Chapter 69: Grave Relocation 2; Mouth of the River
Translated by Shiya of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: Karai
The sky was overcast and sultry, the sun was blocked by dark clouds, and birds migrated to other peaks in the distance. No small animals could be found anywhere in the Kou ancestral tomb, there was no life, and even the animals did not want to nest there. In front of the Kou ancestral tomb, five meters away from the tomb, there is a sacred altar with a Taoist yellow banner.
A member of the Kou family came running with the flag in his banner, looking panic-stricken, “Second uncle, the banner is broken.”
The Kou seniors looked shocked, Kou Xuanling’s father swayed, and Kou Xuanling held him from behind. The young man holding the banner was Kou’s father’s nephew. Kou’s father took the banner and said, “Was it broken by something?”
The young member of the Kou family said, “I was looking after the banner, and when I turned my back to it, I heard the sound of the banner breaking. When I turned back to see, I saw the banner was indeed broken.”
In Taoism, the banner was usually placed on the altar as a magic weapon to give orders and has the function of detecting the way. If the banner breaks or suddenly falls down when the master is performing a spell, it means that the spirits indicate that it is not possible to continue and that there will be a disaster if the spell continues. For example, for big events like relocating or fixing a grave, a banner was needed to lead the way. If the banner broke or collapsed, the tomb couldn’t be relocated or repaired.
Kou’s father whispered to the other elders of the Kou family and then said to Kou Xuanling, “Let’s go up to the mountain and see the mouth of the river.”
Chen Yang and Lu Xiuzhi followed him. Lu Xiuzhi followed behind Kou Xuanling, the Kou family hardly noticed him. Even if they looked at him, they quickly moved away, as if Lu Xiuzhi was no different from the rocks and trees in the mountain. They walked up the mountain and looked at the Feng Shui of the mountain from its water entrance.
Mountain ranges were a metaphorical dragon, stretching out for miles and creeping on the surface. The earth is the mother of Qi, and Qi is like a vein. So the Qi inside of a mountain is called the dragon vein. A Dragon is yang, while water is yin. Yin and yang, female and male merged together, dragon and water makes a land of good fortune. Therefore, dragon, water and soil are inseparable, Feng Shui depends on all three.
Amongst the three, water was the most important. That is, the mouth of the river and the end of it. The so-called “Feng Shui treasure land” has a saying, “Heaven’s gate is opened, the Earth’s gate is closed.” The heaven’s gate is where the water begins to flow, it is best for it to be wide and large. While the Earth’s gate is where the water leaves, it is best to be narrow and shut. Water is the source of wealth, so the entrance is wide meaning wealthy, and the exit is closed meaning wealth is kept. If the water entrance is judged to be foul, it will bring disaster to the family and the descendants of the people buried in this place.
Chen Yang and the others climbed up to the top of the hill along a path and passed by a pool of water, which was invisible and surrounded by dense woods. But if you looked closely, you would find that the water was full of broken dead branches, almost filling the bottom of the pool, making the pool dead.
Kou’s father saw the situation and frowned deeply, “What’s going on? This pond is dead and dreary, it’s not even living water anymore? Xuanling, you go check the water quality.”
Kou Xuanling answered, and went to see the water quality. Chen Yang and Lu Xiuzhi happened to be standing very close to the pond. When Kou Xuanling found that he had to go around the bushes on the shore and tilt his body to barely reach the water, Lu Xiuzhi offered to hold his wrist to check the water quality.
Kou Xuanling agreed, so Lu Xiuzhi held his wrist and stood on the shore. Kou Xuanling had one foot on the shore, while the other carefully stepped on the stones near the water. He found that the water was very clean if you look at it from the shore. However, when you looked closer, you would find that the water was murky and the bottom of the pond was so dark that it made you feel uneasy.
