Starting Cultivation During a Trip

Chapter 530 - 262: The Hexagram of the Yisi Snake Year! Eight Kings Carrying the Coffin_2

For this reason, the Ge Trigram is the trigram of great transformation.

This year will be filled with many variables, and the destinies of many people will change because of it. Old structures will ultimately be broken, and a new world will emerge.

"Ge Trigram, on the day of Ji is accompanied by sincerity, great success is advantageous, and regrets vanish." Xu Xuan Guan softly spoke.

"Great transformation inevitably brings great chaos. Especially at this time, one mustn’t act rashly. Only by seizing that sudden Celestial Secret can one achieve successful transformation and usher in a new situation."

"By then, all old regrets will vanish."

Upon these words, Xu Xuan Guan slowly turned around to look at Zhang Fan.

"Young man, do you know which trigram comes after the Ge Trigram?"

"What?" Zhang Fan instinctively responded.

In terms of specialized skills, the way of divination was something he was entirely ignorant of.

"The Ding Trigram!"

Xu Xuan Guan raised his hand to point, and Zhang Fan followed his gaze to see another wall also adorned with a hexagram. Above was the Li Trigram, below was the Xun Trigram; it was precisely the Wind and Fire [Ding Trigram] among the sixty-four hexagrams.

"After the Ge Trigram comes the Ding Trigram, breaking the old and establishing the new stem from here."

The Ding Trigram, with fire above and wind below, meaning wind enhances the fire, and fire borrows wind’s power, symbolizes the cycle of harmony and transformation.

"Within the Ge Trigram lies great transformation, breaking all old orders. Grasp that singular Celestial Secret, and you could recreate Heaven and Earth, wielding the Ding vessel." Xu Xuan Guan stated gravely.

If the Ge Trigram represents breaking the old, then the Ding Trigram represents establishing the new.

The most crucial part is that in ancient culture, the Ding represents supreme authority, symbolizing destiny.

"Zhang the Second left these two hexagrams for a reason." Xu Xuan Guan softly murmured, his voice almost inaudible, as if speaking to himself.

"When the Si Snake fire prospers, the meeting year draws near; when will the Ge Trigram appear, and when will the Ding Trigram follow!?"

During this year, everyone’s fate will undergo unpredictable changes; water and fire will extinguish and appease each other. Amid significant transformations, great chaos will arise, and one misstep could lead to eternal damnation, water extinguishing fire, fire giving way to silence.

However, within this great chaos lies a line of opportunity. Whoever grasps it will seize their destiny, transforming the old into the new, forever different.

"Break the old, establish the new, great Ding of fire and wind!?"

Zhang Fan gazed at the hexagram of the [Ding Trigram] on the wall, his eyes misty with contemplation.

In that moment, the Ding Trigram in his eyes seemed to catch fire; the Li Trigram above turned into blazing flames, scorching the heavens, while the Xun Trigram below morphed into a swirling black wind, sweeping across the sky.

The black wind fed the crimson flames, ominous phenomena pervading the world. The immense universe seemed to transform into a single cauldron, where everything, past and present, were mere ingredients, boiling and offering sacrifices to the sacred heavens.

Rumbling...

In an instant, a mysterious aura surged from Zhang Fan’s body, his Primordial Spirit unknowingly leapt out from the Spirit Platform at his brow.

"Hmm!?"

Xu Xuan Guan raised an eyebrow, sensing Zhang Fan’s anomaly. On closer inspection, he saw Zhang Fan’s Primordial Spirit suspended three feet above his head, Profound Void Qi enveloping it, resembling a Divine sitting grandly. His hands formed a seal, his right hand manifesting Separation Fire, his left summoning Black Wind, mirroring the hexagram of the Ding Trigram.

"What a prodigy; he actually seized the mystery of this hexagram!?" Xu Xuan Guan’s eyes gleamed sharply, unable to refrain from sighing.

Rumbling...

At that moment, the black wind raged, seemingly merging the great fire upwards, about to engulf Zhang Fan’s Primordial Spirit.

Such power, breaking the old, establishing the new, observing the heavens, refining beings, is beyond comprehension in a short time!

Buzz...

Xu Xuan Guan flicked his finger, creating a ripple that spread and layered, separating the black wind and crimson fire. In the next moment, Zhang Fan’s Primordial Spirit voluntarily returned to his body acupoints.

In the Dark Room, everything returned to silence, as if nothing had ever occurred.

"Zhang Fan... Zhang..."

