The next morning, when I got up, I still felt a bit "floaty" while walking, but it was clearly not a light dizziness due to physical weakness, nor was it because of losing weight. I felt a bit excited and tried to jump up with all my might, and surprisingly, I leaped to about 1.5 meters high, which was absolutely impossible for me before.
On a whim, I ran out of the door, took a few running steps, and easily jumped onto the neighbor's wall, which was about two meters high!
Crap, have I learned lightness kung fu? I stood still for a while, tried again, and still managed to jump up. Moreover, I found that I could run very lightly and my sprint speed was much faster than before.
Could this be the change brought about by the fox spirit's 'ying po'? Mr. Zhou mentioned that the 'ying po' dominates the physical constitution, so it seems my constitution has undergone a significant enhancement!
Without waiting for breakfast, I hurried to Mr. Zhou's house. When I knocked on the door, he was wearing a thick coat, his originally dull and yellow eyes were filled with blood vessels, and his expression was tired, clearly indicating a sleepless night.
"Good morning, Mr. Zhou," I nodded to greet him.
"You've discovered something new again, haven't you?" He smiled slightly, with a look of an old fox watching a rooster.
I told him that my running speed and jumping ability had significantly improved, and my vision and hearing seemed to have improved as well. He just nodded and didn't say much, turning to walk inside.
"Mr. Zhou, yesterday you said the demon fox's soul was sealed inside my body, is this safe?"
"Not safe," he said without turning back, "My cultivation is not high, and its cultivation is very high. I can't hold it down for long; it could wake up at any time."
I felt even more nervous and quickly asked, "Where is it now?"
"I sealed it in your 'Jiaji' acupoint, but it's just a mark, not like something is actually placed inside. The so-called sealing is a bit like modern hypnosis; it's in a state of semi-consciousness and will wake up in response to stimulation or specific situations."
I knew he already had a solution, so I wasn't too anxious and followed him into the house. Mr. Zhou asked me to sit down before he spoke: "Are you planning to go back to teaching, or do something else?"
I didn't know why he suddenly asked this, so I asked him back, "Does this have anything to do with the seal on my body?"
"Yes!" Mr. Zhou said firmly, "Only if you are stronger than the fox spirit can you suppress it. To be stronger than it, you have to take me as your master and practice my unique skills!"
He spoke very firmly, but his eyes didn't meet mine. Coupled with his sneer at the door, I guessed he was lying, so I stood up: "The person who turned me into a vegetable is Lu Chengshan, who is said to be a top-level master in the Taoist community today. He wanted to take me as his disciple, but I refused."
Mr. Zhou hesitated for a moment, then quickly explained, "I'm not a Taoist priest; I'm a yin-yang master. The Zhou family's tradition has been passed down for several hundred years and is the most authentic yin-yang lineage, passed down from father to son, and only the eldest son in each generation is taught."
He realized he had slipped up and appeared somewhat awkward. He only had one son, who was already in prison, and it seemed he wasn't interested in this line of work, so the family tradition couldn't be continued. This made the reason for taking me as a disciple less straightforward. I smiled, and he looked even more embarrassed. He was usually a cunning old eel, but his concern had made him slip up, showing how much he cared about this matter.
Mr. Zhou earnestly said, "I'm not lying to you; you really need to learn magic from me to control it, otherwise, you won't live past thirty!"
I was somewhat taken aback: "Is this true?"
Mr. Zhou coughed for a moment before speaking earnestly: "It's true. I have calculated your birth date and time (eight characters), and at the age of thirty, you will face a major calamity with almost no chance of survival. It seems that the fox spirit will awaken at that time. By then, I will be gone, and others might not be able to save you; you can only rely on yourself."
I felt a bit panicked. Mr. Zhou had already proven his strength by saving my life, and his calculations couldn't be ignored. I am now twenty years old, and if I won't live past thirty, then I only have ten more years. My dreams, love, career, and supporting my mother haven't even started. Many people live to be a hundred and still don't want to die!
Mr. Zhou, fearing I wouldn't believe him, added: "From the strength of a person's innate ancestral qi, you can also gauge their lifespan, and you only have about thirty years."
I became even more nervous and thought of a question: "If it's predestined that I can only live to thirty, can it still be changed?"
"Yes, I have at least five methods to extend your lifespan. I only have one disciple, and I definitely won't let the Zhou family's legacy end with you, so I definitely won't let you die."
The recent events have sparked a great curiosity and interest in these mysterious things in me. Becoming his disciple isn't out of the question, but I must understand the leverage he holds: "What methods can extend lifespan? If they are all so easy, there would be many immortals in the world."
Mr. Zhou didn't rush to explain but told me two small stories instead.
There was a mother who sought a fortune teller's prediction for her son. The fortune teller said her son would not live past the age of thirteen and could only be saved by becoming a monk. The mother, half-believing and half-doubting, sought a high monk, but he too said her son would not live past thirteen. The mother had no choice but to leave her son behind. When her son turned thirteen, the high monk feared that if something happened to him in the temple, the mother would blame him, so he advised him to go home to visit. The son went home to see his mother and then returned to the temple, living well. The high monk asked him if anything strange happened when he went home. The son said that on his way, a heavy rain came down, and an ant nest was about to be washed away, so he surrounded it with soil and covered it with leaves to protect it.
Another story is about a son who sought a fortune teller's prediction for his mother. The fortune teller said his mother was already dead, but in fact, she was still alive, just having had a serious illness that year. The reason was that his mother had done countless good deeds throughout her life and had managed to avoid her predestined fate.
