A dozen or so people crowded around Cheng Xinzhan, their faces eager.
One elderly man stood slightly ahead of the others. He seemed to be the one in charge here.
The old man cupped his hands toward Cheng Xinzhan and said,
"May I ask if you are Scripture Master Cheng?"
Cheng Xinzhan returned the greeting.
"I am. Greetings, lay devotee. May I ask which of the Liao, Zeng, Lai, or Liu families you represent?"
The old man said,
"Greetings, Scripture Master. This old man is Liao Junshan, unworthily serving as head of the Liao Household. Please come inside, Scripture Master. Let us sit down and talk."
Cheng Xinzhan naturally agreed, and the party descended into the village, arriving at a building beside the pond in the Qian Position.
Before entering, they passed through a bluestone memorial archway. Cheng Xinzhan saw the words "Yang Gong Shrine" inscribed upon it.
Receiving a guest at the Yang Gong Shrine was the highest courtesy the Four Great Families could offer.
Once inside, he saw a large courtyard well. Golden koi swam in the wealth pond beneath it, their tails exceptionally long, already showing something of the rudimentary form of Dragon Carp.
They went around the wealth pond and led Cheng Xinzhan into the main hall.
A shrine stood at the center of the main hall's rear wall, enshrining a seated clay statue of Patriarch Yang Yun-song. This founding patriarch of the Geomantic Form School had a lean, refined face and held a wooden staff, looking every inch an adept whose calculations never erred.
Yet unlike when Cheng Xinzhan visited Juqü Mountain, Sanyuan Mountain, or Gezao Mountain, no one here offered him incense, and the ever-modest Cheng Xinzhan did not take the initiative to offer incense to Yang Gong either.
For Yang Gong's geomantic Dao