Chapter 262
Chapter 262
I focused my attention and used the phantom of the golden compass in my hand to perform deeper calculations and deductions on the feng shui surrounding Daling Village…
Sure enough, I immediately discovered a new problem!
My expression changed dramatically, and I could not help blurting out,
“How is that possible? I can’t believe it’s something like this!”
Old Cao and Yuan Fei both froze beside me, then hurriedly asked,
“What is it, Xiao Wu? Did you discover something astonishing?”
Ni Yang, Big Bull, Ergou, and the others also watched me nervously.
Whew…
After letting out a long breath, I put away the golden compass and said gravely,
“I did find something extraordinary. I never expected to encounter the legendary Sea-to-Mulberry-Fields Feng Shui Formation here! It seems the affair at Daling Village will be extremely difficult. Whoever was involved must have formidable cultivation and extraordinary methods.”
The Sea-to-Mulberry-Fields Feng Shui Formation!
Old Cao frowned slightly.
“What is that? Even I’ve never heard of it. Explain it in detail, Xiao Wu.”
As a coffin bearer, he sometimes had to double as a feng shui master and select a grave site when a bereaved family was too poor to hire one. His attainments in feng shui were therefore far from low.
Yet Old Cao had never heard of what I had named.
I looked around at everyone and explained in detail…
“Formations are a profound kind of magical method. I don’t need to explain that further. Everyone also understands feng shui. Some powerful cultivators are proficient in both feng shui and formations. They can combine certain natural feng shui configurations with formations, creating a powerful method known as a feng shui formation.”
“At present, I can just barely manage that myself, though only with small feng shui formations. I might arrange one in a house to attract wealth or ward off evil. Given advance preparation, I could also use one to kill various demons, ghosts, and evil entities.”
“But someone used a vast feng shui formation to cover all of Daling Village. That is far beyond my current abilities! The caster is either much stronger than I am or specializes in the arts of feng shui and formations.”
After making sure everyone understood what a feng shui formation was, I turned to the specific situation at Daling Village.
As the name implied, seas turning into mulberry fields described enormous changes in the mortal world. Over immense spans of time, even a boundless ocean could become dry land and farmland!
The Great Sea-to-Mulberry-Fields Feng Shui Formation could make the terrain and topography of a particular place undergo tremendous changes within a short period, as though the passage of countless years had transformed sea into mulberry fields.
Of course, it did not truly involve the mysteries of time. According to Master, time belonged to the true Heavenly Dao and was beyond human understanding.
This great feng shui formation merely caused a designated area to change rapidly according to the caster’s design.
“I see!”
Old Cao suddenly understood.
He had the highest cultivation among us and knew quite a bit about feng shui, so he grasped my meaning immediately.
In an astonished tone, he said,
“So what you mean, Xiao Wu, is that an extremely powerful cultivator used this Great Sea-to-Mulberry-Fields Feng Shui Formation to transform the entire site of Daling Village within an extremely short time. To outsiders, the place became unrecognizable, as though a village had never existed here at all.”
Exactly!
I nodded.
“As expected of Old Cao. You got it in one!”
Ni Yang asked urgently,
“Young Mr. Wu… since you’ve discovered the secret behind Daling Village’s disappearance, do you know where it went? Surely that Great Sea-to-Mulberry-Fields Feng Shui Formation couldn’t erase an entire village from the world without a sound?”
That was right!
I answered Ni Yang,
“Powerful as a great feng shui formation may be, it only alters terrain and topography at great speed. Completely erasing a village truly would be nearly impossible! Or rather, if a cultivator really could accomplish that, they would be far beyond anyone here. Forget a share of over a hundred thousand; even if the reward were several million, I’d turn around and leave right now.”
As I spoke, I pointed at the ground.
“It’s underground! Someone used a special feng shui formation to sink the whole of Daling Village beneath the earth.”
What?!
Everyone was stunned by my words.
An entire village had been sunk underground by a mysterious force!
The mere thought was terrifying.
One of the burly men in black spoke up then.
“Young man, I’m not questioning your professional judgment. It’s just… the boss previously ordered us to dig up the ground and search thoroughly. We excavated pits at least a little over two meters deep in many places, but we never found a trace of anything.”
His name was Zhao Xu, the leader of Wang Wenguang’s trusted enforcers.
He had treated us politely enough over the past two days. Presumably, following Wang Wenguang around had exposed him to quite a few people from the esoteric world. He knew what people like us could do and therefore did not dare act arrogant.
“Look. Those deep pits in different places around us are the ones we dug two years ago.”
As Zhao Xu spoke, he pointed in several directions.
Once the dense weeds had been cleared away, we could indeed see several deep pits, each a few meters across.
His manner was respectful, so I naturally took no offense. I merely explained in an even tone,
“A little over two meters? If the Great Sea-to-Mulberry-Fields Feng Shui Formation sank Daling Village underground, it would never stop that close to the surface! If my calculations with the golden compass were correct, the entire village has subsided to more than ten meters underground. It has become a truly deserted subterranean village!”
What?
Ten meters below the surface!
Everyone was shocked all over again.
Ni Yang grew nervous. He rubbed his hands together, an awkward smile on his face.
“Young Mr. Wu… if Daling Village really sank ten meters underground as you say, how are we supposed to enter it or verify the claim? At that depth, we’d need large professional excavators. But this place is far from any town and doesn’t even have a dirt road. There’s no way to bring heavy machinery in.”
I knew perfectly well that if we wanted Wang Wenguang to pay us, we needed concrete proof: something tangible. We had to enter Daling Village and find out what had actually happened there.
He could hardly hand over a million yuan in cash based on a few statements from me and calculations made through feng shui arts!
If he did, the money would be far too easy to earn.
Yuan Fei smiled from beside us.
“Brother Ni, don’t be anxious. Since Xiao Wu has already deduced why Daling Village disappeared, he probably also knows how to enter the village underground. Am I right, Xiao Wu?”
He raised his eyebrows at me, making an exaggerated face.
I did not keep them in suspense and answered readily,
“That’s right. Uncle Yuan Fei is correct. Since I’ve already determined that the Great Sea-to-Mulberry-Fields Feng Shui Formation sank the whole village underground, I also know how to enter it. Every formation has a formation nexus. Once we find it, we can naturally get inside.”
“The formation nexus is over there!”
I pointed toward the innermost tip of the V-shaped valley.
Ni Yang rubbed his hands together and asked urgently,
“Then should we hurry over and take a look?”
We made our way forward to the end of the valley.
Sure enough, from here I could sense the aura of the feng shui formation much more strongly!
The sensation of a formation fused with a feng shui configuration was unmistakable.
This was mainly because I had studied Qimen Dunjia under Master. All formations beneath heaven originated from the profound and mysterious Qimen Dunjia.
Though I had not learned even the barest fraction of it, my perception of formations still far surpassed that of ordinary cultivators.
Once we found the formation nexus, what followed became much simpler…
Using feng shui arts as my foundation, I secretly employed some Qimen Dunjia methods to deduce how we could pass through the formation nexus and enter the deserted village underground.
I cracked it in no time!
I swept my gaze over everyone and enunciated each word,
“I know how to enter Daling Village deep underground now. We only need to wait for the right moment…”