The clump of bird droppings on his head, mixed with dirt, was still stuck there firmly. It was a ridiculously comical sight.
"Uncle, I'll go get the car, you just wait—"
Before the disciple could finish, ng Kezhong waved his hand. "It's nothing, just a minor scrape."
After saying that, ng Kezhong shuddered with fear in hindsight, clearly recalling the thorn that had nearly cost him his life just monts before.
"That was a close call... it nearly cost my life. Much too close..."
As ng Kezhong patted his chest, he seed to rember sothing and abruptly turned his head. He saw the faint smile on Xia Liang's face. At the sa ti, the other ng Family disciples also seed to have a collective realization, their gazes fixed on Xia Liang in utter astonishnt.
The air seed to freeze, and the silence was almost frightening.
"Three predictions, and not a single one was wrong!" soone in the crowd suddenly exclaid.
Everyone nodded in deep agreent.
ng Kezhong's expression was conflicted. After a long mont, a sound cut through the air.
SLAP!
The sound was exceptionally crisp, sending a few drops of blood flying.
"Brother, you... don't do this..." ng Kexi stamred, his flabby body trembling with fear as he rushed to dissuade ng Kezhong.
ng Kezhong looked at him, his face a mask of shock at his own past folly.
"Stay out of this!" he snapped, roughly pushing ng Kexi aside. He then slapped himself ten tis in a row. The sounds were loud and distinctly crisp.
When he finished, ng Kezhong glanced indifferently at ng Kexi. "Do you think I did that for you?"
With that, ng Kezhong walked over to Xia Liang and bowed deeply.
"Master Xia Tian, I, ng Kezhong, have navigated the business world for decades, but today I failed to recognize true greatness. Thank you for this wager. You've allowed to use these ten slaps to wake myself up!"
After speaking, he bowed even lower, the respect on his face growing more intense.
"You can be taught," Xia Liang nodded. "Now, about this feng shui matter, what do you, as the eldest brother of the Old ng Family, propose?"
ng Kezhong replied respectfully, "I will follow the Heavenly Master's guidance in everything."
Xia Liang glanced around at the ng Family disciples and, after a mont, spoke leisurely. "Gentlen, I'm sure I don't need to elaborate. The n of your Old ng Family have been having a hard ti recently. Either their careers are struggling, or they've been unlucky in love. It seems like nothing is going right. Am I wrong?"
Hearing this, they all pondered for a mont before nodding in agreent. Previously, they had all thought Xia Liang was a con man and hadn't considered this possibility. But now that Xia Liang had pointed it out, they started connecting the dots.
It seed... that's exactly what was happening!
"I'll be blunt. The problem is with the feng shui of your ancestral tomb. I'm going to examine it now, but I must warn you, this process might disturb your ancestors." Having said this, Xia Liang's gaze swept over the crowd. "If anyone disagrees, step forward now!"
The ng Family disciples looked at each other and shook their heads in unison. Who would dare to disagree at this point?
"Since there is no opposition, let's enter the tomb!"
ng Kexi supported ng Kezhong as they cautiously made their way up the back hill. After lighting incense and candles, the gate to the ng Family's ancestral cetery was opened, and Xia Liang led the two brothers inside.
"Hmm?"
The mont he stepped into the ng Family cetery, Xia Liang's expression changed.
"This place is no longer usable. Prepare to move the graves," Xia Liang declared after just a single glance.
The Eye of the Heavenly Dao had integrated Gold Grave Selection. He had been observing the cetery for a while now. The blue aura above it had faded several shades and was clearly turning green.
Upon hearing that the graves needed to be moved, all the ng Family disciples panicked. After all, the Old ng Family had always been large and prosperous, with more than a hundred ancestors resting here. Moving the graves again would be a massive undertaking, impossible to complete in just a day or two.
ng Kezhong was filled with trepidation. "Master Xia Tian, is there really no way to fix this?"