I understood the lesson behind the two stories Mr. Zhou told, which is that doing good deeds can alter one's fate. Mr. Zhou spoke with great meaning: "As practitioners of yin-yang, we guide people, reveal heavenly secrets, and even change fate against the natural order, which inevitably harms ourselves. Therefore, we must do good deeds and accumulate virtues. Deng Xiaoping said that education should start from childhood, and so should doing good deeds. Only then can a young sapling be straightened, while old trees like me, whose roots are rotten and leaves have fallen, can only wait to rot!"
I was still hesitating when Mr. Zhou said, "There are many secret methods that can extend one's lifespan, but it's not easy to explain them to you. Once you learn them, you'll understand naturally. Today is a favorable day, suitable for sacrifices, seeking wealth, signing contracts, marriage, engagement, and more, so let's have the ceremony of taking you as a disciple today."
I had no choice at all; I had to become his disciple to avoid death. Mr. Zhou took me to the main hall, picked up two scrolls, and hung them on the wall. The middle scroll depicted an elderly man with a bald head and long beard, a high forehead, a large nose, and a broad mouth, with a majestic and ancient appearance. The scroll itself was also an antique, with yellowed and damaged paper, at least a hundred years old. The other scroll depicted a middle-aged man in Taoist attire, with sharp eyebrows, bright eyes, a nose like a hanging pear, and three strands of black beard, having a certain air of a celestial immortal.
Mr. Zhou lit the incense and candles, and told me to kneel down, saying, "The one in the middle is the founding master of the yin-yang family, Guiguzi. Kneel down and kowtow three times."
It turned out that the founding master of the yin-yang family was Guiguzi. It seems the history isn't very long, not as long as the Three Pure Ones of Taoism. I knelt down and kowtowed three times. Mr. Zhou noticed the confusion in my eyes and said, "The concepts of yin and yang and the five elements have been around since the creation of the world. The precursor to the yin-yang family might have been the 'shamans' of ancient times. After the lineage was broken, it was Guiguzi who collected, organized, and developed it, so the yin-yang masters after the Qin and Han dynasties all respect him as the founding master."
I nodded. I knew about Guiguzi, a famous thinker, strategist, Taoist, military strategist, educator, and strategist of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. He was a man of great ability, with the power to communicate with the heavens and the earth, and mysterious skills that were beyond the understanding of gods and spirits. I just didn't expect him to be the founding master of the yin-yang family.
Mr. Zhou said, "My Zhou family's ancestral heritage has been passed down for seven generations. The one on the left is the first-generation ancestor. Kneel down and kowtow three times as well."
I knelt down and kowtowed three more times. When I looked up seriously, I noticed that his appearance was not similar to Mr. Zhou's, after all, it was six generations apart, so it was normal not to look alike.
Mr. Zhou also knelt and prayed to the deity, then took a grandmaster chair and sat in the middle: "The etiquette of teacher and disciple cannot be neglected, kneel down and kowtow three times as well."
Facing this extremely shady potential master, I felt like I had been tricked. He hadn't slept well all night, so he must have been plotting to take me as a disciple, even preparing two portraits of ancestors. But after bowing to the ancestors, it was like the rice was already cooked, and this master couldn't be refused.
"Greetings, Master!" I kowtowed three times.
On October 5, 1995, the lunar calendar date was the eleventh day of the ninth lunar month of the year of the Yi Hare, I was not firm in my will and was deceived by the old charlatan, from a teacher of the people, I became a little charlatan, starting the biggest turn in my life.
After taking the master, there was a difference between me and my master about our official identity in this profession. I had only heard of yin-yang masters in Japan, and in China, they should be called yin-yang masters. However, my master said that yin-yang masters are the same as yin-yang masters. In the past, teachers in private schools were all called "masters," so "master" is "teacher," yin-yang master is yin-yang master.
Mr. Zhou argued, "Since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, those with strength in the yin-yang family were all called yin-yang masters. It was later that they gradually split and changed, some were called astronomers, some were called geographers, some were called fortune tellers. The yin-yang masters in Japan were passed down by Xu Fu, who was a named disciple of Guiguzi. We are the orthodox, they are the collateral branches."
In this area, I'm quite lacking in knowledge, so I'll have to trust his explanation for now. I thought of another question: "What's the difference between us and Taoists?"
"Yin-yang masters and Taoists worship different ancestors and deities, their cultivation methods are different, and there are some differences in talismanic spells and incantations, but the biggest difference is in their purpose. The purpose of Taoists is to be pure and inactive; true Taoists only cultivate themselves and strive only for immortality, absorbing the mist and exhaling the fog, nurturing qi and refining elixirs, comprehending the Great Path, and not caring about the trivial matters of ordinary people. The purpose of yin-yang masters is to communicate with heaven and earth, balance yin and yang, and benefit humanity. Everything is for the needs of the people, to use modern terms, it is to 'serve the people.' Of course, services also require a small fee, so it can also be said that you are 'serving the RMB.'"
I laughed heartily; I didn't expect him to have a humorous side. Only then did I understand why Lu Chengshan couldn't save me, but the old charlatan did. This is about having expertise in different areas; each has its strengths. In terms of cultivating immortality and ascending to heaven in broad daylight, yin-yang masters are far inferior to Taoists; but in terms of subduing demons, commanding ghosts, exorcising evil spirits, and other 'unorthodox' methods, yin-yang masters are stronger than Taoists.
After our high-level discussion, I invited my master to my house for dinner. No matter how shady he is, whether he deceived me or not, he is my master and my savior, and I should respect and care for him.