Chapter 119

The so-called borrowing of fortune is a relatively mild method of changing one's luck in numerology.

A person's fortune has its prosperous and declining periods; in prosperity, everything goes smoothly and one rises rapidly; in decline, calamities loom, nothing goes smoothly, not only are obstacles more numerous, but also petty people stir up trouble for no reason. Moreover, one may encounter the deadly blood-disaster checks of the vehicle pass, heavenly calamity, and the White Tiger.

At this point, besides giving verbal warnings, the numerologist will also advise the client to borrow fortune in order to improve their own luck.

In plain terms, the numerologist, based on a person's birth chart, advises traveling to a suitable place during months when the yearly luck is especially fraught with calamity, choosing to borrow earthly fortune to aid oneself. If the person's chart favors water, the numerologist will recommend the northeast, some extremely cold places like Harbin; otherwise, they will recommend some milder places in the south.

Besides that, there are also specific borrowing-of-fortune methods aimed at resolving parental and filial clashes, mutual Five Elements conflicts among relatives, or for those birth charts that are inherently fraught with disasters and difficult to sustain.

For such birth charts, if the numerologist is of poor character and insufficient ability, they will pretend to be mysterious and advise the parents to send the child to be fostered elsewhere, in order to break this clash.

But children are the apple of their parents' eyes; who, as a parent, would willingly give their child to another to raise unless absolutely forced?

There is a modern saying: 'I would rather sit in a BMW and cry than sit on a bicycle and laugh.' Applied to parents, it means they would rather endure the hardship of caring for their children, even be driven to tears by a mischievous child, than be separated from their flesh and blood and live a lonely, comfortable life.

In such circumstances, borrowing fortune is also one of the methods we offer. By borrowing the luck of deities and the luck of sacred trees, we resolve clashes and ill omens.

Choose a temple with flourishing incense, through ritual and paperwork make a contract with the deities, honor the deity as a foster father, and use the deity's qi fortune to resolve the clash. Or, according to one's birth date, select a favorable direction, take the birthplace as the point, find a feng shui sacred tree, honor the tree as a foster mother, symbolizing the child borrowing the mother's luck to dispel uncertainty and innate weaknesses in one's fate.

What Pangzi and I are now preparing to do is also a borrowing of fortune, but our method differs greatly from the two described above. It uses ritual as a guide, with clothing and hair as media, to give our own qi fortune to Wei Xiong, using our own qi fortune to dispel the calamities on his body.

Such a method benefits one person while harming another, which goes against heavenly harmony and also damages the caster's essence, qi, and spirit; we would not choose this way of borrowing fortune unless absolutely necessary.

But now, aside from this borrowing of fortune, we can think of no quicker way. Damaging heavenly harmony can only be done once, as long as our brother comes to no harm.

Because a numerologist cannot divine their own fate—each reading may not change the overall trend but the mid-course will drift—so Pangzi and I can only read each other's charts to see whose qi fortune is stronger, so we can lend it to Wei Xiong.

"Your yearly na-yin earthly branch is Chen, and this year you are moving into the You luck; Chen and You combine to form metal, which is the metal combination among the six harmonies. You are currently in a year of strong self and flourishing luck. Wei Xiong has a water destiny; since metal produces water in the Five Elements, we can borrow…"

"Your birth chart contains a lot of earth, and this year you are also suffering the Harm to the Grand Duke; even if we ignore that your luck is not strong, even if the yearly luck were strong, the Xu earth would clash and harm the Ren water, so your fortune cannot be lent to Wei Xiong, otherwise his day master would become even weaker."

After we laid out the four pillars on paper using Zi Ping divination, we arrived at the above two conclusions. Pangzi has a metal destiny, and his yearly luck combines to form the metal configuration; since metal produces water in the Five Elements, he can lend his fortune to Wei Xiong.

As for me, I have an earth destiny; even aside from being in a year that harms the Grand Duke, my luck is not strong. Even if I were in a strong phase, I could not lend to him, because Xu earth overcomes Ren water, and even if I were willing to lend, it would only further conceal and weaken Wei Xiong's already feeble fortune.

This is the strictness of borrowing fortune: even a person in a strong phase cannot simply lend it; it depends on whether the two birth charts clash or complement each other.

"Let me do it; your birth chart is not suitable for lending fortune to Wei Xiong." Pangzi answered cleanly and decisively, and after speaking he prepared to set up the altar and perform the ritual.

"All right… let's do the ritual right away; I'll go get Wei Xiong's outer garment and hair right now." I immediately had no hesitation and sprinted out to the living room.

Quietly, I cut off Wei Xiong's hair with scissors, took off his upper garment, and brought them into the room.

In the room, Pangzi had already drawn the red paper: left, the Thousand-Mile Eye; right, the Wind-Following Ear; in the center, he had enshrined the Five Manifest Huaguang Ancestral Master; the altar diagram depicted the sun and moon, with the four characters 'Great Manifest Numinous Power' written above.

Since the guesthouse lacked a statue of the Great Emperor Huaguang, Pangzi had no choice but to use the red paper as a temporary divine altar to perform the ritual.

