Chapter 4 Tai Chi Jade

  "Sir, you are making me a troublemaker. I don't understand the meaning of your ancestors' teachings and the reason behind this. I am just an ordinary citizen, how can I be involved in such a matter that disrupts the imperial court..."

  "Miss, I also think this matter is absurd. Now the country is at peace and the people are safe, why do such a thing? I have reached this age but still can't understand it, even less willing to follow it. However, as long as there is this thought, the curse will be triggered, making life worse than death. And there's this thing,"

  "Xiang Ye picked up my necklace, 'Do you know what this jade is called?' I shook my head, Father didn't tell me that the necklace had a name, only said it was a family heirloom, and I wore it because it looked nice."

  The old man took something out of his bosom and handed it over to me to look at, and then returned my necklace to me. I took it over, and it was the same one!!!!!

  My necklace is white, shaped like the half-white part of Tai Chi, with some black stripes on it. The other one is black, just like the tattoo on Xiang Ye's arm. There are a few white stripes on the jade, shaped exactly like mine. When I put the two pieces of jade together, they fit perfectly without any gaps or seams. It's literally a Tai Chi diagram! This is unbelievable, isn't it?

  "No wonder I had to take out this jade today, it turns out that it was because of Miss Shen. This is truly a fate predetermined by heaven. These two pieces of jade are called Di Yin (black) and Tian Yang (white) when separated, but when combined, they are called Taiji, meaning the reversal of heaven and earth, and whoever possesses this object will shake the world." It seems that there is also a legend about Taiji here.

  "But, but..." I was speechless, what is this, does heaven have its own arrangement?

  "Miss, come with me."

  So I followed Xiang Ye out of the yard, with Wan Ri Cheng following behind. Along the way, I had no time to enjoy the scenery, my mind was full of unbelievable thoughts - that I had crossed over was unbelievable, that this Taiji Jade was unbelievable, and that it could disrupt the imperial court was even more unbelievable. Could there be anything else that would shock me even more?

  Just as I was daydreaming, Master Xiang stopped in his tracks. I looked up to see a house with a sign hanging above the door that read "Shen Clan Ancestral Hall". Hmm, this is an ancestral temple, where people pay their respects to their ancestors.

  "Ri Cheng, you stay outside and keep watch, don't let anyone approach. Miss, follow me inside."

  He pushed open the door, and indeed inside was a circle of house, worshiping many plaques. Seeing me enter, he closed the door and gestured for me to follow him. He walked to the front row of plaques and stopped, then stretched out his hand and turned over the top plaque.

  "Whoosh", I turned my head, and saw that the plaque on the right side had slid open to both sides, revealing a stone gate about one person wide. On the side were four rows of words: Taiji first appears, combined and returned to its position, seeking opportunity, reversing chaos.

  "Xiang girl!" Master Xiang suddenly knelt down in front of me, what does this mean? Hurriedly bent over to pull him up, but Master Xiang did not cooperate and remained kneeling on the ground.

  "My family, the Shen clan, has existed for generations solely for the sake of Miss Shen. Now that I have met you in this generation, it is a blessing for my family and a chance to lift the thousand-year curse. As for the circumstances, only you can figure them out yourself. Wan Ri Cheng was raised by me personally, like one of my own children, so Miss Shen can trust him. His martial arts skills are also good enough to protect you. He is unaware of this matter, but if you give him that half piece of ink jade, he will know who to serve from now on. And then there's Sima Nan, the master of Lingyue Palace, who owes a debt of gratitude to the Shen family and can be trusted."

  I hastily nodded, using this opportunity to pull Xiang Ye up. How did things suddenly become more serious? This time, Xiang Ye didn't decline and stood up to continue speaking: "As for what happens next, please let Miss Shen decide for herself. Everything is fraught with danger, so please be careful, Miss. As for the path to entering the imperial court, I have already paved it for you, so please don't worry. Now, please enter the room."

  Xiang Ye's hand gestured, and I was in a difficult situation. It seemed that I had no choice but to enter. I walked up to the stone gate, and at the bottom of the door, I saw a circular indentation. It looked like it required two pieces of jade to be combined as a key. This stone gate was indeed formidable! Neither half of the jade would work on its own; only when the two pieces were combined would it open. This had a bit of a martial arts feel to it.

