After listening to me, the middle-aged man thought for a moment and said, "I remember what you said. At that time, I was an apprentice with my father. Many temples and Taoist temples around us were demolished. The villagers brought over the smashed stone tablets and statues and turned them into troughs, millstones and rollers and the like."

The stones used in those temples were all of high quality, and the tools made from them were sturdy, durable, and quite sought after! I remember there was a lot of stone material piled up outside my house at the time, including things from the temples and some things that came out of the graves.

What impressed me most were the two stone horses. Their necks were both broken, but their bodies were carved so lifelike. Even though it was my family's ancestral craftsmanship, and with the help of modern tools, we still couldn't make them so realistic!

During that time, I often rode on those two stone horses, and when I had nothing to do, I would look at the inscriptions on the stone tablets, but they were all in traditional characters and scriptures, which I couldn't understand.

I pressed on, "Is there a statue of a goddess among them?"

"I really can't remember that."

The middle-aged man shook his head: "What exactly do you want to know from me? Can you just tell me directly? If I know, I'll definitely tell you. If I don't know, don't force me! I give up, I promise I won't call the police, okay?"

“We are looking for a statue of the shamanic goddess Dokho, which originally stood in the temple. According to the information we have, the statue has most likely been destroyed, but I want to know its whereabouts.”

I looked at the middle-aged man and said, "Since you are the only stonemason in the surrounding villages, can you guess its whereabouts?"

"You flatter me too much. I'm just an old farmer who does manual labor. If I had any skills, I wouldn't be making a living in the village! I'm not a fortune teller. Asking me to help you find something is just asking the impossible!"

The middle-aged man suddenly slapped his thigh and said, "You know what, I just remembered something. You said you were looking for a shamanic statue, right? Then I suggest you go to West Village and ask Old Ma's wife!"

I scratched my nose: "Who is Old Ma's wife?"

"She is a fortune teller who can read incense. She is very accurate in her divination and can also perform shamanic rituals. She is very skilled, and many big bosses from other places come to her for help with some matters. However, Old Ma has a rule for fortune telling: she only sees one person per month, and the date is completely random. She charges 1,500 yuan per person."

Last year, the child of a wealthy businessman from the south, who had apparently offended something unclean, came to Old Ma's house for a remedy. The price was raised from 100,000 to 1 million yuan. He waited for 10 months before it finally happened, and in the end, Old Ma only charged him 1,500 yuan.

The big boss's child was mentally challenged when he arrived, but by the time he left Old Ma's house, he was lively and energetic.

I heard that Old Ma's wife is a shaman, or perhaps a direct disciple of some kind of priest. I don't remember the specifics, but since she's a shaman, she might know the information you're looking for.

The middle-aged man paused for a moment: "I have a strong birth chart and I often carve tombstones, so my father told me before he died that I should never have my fortune told or go to fortune-telling stalls or places that are easy to attract evil spirits. I have never had my fortune told, and the rumors about Old Ma's wife are all from what other people have told me."

Thank you!

Following the stonemason's directions, I hurriedly left with Xue Haihua and went to the neighboring West Village.

This old woman, Granny Ma, was very famous in the surrounding area. We just asked around in the village and found her house.

The terrain of Xicun is high in the south and low in the north, with a large ditch at the northernmost point, below which is a dried-up riverbed.

Old Ma's house was right by this ditch.

There are no mountains behind it, nor water in front of it.

It is threatened from the south and bordered by moats from the north.

When choosing a site for building a house, most people will avoid this kind of place because even people who don't understand feng shui will feel uncomfortable at first glance.

But I noticed something amiss.

Xicun is not only higher in the south and lower in the north, but also wider in the south and narrower in the north.

Old Ma's house was located at the narrowest point on the north side.

The tip of the sword is in the gold position.

Houses built on this terrain have the strongest yang energy, which can ward off evil spirits and suppress malevolent forces.

Most importantly, it can evade divine punishment.

Nishimura is too small; this can only be considered terrain at best.

If placed in a mountainous area, such a place is said to be prone to monsters.

Since Old Ma was a fortune teller, she naturally feared the five deficiencies and three lacks, such as widowhood, loneliness, and isolation.

Living in such a house would allow her to avoid the retribution that would result from revealing heavenly secrets to the greatest extent possible.

After Xue Haihua's driver parked the car, I stepped on a stone outside the wall and looked inside through the wall.

The tiled houses in this courtyard still have lights on, and in the open space in front, there are three wells.

The resulting acute angle faces north.

The layout of these three wells is called the Sharpening Stone.

Its purpose is to pin down the destiny of this longsword.

The five elements interact in a cycle of mutual generation and restraint: metal restrains wood, and water generates metal.

Therefore, the surrounding terrain is barren, without a single tree, and the water vapor from the three wells can continuously provide the sword with its vital energy.

"Woof! Woof!"

At that moment, a large black dog in the yard spotted me and started barking wildly at the wall.

I heard the dog barking, so I looked away from the yard and knocked on the iron gate.

About half a minute later, the iron gate in the courtyard opened, and an old woman who was about 1.5 meters tall and had a hunched back leaned out. Her wrinkled face and cloudy eyes stared at us.

When I saw the old lady appear, I said, "Hello, old immortal, we..."

Only one person can come in.

The old lady threw down a sentence, turned around, and went back to the courtyard.

Standing beside the Rolls-Royce, Xue Haihua listened to Old Lady Ma's words and was speechless: "Wow! I've met countless bosses worth hundreds of millions, but I've never seen anyone with such airs! A rural old lady, putting on airs with me?"

"According to the stonemason, this old lady is quite capable, but she only earns enough for her monthly living expenses, which shows that she has no ambition for money! She is a woman who knows her destiny, and the worldly prosperity cannot cloud her vision."

I waved to Xue Haihua: "You guys stay here, I'll go in and talk to her, hopefully I can get some information out of her."

After I finished speaking, I walked into the courtyard.

"Woo-hoo!"

As soon as I entered the door, the big black dog bared its teeth and blocked my way.

"Don't make a sound, let him come over."

The old woman's words made the black dog immediately hide to the side. She stepped into the tiled house, sat on the sofa, and looked at me: "I only do divination twice a month, once for others and once for myself! This month's divination indicates that someone will come to visit under the stars, and it's someone in the same industry... You understand fortune telling?"