Chapter 401: The Origin of the Four Great Families

“This is the ancestral hall jointly established by the four great families, guarded collectively by the members of those families. And I am the gatekeeper of this hall.” Auntie Wang finally revealed her true identity.

She had even thought she would never have the chance to say it in this lifetime.

“So, your job at the publishing house was actually for the sake of this place?” At this moment, Su Yan truly understood.

Auntie Wang nodded, confirming her answer.

Su Yan’s eyes flickered incessantly. Since this place was guarded by the people of the four great families, it was no wonder that the ghost shadow had collided with a member of the Feng family here.

“However, not everyone knows of its existence. Only a very small number of people are qualified to know about and enter this place.” Auntie Wang’s voice trembled slightly, as if she were suppressing some kind of emotion.

“Auntie Wang, you just said that except for the last hundred years, all the heads of the four great families died for the purpose of exorcising demons and suppressing monsters?” Although Su Yan could not yet hear how this related to her and her mother, she patiently peeled back the layers of the mystery bit by bit.

Auntie Wang did not answer the question; her dim gaze pierced through the memorial tablets toward the outside.

“From the moment humans were born into this world, demons and ghosts have existed. They are brutal, bloodthirsty, and engage in endless slaughter, and exorcists exist specifically to slay these demons. But the lifespan of an exorcist is limited, while those evil spirits can exist through the long passage of years. To satisfy their own desires, they ruthlessly harm humanity without end.”

As an exorcist, Su Yan naturally understood everything Auntie Wang was saying. She did not interrupt, listening quietly as Auntie Wang continued.

“Many evil spirits have undergone thousands of years of cultivation, reaching a level of ferocity far beyond what humans can slay. After countless amounts of blood and sacrifice, humans, in order to save themselves, had to find every possible way to increase their own strength. Even if they could not slay them, they had to use all their might to suppress these calamities, ensuring they could not easily emerge to persecute the people.”

As Auntie Wang spoke, her expression grew increasingly solemn.

Su Yan immediately thought of the actions of Liu Yiyi in both her hometown's county town and the capital over these past days; it seemed they were all aimed at releasing those ferocious evil entities.

Could it be that these things were actually connected?

At this thought, her mood instantly became incredibly heavy, and she even felt an extremely ominous premonition.

Soon, Auntie Wang provided the answer she wanted.

“Eight hundred years ago, there was once a massive catastrophe. At that time, the mortal world nearly fell into a living hell. Fortunately, there were four extremely powerful exorcists back then who joined forces to seal tens of thousands of Evil Spirit Kings using the four cardinal directions: North, South, East, and West.”

Su Yan gasped, feeling a sense of suffocation.

Auntie Wang had said tens of thousands of *Evil Spirit Kings*, not just evil spirits.

Even she could not imagine what kind of hell this world would become if tens of thousands of Evil Spirit Kings appeared simultaneously!!

“And then?”

She could not control the turbulence in her heart, asking with a trembling voice.

“In that battle, although we were victorious, the losses were heavy. Furthermore, those four exorcists were severely injured and could only survive by sheer willpower. But sealing these things does not mean one can rest easy; they knew that the suppressed Evil Spirit Kings would never remain dormant forever. They would certainly look for opportunities to break free at every moment.”

“So, after consulting one another, the four of them decided to establish their respective families to pass down their life's teachings from generation to generation. This way, even after their deaths, there would still be people capable of protecting the suppression formations to maintain peace in the world.”

As Auntie Wang reached the end, she showed a look of reverence.

Su Yan immediately understood that this must be the original origin of the four great families, and a sense of admiration rose in her heart.

However, those four heroes surely could not have imagined that a thousand years later, their descendants might not necessarily hold onto their original intentions.

Take the Feng family, for example; they not only plundered the spiritual power of others for their own use, but they might have even strayed from the righteous path long ago.

“Because they had all exhausted their life force in that battle, even the one who persisted the longest only lived for five years. But their predictions were correct; as time passed, the power of the suppression formations gradually weakened. The things beneath the earth grew restless, and almost every few decades, their descendants needed to join forces to consolidate the seal.”

“Since it is only consolidating the seal, it doesn't seem particularly dangerous?” Su Yan raised her doubt.

Auntie Wang shook her head. “Setting aside the fact that the methods of sealing are extremely difficult, during every sealing process, one must fight against Evil Spirit Kings that may have already escaped. In the subsequent centuries, the frequency of the required sealings increased, so almost all the heads of the four great families died on the battlefield.”

Tragic scenes automatically formed in Su Yan's mind. When she looked at those nameless memorial tablets again, she had to exert great effort to control her surging emotions.

She couldn't help but think of Ma Chulong and Zhou Li. Was their ultimate fate also like this?

“What about the last hundred years?”

Auntie Wang had just mentioned a hundred years ago. Perhaps after such a long time, the heads of the four great families had thought of a better solution.

Upon hearing this question, Auntie Wang's expression became much more serious.

“Not everyone can act without hesitation when facing life and death.”

That simple sentence confirmed the suspicion in Su Yan's heart.

She could already imagine what would happen next.

“As the four great families grew increasingly prosperous, their focus in life gradually shifted away from exorcism. Once a person attains a high position, desires follow. The four great families all began secretly training more powerful disciples, promising them their deepest desires to make them willing to sacrifice for the family. The truth is, most of them are merely pawns in the hands of those clan heads; after all, sealing the formation and fighting the Evil Spirit Kings to the death is not something only a clan head can do.”

Auntie Wang's voice dropped to its lowest point, as if she were thinking of certain people and felt nothing but contempt.

Su Yan naturally understood; at this moment, she thought of Kong Nian.

Kong Nian was the pride of the Kong family, also one of the future successors of the Kong family.

Even with such a prestigious status, once she lost her spiritual power and the energy in her eyes, she was ruthlessly abandoned by the Kong family.

Although Kong Xiang had never said anything explicitly from beginning to end, his actions represented everything.

And he himself represented the entire Kong family.

Then there was that Feng Zong from before, and the member of the Feng family she had killed in the county warehouse; they used any means necessary to increase their strength, which surely meant the Feng family had promised them something.

(End of Chapter)