That night, Master Zhang brought his three apprentices to the back hall, made them kneel before the statue of the Patriarch Cao, pay respects, offer incense, and then presented each with a Mojin Fu (Grave Robber's Talisman).

Next, he was to impart the rules of the trade, the necessary tools, and the lore. Master Zhang first asked Jin Suanpan and his two martial brothers if they knew why the profession of tomb raiding had existed since ancient times.

The three brothers—Jin Suanpan included—were seasoned veterans of the Jianghu, possessing extensive knowledge of all trades and local customs. Upon their master’s inquiry, they eagerly began to offer explanations:

The world contains the Three Teachings and the Nine Schools (San Jiao Jiu Liu). The Three Teachings are Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism; the Nine Schools refer to nine social strata, further divided into the Upper Nine, Middle Nine, and Lower Nine. Among these, countless trades exist, totaling more than three hundred and sixty lines of profession.

The so-called "Upper Nine" are: first, the Buddha; second, the Immortal; third, the Emperor; fourth, the Official; fifth, the Gentry; sixth, the Merchant; seventh, the Pawnbroker; eighth, the Craftsman; and ninth, the Farmer who tills the land—these are all respectable livelihoods. The Middle Nine tend to be concentrated among artisans. Descending to the Lower Nine, one finds actors, performers, and prostitutes.

Among the hundreds of professions derived from these Three Teachings and Nine Schools, tomb raiding (Daodou) was never originally included; it belongs to the Outer Eight Professions (Wai Ba Xing). The Outer Eight consist of Gold Spotters (Jindian), Beggars, Horse Thieves (Xiangma), Petty Thieves, Grave Robbers (Daodou), Mountain Runners (Zoushan), Fire Starters (Linghuo), and Water Collectors (Caishui), collectively known as the "Five Lines and Three Clans" (Wu Xing San Jia). In truth, several of these could easily be classified as forms of theft, yet they are categorized separately within the Outer Eight. For instance, Xiang (Horse Thieves) are considered overt bandits, so they cannot be lumped together with covert thieves.

As for Daodou (Grave Robbing), it falls under the "Earth" element within the Five Lines. Logically, it should also be a form of theft, no different from horse thieves or sneak thieves, engaging in the act of unearthing graves and stealing treasures. Spoken highly of, grave robbing is seen as robbing the rich to aid the poor; spoken lowly of, it is profiting from the dead, an act that ruins one's moral merit—these two perspectives are as far apart as heaven and earth.

The Mojin Xiaowei (Grave Robbers of the Golden Seal) are certainly not comparable to mere scattered bandits. Their actions have always been to seize exquisite treasures and jade to relieve the destitute, earning the description, "Even in transgression, there is a way." They have always maintained a respectable reputation in the world. This is simply because, since antiquity, the poor have far outnumbered the rich; the wealthy are too wealthy, and the poor too poor, necessitating the existence of these bandit classes within the Outer Eight Professions, dedicated to executing "Heaven's Will."

Hearing this, Master Zhang shook his head, saying, "You claim that grave robbing executes Heaven's Will, but you misunderstand the meaning of the 'Way of Heaven.' Grave robbing did not originate this way. Whether people are rich or poor, noble or lowly, it is largely fated and predetermined; why would horse thieves and bandits need to enforce Heaven’s Will? That is merely their excuse for slaughtering the rich and plundering their wealth."

"Grave robbing is the business of digging up tombs and unearthing graves. Why do people take up this profession? It is because successive dynasties have favored lavish burials. From the day any ancient tomb is commissioned, it consumes the endless sweat and blood of the common folk. Not only are the buried treasures countless, but living sacrifices were often required, and even the artisans who built the mausoleums could not escape execution."

"Know this: Heaven’s Way is tolerant; the heavens possess a virtue of nurturing life. No matter if the tomb owner was a founding sage or a capable minister in life, excessive expenditure in the matters of the netherworld after death will inevitably deplete great virtue. Furthermore, tomb sites are often chosen at prime locations of Feng Shui, appropriating the very 'Dragon Veins' of heaven and earth, which invites the jealousy of spirits and deities—Heaven’s Way has never favored such people."

