91: An Auspicious Burial Ground Subdues Evil

The situation did not seem simple at all.

I drew a long breath, steadied myself, and took a careful look. Since I could not see clearly enough, I even climbed to another, higher hill to inspect it from there.

After some time, I finally understood the problem with the grave site Zhao Bayi had chosen.

All around it, the currents of wind and vitality moved along the contours of the hills, endless and self-renewing. It was unmistakably the work of a geomantic formation laid down by human hands long ago. Yet this formation was not meant to improve the fortune of the one buried within it, but to suppress something.

My grandmother had once told me that by borrowing the might of heaven and earth to suppress a sinister thing was no rare matter. After the founding of the nation, such bizarre beings had become scarce, but in earlier times, mountain spirits, uncanny creatures, and drought-demons had indeed existed, and there had been quite a few of them.

The place chosen for Zhao Bayi’s grave happened to be the very center of the entire formation. That was precisely why the flow of wind and vitality would naturally veer away when it reached that spot: something had been sealed beneath the ground there.

I looked toward Zhao Bayi’s grave and imagined how he would have felt after being buried there, and I could not help wondering whether the thing suppressed below was still alive.

If it had been utterly destroyed, why would Zhao Bayi have been so afraid?

With a heavy heart, I returned to the grave and stared at the mound, from which no trace of its true condition could be seen on the surface. I found myself in a difficult position, uncertain whether I should break the earth open and dig up what lay beneath.

The fact that such a powerful geomantic formation was required to borrow the force of heaven and earth for suppression made one thing clear enough: whatever had been sealed under the ground was no ordinary matter. It was dangerous.

Every matter called for careful thought, especially when it concerned something I did not understand. One must not act rashly. That was one of my grandmother’s warnings to me.

“Little master, what is it?” Zhao Gen asked in confusion. All along the way, he had only watched me pace back and forth and examine the site. He had probably guessed by now that I had found something.

“Did the old gentleman who chose this grave for your father have some grudge against your family?”

On the way here, I had learned that Zhao Bayi’s grave had been selected by a renowned local geomancer from thirty years ago, and that had already aroused my suspicion. Since he was renowned, he must have possessed real ability. If nothing had happened after Zhao Bayi was buried, then that would have been one thing. The problem was that trouble had appeared the very moment he was interred.

From that alone, I had to question what the geomancer’s true intention had been. By my understanding, he could not possibly have failed to notice the problem with the geomancy here. And the fact that he had placed Zhao Bayi’s grave right at the center of the formation made it clear that he had seen the surrounding arrangement and knew the sealed thing lay deep beneath this grave. Otherwise, choosing this spot would have been too much of a coincidence to believe.

If there had been no feud, then any random spot nearby would have done, and there would never have been a case of Zhao Bayi being buried, then wanting to come out in fear, then being buried again only to crawl back out once more.

“No, no feud. That old master got along quite well with my father,” Zhao Gen said, looking even more puzzled.

Got along well?

Hearing that, I was startled for a moment, then realized there might be some larger plan behind it.

Someone who got along well with the family would not openly seek to harm Zhao Bayi. The only explanation was that the old man had approached Zhao Bayi for the very purpose of choosing this grave for him.

I then asked, “Is that old gentleman still alive?”

If he was alive, then there would be a chance to go and find him.

Zhao Gen shook his head. “He vanished long ago. Not many days after he chose the grave for my father, he disappeared. My father even spent quite a bit of money trying to find where he had gone, but there was never any news. And over the years, he has always regretted it, always thinking about the time the two of them knew each other.”

At that, I became certain that this so-called old gentleman was much like Uncle Qin: a wolf in moral robes, all appearance and no substance. His purpose in befriending Zhao Bayi had been to help select this grave, so that when the man died, he could be buried in this special place.

I still remembered Zhao Bayi’s birth chart. After thinking it over carefully, I did not find anything unusual for the moment, so I did not pursue that angle further. What I could determine was that the old man’s choice of Zhao Bayi must have involved some hidden factor I had yet to uncover.

When I came back to myself and looked at the grave before me, I knew this matter was even more troublesome than I had imagined.

A dangerous thing was hidden beneath the grave. If I acted rashly, I might very well release whatever lay underground. But if I ignored it, Zhao Bayi had already been buried there once, and the invisible influence would soon begin to manifest itself upon Zhao Gen and his children.

