Huang Jiu had a keen sense of smell. As he put it, he could smell his own fart from a hundred kilometers away. Whether it smelled good or bad wasn't important, as long as it helped us find the target.
But as soon as we left the city, things started to go wrong. Huang Jiu could only point us in the general direction but couldn't specify which road the target was taking. The city was full of intersecting roads, and even though my second uncle had been around for almost nine years, he couldn't pinpoint the exact location right away.
It wasn't until we were out of the city that Huang Jiu's directions became more accurate. We reached a small hill, and it was almost dawn. At the foot of the hill, we saw a van parked at the end of a narrow path. Huang Jiu sniffed the air and confirmed that the van belonged to the group we were looking for.
My second uncle backed our car a few meters to hide it on the side of the road. After we got out, we quietly approached. My second uncle touched the van's engine hood. "It's still warm; they haven't been gone for long," he murmured.
The forest outside the city was well-preserved, with trees that weren't very thick but were sparse enough to make it easy to hide. We moved cautiously up the mountain path and soon saw a few abandoned buildings. Huang Jiu confirmed that the group was inside the middle building, and there were five people inside, based on their scent.
Five people? Including Huang Jiu, that made only three of us. And since they all practiced the Lu Ban techniques, Huang Jiu's confusion techniques might not be enough to deal with them.
I opened my spiritual vision to observe the surrounding energy. This area had likely been a small village, but since it was near the provincial capital, most of the villagers had moved into the city long ago. Over time, the area had become quiet and covered by the natural flow of energy.
Natural energy is rootless and formless. With a little guidance, it can be used to set up a simple feng shui formation. However, it's not easy to create a formation that will immediately trap people, as feng shui requires time to accumulate its power.
After a quick discussion with my second uncle, we decided to set up a "flowers in the fog" formation using the abandoned buildings around us. The idea behind "flowers in the fog" is to create an illusion that is both real and fake, confusing the eyes. Whether it would work, we weren't sure, especially since we didn't have any high-quality tools for the formation. The only thing we had were copper coins that had fallen from my grandfather's money sword, most of which had been dug up from the ground and didn't carry much energy.
Huang Jiu seemed to know a little about feng shui and suggested adding his demonic aura to the copper coins, hoping it would create a different effect. After finalizing our plan, we waited until dawn, when we decided it was too risky to act during the day. We would wait until nightfall.
At noon, smoke started rising from one of the abandoned buildings. My second uncle and I had to make do with digging wild yam to stave off hunger, while Huang Jiu somehow caught a wild bird and started eating it raw. Watching him chew with blood and feathers dripping everywhere made me disgusted. No wonder Huang Xian'er would kick him every now and then—he had no hygiene at all.
As evening approached, the area became quieter, and the people inside the building had yet to leave. I leaned against a tree, closed my eyes, and calculated that the spiritual energy I had injected into Tingting's body should be exhausted by now. I worried about her and asked my second uncle if she would be okay.
He closed his eyes for a bit and replied, "Don't worry. I've known Old Song for five or six years. If he says something can be done, it will definitely be done."
That reassured me a little. As night fell, we sneaked back to the area near the abandoned village. I took out the copper coins and was about to have Huang Jiu carry them over and set up the formation when suddenly, a flashlight beam lit up in the abandoned building. Two people in shabby camouflage outfits walked out, seemingly planning to go down the mountain.
My heart skipped a beat. If they separated, it would complicate things. Huang Jiu muttered, "We should've set up the formation during the day; now we wouldn't be in this situation."
He didn't seem to understand the strategy. If we had set up the formation during the day and they had discovered it, they would have known someone was coming. Fortunately, the two men walked into the nearby overgrown grass and squatted down. Huang Jiu cursed under his breath, "Lazy pigs—looks like they ate too much at lunch."
It didn't matter if they were lazy or not; the important thing was that they weren't leaving. I handed Huang Jiu five copper coins and explained exactly where to bury them. He stuffed the coins into his "pocket" and disappeared into the night.
After the two men finished their business, they returned to the building. Half an hour later, a thin mist began to form around the few buildings, laced with a hint of demonic energy, perfectly surrounding the building where the targets were hiding.
Soon, Huang Jiu returned, tail high, grinning as he gave an unstandardized thumbs-up. My second uncle drew his money sword, his left hand holding a talisman, and began heading toward the center of the formation.
I didn't follow my second uncle but instead moved from another direction with Huang Jiu, hiding and waiting for the right moment.
When my second uncle reached the center of the formation, he stood beneath the building and shouted, "You upstairs! You've done evil for too long. Your time has come; come down and face your death!"
The lights in the building immediately flickered on, and five people appeared on the balcony. One of them shined a flashlight down at my second uncle and, upon recognizing him, sneered, "I thought it was someone important. Turns out it's the owner of Li Ji's shop. You're all talk, aren't you? You've come to light a lamp in the restroom."
My second uncle, serious and righteous, stood there holding the money sword, exuding an air of authority.
I turned to Huang Jiu and told it to prepare to act. Any that we could confuse would be a success. But when I turned around, I found that Huang Jiu had already perched on my second uncle's shoulder. It was fiddling with the headlamp on his head and shining it toward the people upstairs.
Apparently, Huang Jiu didn't think the message was clear enough, so it shook my second uncle's headlamp at the group again.
The people upstairs weren't fools. They quickly understood Huang Jiu's message—calling them "feces." One of them scoffed and ordered, "They're blocking our way to wealth. Kill them."
With that command, all five of them jumped down from the second floor.
The same guy who had attacked me last time was there, and all five of them looked similar—shabby clothes but smooth, delicate skin. They looked like the type waiting to get rich without lifting a finger.
Huang Jiu was right about one thing—the lower class can be ruthless, and that makes them even scarier than evil people.
The reason for this, I can't fully explain, but anyone who thinks about it will understand.
Five against one wasn't a challenge for my second uncle. The moment they landed, he turned and entered the feng shui formation, disappearing into the mist.
Huang Jiu taunted from the shadows, "Come on, little bastards! Try to catch me if you can!"