When Hu Bayi heard this and saw everyone gazing at him with shining eyes, he actually began to feel rather proud. He kept his face calm, though inside he was positively smug, and said:
"The secrets of Celestial Star Feng Shui Art lie in observing the stars, their light, the bright moon, and its light; studying how they move across the sky; and even observing the clouds and mist. By combining all these observations, you can align them with auspicious sites on the ground. Such sites include dragon veins, dragon tails, dragon hearts, dragon meridians, dragon heads, and so on. There are also tiger veins, hall veins, and countless others, including dead veins, living veins, ominous veins, and yin-yang veins.
"Only when auspicious sites on the ground are aligned with the stars in the sky can it be called Celestial Star Feng Shui Art. As for the crude folk practice of Dragon Seeking Finger Pointing, it's not fit for a serious discussion."
Everyone listened to Hu Bayi's words with great interest. They couldn't understand much of it, but still felt that what he said made a lot of sense.
Experts in archaeology knew at least a little about how terrestrial veins were divided into countless types.
They also believed it was true. Some corpses had been buried in the earth for thousands of years without decaying at all, yet the moment their tombs were opened, the bodies began to change.
"Celestial Star Feng Shui Art is also known as Celestial Vault Green Bag Art." Hu Bayi saw that everyone had been utterly taken in and couldn't help laughing to himself. "It's the Heaven Scroll of the Sixteen Character Yin Yang Feng Shui Secret Art, and the most abstruse chapter in that scroll.
"I studied Celestial Vault Green Bag Art diligently from childhood under my grandfather's careful guidance. I can't claim to have mastered it, but as long as I look at the stars and compare them with the ground, I can read the terrain, no matter how badly it's been altered."
He was bragging, but he knew where to draw the line.
At first, he had planned to say that he could tell whether there was an ancient tomb underground, but then he changed his mind.
Hu Ming silently praised his cousin. Not bad. He really did have a quick mind.
"Ancient emperors and nobles believed deeply in feng shui. They thought that the comforts they enjoyed in life should continue after death, and that their descendants should enjoy them as well. So they searched for auspicious sites to build tombs, hoping to ensure prosperity and wealth for themselves in the afterlife and for their descendants.
"Emperors believed that the rise and fall of the realm all originated with the dragon veins. So they searched for them and built their mausoleums atop the dragon heads, hoping their dynasties would last for thousands of generations. They would also block other dragon veins to preserve the royal veins and tombs."
At this point, Hu Bayi took a sip of water, wanting a moment's rest. Then he turned to Hu Ming. Hu Ming had studied the Sixteen Character Yin Yang Feng Shui Secret Art too, so there was no reason Hu Bayi should get to show off alone. His brother deserved a chance as well.
"I'll let Hu Ming explain the rest. He studied it too, and Grandpa taught him a lot. He's every bit as good as I am in this field.
"He also read through the old books Grandpa collected from a young age. He knows oracle bone script, tadpole script, and small seal script. And he knows traditional Chinese medicine!"
Hu Bayi made an inviting gesture toward Hu Ming, secretly amused. How could he leave his fellow bookworm out of the fun?
Hu Ming had managed to get dragged into this while sitting still. He hadn't even known he was this talented.
He considered passing the chance to show off to Fatty, but then decided that with Fatty's limited knowledge, it was best not to.
"Comrade Hu, what you said was wonderful. You've truly opened our eyes."
Professor Chen gave Hu Bayi a thumbs-up. He'd been completely absorbed in the explanation; if Hu Bayi hadn't stopped, he might still have been listening, entranced.
"Comrade Hu knows so much. We've really struck gold this time." Even the usually rigid Hao Aiguo had been won over by Hu Bayi's feng shui knowledge.
Yang Xueli's eyes lit up. She said admiringly to Hu Bayi, "Mr. Hu, you're so learned. Your understanding of feng shui is astonishingly profound. It's hard to imagine finding another feng shui expert like you. But what surprised me most was..."
She turned to Hu Ming. "I never expected Mr. Hu Ming to know even more. Feng shui, traditional Chinese medicine, ancient scripts, Dragon Seeking Finger Pointing—you've truly stunned me!"
Hu Ming was at a loss for words. Though he had studied the Sixteen Character Yin Yang Feng Shui Secret Art, it was only theory. He had tried it just once, at Niuxin Mountain. Unlike Hu Bayi, he hadn't encountered strange things while working as an educated youth, which had given Hu Bayi the chance to put his knowledge into practice.
Though he had claimed his feng shui skills were no worse than Hu Bayi's, he knew that in truth he still fell short.
With everyone staring at him, he thought for a moment, then delivered the lines that had originally belonged to Hu Bayi.
"I only know a little about Celestial Star Feng Shui Art. Feng shui is considered the foremost of the earth sciences. A feng shui site can be summed up simply as a place sheltered from the wind and blessed with water.
"Later generations gradually developed feng shui into the art of geomancy. Put simply, it's the study of the relationship between heaven, earth, and humanity.
"The ancients sought to unite heaven and humanity. They considered not only mountains and waterways, but also the sun, moon, and stars. Since ancient times, people have observed celestial phenomena and studied the changing stars to predict fortune and misfortune.
"When searching for auspicious feng shui sites, they often drew on the essence of astronomy. The five celestial regions above correspond to twenty-four stars, which in turn correspond to the mountains and geography below. Stars can be auspicious or inauspicious, just as places can be lucky or unlucky.
"Any truly auspicious land must correspond with the sun, moon, and stars in the sky. The ancient art of Qingwu, which uses the flow of constellations to determine a burial site, is the hardest form of feng shui to master: Celestial Star Feng Shui Art!
"There are twenty-four lunar mansions in the heavens, twenty-four hours in a day, and twenty-four solar terms in a year. Thus, feng shui has twenty-four directions and twenty-four positions.
"If someone can read the auspicious and inauspicious arrangements of the stars and combine that with a compass, they can find the place they're looking for."
Hu Ming left out more than a thousand words. It wasn't that he couldn't remember them; there was no point saying more. After all, no one but Hu Bayi would understand it anyway.
After listening, Hu Bayi slapped his forehead. What was wrong with him? He always forgot the lines he was supposed to memorize. And now he'd let Hu Ming steal such a perfect chance to show off.
With Yang Xueli, a beautiful woman, right in front of him, Hu Bayi had wanted to make a good impression.
Professor Chen, Yang Xueli, Professor Hao, Ye Yixin, and the others were all captivated, sitting there in a daze.
They hadn't expected to find two top masters of Celestial Star Feng Shui Art here, men who understood the art of feng shui inside and out. They had never seen or heard anything like this.
"Comrades Hu..."
Just as Professor Chen was about to say more, Hu Ming's mouth twitched. "Please call me Comrade Xiaoming!"
Professor Chen froze for a moment, then smiled. "Comrade Xiaoming, Comrade Hu, what you said was wonderful. You're feng shui geniuses, gifts from heaven."
"The great desert of the Western Regions has changed beyond recognition over the past thousand years. The oases have turned into seas of sand. The Peacock River dried up long ago and is difficult to find, let alone the ruins and tombs buried in the desert.
"Since the ancients used mountains, waterways, the sun, moon, and stars to choose their burial sites, Celestial Star Feng Shui Art is the simplest and most effective way for us to find the tombs buried along the ancient Silk Road. With you joining us, excavating and protecting the ancient tombs will go much more smoothly."
As he spoke, Professor Chen took hold of Hu Bayi's and Hu Ming's hands and kept shaking them without letting go.
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