On the old, dilapidated plaque of the small temple were inscribed three worn-out characters: Wendao Temple.
Yang Chen stared at these three characters. Though weathered and mottled from the passing of ti, with only faint outlines visible, they imparted a mysterious feeling.
It was as if he could see the person who originally inscribed these characters, standing on the cliff’s edge, gazing at the bright moon, questioning what is the path, what is the heart.
This sense of searching high and low made Yang Chen also feel a desire to question his true self.
But Yang Chen quickly suppressed this feeling.
However, when Yang Chen turned to look at the others, he found that they were all staring at the plaque with puzzled expressions.
It seed they were all drawn to the essence within these words.
At this mont, Yang Chen’s doubts finally began to waver.
It seed that what the director had said about this "Old Immortal" was not an exaggeration. Just from these three words, at least the Old Immortal’s ntal journey and pursuit of the Dao far surpassed ordinary people.
The first to snap out of it was Elder Zhuo.
He shook his head, sighed, and said, "Life has too many regrets; there’s no way to be too persistent."
This was his current attitude towards life; everything must always move forward.
It seed it would take a long ti for the others to snap out of it, so Yang Chen went ahead and woke them up.
Qin Zhiyuan blinked, sighed, and said with a bitter smile, "When I first ca here, I looked at this plaque for a long ti. Seeing it again now brings different thoughts. The Old Immortal truly is remarkable!"
In his words, Qin Zhiyuan was very admiring of the Old Immortal.
Chen Siyan was awakened by Yang Chen, looked up at him, pursed her lips, and tears started streaming down her face, "Brother, in the future, you’ll be so good with sister-in-law and might have kids. Will you not want anymore, not like anymore?"
Yang Chen couldn’t help but smile wryly and rubbed Chen Siyan’s head, saying, "Silly girl, what are you thinking! You’re my sister; how could I not like you!"
"That’s what you said! No take-backs!" Chen Siyan said as she wiped her tears.
Yang Chen smiled and extended his pinky, "Co, pinky promise!"
Chen Siyan broke into a smile through her tears, hooked her pinky with Yang Chen’s, and said, "Pinky promise, hang it high, no change for a hundred years, whoever changes is a big bad egg!"
Yang Chen looked at Chen Siyan’s innocent smile and really wished she could always stay this pure.
Yang Chen walked to Gao Hong, gave him a push, and said in a deep voice, "Wake up!"
Gao Hong awoke with a start, a complex expression flashing in his eyes. He took a deep look at Yang Chen, then nodded and composed himself.
Once everyone had cald down, Li Muyang exclaid, "What’s happening? What just happened to all of us? Did we fall under so kind of hypnosis?"
Gao Hong surveyed the surroundings, then said in a deep voice, "It’s very possible. I’ve t a hypnotist before in prison. He used hypnosis to steal, con, and..."
Gao Hong glanced at Chen Siyan, gulped down the last word, and continued, "He said hypnosis is a constant suggestion, a strong suggestion thod that triggers this awareness signal from your cerebral cortex, putting you into a mysterious feeling under the control of the hypnotist. Not only can people hypnotize each other, but so hypnotists can use setups and scenes to hypnotize people. This temple in front of us is very suspicious; its architectural style gives an eerie feeling, with dark windows that make you sleepy and the desolate surroundings likely serve as hypnotic inducents."
Yang Chen thought Gao Hong made sense. He’d encountered hypnotists himself, even knew a few basic tricks, and asked, "Director, was the temple this dilapidated when you ca here last ti?"
Qin Zhiyuan frowned and said, "It was quite rundown last ti too, but not as dilapidated as now."
Yang Chen nodded, feeling that Gao Hong was close to the truth.
"Let’s go! Let’s head inside!" Qin Zhiyuan sighed and said.
Under Qin Zhiyuan’s lead, the group pushed the door open and entered the small temple.
The small temple looked small from the outside, but the inside had quite a spacious area.
The courtyard was about an acre in size, with two rows of green pines on each side. On the right side, there was an old well, though judging by the height, it should be dry.
In the deepest part was a temple row with a total of five rooms.
"Old Qin!" Elder Zhuo looked at the ground covered with leaves and wild grass; looking at Qin Zhiyuan, he called out worriedly.
Qin Zhiyuan frowned, quickly descended the steps, and headed towards the rooms.
Li Muyang imdiately said, "You two go in front, watch out for snakes or other dangers!"
"Understood!" The two imdiately rushed ahead to clear the path for Qin Zhiyuan.
Yang Chen hurried to follow.
Qin Zhiyuan hastened to the corridor and couldn’t help but stop, looking sowhat tense.
Yang Chen caught up and asked, "Director, what’s wrong?"
Qin Zhiyuan took a deep breath, slowly turned his head, and looked at Yang Chen seriously.
Elder Zhuo also caught up and, seeing this scene, imdiately told Li Muyang, "Muyang, Gao Hong, and Yanyan, you all go out first and wait at the temple entrance. Do not co in without our order!"
"But!" Li Muyang was very concerned, as the place was very rundown, likely harboring poisonous creatures and snakes, alongside the rampant wild grass lurking with unseen dangers.
"Just go out! It’s enough with Yang Chen here!" Elder Zhuo commanded firmly, leaving no room for objection.
Li Muyang hesitated but sighed and led the others out.
Although Chen Siyan wanted to stay with Yang Chen, Elder Zhuo’s stern gaze compelled her to follow Li Muyang and the others outside.
After everyone exited the temple and shut the door, Qin Zhiyuan slowly began to speak.
"Xiaochen, in fact, there’s a matter I’ve kept from you for many years. It’s sothing I must tell you now, so you should prepare yourself ntally."
Hearing this, Yang Chen’s heart skipped a beat.
Even if Yang Chen had exceptional ntal fortitude, facing such a situation, he couldn’t help but feel nervous.
He could almost guess what the director was going to tell him.
For sothing kept from him for so many years, what other than his background could it be?
Yang Chen had imagined countless tis what his parents were like, countless tis as a child lying over the orphanage’s railings, watching other parents drop off and pick up their children, watching them act spoiled to their parents, watching their parents buy them snacks...
To Yang Chen, these seemingly ordinary and simple things were the happiest monts.
In countless dreams, he had imagined the appearance of his parents, yet everything was always so vague and unreachable.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Yang Chen had nights in his childhood when he cried himself to sleep.
Now he was finally about to know the truth, unavoidably feeling a bit nervous.
Yang Chen took several deep breaths, adjusted his mindset, prepared himself ntally, and locked eyes with Qin Zhiyuan, "I’m ready. Please go ahead."
Qin Zhiyuan slowly nodded, speaking in a deep voice, "The reason I brought you here is that your fate’s turning point—everything started from here..."
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