A rusty piece of iron

The water in the pond was clear; during the day, it was transparent enough to see the bottom, and at night, illuminated by floodlights, the underwater view was still visible. This pond, being an artificial lake built on the mountaintop, was not large in size, but the deeper areas averaged around two meters.

After swimming to the center of the pond, Towards Lacking took a deep breath. He submerged his head with a downward motion, diving into the lake. Upon opening his eyes, the visibility was around five meters.

The Chen family's Feng Shui layout was built according to the guidance of the Ancient Well Sect, from the base of the mountain to the Chen family mansion at the mountaintop. Every element, including rockeries, trees, paths, ponds, gardens, and even the structure of the buildings, contributed to the Feng Shui layout. The crucial hub of the entire Feng Shui layout was this pond.

The Dragon's Nest Gathering Wealth formation aimed to bring in the dragon's energy and accumulate the flow of energy. This provided blessings to those living in the Chen family mansion, ensuring prosperity for generations. All aspects related to wealth thrived, making business ventures smooth and prosperous. The accumulation of wealth became as easy as reaching into a pocket.

The most critical part of this Feng Shui layout, the linchpin, was this pond. The other facilities in the wealth-gathering formation were auxiliary, but the pond was the central focal point, making the entire Dragon's Nest Gathering Wealth formation operate. It ensured the continuous accumulation of the Chen family's energy and blessings.

When the pond was initially constructed, it was a massive project. It took the ancestors of the Chen family more than three years and an incalculable amount of manpower and resources to build this pond. Since the pond was built on the mountaintop, it originally had no water source. However, luckily, there was an underground river beneath this mountain. After digging the pond, a passage was created in the central area to connect directly to the underground river, bringing water from the river into the pond.

The most crucial part was the construction of the passage connecting the pond at the mountaintop to the underground river below. This underground river led directly to the imperial city of Beijing, over two hundred kilometers away in the southwest. It was connected to the moat surrounding the Forbidden City.

The moat surrounded the Purple Forbidden City and absorbed the energy of numerous emperors over the centuries. By connecting the pond to the moat, the Ancient Well Sect's Feng Shui layout essentially brought the emperor's energy to the Chen family for their blessings.

Originally, this wealth-gathering formation had another layer of functionality. If slightly altered, it wouldn't focus on wealth but rather on political power. Instead of constructing a commercial empire, the Chen family would have become influential figures in politics. They would have produced powerful officials, not just wealthy merchants.

However, the ancestors of the Chen family had foresight. They believed that the political path was more unpredictable and challenging than the business path. So, wisely, they chose wealth accumulation and didn't pursue the alternative path.

Submerged in the pond, Towards Lacking effortlessly found the connection between the pond's bottom and the underground river at the foot of the mountain. It was a dark hole about a meter wide, surrounded by eight finely crafted jade stones. Each stone was embedded with a star disc, and around each disc hung sixty-four multicolored flags, forming a pattern of the Eight Trigrams.

In the past, the jade stones would absorb sunlight and moonlight, causing the star discs to rotate, connecting the underground river to the pond and bringing the energy of the underground river into the pond on the mountaintop. However, several months ago, the central hub of the Chen family's Feng Shui formation had been broken.

At this moment, the star discs' pointers no longer rotated, and the jade stones were dim. The sixty-four multicolored flags were connected by a red line, which was now lowered. Surrounding the jade stones, flags, and star discs, several worn-out wooden boards were inserted. These were coffin boards from ancient graves, carrying a heavy aura of death. Each board was covered with yellow talismanic paper, and each piece of paper was connected to the red line on the flags. This served as the barrier preventing the water from the underground river from entering the pond.

Finding the reason was one thing; solving it was not so straightforward. Merely removing the coffin boards or cutting the red lines wouldn't solve the problem. It was the location of the broken formation. The real source of the problem lay in the basement of a villa in the western suburbs of Beijing.

The three Feng Shui masters in the room, adorned with talismans, had also set up a Feng Shui formation that resonated with the one at the pond.

Emerging from the water, Facing the pavilion where Chen Sanjin was, Towards the pond, Through gestures, conveyed a message to inform the people sent out to be prepared to locate the target. The Dragon Qi Wealth Accumulation Formation was immensely grand, breaking it could lead to the gradual dissipation of the hundred years of accumulated fortune for the Chen family, and naturally, there would be unusual occurrences during its resolution.

Engaging in Feng Shui was essentially a struggle against nature and even against the heavens, forcibly seizing the fortunes not rightfully theirs. When the formation was originally constructed, this small mountain on the outskirts of Tangshan was engulfed in thunderstorms, fierce winds, and heavy rains for over half a month. It was gloomy and depressing, giving an impression of extreme pressure. It was only after the formation was completed that the area gradually returned to its normal state.

Now, as expected, the commotion caused by breaking the formation would not be small. However, the disturbance did not occur at the main residence of the Chen family but at the location where the three Feng Shui masters were guarding – the broken formation.

Diving underwater once again, cutting the few red threads after, He forcefully started pulling up those coffin boards from the bottom of the lake. At this moment, the water suddenly churned, and the sediment at the lake bottom became so murky that visibility was reduced to almost nothing.

Simultaneously, in the underground basement of the suburban villa in the western outskirts of Beijing, the three Feng Shui masters who were maintaining the formation abruptly opened their eyes. One of them even vomited blood, trembling uncontrollably.

"Something's wrong! Someone is breaking the formation!" the old man who was vomiting blood exclaimed in astonishment.

"Chen Sanjin did indeed hire a Feng Shui master to break the formation. That Five Ghosts Wealth-Attracting Technique was broken by him," another person analyzed.

The talismans plastered all over the room started moving without any wind. Some of them even floated down. The other two old men hurriedly got up, reattached the fallen talismans, and swiftly took out cinnabar and talisman paper to draw a few more talismans, which were then pasted on the wall.

At this moment, just as Xiang Que had managed to pull the coffin boards up a bit, they suddenly sank back into the mud, and the talisman paper on top seemed to weigh thousands of pounds, firmly pressing down on the coffin boards.

Xiang Que cursed silently, forced to resurface to replenish his breath. Climbing back onto the pavilion, he took his backpack and extracted the rusty piece of iron from inside.

Returning to the lakebed once again, he found the talisman paper attached to those coffin boards in the turbid water. Brandishing the iron piece, he struck down.

Suddenly, the rusty iron piece emitted a bloody light underwater. The radiance pierced through the water's surface, rushing into the air. A blood-red and intense evil energy rapidly enveloped the talisman paper on the coffin boards. After Xiang Que swung the iron piece, the boards scattered in all directions, floating towards the lake's surface.