Inside and outside the formation were two different worlds.
The wind outside could not blow in. Dust, exhaust fumes, and industrial pollution were automatically blocked at the formation's boundary by a membrane of spiritual energy as thin as a cicada's wing.
From that day forward, the air in Chen Family Village would be so clean it hardly seemed earthly.
Chen Lin stood on the dam, feeling the pulse of the formation at work.
Steady and gentle, like an enormous heart beating slowly.
Then he noticed something else.
The leaves on the row of willows beside the Reservoir had turned a vivid green.
The roadside weeds, which had nearly withered yellow under the daytime sun, now looked tender and lush.
All the vegetation in Chen Family Village seemed to have entered spring.
And that was not all.
Chen Lin's hearing picked up movements farther away.
Beyond the formation's boundary, deep in the mountain woods, countless tiny footsteps, fluttering wings, and the rustle of snake bellies against the ground were converging from every direction.
Wild rabbits, pheasants, squirrels, snakes, badgers...
They were not charging over in packs. Each followed its own instincts, independently moving in the same direction.
Toward Chen Family Village.
Toward the spiritual energy-rich space within the formation.
A living creature's instincts were more sensitive than any instrument.
Standing on the dam, Chen Lin watched the dark shapes emerge from the woods in the moonlight, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
"Now this is... a true treasure of feng shui."
He stopped listening and turned to walk back.
Five forty in the morning.
Chen Guofu was woken by birdsong.
Not one or two birds. Dozens, hundreds, calling all across the hills.
He had lived in Chen Family Village for forty-eight years and grown up listening to birds.