After drawing the red paper, Pangzi pasted it on the wall, devoutly kowtowing three times, then promptly opened his bundle and took out a long box from within.

Upon opening it, I saw that the box held a bronze sword about twenty cun in length.

With a clang, the treasure sword was unsheathed; the moment the blade was drawn, a flash of cold light swept across the room, causing my eyes to momentarily lose focus.

"Pangzi… this is" I stepped closer, staring at the bronze sword and asked curiously

Although the blade of this bronze sword has dulled, that earlier flash of cold light and the resonant sound of its being drawn are enough to show that it is an extraordinary weapon. Moreover, the swords of us Daoists are used to slay demons and evil spirits, not to kill people; whether the blade is sharp or not has little bearing on the sword's efficacy—what matters is whether the implement's spiritual aura is thick enough.

"What are you looking at… you haven't not seen it before—this is the Seven-Star Dragon Spring Sword, passed down in my family for three generations. Besides my father, my grandfather and great-grandfather have all used this sword to slay demons and evil spirits; the sword has passed through three generations of hands, its magical power is ample, making it a first-rate magical implement." Pangzi gazed at the sword's blade affectionately and said: "Hurry and give this sword several more layers of imperial command; tomorrow think up some pretext and give it to Wei Xiong." Having said that, he extended the sword toward me.

"All right… I'll go next door to empower it right away." Having said that, I took the Dragon Spring Sword, grabbed a few sticks of yellow incense, and prepared to leave the room.

Normally, I would be surprised that Pangzi would give away something so precious, but at this moment we both understand each other's feelings. As long as we can preserve our brother's life, not just one precious sword but even ten, we would give them away without hesitation.

Saying more would be affected; at this moment Pangzi and I can only do our utmost to help Wei Xiong.

"Remember, this implement's yang qi is very heavy; absolutely do not use your Yinshan taboo, but you may use the taboo from Lushan or Maoshan instead." Pangzi solemnly instructed, his expression grave.

"Okay, I got it." I nodded, kept Pangzi's admonition in mind, then took the yellow incense and left the room; we split up, I to empower the Dragon Spring Sword, while he presided over the borrowing of fortune.

Upon entering the room, I did not dare delay; I hurriedly set up the altar and performed the ritual. This time, like Pangzi, I used the red paper as the altar diagram, except that the ancestral master was no longer the Yinshan Dharma Lord, but I invoked several deities of the Lushan Dharma tradition: the Nine Dragons Three Dukes, Zhang the Holy One, the Three Holy Lords, and so on.

After the altar diagram was drawn, I placed the Dragon Spring Treasure Sword upon the tabletop. Without a doubt, this sword is an ancient magical implement; the moment I touched it, waves of heat emanated from the blade, making me feel dizzy and palpitate.

This is the magical power and spiritual aura on the implement; if a consecrated object is effective, an ordinary person will feel such palpitations and dizziness when first wearing it, unless time passes and the object and person gradually break in, after which these sensations will fade.

After reciting the elaborate invocation of the deities, I then pinched the sword finger with one hand, lifted a stick of pure incense, focused my mind, held my breath, silently recited the spell, and with my other right hand also formed the sword finger.

As I stomped three times, I simultaneously shouted a command, and immediately afterward I struck the incense tip with the right-hand sword finger.

With a puff, the incense tip ignited without fire. Unlike Pangzi's earth-fire technique, mine was purely gathering magical power in the sword finger and striking down upon the incense tip.

As for why I am doing this? Naturally, it is to imprint the taboo into the Dragon Spring Treasure Sword.

This is a little-known procedure in the consecration rites, also commonly used by practitioners of the Dharma. Whether drawing talismans or consecrating objects, one must light a stick of pure incense, or trace the talisman according to the spell, or seal a layer of imperial command upon the object's talisman.

We call this procedure 'du ling'; sealing the imperial command directly into the implement is equivalent to directly infusing it with magical power.

Anyone who has ever assisted a Daoist practitioner of the Dharma will, to some extent, have witnessed such a scene: the Daoist lights a stick of pure incense, holds it in hand, and in the air draws circular talismans upon the person's body; although this is not writing talismans on paper, it is likewise an invisible talisman, directly imprinting the imperial command onto the person, and its effect is no less than that of a written talisman.

Moreover, in the process of du ling, the Daoist's own skill is severely tested; the entire procedure must be completed in a single breath-hold, without leaking air or breathing, otherwise it is ineffective. If a practitioner of shallow cultivation repeats this many times, after finishing they will be utterly exhausted, possibly even fainting.

This time, I focused my mind and held my breath, not only sealing the imperial command upon the Dragon Spring Treasure Sword, but also adding my personal destiny taboo within it.

The personal destiny taboo is a prohibition handed down from the ancestral master, its power immensely strong. However, this taboo also has a drawback: if it is sealed upon a person and that person commits evil or does something conscience-stricken, the Daoist themselves will sense it and also be affected. Aside from this drawback, there are also several benefits: first, its power is immense, causing all evils to retreat; second, if the person who has received the taboo meets with an accident, the Daoist will likewise feel a corresponding resonance.

