It was the 24th, the fourth day of military training. Gu Qin had just finished running a 5-kilometer light cross-country course, sweating profusely, but her breathing wasn't heavy. As she stood on the playground stretching, Instructor Yang walked over with a blank expression. "You're Gu Qin, right? Someone's looking for you outside."
Gu Qin nodded and followed Instructor Yang to the base gate. Along the way, Instructor Yang was somewhat dissatisfied. Every year during military training, there would be students like this who, in order to avoid training, have someone contact the higher-ups to directly ask for leave. He really disliked students like this. However, he couldn't figure it out. Over the past few days, this young girl had been performing excellently—no, she was exceptional—better than when he was a new recruit. After a whole day of training, she never even seemed to be out of breath. The training didn't seem particularly hard for her, so why did she still want to ask for leave?
When they reached the base gate, Gu Qin saw a young man squatting at the entrance, looking eagerly at her. It was the same person who had asked her to read his fortune at the Wufu Bridge last time. There was also a tall, beautiful woman with long black hair standing beside him. The woman was dressed in a skirt suit and high heels, exuding a strong aura.
When Jiang Cheng saw Gu Qin, he rushed to the gate. "Master, guru, last time I was blind and didn't recognize you. I hope you won't hold it against me..."
Jiang Ni rolled her eyes and pulled Jiang Cheng aside, directly introducing herself through the iron gate. "I'm Jiang Ni, and this is my younger brother, Jiang Cheng. I heard everything from him about what happened at the bridge last time. Today, we've come to ask if you could do us a favor, guru. What do you think?"
Instructor Yang froze for a moment. What was going on? Why was this student calling her "guru" and "master"?
When Gu Qin saw Jiang Ni, she couldn't help but take a breath. "Where have you been these past few days?" The beautiful woman had a strong, heavy aura of yin energy, not the kind that came from a personal disaster but something she had picked up somewhere. "You must have been having quite a few misfortunes these days, right?"
Jiang Ni's eyes brightened. "Guru, you're truly impressive. I've been having minor accidents, like bruises and bumps."
Gu Qin said, "If you had stayed any longer, it wouldn't have been just minor mishaps." Jiang Ni's face paled, and she became even more convinced that this young girl was no ordinary person.
At the side, Instructor Yang couldn't hold back anymore. "Gu Qin, you're a student, how can you believe in such things?" He had thought she was a good student, but it turned out she was a little charlatan? What was going on?
"Sorry, Instructor Yang, I need to ask for leave to go out for a bit." Gu Qin felt that something wasn't simple. When she looked at the young man before, she saw that his father had a criminal injury, but the woman beside him carried an unusual aura, which made her think that his father's injury wasn't coincidental either.
Jiang Ni hurriedly said, "Guru, I've already asked for leave for you. Here's the leave slip, just have your instructor sign it." She pulled out a note and handed it to Instructor Yang. Instructor Yang glared at Jiang Ni, but Jiang Ni smiled. "Why are you glaring at me? Do you want to call your major? Your major should have already told you this morning."
Instructor Yang expressionlessly glanced at Jiang Ni, then swiftly took the leave slip and pen, signing it before turning and heading back to the field.
Jiang Ni watched Instructor Yang's straight back, raising an eyebrow.
After Gu Qin left, the three of them got into the car. Jiang Ni was still a bit unclear about what Gu Qin had said earlier, but she knew not to be ashamed to ask, so she asked, "Guru, what did you mean by what you said just now?"
Gu Qin wasn't used to being called "guru." In her past life, "guru" was a term of respect, but now it seemed more like a term for a charlatan. She thought for a moment and said, "Why don't you stop calling me 'guru'? You can call me anything. There's heavy yin energy on you. It doesn't seem like you're facing a personal disaster, but more like you've picked it up from somewhere. Take me to the places you frequent and let me have a look."
"Then, should I call you Miss Gu?" Jiang Ni asked. She had been busy going between home and the construction site these days. "These past few days, I've been at home and on the construction site. Could it be that there's something unclean at home? Should we go back to check first?" She had heard that if the feng shui at home was bad, everything would go wrong.
Gu Qin glanced at Jiang Cheng. "He probably stays at home all the time, right? He doesn't have any issues, so it's probably not your home's problem. Just take me to the construction site."
The three of them went directly to the construction site, located in the mountainous area of Dai Mountain on the outskirts. Nowadays, the rich avoided the pollution of the city and yearned for natural environments, so Jiang's father came up with the idea of building a single-family villa on the side of Dai Mountain. He had researched, and many similar villas in other cities were selling very well, with many of them being sold before they were even completed. Jiang's father's project had been under construction for just over half a month, and half of the villas had already been sold out, all to wealthy people from Dai Mountain.
