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Doubled water enters a cavern, losing the way brings misfortune.
This phrase was a bit perplexing to Hou Yi and the others, but to Qi Lin, this was all too familiar. These were words from the “Xiang.”1 According to the Xiang: Xi was accumulation. Positioned below, conduct yourself according to Kan. In Kan is a pit. There is nothing corresponding above, and the first two have lost their proper place. Thus, it is said that “losing the way brings misfortune.”
The “pit” was the trap within the trap. “Six” was weak; in the Kan hexagram, it was located in the lowest part, which was fraught with danger. A trap within a trap; that is, the lowest level of the trap from which there was no way of escape. Thus, it was dangerous. The “Xiang” said: at such a stage, any way to get out of danger was already lost, and peril was at its extreme.
These hexagram lines warned against venturing too deeply into danger, lest one be unable to extricate themself.
Qi Lin looked at the surrounding environment. The second Divine Gate had a swamp, and a swamp was related to a pit. If he carefully scrutinized again, Qi Lin then noticed that the rotating patterns on the perimeter walls were a bit strange. Each of the gates were shaped like a hexagram.
“A bright moon shines in the water, but only its reflection is visible. The fool sees it as money and goes to retrieve it, only to come up empty-handed.”
Lu Wu sang from a distance.
Qi Lin pondered.
The Immemorial Royal Family were experts in geomancy, and the Queen Mother Of The West was very close with the Immemorial Royal Family. If she actually used the hexagrams for the mechanism, this would not be strange. Confident in his idea, Qi Lin was in no rush at all to solve it. He was deeply aware that haste made for waste. This was merely a small conjecture, and it needed more details to be proven. Otherwise, if they opened the wrong door, they would fall into a calamity from which there was no return.
Qi Lin’s busy figure outside the Divine Gate drew the others’ attention.
“Qi Lin, did you find something?” Hou Yi noticed that the man in front of her was surprisingly reassuring; he was always full of pleasant surprises.
“Right now, I do not dare be sure.”
“If you need anything, you may let us know.” Hou Yi promised.
“He best have found something.” Xuanxuzi muttered.
Time still flowed in Western Kunlun. The moon set, the sun rose, and in an instant, it was already the second day. Qi Lin paced back and forth over the marsh, then he carefully surveyed the second Divine Gate, and then he quietly sat in front of the gate.
After several more days, just as the moon was full as Lu Wu said, when the Kaiming Beast was to awaken, Xuanxuzi and Gan Man were already impatient. They exhibited panicky behavior when, finally, Qi Lin moved.
The moonlight was like water. The gate and Kaiming Beast closed again; another hour.
Qi Lin rose and walked towards the Divine Gate.
The Kaiming Beast stared at him covetously. If Qi Lin was wrong, this frightening beast could come to life and trample them all like ants. “Qi Lin, you better be sure. If you are wrong, we will all die here.” Xuanxuzi shouted.
“Senior, if you are worried, by all means, leave. Once out of the first Divine Gate, the Kaiming Beast should not pursue any further.” Qi Lin calmly replied.
Xuanxuzi was indefinitely gloomy. Of course, he wanted to leave, but he also dreaded wasting all the effort he put in until now. Although he loathed this Golden Core cultivator very much, he was also aware that this young man was exceptional, with a kind of mystery about him that he had never seen.
“If you are wrong, I will run away as I use you as bait.” Xuanxuzi continued shamelessly.
Hou Yi frowned and brought out the Sunset Over Western Hill, waiting grimly.
Qi Lin stared at this gate. The Divine Gate had some horizontal markings that Hou Yi and the others were unable to grasp, but Qi Lin understood these were Yin and Yang lines of the Bagua. “Doubled water enters a cavern, losing the way brings misfortune.” This referred to the six of the Kan hexagram. As expected, the Yin and Yang lines on the door could be altered. Qi Lin then arranged the lines on the door to form the Kan bagua.
However, the position of the hexagram on the door would not be so simple. Since there were twelve two-hour divisions, the division was also a part of the mechanism.
