It was only then that Xia Liang recalled this matter from Li Er's memories. It was just that Li Er had collected so many antiques that Xia Liang hadn't been able to identify the problematic one at a glance.

Xia Liang nodded. "If I'm not mistaken, you used that Golden Bowl to ward your house, didn't you?"

Li Er nodded hastily. "Yes, a master once said that using a golden artifact to ward a house would bring prosperity and good health."

Xia Liang sneered. "And what about now?"

"Now..." Sorrow flickered in the corners of Li Er's eyes. "Ever since I buried that Golden Bowl, my antique business has been suffering constant losses. I either receive counterfeit goods, or various other problems arise. On top of that, my health also started to fail around the same time."

Xia Liang nodded. "I have a general understanding of the situation. Take me to your house, and I'll know what's going on."

Xia Liang got up and began gathering his things. Seeing this, Old Liu made a motion to follow him.

Xia Liang chuckled and shook his head. "Old Liu, you're a major shareholder in this entire mall. For a man of your stature to act as my bodyguard… I'm not paying you a salary, you know!"

Old Liu chuckled sheepishly. "Heh! Master Xia Tian, you flatter me..."

Seeing that Old Liu had given up on the idea of accompanying him, Xia Liang stood up and walked out of the shop. Li Lizhi hurriedly pushed her father out after him.

A van was already waiting in the underground parking lot. When the driver saw Li Er, he hurried over to help him into the vehicle.

「Half an hour later, at the Longhua Villa District.」

"Driver, head to Building 9, Block B first. I need to prepare some things."

Upon hearing this, the driver turned to Li Lizhi for confirmation. After she nodded, he turned the wheel and drove toward Building 9, Block B.

Li Lizhi's eyes widened. "Don't tell me Master Xia Tian lives here too?"

Xia Liang gave a faint nod. "A gift from a friend. Take their money, solve their problems."

Hearing this, Li Lizhi's trust in Xia Liang deepened. After all, what kind of fortune-teller could afford to live in a villa in the Longhua District?

Soon, the car stopped outside Xia Liang's home. He quickly ran upstairs, grabbed a pair of iron chopsticks, and then accompanied the others to Li Er's house.

At a single glance, he was shocked to see a layer of green qi enveloping the Li Secondary Family's home. This phenomenon could only mean one thing: the feng shui here was terrible. However, it hadn't reached a catastrophic level yet.

"Master Xia Tian, please come in and take a look for us!" Li Lizhi said, pushing Li Er inside.

"Ugh..."

Just as they crossed the threshold, a muffled grunt escaped from Li Er, and his face instantly turned a shade paler.

"Is it that severe?"

Xia Liang frowned, then took out a peace charm and hung it around Li Er's neck. However…

CRACK!

Less than ten minutes later, the peace charm shattered.

Xia Liang said urgently, "Quick, get your father outside!"

Li Lizhi, already pale with fright, quickly pushed Li Er back outside, where he seemed to feel a bit better.

It shouldn't be! Even the most malevolent artifact can't be this potent!

Xia Liang's brow was tightly furrowed. The feng shui of the house itself was actually quite good. But a massive, flashing question mark pulsed incessantly right in the middle of the courtyard. This single issue had dragged the feng shui of the Li Secondary Family's home from being good to extremely poor. Xia Liang had no doubt that if it weren't for other mitigating factors, Li Er's condition would be far worse than simply looking weak and pale.

Xia Liang walked up to the question mark and, with a thought, opened it.

A moment later, an expression of sudden realization dawned on his face. Li Lizhi asked cautiously, "Master Xia Tian, have you figured something out?"

Xia Liang nodded. "I have. The problem is with the item you used to ward the house."

Li Er spoke weakly, "Did the previous master get it wrong?"

"Not entirely." Xia Liang walked over to where the Golden Bowl was buried. "His theory was sound; he just made a mistake with the placement."

He pondered for a moment. "The elemental alignment of this house is weak in the Water position, correct?"

