Chapter Ninety-Three: The Swallow Looks Back

By the time Zeng Xiaofan caught up with Zhou Xiaohu and the others, the sky had cleared, and the rain-washed mountains had grown even greener, lush enough to drip with life.

Wild fruit grew among the shrubs and thickets. As he walked, Zeng Xiaofan idly plucked berries and fruits to eat, thoroughly enjoying himself.

Zhou Xiaohu and the others, however, were enjoying nothing at all. Every one of them wore a face as though they had swallowed filth, yet under Zeng Xiaofan’s pressure they had no choice but to lead the way.

Before long, the group arrived at a mountain hollow.

One look was enough for Zeng Xiaofan to know, even before Zhou Xiaohu said a word, that the tomb had to be nearby.

The lay of these hills was unusual: three mountains linked together, with two peaks standing separately to the left and right. The left one was slightly shorter, the central peak stretched the farthest, and at its tail there was even a small fork. The middle hill jutted outward a little, with a faint bend to the left.

Seen from above, the whole formation resembled a nimble swallow in flight.

In feng shui, this was a rare and excellent burial site. This kind of formation was called the Swallow Turning Its Head.

It possessed both the soaring vitality of a swallow in flight and the protective meaning of a mother swallow turning back to watch over her young.

Those buried here often left descendants gifted with wisdom and foresight. In ancient times they might rise to become scholars in the Imperial Academy; in modern times, they would more likely produce senior diplomats, scientists, and the like.

As Zeng Xiaofan studied the terrain, all the knowledge of geomancy and mystic lore kept rising in his mind, and he could not help feeling deeply moved.

He had played in this very place as a child, once coming here with his little friends to pick wild fruit.

Back then, he had known nothing. How could he possibly have recognized the hidden significance of the land?

Truly, he had been standing before a treasure mountain without knowing it. Only now, after inheriting this legacy, did he realize just how precious this blessed ground really was.

When Zhou Xiaohu and the others saw Zeng Xiaofan suddenly stop, they exchanged uneasy glances.

After a moment’s hesitation, Zhou Xiaohu still asked cautiously, “Brother Fan... did you already know about this tomb?”

“The person buried here... is he your ancestor?”

Zeng Xiaofan gave a cold snort. “Just lead the way. Why ask so much?”

“Ahem... I saw Brother Fan suddenly stop, so I thought maybe you knew the way yourself.”

At that, the corners of Zeng Xiaofan’s mouth lifted slightly. He pointed toward a dense clump of shrubs not far below them.

“The entrance is there, isn’t it?”

The moment he said it, Zhou Xiaohu and the others were struck dumb with shock.

Zhou Xiaohu had only been testing Zeng Xiaofan on a whim. He had never truly believed Zeng Xiaofan would know where the entrance was.

When they had searched for it themselves, they had brought along a feng shui master and still taken three full days to find it.

And during the development work, they had been extremely careful. There should have been no visible trace left behind at all.

Yet Zeng Xiaofan had pointed out the burial site at a glance. How could Zhou Xiaohu not be shocked?

“Brother Fan... is this really your ancestral tomb?”

“T-this... this... this is really a case of a flood washing into the Dragon King’s temple...”

His face went pale with terror in an instant. If they had really dug up someone else’s ancestors, wouldn’t they be dead for sure?

Zeng Xiaofan merely gave another cold snort and said flatly, “It’s not my ancestral tomb.”

“My ancestors...” He paused, and a faint, bitter smile appeared on his face. “Even I don’t know where my ancestors are.”

At the thought of his own background, Zeng Xiaofan could not help showing a trace of苦笑, a smile steeped in helplessness.

From childhood to adulthood, he had never seen his biological parents.

He only knew that when he was very young, his birth parents had entrusted him to the family of his grandfather, Li Zhongshi.

But his grandfather’s family had never mistreated him, and his adoptive parents had treated him as their own son, doting on him with great love.

Looking back, his childhood had actually been rather happy. It was only later that his adoptive parents vanished, then his grandfather disappeared as well...

He became an orphan all at once. Luckily, Aunt Yao, Sister Xian, and the others had helped him along the way...

Thinking of this, Zeng Xiaofan’s heart filled once more with a tangle of emotion. And as he sighed over the past, he also resolved even more firmly to repay properly those who had once helped him.

Zhou Xiaohu, however, had no idea what Zeng Xiaofan was thinking. He simply stared in disbelief.

“It’s really not your family tomb?”

“Then how did you know where the site was?”

“We searched for three days and three nights before finding it!”

Zeng Xiaofan said calmly, “I not only know where the site is, I also know that directly beneath it there is a long, triangular stone.”

“That stone runs down along the tomb and looks just like a bird’s beak.”

“Below the beak is a small hollow, and above it there used to be a well. The water was clear, and it never ran dry.”

At these words, Zhou Xiaohu and the others were so astonished their jaws nearly dropped to the ground.

“Brother Fan... how... how do you know all this?”

“Are you more familiar with this place than we are?”

“That doesn’t make sense. Before we developed it, the surrounding shrubs were so thick no one could pass through. No one should have been able to get near this place at all!”

“And the feng shui master said those shrubs were deliberately planted by the ancients according to the principles of yin and yang and the eight trigrams, to confuse people.”

“Ordinary folk would wander into the thicket and lose their way in no time, then end up circling around the tomb and walking out somewhere else...”

“Honestly, unless you were a descendant of the tomb’s owner, there’s no way you should have been able to find this place!”

Everyone was marveling inwardly, but Zeng Xiaofan gave no further explanation. He only said coldly, “Lead the way. Why so much talk?”

“Right, right! Brother Fan, come with me.” Zhou Xiaohu was still marveling as he smiled and added, “Brother Fan, you really did get most of it right. Only the stone is a little different from what you said, and the well has already dried up...”

“Hm?” Zeng Xiaofan frowned slightly at that and quickened his pace.

Sure enough, before long they reached a tombstone. Below the grave was a small, steep slope.

On the slope there really was a long, triangular stone that looked like a bird’s beak.

Only at the very top of that beak, near the part connected to the tomb, had someone deliberately hacked open a crack wide enough for a person to pass through.

The crack cut straight through the entire stone, and even the earth beneath it had been gouged into a deep trench. Inside the trench lay a mass of rotting branches and decayed leaves, giving off a foul stench.

And in the small hollow at the base of the beak, there were indeed signs that water had once collected there. But now it was nothing but a dry pit, not a single drop left.

Seeing this, Zeng Xiaofan felt a wave of regret.

“It’s finished...”

“Broken. It’s been broken...”

“This perfectly good blessed ground, this top-tier feng shui formation, has been ruined completely.”

“The swallow-beak stone has been cut through, just like a bird’s beak being broken off. No matter how powerful the bird, without its beak it can only starve to death.”

“This beak was destroyed so thoroughly. Feng shui means gathering wind and receiving water. Once the formation is broken, the well below naturally dries up as well.”

“The bird is dead, the well is dry... this tomb owner’s descendants are probably gone by now...”

Looking at the scene before him, Zeng Xiaofan could not help sighing for the tomb owner as well.

If this person had not been buried in such a feng shui treasure land back then, perhaps his descendants would not have become rich and powerful. But at the very least, he would still have descendants.

Now that the feng shui formation had been destroyed, it had become a place of extreme misfortune. The reversal of fortune had turned it into a grave that cut off the family line entirely.