Xu Xuan Guan watched Zhang Fan slowly awaken, his gaze scattered and contemplative.

"Senior, I..."

Zhang Fan was somewhat dazed. At this moment, the hexagram of the fire and wind Ding Trigram seemed like a brand, having ingrained itself into his Primordial Spirit, inerasable and unforgettable.

Such profound intent, overwhelming and all-encompassing, ceaselessly refining his Primordial Spirit.

This strange sensation closely resembled the scene when he awakened the [Samadhi True Flame].

"You’re fortunate, breaking the old and establishing the new; indeed, everything has its destiny, breaking the old and establishing the new, successors will rise..."

Xu Xuan Guan murmured, instinctively glancing back at the hexagram of the [Ge Trigram] on the wall.

"Thank you, senior, for fulfilling me." Zhang Fan bowed in gratitude, knowing that the momentary epiphany just now was an invaluable gain.

Such a celestial opportunity, others might not seek it in a lifetime.

"You needn’t thank me; it’s your opportunity, or rather, your fate with him." Xu Xuan Guan looked at the hexagram on the wall.

"With him?" Zhang Fan pondered briefly before asking, "Senior, can you tell me about him?"

"Who? Zhang the Second? Haven’t you heard of him before?" Xu Xuan Guan looked at Zhang Fan with profound intention.

"I... how could I have heard of him?" Zhang Fan stammered.

In fact, his father never mentioned his grandfather, and for a time, Zhang Fan even suspected his dad grew up in an orphanage.

"His name was Zhang Tian Sheng..."

"Divine Oracle Zhang Tian Sheng!" Xu Xuan Guan said just this, then turned to walk deeper into the Dark Room.

Zhang Fan watched Xu Xuan Guan’s back, not asking further, simply following him.

At the very top of the deep Dark Room was a shrine, wherein an Ancient Map was enshrined.

Xu Xuan Guan approached the shrine, lit three sticks of incense, and surprisingly bowed in prayer to the Ancient Map.

"Is this the enshrined master?" Zhang Fan was surprised for a moment.

Xu Xuan Guan, such a master from Maoshan, didn’t enshrine his Ancestral Master and yet reverently worshipped an ancient painting.

With this thought, Zhang Fan couldn’t help but look up.

This ancient painting was timeworn, the scroll yellowed by age, at least two to three hundred years old.

The imagery was bizarre and strange, depicting eight figures with indistinct faces, dressed in extremely antique Daoist Robes. The robes were wide, making the proportions of the eight figures appear highly unbalanced, each holding something—there was a Sword, a Seal, a Mirror...

These eight figures carried a pitch-black coffin, standing at the very center of the painting, appearing extremely eerie.

After a glance or two, Zhang Fan felt his hair stand on end, a chill wind blowing on his back.

"You should also offer a stick of incense." Xu Xuan Guan said calmly.

"Senior, what is this?" Zhang Fan casually asked.

"Eight Kings Carrying the Coffin!" Xu Xuan Guan softly said, uttering four words.

"Eight Kings Carrying the Coffin!?" Zhang Fan showed a puzzled expression.

"The original of this painting was lost long ago. This is a copy by a master from Dragon Tiger Mountain during the Ming Dynasty." Xu Xuan Guan did not say much more, simply took out three sticks of incense, handing them to Zhang Fan.

Seeing this, Zhang Fan did not dare ask further, bowing again and again to the [Eight Kings Carrying the Coffin].

"Senior, what does this painting mean?"

After offering the incense, Zhang Fan couldn’t help but ask once more.

Xu Xuan Guan’s gaze slightly tightened, looking through the swirling incense smoke at the ancient painting suspended above the shrine, murmuring: "Few in this world know of it anymore; only us old brothers..."

As his words ended, he let out a weary sigh.

...

Shangjing City, White Crane Temple.

Inside Wangji Hall, in a secret chamber, this was the forbidden ground of White Crane Temple, ordinarily accessible only to the current White Crane Observatory Master, Jiang Wansui, known as half the Daoist Sect empire.

At this moment, Jiang Wansui stood there, and suddenly, the candle flame on the incense table in front of him flickered, and the swirling incense smoke violently shook.

Jiang Wansui raised an eyebrow, looking up at the wall in front of him, where an ancient painting hung, none other than the Eight Kings Carrying the Coffin.

"Zhang the Second died so many years ago, and yet the Coffin Lifting Association has passed on another lineage of incense? Who could it be!?"