This is a real, interactive novel. I provide the "dry goods" (the hard knowledge), and you, the readers, provide the feedback and the jokes. Ready? Go!
My master led me to the gates of destiny, showing me how to break the chains of fate and reclaim freedom—both spiritual and material. Now, I am sharing everything he taught me, without reservation.
This book reveals the secrets of the universe. As the saying goes: "The Great Way is simple; it is nothing more than Yin and Yang." I believe everyone can grasp this truth and live a life of absolute freedom, especially in the soul.
Reader's Note: If you're only here for the technical knowledge, you can skip to Chapter 45 after this. The first 44 chapters move a bit slow. This isn't a "power fantasy" web novel; take your time, or read it twice. It's a practical, verifiable chronicle that explains metaphysics through science. No "immortality cultivation," no magic spells—just content any regular person can understand.
When I was born, a Taoist monk predicted I had a deep "immortal affinity." He claimed I was destined to be close to the divine while remaining a "wealthy man of the secular world." He gave me a name: Sanhe (Triple Harmony)—representing the alignment of Yang energy, Yin energy, and the Qi of Heaven.
Then... nothing happened. I grew up like everyone else: went to school, graduated, and got a job.
Walking home after work, the setting sun stretched my shadow long across the pavement. I mechanically kicked a pebble, watching it tumble along the concrete—a perfect metaphor for my life, spinning in circles in a cramped office. I used to dream of wandering the world with a sword; now, the gravity of reality was so heavy I began to wonder: Is this it? Am I just going to evaporate into thin air without leaving a single ripple?
"Young man, destiny begins here. Why not stop a moment?"
A voice as clear as a bronze bell shattered my thoughts. I froze. Usually, lines like that belong in scam advertisements or short viral videos. I looked around the old, empty street. Only a few distant figures carrying grocery baskets moved in the shadows.
Under an old locust tree at the corner stood an elderly man in a deep blue robe. He was lean but stood straight as a pine. His eyes were so piercing they seemed to look straight into my soul.
"You talking to me?" I pointed at my nose, skeptical.
"Indeed," the old man smiled. "There is mist in your eyes, but a turning point in your fate. Meeting is karma. Shall I give you a reading?"
"Fortune telling?" I snorted, instinctively clutching my wallet. "Old timer, that's the oldest trick in the book. I don't buy into that." I turned to leave.
"Wait! The less you believe, the more you need to hear this."
I stopped. My inner skeptic was screaming. Is this guy really trying to hustle a STEM major with a degree in engineering? Fine, let's see what fairy tale he spins.
"You graduated from a prestigious university, yet you feel like a trapped beast," the old man said calmly. "The path is right at your feet, but because your eyes are fixed on the heavens, you cannot see it."
"Heh, every graduate on this street thinks they're an unrecognized genius," I mocked. "Don't give me 'Big Data' probabilities. Give me specifics."
The old man stroked his beard. "You graduated from a C9 League university (the Ivy League of China). You teach at their famous affiliated high school. You just won an 'Outstanding Teacher' award, yet the fire in your heart is almost out. You won't last the month at that job."
The smile froze on my face. You could guess "prestigious school" based on my vibe, but the specific school type and the internal award I just received? No way. And the thought of quitting? I hadn't even told my parents!
"How... how do you know that?" My voice softened, but I remained stubborn. "Even if you're a good guesser, that's just cold reading or psychology. 'Fate' is just a feudal superstition. It's not science."
The old man laughed heartily and dropped a line that left me speechless: "Karl Marx once said: 'We know only a single science, the science of history.' By that standard, much of what you call 'science' today doesn't even hold water."
A Taoist priest debating Marxist philosophy? The tonal shift gave me mental whiplash.
"What about medicine then?" I countered, defending my last outpost. "Medicine is science. It's backed by data and saves lives!"
The old man asked calmly: "When a tumor is removed, why does it return in some and not others? Why does the same drug save one man and fail another? Can a doctor give you a 100% certainty?"
He took a step forward. "The core of science is 'repeatable certainty.' Medicine, much of the time, is an empirical science—or even a game of probability. Tell me, who lives longer: the old peasant in the deep mountains, or the doctor in the hospital? If medicine were the ultimate science, wouldn't that result be 'unscientific'?"
I was speechless. His logic was aggressive, but I couldn't find a hole in it.
"In my view," he continued, "Feng Shui is more scientific than medicine."
"Feng Shui? That's even more unreliable!"
"Feng Shui, at its root, is just 'Wind' and 'Water.' The movement of air is 'Wind'—it regulates temperature. The source of all life is 'Water'—it regulates humidity. Seventy percent of the Earth is water; the same goes for the human body. The right balance of temperature and humidity is the absolute prerequisite for life to flourish. Is this not closer to the essence of science than ambiguous data points?"
I stunned. I'd heard architecture students talk about Feng Shui as "environmental psychology," but this old man's breakdown into "thermodynamics and fluid balance" was starting to brainwash my inner scientist.
"What about physics?" I asked, like a soldier holding a final trench.
The old man glanced at me with a smirk. "The end of physics is mathematics; the end of mathematics is philosophy; and the end of philosophy is divinity. Haven't you ever checked what the world's greatest physicists were researching in their final years?"
My ego was being rubbed into the asphalt, yet I wasn't even angry. He didn't wait for a rebuttal. With a wave of his sleeve, he began to walk away.
"One last gift for you. Remember this: 'Top first, then bottom; South is up, North is down.'"
By the time I snapped out of it to ask for clarification, the blue robe had vanished into the twilight. The street was empty except for a few delivery scooters zooming by.
"Hey! I didn't even pay you..." I fumbled with the coins in my pocket, my mind a mess of tangled weeds.
Back home, his words haunted me. My teaching job was a "golden bowl"—stable and respectable. But for a restless soul, that kind of "stability" is a slow-acting poison. I didn't want to be a human parrot, repeating textbooks forever. I didn't want to be mediocre. But I didn't know where the road was.
"South is up, North is down..." I repeated.
Since he didn't take a dime, and since he saw through my past so clearly... why not believe? What if this was my ticket to freedom?
Author's Postscript
This book is written "horizontally." The main thread is Feng Shui, but the core is the reasoning of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements. When I explain Feng Shui, I might jump to psychology, physiognomy (face reading), or Taoist medicine where they overlap.
Important concepts will be repeated. By looking at them from different angles, you'll eventually "get it." Don't worry if you're confused at first; just slide past the parts you don't understand—it'll click later.
A quick reminder on the Philosophy:
The "Great Way" is the Law of Contradiction (Dialectics).
The Spear is Yang, the Shield is Yin.
The fact that they are both opposing and unified is "The Taiji producing the Two Poles."
The fact that contradictions are everywhere is "Every object is its own Taiji."
The interaction of these forces is what drives development.
As the I Ching says: "The alternation of Yin and Yang is called the Way."
Since we live in physical space, we must remain grounded in materialism. Internal causes are the basis of change; external causes are the conditions. A seed must have life (Internal) before the right Wind and Water (External) can make it sprout. This book covers both.
Read the book, understand it, verify it, and then make your own decisions. Don't go looking for "miracles" outside yourself. Everyone is a Buddha who hasn't woken up yet. After all, aren't we all part of the Great Way?