Chapter 347
Chapter 347
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 347
>Chapter Title: Unborn Old Mother
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Hearing Chun Xiaoman mention Lv Xiucai, Lv Zhuangyuan didn't even bother with his pipe anymore, his expression brimming with outrage.
"Don't mention that jinx! He actually dared to steal money! If you run into him on the road, tie him up and drag him back for me—I'll break his legs!"
The two carriages passed each other. Chun Xiaoman pressed on toward the village. She had just reached the Bai family compound when Bai Lingmiao hopped down from the cart and headed straight for the ancestral hall. "Sister Xiaoman, you rest first. I'll go light some incense in the hall."
Chun Xiaoman glanced around anxiously left and right. Spotting Gouwa passing by, she called out to him. "You, come take this cart to the stables."
"Why me? You see 'groomsman' written on my face or something? My wife's pregnant! I've gotta stew her some egg custard!"
Chun Xiaoman thrust the horsewhip right into his hand and ignored his protests as she hurried off toward the Bai family ancestral hall.
When she crossed the third gate and caught sight of the rows of black spirit tablets, Chun Xiaoman's breathing grew noticeably lighter. Curiosity and fear mingled in her eyes as she gazed around this place she'd never set foot in before.
Truth be told, aside from Bai Lingmiao, hardly anyone else ever came near here. Behind closed doors, they always whispered that the place felt eerie and sinister.
Seeing that Bai Lingmiao was truly just kneeling there in worship before the tablets, Chun Xiaoman finally let out a breath of relief. She began to take in her surroundings.
Truth be told, there wasn't much to see. The ancestral hall stood mostly empty—save for a few objects lining the walls, there weren't even any stools to sit on.
She glanced once more at Bai Lingmiao, who knelt murmuring softly to herself. Chun Xiaoman's eyes drifted over the items arrayed on the tables.
Born to a humble family, Chun Xiaoman had no clue what these odd, exotic trinkets signified.
They were just some bizarre stones arranged in dishes, alongside vividly colored ceramics. Why on earth display such things indoors?
After examining them one by one, a palm-sized bronze figurine in the center drew Chun Xiaoman's eye.
It depicted three monkeys squatting side by side: one with hands clamped over its ears, one covering its eyes, and one pounding its own head with a fist.
"What do these three monkeys mean? Why do rich folks always go in for stuff no one can make heads or tails of? Still, these little monkeys are kinda cute—crafted so finely."
Chun Xiaoman stepped closer, reaching to pick up the figurine for a better look. But the moment she touched it, she realized the three monkeys wouldn't budge.
"Huh? What's this—glued down?" She gave it a shake or two from side to side. Suddenly, the monkeys shifted left.
With a thunderous rumble, a huge chunk of the adjacent spirit tablet wall shuddered and collapsed. A black hole, leaking an icy chill, yawned open before them.
"Daddy!" Bai Lingmiao lunged forward in a fervor, scooping up the scattered tablets from the floor with heartache. Midway through, she froze. Together with Chun Xiaoman, she stared in stunned silence at the black hole.
Drawn by some inexorable pull, Bai Lingmiao drifted toward the opening as if in a trance.
A figure brushed past her and plunged into the darkness first. "You stay put. I'll check it out."
Moments later, Chun Xiaoman poked her head back out. "Lots of writing on the walls inside. Go fetch Gao Zhijian!"
Soon enough, Gao Zhijian strode into the Bai family ancestral hall. Half-plate armor clad his torso, a stone slab dangled from his chest, and he gripped a hefty spiked mace. He was armed to the teeth.
"No need for all that. It's the Bai family ancestral hall—nothing dangerous inside, surely."
"T-to... b-be safe!" The towering Gao Zhijian positioned himself in front of the two women and led the way in.
The cavity inside was vast and open. The carvings on the walls left Gao Zhijian momentarily dumbfounded.
"Mud springs from primal chaos! White Lotus blooms, ushering golden age!"
He craned his neck upward. Faded white banners emblazoned with lotus flowers still dangled overhead.
"Isn't this the Bai family ancestral hall? So why's there stuff like this behind a secret door?" Gao Zhijian felt deeply perplexed.
He had no idea what any of it meant, but it all felt profoundly wrong.
"Don't block the path standing there in the middle. Keep going."
At the urging, Gao Zhijian tightened his grip on his weapon and inched forward, one cautious footfall at a time.
The stone steps beneath told him they were descending.
The hidden chamber stretched enormously, and the sporadic phrases etched into the walls only amplified the dread coiling in his gut.
"White Lotus descends! The masses rise up!"
"Unborn Old Mother! Vacuum Homeland!"
Whenever Chun Xiaoman asked what the walls said, he merely shook his head.
After several looping turns, the stairs leveled off. An inky void loomed ahead, vast and lightless. The green glowstones in their hands illuminated only the barest patch around them.
"Stick to the w-wall! B-be c-careful!"
Gao Zhijian hugged the wall, groping onward. His fingers brushed a book. In the glowstone's light, he began to read.
The script looked ancient, far from modern hand, but he could parse it. The contents, though—that baffled him.
"Gao Zhijian, what do you see? Don't just stare—tell us! You're driving me crazy."
Prodded by slaps from his companion, Gao Zhijian haltingly rendered the text into plain words they could grasp.
The Unborn Old Mother is Heaven's eternal ancient Buddha, unborn and undying! She ferries us mortals back to the Vacuum Homeland, delivering us from calamity!
This entire world belonged to the Unborn Old Mother from the start! Back then, every span of earth and sky was the Vacuum Homeland.
Beneath her care, we were born, we grew, we withered. Until betrayal struck—from her most trusted heavenly noble!
When those unspeakable armies sprouted from the Unborn Old Mother's dantian, a cabal of heavenly nobles turned traitor.
They schemed with the unspeakable armies against the Unborn Old Mother! Slaughtered the faithful nobles who refused to betray, stripped her of all she had!
What they scorned, they discarded. What they coveted, they devoured. In the end, these traitors shamelessly usurped her rightful throne!
Fearing exposure of their villainy, the oath-breakers rewrote history—rewrote the history etched in every heart.
But not us. Our history belongs to the Unborn Old Mother forever. We remember eternally, awaiting her return!
Unborn, the Old Mother knows no death. She seems stripped bare, yet that means she can lose no more.
A body riddled with wounds gains no new gashes. One deprived of all shall suffer no further theft!
The Unborn Old Mother strives unceasingly—by day or night, in man or woman, yin or yang.
The perfidious rebels watch in terror. They fear. They dispatch lackeys endlessly to thwart the Unborn Old Mother at our side.
Let them send their dogs forever. It matters not—as long as we succeed but once, she shall mount six ceramic steeds and gloriously reclaim her throne!
"However long it takes, I shall wait—as the sole surviving heavenly noble. Kill me, and my son will crawl from my corpse to wait on.
"My son slain? My grandson endures. Generation upon generation, we wait eternally!! Unborn Old Mother, Vacuum Homeland!"
(End of chapter)