Chapter 18: The Foundation of Yin and Yang in the Five Elements

  Sorry about that, last chapter I wrote Zhou Tao as Li Chu, actually it was Zhou Tao, the same person who exchanged poems with Shi Sheng, already corrected!

  "A true immortal? Great Immortal, please teach me! I've always been fond of this path, but unfortunately, I've never had a good teacher to guide me. Today, I finally met a superior person, and I hope to learn from you, Master!" The old man in the green robe was extremely respectful.

  "Hmph!" The stout young man seemed to be pleased with the praise, his face relaxed: "At your age, you've already lost the chance to cultivate. Don't try anything reckless in the future, or it won't be so easy to let you off. Leave now!" The stout young man waved his hand.

  "Thank you, great immortal, thank you for showing mercy!" The old man in the green robe said, and then he was scared off and ran away without a trace.

  "Zhou Tao, do you know him?" At this time, the fat young man looked at Shi Sheng.

  "I've seen him once!" Zhou Tao seemed to hold the fat youth in high esteem, and immediately turned his head to look at Shi Sheng, smiling and saying: "This brother seems to be a fellow cultivator of our generation, I wonder which sect he belongs to? This is our senior brother Lu Yuan!"

  "I've met all the seniors, Shi has some other things to attend to, farewell!" Shi nodded his hands and didn't say anything else before turning around and leaving, so as not to reveal any secrets.

  "Halt!" The young man called Lu Yuan flashed forward, taking several steps to arrive in front of Shi Sheng, and smiled: "Since this brother is also a fellow cultivator, that makes us fellow travelers on the same path. I'll call you Shi Dao friend."

  "Below is Wu Gu Shan's disciple Lu Yuan, I don't know which sect Shi Dao You belongs to. Since he has come down the mountain for training this time, it should be that he is also a fellow of our generation who has ascended to the Ling Jing realm and hasn't reached the Hua Hai realm yet?"

  Shi Sheng furrowed his brow, feeling that he had said too much and would surely arouse Zhou Tao's suspicions. After all, he wasn't very clear about many things himself, nor did he understand some of the boundaries.

  "Haha, Lu Daoyou is too polite, Shi Mou can't say much more, the sect has taboos, I hope you'll excuse me, we'll meet again! Shi Shen thought he was very heroic as he clasped his fists together, but it only made the three of them slightly stunned. However, Shi Shen had already turned around and left."

  "This person's words and deeds, how can they not be like a cultivator? Alright, let's go back first, there are still some tasks to complete!" Lu Yuan called out, Zhou Tao took a look at the back of Shi Sheng, and the three of them left this place.

  ……

  "Wang Bo, is it true that there are ghosts in this world?" Shi Sheng didn't go home because many things that happened today made him curious, so he came to ask Wang Bo.

  Wang Bo was taken aback: "As a cultivator, one must first understand what a ghost is. It is the lingering thought of a living being after death. Although it is difficult to preserve the yang energy and the seven po souls after death, if the thought is too strong or the conditions are special and the yin energy is too heavy, it can still retain the 'earthly soul' among the three souls of heaven, earth, and life."

  Only this soul belongs to yin, and the yang lifespan is exhausted. Only this soul has the opportunity to be preserved, and what people say about the yin soul not dispersing is precisely this meaning. It's also what everyone means by the terrifying ghost that's passed down through word of mouth.

  Because of the birth, before death, there is a lingering attachment to the earthly soul, which may linger in the mortal world to complete the unfinished wish, or it may be an unconscious lonely ghost wandering around, but only harming ordinary people, or bowing down to confuse ordinary people and absorb their yang essence.

  We cultivators of the mind don't need to fear anything, after all, it's just a soul with little consciousness. What is there to be afraid of? Even if you hold that peach wood dagger and infuse it with spiritual energy, I can still disperse it with a wave of my hand." Wang took a sip of clear tea.

  "Really!" Shi Sheng was slightly surprised in his heart, he didn't expect that there would actually be ghosts. However, after listening to Wang Bo finish speaking, Shi Sheng felt that it wasn't so scary after all. It's just that before on Earth, the unknown aspects of ghosts and gods were full of mystery, and only the unknown things are the most frightening.

  "Wang Bo, today I was at the Liu family's old mansion..." And so, Shi Sheng recounted what had happened that morning and asked about some countermeasures. After all, ordinary people didn't have any special abilities, and in front of this vengeful spirit, they were powerless to protect themselves.