After thinking it through, I felt the matter should either be brought to Xu Buhuo for a look, or else to that mysterious woman, to see whether it could be dug out after all, or whether the surrounding geomantic formation could be broken.

In geomancy, there is a term for an auspicious grave suppressing a sinister force.

The geomancy of Zhao Bayi’s present grave was actually excellent. It had only become unfavorable because of the influence of the formation around it, which had caused this auspicious site to lose the fortune it should have possessed.

All things under heaven and earth move according to nature.

Once the human arrangement around it was broken, the grave’s own fortune would gradually recover. If Zhao Bayi were buried within it again, then Zhao Gen’s son would either rise to great wealth or attain great rank. That was inevitable.

Thinking this through, I came up with two possible solutions. One was to determine exactly what had been sealed below, whether it still posed any danger, and if it was harmless or had already been destroyed, then to remove it and bury Zhao Bayi there again.

The other was to use a secret method to sever the connection between Zhao Bayi and this grave, then choose another good burial site for him elsewhere.

The first was the most complete solution. It would not only settle this troublesome matter, but also bring good fortune to Zhao Gen’s family. As for the second, even if a secret method were used to cut the tie, it could never be severed with absolute perfection. Some thread of connection would still remain.

In subtle ways, there would still be influence, landing on Zhao Gen or his children. How deep that influence would run could not yet be determined. The only thing certain was that it would bring a profound change to their lives.

The feng shui of an ancestral grave carries even greater weight in one’s fate than a birth chart. A person may have an excellent chart, but if the ancestral grave lies in a sinister site, or if the house stands on cursed ground, the life that follows will still be one of decline and disaster. That was precisely why the mystic arts never made any claim so absolute as to seal a person’s fate once and for all.

All things have their variables.

On the way back, I thought about having Xu Buhuo come here. But because the mysterious woman might be involved, and because there might be a risk to his life, I told Zhao Gen that once he got home, he must find the mysterious woman and shamelessly beg her to come and inspect the grave, so they could determine whether the thing below could be dealt with.

After learning the true state of the grave, Zhao Gen did not look well. Though it was hard to believe that the old gentleman, who always smiled so affably, could have been so vicious, the facts were right before his eyes.

The grave had been chosen by that very man. If there were truly no problem with it, then how could all of this have happened?

As we were on the way back to the village, I was still wondering whether the mysterious woman would be willing to help when Zhao Gen suddenly cried out, “Why is my door open?”

The courtyard gate stood wide open. When we had left earlier, Zhao Gen had locked it to keep villagers from coming into the mourning hall and causing trouble.

“Could your wife have come back?” I asked.

Zhao Gen shook his head. “No. When I sent her and the child away, I already told them that once things were resolved I would go and bring them back. They were not to return alone.”

As he spoke, he went to the doorway. Seeing the lock lying on the ground and the door forced open by violence, my heart lurched, and I rushed inside.

The room was in utter disarray.

The lid of Zhao Bayi’s coffin had long since been overturned onto the floor. The brazier, the incense burner, all of it had been knocked over as well.

I did not bother to look inside the coffin. By now, there was no need to think about it: Zhao Bayi’s body was gone.

“That damned bastard did this!” Zhao Gen roared in fury. With the door smashed open and his father’s body missing, it was obvious this had been done by human hands. His eyes turned red, and his whole body trembled.

Anger would not solve anything.

I went straight to the room where the mysterious woman had been staying, wanting to see whether she was still there. If she was, and Zhao Bayi’s corpse had still been taken away by someone, then that would be unforgivable.

The room was empty.

I turned back outside and stared at the wrecked mourning hall, my mind restless.

After the funeral meal was finished and I learned that the problem had lain with the burial ground, I had thought this matter could be handled easily enough. Even after seeing the unusual nature of the grave site on the mountain, I had still believed it would not be too difficult to resolve.

But now, in broad daylight, Zhao Bayi’s corpse had been taken away by someone, and the matter had become far more troublesome.

By instinct, I felt that the person who had taken the body was probably connected to the old fellow who had chosen Zhao Bayi’s grave in the first place. Otherwise, it was impossible to explain why Zhao Bayi’s body would have been taken.

“Zhao Gen, this is bad.”

From outside the courtyard came an anxious cry. Just as we were reaching the entrance to the main room, a woman rushed in, her face full of panic.