I changed the world.

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No wonder that after the Celestial Master established the religion, he destroyed mountains and temples, eradicated illicit worship, and the Xuanmen sect flourished in this land!

Looking back now, it turns out this was a scheme that spanned thousands of years...

Furthermore, he only realized now that Yunxiao Mountain was so well hidden!

Even within the Xuanmen sect today, few probably know that the Yunxiao lineage is actually the legacy of the Huangtiandao sect! No wonder the once-powerful Huangtiandao sect seemed to collapse suddenly after Zhang Taiping's death...

He even realized that behind the great uprising of the Xuanmen sect back then, there was the shadow of Kunlun, the leader of the three sects.

In this way, the strange phenomena at the time of the passing of Master Xiao and the extraordinary supernatural powers of Abbot Li Jingxin can all be explained!

After all, the Yunxiao Mountain lineage was passed down from the Great Sage Teacher of yesteryear, and behind it is a giant of the immortal sects!

Looking back now, Yunxiao Mountain has always kept a low profile!

It's fortunate that I always thought the Celestial Master's Mansion was superior to them. Now it seems that the other party probably doesn't care about these empty titles and doesn't want to compete with the Celestial Master's Mansion.

Zhang Sicheng couldn't help but recall some of his conversations with Xiao Daoguang back then, realizing he hadn't noticed anything amiss...

Looking back, Zhang Sicheng even felt a mix of shame and relief. He figured that with Master Xiao's cultivation level back then, he would have been able to see that he had no cultivation at all. It was also thanks to Master Xiao's kind heart that he didn't make a fool of himself...

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but feel even more fond of Yunxiao Mountain.

But besides that, he couldn't help but feel even more awe. Sure enough... those ancient sects that have been able to lay out their plans for so long have such profound and unfathomable foundations!

The fact that the Celestial Master's Mansion has been able to survive for 2000 years is no accident!

It's just a matter of having a big tree to lean on for shade!

As the saying goes, it's not so cold at the top. Zhang Sicheng, as the contemporary Celestial Master, is admired by many. However, this identity also brings with it a great deal of responsibility. Whether it's the Celestial Master's Mansion or the current Xuanmen (Taoist sect), Zhang Sicheng bears an inescapable burden of responsibility.

After all, with the progress of the times, whether it was the spread of foreign heresies, the competition from domestic Buddhist sects, the sorting out of various political relationships, or even the calls for internal reform, all of these made Zhang Sicheng feel like he was walking on thin ice, fearing that if he made a mistake, he would have no face to meet his ancestors after death...

Since returning from Chu Bifeng that day, he suddenly had the illusion that he had been relieved of a heavy burden.

As for today, he felt he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

We have connections too!

It feels so good to have a big tree behind me!

Thinking about it this way, I couldn't help but feel a little secretly pleased...

....................................

It took Zhang Sicheng a while to calm his racing thoughts. He respectfully bowed to the statue and tablet of the Heavenly Venerable once more before turning his gaze back to the silver box.

Next to the seal was another item, a jade pendant. The pendant was made of white jade, simple yet exquisite, with Bagua patterns carved on the front and a four-clawed dragon pattern carved on the back.

"This is……"

Suddenly, a treasure flashed through Zhang Sicheng's mind: a jade pendant carved with a four-clawed dragon from a piece of beautiful jade by the thirty-fifth Celestial Master, Zhang Guangshou. This item was cherished by many Celestial Masters. When he ascended the throne, he had once searched for it in the treasury on a whim, but he had not found it. At the time, he thought it was lost by one of his ancestors. He never expected it to be here.

After Zhang Sicheng took it out, he examined it for a long time, turning it over and over. Then, he put the seal in his other hand back into the silver box, leaving only the jade pendant in his hand. He then took out a silver needle that he had prepared beforehand.

He gritted his teeth, then pricked his index finger with the tip of a needle, squeezed hard, and a dark red bead of blood was squeezed out. Zhang Sicheng squeezed it onto the jade pendant...

A short while later, a miraculous thing happened: the jade pendant slowly absorbed the blood bead, and then a thin halo appeared on the jade pendant.

Zhang Sicheng felt as if he heard a distant murmur in his ear. He tried to hear it clearly, but the sound was too far away, and he could not understand it no matter what he did...

As time passed, the sound seemed to come closer and then fade away, until finally it disappeared completely...

