Chapter 21: The Turtle Breathing and Hibernation Guiding Method

The Guanyin statue was made of porcelain, about a foot tall, a typical standing Guanyin statue enshrined in a shrine, with a white veil draped over its head, jewelry adorning its body, feet standing on a lotus, and holding a Pure Bottle in its hands.

This Pure Bottle was removable, about the size of a finger, and could hold a fresh willow branch.

Xu Jia first placed the Pure Bottle into the mouth of the stone turtle facing the Gourd, then placed the Paperweight on the side of the Well rim facing the sunlight.

With just these two steps, the Feng Shui of the Ming Tang was immediately altered, gaining the function of absorbing Evil Qi and neutralizing evil.

The Gourd and the Pure Bottle are powerful Magic Tools of both the Daoist and Buddhist traditions; their effects differ slightly, but both possess the power to "gather Qi and neutralize evil."

The Gourd can collect evil and transform it into fortune and prosperity, while the Pure Bottle can influence through compassion, purifying evil and promoting good, which is why the Pure Bottle is paired with willow.

Used in this way, it can neutralize the Yin Evil of the Condolence Guest, serving as the "driving" force for the Feng Shui cycle, so that Vitality does not decline but instead flourishes, and the family fortune does not fail but prospers.

When Xu Mu asks why the jade bottle is missing from the Guanyin statue in the Buddhist hall, and Xu Fu asks about the missing painting and Paperweight from the study, Xu Jia can just take them back then.

After all, suppressing the evil ghost here is only an expedient measure; using the suppression of an evil ghost to boost Feng Shui is an "Evil Art," no different from "Raising a Ghost" to force luck.

Once the Feng Shui changed, the Yin Evil and evil winds vanished instantly; in the clearly identical environment, there was simply a feeling of it being brighter and more spacious.

Within the courtyard of the Xu Residence, there was even an atmosphere of "spring warmth and harmony."

A gentle breeze blew, not making one feel uncomfortable, but rather the air was fresh, making one inexplicably feel relaxed; this wind was neither humid nor cold, just right.

Xu Fu was not entirely ignorant; as the head of the household, when the house's Qi and Feng Shui are nurtured and flourish, he is the first to be nurtured and flourish.

"Jidi, where did you learn these skills?" Xu Fu asked tentatively.

Xu Jia certainly could not say directly that he was an Immortal reincarnated, fearing it would scare them, although he would find an opportunity to talk to them about it in detail later.

He only said: "No one taught me, I just suddenly understood."

By talking nonsense like this, he actually managed to muddle through.

Xu Fu pondered for a while and said: "I won't stop you from tinkering with these things, but if your body is better, you should review your lessons and carefully prepare for next year's County Examination and Prefecture Examination, that is what's important."

How would Xu Jia know these things? Even though he had lived a long time and understood some classics of the three teachings, they were used to assist in cultivation and practice, to understand the "metaphors" in ancient classics; for instance, sometimes some ancient alchemy books would mention Buddhist verses one moment, and the "subtle words and great meanings" of the Spring and Autumn Annals the next.

However, Xu Jia still nodded: "Okay." Because obtaining fame and gaining privileges was also part of his plan.

Seeing Xu Jia so straightforward, Xu Fu found it hard to say anything else. When he was alone with Lady Xu, he said: "This child, why is he acting so superstitious?"

"I heard that some people, after a major illness, see through everything, understand everything, become detached from the world, and enter the empty gate... Furen, do you think it could be a trap set by that Daoist to abduct him?"

"This..." Lady Xu also had no strong opinion.

"But this house, after being cleaned and tidied up like this, really does look refreshed and a bit more spacious."

"It is necessary to sweep away some bad luck," Lady Xu said. "Just now, an old woman said she saw a ghost, so Jidi took the Paperweight from your study to suppress it by the Well. Last night, others also said there was a haunting, and that Xiao Hong is still having nightmares. Who can really say anything about the matters of Ghost Gods?"

"I looked, there is nothing in that well; it is just that the household is unsettled. These people like to gossip, and the matter of Jidi is already a strange tale; these old women love to wag their tongues, believing in it blindly, so naturally, everything looks like a ghost."

At dusk, Xu Jia drank another bowl of meat porridge and began to read again.

And the Condolence Guest hiding in the well was restless.

After dusk, it is no longer humans who dominate the earth.

A wet hemp rope, like a snake, reached out from the well rim.

But the Copper Fish Paperweight emitted a golden light, transforming into a large golden-red carp, using the Qi of the house as water to play within it, and with one tail-flick, it whipped the hanging rope back.

The Condolence Guest in the well emitted frost, and streams of Evil Qi clashed with the "Vitality" corresponding to the carp.

