A Prophet - Chapter 19 (Part 2)
Chapter 2 - Schools of Feng Shui Since Ancient Times
Grandfather took a sip of tea and continued, "This art originated in the pre-Qin period and evolved during the Han dynasty. Guo Pu of the Eastern Jin dynasty wrote the Book of Burial, which is the foundational work of feng shui. Throughout every dynasty, there have been specialists engaged in feng shui research; those with good reputations even entered the imperial court to take charge of palace architecture, while ordinary feng shui practitioners blended into the countryside to serve the common people. The development of feng shui theory has roughly three stages. The first stage is the development period of the 'Form School'. The so-called 'Form School' focuses on observing 'form', such as the exterior appearance of buildings, the shapes of dragon veins presented by mountains and rivers, and the directions of river flows. Later, people gradually discovered that even for buildings with identical 'forms', if they were built in different places—for example, one in the north and one in the south—the auspicious and inauspicious outcomes would differ. Thus, the 'Qi Principle School' of feng shui came into being. Building upon the observation of 'form', it incorporated the elements of the five phases, the eight trigrams, and cardinal directions. It looked not only at the form, but more importantly at the trigram orientation of the location, which resolved the issue of identical buildings in different directions having different fortunes. For example, the north belongs to water and the south belongs to fire; if you find the exact same terrain in the north and the south to build the same house, because water is flourishing in the north and fire is flourishing in the south, the surrounding five-phase qi of the two buildings will differ, thereby creating different fortunes. Still later, people discovered that even in the exact same location, building the same structure, or even having different people live inside the very same building, would yield different auspicious or inauspicious effects. Thus, the 'Destiny Principle School' of feng shui was born. In addition to examining forms and the qi of the five phases, it places even greater emphasis on inspecting an individual's personal eight characters of birth, combining the five-phase qi of the feng shui with the five-phase qi of the human body, thereby achieving a dialectical integration of feng shui and human physiology. For instance, if a house faces north, occupies an elevated position, and is located in a place where water is flourishing, a person whose destiny lacks water will naturally be like a fish in water upon moving in, bringing great auspiciousness. Conversely, if a person who lacks fire moves in, the feng shui goes against their nature, which naturally spells great misfortune. There are numerous schools of feng shui from ancient and modern times, but categorized into broad classes, all feng shui traditions can be grouped into three major schools: Form, Qi Principle, and Destiny Principle!"
"That makes sense! That makes total sense!" Zhu Jin could not help clapping in applause.
"But does anyone know where the best feng shui is located?" Grandfather suddenly asked in return.
"Where?" everyone asked.
Grandfather pointed to his chest and said, "The best feng shui is found within the human heart. When one's state of mind is upright, everything will turn into auspiciousness and avert disaster! This is the meaning behind what I just said about feng shui being both useful and useless!"
"We would love to hear the details!" Everyone waited eagerly for Grandfather's explanation.
"I will explain this to you through a real-life example. During the Zhengde era of the Ming dynasty, there was a merchant in Anhui named Wang Shan. For three generations, his ancestors had been vegetarians who chanted Buddhist scriptures, and he himself loved doing good deeds and practicing charity. In his business dealings, he treated children and the elderly with equal honesty, and his trade flourished. The only regrettable flaw was that, nearing the age of forty, he still had no son. One day, he invited a Daoist priest to tell his fortune. After examining Wang Shan's eight characters, the priest was shocked and said, 'Although the sir's destiny chart has very flourishing wealth stars, the roots of the Day Master are unstable, and the children's palace is directly subjected to clashes. Not only does your destiny lack a son, but you are also facing a disaster of death this year. You belong to the category of people who can make money but have no life to spend it. Your destiny avoids water, so this year you must not go to do business in places near the sea or rivers.' Hearing this, Wang Shan chuckled and said, 'If my destiny dictates that I die, I cannot escape it either. I have done no evil in my life, and I have no regrets.' That year, Wang Shan went to Suzhou to collect goods just as the plum rain season was underway, with rain falling incessantly. At a ferry crossing, the river waters swelled dramatically. As Wang Shan was pondering whether to cross the river, he suddenly heard someone shouting, 'Save someone!' Looking out, he saw a woman had fallen into the water. The current was very fierce at the time, and no one was willing to go down. Wang Shan himself did not know how to swim, so