Chapter 185
Chapter 185
As it happened, the chief of Mafang Village was also surnamed Ma. His full name was Ma Dayue.
He looked to be in his early sixties and wore a stand-collar Mao suit with army-green cloth shoes.
His face was honest and unassuming, and he appeared quite sturdy for his age.
Perhaps Master and I had already gained some modest fame throughout the surrounding villages. Whatever the reason, he did not look down on me for being young.
Not only was he extremely courteous, he even took the initiative to shake my hand.
Naturally, I was equally friendly toward someone like that and modestly presented myself as his junior in every regard.
After all, I was a classic case of someone who responded to kindness, not force.
If anyone dared pull rank on me just because they were older, they would not get a pleasant expression from me either!
On the way to Sixth Lu’s house, Ma Dayue kept shaking his head and sighing.
“Sigh. Young Mr. Wu, just look at the mess this has become… Two people from the village have died, but there’s no evidence. We only have Sixth’s word for it.”
“Still, Zhao Zhiming and Wang Qingzhu really have vanished. No one has seen them alive, and no bodies have turned up either. It certainly leaves everyone frightened.”
I thought for a moment, then asked him,
“What do you think, Chief Ma?”
“Well…”
Ma Dayue hesitated, then chose his words carefully.
“I’ve watched Sixth grow up. He’s hardworking, brave but cautious, and an honest man. I don’t think he’d lie. So I’m afraid there really is something unnatural in that fishpond.”
“But with such a bizarre situation, there isn’t much the police station can do. We can only turn to experts like you, Young Mr. Wu.”
I nodded, agreeing with him.
Sixth Lu had described every detail so clearly that the story was most likely true!
In fact, I had already more or less guessed what kind of damned thing it was.
Still, I needed Sixth Lu to take me around the fishpond before I could confirm it. Only then could I consider how to deal with it.
Sixth Lu had earned some money from contracting the fishpond over the past few years.
Last summer, he demolished the old rammed-earth house he had lived in and built a three-story concrete villa on the original foundation. It was extremely eye-catching, and all the other villagers were quite envious…
I studied it a few times from a distance and immediately became even more certain that the poor man really had run into terrible luck!
The location of his home was actually quite favorable in itself.
Its Bright Hall was open, and it had solid backing behind it.
It was also a classic auspicious feng shui formation known as the Dragon and Tiger Sand Ridges!
What were the Dragon and Tiger Sand Ridges?
Put simply, it meant that a relatively symmetrical mountain stood on either side of the space directly before the home’s front door.
Those two mountains also had to occupy the Azure Dragon Position and White Tiger Position within the standard Four Celestial Animals formation, as if the Azure Dragon and White Tiger were embracing the home from either side.
Only then could they help the Bright Hall gather qi and enhance the homeowner’s prospects for wealth!
Generally speaking,
the larger those two peaks were, the more effective the Dragon and Tiger Sand Ridges would be, and the more money the homeowner could earn.
The two in front of Sixth Lu’s home were merely small hills, so they could never bring him enormous riches or status.
But they were enough for him to make a modest fortune from his fishpond and live a fairly comfortable life…
The problem was that the auspicious Dragon and Tiger Sand Ridges around his home were too small. This was only a “minor blessing” formation.
Those skinny little dragon and tiger hills could not possibly support such a tall house!
The plot where Sixth Lu’s home stood was therefore suitable only for a single-story house.
That was why he could make money after contracting the fishpond before.
But the moment he built a three-story villa, trouble followed!
Even more unfortunately, although a small hill stood behind his home–which feng shui described as “solid backing” and which could protect the peace of the household–
a crooked-neck tree grew to the northwest of that hill!
And it was half withered.
That spelled trouble.
Back home, we had a saying: A crooked tree on a hill means uncanny trouble never stays still!
That folk saying actually contained a principle of feng shui: if a crooked-neck tree grew on a mountain near a home, it would disturb the peace of the household.
And the disturbances it caused generally leaned toward the sinister and supernatural…
That was why Sixth Lu had recently encountered the strange events at his fishpond.
Most likely, they had all resulted from the influence of the feng shui. One unfavorable probability accumulated atop another until trouble finally erupted.
In truth, it would not be difficult to fix.
I had my ways!
Of course, the most urgent matter was to determine exactly what was stirring up trouble in the fishpond. It had already killed two people in succession.
“Sixth! Sixth! The expert from Wujia Village is here. Hurry up and open the door!”
Ma Dayue raised his voice and shouted from outside the entrance.
Before long, a middle-aged man emerged from the central room.
He looked around forty and had dark circles under both eyes. Clearly, he had slept badly lately and was suffering from severe insomnia.
He looked utterly haggard and weak.
“Chief… the expert is here?”
“Yes. This is Young Mr. Wu. He’s the disciple of the Immortal Lady everyone talks about in Wujia Village. Xia Family Hamlet had a terrible haunting not long ago, and he was the one who stepped in and resolved it. You’ve heard about that, haven’t you?”
Ma Dayue introduced me.
When Sixth Lu first saw me, he had looked somewhat doubtful. But the moment he heard I was the one who handled the haunting at Xia Family Hamlet, his expression turned reverent.
He hurried over, clasped my hand tightly, and looked at me with a desperate plea for help in his eyes.
“Mr. Wu, please. You’re the only one who can help me! I’ve watched two people die in that fishpond, yet we can’t find either body. And none of us dares enter the water ourselves… There has to be some evil damned thing inside. It ate my best friend.”
The mention of Wang Qingzhu seemed to redden Sixth Lu’s eyes.
His grief did not look feigned. The two men must truly have been very close.
I nodded.
“Don’t worry. Leave this matter to me. At some point, a monster must have found its way into your fishpond. We’ll go deal with it right now.”
A mon… monster!
Sixth Lu and Ma Dayue both looked horrified when they heard me.