Beginning with the Ubume Bird-Chapter 620 - 6 Qingwu Preface
Chen Zhengcong came to his senses and immediately found his phone on the sofa, dialing a quick access number.
About a dozen seconds of dial tone later, a hoarse voice came through the phone.
"Didn’t I say to contact me by email for anything in the future, don’t call me? What the hell are you up to?"
"It’s you who’s up to something! There’s something wrong with the item you sold me, it nearly cost me my life!"
"Hmm?" The person on the other end didn’t rush to dismiss any involvement, but instead said calmly, "Don’t rush, tell me slowly."
Chen Zhengcong spent about a minute explaining the whole situation.
After a moment of silence, the other party answered, "The thing I gave you is genuine. The Yang Baojin you wanted to harm has an expert by his side."
"Impossible! I recognize every person around Yang Baojin. There can’t be any mistakes."
"If I dare to say it, I’m confident. However, since I’ve taken your money, I have no reason not to help you. How about this, bring one million to Pugang Road Cold Storage, and I’ll lend you the fiercest Fiend to ensure a clean and thorough job."
After some thought, Chen Zhengcong saw no other option and reluctantly agreed, "I’ll head over now, wait for me at the Cold Storage."
"Good."
Chen Zhengcong hung up the phone, moved stack after stack of shiny Hong Kong dollars out of the safe, filling a bag to the brim, and then took the money to the basement to get his car, and hurried to Pugang Road Cold Storage.
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Yongfa Garden Block B, 3rd Floor, Room 304, Ma Ji Paper Shop.
"Cough cough! Stop knocking! What time is it? We’re not open yet! Come back, cough cough, come back tomorrow."
Paper Craftsman Ma was skinny to the bone, with sunken eyes, and he especially suffered from chronic tuberculosis and asthma. Although he was only in his thirties, climbing just a few flights of stairs would leave him bent over, unable to straighten his back. He scraped by solely on his ancestral paper crafting skills, leading a very difficult life.
The door opened, and through the iron bars, the wrinkled-face man known as Mr. Wu, Qian Wu, locked eyes with the Paper Craftsman Ma.
"I’ve said we’re not open. Come back at nine tomorrow morning."
Ma the Paper Craftsman said irritably.
But Mr. Wu remained unmoved, "There’s an urgent matter that requires paper effigies, please open the door."
"I told you to come back at nine tomorrow!"
As Ma the Paper Craftsman was about to close the door, Qian Wu caught the door firmly, his seemingly frail palms as unyielding as welded iron.
"What are you doing? I’m going to call the police..."
Before Ma the Paper Craftsman could finish his sentence, his vision spun, and he collapsed to the floor, fainting. From beneath him, a faint black compass pattern emerged on the ground, with clockwise rotating trigrams and heavenly stems inside, and counterclockwise rotating earthly branches and twenty-four solar terms outside, the sight dizzying at a glance.
"Born in the month of Yin, Shen, Si, or Hai, during 3-5 pm, in the month of Zi, Wu, Mao, or You, encountering the time of Wei, in the month of Chen, Wu, Chou, or Wei, encountering the time of Mao, you are naturally afflicted by the Hemp Cloth Fiend, and being near funerals easily brings you ailments. But running a paper effigy business at home means you often deal with funerals, which is why you’ve been ill since childhood. Today, I’m taking the Fiend from your destiny for my own selfish reasons, but it also counts as doing you a favor. I hope you don’t mind."
Under Mr. Wu’s feet, a compass grid pattern also emerged, but it was empty inside. The two compass patterns intersected, and finally, the black compass moved under Mr. Wu’s feet, leaving the area around the Paper Craftsman void.
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"Since ancient times in China, there has been the concept of Destiny by Constellations and the auspicious or ominous nature of divine fiends, which starts with using the day pillar’s heavenly stems and earthly branches, then connects with the year, month, hour, or major cycles and annual fortune, to determine a person’s fate. This method of divination, known as the Four Pillars Divine Fiend, refers to the collective term for both auspicious deities and fierce fiends,"
"The auspicious deities, such as Heaven’s Mandate, Monthly Virtue, Heavenly Happiness, Fortune Star, State Seal, Hua Gai, etc., have since ancient times prolonged life and brought wealth and high status. Those often protected by auspicious deities tend to be successful in all their endeavors. As for fierce fiends, like the Four Void, Hemp Cloth, Salty Pool, Lonely Star... the morally corrupt and wretched people in the world often have fierce fiends clinging to them."
