Tales of Folk Feng Shui Mysteries

I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. Half of my face was so swollen it had gone numb. Damn that monk—he really didn't hold back.

Looking at him, his face was covered in scratch marks from my nails, his neck was scraped raw, and one hand was still clutching his chest, grimacing in pain as he called me a dog.

"What the hell—why are you two fighting now? What happened?" Jiang Shiyu tugged my arm and asked, "Dabao, seriously, what's going on? Master Yicheng came all the way out here because he heard you were in danger, and now you two are beating the crap out of each other?"

My right eye was too swollen to open, and my lips were puffy. I mumbled, "He hit me first… Look at my hair—he pulled half of it out!"

Yicheng was wincing in pain too. "And you're not gonna say why I hit you? That weasel demon was radiating demonic energy! You let it go! What if it comes back to wreak havoc? If killing people weren't illegal, I would've ended you myself!"

After hearing Yicheng's side, the Cui family duo exploded, and even Jiang Shiyu looked stunned.

Frankly, I was too tired to explain. All my life, I've only done what I believed was right. Like when I chose to save everyone—I thought it was the right thing to do, so I did it.

Cui Hai jabbed his finger at me and shouted, "Zhang Dabao, I really misjudged you! Back at the party, I only joked around a bit, and now look—you're trying to get me killed! If Master Yicheng hadn't warned us, I'd still think you were some kind of hero!"

"Hey, kid," old man Cui chimed in, "you really went too far this time. Sure, you saved Da Hai in the beginning, but letting that demon go? That's just not right. And you're his classmate! If you didn't want to kill the thing yourself, fine—but why stop Master Yicheng? Yesterday you wouldn't let me kill the one in the basket—must've thought we're rich and wanted to blackmail us, huh? Good thing this old man didn't listen to you, or we'd all be doomed by now!"

I was so furious my stomach started to hurt. I pointed at Cui Hai and yelled,"You've really let your conscience get eaten by a dog! If not for me, you'd have either died under the wheels or been a corpse under that bridge! Saving you was a damn waste!"

"You can't say that," Cui Hai retorted. "You were in my car, weren't you? If I had died in that ditch, wouldn't you have gone down with me? Don't act so noble like I owe you something!"

I was so mad I nearly drew my sword and challenged them right there. But Jiang Shiyu frowned and said,"Everyone shut up! Dabao meant well. You guys could tone it down a bit. Now that the weasel's escaped, what if it comes back for revenge?"

"Exactly!" Grandpa Cui dropped to his knees in front of Yicheng."Merciful Buddha! What are we going to do? Da Hai is our family's only descendant! His father got sterilized back during the one-child policy—if anything happens to him, our family line ends here! I beg you, please help us! From now on, the Cui family will stop eating meat, burn incense every 1st and 15th of the lunar month, just please, have mercy!"

Yicheng paused for a moment, then said, "There may be a way."

"Master, please, tell us!" Cui Hai dropped to his knees too.

I watched as Yicheng pointed at the corpse of the golden weasel from yesterday and instructed the Cui family to grind one of its leg bones into a small axe. Cui Hai was to carry this talisman daily, and once he had a child, the axe should be passed down to the next generation.

Yicheng didn't explain the reason, but I knew: weasels that seek revenge go after three generations. So for the Cui family, from now on, they could only have one child per generation, and the axe must be passed down without fail.

Then Yicheng turned to Cui Hai and said, "Come with me to the temple. We'll invite a guardian Vajra to place in your home. On holidays and New Year's, you must kill a chicken and throw it into the woods to feed the lingering weasels—never skip a single offering."

After repeating the instructions several times, I just sighed. Well, at least the goal was achieved. As for Cui Hai—never liked the guy anyway. Let him deal with it.

Once the hour of the Dragon (around 7 a.m.) passed, the villagers gathered to take back their dead dogs. Some children wailed uncontrollably after seeing their pets dead. In the countryside, dogs are family—loyal, protective, and deeply loved. Especially wolf-dogs like these, they were rarely, if ever, eaten.

Yicheng stayed behind to perform rites for the dead souls—human or beast, all spirits eventually reincarnate. After all, that stray dog by the road might've been a government official in its previous life—who's to say?

But in death, all souls are the same.