“Something’s happening. We’ve gotta go.” Tae Kuo took a look back while they were speeding towards the abandoned coffin home: “This whole area’s gonna burn soon, I’m afraid.”

  “Burn? What do you mean?” Gloria felt the answer was already at her throat just moments after her question: “How?”

  “The same way the people tried to poisoire area.” Tae Kuo sighed as he lifted up the trap door: “You know - e to think of it, whoever that person who ruihe Qiyun here was, I could more and more uand how furious the leader of the unity was, and why he would want to kill that guy. But to be ho, I am irely sure that anyone from the unity did it. Very likely it’s some enemies of the leader, or worse, maybe the city.”

  “Eborate, please.” Gloria looked left and right before following Tae Kuo into the tuhe dark tendrils and smoke began rumbling on her way here, and with the wind came that shifted dires rapidly, screams and curses flooded her ears. All of that was suppressed the moment they set foot in the walls of the abandoned coffin home, and wheered the tunnel almost all of them went away. “Is it something to do with - with the dead guy buried there?”

  “Yeah it’s just a start.” Tae Kuo shook his head as he led the way: “Normal dead bodies wouldn’t be able to do that much damage. In fact, I believe there had been stories about people burying their aors’ ashes in that spot just so that they could get blessed. Nonono - something else o be done in order for things to turn out that way. Maybe a specifid of curse or ritual inteo poison the flow of Qiyun. And to pn it along with the burning of the blessed tree? That’s some deep, dark knowledge. I noticed that all the weeds that had been growing oe of the spot - wild chrysanthemum flowers and red spider lilies - all Yin-leaning flowers - ”

  “Dark ritual? What kind of dark ritual?” Gloria could not help but ask.

  “Rituals that would make a death full of poison. So possibly torture, desecration and other curse-geing arts and crafts.” Tae Kuo shook his head: “I don’t know - I don’t - I don’t even have any idea on how to do that even if I want to. ”

  The trip back was faster than the way around. As they closed up the entrao the secret tunnel, something in the air ged. Gloria felt it, and Tae Kuo felt it. It came from the dire of the deserted unity. Or, to be more precise, the dire of the “gate” of the minor auspicious spot.

  Light fshed. A golden pilr of light shot up into the sky, pushing all the gloomy clouds in the distance away. Rumbling vibrations spread to the ground below their feet, and gusts of wind escaped from the gaps of the trap door, spraying dust all over their pants and shirts, and throwing pebbles on their shoes. Before they even had a moment to pin, a blinding fsh of lightning shot through the distant sky. Then many bolts rained down. Gloria and Tae Kuo were still behind walls and they could not see what the lightning stru the ground, so Gloria just grabbed Tae Kuo and hopped onto the roof. It was still far away so they still could not see much of anything. But the flurries of lightning strikes sure did light things up - a lot of things up. Fmes rose from the position of the desserted unity, red, e, some blue, some golden.

  Golden ders and sparks filled the distant sky over the abandoned unity. A breath of the smell of warm wine blew over to them from the entrance of the tuhe unity would likely be destroyed by the lightning storm. It robably well deserved.

  “They actually did it.” Tae Kuo sighed: “I mean - I had a thought they might want to do it, but - man, I don’t know if I ever do that if I’ve ever bee a pilr.”

  “So they’re - they’re pilrs?” Gloria frowned and asked: “I - I didn’t really - what are pilrs anyway? And why are they called that?”

  “Well, in one se’s - it’s slightly literal, and the way most uand it - that they are the very people holding things together - whether it’s a household, a unity, or in our case, a ritual, an array, a managed area surrounding a Fengshui spot. But in another - it’s a refereo an old, superstitious ritual involving building of - things. During the old times, when people were putting up foundations for buildings or actual pilrs fes, some of them actually put people in the foundations or t pilrs, as a means of sacrifice, and as a ritual to utilize their grudge to keep the buildings steady.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah - using dead people’s life ford their grudge to hold buildings together.” Tae Kued and shook his head.

  “Boom!” A shockwave bsted the Fuman Coffin Home through all the distance. Gloria had to grab Tae Kuo by his shoulder so that they could nd on the ground without falling. The ground in the backyard cracked. And on the wall at the back of the coffin home, the very wall the main altar and the many inse burners were put against, showed a crack. And through it, some strange light came through.

  “What is that?” Gloria poi the glowing crack.

  “I - I don’t know. I’ve never looked into that wall before.” Tae Kuo shook his head.

  “This is the wall with the burn marks.” Gloria Tae Kuo: “I mean - the wall at the same position of that - ”

  “Yeah, yeah. But I’ve never been told about this.” Tae Kued.

  Gloria jumped onto the altar and looked at the widest part of the crack. Behind this wall was some kind e stoifact. The glow was only visible wheurned on her Qi vision, and was not visible to a naked eye.

  Tae Kuo thought for a while, then spoke through his teeth, grimag: “Open it up then.”

  “Okay.” Gloria pried open the wall with Qi trated on her fingers. It was a long piece of stohat was shaped like a straight sword. It was very crude, and the edge was dull. Some unfinished symbols were etched on the sides.

  “Holy shit.” Tae Kuo narrowed his eyes as he ran his fingers along the crude stone bde and the symbols: “Talk about pilrs. This - this - No wohey closed us up for so long.”

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