  "Oh, I see. So, you haven't joined any sect yet and can only be considered a loose cultivator. There are many things you don't understand, so let me explain them to you. By evening, I'll take you there to see if that Yin Mansion is really that formidable!" Wang Bo slowly explained some common knowledge, and the two chatted until evening, finally arriving at the Liu family's old mansion.

  ……

  Night, very dark and quiet!

  The moonlight is hazy and indistinct, stretching people's shadows infinitely long and changing them. The wind blows through the treetops, making a low humming sound. The shadows of the big trees twist and sway on the ground, as if they were ferocious beasts baring their teeth and claws.

  The atmosphere seemed somewhat oppressive, Shi Sheng stood in the Liu family's old mansion, his heart beating rapidly, he was not a true cultivator after all. It was his first time encountering such a thing, and it would be strange if he wasn't afraid. At this moment, his hand holding the peach wood dagger was already covered in sweat. After the commotion during the day, there were even fewer people around the Liu family's old mansion at night.

  "Don't be afraid, it's okay!" Wang Bo said with a slight smile after glancing at Shi Sheng's thin figure. In his eyes, Shi Sheng was just a 15 or 16-year-old kid, and it was normal for him to feel frightened by these things. Wang Bo didn't think much of it. He had no idea how intense the fear of ghosts was for someone who possessed Earth culture.

  Wang Bo scanned the general environment inside the house and couldn't help but frown: "This seems to be intentionally arranged into a simple Yin evil formation, could it be that there are evil cultivators gathering yin souls here to cultivate evil skills?"

  Shi Sheng looked around the room at the tables, chairs, fish tank and mirror decorations, and couldn't help but feel a little puzzled. Although it felt a bit awkward, he couldn't see anything out of place.

  "Wang Bo, isn't this just ordinary furniture? Without using special spiritual tools, can you really set up an array?" Shi Sheng asked doubtfully.

  Wang Bo slightly nodded: "Perhaps I was overthinking, for a cultivator's battle, it is natural to need powerful spiritual instruments to set up formations and increase the formation's power to assist in combat."

  However, there are also people in the world who specialize in this way. They use the hand methods, directions, and principles of the array makers to find ordinary objects that correspond to the five elements of the array maker's instruments, and simply arrange them into an array method, causing the five elements to be inverted and the yin and yang to be out of balance. Although these methods cannot kill people or trap enemies, they can still be used to harm or save people indirectly in the mortal world.

  "For example, that Yin evil array is the one set up by cultivators who cultivate special Yin attribute skills to gather Yin energy. It sounds ordinary, but when used among ordinary people, it will cause no small harm."

  As he spoke, Wang Bo opened all the doors and windows, moved around what seemed to be simple decorations in the house, and finally lit several red candles.

  "If it's doing good deeds and accumulating virtues to help ordinary people, then secretly getting rid of the evil spirits is fine, no need to alarm ordinary people. Since the Liu family old house has become a place of evil spirits, it will slowly gather a large number of evil spirits, which will put ordinary people in danger, we can eliminate them using ordinary human methods."

  There are countless ways to resolve the problem of excessive yin energy in a sunny house. One method is to increase yang energy by opening doors and windows to let in more sunlight, or by lighting several red candles inside the house to enhance the light, especially on the first and fifteenth nights of each month during the hour of hai when yin energy is strongest, increasing lighting can also increase yang energy.

  Or use more yang colors, such as red and yellow to increase the yang energy, or invite friends over for gatherings to increase the human yang energy. A large house with few people will have heavy yin energy, so ordinary people living in too big a house will always feel a bit gloomy. For rooms that are not often occupied, you can post the "Town House Light Ming" symbol to increase the yang energy and bring good fortune.

  Secondly, the method of reducing yin energy requires frequent cleaning and tidying of the room, timely elimination of areas with heavy yin energy, and not having too many plants or flowers.

  The third is to regulate the balance of yin and yang through the five elements, which requires the practitioner to personally inspect the site, adjust the energy of the land, unblock the meridians, stimulate the flow of the five elements' energy, and achieve the goal of balancing the yin-yang energy field.

  The space between heaven and earth is filled with the primordial energy, in an empty house without any furniture, with eight directions divided around the center of the house: Qian, Dui, Li, Kun, etc., each place has a balanced energy field, neither too much nor too little, and they do not interfere with each other.