After the incidents a few days ago, the workers had become scared, thinking the place was haunted, and many of them didn't dare to come to work. Jiang Ni was very worried. If this project couldn't be completed on time, they would have to compensate those who had already signed contracts for the villas.
If the project collapsed, it wouldn't ruin the Jiang family completely, but it would take a huge toll on their wealth.
The road to Dai Mountain was already built, and the car drove to the construction site. The whole area covered about a thousand acres, a very large site, though it was just a small portion of Dai Mountain. Once they entered the site, Gu Qin frowned. This place had been set with a feng shui formation, a kind of evil yin energy formation. Anyone staying here for long would absorb the yin energy, and sudden death wasn't surprising. Moreover, this place had already seen death. "Has anyone died here unexpectedly?"
"Guru… Miss Gu, you're absolutely right," Jiang Cheng said, fully convinced now. "Miss Gu, what's going on here?"
Gu Qin said, "Someone set up a feng shui formation here, and it hasn't been long, about half a month. If it goes on longer, this place will turn into a place of death, and it won't just be unexpected deaths. I need to find the core of the formation. The site is too large, I'll need to go to the mountain top to see where the core is. Are there still some workers here? Get them to leave quickly, and no one should come back until we sort this out."
Jiang Ni hurriedly called one of her subordinates, who was a manager at the site, and he came over right away. She told him to inform all the workers to go home and wait for further notice.
With the workers evacuated, Gu Qin needed to climb to a higher position to use her "tian yan" (divine vision) to see where the core of the formation was.
A feng shui formation, when used well, could gather wealth and ensure safety. However, when it was manipulated by someone with ill intent, it could become a dangerous formation, causing minor disasters at best, or leading to destruction at worst. Feng shui formations are not fixed, and there are many types in the world. It's impossible for anyone to master every single one, but no matter what kind of formation, it always requires a core.
The core of the formation is the place where the item needed to set the formation is placed. This construction site was very large, and a typical feng shui master would find it hard to locate the core. It would require someone with higher cultivation. However, for Gu Qin, it wasn't difficult, as she had "tian yan."
Once they reached the top of the mountain, they couldn't drive anymore, as there was no road. They had to walk, and it took them an hour to reach the summit. Jiang Ni and Jiang Cheng were both drenched in sweat, gasping for breath, their clothes soaked through. Gu Qin was fine. She had worn a camouflage long-sleeve shirt and camouflage pants when she came out of the base, and only had some sweat on her forehead.
Jiang Cheng couldn't help but complain, "It's so hot. The construction site is much cooler."
Gu Qin turned to look at him. "That's not coolness, that's yin energy. Staying in it can make you sick. Did you offend anyone? Ordinary feng shui masters wouldn't set up this kind of formation. The karmic retribution is too heavy."
Jiang Ni shook her head. "Although our family, the Jiang family, has become rich these years, we've always adhered to the principle of making money through harmony. We don't have any enemies. We shouldn't have offended anyone."
Gu Qin didn't speak anymore. After reaching the mountain top, she used her divine vision to check the surroundings and soon found the four cores of the formation. The yin energy at these four spots was extremely intense. It was likely a "Four Yin Formation." Gu Qin briefly explained the formation to them. "This is a Four Yin Killing Formation, which can gather large amounts of yin energy in a short time. Everything in this world relies on a balance of yin and yang. If there's only yin energy and no yang energy, it's bad for humans. Scientifically speaking, staying in an area full of yin energy can make people feel unwell, dizzy, and prone to accidents."
"Miss Gu, what should we do?" Jiang Ni was completely puzzled as to who might have set up this formation.
Gu Qin started heading down the mountain. "We'll head down first. Now that we know where the cores are, it's much easier."
As they descended the mountain, Jiang Cheng couldn't help but ask, "Miss Gu, are we going to perform a ritual to break the formation?"
Gu Qin glanced at him but didn't say anything. She asked Jiang Ni for paper and a pen and wrote down what she needed. "Whoever can, quickly go get these items. Also, I'd like to meet your father. He has a criminal injury, and now there's a deadly formation on the construction site. This can't be a coincidence. Someone's definitely targeting your family. What do you think?" Jiang's father was the key. She wanted to use her divine vision to see what was going on.
Before the two siblings could respond, a black car suddenly drove up the road in the distance and quickly stopped near the construction site. A man in his fifties got out of the car. When he saw the expressions of his children, he walked up and said, "Ni Ni, I heard from Manager Wang that you sent all the workers home? What's going on?"