Chapter 470

Speaking of the legends in feng shui history, besides the founder of the Yang school, Yang Yun-song, there are many who left their names in the annals of metaphysics, founded schools and sects, and became masters of their generation.

For example, the very famous Lai Buyi, whose legendary history predates Yang Yun-song, whose footsteps traversed the whole country, using feng shui to relieve the distressed and aid the weak against the strong, leaving many myth-like legends; cities such as Guangzhou, Yingde, and Hong Kong were all sites selected by Lai Buyi.

After Lai Buyi and Yang Yun-song, in the Qing dynasty, Fujian produced another outstanding feng shui master, whose true name was Lin Zhenxian, and whom the jianghu called Lin Half-Immortal.

In Lin Half-Immortal's legendary life, there is an incident concerning the Three Killings Stele.

Speaking of Lin Half-Immortal wandering to the Datan Xinzhuan area, he discovered a good feng shui spot: a protrusion on the level ocean, close to the great river, but the dragon vein had already gone underwater; the water before the golden city was a sash-wrapping-the-waist site.

Lin Half-Immortal lingered there for a long time; after examining the sand and observing the water in every way, he found that this spirit grave was a quick-yielding formation, deserving of a burial in the Yin month and prosperity in the Mao month. However, although this place had a quick-yielding spirit grave, it also faintly leaked killing qi; if handled well, it could turn killing into auspiciousness; if handled poorly, disaster would extend to later generations.

What does 'burial in the Yin month, prosperity in the Mao month' mean? In the twelve earthly branches, Yin is third and Mao is fourth. That is to say, after burial in this formation, one can become wealthy in the second month, with remarkably swift effect—an outstanding feng shui spirit grave.

Lin Half-Immortal was sighing, wondering who had the fortune to obtain this spirit grave. Just then, he chanced upon an honest and sincere young man surnamed Su, yet whose household was utterly destitute.

In the past, 'bare walls' was absolutely synonymous with utter poverty. Nowadays, when many people mention these four words, they shed a tear of bitterness.

Think about it: nowadays housing prices leave people breathless; even if one wanted bare walls, one would still need a home. When many ordinary people read these four words, the first thing that comes to mind is—home, then the spicy neighbor.

Speaking of Lin Half-Immortal, after admiring this spirit ground for a long time, seeing the sky gradually darken, he went into a nearby village seeking lodging for the night, arriving at a thatched hut; after knocking, a young man in his thirties opened the door. Lin Half-Immortal expressed his wish to borrow lodging for one night, and the young man said: 'Really unfortunate—my mother just passed away this evening, and I am an only son, my career unsuccessful, I make a living doing odd jobs, I have not yet married, my family is arranging the funeral, my mother has not yet been placed in the coffin. Sir, if you don't mind, you may first stay in my room and make do; I still need to keep vigil tonight.'

Lin Half-Immortal said it was no problem; seeing the young man's honesty, sincerity, and kind treatment of others, he felt moved, and knowing he was unmarried and in difficult circumstances, he thought: since fate had led him here, why not open a door of convenience? Thus Lin Half-Immortal recommended himself to help the young man find a burial site.

The next day, Lin Half-Immortal led the young man surnamed Su to the riverside and declared openly: 'This is a subaquatic mudfish grave; encountering water brings prosperity, but this year is a year of heavenly killing, and although the spirit grave is wealthy, it also secretly harbors an earthly killing formation. Moreover, your personal fate and this spirit grave slightly clash; the three together exactly incur the heavenly, earthly, and human three killings. According to ordinary burial practice, this will surely bring disaster for nine generations, leaving no intact corpse.'

Upon hearing this, the young man panicked and hurriedly asked Lin Half-Immortal what to do.

Lin Half-Immortal stroked his beard, pondered briefly, and said: 'Since it is a grave killing, we need to use a heavy mourning method to transform it; I will arrange for a Three Killings Stele to be placed in your grave to turn killing into auspicious fortune. Remember, within three days your mother must be buried in this grave.'

Afterward, Lin Half-Immortal selected a yin-yang trimming date-selection method; this method differs from ordinary date selection, being the true yin-yang method of the Nine Heavens Mysterious Maiden, a 120 Jiazi cycle calculation method, indeed a situation of finding life in desperation.

When the calculated time for burial arrived, dark clouds instantly covered the sky; the originally clear heavens turned gloomy in a blink, and flocks of wild geese flew in, numbering tens of thousands. Lin Half-Immortal said: 'This is your fortune; the geese flying in formation is an auspicious omen! In one month, joy will surely come upon you, but remember, this is a subaquatic mudfish grave; the tombstone is set of stone, unafraid of submersion—the deeper the water, the greater the prosperity. Before the grave I piled stones into an eight-character-shaped stairway, the purpose being to dispel killing, also a method of withdrawing the killing from the mountain; the interior of the grave will not take in water, but no matter what anyone says hereafter, you must never relocate the ancestral tomb—keep this in mind!' Having said that, Lin Half-Immortal left the young man surnamed Su and wandered elsewhere.

After the young man surnamed Su buried his mother, just as Lin Half-Immortal had said, one month later he immediately had a remarkable encounter, married a wife, and gained ten thousand strings of wealth out of nowhere. Thereafter, the young man surnamed Su prospered greatly and became a local gentleman.