  Once someone decorates and moves in, placing items and furniture, the aura of these eight directions will be disrupted, becoming disordered, and it is possible to present a state of yin-yang imbalance. In fact, it is also unintentionally arranged into a simple array of gathering yin energy, just like Liu Lao Han's home.

  Everything carries yin and embraces yang, with the harmony of qi in between. One house, one world, maintaining the flow of the five elements' energy and balancing the yin-yang energy field can ensure that within a relatively independent spatial range, yin and yang are mutually rooted and mutually used.

  However, having too much yang energy is not a good thing either. Ordinary people can't withstand it and will inevitably suffer great calamity. But those who can inadvertently arrange their home into a Great Calamity Formation are really few and far between, so there's no need to worry about that." Wang Bo finished speaking and had already rearranged the entire Liu family old mansion.

  "Who would have thought that there were such sayings about ordinary people's homes?" Shi Sheng said with a thoughtful expression.

  "Hehe, what I'm telling you isn't for researching mortal dwellings, that's the business of mortal Jianghu practitioners. But letting you understand these is a fundamental common sense that cultivators must have, the principles of the five elements and yin-yang."

  "In the future, no matter whether you're refining talismans, setting up arrays, or even cultivating certain techniques, you'll need to use these fundamental principles of the Five Elements and Yin-Yang. Consider today's lesson a preview." Wang Bo said slowly.

  Suddenly, Shi Sheng felt a gust of cold wind blowing in front of him, his consciousness seemed to be a bit blurry, as if there was a vague power lurking nearby affecting him, several red candle flames flickered slightly.

  Shi Sheng's eyes twitched, and he suddenly thought of the ghost. He felt a chill run down his spine, and his hair stood on end. Although he was frightened, he still flung out his hand, and with a whooshing sound, the peach wood dagger flew out of his hand. With a thud, it stabbed into what looked like empty air. Immediately, the eerie feeling disappeared, and Shi Sheng retrieved his dagger.

  "Heh, not bad. That's the ordinary people's ghost. The peach wood has the effect of expelling filth. You just used your mind to urge the dagger and scattered that yin soul. Otherwise, it would have affected your mind."

  Actually, for us, the yin soul is not scary at all. However, for ordinary people and Taoist priests without spiritual power, dealing with yin souls requires more complicated methods, such as special yang gathering arrays, yin locking arrays, and soul-sealing talismans to wear down the yin soul's energy and ultimately eliminate it." Wang Bo seemed to have discovered the yin soul early on but intentionally didn't take action, preparing to train Shi Sheng. After the yin soul was eliminated, Wang Bo took Shi Sheng away from this place.

  All the way, Shi Sheng listened to Wang Bo and understood many things. Now if he were to return to Earth, he would probably know more than his neighbor Lao Shen Gongzi, and he wouldn't be so afraid of ghosts either. In the end, Shi Sheng bid farewell to Wang Bo and headed home alone.

  "Hmm, that's right. In Old Master's book, there are some special functions recorded, which should be the magical powers of some cultivators. If I can learn a few more, dealing with those trivial vengeful spirits will be a piece of cake."

  Moreover, Wang Bo said that the Lingjing realm can't cultivate any skills. Once I cultivate some, even if I meet Zhou Tao again and he comes to find trouble, I won't be afraid of him anymore, haha! After returning home, Shi Sheng and Lin Wan'er hastily greeted each other, ate a meal, and then returned to their room alone, recalling the old immortal's transmission of the meditation method.

  "Wang Bo said that fire is a yang attribute in the five elements. Although the cultivators of the Ascension Realm have a clear understanding of the Tao, they are unable to condense the fireball of the five elements' power. According to Wang Bo's words, it sounds quite mysterious."

  However, according to the old neighbor's words, the power of the five elements is a kind of energy molecule in the void, although it is omnipresent, but usually invisible to the naked eye, and sounds more scientific and intuitive.

  I've finally reached the state of mental detachment as described by Old Demon, and if I follow his method, I should be able to condense a fireball!" Shi said excitedly, and then began to try it out, with some excitement in his heart. (End of this chapter, next chapter will be even more exciting!)

  (PS: I'm begging for recommendations, collections and all kinds of support with a runny nose!!!!)