When Ye Fan arrived at the foot of Mount Qingyun, it was almost noon. On the way down, he felt like he was in a dream. It was so unreal, but the jade pendant in his hand clearly told him that all this was not an illusion.
At this time, his physical strength had recovered to 80%. If he hurried through the night, he could reach the ancestral home tomorrow morning. But Ye Fan did not dare to be careless. He had to return to the ancestral home as soon as possible and tell Ye Yun everything.
Now he could not show his face in public. If he encountered a Japanese master again, he would not be so lucky. Thinking of this, he hired a carriage from the roadside, threw a ingot to Coachman, and got into the carriage. After telling Coachman the destination, Ye Fan told Coachman that he could only take the main road. If he reached the ancestral home before dinner, he would be rewarded. At that time, an ingot was not a small number. It could meet the annual expenses of a family of three. When the coachman saw the windfall, his eyes immediately lit up. Usually, a few coins of silver was enough for him to work for three months. Now that he could earn so much money so easily, he naturally worked hard to serve them. He cracked the whip loudly, and the carriage almost flew up from the ground.
Fortunately, they took the main road. If they took the small roads, the carriage would definitely overturn, Ye Fan thought. He did not dare to sleep in the carriage. He had to be on guard against someone blocking the road. It should be known that Japanese ninjas were best at tracking and assassination. It would be easy for them to follow him. But fortunately, the journey was surprisingly smooth. Before the sun went down, he arrived at the ancestral home of the Ye family. It was at the foot of the Eagle's Distress Peak.
Ye Fan looked at the ancestral home halfway up the mountain and let out a long breath. The big stone in his heart finally fell to the ground. It seemed that Fujiwara No Chiko did not lie to him. It was really smooth to take the main road.
Ye Fan gave Coachman five taels of silver and told him to go back the way he came. He could not take the small roads. Coachman was a little puzzled. He asked Ye Fan why. Ye Fan told him that there were bandits on the small roads and that he had just escaped from death.
Coachman was scared and broke out in a cold sweat. He thanked him profusely and left.
He did this for Coachman's good and for his own good. Once Coachman went back through the small roads, the ninjas lying in ambush on the road would force him to give him information. He would certainly die and his whereabouts would be exposed.
He watched Coachman return from the main road and then turned around and walked to the top of the Eagle's Distress Peak..
Eagle's Distress Peak. was a peak.
The mountain peak towered into the clouds. It was said that no one had ever reached the peak. The peak was covered in snow all year round, and the air was extremely thin. Ordinary people could not reach it. The Ye Clan's ancestral home was built halfway up the Eagle's Distress Peak. When the Ye Clan chose the location for their ancestral home, they had specially chosen this place. First, it was sparsely populated with lush vegetation. The Ye Clan liked the quietness here. Second, it was surrounded by steep cliffs. It was easy to defend and hard to attack. There was only one winding path up the mountain. The Ye Clan controlled the military equipment of the Imperial Court. Naturally, there were many enemy countries that sent assassins to assassinate the Ye Clan. Therefore, the Ye Clan chose this place to build their ancestral home.
The ancestral home was built with a grand and majestic aura. It covered an area of more than ten mu and was completely built with hard granite. Not only was it very sturdy, it was also filled with mechanisms.
Apart from the Ye Clan, no one knew how to break the mechanisms.
It was said that in order to test the power of the mechanism, the Ye family had opened the main gate of the ancestral house wide open, and then used a crossbow to shoot three sharp arrows made of fine steel into the gate. In the end, the moment the arrows flew into the courtyard, there were a few clinking sounds, and the arrows broke into several pieces!
What was even more mysterious was that the Ye Clan had secretly created thirty-three bronze men. The bronze men were the size of real people. They were driven by internal mechanisms. At night, the Ye Clan would release these thirty-three bronze men to patrol the night. Of course, this was only a legend. Legends were always more unimaginable. Ye Fan had never seen any bronze men in his life. He had seen mechanisms, but they were only secret doors and tunnels.
Although the ancestral home was built halfway up the mountain, the mountain was high and the forest was dense. When Ye Fan arrived at the ancestral home's entrance, the sun had already set.
He knocked on the heavy iron door and waited for someone to open it for him. This iron door was the first door to enter the ancestral home. The door was made of pure iron that was more than five inches thick. The interlayer in the middle was made of extremely strong magnets. This way, if someone entered the ancestral home with a sharp weapon, they would be attracted by the door and reveal themselves on the spot. According to the Ye Clan's rules, apart from the Ye Clan, no one was allowed to bring any weapons into the ancestral home. The weapons had to be temporarily kept by the gatekeeper.
