Chapter 195: Geomancy of Earthveins
Li Mu did not speak but focused on observing.
He found his current state quite bizarre.
He had a vague feeling that right now, he was not corporeal but spiritual. He was communicating with the souls that died on battlefields. Undoubtedly, everything he saw at this moment kind of subverted his outlook.
“Could there really be a region beyond the grave?” Li Mu wondered.
He was also brooding about the meaning of what the General Flame just said. If what he implicated was that people of the Holy Clan could see them, then, those of the Holy Clan must know the existence of the souls of dead soldiers in the military tomb. If so, what else was behind that piece of information?
He faintly discerned that he might have just made an amazing discovery.
“Youngster, we have seen all of what you said and did in front of the monument.”
“Thank you.”
“You defended the glory of the souls of the martyrs.”
“It has been quite a long time since we met someone who could really understand the meaning of this Monument to Martyrs. Youngster, what you did today graced this monument and earned you our endorsement.”
“Qin Lin was unworthy of being a descendant of the Qin family. He didn’t live up to his bloodline. Death served him well.”
“And that Jiang Bing was a total brute. That you killed him is bravo!”
The shadowy ghosts of the deceased Generals uttered their comments.
Li Mu now knew he had guessed it right.
That he had sensed a kind of endearing energy when he first entered this military tomb was because of what he did in front of the monument. “Often it is that an untended willow grows. Who knows there is such a wonderful thing in the world?”
On the face of it, Qin Lin and his cronies were guarding the tomb. But in fact, they were wrecking it by extorting money from the families of the martyrs. Their wicked business had incurred the wrath of God and the outrage of the folks. The souls of those martyrs resting in the military tomb were manifestly infuriated as well.
“But, why didn’t they punish the evildoers?”
“Perhaps they don’t want to expose themselves?”
“Or in their spiritual state they can’t interfere with living creatures?”
At the moment, Li Mu had no certain answer to that question.
“Youngster, we appreciate everything you’ve done for us. But please keep what you’ve seen here today a secret. Never ever disclose our existence to anyone. If not, you and we will both face a destructive calamity. Am I clear?” warned General Flame. Actually, it also took him and the other ghosts by surprise that Li Mu discovered their presence.
It felt like they, who had hidden in the complete darkness and thought no one could spot them, were suddenly aimed by a flash of light. With no time to flee, they were exposed in the light and then were seen by others.
Thoughtfully, Li Mu replied, “Certainly.”
“Well, even if I tell, no one will believe such a quirky story.”
Plus, as long as it had little to do with him, Li Mu would not bother to spread the news out and cause more sensation.
“To thank you for everything you did before the monument, we’ll provide you some compensations…” General Flame declared, “Young man, what would you like to have?”
“Uh?”
“There is such a bonus?”
Li Mu did not see that coming.
“But… what kind of bonus can the dead offer me?”
After giving it a thought, Li Mu answered decisively, “I want to have… power.”
It appeared that General Flame and the others had already anticipated that answer.
“The military tomb has the richest earth qi and the best geomantic omens among all the places in Chang’an. Under this patch of land is a slew of interlaced Wondrous Earthveins. If you can absorb energy there and refine it to be your own, it will turn into your internal qi to replenish your power and help you refine the Natural qi,” General Flame said, “But the specific measures are up to you to find, because we don’t have any method of taking in the earth qi, either.”
“That basically means power is simply laying underground. If I am capable, I can take it away. But if I am not, they are no help to me.”
“Whoa, they’re just feeding me on illusions, giving me a favor with empty words. How could they call it a bonus?”
“Those dead dudes must have turned into demons. How wily they are!”
Li Mu turned his nose up at them in his mind.
Seeing that Li Mu stood there in silence, General Flame and the other ghosts seemed to feel a little abashed. Thus, he added, “As to this request, we truly have no other way to help you. It depends on your Karma now. But, of course, we can make a promise to you as a small compensation. That is, in the future, whenever you need us, our dormant army in the tomb will come to assist you once.”
“Well, another illusion!”
“What assistance can you dead men provide me with?”
Li Mu was speechless. After a while, he said, “If I can refine the earth qi, is that promise still on?”
General Flame said with generosity, “Of course, whether you can or cannot absorb the earth qi, the promise is valid all along.”
At once, a bright, flowery smile spread across Li Mu’s face.
“Well then, thanks, General Ning.”
Staring at Li Mu’s smile, General Flame and the other ghosts suddenly had an ominous feeling for no reason. It felt like they were tricked.
At last, the sanguine shadows drifting like erratic mist gradually dispersed.
It appeared that those dead soldiers had once again turned into threads of invisible energy and scattered in the world.
As they disappeared, the light red mist wrapping around everything Li Mu saw also faded away bit by bit and finally became normal.
In the end, General Flame and souls of other generals all wheeled around to leave.