Kou Xuanling’s hands dipped into the water, he could feel a sticky gooey substance in the pond. When he pulled his hand back out, he found a thin and transparent layer of stain on his hands. He glanced out with the corner of his eye and saw a long black object suddenly jump out of the water. He was shocked to hear Chen Yang shout: “Be careful.”
Chen Yang had earlier felt that there was something wrong with the water pond, so he paid extra attention to the water surface. When he saw the black snake that suddenly came out of the pond and attacked Kou Xuanling’s eyes, he warned, and quickly broke a branch to nail the black snake to a tree.
Lu Xiuzhi reacted very quickly to pull Kou Xuanling back in his arms, the black snake and the branch swooshed passed Kou Xuanling’s cheek. After Kou Xuanling returned from his shock, he thanked Chen Yang and Lu Xiuzhi and withdrew from Lu Xiuzhi’s embrace very normally, as if he was used to it.
Chen Yang glanced at Lu Xiuzhi, he found that Lu Xiuzhi changed his expression when Kou Xuanling was in danger, and he was very fast. Moreover, the so-called steel straight old Kou did not feel a hint of uneasiness when being embraced at the waist, he seemed very accustomed to the act.
Either the old Kou was too straight, and simply did not notice that something was wrong, or old Kou directly skipped the first step of a relationship and jumped to the intimate period.
Chen Yang tapped his index finger much like how his Du Shuo used to do, then retracted his gaze from Lu Xiuzhi and stared at the surface of the water. The water was still calm, as if the dangerous scene just now was only an illusion. But the calmer it was, the more dangerous it was.
Chen Yang turned back to Father Kou and said: “Mr. Kou, I suspect that there are still dirty things under the pond. Why don’t we try to use the Five Thunder Spiritual Talisman to blast them out?”
Kou’s father pondered as Kou Xuanling said to him: “Dad, the water is very dirty, it is a pool of stagnant water.” Kou’s father’s heart was slightly surprised, the pond’s upstream and downstream were connected to the water mouth, the water mouth was a live mountain spring, so the pond should be live water as well. Now it has become stagnant water, it was indeed a big problem.
Father Kou agreed to Chen Yang’s suggestion. Chen Yang walked forward a small distance and used the Five Thunder Spiritual Talisman near the entrance of the pond. A muffled booming sound exploded the pond, splashing water everywhere. Many fish were blown to the shore, turning their bellies and jumping a few times. Because the pond was blown up, there was a black iron object at the bottom of the river. Although quickly submerged back into the water, the people present have all seen the appearance of that object.
The object was a statue, it had one leg up front and the other squatting, it had a dragon head, body, and claws, it is a divine beast that guards the river. The divine beast’s body was full of corroded holes, there were many black snakes wriggling in the holes. The appearance was really horrifying, just seeing it gave them goosebumps.
Kou Xuanling: “Why is there a river guardian beast at the entrance of the pond?”
The guardian beasts are usually placed in the middle of the river that often floods, but the pond in the Bijia mountain never floods, so there is no need for the guardian. Not to mention that the statue was full of holes, inside also resided many evil black snakes.
The guardian beast originated from the Qin and Han dynasties when Li Bing used the beast to suppress the water spirit. Some of them appear as stone rhinoceroses, others as iron bulls and also the lesser-known dragon. Dragons were good at water, so they are also treated as river gods.
But burying the river gods in a pond of water that will not flood will block the flow of living water and turn the pool into a dead pond. And the statue was in such a horrible state, it must have been moved here from a very dirty place.
Chen Yang: “The River Goddess was originally buried in a place with a lot of darkness and became the nest of those evil black snakes after it was corrupted. Someone moved the river spirit to the mountain and threw it into the pond to block the living water. The pond is close to the mouth of the dragon, so blocking the pond is like blocking the mouth of the dragon, the water cannot flow down and will become stagnant water.”
When they first came up from the mountain, they saw clean and clear water, but in two days, the living water at the foot of the mountain would become stagnant. Kou’s father nodded, “It seems someone is trying to harm our family, and they chose such a vicious method.”
