When Village Chief Guo saw An Moxue and Old Ma coming to see her together at Village Chief Guo's house, he knew something must have happened.
Village Chief Guo hurriedly asked, "Old Ma, you came with Mo Xue, is something wrong?"
Old Ma sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and said to Village Chief Guo, "Mo Xue discovered this. Have her tell you the details."
An Moxue said, "I went to Hongqi Village this morning, and on my way back I took a mountain path. On the way, I saw two of the grave robbers I had seen a few days ago at Wild Boar Ridge." As they walked into the mountains, they talked about how a master geomancer had arrived. Today, they were accompanying him to survey the terrain and find a suitable burial site. I followed them, and at the intersection of the mountain path between our village and Hongqi Village, I saw three people: a middle-aged man and a young man. To my surprise, the third person was Li Bin, a former educated youth from our village. The five of them met up. Later, the two tomb raiders led the other three, stopping and starting along the way. The middle-aged man carried a compass, stopping at each mountain ridge to measure the surroundings with his fingers. I followed them like this for a day. Later, they separated, and I followed the middle-aged man and Li Bin, watching them return to our village. They came down from the western mountain and returned to the educated youth's courtyard. I observed them for a while, but didn't see them come out again, so I came to find Uncle Ma and you. The middle-aged man and the young man were skilled in martial arts; I didn't dare get too close for fear of being discovered, so I didn't hear a word they said that day.”
After listening to her account, Village Chief Guo said, "Li Bin contacted me this morning and showed me their letters of introduction. There were no problems with the letters. He told me that these two people are old friends of his family, and they've come to find the graves of their deceased relatives. They said that during the War of Resistance Against Japan, they were killed by the enemy and hastily buried on this mountain. After searching extensively, they found our village and want to find their ancestor's grave so they can exhume it and bury him back in his hometown. Li Bin also asked me for a few days off, saying he would accompany them to the mountain to find the graves."
Old Ma slowly began, “This Li Bin is most likely problematic. How long have these tomb raiders been operating? They’re still busy on this mountain; what they’re after must be something big. Several villages have lost things recently, and both the town and the county are short-handed. Our village also needs to strengthen its militia patrols. I have to go to the county tomorrow, and then go to the town when I get back. This geomancer must be a key figure.”
An Moxue and Village Chief Guo nodded in agreement.
An Moxue said, "From what those two tomb raiders said, it seems they've thoroughly searched our county and the surrounding area, but haven't found anything of great value. Furthermore, their leader didn't specify what they were looking for, so they're all a bit confused."
Old Ma said, "Either what they're looking for is very precious and not something these small fry should know, or what they're looking for is very mysterious and they themselves don't know exactly what they're looking for."
Village Chief Guo continued, "It's not impossible. Our ancestors left behind so much stuff; who knows where it might have been lost, and later generations might have found some clues and come looking for it. Here's what we'll do: I'll strengthen our surveillance of Li Bin and his two companions, and we'll send militiamen to monitor them tonight. In the morning, Mo Xue, you'll hand over the duties to them again, and then tomorrow you'll go into the mountains with them to see if there's any new progress. Be sure to pay attention to your personal safety. We'll summarize everything tomorrow. What do you think?"
Old Ma said, "Okay, let's do it this way."
An Moxue said, "I will listen to my two uncles."
The matter was settled the next day.
After finishing their business, on their way home, Old Ma asked An Moxue, "Girl, how about going to Skinny Monkey's house?"
When Old Ma asked her about this, An Moxue was delighted, her voice light and cheerful: "Uncle Ma, Uncle Li said that we practice different styles of martial arts, but he guided me through many things I didn't understand, which made things much clearer and I benefited a lot. From now on, I'll go to see him every three to five days, and he'll spar with me and help me practice moves. He said that this way I can improve quickly, and I can ask him anytime if I don't understand something."
Old Ma nodded with satisfaction and said, "Study hard, that's good. Skinny Monkey was once a formidable warrior, capable of holding off ten thousand men!"
An Moxue listened attentively and replied, "Yes, I will learn well. You're so amazing!"
"In that battle, we lost many comrades, but we also annihilated the enemy. It was a narrow victory. Skinny Monkey was also injured in that battle. When we ran out of ammunition and food, it was all about perseverance and strength. Without him, we might not have won."
After saying this, Old Ma didn't say anything more. Even after they parted, she could still feel the reminiscence and longing emanating from him. She was enveloped by something invisible, as if she were in a different world from her surroundings.
An Moxue returned home and cooked while thinking. She felt that this matter was somehow connected to her, but she had no concrete evidence. She felt that it might be closely related to her family's ancestral graves.
This feeling became even stronger after a day of tracking that sorcerer.
I have a feeling that what they're looking for isn't just gold and silver treasures, but also some kind of secret technique, or even a method to cultivate immortality.
Even if we find it, so what! This world has no spiritual energy left, and even if it exists, it is extremely thin and no longer meets the requirements for cultivation.
If that's the case, she felt her danger level had increased again. It wasn't just about coveting her family's wealth; they might be after her secret techniques. She hoped they hadn't traced it back to her yet.
She felt she couldn't just sit and wait to die, so she went back to the space and found all the cultivation techniques, spells, and martial arts techniques she could practice there.
I carefully read and studied each book one by one, and finally found a few books about feng shui and formations. The books were about feng shui treasure lands and blessed lands, and how to use formations to construct or hide their true appearances so that people who don't understand them will think the place is just ordinary, but people who stay in the place will feel very comfortable.
She felt that this was referring to her family's ancestral graves, and she felt very relaxed there for no reason. She went there twice and felt very comfortable both times.
I didn't have the mind to read them carefully; I just picked and chose to skim through them. The more I read these books, the more dangerous I felt.
She came out of the study, went to the storage room, found all the books in it, and moved them to the study. Without time to sort them, she picked out the books she needed one by one from the floor of the study and put them aside, not caring whether they were ancient books or rare editions.
I was so busy that the alarm clock rang. I looked up and was surprised to find that it was already 2 a.m. I put down my book, went back to my bedroom, set an alarm, washed up, and went to sleep.
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