Fangxian Heretical Path

Chapter 82 The Secrets of the Hu Family: The Art of Dragon Seeking and Gold Raiding
"Sister Dou's lover... her deceased husband, has quite a background."

Fang Shu muttered to himself involuntarily.

The booklet hidden in the corpse contained a spell called "Dragon-Seeking and Gold-Touching Technique," a secret feng shui art.

According to the booklet, this technique is one of the introductory techniques passed down by immortal array masters. Once mastered, one can find dragon veins and observe their energy, find gold and find auspicious sites, and easily examine the terrain of mineral veins, earth veins, and spiritual veins. It can also help people choose suitable locations to build houses, dig graves, refine elixirs, and forge weapons.

What's even more special is that although this secret technique is a magic spell with many secret texts, if a mortal has unique talent, he or she can practice it before entering the Dao, without worrying about whether it will harm his or her life.

This is because the art relies heavily on comprehension.

With just a little knowledge, cultivators can thrive in the mortal world, even choosing burial sites and graves for noble families, becoming their honored guests.

If a cultivator is even more promising, they can come to the Immortal Market to search for mineral veins and spiritual veins for the immortals, thus acquiring a skill that can support their family.

If one fully masters this feng shui secret, it means that the cultivator has the talent to become a formation master. Once they join a celestial sect, they can study the "divination and numerology" course and follow the lineage of formation masters!
Fang Shu pondered, his eyes filled with growing astonishment.

He truly hadn't expected that Dou Sufu's deceased husband, who had died so easily here, would possess such a secret technique, and that his ancestors had been array masters!

What amazed him even more was that, according to the messy, hastily written blood-red text at the back of the booklet, the reason why Cheng Guanzi and his group dared to leave the town and come to the mine to search for treasure was...

The reason was actually that Dou Sufu's deceased husband, surnamed Hu, was secretly instigating and leading her.

It was this man surnamed Hu who, through his ancestral secret techniques, claimed to have discovered the direction of the mineral vein in Qianshan and boldly deduced that this abandoned mineral vein might still contain good or even precious minerals.

So he led Cheng Guanzi and others to this place to scout and explore for minerals.

The group agreed that if there were still good minerals to be mined in this abandoned mine, they would pool their money to buy the land and work together to get rich!
Unfortunately, it was feng shui that brought them both success and failure.

This man surnamed Hu was clearly being cautious; he wasn't actually there to search for mineral veins, but rather under the guise of prospecting to search for ancestral relics.

Cheng Guanzi and his group were merely a result of Hu's own weakness and lack of resources, which was why he had no choice but to gather a crowd. Furthermore, he pushed Cheng Guanzi to the forefront while he himself remained hidden behind the scenes.

As it turned out, this man surnamed Hu had a stroke of great luck.

He led the group and they indeed discovered a great treasure in the abandoned mine. They even dug up the treasure-gathering array left by their ancestors, without giving them any time to adjust or prepare.

Naturally, infighting broke out among the prospectors. In the end, Cheng Guanzi and his group managed to seize the treasure and blasted up the mine tunnel, burying the rest of the group inside the cave.

Fang Shu pondered the opportunity this man surnamed Hu had, and couldn't help but sigh.

If the other party hadn't found such a precious medicine as Purple Lead Cloud Breast Milk right away, but had only found some good ore, they wouldn't have ended up like this.

"Of course, if only one person comes, even if they discover such a precious medicine, they will not suffer at the hands of others."

Fang Shu was calculating in his heart.

Ultimately, it was because the man surnamed Hu was weak that he had to rely on the strength of others, which ultimately harmed him.

If the other party were like him, able to come and mine alone, or able to intimidate the entire scene, or even turn around and kill Cheng Guanzi and others, then the situation would be completely different.

If one's own strength is unstable and one's magical power is insufficient, even the best opportunity may not be able to be seized.

Fang Shu secretly took this lesson from the man surnamed Hu to heart.

He then paced through the cave, his expression shifting constantly, showing no sign of relief despite having learned the whole story.

He pondered this even more deeply.

Because this ancestral secret technique passed down by the Hu family, besides recording a secret technique and the reasons for prospecting, more importantly, records the Hu family's history about their ancestors:
"Our ancestor was a disciple of the Immortal Sect. He was exceptionally intelligent and entered the sect without any spiritual roots. He inherited the Dao of Arrays, refined his essence in one year, and broke through the barrier to refine his Qi in two years, thus becoming an array master. However, after sixty years, he was hindered in his foundation building and found it difficult to continue his immortal path. Therefore, he went down the mountain to establish a branch, which led to the Hu family."

Our ancestor once observed that there might be a small dragon vein in Qianshan, and repeatedly entered the mountain to search for it, but to no avail, until he passed away there. We, his unworthy descendants, have also entered the mountain to search for the dragon vein for generations, all to no avail…”

"This time, I, Hu, entered the mountains not to seek the so-called dragon vein, but only to find the place where my ancestor passed away, to obtain his legacy, and to restore my Hu family. Now, I am ambitious but lack talent, and instead I am trapped in the treasure array set up by my ancestor. As one is about to die, fate plays tricks on people, and I am almost without regrets."

"Only my wife, Dou Sufu, remains untouched; I am truly ashamed. If anyone comes across this book, please collect my body. I, Hu, am now revealing the secrets of the Hu family as a gift. If you truly inherit the Hu family's legacy, I hope that if you ever encounter my wife again, you will treat her kindly."

