I've encountered a few arrogant people before, but this was the first time I met someone who spoke with such a condescending tone that just hearing it made me want to punch them.
I didn't want to waste time arguing with him, so I was about to go find Mr. Jiang instead.
Just at that moment, Huang Jiu appeared, walking down a narrow path between the tombstones with his hands behind his back, mimicking the young man's irritating tone of voice and asking, "Isn't the Ma Yi School just for fortune-telling? What are you doing here, messing with feng shui?"
When it came to banter, no one could beat my Brother Huang.
Huang Jiu continued to talk to himself, "Looks like you didn't learn your craft properly, can't make a living, so you changed professions!"
The young man's face immediately darkened, and his eyes turned cold, but he didn't speak.
Huang Jiu reached my side, and without even looking at the respectful scene between Jiang and Zhan Ling, he jumped onto my shoulder and stared at Jiang, asking, "Who are you? Why should I give you face?"
I quickly covered his mouth and whispered, "This is a big shot from the Hunter's List!"
As soon as Huang Jiu heard that, he immediately scrambled into my cat bag, squeezing into the box with the ritual knife, even though his body twisted to fit.
Once he was gone, I felt awkward, but fortunately, Mr. Jiang didn't seem upset. The young man, however, continued to stare at me coldly.
I hastily changed the subject. "Mr. Jiang, there are the Big Dipper stars in the sky, and the Earth has its own seven 'death stars.' The sky and the earth are linked, and when you touched the coffin, the ground trembled. That shows this is the Earth Seven Star Conjunction, and we need to break the formation and open the coffin."
I glanced at the young man and added, "If the wrong method is used, the earth qi in the Seven Stars will reverse, and the corpse may undergo a change. It could be dangerous."
The young man snorted, "What nonsense, Earth Seven Stars? I've never heard of it!" He turned to Jiang and said, "Mr. Jiang, do you really trust the words of this kid? Why not listen to me, from the Ma Yi School?"
I sneered.
I thought Jiang would listen to me since he knew my grandfather.
But to my surprise, Jiang looked at me and said, "Li Yang, I've never heard of the Earth Seven Stars either. You see…"
In other words, he was choosing to believe the Ma Yi School young man.
I was stunned.
It struck me that even Jiang didn't know about the Earth Seven Stars, which only made the notes from Zuo Daoran seem even more valuable.
On the other hand, I was happy to have Zuo Daoran's notes in my possession.
The young man, seeing I was silent, urged Jiang, "It's getting late. If we don't open the coffin by dawn, it will be too late."
Zhan Ling pulled me aside and whispered, "Li Yang, Lai Youwei is a famous figure in the feng shui world. There must be a reason Jiang asked him to come. Just keep quiet. Once the coffin is opened, this matter will be over."
I knew the matter couldn't be delayed, since if it took too long, the Three Yin Sect might send more powerful figures.
If the coffin was opened and we figured out what was inside, the Hunters could take care of it, and the Three Yin Sect would lose interest.
But allowing Lai Youwei to break the formation wasn't the end. It would only make the situation more complicated.
As Lai Youwei was about to pull out his compass to set the positions of the stars, I broke free from Zhan Ling and walked up to block his path. "Just because you haven't heard of something doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
This was also somewhat directed at Mr. Jiang, but I didn't care at the moment. If I didn't stop them, once dawn arrived, the coffin would be opened and it would be delayed another day. Who knew if it would bring about an unforeseen change?
Before Lai Youwei could respond, I interrupted him, "Earlier, my friend said it best, a fortune-teller coming to mess with feng shui is simply nonsense."
Lai Youwei had been wanting to hit me, and hearing this, he threw a punch at me.
Mr. Jiang stepped forward and stopped Lai Youwei's punch, turning to me and asking, "Li Yang, since you say this is the Earth Seven Star Conjunction, do you have a way to break the formation?"
Lai Youwei, seeing that Jiang had stopped him, swallowed his anger and sneered, "Things that don't exist have no way of being broken."
They didn't know about the Earth Seven Stars, so I wasn't worried about revealing the notes from Zuo Daoran. I could make up some reasons, and they wouldn't know whether they were true or false.
Seeing Lai Youwei's disdain, I said, "We can give it a try!"
I hadn't actually used any of the things in the notes yet, and I wasn't confident enough to speak with certainty.
To Lai Youwei, this was a sign that I lacked confidence. He sneered and said, "If you open that coffin today, I'll call you 'Grandpa'!"
Betting with words didn't seem meaningful to me.
A civilized person should act in a civilized way.
But Huang Jiu popped his head out of the bag, saying, "And I'm here too. If we lose, you'll have to call me 'Grandpa'!"
Lai Youwei, seeing Huang Jiu sticking his head out, was even angrier. He shouted, "Beast! What right do you have to speak here?" He tried to move again but was stopped by Mr. Jiang.
Lai Youwei's temper was clearly on fire, his eyes turning red.
But that wasn't surprising. People with high, jutting foreheads and arched eyebrows like him often had a hot-temper and were quick to get into conflict.
He was lucky to live in a legal society, or in the past, someone would've probably beaten him to death for that face.
The Ma Yi School specialized in facial reading and divination, so I wondered if he had ever had his own face analyzed.
I didn't want to argue with him; I just wanted to open the coffin.
As I walked towards the tomb, he blocked me with his arm and said, "Hold on, let's make sure we're clear. What if you can't break the formation?"
Even a mud statue has three points of anger. I snapped, "If I open this coffin, every time you see my Ninth Grandpa in the future, you'll call him 'Grandpa'!"
Huang Jiu immediately jumped onto my shoulder and patted his chest, saying, "Ninth Grandpa, that's me?"
"Same goes for you. How about that?" I asked.
Lai Youwei, furious, didn't catch the trap in my words and agreed, "Fine, let Mr. Jiang be a witness."
Mr. Jiang, being older, could only nod reluctantly since I had already spoken.
Huang Jiu, also enraged by being called a beast, yelled at Lai Youwei to see what true skill looked like.
Lai Youwei didn't cause trouble, so I finally crouched down and carefully began feeling the ground inch by inch. My posture wasn't very graceful, and Lai Youwei immediately mocked me.
I also wanted to look cool and find the Seven Stars' positions, but I wasn't Zuo Daoran and didn't have that ability.
I could only use the most basic method from the notes, feeling the ground with my hands.
"The more you pretend, the more ridiculous you look. What are you doing, acting like a dog barking at the sky?" Lai Youwei continued to insult me, just like Huang Jiu. Both of them had no intention of stopping.
It was really starting to irritate me.