"Auspicious deities and fierce fiends are complicated and difficult to understand; an auspicious deity can save lives and bring immense wealth, while a fierce fiend could cause death, but the opposite can also be true. The mysteries within are not something that can be explained in a sentence or two. The word ’destiny’ is like a vast river, awe-inspiring to look upon. Over the centuries, those who can discern a hint of its course already possess tremendous skill, as for those trying to defy fate and seize divine fiends for their own use, it’s just wishful thinking. That’s what I originally thought..."
Mr. Wu withdrew his thoughts and pulled out a human-shaped talisman paper from his pocket. He bit open his middle finger, clasped his hands in prayer, and began to chant, "May the body be as vast as the flood, may the laws follow Zi Ping, may the Qi flow freely, may the Three Yang thrive, may the Five Elements be stored and reared, may the Eight Characters converge, may the stars lay out the linen robes, may the Creation reveal its mysteries."
After Mr. Wu had spoken, a black compass beneath his feet began to spin, and the paper figure in his hands was shaking incessantly. Blood smeared on the yellow paper actually formed a weeping face with facial features.
The linen-robed fiend naturally attracts lonely spirits and wild ghosts, which is why it’s easy to contract diseases at funerals. However, some people shadowed by the linen-robed fiend can rely on this fate to communicate with the dead, which is why there’s such a thing as "rice asking."
"Dongsheng, who harmed you?"
Qian Wu asked sternly.
The facial features on the paper figure became more twisted and agonized, emitting a whimpering howl that nonetheless made no sound.
Mr. Wu furrowed his brows and asked again, "Where is the person who harmed you?"
This time the facial features on the paper figure smoothed out a lot, and Pei Dongsheng’s voice clearly reached Mr. Wu’s ears: "Pugang Road underground Cold Storage!"
No sooner had the words been spoken than the paper figure soared into the sky, turning into a ball of flame and scattering apart.
Mr. Wu walked out of the large building in Yongfa Garden; the streets were already almost empty, cars were parked haphazardly on the asphalt road, and only the billboards shone brightly.
"Cold Storage..." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
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"Is there someone in Hong Kong who can so easily solve the hex of the Six Calamities Ghost?"
The man speaking was dressed in a cold storage work uniform, hopping down from a huge block of ice.
"There is. Chen Lang from the Fortune Association, Mai Xiaoling from Mai’s Cleaning Company, and Xu Shaoguang, a visiting professor at the Zhuhai Academy. All three have high expertise in divine and malevolent forces. Though the Six Calamities Ghost is fierce, it’s normal for Chen Zhengcong to make mistakes as he’s not very competent."
The uniformed man looked at the other in surprise, "Rare for you to praise someone."
"I’m just being objective. Their knowledge in divine and malevolent forces indeed isn’t bad, but it’s not yet to the point where I would compliment them."
The man was wearing blue and white striped hospital garments and holding a clipped newspaper in his hand with only one piece of news on it: "Zhongxing Baode International Auction Company will hold a charity auction on the fifteenth of next month, with early auction items including a handwritten manuscript of the Qingwu Preface by Lai Buyi."
"Wutouzi, have you ever heard of the Qingwu Preface?"
"Of course, it’s the geomancy secret text by the divine diviner Lai Buyi. Why, are you interested?"
"It’s said that when Lai Buyi’s Qingwu Preface was written, because it revealed heavenly secrets, it was taken away by the envoy of the Nan Hua Deity, the White Ape. Later, it fell into the hands of the famous statesman Liu Bowen, who, with the help of the arcane arts within the Qingwu Preface, assisted Zhu Yuanzhang to unite the Central Plains and drive out the Mongols. I am indeed very curious to see it for myself."
"The deposit is twenty million though," Wutouzi said in surprise.
"If it’s genuine, twenty million isn’t too much."
The man in the hospital clothes replied with a smile. Suddenly, a message came in on his phone. He looked down to open it, and it read, "Take the number four ice coffin and leave immediately!"
"What happened?"
Wutouzi asked.
"The boss wants us to leave right away."
"What about that surnamed Chen? And besides, this place is full of..."
The man in hospital clothes immediately stood up, "Maybe he has betrayed us. You get number four onto the truck, leave everything else. The boss said, leave now!"