However, the young man surnamed Su who had become a gentleman did not keep Lin Half-Immortal's admonition in mind. Years later, a Fengyang mad geomancer passed by this place and incited Gentleman Su to alter the feng shui of the ancestral tomb.

This mad half-immortal's Fengyang technique was highly proficient, he also understood spirit-medium arts, his divination methods were astonishingly accurate, but his geographical burial methods were ordinary. When he arrived at Datan Xinzhuan, his predictions about many matters were very precise. Even a well in Ge Bi Township that has now been filled in, inside which a boy once died, and including a certain year when a temple collapse occurred in the village, he could divine as well.

Thus, Gentleman Su admired this mad geomancer greatly and deeply trusted him.

One day, Gentleman Su led the mad half-immortal to view his mother's tomb; the mad half-immortal did not understand the mysteries of yin and yang, nor could he fathom Lin Half-Immortal's yin-yang method, and rashly told Gentleman Su: 'This grave is utterly turbid, already invaded by water; it must be relocated immediately, otherwise disaster will come.'

Thereafter, the Fengyang mad immortal performed a ritual to select a date, intending to relocate Lady Su's tomb from the 'subaquatic mudfish grave'; he began digging up the tombstone, unaware that Lin Half-Immortal had installed a Three Killings Divine Stele upon it—moving this tomb required first setting up an altar, offering three animal sacrifices and wine, and sending away the Three Killings deities before breaking ground. The Fengyang mad immortal had unknowingly incurred killing qi, yet remained oblivious that his death was imminent; he opened the coffin, the bones were covered with red veins, no water had entered, and the interior of the coffin was steaming hot.

After forty-nine days, his money ran out, he suddenly felt a faint pain in his chest, he counted on his fingers and realized: oh no! He summoned the Fengyang patriarch to seek rescue; the patriarch said: 'Self-inflicted evil cannot be endured; your lifespan is exhausted, accept your fate!' The Fengyang mad immortal begged the patriarch to save his life, but the patriarch said the time limit had passed, immortals cannot save a lifeless wretch, and after saying this he fainted and died.

The mad immortal died, and Gentleman Su's household fared no better. In the first year after relocating the tomb, Gentleman Su's eldest daughter died in an accident. In the second year, his second son contracted lung cancer and died two months later. On the third day, the sole remaining youngest son also suffered an unexpected calamity.

One only laments that the mad immortal did not understand the profundity of the subaquatic mudfish grave, nor that mudfish thrive only in turbid water—the murkier the water, the more lively the mudfish, and the more vigorous the fortune of the spirit grave. What is even more lamentable is that Gentleman Su was actually deluded by this mad immortal and moved that Three Killings Stele. Consequently, the mad immortal fell victim to killing qi and died, while Gentleman Su's family suffered three successive violent deaths. Later, fortunately, Lin Half-Immortal revisited this place and managed to retrieve the declining situation.

Of course, these are later matters, which we may temporarily set aside; but in these two incidents, it is impossible not to mention the marvelous use of the Three Killings Stele.

The so-called Three Killings refer to the heavenly, earthly, and human three killings. The Three Yuan Nine Fortunes indicate heaven, the earthly situation corresponds to earth, and a person's birth date corresponds to man. For Gentleman Su, this subaquatic mudfish grave ought to have been a malignant grave, but after Lin Half-Immortal's skillful renovation, it became a quick-yielding spirit grave. Apart from Lin Half-Immortal's high mastery of feng shui metaphysics, the Three Killings Stele can be regarded as the core of the entire spirit configuration.

Many may wonder why the Three Killings Stele, when unmoved even a fraction, brought prosperity and smooth sailing to Gentleman Su's family; yet once the stele was moved, the mad immortal immediately suffered bodily harm from the killing qi inscribed on it, and Gentleman Su's family also endured invasion by the spirit grave's killing qi, damaging the spirit ground and causing successive bodily injuries to two or three members of the household.

If you ask me the reason, this half-learned me can only vaguely give you four words: 'a negative times a negative yields a positive!'

The way of feng shui is also not immutable. It is not that whenever there is killing one must dispel it, nor that whenever there is danger one must eliminate the hazard before daring to bury. As the old saying goes, the so-called danger refers to danger and opportunity coexisting. Even the fiercest and most killing feng shui site, if there is a suitable person and an appropriate method, can likewise be transformed into an auspicious ground for gaining wealth.

This is like a physician's method of treating illness—using poison to counteract poison.

The spirit ground that Lin Half-Immortal favored already contained earthly killing qi; coincidentally it was also an inauspicious year, so Lin Half-Immortal added fuel to that killing qi. Do you like killing? If not, I will bury you in a fierce manner; if you happen to have the three killings, then I will summon the Three Killings deities here, let them fight each other, and drive the killing to the heavens.

Under such mutual restraint where nobody yields to another, the situation reaches a delicate balance; the vicious killings check each other, allowing the spirit qi to rise opportunistically. This must be said to be the yin-yang profundity of feng shui physiognomy, incomprehensible to ordinary people, and even general practitioners cannot fathom it.

All that can be said is that Lin Half-Immortal's feng shui numerology is excessively profound, ingeniously grasping every bit of the situation; ordinary feng shui numerology lacks such ability and such courage.

As for this trip to Yichang, according to Pangzi, the problem lay with the Three Killings Divine Stele in the burial ground of that Yang-sponsored wealthy patron.