Chapter 345: White Lotus Sect

Chapter 345: The White Lotus Sect

"Gao Zhijian, what exactly are you reading? You must have misread something," Chun Xiaoman asked, her eyes filled with confusion as she stared at the brown-leather book in his hands.

The words that came from his mouth were nonsensical and chaotic; she couldn't make head or tail of them—what did it mean about "no birth, no death"? What was this talk of something emerging from one's dantian?

How could her own son crawl out from beneath his corpse? Was he still human?

A strange thought flickered through Xiaoman’s mind. “Could the author of this book be just like Master Li—mad?”

Feeling suspected by his companions, Gao Zhijian shoved his hands into his pockets and silently pressed against the wall, continuing forward. “Hmph…”

Just as Chun Xiaoman reached to pull Bai Lingmiao along, she touched her hand and felt an icy chill.

“What’s wrong, Miaomiao?” asked Chun Xiaoman.

Bai Lingmiao, whose face looked grim, shook her head and followed after Gao Zhijian’s retreating figure.

They walked for a while before encountering another book. This place seemed to be a repository of texts, but these were even more obscure than the previous one—reading them was worse than not reading at all.

"Miaomiao, how come your family temple has such strange books?" Chun Xiaoman asked the only surviving member of the Bai family.

Though this place appeared safe, both the white lotus banners and the content of those books gave off a deeply unsettling vibe.

Who would build such a massive underground chamber beneath their ancestral hall and fill it with nonsense like this? Would they not fear that their ancestors would appear in dreams to curse them?

Bai Lingmiao paused before answering, as if trying to recall something. “I… I don’t know. I’m a woman. When it comes to ancestor worship, I’ve never been allowed inside.”

At that moment, Gao Zhijian stopped again. His tall frame stood rigidly ahead, leaving the two behind uncertain of what lay before him.

"Ma." Gao Zhijian spoke without stammering—a rare occurrence.

Suddenly, Bai Lingmiao let go of Chun Xiaoman’s hand and stepped forward to stand before him, looking up at the ceramic horse’s head towering over her.

The horsehead was lifelike, almost too real. Its eyes stared straight ahead, casting an intimidating presence upon anyone standing before it.

Bai Lingmiao moved under the horse’s body, her fingers tracing its smooth yet hard surface. A look of bewilderment crossed her face—this feeling was strangely familiar.

"This porcelain horse is huge. What kind of kiln would it take to fire it?" Gouwa remarked with awe.

"Huh?!" Startled, Chun Xiaoman turned toward Gouwa, who had suddenly appeared. "When did you get here?"

"What? Can’t I come? Seeing you two running off like this, I thought you might be hiding something from me." Gouwa circled the large ceramic horse.

"Junior Sister Bai, did your family used to deal in pottery? A horse this big would sell for twenty or thirty taels of silver at least."

As he turned around, he bumped right into a shadowy figure lurking in the dark. He jumped back in fright.

Once he saw it was merely a headless, armless porcelain figure, he cursed and kicked it.

"This place... I've been here before," Bai Lingmiao said, drawing everyone’s attention.

She gazed at the great horse, struggling to recall hazy memories. “My grandfather brought me here when I was very little.”

“I cried one day wanting to ride a real horse, but Grandfather said it was too dangerous. So he brought me here instead to ride this clay horse. That day… I had so much fun.”

Her brows furrowed as she continued, “I think I remember… the horse flew up into the painting. It took me there to play! There were lots of adults and children there with me! Yes! There were paintings here!”

Recalling something, Bai Lingmiao spun around and rushed toward a dark corner. Others gasped and hurried after her.

Before they had taken a few steps, Bai Lingmiao halted before a wall covered in paintings. But the paintings showed nothing but pure white lotuses blooming on black water—nothing like what she had described earlier.

“This place… what exactly is it?” Bai Lingmiao recalled that Master Li had once told her something about her family doing something terrible.

But back then, overwhelmed by grief over losing her entire family, she hadn’t paid attention to anything else.

“No, no way. My grandfather… my father and mother…” Bai Lingmiao remembered her family’s perfect image, her expression showing hesitation.

“Look, the little lotus on the wall is actually an oil lamp,” Gouwa said, pulling out his flintbox and lighting it.

As each white lotus ignited, the surrounding darkness gradually brightened. The vast underground hall revealed itself fully.

The first thing catching their attention was a massive mural at the front of the hall, accompanied by a bronze incense burner, clearly indicating its significance to whoever once owned it.

The mural depicted six galloping black horses, each carrying a blooming white lotus on its back. Yet, nothing sat atop the lotus.

Originally painted in bright yellow, the background of the lotus area was strangely absent, revealing the uneven earthen wall beneath—an oddity that stood out starkly.

After staring at the enigmatic mural, they began scanning the entire hall.

The hall was rectangular, with a height of two zhangs. It was spacious and connected by numerous passages leading to unknown destinations.

It seemed the entire underground village of Niu Xin Cun lay beneath the surface.

The walls were adorned with intricate designs, mostly featuring white lotuses, with dark black backgrounds.

Surrounding the central area were hundreds of unfinished ceramic figures, including three enormous black horses. The sight left Gouwa jaw-dropped. “Tsk tsk tsk, even the emperor’s palace wouldn’t be this grand!”

Seeing no danger around them, Gao Zhijian lowered his wolf-tooth mace, scratching his head as he looked at Bai Lingmiao beside him.

"Miaomiao? What’s wrong? Your face looks terrible. Are you upset? Should we go upstairs first?" Chun Xiaoman gently asked, supporting Bai Lingmiao softly.

Bai Lingmiao shook her head slightly and pushed Xiaoman aside. Her gaze wandered across the surroundings, searching for faint memories buried deep within.

As she thought, a blurry silhouette of a child emerged among the ceramic figures.

Dressed in a tiger-head cap and tiger-shoe, wrapped in a thick cotton coat, the child had large pink eyes that were adorable.

"Grandpa~!"

The child staggered forward, nearly falling, then lunged forward and crashed into the arms of a smiling old man.

"Ohh, sweetie, do you like grandpa?"