  I carefully placed the jade, crouched down and put it into the hole. As expected, I heard a rumbling sound, and the stone door lifted from the bottom up, stopping when it was fully open. I stood up, but saw that the room inside was pitch black. I hesitated and didn't dare to enter. Turning around, I wanted to ask Master Xiang what to do next, but unexpectedly, he took down the Taiji Jade, handed it to me, and pushed me into the stone door. Then, I heard another rumbling sound, followed by Master Xiang's words: "Shen Niang, be careful with everything." A muffled sound was heard, and then there was no more noise. I turned around and felt with my hand, and indeed, the stone door had closed again.

  It was pitch black all around, I didn't dare to move, afraid of triggering some kind of mechanism. It would be a tragedy if I hadn't even started causing trouble for others yet ended up getting harmed myself. Suddenly, a flash appeared in front of my eyes, and the light gradually brightened. One by one, the walls were lit up with torches, and the room was instantly illuminated. However, I had a nagging doubt in my mind - this sealed room, these burning torches, and the oxygen...

  Inside the room, except for a stone table in the center of the floor, there was nothing else. I walked to the front of the stone table, on which were two folded letters and two small porcelain bottles, with a pen, ink and inkstone at one corner. I picked up the top letter, it was very strange that there was no dust on it, and on the cover of the letter was written "Descendants of Shen open".

  I opened it, the first line read "Shen's descendants personally read", and the content below was written for several pages. The gist of it is that the person who left this message is named Shen Si-en, seemingly my ancestor. In the past, Changlong was called Yuna Guo. The Shen family had a very good relationship with the local Wu family, and their family head Wu Xiao was like a brother to them. The two families were as close as one clan. Yuna Guo was in a state of war, but the two clans had a high status on their native soil. They agreed to join forces to maintain Yuna Guo, bring blessings to the people, and establish a peaceful kingdom with a monarch.

  However, when the foundation was stable, Wu Xiao broke his promise and abandoned his faith, destroying the Shen family and ascending to the throne. Shen Si'en was lucky to have been informed by his trusted advisor Wan Baosong beforehand, who had calculated the disaster, and thus escaped this calamity. However, other members of the Shen family were brutally slaughtered. Wan Baosong was well-versed in yin-yang geography and could predict the future, calculating that the current grievances would still have a turning point in the future. He specially presented the ancestral Taiji Jade to resolve the crisis.

  Taiji Jade was originally formed in ancient times, with two pieces of black and white. Due to the accumulation of good fortune by the ancestors of the Wan family, it has been passed down through generations. Its power is beyond words, so Shen Si'en used it once. He saw a door shining with light, but for self-protection, he had no choice but to gamble that it was the Gate of Life. Then he entered this so-called Light Gate, hoping to survive and one day return to clear his name.

  Shen Si'en held the white jade, leaving the black jade with the Wan family clan, so that they could use it as proof when they meet again in the future and hoped that the Wan family would help each other. Now if Shen's descendants are lucky enough to enter this stone room, read this letter, it is considered to have fulfilled Wan Bai Song's prophecy, and can know the cause and effect of this matter, and take an oath with this letter to avenge the grievances for the Shen family clan, only then can they be called the descendants of the Shen family. Finally, "After reading, please destroy it, there are two bottles of medicine on the stone table, details as shown in another note."

  I picked up another folded paper and opened it to read: the pills in the purple ceramic bottle and the green ceramic bottle were Shen's family heirloom medicine - lotus break silk connection, purple... I carefully looked at the so-called usage and dosage instructions, as well as the incantation and seal, what a hassle, but still seriously memorized them in my heart.

  The light gradually dimmed, and I finally remembered that this was much harder than memorizing books in school. Gradually, I felt dizzy and my eyes blurred, my chest couldn't catch its breath, oh no, oxygen! Hurriedly, I put the two porcelain bottles into my bosom, stood up and used the fire to burn the two folded paper, threw them on the ground and watched as they burned out. Suddenly, one by one, the torches went out.

  I felt dizzy and fell to the ground, clutching my chest, my body involuntarily curling up into a ball. I regretted not burning those two incense sticks earlier. This stone room was really poorly built. All I could feel was my breathing getting more and more urgent, my consciousness growing more and more confused, and my vision growing darker and darker.

  Suddenly a rumbling sound echoed, followed by a faint glimmer of light.