possible that the ancestor Tantai Wuji from a thousand years ago possessed his own descendant and was reborn in his body?"

That's why he suddenly had an epiphany and became a peerless genius, one in a hundred years among his ancestors, with knowledge and methods far beyond ordinary people. That's why he is so ruthless and treats blood relatives as worthless. In his eyes, anything that is beneficial to him, whether it is blood relatives or direct disciples, is just a pawn or a shell for him to use to achieve his goals!

Lang Jiuchuan and he locked eyes, both seeing unprecedented shock and solemnity in each other's eyes.

If that's the case, what is this old monster, who may have lived for thousands of years, plotting now?
Watching the two of them meticulously unravel the mystery, the head of the Gong family felt a pang of envy. They were both incredibly intelligent children. If they could become a family, how could the Gong family not be remembered for generations to come?

The head of the Gong family looked at Lang Jiuchuan's beautiful and aloof face, and the more he looked, the more beautiful she became. Her temperament was refined and elegant, her Dao roots were pure, and her son was just as handsome. If she could give birth to the next generation, it would be incredible!
"Patriarch!" Gong Tinglan waved her hand emphatically in front of him, her face dark, and said, "What are you thinking?"

What are you doing here, daydreaming?
The head of the Gong family coughed and put his hands behind his back, saying, "I was wondering if there were any other records. What is it?"

"Who wrote this secret history? Are there any other scrolls he wrote about these geniuses of the past century?" Gong Tinglan asked, frowning.

The head of the Gong family looked somewhat uneasy and said, "It's a rather eccentric elder of our Gong family. After traveling the world, he compiled and wrote a secret history based on numerous clues. At the time, the elders considered it nonsense and sealed it here to prevent rumors and trouble for the family. See? Gong Baixiao, knowledgeable in everything..."

"Is that the ancestor who loved to gossip about other people's families all his life, and even hid under someone's bed all night to eavesdrop?" Gong Tinglan looked at the ancient seal patterns that were faintly visible on the scroll, and it really was.

The head of the Gong family darkened his face and said in a pretentious manner, "You are not allowed to speak ill of our ancestor. He was just a man who did not care about trivial matters and was known as the all-knowing scholar of the martial arts world."

Gong Tinglan muttered to herself, "What 'know-it-all'? He's clearly just a busybody."

The head of the Gong family glared at him irritably, then looked at Lang Jiuchuan, wanting to explain that not everyone in the Gong family was like this, and that the traitor in front of him was normal; he would understand once he learned more about the family.

Lang Jiuchuan touched his nose, smoothed out the corners of his mouth, and said, "I wonder if Senior Bai Xiaosheng has written any other unofficial histories?"

　Hmm, don't overthink it, just kidding! While writing this, I remembered a horror movie, like *Three Times*, I think, the one Shu Qi starred in, the one with the elevator scene where a ghost stays beside a pregnant woman, wanting to be reincarnated. After the baby was born, well, it looked like his grandfather… Ah, my memories of horror movies are always so vivid. See you in the comments! Which horror movie do you think is classic? For Thai movies, I have to choose *Shutter*!
　　(End of this chapter)