Zhang Sicheng felt dizzy for a moment and almost lost his balance and fell to the ground. He gritted his teeth and sat down on a futon. After resting for a while, he gradually recovered. When he reached out, his forehead was covered with sweat.

Zhang Sicheng knew that his face must look extremely ugly at this moment, but he couldn't care less about that. He just sighed in his heart, realizing that Uncle Gu had indeed been right and that he really didn't have the potential for cultivation.

Previously at Zhebi Peak, he had expressed to Gu Shunzhi his desire to enter the path of cultivation. However, Gu Shunzhi simply sighed and told him that he was not very talented in cultivation.

Seeing that he seemed unwilling, Gu Shunzhi told him the secret of the Celestial Master's lineage after he told him that the lineage of the Celestial Masters of each generation was on the jade pendant in the secret room, and he might as well give it a try.

Although he knew his uncle wouldn't lie to him, Zhang Sicheng still harbored a sliver of hope. After all, this involved the secrets of the Xuanmen (Taoist sect) cultivation path to immortality, which he had previously dismissed as mere hearsay. He hadn't expected it to be true, so how could he remain unmoved, especially after witnessing his uncle's incredible ability to fly through the clouds?

However, it seems now that I am truly lacking in qualifications, unable to even get started...

"What is destined to be yours will be yours, and what is not, you cannot force..." Zhang Sicheng couldn't help but sigh and murmur.

Volume Two: The Truth Hidden Behind History Books: Chapter 690 The Truth About the Struggle for the Throne!

Suddenly, a thought flashed into his mind.

When his father, the 62nd Celestial Master Zhang Jishun, was alive, he clearly favored his second son, Zhang Sigong, over his eldest son. As a result, there were quite a few people in the Celestial Master's Mansion who were optimistic about the second young master and even placed bets in advance to try to gain merit for the emperor. This led to a fierce internal struggle in the Celestial Master's Mansion after Zhang Jishun's unexpected death.

He had always resented this, even feeling that his father was unreasonably favoring his younger son. But now, he suddenly had a more reasonable explanation.

Could it be because he lacks the aptitude for cultivation, while his second brother does? It is precisely because his father saw this that he favored his second son more!

If we follow this line of thought, then... perhaps the person who should have inherited the position of Celestial Master really wasn't me!

Zhang Sicheng was startled, and a feeling of relief immediately welled up in his heart. Fortunately, his father...

No, no... I can't think like that... Zhang Sicheng instantly suppressed the "treasonous" thoughts in his heart. However, he knew in his heart that although on the surface there was no written rule that the succession of the Celestial Master must be to a descendant with cultivation qualifications.

However, it's easy to understand that if a Celestial Master, as the nominal leader of the Xuanmen (Taoist sect), were powerless, it would be incredibly inconvenient...

However, due to the prohibitions against the separation of heaven and earth, this has become an unspoken rule.

With his mind racing, Zhang Sicheng stood up from the futon again. After thinking for a moment, he put the jade seal and jade pendant back in the silver box. He checked the time and realized that he had been in the secret room for an hour without realizing it.

After putting the silver box back, Zhang Sicheng respectfully bowed to the ancestral master's tablet, then got up and continued walking forward...

Afterwards, Zhang Sicheng found two more secret rooms. To his surprise, he discovered some calligraphy and paintings, antiques, gold and silver, and some valuable items in these two rooms. After a quick look, Zhang Sicheng knew that these things were probably very valuable and that they were all genuine.

He genuinely had no idea that his ancestors had hidden so many things beneath the Celestial Master's Mansion.

However, given his current age and status, he doesn't value these valuables much. In his mind, all of them combined are not as valuable as the "Celestial Master's Treasure" to the Celestial Master's Mansion!

Not to mention that the secret of the emu hidden within its tomb is a secret! No wonder that throughout history, the Celestial Masters never revealed it to the public...

..............................

When Zhang Sicheng emerged from the secret chamber, Zhang Lianchuan, who had been anxiously waiting at the entrance, hurried up to him: "Father, you're finally out! Did you find anything?"

“We’ll talk about it when we get back…” Zhang Sicheng nodded silently, then cupped his hands to the two strongmen who were still carrying the artificial mountain on their shoulders: “You two can put it down now.”

The two strongmen nodded, and after Master Tian walked away a bit, they steadily put the artificial hill back in place. After a dull thud, the artificial hill returned to its original position.