After a while, the door was opened. An old man wearing a long gown walked out. The person who came was none other than the Ye Clan's gatekeeper, Huang Shou-yi.
Huang Shou-yi was the only person with a different surname in the Ye Clan's ancestral home. Back then, before Ye Yun became the successor of the Ye Clan, he had coincidentally saved this person. At that time, he was surrounded by more than ten soldiers and was in a critical situation. Ye Yun happened to pass by at that time. He saw that this person was righteous and had Bufan skills. He was fearless in the face of more than ten soldiers and was unafraid of death. Ye Yunzhai was a kind-hearted person, so his heart was moved. He revealed his identity as a member of the Ye Clan and claimed that he would personally interrogate him. The Ye Clan was powerful and the soldiers did not dare to offend the Ye Clan. They could only watch as Ye Yun took this person away.
Ye Yun saw that this person was seriously injured and brought him to the medical hall for treatment. After treating this person's injuries, Ye Yun gave him fifty taels of fine silver and told him to go far away and find a way to survive. This person saw that Ye Yun was righteous and compassionate, so he immediately knelt before Ye Yun and begged Ye Yun to take him in. He was willing to be an ox or a horse to repay Ye Yun.
Ye Yun asked about this person's background and learned that his surname was Huang Shouyi and that he was from Jiangxi. He lost his parents when he was young and had no one to rely on. Later, he was taken in by the White Lotus School's instructor who taught him martial arts. During an assassination mission, the two of them were betrayed by a traitor and were surrounded. In an emergency, his master risked his life to open a bloody path and send him out. His master was also seriously injured in order to protect him. He was like a lamp that had run out of oil and passed away a few days later. In order to avenge his master, Huang Shou-yi investigated openly and secretly and finally found the traitor's whereabouts.
Because the traitor had made a meritorious report, he was given the title of Qianhu by the imperial court. After discovering the traitor's whereabouts, Huang Shou-yi heard the news and went straight to the traitor's residence that very night. While the traitor was indulging in wine and women, he personally ended his life. Later, the imperial court was furious and sent people everywhere to capture him. Finally, they found him in a secluded mountain and sent out a large number of elite soldiers to surround and suppress him, claiming that they wanted to capture him alive. Huang Shou-yi fought and ran with his martial arts, but there were too many Ming soldiers. They also sent a divine archer to specifically shoot at his thigh in order to capture him alive. In the end, he was completely outnumbered and was surrounded. Ye Yun saw that he was a man of temperament and he just happened to lack a trustworthy follower, so he kept him by his side to do things. In order to prevent future troubles, Ye Yun even made a badly mutilated corpse and put it in Huang Shou-yi's clothes before handing it over to the magistrate. He said that this person could not withstand the torture and killed himself by biting his tongue. Only then was he able to muddle through and save Huang Shou-yi's life.
Ever since Huang Shou-yi followed Ye Yun, he was loyal and devoted. He did things cleanly and efficiently and never sloppily. It did not take long for him to gain Ye Yun's deep trust. Later, Ye Yun became the head of the Ye family. According to the ancestral rules, after becoming the head of the family, he could only live in the ancestral home. Ye Yun was helpless and made an exception to arrange for him to live in the outer courtyard of the Ye family's ancestral home and let him be the gatekeeper.
"Young master, you've returned." When Huang Shou-yi saw that it was Ye Fan, he hurriedly stepped forward and bowed. "All the people from the various branches have arrived. You're the only one left." Huang Shou-yi said as he helped Ye Fan carry the wooden box.
"Uncle Huang, let me do it. Quickly bring me to see the head of the family. I have an urgent matter." Ye Fan did not hand the box over to him. His father had instructed him to personally hand it over to the head of the family, Ye Yun.
Huang Shou-yi had followed Ye Yun for more than ten years and had long since learned how to read people's expressions. He naturally understood Ye Fan's intentions and led the way in front, bringing Ye Fan to see the head of the family, Ye Yun.
As Ye Fan walked, he asked Huang Shou-yi about the head of the family, how his body was, and how his spirit was. Huang Shou-yi told Ye Fan that the head of the family, Ye Yun, was in good health. It was just that he had been frowning recently, as if he had something on his mind. He was currently relaxing in the back garden.