he shouted aloud, 'Whoever can swim and rescue her will receive a reward of twenty taels of silver!' Hearing this, the fishermen all jumped in, and the woman was saved. Later, Wang Shan asked the woman why she had fallen in, only to discover it was an attempted suicide. It turned out that her husband was working away from home, and she had raised a pig at home to sell the previous day to pay her land rent. Unexpectedly, the silver coins turned out to be entirely counterfeit. Fearing her husband's reprimand upon his return, she gave in to a momentary impulse and jumped into the river. Wang Shan hurriedly asked how much the pig had been sold for, and presented her with double that amount of silver. When the woman returned home, she happened to run into her husband's return, so she told him about the incident. Upon hearing this, far from sympathizing with his wife, the husband fiercely cursed her for having an illicit affair with Wang Shan—otherwise, why would someone give double the silver for nothing, since no one in the world is that foolish? He then dragged his wife over to demand an explanation from Wang Shan. That evening, Wang Shan happened to be lodging at an inn not far from the riverbank. That night, torrential rain poured down and the river swelled violently—an extreme omen of bad luck in feng shui for anyone whose destiny avoids water. However, Wang Shan did not take the matter to heart at all and was sitting inside his room studying by lamplight. Hearing someone knocking on the door, Wang Shan asked who it was. The woman replied that she was the female rescued from the water earlier that day, and had come specially to express her gratitude. Wang Shan spoke in a loud voice, 'A mere trivial matter is not worth mentioning. Since it is nighttime and a woman has come here—and men and women should not touch hands when passing items—there is no need for you to enter. I accept your good intentions in my heart; you should return early.' Hearing this, the husband standing behind the woman felt the doubt in his heart instantly dissipate, and he hurriedly shouted, 'Benefactor, I am this woman's husband, and both of us husband and wife have come specially to thank you!' Hearing this, Wang Shan rushed out of the room to welcome them. The very instant he stepped out of the room, due to the excessive rain and the aging structure of the building, with a loud crash, the entire house collapsed! Because Wang Shan was wholly dedicated to doing good deeds, he unknowingly 'escaped' right out of the deadliest room! This is the principle that feng shui cannot overpower the human heart!"
"Good, good, exceptionally good." Hearing this, Hong Laohu nodded continuously. "The human heart, the human heart—the human heart is what matters most. How many people in this world exhaust all their efforts to adjust their feng shui and alter their grand fortunes, only to end up with nothing in the end, failing to realize that the best feng shui lies within the human heart."
"Furthermore, Wang Shan later fathered eleven sons, two of whom passed the imperial examinations, and Wang Shan himself lived to the age of ninety-eight, passing away peacefully without illness," Grandfather added.
Liu Congyun also nodded continuously.
Hearing this, Hong Laohu's eyes lit up. "Since we have become bandits, we cannot let our descendants remain bandits. Originally, I was still hesitating over whether to meddle in the matter of the Japanese maps, but now it seems this must be done. If there really is a dragon vein map, we must get our hands on it; we cannot let the devils ruin China's feng shui."
Liu Congyun said, "Correct! Previously, when I was in western Sichuan, I met an old monk who told me about a matter. He said that in the Taklamakan Desert of Xinjiang, there is a massive cavern which serves as the exit where the true dragon exhales its breath. Every year during the Qingming Festival, breathing sounds can be heard coming from that great cave. In earlier years, the forces of the Xinjiang warlord Sheng Shicai investigated that place, and it is said that a force of several hundred men entered and never came out again. Could this be one of the exits of the dragon-traveling tunnels mentioned in the Lianshan Yi?"
Grandfather nodded and said, "I also heard about this matter from Daoist Master Peng. Regardless of everything else, the fact that the devils have gone to such great lengths over this matter shows that it is crucial to their overall strategic deployment. As long as we get our hands on the national dragon vein map drawn by the devils, what follows will be much easier to handle."
"How do we get it?" asked Wang Jikun, known as "Hundred-Step Piercing Willow".
"One of my disciples, Fan Yifei, said that the devils have established a new special agent organization in Jinan, Shandong—the Plum Blossom Mansion. That place is responsible for gathering maps from all over the country, and all the maps from the corpse-driving teams are continuously shipped there..." Grandfather said.
Before Grandfather could finish speaking, "Walking on Grass" Yan Laoqi suddenly stood up and asked loudly, "Which Fan Yifei? The 'Ape of Henan'?"
Grandfather looked at him, wondering why he was so agitated, and then nodded. "However, he doesn't go by 'Ape of Henan' anymore. To avoid drawing attention, the brothers gave him a new nickname—'Little Shiqian'."
