Chapter 215

After Ye Qi arranged our lodging, she didn't linger long, exchanged a few polite words with QingSongShu, then went back to look after Yang Rui. Her face looked worried; even when she occasionally gave a perfunctory smile, it was very forced.

The place the Yang family arranged for us was beautiful and comfortable. The Yang family seems rather traditional; whether furniture or sofa, the big bed for sleeping is all solid wood, without Western-style leather sofas. In the 1990s, this was truly rare.

After Pangzi entered the room, he sat down, picked up an apple from the table, casually wiped it, then stuffed it into his mouth. This glutton seems unable to kick his habit of overeating; wherever he goes, the first thing he does is look for food. Or perhaps he always carries food with him.

"Looks like we'll be able to return to Shenzhen soon. Hai Sheng, I've invited Yao Meinv and Sister Jingjing to have snacks at Xiguan; are you coming?" Pangzi lay on the rosewood sofa, lazily biting into a big apple.

I glanced at him coldly and said, "Go wherever you want, don't drag me into it; I still have plenty of things to do."

Pangzi snorted disdainfully: "Long-life debts must be repaid, long-life kung fu must be practiced! What task can ever be finished? As Li Bai wrote, 'When life is going well, one must enjoy it to the fullest; a youth who doesn't play will grow old...'"

"Finished, this matter isn't over." As soon as Pangzi's words fell, QingSongShu laughed and scolded him, delivering a blow to the back of his head.

Pangzi yelled in pain, rubbing the back of his head, and complained to QingSongShu: "Dad, just speak properly; why do you keep hitting my head? This will make me stupid."

"Stop, Pangzi, before you speak you need to straighten out the logic." I made a "ka" gesture, then sternly rebuked Pangzi: "Hitting you to make you stupid and you being naturally stupid are two different things. Hitting a fool and hitting a normal person until they become a fool are even more different."

After saying that, I couldn't help but burst out laughing. Pangzi glared at me and cursed "fuck", then lunged at me with claws flailing.

Just as a fight was about to break out, QingSongShu unexpectedly waved his hands to stop us: "Alright, alright, stop the nonsense; I have serious business to assign you, so listen up."

Pangzi and I quickly halted, assuming a proper posture to listen to QingSongShu's instructions.

"Uncle, just tell us what it is; we're listening!" I said.

"Hmm," QingSongShu sat down, pondered a moment, then said: "You two, tonight pick up your gear and go guard the Yang family's ancestral tomb overnight."

As soon as QingSongShu spoke, it was like a thunderclap. I almost couldn't close my mouth in surprise; why on earth do we have to guard the Yang family's ancestral grave?

"Dad, is Boss Yang paying us wages to help him guard the grave? How much is the wage, what share do I get? Let's settle this first—I'm not a kid anymore; you need to leave me some savings to marry a wife. You can't just dictate everything and confiscate my earnings." Pangzi's mind, aside from food, seems filled only with gleaming gold coins.

"Shut up, I'm talking serious business." QingSongShu's face turned dark as he rebuked Pangzi; after Pangzi straightened his attitude, QingSongShu asked us: "Have you noticed anything strange today? For example, the plowhead talisman?"

After QingSongShu finished speaking, Pangzi and I hesitated. After a moment, Pangzi looked at QingSongShu doubtfully: "Dad, are you suspecting someone is deliberately harming the Yang family?"

"Hmm," QingSongShu stroked his long beard and affirmed: "The plowhead talisman has always been used to punish evildoers and ruin feng shui. If no one cast it, it could not possibly appear for no reason on the Yang family's ancestral ground. Moreover, 'Slapping the Coffin' of the Five Direction Evil Gods is a particularly vicious and hard-to-master technique within the plowhead talisman; ordinary witchcraft practitioners basically lack the ability to use it. This is also one of my concerns."

QingSongShu said that the Yang family's ancestral grave originally had the Three Evil God Steles and the Teng She's full-bodied killing qi opposing each other, but the plowhead talisman planted in the graveyard undoubtedly damaged the grave's foundation and harmed the Teng She's spiritual energy. Consequently, in their originally balanced contest, the Teng She fell into a disadvantage and was gradually suppressed by the Three Evil God Steles.

Speaking of the Yang family's "cursed master" ground, it is a formation of heavy killing energy. Years ago, after the Teng She's spiritual form was wounded at seven inches, the cursed master ground became a heavy killing ground. The Yang family's ancestor then adopted a "fight poison with poison" approach, using the Three Evil God Steles to mutually restrain the Teng She's resentment.

Although both are killing forces, neither side can afford a loss. Because the Yang family's descendants survive by relying on the auspicious feng shui that leaks from the clash of the clam and the snipe. Thus, after the plowhead talisman harmed the Teng She's earthly fortune, the Yang family subsequently suffered successive misfortunes.