The two of them chatted as they walked. After a while, they arrived at the back garden. This back garden was an important place in the Ye Clan, where the head of the family lived and where the ancestral hall was located. According to common sense, an ordinary family's ancestral hall enshrined the memorial tablets of their ancestors. However, the Ye Clan's ancestral hall was different. It enshrined not the memorial tablets of the Ye Clan's ancestors, but a snake. A snake carved out of Kunlun white jade.
The jade snake was one zhang tall and was carved out of a whole piece of Kunlun white jade. It was vivid and lifelike. The snake's body was coiled around the table. The snake's head was raised high, and its eyes were like lightning as it looked down. It was extremely majestic. It was said that the reason why the Ye Clan enshrined this jade snake was because, before the Ye Clan had made a name for themselves, the ancestor of the Ye Clan was a jade craftsman. Once, when he was searching for jade materials in Kunlun Mountain, a strong wind suddenly blew, causing sand and stones to fly. Lightning flashed and thunder roared, and a torrential rain fell from the sky. Kunlun Mountain's terrain was dangerous to begin with. There were many cliffs and forests, and in addition to the heavy rain, the Ye Clan's ancestor was blown by the strong wind. He slipped and tumbled down the cliff. The Ye Clan's ancestor closed his eyes and cursed inwardly. This time, he was afraid that he would lose his life in Kunlun. He originally thought that he would definitely fall into the mountain stream and be smashed to pieces. He never thought that his clothes would be caught by a pine tree on the cliff and suspended in midair.
The Ye Clan's ancestor was overjoyed. It seemed that the heavens did not want him to die. However, just as he was thinking of a way to climb up, he saw the most frightening scene in his life.
Under the cliff, a huge white snake was staring at him. Its blood-red tongue flicked back and forth. The reason why it was called a huge snake was because this snake was too big. Its pair of green eyes were bigger than a car's wheel. The snake's body was so thick that several people would not be able to hug it. It was unknown how many times it had coiled in the bottomless mountain stream. It was piled up like a small mountain. There was a red bead the size of a plate on top of the snake's head. The red bead was sparkling and translucent. It kept spinning and was wrapped in a five-colored light.
At this time, thunder rumbled in the sky. Purple lightning as thick as a bowl struck the huge snake one after another. Every time it struck, the huge snake's head would shake. However, the huge snake was still unharmed. The lightning seemed to be completely dissolved by the red bead on top of its head.
The Ye Clan's ancestor was so shocked by the scene in front of him that he forgot his situation and was dumbstruck. While he was still in a daze, the sound of branches snapping could be heard. Then, his body became light, and he fell off the cliff again.
It's over. I just escaped danger and now I'm in the snake's mouth again. I'm definitely going to die today. He thought in his heart.
As he gradually fell, the huge snake in front of him got closer and closer. The scales on the snake's body could be seen clearly. Each scale was the size of a basin. The Ye Clan's ancestor closed his eyes and waited for death.
However, the result was not as he thought he would become food in the huge snake's mouth. He only felt his body sink. His body stopped moving and there was no more movement. When he opened his eyes, he found that his body was cold and smooth. When he looked again, he was actually lying on top of the huge snake's head!!! And beside him was that red bead the size of a plate!!!
At this time, he was so scared that he did not dare to move. Thunder rumbled above his head and the huge white snake below him. He regretted not looking at the almanac when he came. Now, it was great. Instead of staying at home, he ran here to play with a snake.
Just as he was thinking, the snake below him suddenly began to move. The wind whistled in his ears. The huge snake was slowly rising! He immediately lay down on the snake's head and did not dare to move.
The huge snake below him seemed to understand his situation. It rose quickly and steadily. At this time, the red bead's light had completely enveloped him. The thunder rumbled but did not strike again. In a short while, the huge snake had raised him to the flat mountainside. The snake's head stopped at the mountainside, but the snake's tail was still in the mountain stream. This huge snake was at least a few hundred feet long!
After the huge snake stopped, it stretched its neck to the flat mountainside. Then, it lowered its head. He slid down from the snake's head and landed steadily. At this time, the thunder and lightning in the sky suddenly stopped. In an instant, the clouds dispersed and the rain cleared. Looking at the huge snake again, the red bead on its head had changed color. It was no longer red but golden. It was dazzling and golden. The bead was more than twice as big as when it was red.
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