The low-key prince summons trainees from the Imperial Household Department at the start of the game.

Guo Pu received the decree from the immortals when he awoke in a stone cave in a desolate mountain outside Qingzhou City.

He sat leaning against the cave wall for a long time, gazing at the sunlight filtering through the cave entrance, and suddenly smiled.

In his previous life, he annotated the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" and wrote the "Book of Burial". He spent his life traveling through mountains and rivers, looking at graves and houses for people. He was revered as the patriarch by Feng Shui masters of later generations.

He was penniless when he was alive, unable to even afford a pot of good wine, but after he died, he was worshipped.

Now reborn, I am still a wandering geomancer, still homeless, and still poor.

But this life is different.

Here lies a righteous spirit, the destiny of heaven and earth, and dragon veins and yin spirits that existed only in legends in my previous life but were never truly seen.

He stood up, dusted off his robes, shouldered his bag, and strode down the mountain.

Two days later, Guo Pu met Li Chunfeng in a dilapidated mountain god temple ten miles outside Qingzhou City.

Although the two were separated by hundreds of years in their previous lives, Guo Pu's name was already well-known to Li Chunfeng in the field of feng shui, and the "immortal" also told Guo Pu about Li Chunfeng's achievements.

Guo Pu took out some dry rations from his bag and gave half to Li Chunfeng, casually saying, "Last night, I discovered signs of surging underground energy at the abandoned Dragon King Temple in the south of the city. The intensity of the surge was even stronger than at the beginning of summer."

"It's perfect that we can work together to survey this place and see what's buried beneath Qingzhou City."

Li Chunfeng didn't stand on ceremony. He took the dry rations, ate a bite, and spread the half-finished star map on the offering table, saying, "It's not just Qingzhou."

"I traveled south along the canal, passing through six prefectural cities along the way."

"Similar signs are present in every location, and the timing of the outbreak coincides with the movement of the stars. The most dangerous wave should occur around the winter solstice."

As the two were talking, footsteps came from outside the mountain god temple.

A middle-aged man wearing a worn-out cloth robe pushed open the door and entered, with an old satchel slung over his shoulder and an oil-paper umbrella in his hand.

This is Lai Buyi.

He had just closed his umbrella when he spoke with a hint of self-deprecation: "The water level in the old well south of Qingzhou City has dropped by three feet, and the water tastes bitter and astringent. Many neighbors have come to the 'Lai Family Geography Hall' to ask me about good or bad fortune."

"I've been doing feng shui for them for half my life, and this is the first time I'm not even sure myself."

"The immortals gave me these eyes and these skills to you two gentlemen. We can't just watch the people suffer."

"Since you two are both here, why don't we take this job?"

Guo Pu laughed heartily upon hearing this, and pointed to the star chart on the offering table, saying, "Brother Lai, you've come at just the right time."

"Brother Li is in charge of observing the heavens and calculating key points, I am in charge of observing the earth and understanding its pulse, and Brother Lai is in charge of observing people. We will translate the principles of heaven and earth into the language of the common people."

Lai Buyi walked to the offering table, looked down at the densely packed star chart, pointed to one of the marks and said, "This mark corresponds to a star."

He had read about it in an ancient book.

Guiding Qi into the meridians, the earth's veins are the bones of mountains and rivers, and the Qi of heaven and earth is the blood of mountains and rivers.

Previously, these were all theories in ancient books. The deepest dilemma of Feng Shui for thousands of years has been that it can only be observed but not acted upon.

A geomancer can tell where the feng shui is good and where it is bad, but to truly adjust the earth's energy, one can only rely on relocating graves and changing houses; that is passive adaptation, not active transformation.

But things are different now; righteousness is the most handy tool for feng shui masters.

It can use its own righteous energy to actively resolve the yin energy accumulated in the earth's veins.

Guo Pu then took over the conversation and further elaborated on the relationship between the celestial energy and the geography of mountains and rivers.

The Qi (vital energy) between heaven and earth is like a ceaselessly flowing underground river, originating from the Kunlun ancestral vein and flowing along the three major dragon veins.

The Northern, Central, and Southern Dragon Streams flow across the land of Kyushu.

These main dragon veins branch out into countless tributaries, like a towering tree. Where the earth's veins intersect, the dragon veins flow freely, brimming with righteous energy, leaving no room for yin energy.

The fortune of every city also depends on this dragon vein system.

The capital city sits in the central dragon vein, the northern prefectures rely on the northern dragon vein, and the prosperous lands of the south depend on the southern dragon vein.

The dragon vein that Emperor Taizu suppressed with his own body is the central hub of this earth's energy vein that runs through the nine provinces.

Li Chunfeng added that he had calculated the recent incidents of Yin energy overflowing in various places.

It was discovered that the Yin energy was not evenly distributed, but rather concentrated at certain specific "nodes".

These nodes are all located at the ends of the earth vein branches.

Like a great river, the main stream flows unimpeded.

However, the water flow is slow at the end of the tributary, and silt easily accumulates. Yin energy is these "silt" and is most likely to settle in these places.

Lai Buyi drew upon dozens of feng shui cases he had handled in Qingzhou.

When the macrocosmic principles of the universe are reduced to concrete and perceptible phenomena, one suddenly understands.

He once selected a burial site for a wealthy family. The site was located on the southern slope of Cuiping Mountain outside Qingzhou City, in an excellent location.

The house was nestled against a mountain and faced water; in theory, it should have brought prosperity to three generations. However, the wealthy family's fortunes declined within a few years of the burial.

He had never understood why, but now he realized: the earth vein at that location was at the end of a branch of the main dragon vein, and the earth energy had been depleted for a long time, just like a dry field. No matter how good the feng shui layout was, it would be useless.

Guo Pu summarized: The three of them each had their own tasks, and he was responsible for conducting on-site surveys to find the bottlenecks.

Li Chunfeng was responsible for astrological analysis and prediction of the outbreak trend.

Lai Buyi was responsible for breaking down the disposal plan into specific, actionable steps.

Working together as a trio is like taking the pulse of the earth.

He accurately diagnosed the patient's condition by feeling the pulse, Li Chunfeng calculated the illness, and Lai Buyi prescribed medicine.

After that, they had to investigate each of these points one by one, clearing up what could be cleared up, resolving what could be resolved, and reporting to the imperial court to ask officials to suppress what could not be cleared up with their official seals.

This is like the Great Zhou Dynasty being the main river channel, the officials being the dike protectors, and the workers helping to clear the silt.

After finishing this task, they had to report to His Highness that the period around the winter solstice was the most dangerous time.

The three packed their belongings and left the mountain god temple.

Guo Pu strode towards Qingzhou City with his luggage on his back, followed closely by Lai Buyi with his old satchel slung over his shoulder, while Li Chunfeng rolled up the star map and put it into his sleeve.

The autumn sun behind them hung above the city wall of Qingzhou, making the glazed tiles on the city gate tower shine brightly.