In the car, Gu Changqing thanked Qi Yuqiu once again and presented him with a prepared token of gratitude—a small jade gourd engraved with a Bagua Diagram, which he had recently acquired at an auction.
Qi Yuqiu took the jade gourd and immediately took a liking to it. This gourd was not merely a decorative item; its surface was carved with the Bagua, and its interior was engraved with numerous Taoist scriptures. It was a Fa Qi that had been used by someone deeply versed in Taoist practices.
“Mr. Gu, I accept this gift. I will resolve your matter for you.”
Gu Changqing was taken aback. Had his father contacted Qi Yuqiu in advance?
Seeing his reaction, Qi Yuqiu smiled and said, “Your nose bridge is prominent, and your Five Peaks are full—signs of an upright and kind-hearted person who should experience smooth sailing in all matters. However, horizontal lines have now appeared at your Mountain Root, indicating recent setbacks in your career and unavoidable financial losses, though they may avert greater disasters.”
“Moreover, your glabella is dull and dark. You and your immediate family members are likely to face a Bloodshed disaster in the near future.”
Recalling yesterday’s incident, Gu Changqing’s heart skipped a beat. If not for that talisman, he would probably be lying in a hospital bed by now.
Money was an external possession—losing it was one thing, but his family absolutely could not come to harm!
“Mr. Qi, I leave this matter in your hands!”
Half an hour later, the car drove into the Gu family’s ancestral home. As soon as Qi Yuqiu stepped out of the car, a child crouching by the entrance shot into his arms like a cannonball.
“Brother!” Xiao Xi looked up with sparkling eyes, smiling sweetly.
Qi Yuqiu bent down to pick him up, grinning as he said, “I told you we’d meet again soon.”
Xiao Xi planted a loud kiss on his cheek and nestled happily in his arms, making his biological father, Gu Changqing, feel a pang of jealousy.
“Xiao Xi, go play with Grandpa, okay? Brother will come find you after he finishes his work.” Gu Changqing waved, signaling the Auntie to take Xiao Xi away.
Xiao Xi clung tightly to Qi Yuqiu and refused to let go. It was only after Qi Yuqiu promised once again to come play with him after finishing his tasks that he finally relented.
Gu Ren watched the scene with a hearty laugh and said, “Young man, Xiao Xi really has a connection with you. Look, he ignores his own father and just clings to you.”
Qi Yuqiu playfully kissed Xiao Xi’s chubby little hand and chuckled, “Maybe it’s because I’m good-looking?”
Even the stressed-out Gu Changqing couldn’t help but laugh.
After Gu Ren carried the child inside, Qi Yuqiu surveyed the Gu family’s courtyard and said, “Your family has been virtuous for generations, accumulating blessings for your descendants. This incident is not a natural disaster but entirely a man-made calamity.”
“A man-made calamity?” Gu Changqing gritted his teeth. He had always avoided making enemies. Although conflicts occasionally arose in business, he had always acted openly and honestly, never resorting to underhanded tactics. Who could have possibly targeted him with such malice?
Qi Yuqiu nodded, walked around the front garden, and then followed a side path into the back garden. The back garden had a door leading directly to a small hill behind the courtyard. From the top of the hill, one could overlook almost the entire area.
The location of the Gu family’s ancestral home was exceptionally favorable. When this villa area was first developed, a Feng Shui master must have been consulted. A clear stream flowed from Dragon Spring Mountain in the east, winding like a dragon from east to west through the entire area. The Gu family’s residence was situated precisely at the Dragon head.
Although this small dragon vein was quite weak, it was more than sufficient to bless the people living around it. The Gu family’s ancestral home, occupying the Dragon head, held about thirty percent of the entire dragon vein’s fortune. With the ancestral fortune and the dragon vein complementing each other, it was nearly impossible for them not to prosper.
However, the newly formed dragon vein was about to die. Standing at the Dragon Head, Qi Yuqiu sensed a decaying aura on the brink of death, mixed with the resentment and unwillingness of betrayal.
The Gu family, located at the Dragon Head, naturally bore the brunt of the dragon vein’s wrath. If not for the protection of their ancestors, Gu Changqing’s family would have long been ruined.
