Chapter 88 - 85: The Past of the Zhou Family

Chapter 88: Chapter 85: The Past of the Zhou Family"Insight into the future?" Yuan Buyu suddenly felt a tightness in his heart and asked Zhou Xuan, "What did you see in the Blood Well’s divination?" Zhou Xuan wanted to reveal the scene of his own death, but as soon as the thought moved, the feeling of being watched grew intense. "Uh, I saw images from... the future, about myself," Zhou Xuan changed his wording, and the sensation disappeared. He understood a bit now that everything seen in the Blood Well could be spoken of, but not specifically, only as some vague concept. *It seemed to align subtly with the law of divination rules that ’heavenly mechanisms cannot be revealed’—you can talk, but only a little.* He gestured silently to Yuan Buyu, first pointing to his own eyes and ears, then to his mouth, and made a gesture for silence. Yuan Buyu, experienced in eerie, mystical theories, immediately understood Zhou Xuan’s meaning, "Can be seen, can be heard, but cannot be spoken? That makes sense! If it’s really as you say—you’ve seen images from the future, then this Blood Well is truly insight into the future. If it were considered an alien ghost, it would be one of the most powerful alien ghosts in the world." "This kind of insight, is it different from the principles of divination, prediction, and Secret Realm omens?" Zhou Xuan wanted to know more clearly. "Very different," Yuan Buyu said, "Divination, prediction, omens, they’re all based on the same principle, calculating the future situation based on the current circumstances, the so-called ’knowing the cause and pushing for the effect!’ To calculate the ’effect’ accurately, you must know enough about the ’cause’, and the larger the matter to be calculated, the more complex the causes involved. Common fortune-tellers calculate trivial matters, even so, they’re often nine out of ten inaccurate, if you reach the level of Feng Shui Dragon Seeking, and want to find a giant dragon vein running through the Jing Country, the causes to be calculated here are as vast as a sea of stars, the calculation volume is huge, and no significant errors can occur during the process, it’s something only top-level divine people can do, if you want to calculate the fate of an era, the fortune of a country, the involved causes are so vast that it’s beyond the limits of human potential, it’s uncalculable, not deducible!" "Then insight into the future..." Zhou Xuan urged. Yuan Buyu didn’t rush to answer; he drew open the curtain, pointed at the bamboo grove outside the window, and asked, "What’s that?" "A small bamboo grove, naturally." "See, you don’t need to calculate to see that bamboo grove," Yuan Buyu said, "Insight into the future is much like you seeing the bamboo grove, but suppose the bamboo grove represents the future, and between you and the grove, there’s a layer of fog." He paused, took a drag of flavored tobacco, and exhaled towards the window sill. The smoke was thick, obstructing Zhou Xuan’s line of sight, making it hard for him to see the bamboo grove clearly. Yuan Buyu said, "This layer of fog blocks your eyes’ perception, preventing you from seeing the bamboo grove, but if you activate your perception, penetrating the fog, you can see the bamboo grove! Insight into the future is this principle! With strong perception, penetrate the layers of fog between the present and future to see the future situation." "Prediction is calculation, insight is observation, and calculation is far inferior to observation! Now, you understand why so many crazy Great Yin People and Divine People in Jing Country, even after pausing their exploration of the Blood Well’s mysteries, are desperate to study the Blood Well Spirit Communicator, in front of the Blood Well Spirit’s powerful perception, any sophisticated predictive magic skill is nothing more than a bowl of dog meat not fit for the banquet table." *At this moment, Zhou Xuan truly understood why Blood Well Spirit Communicators were so coveted, being used as food by alien ghosts, as human test subjects by crazy old men, and still tempted by the Blood Well to ’fill the well’*... The more it was like this, the more he had to strive to accumulate incense. As a Blood Well Spirit Communicator, without power, he was nothing but a piece of meat everyone would want to take a bite out of! Though as his level of incense increased, his physical and dual-consciousness perception grew stronger, making it easier to go insane, he had to pursue it! Pursuing incense was to chase madness, but giving up incense meant giving up everything. "Dreams, Blood Well, Divine Revelation, whether it’s seeing the future or predicting causality, all signs indicate that I will die during the ascension! This has become my destiny. Though it is said that death may bring rebirth! What rebirth might be, only heaven knows! Perhaps I’ll still be in the Zhou Family’s Troupe, or perhaps I’ll go to some place no one knows... never seeing my sister, master, or senior brother again... But I must not give up on ascension! Losing incense is equivalent to losing everything." Using the time before ascension, spend some good days in the Zhou Family’s Troupe, chat with my sister and master more, perform well on Lady Lianhua’s storytelling to attract big clients for the Zhou Family’s Troupe, and take all of this as a silent farewell... Zhou Xuan made up his mind, and reconciled with the foreboding of "living towards death," as for what the new life after death would be like? He would consider it when it came! ... Zhou Xuan no longer felt burdened; after leaving Yuan Buyu’s dormitory, even the Ancestor Tree under the moonlight appeared much more agreeable. Under the tree, Zhou Lingyi was lying on a bamboo recliner, gently waving a fan, resting. Zhou Xuan felt cheerful and moved a recliner over to lie beside his sister. "Brother, we often lay like this as children, looking at the stars together, time has passed so quickly, you’ve grown up, become more mature, different from before." Zhou Lingyi picked up the yellow wine cup from the small wooden table beside the chair and handed it to Zhou Xuan. Zhou Xuan took a sip and