"The trade of Daodou aligns with the cycle of Heaven’s logic. No matter how deeply buried and concealed a magnificent tomb might be, sooner or later it is destined to suffer the calamity of Daodou. One retribution follows another; this is precisely where the immutable principles of Heaven reside. Therefore, Mojin Daodou is not merely about looting ancient tombs or robbing the rich to help the poor; it subtly embodies the principle of rise and decline within the Great Dao."

"It is like our current Great Qing Dynasty. During the reigns of Kangxi and Qianlong, the nation was prosperous and the people lived in abundance—what an age of splendor! But now, truly, beset by internal strife and external threats, riddled with wounds, it appears doomed. As the saying goes, things reach an extreme only to reverse: where there is a period of flourishing, there must naturally follow a period of decline. In the end, it all comes down to 'Fate.'"

The three brothers of Jin Suanpan knew that their master, Master Zhang, was a scholar of profound understanding, possessing encyclopedic knowledge, mastering every skill, and understanding every principle. Moreover, he was skilled in divination and prognostication. They sensed a deeper meaning in his words, which they could not fully grasp, so they remained kneeling, reverently receiving his instruction.

Master Zhang then recounted the origins and history of the Mojin Xiaowei, finally discussing the various rules and lore. He stated that the Mojin Xiaowei had never recognized a master-disciple relationship in the way others did. "I am passing on the Xunlong Jue (Dragon Seeking Formula) and the Fenjin Dingxue (Gold Separation and Spot Setting Art) to you—this is teacher to student. But once you wear the Mojin Fu and enter an ancient tomb together, you are no longer master and disciple, nor martial brothers; you are merely 'Partners' (Pandang), men whose lives are bound together, accomplices."

"From now on, when you three go out grave robbing, first: you must not violate the rules of the trade; second: you must not covet fame or profit to tarnish the name of Mojin; third: you must look out for one another, consulting each other on all important or trivial matters."

The reason for this admonition was that Master Zhang knew his disciples very well; each possessed their strengths and weaknesses. Liao Chen, having undergone bone-marrow cleansing and transformation since childhood, excelled in the art of light body movement (Qingshen Shu), capable of scaling walls and traversing rooftops, and his Mojin techniques were superior. However, his disposition was compassionate, his strikes lacked hardness, and he was prone to indecision—a major taboo in grave robbing.

Tie Motou also possessed formidable skills, possessing daring that feared neither spirits nor deities. He was an expert in acts of killing and seizing, but he carried too much of the air of a ruffian, his temper flaring instantly, and his actions were rather reckless—he was a future source of trouble.

And Jin Suanpan excelled in the lore of Yi (the I Ching) and the Five Elements, making him a master tomb raider, knowledgeable about all manner of strange artifacts in the world. Although he was cunning and meticulous, his physical prowess was lacking. The skills possessed by Liao Chen and Tie Motou were not attainable by those who only learned later in life. To learn aerial maneuvers, one must bathe in heated medicinal pots starting at age three, and hard skills must begin training no later than age six. Jin Suanpan came from a wealthy merchant family, having lived in comfort since childhood, and had never endured such harsh discipline.

Therefore, Master Zhang arranged for the three of them to become partners, ensuring they could compensate for each other's shortcomings and strictly forbidding them from acting alone. He then passed down tools such as the Whirlwind Shovel (Xuanfeng Chan), the Black Donkey Hooves (Heilv Tizi), and the Vajra Umbrella (Jingang San), urging his three disciples to remember the six characters: "Unite and live; separate and die."

With all these matters settled, Jin Suanpan and the other two were officially recognized as Mojin Xiaowei, and from this point forward, the three would venture out together to raid tombs.

The very next morning, Jin Suanpan rose exceptionally early, leaving his two martial brothers behind, and went alone to pay his respects to his master.

It turned out that Jin Suanpan had always been intensely curious why his master destroyed half of the Sixteen-Character Secret Manual of Yin-Yang and Feng Shui and only passed the incomplete volume to Sun Guofu, the one with the Yin-Yang Eyes. He wanted to clarify this before setting out, certain that the reason was not as simple as Master Zhang had stated back then.

Master Zhang was sipping tea. Hearing Jin Suanpan bring up this topic, he did not answer immediately but instead asked Jin Suanpan for his perspective.

