Feng Shui Master Sima Tuotuo

# Synopsis of the Novel Sima Toutuo, Feng Shui Master During the Kaiyuan era of the Tang dynasty, Liu Qian, a monastic steward at Yong'an Temple in Nankang Prefecture, Jiangxi, feeds a white turtle every day. In return, it unexpectedly gives him its azure saliva, opening his "heavenly eye." His right eye can perceive the flow of energy through mountains and distinguish good fortune from disaster. From then on, he takes the name "Sima Toutuo" and uses Feng Shui to help the world. With his heavenly eye, he averts a deadly calamity for the temple's supervisor and dispels the evil energy haunting the prefectural governor's son, but incurs the Dragon Lord's hatred and is hunted down. During flood control in Hongzhou, he uses rice water to gather sand and redirect the river, only for a treacherous villain to switch the rice water. At the critical moment, the white turtle appears and helps him turn the tide. He also uncovers the chancellor's plot to sever the Tang dynasty's Dragon Veins by burying Dragon-Locking Nails. As he prepares to save the people with a "Calamity-Quelling Talisman," he learns to his horror that his heavenly eye was formed by consuming the Dragon Veins' spiritual energy, and that the white turtle will consequently be reduced to a wandering spirit. While seeking a monastery for the Chan sect on Mount Weishan, he declares that Baizhang Huaihai is "a skeleton who cannot fit a mountain of flesh," yet chooses the cook Lingyou from among the monks as the "true master of Mount Weishan," drawing skepticism from the entire monastery. But Lingyou's kick that topples a water bottle turns out to embody the true meaning of Chan Buddhism. In his later years, while writing books, Sima Toutuo discovers that the "Imperial Land by the Charcoal River" he prophesied years earlier conceals a shocking secret that will cause bloodlines to turn against themselves. Should he protect the people by keeping his heavenly eye, or give up his supernatural power to save the white turtle? Should he trust Feng Shui to shape the world, or rely on Buddhist teachings to guide humanity? Every choice Sima Toutuo makes rewrites the fate of both himself and the Tang dynasty.