It’s truly vicious. The destruction of ancestral graves was harmful for three generations. The Kou family’s ancestors have been buried in the mountain for five generations. Once the Feng Shui of the ancestral grave was destroyed, not only three generations will be harmed, but it was likely that the next five generations will all suffer from misfortune. Who did the Kou family offend to incur such terrible retribution?
Kou’s father twisted his eyebrows, but for a moment he could not remember who he had an enemy with. They were Tianshis and did good for the people. They have many good deeds and virtues, but definitely have more enemies than the ordinary people, especially the big family of Tianshis that attracted much attention. To do good and be virtuous means they have to fight with evil. The Kou family has offended many evil people. It was not uncommon for people to seek revenge, it was not impossible to harm his Kou family’s five generations.
Kou’s father waved his hand: “Go up to the water’s mouth to see.”
They arrived at the mouth of the river. From the mouth of the water they forked up a dead fish. The mouth of the water was the most vital part of the mountain, there should be no dead fish there. Then a Kou family member went to explore further down, but found a group of dead fish. He reported back, making the Kou elders angrier than ever. They ordered the Kous to strictly investigate the enemy, this revenge was already unforgivable. If they find out the enemy, they shall be killed.
The group returned to the Kou family, but Chen Yang was not able to participate in their family affairs and was left in the small hall. He ran into Lu Xiuzhi outside the hall and went up to talk to him: “Waiting for Kou Xuanling?”
Lu Xiuzhi looked back, indifferent: “Yes.”
Chen Yang, “Kou Xuanling, this person is quite stubborn, he might look like he is indifferent to most things. In fact, if he decided on a thing or a person, he could persist on it for many years. He can offer sword dances everyday punctually…… I mean, Kou Xuanling is very religious and very persistent. For example, he worshiped his Zushiye every day on time, he also traveled everywhere with his Zushiye’s portrait. You should have seen the portrait with him, right?”
Lu Xiuzhi’s eyes were smiling, “I saw it, he’s very cute.”
“Hmm?” Chen Yang raised his eyebrows, a grown man calling old Kou cute?
Lu Xiuzhi said, “When I just met him, I found he is a very disciplined person. He…… is very pious. I think it’s very rare to find people who are so devoutly religious. I think he is sincere and lovable.”
The fuck? Chen Yang was sure that Lu Xiuzhi liked their branch office’s “ultimate straight man” old Kou. It was also the crazy and fanatic kind of love. How could he be sincere and lovable from old Kou’s Zushiye fetish? This was true love, absolutely true love no doubt. However, Chen Yang said, “Kou Xuanling treats you as his brother, he is straight.” Steel-like level straight.
Lu Xiuzhi laughed, “He may not have a clear understanding of his own self.”
So what did that mean? Was he saying that Kou Xuanling was gay but he didn’t know it himself? Or does Lu Xiuzhi believe he could bend Kou Xuanling easily? Before Chen Yang could begin to reply, he saw Kou Xuanling come out of the small hall. He grabbed Lu Xiuzhi’s shoulder and said, “Chen Xiao Yang, what are you and Ah Zhi talking about?”
“Ah Zhi?”
“Doesn’t it sound very close? I think it’s very intimate to call brothers by a nickname.”
Chen Yang was silent, he felt he needed to reorganize Kou Xuanling as a person. What exactly makes him think that calling someone’s first name intimately is a nickname? If no one told him, Chen Yang would have thought he was calling his wife.
Chen Yang originally wanted to mock Lu Xiuzhi for his big words and give him a warning. But before he got to say anything, Kou Xuanling sent himself to Lu Xiuzhi’s embrace, so he couldn’t say anything. Chen Yang was feeling like an old father. He was just about to send the wild old goblin coveting his silly son away, but before he could make a move, his silly son hugged the goblin and said, “Father, I found a daughter-in-law for you.”
