Chapter 2

Chapter 2

My name is Qiao Moyu. I’m a freshman at Nanjiang University and the sole contemporary successor of the Earth Masters.

In ancient times, an Earth Master was another term for a feng shui practitioner.

As the old saying goes: “First-class Earth Masters observe the stars; second-class Wind Masters seek the water’s source; third-class practitioners wander the earth.” Most of those walking the world today are merely ordinary feng shui practitioners. Those capable of mastering the art of observing the stars and reading qi served in the Imperial Astronomical Bureau in ancient times, pledging their lives to the service of the imperial family.

My Qiao ancestors served as the Director of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau and were the hereditary leaders of the Feng Sect.

Not long ago, the distant grand-nephew of Professor Li back in his hometown of Chongqing died by hanging under mysterious circumstances. At the professor’s invitation, I came to take a look.

It was already very late by the time we arrived at Li Family Village, so we stayed at the home of the deceased’s eldest uncle.

Jiang Haoyan and I were sharing a room; I took the bed while Jiang Haoyan slept on the floor. In the middle of the night, a kid named Li Yuan snuck into our room to steal something and stepped right on Jiang Haoyan’s stomach.

I had barely grabbed him and asked a single question before he rattled off a massive explanation, stopping just short of confessing his final exam grades.

I rolled my eyes.

“Nice try, kid. You’re quite the talker-you can spin a yarn even better than I can.”

Li Yuan grew frantic.

“I’m not! Everything I said is the truth! Big Sister, please don’t tell my mom. If she finds out I was stealing, she’ll beat me to death!”

My eyes flickered as I released my grip.

“The police autopsy results said Li Zhu died on the night of the seventh. But you just said that when you went to call him for dinner on the eighth, you saw him open his eyes and tell you to run?”

“Yes! I haven’t told anyone about this. Big Sister, I swear I’m not lying.”

Li Yuan’s face was deathly pale, and he looked utterly shaken.

I watched him skeptically. Just then, I suddenly heard a noise from next door.

A faint clatter, like a chair being knocked over. I turned my head toward the west.

“Whose room is that?”

Li Yuan turned even paler.

“Next door is Li Zhu’s house. Our two houses were built right against each other.”

I glanced at Jiang Haoyan. He immediately grabbed his backpack, his expression alert.

“Let’s go. We’re checking it out.”

Jiang Haoyan and I climbed out the window. The moon was full tonight, shrouded in a halo of light. The silent mountain village seemed draped in a layer of gray shadows, possessing a sort of hazy beauty.

We crouched low, hugging the walls as we moved.

Li Family Village was poor. Up on the mountain, the houses were still the earthen structures of the seventies and eighties, coated in a layer of yellow mud and looking dilapidated.

We had only gone a few steps when Jiang Haoyan, who was in front of me, stepped into a muddy puddle.

Jiang Haoyan straightened up and glanced toward the window of Li Zhu’s house. He suddenly sucked in a sharp breath of cold air.