In short, the contents of this suicide note reveal that the man surnamed Hu came out to search for his ancestors' treasures, but ended up dying because of them.

Left with no other choice, the other party wrote down the secrets of his family's inheritance in a book. If someone happens to meet him and collects his body for burial, they will receive this book.

Fang Shu paced back and forth, then squatted down again, repeatedly examining the scattered Hu family treasure book on the ground. Only when the book was completely damaged, reduced to a pile of ashes, and impossible to look at again, did he put it down, stand up, and ponder its contents in his mind.

At this moment, in his mind, the "Dragon Seeking and Gold Touching Technique" was already ranked first among the Taoist talismans and had been thoroughly analyzed.

It is indeed a secret technique, and its contents seem complete, but it is quite difficult, even more so than the Fire Blade Technique. It would take half a year to fully analyze it.

The Taoist talisman's analysis of "The Art of Seeking Dragons and Touching Gold" also, to some extent, corroborates the authenticity of what the man surnamed Hu said in the treasure book.

There may indeed be the remains and inheritance of a Qi Refining Immortal in this lead-mountain mine!
Furthermore, the other party has repeatedly entered the lead-mountain mine in search of gold, and the contingency plans they have left behind are probably more than one!
Thinking of this, Fang Shu's heart began to pound uncontrollably.

However, he quickly suppressed these distracting thoughts and stopped thinking about them.

Even the descendants of the Hu family throughout the ages have failed to find the so-called ancestral treasure. Only Dou Sufu's deceased husband was incredibly lucky, stumbling upon one, and coincidentally, he was cursed to die.

Other treasures left by the Hu family ancestors, especially the remains of the other party, should be even more difficult to find.

And more likely, the inheritance has already been taken by someone else. After all, the lead mine has been in operation for over sixty years, and even disciples of the Immortal Sect have come here.

"Even if I were truly lucky enough to obtain the inheritance of the Hu family ancestor, I would still ultimately be a formation master."

Thinking of this, Fang Shu couldn't help but sigh softly and mutter, "Why isn't it a Gu Master's inheritance..."

But this feeling of regret only lingered in his heart for a moment before dissipating.

To actually obtain the inheritance of a Qi Refining Array Master is already a stroke of incredible luck. Even if one doesn't learn it, selling it would be a great thing. How can one have such unrealistic expectations?

Fang Shu chewed on a point casually mentioned in the treasure book, his face filled with anticipation.

He thought to himself, "Although the Hu family is not a family specializing in Gu techniques, what they have left behind and what they are involved in may still be useful to us Gu practitioners."

It turns out that the reason why the ancestors of the Hu family, all the descendants of the Hu family, including Dou Sufu's deceased husband, were so obsessed with finding dragons and gold in this place, and why the whole clan was determined to fight to the death, was explained in that precious book.

This is because there are indeed signs of dragon veins and dragon energy appearing in the lead-mountain mine.

And this sign is the gold-seeking beetle!

The name "Gold-Seeking Insect" is a shortened form used by people in the Gu Dao (poisonous insect) sect, such as Fang Shu. However, among people in the Array Dao sect, it has another full name: Dragon-Seeking Gold-Touching Insect!

From a feng shui perspective, wherever this insect appears, there must be a dragon vein underground, the only difference being whether it is large or small, or whether it appears early or late.

This is because this insect is born from the dragon's energy, which is why it can find dragons and plunder gold, observe the energy and the wind, making it a treasure-hunting insect!
Fang Shu thought to himself, "Dragon energy, is it? I wonder if the dragon energy mentioned by the Hu family and the dragon energy mentioned by the Daoist talisman are the same thing..."

Regardless of whether the two are the same thing or not, Fang Shu absolutely cannot let go of the signs of "dragon energy" and the clues of the appearance of treasure insects like the gold-seeking insects.

After pondering the contents of Hu Jiabao's book again and again, Fang Shu did not find any signs of conflict. He also carefully searched the man surnamed Hu, but did not find any more clues.

So he solemnly collected the man's remains, and even carried them out of the cave, choosing a corner of the underground mine to bury them.

Fang Shu then returned to the cave, made sure to cover up his tracks, and then hurriedly fled the abandoned mine.

Before long, he climbed to a high point in Qianshan.

He waited anxiously until sunrise, when the purple aura appeared in the east, before finally opening his eyes wide and looking down over most of the lead mountain mine.

He compared the topographical features drawn in Hu Jiabao's book and indeed found that the undulating hills in the lead-mountain mine had a dragon-like appearance.

Especially when the morning mist rises, even if the mine is filled with acidic water and smog, its grandeur is still hard to conceal.

After a moment of distraction, Fang Shu quickly used the simple method described by the man surnamed Hu before his death to deduce the location of the other array points, taking the cave as one of the array's key points.

He quickly estimated the possible location of the array's core within the lead mountain.

These places number as many as seven, varying in size.

Among these seven suspected array points, Fang Shu immediately spotted one and stared intently at it, his eyes gleaming.

He instinctively felt that this place had the greatest possibility of containing gold-seeking insects, or even the hidden plans of the Hu family's ancestors, and that it was something he had to investigate thoroughly!
(End of this chapter)