The book mentions that Zhuge Liang’s Eight Trigrams Formation was developed based on feng shui directions, and even the Beidou life-extending method falls within the realm of metaphysics. If Henry Foster had seen this book at some bookstall in his daily life, he would definitely have scoffed at it. But the fact that this scripture appeared in his mind already speaks to its mysterious nature. No matter how esoteric the contents recorded in the book are, compared to the inexplicable way it appeared in his mind, they are nothing.

As a university student majoring in history, Henry Foster had some understanding of the ancient study of feng shui. If feng shui were pure nonsense, it wouldn’t have been passed down from ancient times to the present; its existence must have some reason. This is an eternal truth.

At the moment, the place was sparsely populated, and it was nighttime. Only a few streetlights cast a gentle glow. Henry Foster was in no hurry to leave, so he simply sat cross-legged by the stele, carefully flipping through the Zhuge Neijing in his mind.

The place was deep and tranquil. Under the lamplight, Henry Foster sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, motionless. From time to time, his eyes would open, a flash of light passing through them, then close again. The young man’s shadow was stretched long by the streetlights. As time passed, the temperature gradually dropped, but Henry Foster was completely unaware, as if immersed in some kind of state...

Chapter 2: First Attempt at Physiognomy

The next day.

The first rays of morning sunlight shone on Henry Foster. He slowly stood up and took a deep breath. He had spent the whole night meditating under the stele. Glancing at his clothes, he noticed they were a bit damp, probably from the dew brought by the frost in the middle of the night.

“I really did get lost in it, reading all night long.” Henry Foster shook his head self-mockingly. Even he hadn’t expected to be so captivated by the feng shui and physiognomy techniques recorded in the Zhuge Neijing. In his memory, apart from reading thick novels by lamplight in the dormitory during high school, he had never spent an entire night reading a book.

The Zhuge Neijing is no less than ten thousand pages thick. In one night, Henry Foster had only read the first section on physiognomy, but even just the content on physiognomy had him completely absorbed. As for the later sections on feng shui, talismans, and so on... he could only skim through them briefly.

Today was the day the tour group was returning. He hadn’t gone back to the hotel with the guide last night, so everyone was probably getting ready to board the bus at the hotel by now. Since there was still some distance from here to the hotel, Henry Foster didn’t dare delay any longer. He patted the dust off his pants and quickly walked out of Zhuge’s Cottage.

“What’s with you? Disappearing all night and now making everyone wait for you alone.”

When he got back to the hotel entrance, the tour guide was leading the tourists toward the bus, and Henry Foster ran right into him. The guide, seeing Henry Foster, didn’t look pleased and spoke up.

“Sorry, I ran into an old classmate last night and went to his place to rest.” Henry Foster apologized sincerely.

“An old classmate?” The young tour guide looked skeptical, muttering under his breath, “I bet he was out having fun.”

Henry Foster had sharp ears. Although the young guide spoke quietly, he still heard it. He fixed the guide with a piercing look, then smiled. This smile left the young guide baffled, grumbling inwardly: What’s wrong with this guy? I said that about him, and he can still smile?

The reason Henry Foster smiled was because he had taken a look at the young guide’s face: the tip of his nose was red, with a hint of black dust. According to the physiognomy section of the Zhuge Neijing, the nose tip governs wealth, and black dust on the nose tip is a sign of financial loss. Moreover, the guide’s lower lip was cracked, forming an inverted “three” shape, which, together with the nose tip, indicated that wealth would flow away and that he would soon suffer a financial loss.

Since he knew the young guide was about to have a financial mishap, Henry Foster didn’t bother arguing about his earlier words and simply followed the other tourists onto the bus, ignoring him.

The bus carried everyone along the return route, but stopped halfway at a shopping mall. The young guide called out, “This mall is the most famous one here. You can buy some local specialties to take home. After all, you can’t come all this way and leave empty-handed, right?”

The tourists on the bus erupted in chatter. Who hasn’t bought some local specialties at a tourist spot? But to come to a mall for it? Still, the young guide ignored their complaints and gave the driver a look. The driver started grumbling:

“I need to take the bus up ahead for a wash. You all get off here and wait for an hour. Once it’s clean, I’ll come back to pick you up.”

With that, the driver began ushering people off. Although the tourists were reluctant, they had no choice. This kind of thing is all too common in China: tour companies often cooperate with malls near scenic spots, with guides leading tour groups to shop in exchange for a commission from the mall.

Of course, if you really don’t want to buy anything, that’s fine too. But those who can afford to travel usually have some spare cash or enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. When it comes to shopping malls, very few people can actually resist the urge to spend.