Chapter One: The Brooks Family’s Lame Rotten Foot

The water-controlling divine beast of Sichuan, the dragon-shaped relief “Dragon Pillar” on Shanghai’s elevated highway, the “Dragon-Locking Well” at Beixin Bridge, ominous houses and evil lands everywhere—from national projects to ordinary homes, feng shui is everywhere! Even the small Beiding Niangniang Temple could force the Olympic Bird’s Nest to move a hundred meters—was it the power of the gods?

Feng shui can nurture people, but it can also kill—this is absolutely true. I am a feng shui yin-yang master, having traveled all over China. Today, I will recount some tales of feng shui and spirits from the past hundred years in China...

I inherited my grandfather’s mantle. My grandfather was called David Brooks, a feng shui master, also known as “Lame Rotten Foot,” because he was a cripple with a limp. Of course, generally no one dared to call him that to his face.

In my grandfather’s generation, the The Brooks Family ancestors were famous landlords in the region, owning hundreds of acres of good farmland. At the height of the The Brooks Family’s prosperity, sixty to seventy percent of the town’s people were their tenant farmers. The reason the The Brooks Family became such big landlords, it’s said, was because a high official once came from the family, and the The Brooks Family enjoyed the blessings of their ancestors.

Speaking of the The Brooks Family’s ancestors, there is a feng shui story here, because the reason the The Brooks Family produced a high official was all thanks to a feng shui master. Of course, to produce this high official, the The Brooks Family also paid a heavy price. It truly fulfilled the saying: feng shui can nurture, but it can also kill!

It’s said that in the late Qing Dynasty, the The Brooks Family was thriving, but the younger generations were not very capable, and for generations no one of note had emerged.

That year, the old master of the The Brooks Family passed away, and the eldest of the family invited a feng shui master, hoping he would choose an auspicious burial site so that the family might produce a talented person and bring honor to their ancestors.

The feng shui master was a very famous person from the neighboring county, making a living by reading feng shui, understanding yin and yang, predicting fortune and misfortune, and possessing great skill.

The feng shui master was invited to the The Brooks Family, and he said to them, “I have two burial sites: one that brings prosperity to descendants, and one that produces high officials and generals. If you choose the first, after the old master is buried, the The Brooks Family will be blessed with many descendants. If you choose the second, after the burial, the The Brooks Family will produce a high official or general. Which do you want?”

The The Brooks Family replied, “We already have many descendants, but for generations no one of use has emerged, so we want the one that produces high officials.”

The feng shui master didn’t object, but took his compass and walked around the The Brooks Family estate, then said, “The The Brooks Family’s fortune is thin. If you choose the latter, you will indeed produce a high official, but you will also have to pay a price.”

At that time, the The Brooks Family was greedy. Hearing that their descendants could become high officials, they didn’t care about anything else and immediately decided on the auspicious site for high officials.

The feng shui master nodded slightly and said, “It’s not impossible to choose the site for great talent, but you must first pay me silver before I reveal the location.”

The The Brooks Family readily agreed, not thinking much of it, assuming the master was just afraid they’d back out after he revealed the site.

The next day, on the day the old master of the The Brooks Family was to be buried, the family prepared the silver for the feng shui master, who then led them to the auspicious site. The view there was vast, a flat land with a high mound at the peak. The site that would produce high officials, as the master said, was on top of this high mound, called the “Riding Dragon Site,” meaning a burial site riding on the dragon’s back.

Once the site was found, the feng shui master instructed the The Brooks Family to break ground and dig the grave. Only when they had dug seven feet deep did he tell them to stop. At this point, the soil in the grave was multicolored and beautiful, with wisps of mist rising from the bottom. In the blink of an eye, the grave was filled with colorful fog. The The Brooks Family was amazed and knew the master hadn’t lied—this was indeed an auspicious site.

Then the feng shui master said to the The Brooks Family, “I have revealed the Riding Dragon Site. Now, as you bury the old master and seal the grave, the matter is done.”

After speaking, the feng shui master took a hundred taels of silver from the The Brooks Family and said, “Today I take a hundred taels. If in the future the The Brooks Family does not produce a high official, I will return tenfold.”

The The Brooks Family asked, “How long is ‘in the future’?” The master replied, “Eighteen years.”

With that, the feng shui master didn’t wait for the The Brooks Family to finish sealing the grave, but hurried down the mountain with the silver...

The The Brooks Family saw the master leave in such a rush and felt a bit strange, but didn’t think much of it. Several young men of the The Brooks Family turned back and began to lower the old master’s coffin into the grave, then started sealing it.