Li Er nodded. "Yes, that's exactly what the previous master said."

Xia Liang continued, "The theory is that metal generates water because its qi is temperate and flowing, and molten metal itself turns to liquid. However, you placed that Golden Bowl in the Metal position. When metal can't interact with water, how can it generate any? It should have been placed in the Water position."

Xia Liang walked over to the Water position as he spoke.

Li Lizhi nodded hurriedly. "Heavenly Master, I'll get someone to help right away." As she spoke, she pulled out her phone, ready to make a call.

"Don't be so hasty. It's too late to move it now." Xia Liang frowned and shook his head. "If this were simply a matter of the five elements, the problem wouldn't be this severe. This is just a minor issue. The bigger problem is yet to come!"

"Ah? There's more?" Li Lizhi's eyes went wide.

Xia Liang nodded. "That's right!"

He then glanced at Li Er. "Your date of birth is the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month, which is a taboo day in itself."

Even the average person knew what festival fell on that day.

"People born on this day often have hard lives, but they also tend toward one of two extremes," Xia Liang explained. "They either suffer a life of solitude or enjoy immense wealth. The disparity is vast. Logically, you should have a fortunate destiny, but because of this Golden Bowl, you've fallen into such a dire state."

Xia Liang had already learned the origin of the Golden Bowl from the question mark he had just inspected.

As if on cue, Li Er strained to lift his head. "I only know this Golden Bowl is from the Great Tang Dynasty. Do you know its story?"

Although Li Er was an appraiser of treasures, he could only determine an item's materials and age. His knowledge of the origins and purposes of such things was very limited.

Xia Liang explained, "Since ancient times, we've had a custom called 'treating the dead as if they were living.' Have you heard of it?"

Li Er and Li Lizhi both nodded.

Xia Liang pointed to the ground. "The origin of this bowl isn't exactly clean, is it?"

"This..." Li Er's mouth twitched, and he was at a loss for words. In their line of work, if they had to consider the provenance of every antique, they would have gone bankrupt long ago.

After a moment, Li Er let out a long sigh. "Indeed, the bowl has a murky past. I acquired it from a group of 'earth rats'."

"Earth rats," to put it more elegantly, were what some called Tomb Raiders.

"Just as I thought," Xia Liang nodded. "This bowl was used by the family of the deceased to hold offerings of food and water during burial. Tell me, by taking it to ward your own house, weren't you courting death?"

Li Er was beginning to understand. Isn't this the equivalent of stealing someone's rice bowl?

Li Lizhi asked anxiously, "Then, Master Xia Tian, what should we do now? Should we throw the bowl away?"

"No, it's too late for that," Xia Liang sighed softly. "The feng shui arrangement is now fixed. Even if you were to move away, you would likely continue to be plagued by misfortune. In a worse scenario, it could lead to your family's ruin."

He continued, "Frankly, for an ordinary person, they could just dig it up and have it sanctified in a temple for a few days, and everything would be fine. But you, Li Er, are not an ordinary person."

Hearing this, Li Er's voice was frail. "Is it because of my birthdate?"

Xia Liang nodded, then took the pair of iron chopsticks from his pocket and casually tossed them aside. "I didn't know the history of this Golden Bowl before I came, but it's clear now that these ordinary iron chopsticks aren't enough to suppress it."

"Then what should we do now?" Li Lizhi asked from the side.

Xia Liang gestured with his hand. "Things need to be a set. The original owner of this tomb was buried with a Golden Bowl, so they were clearly one of the Royalty and Nobles. You have two options. One, you find a way to contact those 'earth rats'. If I'm not mistaken, they would have unearthed a pair of chopsticks along with the bowl. See if you can find out what happened to the matching chopsticks. Your other option is to find a new pair—golden chopsticks from at least the Great Tang Dynasty. Otherwise, this situation cannot be resolved."

As Xia Liang stated the facts, the color drained from Li Er's face. In a world so vast, how could it possibly be easy to find a few specific people?

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