Chapter Ninety-One: The Wind over the Mountain, Corruption by Mountain Wind

As the old saying goes, to understand a thing, one must also understand why it is so. Though I felt that solving this ancient musical score had little to do with me, it could never hurt to learn a bit more. There is also the saying: better to give up a bar of gold than speak a single word of your craft. That "craft" means your real skill; in other words, one would rather hand over a bar of gold than hand over the ability in one’s own belly. That is the same as fearing that once you teach your apprentice, your master will starve. Thinking of this, I nodded. "Then please do not hesitate to enlighten me."

Kaleidoscope waved a hand with a smile. "Oh, nephew, your master is my fourth brother. My relationship with him is beyond question. You’re the same as my own disciple, so there’s no need to be so polite."

"Yes, yes, of course." I echoed him aloud, but inwardly I understood perfectly well that this fellow was trying to get close to me and win me over. I knew exactly what he was after. There were only a few of us in this group; one more person meant one more chance of victory. This old fox—no matter how I chose sides, I could never stand on yours. Forget that Ghost-Faced Zhang is rude and constantly spews nothing but bad words; he is still better than a sanctimonious hypocrite like you. At the very least, he is foul-mouthed but not foul-hearted. If I were to stay with you, I would have to watch every step, forever wary of being set up by a man as scheming as you.

Kaleidoscope nodded with a smile. Seeing, perhaps, that I had taken his side, a trace of hidden delight appeared on his face, and he said, "Nephew, do you know why Fuxi, one of the Three Sovereigns, drew the Early Heaven Bagua diagram on the Divination Platform?"

I shook my head.

"In that ancient agricultural age, the most important thing was the change of weather. By observing the heavens and the shifts of space, Fuxi drew the three lines of the Early Heaven Bagua on the Divination Platform. He divided the world into eight fundamental forces and their corresponding directions: Qian, Kan, Gen, Zhen, Xun, Li, Kun, and Dui. Qian is heaven; Kun is earth; Kan is water; Gen is mountain; Zhen is thunder; Xun is wind; Li is fire; and Dui is marsh. By using the duties of these eight trigrams, one could divine the movement of weather and the workings of fortune and affairs. In the Book of Changes, the basic trigrams are recorded as follows:

In the cosmic view: Qian is heaven, Kun is earth, Zhen is thunder, Xun is wind, Kan is water, Li is fire, Gen is mountain, and Dui is marsh.

In the family view: Qian is the father, Kun the mother, Zhen the eldest son, Xun the eldest daughter, Kan the middle son, Li the middle daughter, Gen the youngest son, and Dui the youngest daughter.

In the animal view: Qian is the horse, Kun the ox, Zhen the dragon, Xun the chicken, Kan the pig, Li the pheasant, Gen the dog, and Dui the sheep.

In the bodily view: Qian is the head, Kun the belly, Zhen the foot, Xun the thigh, Kan the ear, Li the eye, Gen the hand, and Dui the mouth.

In the movement view: Qian is strength, Kun is yielding, Zhen is movement, Xun is entering, Kan is falling into danger, Li is clinging, Gen is stopping, and Dui is joy.

In the view of power: Qian is the ruler, Kun is the multitude."

That whole exposition on the Book of Changes and the stars left me deeply impressed with Kaleidoscope. Though the Eight Trigrams of the I Ching did indeed require some knowledge for finding dragon veins and pinpointing burial sites in ancient tombs, the Book of Changes was not some ordinary manual of fortune-telling. Even Zhang Liang himself had not fully mastered it, so for anyone living now to reach this level was already remarkable.

Seeing that I could not digest so much at once, Kaleidoscope smiled, picked up the first gold mask, and pointed to the spiral pattern corresponding to the northwest, that is, the position of the Xun trigram. "Nephew, do you know what the three lines of Xun are?"

I nodded. "If I remember correctly, they should be broken line, solid line, solid line."

"Hmm." He nodded, drawing out the sound through his nose. "And the line statement?"

"Uh..." I hesitated. I was no scholar of the Book of Changes; how could I possibly remember that? I thought that being able to keep the yin and yang lines of the trigrams straight was already no small feat. Was I also supposed to memorize all sixty-four hexagrams and every line statement in the Book of Changes? At that point, it seemed the seat of the renowned lecturer in the Hundred Schools forum should perhaps be mine instead. "I don't know," I said.

Upon hearing this, Kaleidoscope wore a look of smug satisfaction and chuckled mockingly. "Nephew, you still have a great deal to learn."