All in all, including the personal destiny taboo, I sealed seven layers of imperial command, performed seven breath-hold du ling sessions, and after each session I pricked my middle finger and dabbed the point upon the hilt of the Dragon Spring Treasure Sword.

I stomped twenty-one times, held my breath seven times, pierced my fingers seven times; after the imperial commands were sealed, my entire body's magical power was depleted by about half, leaving me limp and weak, my whole body soft, on the verge of stumbling and falling.

This is the manifestation of excessive consumption of magical power and essence-spirit; were it not for my own brother, I would not have exerted myself so much in the consecration.

After resting a moment, I glanced at the clock and saw it had passed four o'clock in the morning; I dared not delay, took a sip of water, then took the Dragon Spring Sword and went to another room to find Pangzi.

When I pushed the door open, I also saw Pangzi sitting on the bed with a pallid face, gasping heavily. Looking again at the tabletop, I could faintly see a red talisman on the garment, and beside the clothing lay a small bowl containing a bit of reddish… blood.

"Pangzi…?" I started in surprise; the bowl beside him certainly did not hold ink, its viscous bloody smell was unmistakably Pangzi's essence blood.

At that moment, Pangzi sat on the bed with a pallid face, panting, his right hand tightly gripping the left wrist's major artery.

"Hurry… come help me, I can't stop the bleeding." Pangzi said weakly, his face pallid.

"The sun rises in the east, a point of red; my master is hidden within it; my master three times cuts the flowing water, one finger seals the red gate so blood does not flow… Great Golden Blade, Small Slice Blade, Laozi sits at the cave mouth, blood dares not flow, command it not to flow, truly it will not flow… I obey the Supreme Elder Lord's orders with vigor, as the law commands." I lifted Pangzi's wrist, recited the spell, traced the talisman with the sword finger once, then made a single hand into a palm and pressed it over the wound.

This is the Daoist hemostatic spell; the Great Golden Blade refers to the palm posture, the Small Slice Blade to the sword finger. When using the Great Golden Blade, one makes a palm posture and presses it into the void over the wound; when using the Small Slice Blade, one writes the talisman in the void over the wound with the sword finger.

Normally, either one would suffice, but after having sealed the taboo my body and mind are utterly fatigued, my magical power weak. To be safe, I first used the sword finger, then the palm posture, employing both methods together.

After a good while, I finally released Pangzi's wrist. By then, the wrist was no longer dripping blood; only a small wound about half a centimeter wide remained in the vein.

「Pangzi, just take a bit of essence blood to draw a talisman, do you really need to be so harsh? 」 Looking at this wound nearly ten centimeters long and half a centimeter wide, I couldn't help but inhale a breath of cold air.

Pangzi spoke with a Tianjin accent, on the verge of tears: "Damn it, I just wanted to use a bit of blood, who knew I wouldn't be careful when staunching the bleeding. Then the method consumed too much, and this blood flowed out, I don't even know."

「But this wound…… what the hell did you use to cut it, you bastard? 」

Pangzi pointed to the watermelon knife on the table, pursed his lips, and said: "I couldn't find a blade, so I only mixed it in."

I: ……Using a watermelon knife to slash your wrist, isn't that just asking for trouble?

…………

Taking advantage of Wei Xiong still being asleep, the two of us hurriedly sneaked out to the living room and put that shirt on him.

At this moment, Wei Xiong slept like a dead pig, unaware of our actions. Yet I and Pangzi were utterly exhausted, our limbs weak; putting that shirt on him had us tossing and turning for nearly ten minutes.

「Hope I can help him! 」 A wave of fatigue rose in my mind, making me yawn involuntarily.

Pangzi replied in an indisputable tone: "He'll definitely be fine; as long as he wears this shirt for three days without changing, his calamity will be resolved by my luck."

「Holy shit…… what did you say, three days without changing! You're not joking with me, are you? 」 I jumped up, eyes wide as bells, staring hard at Pangzi.

What kind of joke is that—who would wear the same clothes for three days without changing?

Pangzi shrugged helplessly: "Three days is already the fastest possible; think about it, the conversion of luck also needs a gradual, cyclical process—being too rash would backfire."

I shook my head with a wry smile: "Is there any way to make Wei Xiong wear this shirt continuously for three days?"

Pangzi patted my shoulder, then stretched, and said: "Don't worry, I've already figured out the reason—tomorrow… you just watch me."

After saying that, Pangzi let out a big yawn, flopped onto the sofa and fell asleep.

「Hey hey…… come on, tell me what the plan is! 」 I shoved Pangzi hard, only to find he slept like a dead pig; no matter how I pushed or shouted, I couldn't wake him.

Slowly, I too felt a wave of fatigue drifting in my mind, my eyelids beginning to flutter uncontrollably.

Finally, I could no longer bear the fatigue, I collapsed onto Pangzi, closed my eyes, and fell asleep like that..