Fuxi Draws the Trigrams to Discern Yin and Yang

Fuxi glanced at Xuandu. Though he was still young, he could sense that the green-robed Daoist before him was different from the people of the tribe. Whenever Xuandu sat beside him, his presence was faint, as faint as a breeze blowing in from the river, yet it made people feel at ease.

"Are you really going to keep records with me?"

Xuandu nodded.

"Of course I am."

Fuxi pointed at a large rock in the river.

"Then look over there."

Xuandu followed the direction of his finger.

After the river water struck the rock, it split to either side before joining together again downstream. Fine ripples spread across the surface.

Fuxi crouched by the bank, watching as he drew lines on the ground.

"When water meets a rock, it splits apart. Once it passes the rock, it comes together again. If the rock is large, the water splits farther apart. If the rock is small, it splits closer together."

He spoke with great seriousness.

Xuandu did not interrupt him and merely sat nearby, listening.

After drawing the patterns of the water there, Fuxi brought Xuandu to a bend in the river. The current here was slower than before. Several leaves floated on the surface, circled a few times, then stopped beside a shallow depression.

Fuxi pointed there. "The current is slow here, so things in the water can easily stop. But if there is heavy rain and the water rises, the houses in the low-lying parts of the tribe will be flooded."

Xuandu asked, "Do you want all the tribespeople to move away?"

Fuxi shook his head.

"They cannot all move. This place is near the river, so we can catch fish and draw water. If we move too far away, everyone will have a hard time fishing."

As he