Hu Family's Old Stories

"You really don't know what your grandfather discussed in whispers with the National Teacher and those others back then?"

"But I do know how the Hu Family rose to prominence."

Facing Hu Ma's question, Old Woman let out a quiet sigh. As if she felt sorry for him having knelt there so long, she gently helped him to his feet and sat with him on the steps of the ancestral shrine.

She put an arm around Xiao Hong Tang and patted Hu Ma's hand, sighing. "These days, everyone says the Hu Family is one of the Ten Surnames, blessed with wealth beyond the heavens and a great reputation. Heh, they don't even take the emperor seriously."

"But your Hu ancestors were always ordinary, law-abiding folk. They barely spent a day as nobles."

"The Hu Family got its start more than a hundred and seventy years ago, with your first-generation ancestor. Back then, it wasn't some great clan. The world was in chaos, and the emperor summoned Wandering Heroes to the capital. At the time, the Hu Family wasn't among those families with any real abilities."

"The first-generation ancestor of the Hu Family was merely a minor clerk in the government. He was assigned to the Talisman Suppression Mansion, where he did little errands—putting Wandering Heroes in contact with one another, recording their merits, and assigning them tasks."

"But he had a keen eye. While recording merits and assigning tasks, he saw ghosts and spirits multiplying across the land, and Evil Spirits rising day by day. He knew the world had reached a turning point. Those Wandering Heroes who'd once been ignored by the court had probably all learned great skills by then."

"So he, too, resolved to learn those skills. But the methods of this world were shrouded in mystery,