The deaths in the Xie Family weren’t all due to war; some died of illness, and in the Southern Border, where poisonous insects abound, some were bitten to death by insects. Some even died in bizarre ways, like choking on a peanut.

Madam Xie spoke, then felt something was amiss. She looked at Qin Liuxi and said, "Do you think the high death rate in the Xie Family is peculiar and linked to the Qi Fortune you mentioned?"

Qin Liuxi nodded and said, "The feng shui of this village was very good initially. It was built by the mountains and rivers, with Azure Dragon on the left and White Tiger on the right, balancing yin and yang. The surrounding forests must have been lush because it occupied all the geomantic advantages. If it had remained that way, the family would have prospered continuously. With the White Tiger residing in the mountains, a War God Divine Beast, no wonder the Xie Family has produced War Gods for generations in the military."

Madam Xie, hearing this, should have been pleased, but seeing Qin Liuxi’s expression, she knew there was more to it.

Sure enough, Qin Liuxi sighed and said, "But now, the green mountains have withered, the streams have dried up, and in feng shui, the White Tiger fears an open mouth. A trench was dug in the White Tiger position, forming the open mouth of the White Tiger. Additionally, willow trees have grown by the trench, and their shade invites yin energy. This combination brings about White Tiger Evil."

Madam Xie’s expression changed.

"Those willow trees look haphazard and don’t seem to be deliberately planted," Mrs. Zhou noted, observing the messy, small, and not fully grown willow trees.

Qin Liuxi calmly said, "Willows grow without intentional planting."

No deliberate planting is necessary; they can sprout just by casually sticking in the ground.

At this moment, a seventy-year-old man in cloth clothes trembled as he walked over, accompanied by a guard who had tended to affairs earlier.

The old man was the current Clan Leader of the Xie Family and wanted to kneel upon seeing Madam Xie.

"Uncle Chengnan, no need for formalities. I returned this time to bury our Wan’er," Madam Xie said with sorrow.

Clan Chief Xie had apparently heard from the guard and wiped his eyes with his sleeve, saying, "Such a good child, Miss Wan’er, entrusted to the wrong person, it’s really..."

"It’s my fault," Madam Xie said dejectedly. "No need to mention this. Uncle Chengnan, when was the trench built, and why are the willow trees planted there?"

Clan Chief Xie replied, "In recent years, the stream was clogged and inconvenient for drainage, so it was built four years ago to help irrigate the fields. As for the willow trees, they weren’t planted on purpose. While digging the trench, children played nearby, broke branches from the neighboring Willow Village, and randomly inserted them."

Mrs. Zhou: "..."

The willows grew without intentional planting indeed.

"Is there anything wrong?" Clan Chief Xie asked, sensing Madam Xie’s grim face and feeling uneasy.

Madam Xie recounted what Qin Liuxi had said about the feng shui, and Clan Chief Xie, scared to the bone, almost knelt, trembling and saying, "So, the feng shui of Xie Village has deteriorated? Is that why the Xie Family is dwindling?"

"How about the ancestral graves? Has anyone visited them?" Qin Liuxi asked.

Clan Chief Xie shook his head, "We regularly patrol and weed, and we haven’t seen any unauthorized visitors."

Qin Liuxi said nothing. It wasn’t hard to disrupt the ancestral graves unnoticed. Look at the Yu Family, a Hidden Clan existing for hundreds of years, whose ancestral graves were shifted just like that.

Shunfang, being impatient, asked, "Master, should we fill in the trench and pull out the willows?"

"Of course," Qin Liuxi calculated with his fingers and said, "Three days from now is an auspicious day. Prepare some things, and I’ll neutralize this evil."

"An auspicious day is needed?"

Qin Liuxi smiled, "Neutralizing evil forces in feng shui isn’t just filling trenches or removing trees. Doing so haphazardly could provoke White Tiger Evil, leading to deaths or injuries with sure bloodshed. Preparation is necessary to disperse the evil."

"I’m indebted to you," Madam Xie bowed slightly to her.

Clan Chief Xie, seeing Madam Xie’s courtesy toward this young lady, couldn’t help but hold her in higher regard.

They were all simple folk, yet they showed high respect to those with learning and abilities.

Clan Chief Xie led them to the ancestral home for rest.

Despite the fatigue from their journey, Madam Xie and her group felt fine because Qin Liuxi had been regulating their health all along. Not suitable to take medicinal soup, she turned them into medicine pills at the herb shops in the large cities to take along the way. Combined with acupuncture and Qi regulation, they felt stronger than before.

Especially Madam Xie, who could now see again. Though not as clearly as in her youth, she no longer needed to be blind. However, being older and carrying hidden injuries, she still looked weary despite the treatment.

Qin Liuxi had asked; the position of the Xie ancestral graves was over a mountain behind the village, located in a valley, neither too close nor too far. A Feng Shui Master had examined and chosen the terrain, the first Xie Family great-grandfather’s tomb even had mechanisms to prevent tomb robbery.

Set to visit the ancestral graves the day after, Qin Liuxi wasn’t in a rush. Some things can’t be hastened, so he prepared to return to his room for cultivation after dining.

"By the way, what’s your great-grandfather’s name?" Qin Liuxi casually asked.

Madam Xie smiled, saying, "Our great-grandfather’s name is Xie Gongming, commonly known as Mr. Xie. He was the most remarkable and loyal War God of our Xie Family."

Xie Family’s Gongming.

Xuanming sat cross-legged beside the main tomb, hands clasping a spell, engaging in daily cultivation. These days, he had thoroughly traversed the Xie Family’s burial grounds and studied the grand formation in depth, naturally discovering the Qi Fortune’s strongest source, Xie Gongming’s main tomb.

By cultivating beside it and absorbing the Qi Fortune, his cultivation improved day by day.

Yet tonight, without the moon, in the silent night sky, Xuanming couldn’t enter meditation.

A sense of ominous premonition lingered!

Xuanming frowned, refraining from forcibly meditating, and pondered silently. The familiarity of the ominous premonition reminded him of...

A figure of someone irritating emerged in his mind, his expression tensed.

Taoists calculate for others, not themselves.

However, Xuanming was so agitated by the ominous premonition that he could barely sit still once that person entered his mind.

Finally unable to endure, Xuanming took out the turtle shell, pricked his finger, and used Fingertip Blood to write his birth dates on yellow paper and burned them. With hands in mantra, he started divining.

It’s said that calculating for oneself in divination leaks Heavenly Secrets worse than reading fortunes for others, particularly one’s own, more easily bringing backlash. Using blood to depict birth dates and glimpse fate like this for personal divination is harmful, damaging cultivation.

Thus, when Xuanming divined, he leaned against Xie Gongming’s tombstone to absorb more Qi Fortune.

Entering the Divination, he slowly cleared mists of confusion, examining his fate until his face turned pale, and cold sweat soaked his back, finally seeing!

A person stood before him, showing a grin akin to Yama or an Evil Ghost, then...

Ha.

Xuanming jumped up in fright, suddenly moving, his chest burst with tearing pain, and coughed up blood.

She came, that life-reaping Rashamon came again!