Under One Person: Feng Shui Master, I Will Protect the Mountains and Rivers with My Own Body

"Sir, you can't say that," the one-eyed man said unhurriedly. "This thing is valuable, but you have to be alive to enjoy it. If I take it, I'll be hunted down by the original owner. I need to keep some money to settle things, right? Fifty thousand dollars to buy out your troubles, that's a fair price."

Yan Que was furious, his face flushed red. He pointed at the one-eyed man, speechless for a long time. Finally, like a deflated balloon, he slumped down and said through gritted teeth, "You...you win! Fifty thousand it is! I admit defeat!"

His acting brought to life the image of a destitute stranger who was forced to sell his treasures at a low price due to desperation.

Seeing that he agreed, the one-eyed man smiled smugly. He turned around and took out five thick "bricks" wrapped in brown paper from a box behind the stall, and threw them in front of Yan Que.

Just as Yan Que was about to collect the money, Yan Sen, who had been quietly standing by like a transparent person, suddenly tugged at his sleeve.

"Dad," Yan Sen looked up, pointed to a black, broken bowl in the corner of the stall that was used to hold cigarette butts and sunflower seed shells, and said in a childish voice, "I want that bowl to take back and feed the cat."

Yan Que and the one-eyed dragon were both stunned for a moment, and looked in the direction he was pointing.

It was an ordinary, coarse earthenware bowl with several chips around the rim and a thick layer of tobacco ash on the bottom, so dirty that its original color was no longer visible.

The one-eyed man glanced at it and secretly rejoiced.

Their gang had previously disguised themselves as antique dealers from the city in order to find the next large tomb. This bowl was something one of their underlings, a greenhorn (a newbie), had casually picked up while collecting scraps in the countryside. He thought it was too bulky to even use as an ashtray.

This father and son are quite something; the older one looks like an expert, but the younger one has such terrible taste.

He was in a good mood, and to appease Yan Que's dissatisfaction at being overcharged, he waved his hand generously, appearing exceptionally magnanimous: "Hey, what's a broken bowl worth! Little brother, take it if you like! Consider it a bonus from your older brother!"

Yan Que pretended to refuse a couple of times, but in the end he couldn't resist his son's insistence and took the broken bowl as well.

The money and goods were settled.

Yan Que stuffed the 50,000 yuan and the broken bowl into his cloth bag, pulled Yan Sen up, and without even glancing at the jade again, quickly squeezed into the crowd and disappeared.

As the one-eyed man watched the father and son disappear, his previously languid expression instantly turned sinister. He carefully put away the Blood Embryo Spirit-Locking Jade, then took out an old cell phone from his pocket and dialed an unnumbered account.

The call was answered quickly.

"Set up the pot," One-Eyed Dragon said in a low voice into the phone, "Two 'earth dragons' have arrived, top-quality goods, not even the roots."

"Earth dragon" is another name for a tomb raider. "Not knowing the roots" means that the origin and methods are unclear.

"The boat sounds fine, but it looks like it's empty. Should we follow it?"

"The boat is upright" means the other party speaks fluently and uses slang, as if it were a legitimate tradition. "Empty code" means an amateur or a novice.

What he meant was that although the father and son knew the jargon, their behavior seemed very naive, like newbies on their first time in the business, and they were easy targets.

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, then a cold voice came through: "Follow up. Leave the goods behind, take care of the people. Be careful, don't cause trouble for the Celestial Master's Mansion on Longhu Mountain's territory."

"clear."

The one-eyed man hung up the phone, a cruel smile playing on his lips. He winked at a vendor selling candied hawthorns in the crowd, who immediately put down his load and silently followed him.

……

On the other side, Yan Que led Yan Sen through the alleys of the old town, making sure there were no tails following them, before quickly returning to the inconspicuous little hotel.

As soon as he entered, Yan Que locked the door from the inside and used a chair to block it.

"Dad, this is a bit of a loss. We exchanged 500,000 for 50,000 worth of goods." Yan Sen looked at the five stacks of money on the table with a pained expression.

"Loss?" Yan Que chuckled, took out the dirty, broken bowl from his bag, his eyes shining with an astonishing light. "Son, wash this bowl clean."

Yan Sen took the bowl with a look of disgust and ran to the bathroom to rinse it with tap water.

As the soot and grime on the surface were washed away, the bowl revealed its true form. The bowl was made of rough clay and looked unremarkable, but the inner wall of the bowl shimmered with a warm, lustrous sheen that only those who had been handling antiques for many years and were skilled in Qi cultivation could see.

Yan Que took the bowl and lightly tapped the inside of it with his finger.

"Buzz—"

A long, deep humming sound filled the room, as if it were not the sound of pottery, but the sound of an ancient bell being struck.

"As expected, this is the 'Gathering Qi Bowl'." Yan Que's breathing became more rapid.

He explained to Yan Sen, "This thing looks like a broken bowl, but it's actually a treasure! Look at the pattern on the bottom, doesn't it look like the Chinese character for 'rice'? This is called 'Rice from Ten Thousand Families.' This bowl must have been the rice bowl of a highly virtuous monk or a true beggar in the past. It has received incense offerings and eaten rice from countless families, and it contains the purest 'power of the vows of all sentient beings'!"

Yan Que became increasingly excited as he spoke: "Using it to set up an array, we can use the smoke and fire to conceal our own aura. Even those Taoist priests from the Celestial Master's Mansion wouldn't be able to tell we're extraordinary beings face to face! It can even block insidious spells specifically targeting the soul! This thing is far more useful to us than that evil jade! Son, this bargain you've snagged is worth more than that fifty thousand yuan!"

Yan Sen was stunned.

He had only used the "All Things Connected to Qi" technique to see a comfortable "Qi" in the bowl, but he didn't expect it to have such a powerful origin.

"Then... wouldn't that one-eyed dragon be at a huge loss?" Yan Sen laughed gleefully.

"Him?" Yan Que's face instantly turned cold. "He's probably thinking about how to double-cross us and drown us, father and son, in the Luxi River to feed the turtles."

Yan Que walked to the window, lifted a corner of the curtain, and glanced warily outside.

"Dad, what should we do? Should we run away?" Yan Sen was a little nervous.

"Run? Why run?" Yan Que turned around, a sly smile on his face. "Now that we've come to Longhu Mountain, how can we leave empty-handed? If they want to play, we'll play a big game with them."

He pulled out a yellowed map from his bag, which he didn't know where he got it from, depicting the terrain of the back of Longhu Mountain.

"Come on, son. Daddy will take you to a great place." Yan Que's eyes gleamed with excitement. "Not only will we shake off our pursuers, but we'll also take advantage of this rare and auspicious place to cultivate properly!"

"Let's go up Longhu Mountain, you and me!"