I don't know how many billions of miles away from the Chiyang Immortal Domain, there is a fairy land with a lingering aura. The towering mountains here are surrounded by colorful clouds and the rays of light make them appear even more majestic and mysterious. The mountains are like a natural barrier surrounding a mountain forest. Under the sun cast mottled light and shadow through the leaves, there are dense woods and green grass. Although there are few people in it, it still has a lively appearance. Birds sang happily on the branches, and the flowing stream was crystal clear, with all kinds of small fish in bright colors and shapes swimming freely. From time to time, you can see a few squirrels jumping and running between the trees. At that time, the hare will prick up its ears due to the slightest movement and listen to see if there are any natural enemies around. All in all, it is a rare natural and clean place.
There is a huge suspended island high in the sky, shrouded in clouds and mist all year round, looming. This means that without an invitation from an immortal, you will never be able to land on this fairy island.
In a room in the Taoist temple on the island, an old man on a futon was practicing with his eyes closed. He was the Taoist ancestor of life and death.
A Taoist boy named Jiuhe was waiting outside the door. He seemed to have something important to do, but he didn't want to disturb the ancestor's practice. An anxious look could be seen on his brows.
"Jiuhe, come in." Daozu slowly opened his eyes and said.
Jiuhe was shocked when he heard this. Could it be that he had disturbed his ancestor? He hurriedly entered the door and walked in front of the Taoist of Life and Death. He bowed and bowed.
"Ancestor, I'm sorry for disturbing your Qing Cultivation."
Daozu shook his head and said: "It doesn't matter, what happened?"
Daozu knew that Jiuhe, his personal Taoist boy, would not disturb him unless it was absolutely necessary.
Jiuhe said: "Reporting to our ancestors, the secret realm of Heaven's Lock has been unlocked and now appears."
Daozu asked strangely: "Didn't you come out early?"
Jiuhe said: "That was the first section, which has been closed. Now, the second section of the secret realm of Heaven's Lock is revealed."
Dao Ancestor, who originally had a calm face, also had a look of surprise on his face. Logically speaking, it is impossible for the first and second stages of the Lock of Heaven to appear at the same time. Since the first stage of unlocking the secret realm has been opened, it will take at least 500 years before the second stage of unlocking the secret realm can be opened. So what Jiuhe said is really unprecedented.
The ancestor pinched his fingers to calculate the cycle of cause and effect, and suddenly his fingers stopped because he found that what he wanted to know was confusing and he could not deduce the answer.
"Have you actually reached the level of Tianji?" Daozu whispered leisurely.
We often say, "Secrets must not be revealed." In fact, not all things cannot be deduced. For example, I want to know the winning number of the lottery this time. It can only affect one person's fate, so it can still be deduced. But when a matter involves the fate of everyone, including the fate of all immortal cultivators and all mortals, it will reach the level of "heavenly secret". That kind of thing cannot be predicted by any deduction. When you come into contact with something at the level of "Heaven's Secret", you must retreat when faced with difficulties. Otherwise, if you face the difficulties, you will inevitably perish, and you may not be able to get any news. But if you're ready to die, give it a try.
Jiuhe didn't expect that this matter would be so serious.
But it is not completely impossible to speculate on God’s will. I saw the ancestor took out the tortoise shell and wanted to ask for divination.
If you say it's not all about spying on secrets, what's the difference?
To explain this problem, we have to use an analogy. For example, I failed an exam and needed to make up the exam, so I went to find out the answers to the exam paper that the teacher wanted to make up. Yes, you heard it right, you just ask the teacher who gave the exam directly for the answers to the make-up exam. At the level of existence of Dao Ancestor, trying to deduce the will of Heaven is equivalent to directly asking Heaven for the answer to a certain question. It's a pity that the teacher ignored me and didn't give me the answer when I wrote the test this time. If I continued to be stubborn, I would probably be criticized by the school.
However, I invited Teacher Zhuan to dinner and drinks another day. He was happy, so he said to me: "Bring the book, I will highlight some key points for you." And tortoise shell divination is equivalent to the key points in the book marked for you by Heaven. The teacher who gave the test did not leak the test questions, he was just guiding the students to learn the key points. So everything goes without saying.
In fact, the ancients believed in two divination methods when they were hard to make decisions about some important matters: yarrow and tortoise shell. So why are tortoise shells used for divination?
That's because the ancients believed that there was too much providence on the tortoise shell. By carefully observing the special creature of the tortoise, you could get hints from heaven.
When the ancients burned tortoise shells, cracks in the shape of the word "divination" were easily formed. Therefore, when asking for divination, it was natural to use tortoise shells. Of course, this is only one of the reasons. The ancients believed that by analyzing these cracks, they could get hints from heaven and know all kinds of good and bad luck.
The more important reason is that the turtle's body structure is so special that it coincides with some characteristics of traditional culture.
First of all, according to the ancient world view of a round sky and a square place, the turtle's back carapace is rounded like the sky and its belly carapace is flat like the earth. Therefore, the tortoise is considered to be a spiritual creature that can understand astronomy and geography. It is reasonable that it is used as a sacrifice for fortune telling.
Secondly, the turtle's back has texture. There are three large patterns in the center, which symbolize the three talents of "heaven, earth and man". There are five turtle patterns in the center of the turtle's back, including the head and tail, which represent the five elements of "gold, wood, water, fire and earth". There are 24 small patterns surrounding the turtle's back in a circle, representing the 24 solar terms and 24 mountains. One section and one qi form one month, and there is a small piece in the front and middle for the leap month. At the same time, there are ten patterns on the second circle of the turtle's carapace, which represent the ten heavenly stems of the turtle "A, B, C, D, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Rengui", and at the same time, they resemble the Five Elements and the Eight Diagrams. There are twelve patterns on the turtle's belly carapace, representing the twenty earthly branches "Zichou Yin Mao Chen Si Wu Wei Shen You Xu Hai".
Finally, there is a folk proverb: "If your turtle's back is sweating, take an umbrella with you when you go out." Because the turtle's body is close to the ground, the turtle's back is smooth and cool. When warm and humid air comes, water droplets will condense on the turtle's back and it will rain. However, the ancients did not use science to explain the relationship between warm and humid air and tortoise shells. They believed that tortoises were spiritual, had superpowers, and could predict the weather and many things. Moreover, turtles are among the longest-lived animals in nature. Animals with longer lifespans are more spiritual. For example, dogs or chickens that have been raised for many years will become able to understand human nature and can help their owners in certain situations. Zilu once asked Confucius: "Why do you use tortoise shells for divination?" Confucius replied: "Using tortoise shells for divination is like asking a wise old man for advice. A tortoise is alive when it is a thousand years old, and a beetle is alive for hundreds of years. Because of its longevity, it can distinguish good and bad fortunes."
All of the above made the ancients believe that they could find answers to some things from spiritual animals like turtles.
But these are all superstitions. Fortunately, this kind of superstition was not popularized in ancient times, otherwise today's tortoises would have become extinct long ago.
