My Scales Can Make Equivalent Exchange
Chapter 965 - 778: Zhang Family, a Group of Earth Losers?_2

Chapter 965: Chapter 778: Zhang Family, a Group of Earth Losers?_2

Only the main gate area was void of altar tablets.

The entire arrangement of the altar tablets was in a triangular formation, with an Emperor’s tablet being venerated at the top; the second row featured three, and the number increased sequentially downwards. Starting with the fifth row, they were no longer finely differentiated but were placed together row by row.

The room was filled with a thick, peculiar Spiritual Fragrance, the intense scent of incense suggesting that it was a place of frequent offerings year-round.

"What do I need to do?" asked Wang Zijia after observing for a moment. "Is there any particular ritual process to follow?"

At that moment, Zhang Guangyu had already taken three sticks of incense and handed them to Wang Zijia, saying, "You don’t need to do anything special, Fellow Daoist, you only need to offer a stick of incense, and then I will be able to tell you some things!"

’That simple?’

Wang Zijia glanced at the altar tablets in front of him and without much hesitation, took the incense offered to him and walked in front of the altar tablets. He held the incense to his forehead with both hands and bowed deeply three times.

He then stepped forward and inserted the incense into the Incense Burner.

"Crack!"

"Whoosh!"

Just as Wang Zijia had inserted the incense and was about to step back and bow again, an unexpected change occurred.

In the Great Hall, over half of the altar tablets simultaneously turned ninety degrees to lie on their sides, while the ones at the very bottom shattered completely.

Only the topmost and the four tablets in the second row remained quietly upright.

Wang Zijia’s movement to bow again froze on the spot as he witnessed this ghostly scene, turning his head awkwardly towards a stunned Zhang Guangyu and said, "That, Patriarch, I swear this has nothing to do with me, they broke on their own, do you believe me?"

Zhang Guangyu snapped back to reality with a start, saying, "Don’t call me Patriarch!"

His voice was somewhat bristled.

Wang Zijia: "......"

"Gulp!" Zhang Guangyu swallowed and looked back and forth between the ancestral shrine and Wang Zijia, frantically bowing to the altar tablets!

Wang Zijia: "......"

Feeling a bit awkward, Wang Zijia just stood there, unsure whether to continue bowing—fearing he might blow up the remaining tablets—or whether to stop; had the ancestral ritual been completed or had it failed?

After a moment, Zhang Guangyu stopped his actions and hurriedly took Wang Zijia away.

"Phew......" It was only after they left the Great Hall that Zhang Guangyu could finally heave a long sigh of relief.

"Fellow Daoist, does this count as having completed the ancestral worship, or does it not?" Wang Zijia asked.

Zhang Guangyu, who had just relaxed, turned back to look at the confused Wang Zijia. His lips twitched, unsure of what to say, and finally, he said, "Let’s go to my place, where I have some things to tell you about your innate wisdom!"

’Huh? What does that mean?’

’You’re not asking about these sudden changes but instead telling me about the Awakening of my Inherited Wisdom?’

’I’m not clear on what’s going on with my innate wisdom; why do you need to tell me?’

’What the heck, why does the Zhang Family always play an unconventional hand,’

At that moment, Wang Zijia, who had prepared a bunch of explanations but used none, was truly bewildered.

......

Shortly thereafter, Wang Zijia and Zhang Guangyu arrived at a Cave Mansion and sat down in a pavilion with a nice view.

Without a sect disciple to serve tea, Zhang Guangyu made the tea himself, brewing a cup for himself and pouring another for Wang Zijia.

Wang Zijia didn’t speak, quietly waiting for the other to begin.

After sipping his tea twice, Zhang Guangyu began to organize his words, saying, "How much do you know about our clan?"

"The Zhang Family?" Wang Zijia asked.

Zhang Guangyu nodded.

"I am from a side branch, and there haven’t been monks in my family for several generations. I don’t understand much about the main line, so my knowledge is very limited," Wang Zijia said.

Hearing this, Zhang Guangyu gave Wang Zijia a glance before saying, "Is that so? Then let me start from the beginning."

"Strictly speaking, our Yao Mountain’s Zhang Family also belongs to a side branch of the Zhang Family. No, all the Cultivation clans of the Zhang Family are side branches, only those in the Dao Court, belonging to the Central Immortal Palace, are considered the direct line."

Wang Zijia nodded, saying, "I’ve heard a bit about that. It is said that our clan’s direct lineage cannot produce direct descendants by themselves, that all sect disciples of the direct lineage are naturally and divinely determined, following a very peculiar set of criteria, and are not chosen by bloodline like traditional families, right?"

Zhang Guangyu nodded and began to earnestly explain the situation of the Zhang Family.

The Zhang Family refers to the descendants of Heavenly Emperor Zhang BaiRen and their developed clans.

But the Emperor set a very strange rule for the Zhang Family: the direct and side branches are not distinguished by bloodline. Even if it’s the Emperor’s own son, he could be categorized as coming from the branches.

And only a certain kind of person would be classified as being from the direct line, a very peculiar kind of person.

Zhang Guangyu did not know the specifics of what made them peculiar, only aware of some characteristics.

That is, either they are born with innate wisdom or, after death, they suddenly revive, leading to the Awakening of Inherited Wisdom.

After this, the individual in question always seems to experience more or less unusual events that enable them to advance rapidly and ascend to the peak.

Only these kinds of people are called Zhang Family Direct Lineage, and the rest are referred to as side branches.

And the Central Immortal Court composed of this kind of person has left behind countless legends during the third and fourth eras.

Initially, before Zhang BaiRen became an Emperor, these individuals would randomly appear among all of the Zhang Family side branches. As they gradually awakened, they would naturally be taken away by the Dao Court, hence the Dao Court would tell all side branch clan members some characteristics to facilitate selection.

However, after Zhang BaiRen became the Heavenly Emperor, he consolidated all the bloodlines.

It is said that thereafter, side branches would no longer see the awakening of a direct line, and even the people of the direct line could not produce a direct line anymore.