"There is," Xia Liang confird. "However, the site has been too severely damaged. Even if we repair it, the feng shui will never be as good as it once was. At most, your ng Family will lose its fortune and return to being common folk within two generations."
As Xia Liang spoke, he noticed a flicker of skepticism on ng Kezhong's face.
With a small laugh, Xia Liang asked, "What? You don't believe ?"
"That is..." ng Kezhong said awkwardly. "Of course, I believe you. How could I dare doubt your divine abilities, Master Xia Tian?"
Truth be told, ng Kezhong still had his doubts. Two generations was at least forty years from now. Xia Liang might be incredibly skilled, but if he could predict sothing forty years into the future... that would make him more than human!
Xia Liang, of course, knew what he was thinking but didn't bother to call him out on it. Instead, he andered around the various grave mounds on his own.
Then, he turned to ng Kexi and said, "If I'm not mistaken, that Taoist Priest Chen must have set up the Golden Brick Paving Sche for you, correct?"
ng Kexi's eyes lit up. "Yes! Taoist Priest Chen said that paving the road with golden bricks would guarantee wealth and prosperity."
ng Kezhong was puzzled. "Golden bricks? Where are the golden bricks?"
Xia Liang pointed to a brick on the ground, which was two sizes larger than a standard red one. The entire brick was a pale green color and was obviously quite old, its surface worn to a subtle sheen.
"These golden bricks aren't made of actual gold, as you might imagine. They are also known as Capital Bricks. In ancient tis, only places where emperors resided were paved with them. This is because the bricks are perfectly ford, with a fine, dense texture and a pure greenish-blue color. When struck, they ring with a tallic sound, hence the na 'golden brick'."
Xia Liang continued to explain, "By the ti of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the art of making these bricks was officially lost. Today, a single original golden brick is worth at least one-tenth of a currency unit."
"One-tenth of a currency unit?" ng Kezhong gasped.
He shot a complex look at ng Kexi. To think that Kexi had secretly paid so much for our ancestors!
However, Xia Liang waved his hand dismissively. "Of course, the golden bricks in your family cetery aren't the kind I was just describing. You couldn't buy one of those original bricks today, even if you had the money. The bricks paved here were replicas made after the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The crafting thod was different from the original, but that doesn't affect their purpose. Even the thod for making these replicas has now been lost. However, many still exist, so they are much cheaper than the old golden bricks that cost one-tenth of a currency unit apiece."
ng Kezhong's astonishnt subsided upon hearing this, but he only grew more confused. "Master Xia Tian, if what you're saying is true, then there shouldn't be a problem with the feng shui!"
ng Kexi chid in. "That's right! So why is it..."
"Heh. No problem?" Xia Liang had anticipated their reactions. "ng Kezhong, how was your fortune six months ago?"
ng Kezhong pondered for a mont. "Honestly, it was excellent. I even closed a few big deals that, to my surprise, succeeded for no clear reason."
"And this year?" Xia Liang asked again.
ng Kezhong's expression darkened. "This year has been terrible. I've suffered inexplicable losses, and negotiations with clients constantly fall through. I've even fired several employees over it, but the problem persists."
Beside them, ng Kexi sighed heavily. "It's the sa with the scenic area. For so reason, visitor traffic dropped by at least twenty percent this year. I invested in so thrilling new amusent rides, which boosted numbers for a while, but then an accident occurred. We had to shut down for an overhaul, and our losses far exceeded any profit."
Though the brothers were in different businesses, their experiences were uncannily similar: their losses had only begun recently.
Xia Liang thought for a mont and then said, "Paving the road with golden bricks is ant to retain wealth, which is the prerequisite for a prosperous career. However, the spring on your estate connects directly to the ancestral graves on the back mountain. Water symbolizes wealth. How can you possibly retain wealth when it's flowing away like that?"
Xia Mingjie, who had been held to the side this whole ti, shuddered violently upon hearing Xia Liang's words.
He beca frantic. "I had no idea the consequences would be this severe! If I'd known, I never would have dared to do it!"
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