The King of Feng Shui

The moment I heard the noise, I became instantly alert.

Gripping the Tianpeng Ruler tightly in my hand, I cautiously moved toward the direction from which the sound had come.

Not far from the Zhang family's ancestral tomb was a small grove of trees—no more than a dozen meters away. The grove was lush and green, in stark contrast to the barren land around the tomb, where not a single blade of grass grew.

The sound was coming from within the grove.

Zhang Yunyao followed closely behind me. She was braver than most—willing to venture into a graveyard in the dead of night.

Soon, the two of us entered the small forest.

Inside, we spotted a strange yellow glow ahead.

As we approached, we saw a bizarre and unsettling scene unfold before us.

A man, shirtless and holding a red candle, was slowly walking toward a large tree. As he walked, he let out a disturbing, hollow laugh.

The moment Zhang Yunyao saw his back, she gasped, "That's my brother…"

I recognized him too. It was Zhang Yunliang.

But something was off. Why was he shirtless, wandering through the forest with a red candle in the middle of the night?

I gestured to Zhang Yunyao to stay quiet and motioned for us to follow him from a distance.

We trailed behind him, maintaining a distance of about seven or eight meters, quietly shadowing him through the trees. Eventually, we circled around a large tree and saw something that made my skin crawl.

Leaning against the tree was a corpse.

It wore burial clothes—funeral garments—its face pale and lifeless. It was obviously a dead body.

Judging by the appearance, it was likely the remains of one of the Zhang family ancestors, unearthed from the ancestral tomb.

I had no idea how the body had ended up in this forest.

Then we saw something even more disturbing.

Zhang Yunliang was holding a lit red candle—one of the ceremonial candles used during the grave-digging ritual—and brought it close to the underside of the corpse's jaw, slowly roasting it with the flame.

Before long, the jaw turned black from the heat, and drops of viscous fluid began to drip from it.

He was roasting the corpse's oil.

What the hell was he doing?

Though I was no stranger to the supernatural, even I felt a chill in my bones. Zhang Yunyao, on the other hand, couldn't take it. She clamped a hand over her mouth, gagging uncontrollably.

The scene was simply too horrifying for the average person to handle.

On top of that, Zhang Yunyao was clearly terrified.

She instinctively pressed up against me, wrapping both arms around my waist, trembling violently.

"Wu… Wu Shaoye… what is my brother doing?" she asked, her voice shaking.

"Keep your voice down. Don't startle him. He may be possessed by something," I whispered.

Zhang Yunliang continued roasting the corpse, catching the dripping oil in his hand.

Because his back was to us, we couldn't see his face—only his movements.

He brought the collected oil up to his face—either smearing it on or drinking it, I couldn't be sure. Either way, it made me nauseous.

Whatever he was doing, it wasn't good. It could very well kill him.

I had to stop him.

I turned to Zhang Yunyao. "Do you still have that talisman I gave you?"

She nodded. "Yes, I have it with me."

"Stay here. Don't move. I'm going to save your brother."

"Okay." She nodded earnestly.

But I didn't move right away.

Zhang Yunyao was still clinging tightly to me, clearly frozen with fear.

She realized it too, her cheeks flushing red as she quickly let go.

Only then did I step forward, holding the Tianpeng Ruler in my hand, slowly advancing toward Zhang Yunliang.

As I got closer, the candlelight flickered across the corpse's face, making it look even more horrifying.

When I was just three or four steps away, I wasn't sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me…

But the corpse leaning against the tree suddenly opened its eyes.

The whites of its eyes were completely visible as it stared directly at me.

The sight sent a shudder through my entire body.

Was it alive?

I stood frozen, heart pounding wildly, waiting to see what would happen next. But the corpse didn't move further. It just stared at me with those ghastly white eyes.

Steeling myself, I drew a deep breath and let out a thunderous shout: "Zhang Yunliang!"

The shout echoed like a clap of thunder, powerful enough to scare the soul right out of a person.

This was a Daoist technique known as the Thunder Shout. If something had possessed him, the spiritual shock of that yell could force it out.

Zhang Yunliang's body jolted, and he froze. His head turned slowly toward me like a marionette.

When his face finally came into view, I saw that it was slick with oil, as though it had been coated in grease.

His expression was twisted, his eyes bloodshot. From his throat came a low, beast-like growl.

Seeing him like that, my heart sank.

There was no ghostly aura or malevolent energy on him—he wasn't possessed.

Then why was he acting like this?

The next moment, Zhang Yunliang hurled the candle at me. I swatted it away with a quick flick of the Tianpeng Ruler.

At the same time, he lunged at me like a tiger, tackling me to the ground.

We were only a few steps apart. In a single leap, he closed the distance, wrapping his arms around me.

A foul stench poured off him—like the rotting stink of a decomposing corpse. I nearly gagged.

Worse, he was incredibly strong.

He shoved me backward several steps, then slammed me to the ground. His hands went straight for my throat, growling like an animal.

He was trying to choke me to death.

But I wasn't about to die lying down.

Still holding the Tianpeng Ruler, I smashed it against his body with full force.

This weapon was forged to fight the supernatural. A single strike could cripple an evil spirit.

But to my shock, it had no effect on Zhang Yunliang.

At that moment, I caught something in the corner of my eye—the corpse leaning against the tree…

It just moved.