The fox spirit is urgent and swift like a law enforcement officer.

  The next day when I got up, my legs were still a bit "floating", but it was clearly not the slight dizziness caused by physical weakness, nor was it due to weight loss. I felt a little excited and jumped with all my might on the spot, and amazingly, I jumped to a height of about 1.5 meters, which was absolutely impossible for me before.

  I suddenly ran out of the door and jumped onto the neighbor's wall, which was about two meters high, with just a few strides!

  Whoa, did I just get lighter? I was stunned for a moment, tried again, and still jumped up, and found that running became especially light and quick, with a noticeably faster sprinting speed than before.

  Is this the change brought about by the replacement of the fox spirit? Zhou Tan said that the main body of the English spirit is in charge of physical aspects, it seems that my physique has been comprehensively improved!

  Before having breakfast, I rushed to Zhou Tan's house. When I knocked on the door, he was wearing a thick coat, his originally dull eyes were filled with bloodshot, and his expression was tired, obviously not sleeping well all night.

  "Good morning, Mr. Zhou." I nodded and greeted him.

  "What's new again?" He showed a hint of a smile, with a sly look like an old fox eyeing a big rooster.

  I said that running speed and jumping ability have improved significantly, and vision and hearing seem to have also improved. He just nodded, didn't say much, turned around and walked inside.

  "Mr. Zhou, you said yesterday that the demon fox is sealed inside me, is this safe?"

  "It's not safe." He said without turning his head, "My cultivation is not high, its cultivation is very high, I can't keep it suppressed for long, it will wake up at any time."

  I felt even more frightened and hastily asked: "Where is it now?"

  "I sealed it in your jizhong acupoint, but this is just a mark and not actually something placed inside. The so-called seal is somewhat like modern hypnosis, it's in a state of being half-awake and half-asleep, and will wake up when stimulated or under specific circumstances..."

  I knew he already had a solution, so I wasn't too anxious and followed him into the house. Zhou Tan asked me to sit down before saying: "Are you planning to go back to being a teacher or do something else?"

  I don't know why he suddenly asked this, and I countered with a question: "Does this have something to do with the seal on me?"

  "Got it!" Zhou Tan said with certainty, "Only if you are stronger than the Fox Spirit can you suppress it. If you want to be stronger than it, then you must take me as your master and practice my unique skills!"

  He spoke with great certainty, but his eyes didn't meet mine directly. Coupled with the sly smile he had at the entrance, I guessed that what he said was a lie. So I stood up: "The one who turned me into a vegetable is named Lu Chengshan. He's supposedly a top-notch master in the current Taoist world, and he wanted to take me as his apprentice, but I refused."

  Zhou Tan was taken aback, and hastily said: "I am not a Taoist priest, I am Mr. Yin Yang, my family has been passed down for several hundred years, it is the most orthodox Yin Yang family, only passing on to sons, not daughters, only passing on to the eldest son..."

  He found himself saying something wrong and looked a bit embarrassed. He only had one son, who was already in prison and probably not interested in this line of work either, so he couldn't pass it down anyway. So the purpose of taking me as an apprentice wasn't that simple. I smiled, making him even more uncomfortable. Originally, he was a sly old turtle, but when he cared about something, he got flustered and overthought things.

  Zhou Tan said sincerely: "I didn't cheat you, you really need to learn magic from me to subdue it, otherwise you won't live past thirty!"

  I was taken aback: "Is this really true?"

  Zhou Tan coughed for a while, then said seriously: "Indeed. I have calculated your eight characters, and at the age of thirty, you will encounter a great calamity, with almost no possibility of passing through it. It seems that the fox spirit will awaken at that time? By then, I will already be dead, and others may not be able to save you, so you can only rely on yourself."

  I'm getting a bit anxious, Zhou Tan's ability to save me has already proven his strength, and the results of his calculations can't be ignored. I'm only 20 years old now, if I don't live past 30, then there are only ten years left, my ideals, love, career haven't even started yet, and there's still mother to support, how is ten years enough? Many people live to be a hundred and still don't want to die!

  Zhou Tan feared that I wouldn't believe him and said: "From a person's innate vital energy, one can also see their lifespan. You only have about thirty years left."

  I became even more anxious and thought of a question: "If fate has destined me to live only until the age of thirty, can I still change it?"

  "I can think of at least five ways to extend your lifespan, and as my only disciple, I definitely won't let the legacy of the Zhou family end with you, so I certainly won't let you die."

  Recent encounters have sparked my great curiosity and interest in these mysterious things, and it's not impossible to worship him as a teacher, but I must figure out the chips in his hand: "What methods can prolong life? If it were that easy, there would be many immortals in the world."

  Zhou Tan didn't rush to explain and instead told me two small stories.

  A mother had her son's fate divined, and the fortune teller said he wouldn't live past thirteen. The only way to change his fate was to send him to a temple to become a monk. The mother was half-believing and half-doubting, so she found a high-ranking monk to confirm it. The high-ranking monk also said that her son wouldn't live past thirteen, so the mother had no choice but to leave him at the temple.

  When the child turned thirteen, the high-ranking monk feared that if he died at the temple, his mother would blame him. So he advised the child to return home and visit his mother. After visiting his mother, the child returned to the temple and lived a good life. The high-ranking monk asked him if anything strange had happened on his way home.

  The child said that on his way back, it rained heavily, and an anthill was about to be washed away. He used mud to surround it and covered it with leaves to protect it.

  Another story is about a son who asked for his mother's fortune to be told, the fortune teller said that his mother had already passed away, but in fact, his mother was still alive, she just had a serious illness that year. The reason was that his mother had done countless good deeds throughout her life and escaped her destined fate.

