Ji Die Hearing the Law

When he was eight years old, a reclusive gentleman, Mr. Shi, came to the northern countryside. He was proficient in ancient paper puppets and the Twelve Laws and Lus, and specialized in observing the four seasons of disasters using the five elements of energy. Others only regarded him as a magician who pretended to be a magician. A strange ball lightning struck down an old tree in the courtyard, and Mr. Shi disappeared mysteriously, leaving me with only a stack of yellow paper dolls and a volume of the Book of Changes. Since that day, I have been born with the ability to hear the rhythm of the heaven and earth, and to sense the cold and warm yin and yang energy. In my dreams, I often glimpse the past events of Jixia Academy two thousand years ago. During the Warring States Period in Linzi, Zou Yan founded the Yin-Yang family. He used twelve laws to match the twenty-four solar terms, deduced the origin and restraint of the five elements and the ending of the five virtues, and taught his disciples the method of regulating weather and observing qi. However, Xu Fu, his disciple, was greedy for wealth and misinterpreted the Tao to steal the secret technique of yin and yang. Lu and Hou also stole the ancient paper puppet technique inherited by Mr. Shi and used it to deceive the world. I bear the complete inheritance of music and energy contemplation of Zou Yan, and hold in my hand a double instrument of wood and paper for observing the sky. In the countryside, I use paper puppets to predict cold waves and flash floods; tracing back to ancient times, I travel across mountains and rivers to expose the deceptions of fake alchemists; before the regrets of troubled times, I want to guard the true path of the true Yin Yang family—— Yin-Yang and the Five Elements are never evil arts that harm people, but are the natural way for ancient people to observe the heaven and earth, measure cold and heat, and bring peace to the people.