Slightly heart-broken, Chen Yang turned to ask: “What about your family’s ancestral graves?”
“My father decided to move the grave first, then investigate.”
“That’s good. When will the graves be moved?”
Kou Xuanling said with a straight face, “Tomorrow. We hope the sooner the better, after all, my family’s ancestors are all buried in Bijia Mountain, so if we want to move the graves, it will be a big project. The longer it takes, the more time the other side will have to harm us.”
“Tomorrow…… It’s true that we are in a hurry. Have you found a new Feng Shui site?” If they are relocating, they at least need to inform their ancestors of the new address.
Kou Xuanling shook his head: “Bijia Mountain is a rare good feng shui site, if the feng shui had not been destroyed, we would not have thought of moving the grave. My father and my uncles thought that we should ask our ancestors to leave their graves first and then look for a new one.”
Chen Yang nodded: “That’s fine. If there’s anything I can do to help, just ask.”
Kou Xuanling smiled, “Thank you. “
After Chen Yang said goodbye to Kou Xuanling, he left and went to the town for a stroll. The town was full of ancient buildings, with old houses lining up, and small rivers winding through the doors of every house. Sometimes you could see a sign or two on the street with a slogan that says something to the effect of “creating and developing a quaint town” and “vigorously developing a cultural tourist destination” with its characteristics.
The town was not that big and you could walk through it in a day. The town was busy and relaxed, warm and quiet, with the sun on the hill, not falling. The orange sunset spread across half of the sky, coloring the whole town with its bright colors. Standing on the main street of the town and looking up he could see the Master’s Pen Mountain behind the town. The Master’s Pen Mountain was surrounded by mountains, beautiful and dignified, and the mountain always seemed to be dense with a beautiful layer of fog.
Suddenly a group of people rushed by, passing by Chen Yang. Chen Yang heard them say: “Quickly go to inform the Kou family, it was only a trip into the mountain and they suddenly died for no reason. They must have run into something evil. Recently, the Ghost Gate is wide open, and some powerful ghosts and fierce demons are coming out of the cracks to harm people. You go quickly to notify the Kou family, see if they can save the person back from the dead.”
One person in the crowd changed direction and headed towards the Kou family ancestral home. Chen Yang thought about it, and followed the majority of the group into a stone alley. Far away, he saw many people gathering at a family’s house. When he got closer, he found the sound of mournful cries coming from the house. Chen Yang asked the person beside him, “What happened?”
The man looked at Chen Yang and thought he was a tourist, so he was reluctant to talk. Chen Yang immediately said that he was a friend of Kou Xuanling, the man was only half convinced. An old man beside him looked at Chen Yang carefully: “I remember you, yesterday you followed the fifth Kou young master into the Kou house.”
“So you are a guest of the Kou family,” said the man, smiling politely immediately: “Someone died inside, he was a tourist. Our tourism industry is quite developed here, so every family has a vacant room to rent to tourists. This family rented a room to the tourists, the result is that the tourist suddenly died violently. The tourist’s girlfriend is now crying and accusing the family of murder, otherwise how could her boyfriend, who was not ill, die suddenly? However, I heard……” He lowered his voice and said mysteriously, “I heard that he did not listen to advice, last night he went into the mountains, maybe he saw something in the night and was killed.”
Not long after, someone from the Kou family came. That someone was Kou Xuanling. Once Kou Xuanling arrived, the crowd automatically made way. Kou Xuanling saw Chen Yang, and he walked in the house side by side with him, “I heard them saying that someone died violently?”
“I just heard that too.” Chen Yang replied, stepping through the doorway to see a man lying next to a table with the eight immortal statues. The person had an extremely painful expression, his hands clutching his neck. In the house there was also the owner who was in shock and the man’s girlfriend, who was crying and wanted to call the police.