They had been in a quite passive position throughout today. They were first spotted by Li Mu after his Third Eye scanned the place. What was more important was the soul energy of thousands of ordinary soldiers sleeping in the military tomb was staggered by the murders Li Mu committed against Qin Lin and other evildoers before the monument, and they felt like getting to know him. This was the morale of the army. Since General Flame and the other ghosts of generals who commanded all the souls in the military tomb knew that just like commanding real living troops, they could not go against the morale of the army. Therefore, today’s unexpected changed was staged.
Li Mu, who was sitting cross-legged in front of the tombstone, abruptly opened his eyes.
In the trice he opened his eyes, time seemed to have flown back.
He saw thriving green pine trees, winding trails, birds flying low… Everything had returned to normal.
All he had experienced before felt like a dream.
Li Mu’s sharp senses told him a long time had passed since he met the souls of the generals. However, in fact, he had merely spent a fraction of a second in the real world, because when he sat down cross-legged he saw a worm wriggling forward with all its force, but when he opened his eyes again that worm had just moved about a centimeter.
“Time in the netherworld does not run at the same speed as time in the real world?”
Li Mu slowly got up.
He leaped up and landed on the top of an old tree to overlook the entire military tomb.
Then, he turned on his Third Eye and took another look. Surely, he had a new discovery.
Just like General Flame told him, he saw that under the layer of soil that was dozens of meters thick were a total of twenty energy undercurrents running violently like rivers. They came from every corner of Chang’an and converged under the tomb.
Piercing through the surface soil, Li Mu sensed the fierceness of the energy undercurrents.
“This is the earth qi geomancy?”
The view amazed Li Mu.
Back on Earth, the old faker had thought very highly of the so-called geomancy, and there were a great number of geomancers practicing the relevant techniques at a wide range of places. Geomancy was a valuable result of the wisdom of the ancient people. Although in modern society it had gained little acknowledge, it was true that geomancy and geomancy skills were ubiquitous.
Considering that Earth was a planet suffering from a depletion of Spiritual Qi, geomancy could hardly work its magic there.
Then, what was it like on this planet?
Geomancy was the arrangement of location, environment, terrain, and distance. In plain words, it was a method of utilizing energy.
Places with good geomantic omens often had immense energy.
Guo Yuqing once mentioned it to Li Mu that the reason he failed to produce internal qi was probably that the Spiritual Qi on this planet was too low-grade, while his body was supremely strong. Accordingly, the planet had no way to create the internal qi that could match his body.
To put it into perspective, it was like a sports car, such as a Bugatti Veyron, required high-quality gas to show its true speed. But if you filled its tank with crude petroleum, it would be daydreaming to get it started.
Li Mu was fully convinced by that point.
But it was extremely difficult to find a blessed place containing the ”oil of high purity”.
First of all, most of the already discovered blessed places were taken up by super large sects with a long history and a powerful backing. Then, as to the rest of such spots that were only heard in legends, almost all of them were located in the deadly forbidden areas. Given Li Mu current strength, he might not make a safe return once he got in. Thus, it was unrealistic to search for them.
This was also a huge problem that had been nagging Li Mu for a long time.
But now, he suddenly found a new way to solve the problem.
Now that it was nearly impossible to find a blessed place, why not work on geomancy?
With his Third Eye, he could easily see through the strata and locate Earthveins concealed under the soil.
The Spiritual Qi energy in the Earthvein evidently was much more compact than that wandering around the world, and its purity was also higher. Presumably, it could provide Li Mu the power he desired. If he was able to refine the energy in the Earthvein into his body, wouldn’t that mean the biggest difficulty Li Mu had crossed in learning martial arts since he arrived on this planet could be solved?
The longer Li Mu pondered, the more assurance he had for this creative idea.
The conversation with General Flame and the others had thoroughly opened his mind.
However, he did not try to extract the power of the Wonderous Eartveins full of earth qi at once.
He prepared to go back and review all the theories about geomancy that the old faker told him so as to make sure that he would succeed in taking the first shot of absorbing the energy of the Earthveins.
Also, he had made him a rather formidable enemy today for killing Qin Lin.
Hence, he needed to go back and come up with a plan to handle the aftermath, to keep his family and friends safe and secure. He would not allow himself to make the same mistakes as he did the last time when the government of Taibai County was invaded and Ma Junwu, Feng Yuanxing, and his other trusted subordinates were gravely injured.
And he certainly ought to send off Granny Cai, Caicai, Wu Beichen, and the other five frontier soldiers as soon as possible.
After settling down on the rough plan, Li Mu took action right off.
About a quarter of an hour later, Granny Cai and Caicai as well as Wu Beichen and his men finished the mourning ceremony and then ran into Li Mu, who was waiting for them on their way back to the exit.
“Your Honor…” Wu Beichen and his company bowed to show their respect. Then, Wu Beichen, the centurion, asked reverently, “I was wondering if the problem outside had been sorted out. How is that prince named Qin Lin…”
Li Mu smiled and replied, “I killed him.”
…