Chapter 72: A Rare Master of Feng Shui and an Unmatched Prodigy (Part Two)

The news about the island nation's military stealing sacred artifacts from Huaxia to build a malevolent tower quickly spread back to the mainland, drawing the serious attention of many high-ranking officials.

With a contemplative expression, Chu Yunhong continued his narrative.

"Back then, my father was a regimental commander. One day, an old beggar and a young beggar arrived at our regiment's encampment. What's more, the old beggar was blind..."

Li Chengfeng was also deep in thought. He had already guessed that the blind old beggar must have been his grandmaster, Li Jinshan, and the young beggar was none other than his grandfather, Li Tiancheng.

Li Chengfeng, Chu Qingyan, and Wang Bin sat nearby, listening quietly.

After the old beggar and the young beggar arrived at the encampment, they sought out Chu Yunhong's father, Chu Zhandong. The young beggar spoke with absolute confidence.

He had observed the celestial phenomena at night and discovered that a blood-red malevolent star had suddenly appeared in the eastern sky, its ominous light entangling the Emperor Star of Ziwei, portending a bloody devastation of the East. This malevolent star had to be eradicated, or it would lead to endless future troubles.

The method to eliminate this malevolent star was to travel east and destroy a malevolent tower.

At the time, Chu Zhandong did not believe them. He had a guard give them some food and told them to leave.

However, neither the old beggar nor the young beggar left. Instead, they waited persistently outside the military camp.

When the soldiers tried to drive them away, the old beggar simply smiled and said that the time was not yet right, but when the time came, their commander would personally come out to invite him in.

About three days later, Chu Zhandong suddenly received a classified mission. His superiors ordered him to lead a detachment on a clandestine crossing to the island nation and destroy the Hachiko Yumi Tower at all costs.

It was only then that Chu Zhandong remembered the two beggars lingering outside the camp. He rushed out eagerly and found that the two men were still waiting there.

He hurriedly invited the two beggars into the headquarters, where he finally learned their true identities. They were Feng Shui masters: the old beggar was Li Jinshan, and the young beggar was Li Tiancheng.

The two of them had come precisely for the purpose of breaking the Hachiko Yumi Tower.

Hearing this, Li Chengfeng's eyes grew moist. He never imagined that his grandfather and grandmaster shared such a legendary past, forsaking their homeland for the sake of national righteousness to covertly cross over to the island nation and break the Hachiko Yumi formation of the Hachiko Yumi Tower.

At this point, a look of resolute grief crossed Chu Yunhong's weathered face, tears welling up in his eyes as he pressed on.

"That old beggar handed my father a jade pendant—called something like the Heaven-Inspecting Token—and told him to take this token to Tianqing Taoist Temple and ask the Daoist priests to come down the mountain to help."

Nearly a hundred Daoist priests from Tianqing Taoist Temple descended the mountain upon seeing the Heaven-Inspecting Token. Together with Li Jinshan and Li Tiancheng, they secretly crossed over to the island nation to break the Feng Shui formation of the Hachiko Yumi Tower.

Before departing for the island nation, Li Jinshan handed the Heaven-Inspecting Token to Chu Zhandong, telling him that the moment the blood-red malevolent star vanished from the eastern night sky, it would prove they had successfully broken the Hachiko Yumi Feng Shui formation.

If the malevolent star remained after half a year, he was to take the Heaven-Inspecting Token, go to any Daoist temple to summon the priests down the mountain, and continue the clandestine mission to destroy the Hachiko Yumi Tower.

Chu Zhandong nodded heavily and executed a military salute to these Daoist priests who were risking their lives to protect the country.

In the days that followed, every night without fail, Chu Zhandong would sit outside, staring fixedly at the eastern night sky and that blood-red malevolent star. Sometimes he would wake up in the dead of night just to look in that direction, gazing at it for the entire night.

His heart was filled with anxiety and worry for the safety of those Daoist priests.