  Zhou Tan said, "The moral of these two stories is that doing good deeds can change a person's fate. We who practice divination give people guidance and reveal heavenly secrets, even altering their destiny, but this inevitably harms ourselves, so we must cultivate virtue and accumulate merit. Chairman Deng said that education should start from childhood, and doing good deeds should also begin early, for only then can the sapling be straightened, whereas an old tree like me, with rotten roots and fallen leaves, can only wait to rot!"

  I was still hesitating, when Zhou Tan said: "There are many secret methods that can prolong one's life, but it's not easy for me to explain them to you. Once you learn them, you'll naturally understand. Today is an auspicious day according to the Yellow Calendar, suitable for ancestor worship, wealth seeking, signing contracts, weddings, and forming alliances. Why don't you become my apprentice today?"

  I had no choice but to surrender, not wanting to die, I could only become an apprentice. Zhou Tan took me to the main hall and hung two scrolls in the middle of the hall. The one on the right was a painting of a bald old man with a long beard, high forehead, broad nose, and majestic appearance, looking ancient and solemn. This painting itself is also an antique, yellowed and damaged paper, at least over a hundred years old. Next to it was a painting of a middle-aged man in Taoist robes, with sword-like eyebrows, bright eyes, a nose like a hanging gallbladder, and three strands of black whiskers, having a bit of an immortal air about him.

  Zhou Tan lit incense and candles, asked me to kneel down, and said: "The one in the middle is the founder of the Yinyang family, Guiguzi. Kneel three times."

  The ancestor of the Yin and Yang family was Guiguzi, it seems that history is not very long, compared to the Three Pure Ones of Taoism... I knelt down and kowtowed three times. Zhou Tan saw the doubt in my eyes and said: "Yin and Yang Wu Xing has been around since the creation of heaven and earth, the predecessor of Yin and Yang family may be the ancient 'Wu', after the interruption of the dynasty, it was Guiguzi who collected, sorted out and developed it, so all the Yin and Yang masters after Qin and Han respected him as the founder."

  I nodded, Guiguzi is someone I'm familiar with, a famous thinker, strategist, Taoist, militarist, educator and horizontalist during the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States period, a legendary figure of all time, with abilities that can penetrate heaven and earth, and unpredictable techniques, but I didn't expect him to be the ancestor of the Yin Yang school.

  Zhou Tuan Dao said: "My Zhou family has been passed down for seven generations. The one on the left is the first generation ancestor, you should also kowtow three times."

  I kowtowed three more times, looked up seriously and took a closer look, only to find that his appearance was not like Zhou Tan's after all. After six generations, it's normal for them not to resemble each other.

  Zhou Tan also knelt down in front of the statue and prayed, then took a taishi chair and sat in the middle: "The etiquette between master and apprentice cannot be abandoned, you should also kowtow three times."

  Facing this extremely crafty future master, I have a feeling of being cheated. He didn't sleep well last night and must be calculating to take me as his apprentice. Even the two ancestral portraits are ready... but since I've already paid respects to the ancestors, it's like uncooked rice has become cooked rice - this master can't not accept me now.

  "Nice to meet you, Master!" I kowtowed three times.

  October 5, 1995, lunar calendar yi hai year leap eighth month eleven day, my will was not firm, I was deceived by the old god stick and became a small god stick from a people's teacher, starting the biggest turning point in my life...

  After becoming an apprentice, I had a disagreement with my master about our formal identity in this profession. I've only heard that Japan has Onmyouji, China should be called Onmyou Gentleman. But my master said that Onmyou Gentleman is the same as Onmyouji, in the past, private school teachers were all referred to as "Gentleman", so "Gentleman" means "Master", and Onmyou Gentleman is the same as Onmyouji.

  "From the Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States period, those with real power in the Yin Yang school were called Yin Yang masters. Later on, they slowly branched out and changed, some becoming astronomers, some geomancers, and others fortune tellers... The Japanese Yin Yang masters were taught by Xu Fu, who was a famous disciple of Gui Guzi. We are the orthodox ones, while they are the collateral branch."

  In this respect, I am very ignorant and can only temporarily believe what he said. Another question occurred to me: "What is the difference between us and Taoist priests?"

  "The ancestors and spirits worshipped by Onmyodo practitioners and Taoist priests are different, their cultivation methods are different, and there are also some differences in their talismans and spells. However, the biggest difference lies in their goals. The goal of a Taoist priest is to be pure and do nothing, a true Taoist priest only cultivates himself, striving to become an immortal, swallowing the mist and spitting out the clouds, cultivating his energy and refining his elixir, contemplating the great way, without caring about the trivial matters of ordinary people. The goal of an Onmyodo practitioner is to connect heaven and earth, balance yin and yang, bring benefits to humanity, everything is for the needs of the people, in modern words, it can be said as 'serving the people'. Of course, serving also requires collecting a little money, so if you say it's 'serving the renminbi' (RMB), that's also acceptable."

  I burst out laughing, never expecting him to have a humorous side. It wasn't until then that I understood why Lu Chengshan couldn't save me, but Lao Shen Gong could - it's because each has their own specialty and strengths. When it comes to cultivating the Tao and ascending as an immortal, Yin-Yang masters are far inferior to Taoist priests; however, when it comes to subjugating demons, summoning spirits, and other "heterodox" practices, Yin-Yang masters surpass Taoist priests.

  After the high-sounding but empty talk, I invited my master to have dinner at my home. No matter how despicable he was or whether he had cheated me, he was still my master and also my lifesaver, so I should show filial piety to him.