Instead, this provoked the "Four Waters Returning to the Hall Evil-Neutralizing Array" set up by Xu Jia to become even more active. The Gourd on the skylight of the main room's roof seemed to turn into a "Gourd Mountain" for suppressing snakes and scorpions, growing larger and larger in the eyes of the Condolence Guest, its momentum pressing down as if it were about to collapse at any moment.

The Condolence Guest had no choice but to avoid the sharp edge, shrinking back into the well to seek another way out.

After exploring in the well for a while, it discovered the water channel leading to the Ming Tang, so it decisively burrowed into the water channel to find a way out.

Last night it killed one, tonight it would kill another! Soon, this Condolence Guest followed the water channel and arrived at the front hall of the main room.

The front hall of the main room is the most core place of the house, not only for receiving guests but also for enshrining ancestors; for example, Xu Jia's grandfather, who donated to become an Eighth-Rank Scattered Official, had a portrait in official robes in the main hall.

However, this kind of donated official rank, although buried with the rites of an official after death, had no foundation.

The foundation is the imperial examination fame; for example, with the fame of a Recommended Man, one can establish a shrine to worship ancestors.

The Condolence Guest revealed its form from the water pool in the hall, and a hemp rope began to climb up.

But the next moment, as if triggering the switch of the Feng Shui array, the four stone turtles began to "inhale," capturing it.

Turtle, Ghost, Noble.

The three characters are homophones.

The turtle signifies longevity and peace; looking up to receive water is also to receive "fortune, longevity, health, and prosperity." The original intention of the Four Waters Returning to the Hall Feng Shui pattern is to receive heaven-sent good fortune, longevity, wealth, and official luck.

Now that there is a Pure Bottle in the mouth of the turtle in the north, the northern turtle is the "Black Tortoise," and the Pure Bottle is a vessel for "storing water."

Guanyin once used it to contain the water of the four seas, and only a giant sea turtle could carry it.

This belongs to "Buddhism and Daoism joining forces," immediately absorbing the Yin Evil and frost emitted by the Condolence Guest.

The Condolence Guest was terrified and wanted to crash out.

The four turtles formed a suppression, as if there were a transparent barrier; it could not crash through no matter what. The main room was Gong-shaped, with the Qian Position in the front and the Kun Position in the back, taking the meaning of "interaction and harmony," gathering the Qi of the entire residence. The Qi moved like a river, and when still, it was like a mountain; the Condolence Guest could not leave even if it wanted to, and could not retreat back into that dark ditch either.

The Evil Qi of the Condolence Guest was being continuously neutralized, transforming into the "Auspicious Vitality" of the Four Waters Returning to the Hall array.

This Vitality flowed along with the Feng Shui, finally gathering at the Qian Position, Xu Jia's room.

Xu Jia, with a ginseng slice in his mouth, felt the Vitality gathering in the room, filled with the joy of all things flourishing, and immediately began to try to repair the Vitality of his five internal organs.

He was using the superior health-preserving method of the orthodox Daoist "Guiding and Exhaling" technique, the "Turtle Breathing Method."

The Turtle Breathing Method is a type of "Sleep Technique." Practicing this method is to imitate a turtle hibernating, so there is no need to sit in meditation; one only needs to lie on one's side and maintain the "Heart and Kidney Two Qi in interaction." Thus, the breathing is gentle, with long inhalations and long exhalations, as if sleeping yet not sleeping, nurturing essence and preserving spirit.

Furthermore, because the Turtle Breathing Method is "firmly quiet," it is very suitable for "sensing Qi." Only by sensing the Qi within the body can it be strengthened, cultivated, and slowly circulated.

This Turtle Breathing Method of Xu Jia was passed down from the Huashan Sect. In his previous life, Xu Jia observed the stone tablets of Huashan and discovered that what was recorded on the tablets was exactly the Turtle Breathing Method passed down by the Ancestor Chen Tuan, also called the "Hibernation Skill."

However, at that time, Xu Jia had already successfully performed the Small Heavenly Circuit Circulation and no longer needed this method of foundation establishment, so it only served as a "reference."

Now, using it for practice, it was just right for gathering Vitality and using the Feng Shui pattern to accelerate the recovery of his body.

"Hoo—ha—"

"Hoo—ha—"

Xu Jia quickly grasped the knack; his mind was empty, only feeling his breath and feeling the Qi, the Qi flowing and circulating within his body, able to hear the sound of his heartbeat and the peristalsis of his internal organs.

Vitality nourished the five internal organs; although it was like sleeping yet not sleeping, it was actually no different from entering deep sleep, the five internal organs detoxifying, damaged bodily functions self-repairing, the brain resting...

(End of this chapter)