Roughly two months later, when Chu Zhandong raised his eyes to the night sky, he was pleasantly surprised to find that the red malevolent star had vanished, and the Ziwei Emperor Star had reappeared.

He knew the Daoist priests had succeeded; they had successfully broken the Hachiko Yumi Feng Shui formation. He hurriedly reported this good news to his superiors.

In the days that followed, Chu Zhandong watched and waited eagerly, hoping for an early glimpse of the Daoist priests returning in triumph. But half a year passed before Li Tiancheng finally returned to the camp, carrying Li Jinshan's ashes, accompanied by two young Daoist priests, all of them dejected and disheartened.

Nearly a hundred men had gone, and only three had returned!

Chu Zhandong burst into tears on the spot and returned the Heaven-Inspecting Token to Li Tiancheng.

With the Hachiko Yumi Tower destroyed, the war situation in Huaxia was instantly reversed. Those traitors and lackeys seemed to experience a sudden awakening, and many began to rise in revolt and surrender.

Li Chengfeng firmly believed every word Chu Yunhong said, because the Heaven-Inspecting Token was right in his own possession.

His grandfather, his grandmaster, and nearly a hundred Daoist priests had covertly crossed into the island nation to shatter the Hachiko Yumi Tower, leaving only three survivors. One could only imagine what a fiercely brutal mystical duel that must have been.

The clash between the practitioners of the Huaxia Daoist sect and the island nation's Onmyoji and Nine Chrysanthemums lineage Feng Shui masters—the sheer brutality of it was truly beyond imagination.

Once he returned to Qingzhou City, he would make sure to ask his grandfather to recount how they managed to destroy the Hachiko Yumi Tower.

Wang Bin also believed it was all true, but Chu Qingyan didn't believe a single word. Looking at the tear-eyed Chu Yunhong, she said with a chuckle:

"Dad, you're hilarious. You're telling a story and you managed to cry yourself."

"This isn't a story; these are facts! Facts that were never recorded in the history books!"

By this point, tears were streaming down Chu Yunhong's face, and his voice trembled slightly.

"Later on, Li Tiancheng and those two young Daoist priests established the Eight Dragon Gates and the Dragon Guard. The Dragon Guard took it upon themselves to protect the dragon veins of Huaxia, while the Eight Dragon Gates primarily executed certain mystical missions."

"Fifteen years ago, Li Tiancheng suddenly left and disappeared without a trace. A few days ago, I tracked him down and found that he had been living in seclusion in Qingzhou City, but unfortunately, I haven't been able to find him despite searching for a long time!"

A look of shock flashed across Li Chengfeng's face. He had never expected that the Eight Dragon Gates and the Dragon Guard were founded by his grandfather and those two young Daoist priests.

Those two young Daoist priests must have been the successors of the Three Origins Sect.

Seeing her father's tears falling, Chu Qingyan finally realized that her dad wasn't joking after all; what he was telling was an untold piece of history.

Many stories never made it into history textbooks simply because the protagonists were ordinary people, and no one bothered to write them into the annals of history.

Those who wrote history only recorded the deeds of the great and powerful.

Chu Yunhong was about to continue when a knock on the door interrupted him.

"Enter!"

A middle-aged man in military uniform stepped into the room. Walking up to Chu Yunhong, he first executed a crisp military salute and announced in a resonant voice:

"Hu Tiangang reporting, paying respects to Senior General Chu!"

Chu Yunhong nodded, then turned to Chu Qingyan beside him.

"Qingyan, take these two young friends to buy some properly fitting clothes. I have some matters to discuss with Tiangang."

Although somewhat reluctant, Chu Qingyan led Li Chengfeng and Wang Bin out of the room.

Li Chengfeng was perceptive enough to pull the door shut behind them as they stepped out.

He felt a lingering trace of doubt: why did this Hu Tiangang look so remarkably similar to Hu Tianzong and Hu Yansong?

Without dwelling on it further, he followed Chu Qingyan downstairs, heading toward the adjacent Dongda Plaza to buy a couple of well-fitted outfits.