The twelve two-hour periods had a Five Elements saying. For example, because all plants grew when the sun rose, this period was none other than “wood.” At noon, the sun was at its most vigorous. The air and the earth were scorching, so this period was “fire, metal” and “fire, earth.” At 5-7 o’clock in the evening, the air was at its driest, fruits their sweetest, so this period was “metal.” At midnight, the environment was all cool and calm, this was “water.”
Kan was water. Then the time to open the gate was during the period of water.
The Kan hexagram’s six lines and the water period were the key. Perhaps this was the mystery of the Nine Divine Gates.
Qi Lin prepared everything, took a deep breath, then calmly and confidently pushed. The gate’s “lines” all sank in. No one dared to exhale too sharply, cold sweat dripping down their faces.
Click.
A crisp noise, as if something had been opened.
Before everyone’s dumbfounded expressions, the heavy Divine Gate below the Kaiming Beast actually opened up slowly.
The second Divine Gate opened.
“Impossible…It actually opened.” Xuanxuzi murmured.
“Incredible, how did you do this.” Shi Xuan was astounded.
“Forget about that for now, let’s quickly get in. Time waits for no one.” Qi Lin allowed for no explanation as he took the lead to enter the gate with the others following in succession.
Exiting from the second Divine Gate, everyone was still in disbelief that Qi Lin actually solved the Divine Gate’s mystery.
“Just how did you do that?” Xuanxuzi impatiently asked.
“I learned a bit of geomancy from the Great Primordial. That phrase Lu Wu uttered just happened to be one that I know.” Qi Lin thought for a moment: “I have no way to explain the rest.”
“You actually are capable of geomancy?” Gan Man gasped.
Shi Xuan and Hou Yi glanced at each other, “I am a Divine Name of the Immemorial Royal Family, but even I only know a few fragmented words of geomancy…”
“They say that geomancy can only be controlled by cultivators of the royal line…Which are rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns in Primordial World.” Xuanxuzi stared at Qi Lin.
Qi Lin leisurely replied: “I only know a few things, but I do not have control over it.”
“Regardless, you were able to help us open the Divine Gate. Yours was the greatest contribution, and Yi will remember this.”
Qi Lin smiled.
“Good. Since Fellow Qi Lin has found the key to opening the Divine Gates, let us hurry to the next one…” Upon thinking that the legend of meeting the Queen Mother Of The West, known throughout Primordial World for ages, was finally about to be realized, Xuanxuzi was unable to calm the excitement in his heart.
Thinking of this, Xuanxuzi’s tone towards Qi Lin became markedly polite and amiable, simply unlike the arrogance a Primordial Infant cultivator would show towards a Golden Core cultivator. There was even a bit of flattery.
The landscape leading to the third Divine Gate dampened everyone’s mood. First, there was an irritating beach, then a thick and viscous mud bog. Lastly, there was even an endless and chilling pool of blood. There was practically no sign of life to be seen. As they walked over the blood, everyone was on edge.
“What the hell is this place. These Nine Divine Gates are too strange.” Xuanxuzi cursed.
“Chang, be careful.” Qi Lin held the girl’s arm. Chang hated this blood-water very much, such that the color drained from er face. Qi Lin simply picked her up and carried her under his arm.
Fortunately, though this blood lake was ugly, nothing strange occurred. Very quickly, an orchard of grapevines appeared before them. Behind this grove was the third Divine Gate.
As before, Hou YI and the rest had no clue how to activate the Divine Gate.
Qi Lin scrutinized this place, and his mind had an epiphany.
“Wait at the outskirts. To persevere is to be without error.”
“Wait in sand. A minor dispute brings fortune in the end.”
“Wait in mud. Danger is close.”
“Wait in blood. From the acupoint.”
“So it turned out to be the Attending trigram’s ninth…”
The others could not make sense of Qi Lin’s words, but seeing this young man’s confident grin, they all breathed a sigh of relief. They knew that there should be no problem.
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- 象 ↩
“He best have found something.” Xuanxuzi muttered.
Me: Bruh.