Chapter Sixteen: The Interconnectedness of Mind and Matter

  If it's said to be a different world, all of its history coincidentally corresponds with the content in one's own history textbook.

  If we were to go back to the Ming Dynasty, where did all these messy things come from?

  Qian Yiqun thought about such a profound question for the first time and soon felt a headache.

  The fox slowly opened its eyes, its mouth still buried in the fur under its neck, and said in a low voice: "You're out?"

  Qian Yiqun nodded, just about to mention the strange phenomenon he saw while meditating yesterday, when suddenly the fox lifted its head and said: "Show me what you got last night."

  Qian Yiqun was about to ask what the Lu Fa was, when suddenly a sphere appeared in front of him. He felt as if he was wrapped in a circular ball, and his body felt much lighter. The surface of this sphere had long and short lines distributed on it, forming eight basic trigrams.

  The Bagua diagram is not fixed and unchanging. When it first appears, it settles for a moment, then quickly starts spinning rapidly, even reaching the point of changing in an instant.

  "The heart is still, the things are still, and naturally they will not move." The fox was amazed in his heart, but he didn't want to say it out loud, and instead just nodded lazily with a careless expression.

  Qian Yiqun hastily collected his thoughts, and the Bagua ball in front of him had just slowed down its rotation. He asked: "Why do these divination symbols keep changing? Can you give me a scientific explanation, Great Immortal?"

  "The Book of Changes" originated from the River Chart and the Luo Book, and Fu Xi derived the Eight Trigrams from it. He drew near to himself and took from heaven and earth and external things, expounding the ultimate principles of heaven and earth. However, because his realm was too high, later generations could not see such profound connotations, and could only use it to infer the changes in worldly affairs, seeming mysterious but actually only getting a superficial understanding.

  Things change and develop in accordance with the "Tao", but the "Tao" is too vast and broad, it can be said that existence is reasonable. Therefore, the ancestors of a certain school found the "intersection". The so-called "intersection" refers to the collision between one's own heart and external things; "Guān" is like a mountain pass, which is the node where the heart and things collide. As long as you grasp the "intersection", you can grasp the direction of development of things, take advantage of the situation, and avoid disasters.

  After listening to the fox's words, Qian Yiqun thought silently for a moment and said: "So this is how fortune-telling works. But how can it be accurate? People's minds are constantly changing, with thousands of thoughts flashing by at any time. How did he know which thread was wrong and chose another one?"

  "Ordinary people do as they please, while true men are natural and spontaneous. Both have their own trajectory to follow." Fox said, "Just like an old beggar, how can you expect him to do things that are beyond his reach? As long as he doesn't use the wrong method, he will naturally be able to calculate it out. You think your calculations are impressive, but in the eyes of those master mathematicians, they're just as ordinary as the rising and setting of the sun."

  "Really? So there are people who can't be counted?" Qian Yiqun asked in surprise.

  "Reaching the realm of humans, carrying yin and yang, saints return to emptiness and merge with the Tao. At this level, no one can calculate it." The fox licked its lips and said, "You're just an ordinary person now, knowing so much is useless. Let's get some food first. Can the cook stew that bone from yesterday until it's tender?"

  Qian Yiqun was just thinking of digging out something from the old beast's mouth, but he heard footsteps outside the door. Listening carefully, it sounded like someone wearing soft-soled embroidered shoes with a light and nimble gait. In the Qian household, apart from his younger sister Qian Xiaoxiao, there shouldn't be anyone else. But his sister had always been loud and boisterous, so when did she become so elegant?

  The fox knew that Qian Xiaoxiao was the cook of the family, and without her, there would be no food to eat. Otherwise, it would really be a waste to use the protective power of the Golden Jade on her.

  The two people had different thoughts, but their eyes both fell on the door, waiting for Qian Xiaoxiao to push it open and come in.

  Qian Xiaoxiao held a tray with a steaming bowl of sugar water lotus seed porridge on it. After last night's events, her feelings towards her brother became increasingly complicated. Growing up playing with him, listening to his stories and poetry, she had always thought he was the most talented person in the world, a genius born of heaven, and felt unspeakable pride when talking about him in front of friends.