Kou Xuanling first looked at the deceased, found that the deceased’s neck was full of his own clawing marks. Some of the wounds were very deep. There was a lot of blood and now it was clotted. Chen Yang also squatted down to check: “He has something in his throat?”
Kou Xuanling shook his head: “I don’t know. What can be in the throat that can make people die in pain?” He examined the deceased’s fingers, which were full of flesh fragments and black blood.
Chen Yang suddenly found a black thread on the skin behind the victim’s ear, and was just about to identify it when the victim’s girlfriend came up and warned them not to touch her boyfriend’s body: “You want to destroy the evidence? Until the police arrive, you are not allowed to touch the body. Otherwise, none of you can get rid of the suspicion.”
Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling looked at each other, they did not touch the body during the inspection. But since the girlfriend of the deceased said so, they really could not touch the body again. Chen Yang looked behind the ear of the deceased again and found that there were no black threads behind his ear. He frowned, could it be a mistake?
Kou Xuanling got up: “Called the police?”
The owner of the house pointed to the girlfriend of the deceased and said: “She called the police. His violent death really has nothing to do with us. We didn’t want their money nor had any obscene intentions. Why would we kill the man? We had no grudge against them, there is no reason to harm him. The fact that he was the only one who had an accident means that we didn’t put anything in the food. And then again, we clearly warned him many times not to go to Tiewei mountain. Maybe that’s where he attracted something unholy–“
“He went to Tiewei Mountain?” Kou Xuanling interrupted the owner of the house.
The owner said, “He went into the mountain. I’ve advised him many times that there are so many beautiful mountains around, but he didn’t climb those, he had to go to Tiewei Mountain. It is clear that we feel panic just standing at the foot of Tiewei Mountain. It is a very unpredictable mountain. He insisted on going, and worse yet, at night. You say it’s not an evil thing then what is?”
Chen Yang did not know Tiewei Mountain, but knew a mountain where local residents were afraid to go. After repeatedly discouraging it, simple tourists should have scruples. Even if they are adventurous and curious, they would not be alone on the mountain in the middle of the night. He asked the deceased’s girlfriend, “Why did he go up the mountain in the middle of the night?”
The deceased’s girlfriend’s eyes flashed: “He always liked adventure, especially those places that sounded very spooky. They repeatedly mentioned in front of my boyfriend that he shouldn’t go to Tiewei mountain. The more they talked about it, the more interested my boyfriend became. So, that’s why we went. But what does this have to do with my boyfriend’s death? My boyfriend died suddenly after eating the meal they prepared in front of me. Even if they didn’t mean to kill my boyfriend, they certainly had something to do with his death. You are all from this town, right? You won’t believe anything I say, you will only help your own people. I am now waiting for the police to come, I will only believe the forensic report.”
Chen Yang squinted his eyes and said, “Rather than being interested in scary places, something in the scary place attracted you, right?”
The victim’s girlfriend frowned in displeasure: “What are you talking about? I told you, I only trust the police…”
“I’m afraid that when the police come, you’ll be scared instead.” Kou Xuanling appeared from behind the victim’s girlfriend, holding their luggage in his hand. He emptied out the luggage, which contained items such as shovels, army knives, a gas mask, and a metal claw. “Grave robbing? You came to Tiewei Mountain to raid a tomb?”
The girl’s face turned ugly: “No, we are not. Having these tools doesn’t mean we are here to raid the tomb there, does it?”
Kou Xuanling looked at the deceased’s girlfriend. Her eyes were wavering, and his expression also turned grim, “Where did you learn that there is an ancient tomb in Tiewei Mountain?” She immediately refuted that she did not come here to raid the tomb, yet she had no doubts that an ancient tomb was in Tiewei Mountain. The Tiewei Mountain tomb was confidential, only some people in the Kou family knew about it. Even the people in the town did not know about it, so when they heard Kou Xuanling say this, the onlookers were surprised.
