Shen Shuibi began explaining to Li Qi what she wanted to do.
"Spring is when Wood begins to govern; Liver Qi begins to arise. Liver Qi is urgent, and its wind is swift." She began reciting from memory out of habit.
That meant that in spring, Wood Qi began to hold sway. Manifested in the human body, it meant Liver Qi began to emerge. Liver Qi was characterized by impatience, swift as shifting wind.
"Li Qi, your Liver Qi is vigorous because you often use Great Forest Wood Qi. Your vitality is abundant, but that is not entirely a good thing. Excessive vitality can easily spur the growth of diseased tumors, just as growing trees branch apart. This is caused by an excess of vitality."
"But your cultivation is still shallow. You are far from that stage. Later, if you slowly accumulate Qi of the Four Seasons, it will naturally balance itself, so I did not say much. But now, it seems to have become a good thing."
Shen Shuibi continued, "Those that can lie hidden in darkness, yet can both endure and perish, are milfoil, tortoises, and dragons. Tortoises are born in water and brought forth through fire; thus they become the first among all things, the true signs of fortune and misfortune. This is the strange origin of dragons and tortoises."
Li Qi understood this passage. Those hidden in the dark, capable of both existing and dying, were old tortoises and dragons.
Tortoises were born in water. During divination, tortoise shells were scorched with fire. Water and Fire complement each other, and thus they could become the prophets of all things, the omens of fortune and misfortune.
"Therefore, the principles are connected. Water gathers within grasses and trees; roots attain their proper depth, blossoms their proper number, fruits