Yan Laoqi continued, "I heard that Fan Yifei from Henan became a traitor to the nation; everyone in our circles was deeply shocked. Did he really become a traitor?"
Grandfather chuckled and said, "He was forced into it as well. After Henan fell, Fan Yifei was captured, and the Japanese threatened that if he didn't join the 'Maintenance Association', they would slice him to pieces bit by bit. He had no choice but to work for the devils, taking charge of delivering blueprints for the Hunan-Hubei region. Not long ago, I captured him and brought him over to our side; his fundamental character is still quite good."
Yan Laoqi nodded. "Two years ago, I ran into Fan Yifei in Wuhan. At the time, neither of us knew who the other was, but the funny coincidence was that we both wanted to steal the treasure box of the madam of the exact same brothel. My informant said this madam was closely connected with the Military Statistics personnel, had been a procuress for many years, and possessed a lot of valuable goods. That night, after I sneaked into the madam's room and finally managed to open the box, I discovered it was completely empty with nothing inside. Just as I turned to leave, I saw the window curtain ripple and a dark figure fly out of the window. I immediately gave chase and found out that this fellow's martial agility was extremely fast; at a single glance, I could tell he was one of our own kind. We went back and forth across the rooftops for several rounds, and he simply couldn't shake me off. Finally, he smiled and said, 'Brother, stop chasing; let's split it fifty-fifty.' With that, he lifted a bag and poured half of the jewelry out onto the courtyard. I asked him, 'Which road is brother on?' He replied, 'Fan Yifei, the "Ape of Henan".' Having said that, he sprinted away. At that moment, the brothel's male attendants discovered someone on the roof and screamed to catch the thief, so we took to our heels and ran. As luck would have it, a Japanese military plane roared overhead and dropped several bombs. With a deafening boom, the madam, the courtesans, and the attendants all went straight to heaven, dammit!"
"Hahahahaha," Grandfather let out a laugh. "No wonder Seventh Master Yan gets so pumped up whenever Fan Yifei is mentioned."
"The kid has decent martial skills; he's timber of high quality," Yan Laoqi said.
"Mhm, the Art of War states: 'Know the enemy and know yourself, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles.' If we want to figure out what is really going on with the dragon vein map, we must infiltrate the interior of the Japanese organization; otherwise, we are simply sitting ducks waiting for death," Liu Congyun stroked his beard and said.
Grandfather nodded. "I have a plan, though I don't know if I can obtain the commander's support."
"Please speak!" Hong Laohu said.
"Now Fan Yifei has joined our ranks, but the Japanese side is completely unaware of this because the other traitors traveling with him were all killed by me. Therefore, whether Fan Yifei is dead or alive remains unknown to the devils. Why not have Fan Yifei return to the Henan-Shandong borderlands under the guise of having escaped? His lightness gongfu is superb and he runs fast, making this scenario quite credible. Let him infiltrate the interior of the Japanese secret service agency and see if he can steal the China dragon vein map?"
"Mm, that's a good plan, except..." Liu Congyun said, "Fan Yifei has only just surrendered to us, and whether he is reliable remains uncertain. What if he returns to the Japanese and is subjected to their coercion and enticements, and ends up spilling everything about our situation? Wouldn't that spell absolute disaster?"
"This is precisely the point upon which I must request the commander's instructions," Grandfather said with a smile. "If Commander Hong is willing to lend Seventh Master Yan to us for this task, there will be a sixty percent chance of success."
"How so?" Hong Laohu asked.
"Seventh Master Yan, serving as one of the commander's four great vajra commanders, is unquestionably a man of loyalty and righteousness. Sending Seventh Master Yan to accompany Fan Yifei allows him to seize the opportunity to test Fan Yifei's loyalty. If the commander will listen to my explanation, using this plan allows us to achieve two goals with a single stroke..." At this point, Grandfather lowered his voice.
Hong Laohu and the others listened closely, nodding repeatedly. "Mm, good plan."
"It's just that... it's just that we will have to trouble Seventh Master Yan to make the trip in person. The risks involved are unpredictable, and in case anything goes wrong..."
"Heh, you worry too much, sir. Yan Qi is not a man who clings to life and fears death; the crimes I've committed are enough to get my head chopped off a hundred times over," Yan Laoqi laughed.
With that, the group meticulously plotted the details further, and starting the next day, they began taking action separately...