Qi Yuqiu’s expression darkened. Once such a spiritual entity of heaven and earth perished unnaturally, the immense Resentful Energy would swiftly claim all living beings in the vicinity.
By then, whether human or animal, they would line up to commit suicide, mourning the passing of this dragon vein.
To target Gu Changqing, they were willing to sacrifice so many lives—truly despicable!
“Mr. Qi, have you discovered something?” Seeing his grim expression, Gu Changqing felt a pang of unease and stepped forward to ask.
Qi Yuqiu nodded. “Aside from your family, have any other households in the area encountered incidents?”
Gu Changqing thought for a moment. “Most of the residents here are elderly. Two weeks ago, Old Zhou’s father passed away. But the old gentleman was over eighty, so it could be considered a peaceful passing.”
Qi Yuqiu frowned. “After the Zhou family’s elder passed, did anything unusual happen in their household?”
Gu Changqing shook his head. “I haven’t heard of anything happening at Old Zhou’s place.”
The Resentful Energy had already spread throughout the villa area along with the dragon vein. When an elder passed away under such circumstances, they should have been affected by the dragon’s resentment. This didn’t add up.
“Take me to see.”
The Zhou family’s gate was tightly shut. Gu Changqing rang the doorbell, but no one answered. He took out his phone to call Old Zhou, but Qi Yuqiu stopped him. “Don’t bother. They probably no longer live here.”
What Gu Changqing couldn’t see, Qi Yuqiu saw clearly: a dark mass trapped in the pond under a stone qilin, emitting faint, inaudible cries of anguish.
This was likely Old Zhou, who had passed away two weeks prior. Normally, dying in a place tainted by dragon resentment would inevitably affect the family. Yet now, the elder was suppressed here, not only sparing his family from harm but also shielding the Zhou family from calamity once the dragon vein completely vanished.
It was a perfect two-for-one solution.
“Was Old Zhou’s passing truly peaceful?” Qi Yuqiu sneered. What a coincidence.
Gu Changqing was no fool. Sensing the odd tone in Qi Yuqiu’s voice, he asked gravely, “Is it related to Old Zhou?”
He had known Old Zhou for over a decade. When Old Zhou started from scratch, Gu Changqing recognized his capabilities and lent him a hand. For Old Zhou to achieve his current success, even if it wasn’t entirely Gu Changqing’s doing, there was at least a bond of friendship between them.
Gu Changqing found it hard to believe that Old Zhou, who had always expressed gratitude, could commit such a malicious act.
“Whether it’s related to him, we’ll know tomorrow.” Qi Yuqiu took out a talisman, folded it several times, and tossed it into the courtyard. “Don’t worry. If it really is him, he won’t escape.”
Despite the distance of several meters, the lightweight talisman landed precisely on the stone qilin and ignited upon contact. As the talisman burned away, the qilin’s eyes exploded instantly.
Watching Qi Yuqiu effortlessly shatter the stone qilin with such ease, Gu Changqing’s gaze toward him grew even more reverent.
Qi Yuqiu watched the human-shaped black qi drift out the gate, then cast another talisman at it. Seeing it bow in his direction, he smiled with satisfaction and said, “Go settle your grievances. Remember to follow the path you should take before the sun rises tomorrow.”
Gu Changqing watched Qi Yuqiu speaking to thin air and shivered.
Seeing this, Qi Yuqiu comforted him, “Don’t be afraid. You are filled with righteous energy—even if something were following you every day, you wouldn’t be able to see it.”
Gu Changqing hadn’t been particularly scared before, but after Qi Yuqiu’s words, he suddenly felt the temperature around him drop instantly.
Qi Yuqiu and Gu Changqing retraced their steps back to the Gu residence. Once there, Qi Yuqiu instructed Gu Changqing to escort the old master and Xiao Xi out and prepare some items.
The dragon head of the dragon vein was located within the Gu property, so the thing that had killed the dragon vein was naturally nearby as well. Qi Yuqiu carved the jade stones Gu Changqing had purchased into small pillars, each about a foot long. On these pillars, he engraved the eight trigram runes—Qian, Kan, Gen, Zhen, Xun, Li, Kun, and Dui—and then placed them around the dragon head’s location in their corresponding positions.