The girlfriend of the deceased looked shocked and saw that the other townspeople were also looking shocked. Suddenly, she sneered, “You guys kept the tomb a secret, didn’t you? I heard that the ancient tomb of Tiewei Mountain has mountains of gold and silver, but your Kou family covered it up. This is the Kou family that you trust and respect, they must have swallowed the treasures on Tiewei Mountain. That is why they deceived you, saying that everyone should not enter Tiewei Mountain!”
The girlfriend of the deceased had lived in the town for a few days and knew the status of the Kou family in the town. She was trying to provoke the relationship between the Kou family and the townspeople. But after she tried her best to do so, she found that the townspeople were indifferent. After a long time, they whispered and looked at the dead’s girl as if she were a fool.
“You make it sound like we’re all low IQs idiots who can be scammed with a few words.”
“That’s right, people with some intelligence can see that Tiewei Mountain is not normal. You can feel the odd aura just standing at the foot of the mountain. It is as if the mountain was half alive. Even if there was gold and silver in such a dangerous place, you have to survive to enjoy the riches.”
“Please, those are ancient tombs, for crying out loud! Have you ever watched a horror movie? Such a horrible place, only fools will go there. Might as well report it to the state, maybe we can get a reward.”
“Report to the state is the most correct means, even if you find the riches in the tomb, it does not necessarily mean you can use it. Even if you take the treasure, could you sell it? If you go through a special channel and sell the national treasure abroad, even your ancestors will feel ashamed of you.”
Chen Yang said to the girlfriend of the deceased: “Hear that? Anyway, you also reported to the police, just let the police take you away.”
The victim’s girlfriend turned blue, pursed her lips and said: “If I am arrested, you can not escape either! My boyfriend was killed by you!”
Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling ignored the deceased’s girlfriend, but waited for the police to arrive. But the police didn’t come until it was dark. “She called the police in front of us, they should not be this slow,” said the owner of the house.
Kou Xuanling took the girl’s phone and got the password, that was when he found that the police were never called. The dead girl’s lips curved up shamefully: “You killed my boyfriend and you still want to be safe? The police are useless, I will take revenge myself.”
Kou Xuanling twisted his eyebrows, temporarily did not understand the meaning of the deceased girlfriend’s words. Chen Yang gestured to Kou Xuanling to look at the body: “There is something inside the corpse.” Kou Xuanling lowered his head but he saw nothing.
Chen Yang half crouched down, his eyes narrowed, and locked straight onto the dead man’s arm. Suddenly, as fast as lightning, he pressed on the deceased’s skin, the black thread-like object was held in place.
Kou Xuanling looked numb: “What is this thing?”
Chen Yang: “I’m temporarily unclear, but it seems to be growing.” He looked at the girlfriend of the deceased, who stared fanatically at the black thread. Chen Yang suggested, “First, we should get rid of the corpse.”
Kou Xuanling: “Burn it?”
“Yes.” At this time, the black thread in the body of the deceased should not have matured yet, so the body can be burned first. Chen Yang did not care whether it would destroy the body. He thought of a possibility and was worried that the black thread might mature and find more hosts. There are still so many people in the town, they can’t gamble with the lives of so many people.
The girlfriend of the deceased whispered: “It’s too late.”
Kou Xuanling immediately had the corpse brought outside the square, they set up the branches from a lychee tree, and ignited the branches. But even after all the lychee tree branches were burned out, the body of the deceased was still intact. Some people went up to look, shrieked and fell to the ground. The rest of the people went up to see the face had changed and ran to the side to vomit.
Chen Yang and Kou Xuanling went forward and saw that the skin of the deceased was peeled back and underneath it was densely packed with black threads. These black threads seem to cover the veins and bones, gnawing the deceased into an empty shell. Only a layer of skin remained wrapped tightly around keeping the black threads inside, as if a thorn can pierce and release what is inside.
Kou Xuanling frowned, “Put this in the Kou family ancestral hall for now.”
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