  As a result, his elder brother, unable to participate in the imperial examination, spent his days wandering around, drinking and spending money, mixing with a group of rascals, and the admiration he once received gradually turned into resentment for not striving hard enough.

  Unexpectedly, at the critical moment of life and death, it was her brother who stood up and supported this mansion. Although there were no stunning poems or songs, there were even more awe-inspiring and intimidating divine arts... It turned out that all these years, she had wrongly accused her brother, a mortal and worldly woman like herself. Qian Xiaoxiao thought of this and couldn't help but feel ashamed, with a red glow rushing to her face.

  Qian Yiqun didn't know what Qian Xiaoxiao was thinking about, seeing her standing at the door for half a day, so he opened his mouth and said: "Xiaoxiao? Come in."

  Qian Xiaoxiao didn't expect her brother to get up so early, she felt a chill on the back of her head, stiffened her face and pushed open the door saying: "You're getting up pretty early today. Dad told me not to disturb your studies."

  "Haha, brother I'm a natural genius, homework and that sort of thing, doing it occasionally is enough." Qian Yiqun pulled over the drum stool and sat down with a sense of satisfaction, "Oh, still using white sugar to fry eggs!"

  "Sister said you did a good job last night, let's reward you!" Qian Xiaoxiao put down the tray and sat opposite her brother, watching him eat.

  Although the Qian family is wealthy, they can't afford to waste food like eggs. Good things like sugar and eggs are definitely not for his sister to eat. Qian Yiqun knows he occupies most of the family's resources and feels a bit guilty towards his sister, but she thinks it's only natural and her expectations from him as an older brother are simply to take care of the family and not cause trouble outside.

  Smelling the faintly rising sweet and hot air, Qian Yiqun pushed the dinner plate to Xiaoxiao and said, "You eat this."

  "How petty can you be? Is one egg worth all this fuss?" Qian Xiaoxiao muttered, her hand pressing against the dinner plate to prevent her brother from pushing it over.

  "Brother had a real energy movement yesterday and can't eat meat. Good boy, you eat it." Qian Yiqun said, "Didn't scare you last night?"

  "It's just that his face is a bit nauseating." Mentioning last night's incident, Qian Xiaoxiao's eyes flickered and she didn't dare to look directly at her brother, feeling quite regretful about not being more careful with herself in the past. Seeing that her brother really wasn't eating, she took the opportunity to ask: "Are you really not eating or just being polite?"

  "Really don't eat it, you eat it." Qian Yiqun thought to himself: Wait until I become an immortal and set up the chicken farm, then we can eat eggs freely!

  Qian Yiqun has thought about climbing the tech tree since his rebirth, but steel and glass can't be made, soap is too expensive, so raising chickens should work, right? The problem is that free-range chickens are easy to raise, but as soon as they're caught and raised in coops, it's either bird flu or explosions, and feed can't keep up. To succeed, he might really have to wait until he becomes immortal.

  "If you don't eat it, I'll take it to Father!" Qian Xiaoxiao picked up the tray and ran away without even daring to look at her brother.

  "Right, right, let's give Dad some nourishment." Qian Yiqun hastily added a sentence from behind his sister, indicating that he was also a filial son.

  The fox didn't get his breakfast, and was very dissatisfied. He complained: "This little girl is so unreasonable, if it wasn't for me covering for her last night, how could she have made it through today? And yet she doesn't show any gratitude."

  "Do you want me to announce it to the world? " Qian Yiqun snorted, "So that everyone knows that Wu County's Qian family has a white Zhe God beast wearing fox skin, and that god beast also has an invincible treasure."

  What people call retribution in this life, is probably the fastest in Wu County. As soon as Qian Yiqun's words came out, the sound had not yet fallen, and the anger in Hu Li's eyes had not dissipated, when suddenly there was a loud banging at the door outside.

  Who in Wu County dares to smash the gate of the Catching Head Family like this? Even if placed in later generations, it would still be a leader!

  He thought his father might have something to do with the public, so he hastily ran to open the door, but saw three men in green clothes and small hats standing at the door, looking stern.

  The man in front raised his chin and looked at the tortoiseshell pattern on his father's back, as if he wanted to speak from his nostrils. He said: "My master wants Mr. Qian Yigun to come over for a chat."