I smiled awkwardly and nodded, cursing inwardly. You're nearly sixty years old, and even if I were exceptionally well-read, I'm only in my twenties. If you expect me to be as learned in the classics as you are, then what exactly do we need you for?

The word Xun, in ancient usage, is related to the word for modest and yielding, and its hexagram image is wind. Its nature is obedience; thus, the noble man issues orders and carries them out. When two Xun trigrams are combined, the hexagram is called Wind over Wind. Its six lines are broken, solid, solid, broken, solid, solid. The text of the hexagram reads: "Somewhat smooth; favorable to having somewhere to go; favorable to seeing the great man."

I scratched my head. "Could you please just speak more plainly? I really can't make sense of this classical language."

Kaleidoscope nodded. "It means there will be modest success, it is favorable to moving forward toward something, and favorable to manifesting as a great figure." As he said this, he drew the six-line hexagram for Wind over Wind on the ground, pointed to the first line, and identified it as the lower line of the primary hexagram, a broken line. "The lowest line of the main hexagram is a broken line. Its line statement says, 'Advance and retreat; favorable for the constancy of warriors.' That means both advancing and withdrawing are favorable to the conduct of steadfast, martial men. The second line is a solid line: 'Xun beneath the bed. Good fortune through the ritual specialists and shamans, without blame.' It means to modestly hide beneath the bed, following the mandates of heaven through the conduct of priests and shamans; this is auspicious and without fault. The third line is solid: 'Repeated yielding; humiliation.' Repeated submission is somewhat difficult. The fourth line is broken: 'Regret vanishes; hunting yields three kinds.' Regret disappears, and the fields yield many kinds of game. In ancient times, three represented abundance, so the three kinds mean many kinds of prey. The fifth line is solid: 'Constancy brings good fortune; regret vanishes; nothing is unfavorable. There is no beginning, only an ending. Three days before the change of the first stem, three days after the change of the first stem—good fortune.' Persevere and it is auspicious; remorse disappears; nothing is disadvantageous. Do not focus on the beginning; focus on the completion. Change three days before, then change again three days after; good fortune. The top line is solid: 'Xun beneath the bed, losing one’s goods and ax. Persistence brings misfortune.' To hide modestly and yielding beneath the bed while losing one’s wealth—if one persists, it turns ominous."

After listening to all this hexagram talk, I felt nothing so much as the impression that the lines of the divination had become some kind of alien language. Perhaps I truly lacked such immortal grace, such celestial roots, and could not understand this scripture-like heavenly book. I scratched my head. "You’ve been talking all this time, and it has nothing at all to do with the score. It turns out you were only explaining the line statement of the Xun hexagram."

Kaleidoscope smiled. "Nephew, look carefully: which part of that line statement is connected to our present situation?"

"Uh..." I pondered for a moment. Among those six lines were references to martial strength and the disappearance of regret. The Book of Changes, as I understood it, should offer us a way of thinking, not mere divination. As Confucius said, one who understands the Changes does not divine. "If we follow ordinary logic, the upper five lines are usually the core of a hexagram. The fifth line of Wind over Wind is a solid line, and what it mainly speaks of is adaptability. Am I right?"

Kaleidoscope gave a faint smile. "Nephew, since you mention adaptability, what hexagram results if that solid line is changed into a broken line?"

"Huh?" I froze, then drew the changed line pattern on the ground. "Broken, solid, solid, broken, broken, solid." When I finished, I stared. "Th-this is Mountain over Wind, Gu?"

Kaleidoscope nodded and patted my shoulder. "Very good, very teachable. That is indeed the Mountain over Wind hexagram." He pointed to the hexagram I had drawn on the ground. "The text of Mountain over Wind is: 'Gu. Great success. Favorable to crossing the great river. Three days before the first stem, three days after the first stem.' In other words, great fortune; favorable for crossing water and rivers. So what do you think of when you combine this with the secret writing on the mask?"

At his words, that concealed musical notation with the sequence three, two, nine, six, two, nine, three, seven, two, six, one, six suddenly surfaced in my mind. In an instant, it was as if lightning had split the dark sky before me.

"You mean the Ruis Bin mode whistle pipe is this iron tube engraved with wave patterns?"

Kaleidoscope smiled and nodded. "As long as we use the writing on it to derive the rhythm and score of the Ruis Bin mode, then interpret the clues from the other two masks and their hexagrams in the same way, and perform them in the correct order, this mechanism will be solved with ease."