"If I were the Yang family's enemy, I would definitely not stop like this. But if I didn't stop, I would certainly make another move on their ancestral ground. However, Uncle, do you really want us to keep guarding endlessly?" I asked QingSongShu doubtfully.

QingSongShu slowly shook his head and explained: "It's not about endless guarding. But tonight is the crucial moment of success or failure; I suspect that the Teng She's spiritual form, suppressed by the plowhead talisman for so long and with its foundation damaged, will definitely manifest tonight, absorbing the essence of sun and moon to restore its foundation."

"So tonight, no matter what, you must stay alert. Remember, if you detect any abnormality or see any suspicious persons around, as a precaution you must strike first; above all, you must never let the Teng She come into contact with turtle blood."

"Turtle blood? Uncle, why are you certain that the villains will definitely use turtle blood tonight?" I asked curiously.

QingSong explained: "Today's plowhead talisman has its incantations written on the iron plate in turtle blood; the turtle is one of the five spiritual creatures, innately utmost yin and yang. Moreover, the turtle is the bane of snakes; if the villains want to ruin the Yang family's ancestral grave, the best method is to directly harm the Teng She's spiritual form, and this turtle blood is the primary choice."

Hearing how serious the matter was, Pangzi and I dared not delay; we immediately went to prepare our close-combat magic gear. Once we had gathered the copper coin swords, Bagua mirrors, command flags, and similar items, QingSongShu gave us another reminder, urging us never to be careless or let our guard down.

After dinner, Pangzi and I bade farewell to Yang Shouren on the pretext of resting. At eight o'clock we took our gear and headed for the back hill. QingSongShu, meanwhile, chose to stay and guard the Yang family, since the villains' aim was clearly to sever the Yang lineage; thus he had to stay to protect Yang Rui.

However, why did QingSongShu choose to act covertly instead of openly telling Yang Shouren?

Perhaps he feared alerting the enemy; or maybe he doesn't trust everyone in the Yang family. Has QingSongShu discovered some clue?

I cannot know the exact reason, but whatever QingSongShu says, Pangzi and I will follow. Whatever he instructs must have his reasoning behind it. This saying, this idea, has been deeply etched into my mind. In my impression, my master Li Feng and QingSongShu have never made a mistake.

After running up to the Yang family's ancestral hill, Pangzi and I picked up our gear and hid secretly in the weeds beside the tombstones. Because the climate was damp and the Yang family's ancestral grave was overgrown with weeds, many mosquitoes bred there. Before we had been hidden for even half an hour, we were already covered in big bites from being stared at by mosquitoes.

After guarding until midnight, we saw the round stream circling the grave suddenly churn violently; then, just as QingSongShu had predicted, the Teng She began to manifest its form.

This was my first time seeing the spiritual manifestation of a feng shui sacred site, and my heart surged with excitement. Since ancient times, the feng shui tradition has held that sacred lands possess spiritual forms. Lands such as the Qilin-spitting-pearl, the dove-falling-yang, the Teng She-cursed-master, and the centipede-facing-yang all give rise to their own spiritual forms. Once such a land is occupied by someone lacking virtue, the spiritual form manifests and hunts down geomancers who practice acupressure point striking.

Yet, what I regret is that the Teng She's spiritual form is not an animal but a hazy vapor. Though derived from water, it is utterly insubstantial and cannot be touched.

In feng shui practice, besides needing a certain eye for terrain, there is also great emphasis on studying the invisible airflow that ordinary people cannot see. The spiritual form belongs to such invisible airflow. My ability to sense qi is still rudimentary; although I recognize it as a gas, I cannot discern the Teng She's spiritual shape in detail.

"Pangzi, do you see this spirit form clearly?" I, crouched in the grass thicket, turned my head and curiously asked Pangzi. But at the moment I turned my head, I froze.

Unexpectedly, a solemn expression appeared on Pangzi's face; he clenched the copper coin sword in his hand. Just as I was about to speak and ask Pangzi, he unexpectedly began chanting an incantation and directly issued the copper coin sword.

At the same time, a large net flickering with an eerie red glow was thrown over the soaring serpent that had taken form. Just then, Pangzi's copper coin sword shot out, tearing open that red net. The soaring serpent's spirit form, startled, instantly turned into a wisp of green smoke and dispersed.

All of this happened in the blink of an eye; by the time I came to, I saw the sword break the net and the soaring serpent vanish. At that very moment, a red figure flashed through the grass thicket and fled toward the mountains.

"Chase..." Looking at that red figure, I decisively grabbed the command flag, kicked off, and surged forward first..