In the summer of 2023, an elderly man with white hair was drawing water from a stream outside a simple wooden hut deep in the Zhongnan Mountains. Suddenly, three strangers in black suits appeared before him.
“Master Hu, we finally found you!” the leading middle-aged man said respectfully. “I am under orders to beg you to come out of retirement. China is in danger!”
The old man sneered, “Danger? I’m just an old man about to die. I’m no longer needed!”
“The 49-pillar Dragon Trap requires your expertise,” the man said gravely, pulling out a map marked with dense red circles. “Forty-one schools have already been built, and six more are under construction!”
The old man’s eyes flashed as he took the map. “They dare to bully China? Let’s go!”
1.
The old man, known as Master Hu, was a former disciple of the 64th Celestial Master on Dragon Tiger Mountain. Having studied Taoist arts since age 14, he had once worked for the legendary 749 Bureau, tasked with protecting China’s dragon veins from foreign threats. Years ago, he had left the bureau in disagreement and retreated to the mountains. Now, his sense of duty was reawakened.
His visitors were Yang Benxin, a former qigong practitioner now studying Chinese metaphysics, and two young researchers—Zeng Xiaoshan, descendant of a Tang dynasty feng shui master, and Lu Yu, a renowned consultant on the Book of Changes.
They briefed Master Hu on the situation: Japanese schools across China, built under the guise of cultural exchange, were actually forming a sinister “Dragon Trap” that could drain the vitality of the land. “These buildings are driven deep into the ground like nails,” Zeng explained. “We’ve found 41 such sites already.”
The central government couldn’t openly confront Japan due to diplomatic relations, but needed a covert countermeasure. Master Hu studied the map, noting that the red circles formed a net around China’s three main dragon veins—north, central, and south—all originating from the Kunlun Mountains. The dragon’s eye, the key to the trap, remained elusive.
“The solution lies in Changsha,” Master Hu declared.
The next day, they flew to Changsha. On arrival, Master Hu climbed Yuelu Mountain and spotted a large construction site southwest.