Chapter Eighteen: The Feng Shui of Ancestral Graves

That day, I carried a bag of lychees—the very kind I loved most when I once played the role of Yang Guifei—to the temple. As we peeled the shells together, savoring the juicy sweetness, they told me about their recent work on the yin tomb.

Since Yang Yue returned from Yuan Chen’s place last time, she had begun focusing on adjusting the feng shui of both their living home and ancestral tomb. Yuan Chen had instructed them to place some earth from five directions around their home—soil taken near the bank, placed in yellow bags—to neutralize many issues in the house.

Their kitchen was located at the corner of the west gate, which symbolized “fire burning the heavenly gate.” Cooking there would harm the male head of the household over time, potentially causing heart or cerebrovascular problems. To counter this, they placed a gourd with a fire dragon atop it in the kitchen, serving as a talisman against misfortune.

The next day, he and Yang Yue went to Lishan Temple to offer incense, asking the Jade Emperor’s spirit to assist in adjusting his heart’s condition. Suddenly, his phone accidentally dialed 119, the emergency fire number. The firefighter answering asked, “Hello, this is the 119 Fire Center. What is your emergency?” Quickly, Teacher Xing apologized for the accidental call and hung up.

Interestingly, the 119 call corresponded with the kitchen’s stove feng shui adjustment the day before. Whenever such feng shui arrangements were made, something relevant would appear within days, confirming the success of the setup.

Another point was that their ancestral tomb had serious problems. If a person fell ill, there was a seventy percent chance it was due to the yin tomb’s issues.

Teacher Xing accepted incense money from Yang Yue’s father for adjusting the ancestral tomb’s feng shui. Don’t assume that because Yang Yue’s father was his father-in-law, incense money was unnecessary. Even between close relatives, clear accounts must be kept. If someone handles spiritual matters for relatives without such payments, karmic debts would fall upon the person doing the work, which is troublesome.

Thus, incense money is essential. Only after receiving it would he perform the task, wiping the karmic slate clean.

On the day Teacher Xing received the incense money, his spiritual awareness perceived that some spirits cultivating within Yang Yue’s grandparents’ ancestral tomb had received the message and were moving out.

In previous lives, some resentful spirits of Yang Yue’s grandparents had come to threaten him, demanding he stay out of the yin tomb affairs. At that moment, Teacher Xing was folding paper ingots in the temple and, without looking up, struck out with a palm imbued with spiritual power, frightening those spirits into fleeing.

Because adjusting the yin tomb feng shui required many items, online orders were often delayed, lost, or damaged, and countless invisible obstacles arose continuously.

Finally, on the day to arrange the yin tomb, in the early hours, Teacher Xing’s spirit stood before the ancestral tomb to perform the ritual. Holding a command flag, he waved it toward the sky. A grand azure dragon appeared amidst the thunder and lightning clouds—the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea, the sovereign of the four seas.

Many remember the Dragon King from Journey to the West as cowardly and henpecked, having lost the Ruyi Jingu Bang to Sun Wukong. While the Dragon King may indeed fear his wife, there’s no way he fears Sun Wukong. When Sun Wukong ascended, he had only a few hundred years of cultivation, while the Dragon King had lived millions of years, possessing power and mastery at least ten thousand times greater. With a flick of his tail, he could crush ten Sun Wukongs on the sand. The supposed theft of the Ruyi Jingu Bang was merely a ruse.

Boom! A bolt of blue lightning struck into the ancestral tomb, instantly annihilating the lingering spirits unwilling to leave.

Dark clouds wept a gentle drizzle—an auspicious sign during yin tomb arrangements, as rain symbolizes wealth; the heavier the rain, the greater the fortune.

The rain ceased shortly after, as if aware Teacher Xing would scold it. The Dragon King tucked his tail and fled without looking back, prompting Teacher Xing’s spirit to curse beneath his breath: “You stingy old eel, not even a little more rain…”

Teacher Xing awoke from bed, recalling the dream from early dawn. He glanced out the window, which still bore scattered raindrops.

Yang Yue entered from the balcony, carrying folded clothes, her brow furrowed. “There was thunder and lightning with a sudden rainstorm at dawn. Since we’re visiting the ancestral tomb today, the mountain path will surely be muddy and difficult to navigate.”

***

At the mountain, Teacher Xing discovered that despite the Dragon King’s lightning strike killing many spirits, a powerful serpent in Yang Yue’s grandfather’s tomb had only been severely wounded, not killed. Considering the difficulty of cultivation, Teacher Xing healed the serpent’s wounds and sent it to Kunlun Mountain for further practice.

He summoned a great dragon to enter the grandfather’s tomb, lifting the coffin to form a divine dragon supporting the coffin formation. At the grandmother’s tomb, he drove away giant salamanders and invited a phoenix to reside there, each of these spirits gaining an additional five hundred years of cultivation.

