CHAPTER 91: THE FENG SHUI MASTER

Bai Hongtu paused for a moment, thinking that it made sense. Earlier, they had only made a move at Lady Zhou’s house, and it had immediately drawn the attention of the entire village. But when they acted in the ancestral hall, there had been no reaction at all.

“You’re quite observant,” Bai Hongtu remarked.

The two of them stepped into the ancestral hall, where densely packed spirit tablets of the Lin family ancestors were enshrined.

As they searched the hall for anything out of the ordinary, an elderly man with snow-white hair appeared, leaning on a cane.

“Are you two outsiders? The Lin family ancestral hall is not open to strangers.”

The old man held up an oil lamp, its dim yellow glow casting shifting shadows across his face, making his expression hard to read as it flickered between light and darkness. The front gate’s already been smashed to pieces, and he’s still repeating the exact same words.

Li Yanchu smiled. “Old Sir, we’ll be leaving right away. But before we go, I have one question.”

The old man rasped, “What question?”

“Are you truly a family elder of the Lin family, or are you the feng shui master who arrived in Longmen Village a year ago?” Li Yanchu’s gaze was sharp as a saber, locked onto the old man’s face.

Hearing this, Bai Hongtu gave Li Yanchu a surprised look.

At first, the old man’s face showed confusion, but then it twisted into immense pain. Though Li Yanchu’s words didn’t carry the power of Daoist incantations or spells, to this man, they struck like a thunderclap to the head.

“Who am I... Who am I...?”

This time, he didn’t transform into that previous state filled with menacing qi. Instead, he suddenly clutched his own hair in agony. On his face flickered a chaotic mix of emotions: fierceness, gentleness, serenity, madness, distortion...

Li Yanchu watched the white-haired man intently, his expression unreadable. When the old man finally straightened up again, his face bore an expression like he had just awakened from a long-forgotten dream.

“I remember now... My surname is Fang. I came to this village a year ago.”

Li Yanchu fixed his gaze on him. “What exactly happened in this village a year ago?”

The old man Fang showed a trace of sorrow in his eyes and slowly said, “I specialize in feng shui, both for the living and the dead. A year ago, I came to Longmen Village and discovered that the village’s feng shui had been altered. It had been changed from a prosperous family layout into a dreadfully ominous setup destined to wipe out the village and its bloodline.

“It turned out that another feng shui master had arrived before me, claiming he could bring wealth and fortune to the villagers. There's a rule in our trade: never casually undo the work of another practitioner. Doing so easily breeds enmity.

“But people in Longmen Village kept dying. One after another. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I decided to break the formation that was gathering malevolent qi and nourishing yin.

“But that feng shui master who came before me... his methods were far more advanced than mine. I not only failed to break the formation, I ended up suffering its backlash. Still, I managed to lay down a formation at the cost of my own life force. It did have some effect, and it slowed down the rate at which this village descended into ruin.

“I don’t remember anything after that. I’ve just been trapped here in this ancestral hall ever since.”

After hearing the old man Fang’s account, Li Yanchu and Bai Hongtu both fell into a heavy silence. They didn’t expect there to be another feng shui master!

Li Yanchu had originally thought that the strange old man in the ancestral hall was the very feng shui master who had once laid down the ominous formation in Longmen Village. He assumed that because of the village’s strange nature, the feng shui master had failed in his attempt and had ended up with his soul trapped inside the ancestral hall.

But now, it seemed that things weren’t quite so simple.

“Is there anything unusual about this ancestral hall?” Li Yanchu asked.

The old man surnamed Fang pondered for a moment before saying, “When I first arrived in Longmen Village, this ancestral hall didn’t only enshrine the spirit tablets of the ancestors, there was also a portrait of a woman.”

“A woman’s portrait?” Li Yanchu frowned. What was a portrait doing in an ancestral hall?

“Where is that painting now?” Li Yanchu asked.

The old man pointed to the area where the Lin family’s ancestral tablets were placed. “It used to be right there. But now it’s gone.”

Li Yanchu raised his eyebrows. Could it be that the portrait had been taken away by that previous feng shui master? Was the strange barrier that now enveloped Longmen Village somehow tied to that portrait?

“What did the woman in the painting look like?” Bai Hongtu suddenly asked.

“She was a woman dressed in white,” the old man said. “I can’t describe her exact appearance, but she had a presence that left a deep impression. Once you saw her, you’d never forget her.”

“Why would the Lin family enshrine a woman’s portrait in their ancestral hall?” Li Yanchu asked.

“I asked them the same thing,” the old man replied. “But no one in Longmen Village seemed to know. They only said the painting had been passed down from their ancestors.”

Li Yanchu briefly explained to the old man the strange happenings currently taking place in Longmen Village. He also sought the old man’s opinion. After all, each field has its own experts, and Li Yanchu only had a superficial understanding of feng shui.

The old man fell into thought for a while before saying, “A formation based on ordinary feng shui alone could never cause something like this. A typical ominous site wouldn't trap people in a loop, either.

“But this young man is correct, if you want to unravel the mystery of Longmen Village, the ancestral hall is indeed the place to start. Unfortunately, my skills are limited. I couldn’t break the formation that feng shui master set.”

“You believe the changes in Longmen Village began with the ancestral hall?” Li Yanchu asked.

The old man nodded. “That’s right. The previous feng shui master did something here, he made his move inside this ancestral hall.”

Li Yanchu nodded slightly. Their views aligned perfectly.

“Well, that makes things simple. I’ll just tear down this damn ancestral hall. Who cares about feng shui or whatever formation it has.”

The old man surnamed Fang’s expression changed drastically. “You mustn’t! If the ancestral hall is disturbed, ghosts will roam the night. The entire population of Longmen Village will swarm over!”

Li Yanchu gave a small smile. “If I wasn’t worried that killing the villagers would trigger the loop again, I wouldn’t have left this place earlier either.”

Hearing his words, Bai Hongtu nodded. “Exactly. I’ve had enough of this filthy, festering village. Let’s tear down this ancestral hall and get out of here.”

The old man’s face twitched. Were all young people these days this fearless?

Just then, Li Yanchu grinned at Bai Hongtu. “I’ll tear the place down, and you set it on fire.”

Bai Hongtu chuckled. “Got it!”

Boom!

With a swift movement, Li Yanchu launched himself forward like a rampaging bear, slamming straight into one of the main support pillars of the ancestral hall. The pillar collapsed instantly!

The old man surnamed Fang stared in shock. This young man seemed calm and unassuming, yet once he acted, the force he unleashed was terrifying!

Meanwhile, Bai Hongtu formed hand seals and sent talismanic incantations flying out in all directions.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Flames quickly erupted inside the ancestral hall!

Soon after, Li Yanchu and Bai Hongtu stepped outside.

Boom! Li Yanchu drew the Jiaoslayer, and saber light shot forth one after another. The Lin family ancestral hall was soon left in ruins, its walls shattered and broken.

Seeing this, the look of horror on the old man Fang’s face only deepened. As the ancestral hall burned fiercely, the roaring sounds spread throughout all of Longmen Village.

One after another, shadowy figures began to appear outside the Lin ancestral hall.