235 – Feng Shui

“Hello, do you know Mr. Lei Shang?” Li Yun asked the couple who answered the door. 

The couple both narrowed their eyes in confusion, causing Li Yun to take a second look at the number next to their door. The street number attached to the side of the door matched the address that Master Yue had given to him. 

"I'm looking for Mr. Lei Shang," Li Yun repeated slowly just in case the couple didn't understand him.

“Ah! You must be talking about the previous owner!” The man finally spoke. “I don’t know the man, but his mail sometimes gets delivered here. That might be him.”

“I see, do you know where he is now?” asked Li Yun.

“I’m sorry, we have never communicated directly with the previous owner.”

"Do you have the contact information of the real estate agent or lawyer?" Li Yun asked.

The wife went back to the back and arrived with a business card of the agent. Li Yun thanked the couple and strode out toward the open front lawn, typical of a home located in the suburban neighborhood outside of Maple City. As Li Yun headed out toward the car, he saw a neighbor walking his dog.

“Sir, do you know of Mr. Lei Shang in this neighborhood?” asked Li Yun.

“Mr. Lei Shang? Which one is he?” asked the man.

“An elderly man, should be around seventy,” Li Yun responded.

“Hm… I think the man passed away more than five years ago,” the neighbor scratched the back of his head to search for more memories.

"Did he have other family members?"

The neighbor nodded as memories about the family slowly trickled into his mind. “The Shang has been going through some tough times after he passed away. I heard his son got divorced and then that unfortunate car accident happened. His car drove into a diner and left him in a wheelchair. The diner also sued the family afterward. They couldn't pay off the lawsuit so the bank repossessed their house. I haven’t seen them around for a good three years.”

“That is unfortunate. Do you know where they went afterward?” 

“Don’t really know, but I think I saw the grandson working downtown as a waiter.”

Li Yun thanked the man for the information and returned to the rental car.

“Something happened to the Shang?” Rouxi asked from the driver’s seat.

“I’m not sure," Li Yun looked up the Shang on his phone.

There was a news article about a car accident that happened three years ago. A man in his forties crashed into the diner. The police appeared and noted that the man was never intoxicated with alcohol. There was a blurry picture of the diner with a giant opening in the middle of the storefront. Luckily, it was the weekend and no one was injured other than the driver.

Li Yun dialed the phone to the real estate agent, but it seemed as though their office had closed down last year.

"Let's head downtown for lunch?” Li Yun asked as he inputted the restaurant's address into the GPS.

It was a long shot, but Li Yun still wanted to see if he could track down the grandson. It would be unfortunate if old Master Shang Lei passed away without leaving behind his legacy.

Li Yun's purpose in Maple Country was to visit a feng shui master. If he couldn’t find someone from the Shang lineage, he may have to talk to Master Meng Shi, the man under Song Taiji’s service. According to Rouxi, Meng Shi’s family had been under the service of the Song family for centuries.

It was a rather curious situation. Why would a family who could practice feng shui devote themselves to another family for centuries? Was it out of devotion? A curse? Or a mutual interest? Or was there something about the practice itself that prevented the user from benefiting from the effects? 

“Does the Meng provide service to other people?” Li Yun asked. “The ancient families like the Long and Chen, is it possible for them to have feng shui masters serving them?”

“Maybe?” Rouxi was unsure herself. “But it’s likely they have different people. The Meng mainly deals with the Song.”

“Are they a big clan?”

“The Meng Clan has many branches, many of whom serve the Song in some capacity,” Rouxi replied. “However, only the main branch retains the feng shui lineage.”

“If we can't contact the Shang, can you set up a meeting with Meng Shi?”

“I can, but I'd rather you not see that old man,” said Rouxi.

“Really, you don’t like him?” asked Li Yun.

“He thinks I’m possessed, what a madman,” Rouxi replied.

“Why?” Li Yun curiously looked at Rouxi.

“I think it has to do with my eyes. Can you sense it?”

“I don’t know,” Li Yun had been gauging Rouxi’s dantian as she cultivated. There wasn't anything unusual.

Old masters with old lineages like Master Yi Bao, Abbot Haoyang, and Lihom had bigger dantians through years of practice. But just because their dantians were bigger, it didn't mean they possessed supernatural powers and extra strength. It was more certain that their spiritual senses were stronger.

There was oddity like Doctor Jack or the cursed dantian like the Mo family. Surprisingly, people like serial killers didn’t possess any darkness. He didn't completely understand why they didn’t. Perhaps, people didn’t collect darkness if they didn’t believe what they were doing was evil. Or the darkness was still trapped somewhere, waiting for the truth to be discovered?

There was also a possibility that Li Yun’s ability was still weak. Was there another layer to the dantian that he couldn’t sense? After all, he could only see the two rotating triangular pyramids. 

After driving back to downtown, Rouxi steered the wheel around the corner into a parking lot of a local restaurant. They got out of the car and walked into a quiet restaurant with only two customers eating at the table. The waitress quickly took them to their seats.

While they ordered the meal, they learned that Shang Cang had been fired over a year ago. One of the waiters remembered he had a second job at a local hotel chain. It looked like they had another pitstop to make before heading to their next destination.