Though the two tombs were for a married couple, there was no path between them. Yin tombs without paths symbolize obstacles in the descendants’ journeys. Yang Yue’s brother had struggled to find good work since graduating—this was the reason why.

Teacher Xing carved out aerial and underground paths connecting the two tombs. He placed nine offerings and three cups of wine before them, lit three incense sticks symbolizing heaven, earth, and humanity, and arranged for the underworld to grant official positions to Yang Yue’s grandparents. He linked the grandfather’s tomb with Yang Yue’s brother, ensuring the grandson would be protected by the ancestral spirit, while Yang Yue connected with the grandmother’s spirit.

Just as the arrangement was complete, Yang Yue exclaimed, “Teacher Xing, look!”

Teacher Xing looked up to see a flock of magpies flying in from all directions, perching on the ground and atop the tomb. Two even fearlessly settled on Yang Yue’s shoulders, displaying remarkable affection.

Magpies bring good news, confirming the success of the yin tomb feng shui.

I spit the lychee pit into the trash and quickly shared an odd incident.

That morning, as usual, I was luxuriating in bed when a hoarse old man’s voice anxiously called beside me, “Don’t sleep, don’t sleep! The bowls in your house have been broken…”

Groggy, I opened my eyes and tilted my head, only to find no one by the bed.

Hmm, no one—must have been a dream… I turned over and closed my eyes again.

Then the voice returned, accompanied by the sound of the bed shaking: “Still sleeping? If you don’t find new bowls, your descendants will be reduced to begging…”

I forced my eyes open, yawned, and climbed out of bed, irritated at whoever was disturbing my peaceful dreams.

Looking around, no one was in the room. Leaning over to peek under the bed, I was suddenly startled by a tiny old man.

He was diminutive, wearing a wealthy gentleman’s hat and a gray robe, leaning on a cane. Seeing I had noticed him, he immediately shouted, “I am the Earth God.”

The Earth God?!

I knew of him—he’s the local deity, the protector of a particular land. Recently, I had visited Lishan Temple with Teacher Xing and others and had offered three incense sticks to the Earth God.

I looked at him, bewildered. “Earth God, what do you want with me?”

“Princess Wei Yi, do you know your ancestral tomb was once a feng shui treasure spot?” Lower realm deities always addressed me by my title. Though I was titled princess, I was actually a county princess; the proper princess was Yang Yue.

I’d heard from my aunt in childhood that years ago a passing yin-yang master had judged our ancestral tomb’s feng shui excellent and predicted a literary descendant would emerge.

The Earth God frowned when I showed no understanding. “The reason your ancestral tomb’s feng shui was so good was because it held a bowl.”

“A bowl?” That was new to me.

“Yes. That bowl was no ordinary bowl. Like a treasure basin, your ancestors had buried it along with the tomb, treating it as a simple bowl. Just yesterday, during my patrol, I discovered it had been broken, and the tomb’s spiritual energy dissipated.”

With the treasure bowl shattered, the tomb’s feng shui was destroyed. It no longer protected the ancestors but cursed the descendants to a life of begging.

The Earth God continued, “Your grandmother’s recent illness is due to the tomb’s condition.”

An ancestral tomb profoundly affects one’s health and fortune. Out of gratitude for my previous incense offerings, the Earth God had come to warn me, urging me to seek Teacher Xing, the only one who could resolve this.

Teacher Xing understood immediately but reminded me that the ancestral tomb’s matter also required incense money.

I readily agreed. Compared to generations reduced to begging, incense money was a minor matter—clearly, the priority was obvious.

Teacher Xing raised his right hand, palm upward, and a dazzling golden bowl appeared, floating in midair. This golden bowl was far more valuable than any ceramic one—I nearly drooled.

Seeing my greedy gaze, Teacher Xing sighed in disappointment, “Go—go to Xu Xiaoqian’s ancestral tomb—”

The golden bowl slowly flew out through the temple window, disappearing into the distance beyond my sight.

“I will also infuse some spiritual energy into your ancestral tomb.” A rainbow light radiated from Teacher Xing, dispersing into countless glowing spheres that flickered as they flew out the window.

After a deep breath and a moment of closing his eyes, Teacher Xing declared, “Done.”

Yang Yue, silent before, now spoke: “The bowl buried in the ancestral tomb wouldn’t break without cause. There must be an unseen force secretly sabotaging us. Clearly, our ancestral tomb is under attack by another faction.”

“Who could this faction be?” I propped my chin with one hand, instinctively glancing at Teacher Xing.

“They are those who don’t want us to control the Investiture of the Gods list,” Teacher Xing said, his eyes turning icy as he stared into the sky beyond the window.