Once the pillars were set up, he wound an ink line around them, enclosing the entire area. Pointing to the center, he said, “Start digging.”
Gu Changqing immediately grabbed a shovel and began digging. After half an hour, at a depth of over a meter, half a piece of wood was revealed at the bottom of the pit.
Seeing the wood, Qi Yuqiu told Gu Changqing to climb out, then jumped down himself. First, he pasted eight exorcism talismans onto the wood, then forcefully drove a newly carved jade wedge into it.
With each fraction the jade wedge was driven in, a swirling wind blew past. By the time it was fully embedded, a fierce gale swept through the area, accompanied by faint roars. Gu Changqing was blown off balance and could only cling tightly to a nearby tree.
“Mr. Qi, what is this thing?”
Qi Yuqiu looked at the faint black and red patterns on the exposed half of the wood and said, “This is what nailed the dragon vein to death.”
This piece of wood had been soaked in blood for eighty-one days. The blood had to be changed daily, each time from a different source, and required tormenting a living creature until its last breath, then extracting the blood while it was still conscious and alive.
After soaking, the wooden nail was buried in the filthiest, most sinister locations for forty-nine days, ultimately becoming the bane of all natural spiritual beings.
Most crucially, the final step in crafting this object involved the creator using their own blood to inscribe the runes onto it.
Qi Yuqiu sneered as he gently scraped the residual powder from the patterns with a small knife, stuffed it into the chest of a folded paper figure, bit his ring finger, and touched the paper figure’s forehead. The small paper figure immediately stood up.
Seeing this, Gu Changqing’s hair stood on end. Forcing his expression to remain steady, he quietly moved behind Qi Yuqiu.
Leaving the paper figure nailed to the ground for the moment, Qi Yuqiu jumped back into the pit. The birth of every dragon vein was the result of countless coincidences and thousands of years of accumulation. This dragon vein had not yet completely vanished, and he wanted to see if he could still save it.
Taking out the ancient dragon-shaped jade Gu Changqing had purchased at great expense, Qi Yuqiu used ink mixed with gold dust to draw an array on the ground, placing the ancient jade in the center.
The scattered fortune energy from the entire dragon vein gradually gathered at the dragon head, converging into a mass that surged into the array, ultimately transforming into a golden dragon no larger than a palm.
The little dragon, its form nearly dissipated, weakly brushed against Qi Yuqiu’s cheek before disappearing into the ancient jade, falling into a deep slumber.
Qi Yuqiu put away the ancient jade and sighed. He had done all he could. This dragon vein was completely ruined, and he could only hope that the dragon spirit would not dissipate and could give rise to a new dragon vein someday.
Gu Changqing stared eagerly at the ancient jade in Qi Yuqiu’s hand and said, “Can I touch it?”
Chinese people have a special affection for dragons. Although he was already over forty, witnessing the little dragon appear with his own eyes had excited him so much that he nearly jumped for joy, completely forgetting about the little paper figure beneath his feet that had almost scared him into sitting down.
Qi Yuqiu placed the jade in his hand. “The dragon spirit has fallen into a deep sleep, and it’s uncertain when it will awaken.”
Gu Changqing carefully cradled the ancient jade, his heart racing and his face flushing red. What he held in his hands was a dragon!
Qi Yuqiu walked over to the little paper figure, pulled out the nail pinned into its body, picked up a brush, and began meticulously drawing a soul-summoning talisman on its head and limbs.
As his brush moved, the crooked facial features drawn on the little figure gradually shifted to their correct positions. The eyes, dotted with cinnabar ink, rolled once, making the entire little paper figure appear even more lifelike.
Feeling emboldened by the “divine dragon” protecting him, Gu Changqing cautiously stood behind Qi Yuqiu. Witnessing this scene, he was nearly scared out of his wits. “It—its eyeballs moved!”
As soon as he spoke, the little paper figure became even more animated, baring its teeth and struggling fiercely. Qi Yuqiu pressed his cinnabar brush onto its forehead, and the yellow talisman paper began to smoke as if scorched by fire, while the little paper figure let out a piercing, agonized scream.