Zhang Sicheng retrieved the jade pendant from the tortoise's mouth. At this moment, the two strongmen returned to their original positions and transformed back into two statues. The mist began to dissipate, and everything in the back garden returned to its familiar state.

Looking at the familiar scenery before them, both Celestial Master Zhang Sicheng and Zhang Lianchuan felt a sense of strangeness and unreality, as if they were discovering this place for the first time...

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* * *

承和三十七年 2016年4月2日22:37 临州云山坊1603号安宅

Neither Zhang Jing nor An Huiling realized that at this very moment, in the An residence at No. 1603, not far from Zhang Jing's residence, An Huiling's maid, Mei'er, was anxiously waiting in her own living room.

Mei'er sat calmly on the sofa in the living room, flipping through a magazine, but her eyes kept glancing at the night outside the window.

What to do... what to do... Miss hasn't returned yet! Mei'er cried out in her heart, but she couldn't show any abnormality on her face.

After receiving Zhang Jing's phone call today, An Huiling went next door. Because she had "tamed" Mei'er, An Huiling now only goes to her senior brother's place at night to cultivate and pretends to be sleeping in her room. During the day, if she needs to visit him, she usually doesn't pretend anymore and goes there openly. Mei'er once tried to follow her but was driven back.

Mei'er was helpless given her mistress's actions. Of course, she wasn't truly powerless; if she reported these matters to the higher authorities, then, knowing the madam as she did, she would certainly intervene.

That would naturally put the young lady under control, but what about her future...?

No one wants to have an informant as a subordinate, and ultimately, the young lady must stand on her own...

"Sister Mei'er, it's so late, aren't you going to sleep?" A young maidservant brought Mei'er a cup of tea ingratiatingly.

"Okay, you should go and rest," Mei'er said with a smile and a nod.

"Okay, Sister Mei'er, I'll go and rest now..."

Watching the maid's departing figure, Mei'er's smile quickly faded, her heart filled with worry. She had met Mr. Zhang next door before; he seemed to be an exceptionally handsome man. But it was precisely because of this that she was worried. Her young mistress was also in the prime of her life, at the age of first love, and her frequent visits to the neighbor's house every few days made even a maid like herself able to see the problem.

She also tried to subtly persuade the young lady, but the young lady's cold gaze chilled her to the bone, and after trying to persuade her once, she dared not speak again.

Now, the young lady has gone even further; it's already so late, and she still hasn't returned...

You must understand, the young lady is not yet married. If this gets out, it will be extremely detrimental to her reputation.

Especially, please, please... don't let anyone die!

................................................

When Zhang Jing returned to his room, he deliberately made some noise as he entered. Usually at this time, if there was nothing else, An Huiling would go to Zhang Jing's place to cultivate. She would cultivate in the secret realm woven by the guardian spirits of the house, without having to worry about being disturbed by others.

If Zhang Jing was home, he would give her some guidance; if Zhang Jing was not home, An Huiling would cultivate on her own without interruption.

However, today was an exception. After a whole afternoon of sleeping, An Huiling was really tired and fell into a drowsy sleep. She was sleeping on Zhang Jing's big bed, with her senior brother's scent filling her nostrils, and she felt a great sense of security.

Volume Two: The Truth Hidden Behind History Books: Chapter 691 Junior Sister, Don't Go Back Tonight

She hadn't even realized that Zhang Jing had been gone for a while. It wasn't until she heard someone enter that she groggily opened her eyes. Then, An Huiling realized that she was still sleeping at her senior brother's house. She subconsciously looked up at the window; it was already dark, and she didn't know what time it was...

A rustling sound reached her ears. Since Zhang Jing made no attempt to conceal it, An Huiling, with her heightened senses, could naturally recognize it as her senior brother's voice. He must have gone out for a while and was now back. She had simply been fast asleep and hadn't noticed.

An Huiling suddenly felt a little flustered. She remembered what had happened before and felt a little ashamed. She didn't know what to do now, so she could only continue to pretend to be asleep, burying herself in the quilt like a quail.

Zhang Jing could naturally sense that his junior sister was awake but pretending to be asleep. He didn't expose her, and took off his coat. Normally, Zhang Jing would have taken the time to do his own cultivation or check on his junior sister's cultivation and give her some pointers.