asked, "What was I like before?" "Uh, let me think." Zhou Lingyi looked up at the moonlit sky, and said, "A few days ago, there was a young man named Shui Sheng, a worker at the Qiu Powder Store, serving his master with opium. Just because he handed the opium pipe a little slowly, while the master was furious due to being reprimanded by his father, the master used that as a pretext, and struck his head with the pipe more than ten times, breaking the pipe and killing the man." "Didn’t Shui Sheng’s family report it to the authorities?" "How could they dare?" Zhou Lingyi said, "In Ping Shui Prefecture, any family with some influence is extremely vicious! Ordinary folks can’t combat them! So these evil young masters of wealthy families are not uncommon, and you used to be an evil young master." Zhou Xuan smiled; he had been with the Zhou Family’s Troupe long enough to understand how the original owner was quite harsh to the troupe members. "Actually, you were adorable as a child, but my second mother, your biological mother..." "Oh? So we’re half-siblings?" Zhou Xuan realized for the first time. "The second mother was very good to you, but too good! She was always worried I would threaten your status in the Zhou Family’s Troupe, so she filled your head with twisted logic, teaching you to attack me with malicious words. Over time, my brother felt that using words to attack his sister was something naturally expected. One moment he’d say I wanted to curry favor with my father to cunningly snatch a piece of the troupe, the next he’d disdain me as a basin of water bound to be poured out, any penny the troupe spent on me was a loss, At the time, I loved my brother dearly, I protected him more attentively than I protected myself. But each jibe and insult from him was like a knife that could cut a piece from my heart." In Zhou Lingyi’s narration, the words referring to the brother had changed from "you" to "him," Zhou Xuan finally understood that his sister had long known he wasn’t her real brother! But what did it matter if he wasn’t the real brother? If the sister hadn’t regarded Zhou Xuan as closer than a real brother, would she have so easily revealed the old wounds? "Sister, I originally thought your life was smooth sailing; hearing your story now, I realize how difficult it was for you... In my heart, you’re a genius, the most suitable leader for the Zhou Family’s Troupe." Zhou Xuan admitted, yet didn’t pierce the final layer of pretense. Zhou Lingyi was first taken aback, then smiled brightly, gently caressing Zhou Xuan’s head with a mix of tenderness and self-doubt, "I’m not as good as you say!" "You’re even better than I say." "If my little brother had been as good-tempered as you, I wouldn’t have left the Zhou Family’s Troupe for so many years." Zhou Lingyi continued relating past events, "Every day, little brother and the second mother insulted me, gradually I got used to it, accepted it, I even started doubting myself, wondering if I really wasn’t any help to the Zhou Family! At thirteen, I voluntarily became the Dark Door of the Zhou Family’s Troupe, doing the most unspeakable, most deadly dirty work, for a full year and a half until the Nuo Festival when I went to worship the Ancestor Nuo Mian and the Nuo God plaques, all the brothers and masters of the Zhou Family’s Troupe gathered in the Luoying Hall, brother suddenly stood up, blamed me for being stained with blood and having lives on my hands! He told everyone that I was the Dark Door, the most disgraceful person in the troupe. I was embarrassed, under the public gaze, my masters and senior brothers all looked at me in surprise and amazement, I didn’t know what to do, leaving the Luoying Hall seemed to be my final choice, I fled to my room, sat dazed under the eaves, that day’s pouring rain I felt nothing, until an umbrella covered me, lifting my face, it was Grandpa holding the umbrella for me." Every mention of Grandpa caused Zhou Lingyi’s expression to soften into a warm remembrance of familial love. "Grandpa then said to me—’Girl, I can’t stand your brother, the second mother, and that useless father of yours either. But with the ancestors weighing on me, I can hardly breathe. Your brother was chosen by the Ancestor Nuo Mian, although he hasn’t linked with the Nuo God yet. Grandpa is helpless, powerless to appoint you as the next leader... alas... if you want to hit or scold someone, vent to Grandpa!’" "I didn’t blame Grandpa, only he defended me; whenever he caught brother or the second mother insulting me, he’d lose his composure, yelling, whacking with his cane, though he could only yell and hit, as a staunch conservative, the ancestral system was like a thousand-pound weight in his heart. The beating and scolding couldn’t change the already twisted brother or the second mother’s mean heart, nor my father, a woodblock afraid of his wife! I chose to leave, before I went, I kissed the Ancestor Tree, the tree symbolized my childhood, my once happiest times. Then I went to the Old Hall in Mingjiang Prefecture, for six years I didn’t return home." Zhou Xuan felt a pang in his heart, but he knew his sister didn’t need comfort, she needed a confidant to share her burdens, these words, she had bottled up for so long... "Then you still came back," Zhou Xuan sighed and said. "I couldn’t not return, after I left, Grandpa began to grow increasingly muddled within half a year, as a master of ’Divination,’ he had foretold many things in life, revealed too many secrets, and in old age, heaven punished him to speak less. Grandpa grew confused, truly confused, though occasionally clear for a brief half-day, he would soon again be muddled. The role of the Class Leader passed to Father. Father feared his wife, allowed brother to run rampant, yet at least maintained a limit, he remained aware that the Zhou Family’s Troupe thrived due to the hard work of every master, senior brother, and disciple. If brother went too far with them, he still would intervene. At that time, brother was merely a bully, not a wicked young master." "Another half-year later, Father was contaminated, tainted by a drop of an alien ghost’s brow blood." Zhou Lingyi tapped her brow...