Feng Shui magic

At just fifteen years old, Li Tiancheng (later Li Chengfeng's grandfather) worked as a stablehand for the Chen family. His job tending horses led him to Li Jinshan, the blind and disgraced former Imperial Feng Shui master, who had been imprisoned in the stables for years. Over time, the two formed an unlikely bond. Li Tiancheng, moved by Li Jinshan's tragic tale of betrayal, began smuggling him food and sharing stories of Chen Tinghai's cruelty.

**A Bond Forged in Darkness**

Li Jinshan, once the Qing dynasty's revered geomancer, had been reduced to a skeletal figure, his eyes milky white. Yet his mind remained sharp. He taught Li Tiancheng the forbidden arts of Qimen Dunjia and Feng Shui, recognizing the boy's courage and moral compass. Years passed, and Li Tiancheng learned of Chen Tinghai's true nature—a tyrant who extorted villagers, seized land, and left trails of bodies.

"Master," Li Tiancheng seethed one night, "Chen's sons now command Nationalist armies. His influence spreads like poison. We must act."

Li Jinshan's lips curled into a grim smile. "To break his power, we must destroy the *Lotus Pod Embracing Sons Formation*—the Feng Shui layout I foolishly gifted him decades ago."

**The Ritual**

On the night of the full moon, Li Tiancheng crept to the Chen ancestral graves—a cluster of seven hills shaped like a lotus pod. As instructed, he hid behind the patriarch's tomb. Hours dragged. Just as doubt crept in, moonlight bathed the grave in an eerie glow.

A **golden lotus pod** sprouted from the earth. Seven thumb-sized children tumbled out, growing to human size as they hit the ground. "Grandpa! Grandma! Play with us!" they chorused, their voices echoing unnaturally.

The ground trembled. Two spectral figures in Qing-era silk robes emerged—Chen's ancestors, their faces waxen, eyes hollow.

*Just as Master described,* Li Tiancheng thought, heart pounding.

As the ghosts played with their "grandchildren," he lunged. His hands closed around the lotus root beneath the pod—a glowing tendril pulsating with dark energy. With a savage yank—

**CRACK!**

The hills groaned. The ghosts' faces contorted into monstrous snarls. "**THIEF! YOU STEAL OUR LEGACY!**"

**Flight from the Unholy**

Li Tiancheng fled, the undead horde screeching behind him. Against Li Jinshan's warning, he glanced back—**a fatal mistake**. The ancestors' jaws unhinged, revealing rows of needle-like teeth. Their forms elongated into serpentine shadows, clawing at his heels.

He escaped only at the valley's edge, collapsing in Li Jinshan's stable with the severed root.

"You fool!" Li Jinshan cackled, though pride tinged his voice. "But it's done. The Chens' fate is sealed."

**The Fall of a Dynasty**

Within days:

- Chen's eldest son died when his armored car "malfunctioned," plunging into a ravine.

- Two others vanished during a river patrol, their bodies found bloated and eyeless.

- Warehouses of ill-gotten grain burned to ash under a moonless sky.

By month's end, the once-mighty Chen clan lay in ruins. Chen Tinghai himself was found frozen to death on his parents' grave, fingers clawed bloody from trying to dig up the cursed lotus pod.

**Legacy of Vengeance**

That night, Li Tiancheng carried his blind master into the wilderness. As they passed the smoldering Chen estate, Li Jinshan whispered: "Remember, boy—Feng Shui nurtures and destroys. We are but tools of balance."

The lotus root in Li Tiancheng's pack pulsed faintly, its glow dimming... but not extinct.

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