Jin Suanpan replied half-jokingly, "Disciple understands your temperament too well, Master. You have always favored the refined and upright gentlemen, or the heroes of the wilds; you despise those hypocritical, pedantic scholars the most. I suspect Sun Guofu, with his false Daoist airs, did not appeal to you, which is why you only gave him half the manual, leaving him to pore over the fragments back home, racking his brain over mysteries he could never solve."

Master Zhang, being open-hearted by nature and sharing an extraordinary bond with Jin Suanpan, had nothing to hide. He stated frankly, "In truth, your martial brother, I possess the heart of a scholar too, but I never preach doctrine. The honest truth is that Sun Guofu is indeed unsuitable to be a Mojin Xiaowei. The Sixteen-Character Secret Manual is the crystallization of my life’s effort. Destroying half of it then, leaving him only an incomplete volume, was done so that the art of Mojin would not perish with me."

The underlying reason was one Master Zhang had mentioned earlier, which he now elaborated upon: the root of the Mojin secret arts lies in the Yi (I Ching); the way of perpetual change is the Yi. Therefore, the Yi only speaks of generation (Sheng) and not of overcoming (Ke). How, then, can things be made to "generate"?

This "generation" refers to two things: first, survival; second, prosperity. Master Zhang had once glimpsed the mysteries of the Primeval Hexagrams (Zhoutian Guagua) within an ancient Western Zhou tomb and discovered the infinite subtlety of numerical sequences. Coupled with the strange fortunes he encountered throughout his life and the myriad skills he acquired, he compiled the Sixteen-Character Secret Manual, articulating the distinctions between the Yin and Yang of the world and the principles of Feng Shui formations. In essence, the art of Mojin, which originated in the late Han Dynasty, reached an unprecedented peak in Master Zhang's generation.

But the patterns of development in the universe have peaks and troughs; where there is rise, there must be decline. Master Zhang, understanding the ancient hexagrams, naturally grasped this principle. It is like the sun at its zenith, illuminating all things; yet after noon, its light dims, gradually sinking in the western mountains. Or like the full moon on the fifteenth day of the lunar month; afterward, it inevitably wanes from fullness to deficit.

The principle of creation and transformation within the Way of Heaven, put simply, is that extremes reverse themselves (Wu Ji Bi Fan). When any phenomenon develops to a certain stage, it will inevitably turn toward the opposite extreme. How can this decline be controlled? Only by preserving what remains—by "clutching the flawed and guarding the incomplete." This was the reason Master Zhang destroyed half of the Sixteen-Character Secret Manual.

Although the Mojin secret arts began in the late Han, their prototype existed in the Zhou Dynasty. Over thousands of years, they were gradually perfected by successive Mojin Xiaowei. Within the earliest ancient Feng Shui arts, they gradually integrated the celestial star Feng Shui, Zen Feng Shui, the Eight Residences Mirror (Ba Zhai Ming Jing), and the Jiangxi School of Situational Feng Shui... resulting in the comprehensive Xunlong Jue and Fenjin Bao Xue that synthesized the essence of all these schools.

When the Sixteen-Character Secret Manual emerged, its scope was even broader, including the very origin of Feng Shui secrets—the Primeval Hexagrams. Exhaustively investigating the vastness of heaven and earth, it could truly be called an art beyond the comprehension of gods and ghosts. There was no further room for improvement, thus signaling the inevitability of reversal from the extreme. From then on, the Mojin secret arts could only gradually wane and decline.

Therefore, Master Zhang destroyed the half relating to the art of Yin and Yang, leaving behind only the incomplete Sixteen-Character Secret Manual for future generations of Mojin Xiaowei. This was done so that they would still have room to advance and revitalize the art, preventing the shift from generation to overcoming, thus incurring the jealousy of creation and eradicating the name of Mojin.

To give the simplest example: Mojin Xiaowei specialize in tomb raiding. If there were no more ancient tombs in the world, the Mojin Xiaowei would cease to exist. If this generation plundered every tomb bare, would the lineage not simply end there, with no further inheritance for the Mojin school?

Zhang Sanlianzi knew that tomb raiding was a life-risking endeavor. Passing the incomplete text of the Sixteen-Character Secret Manual to Jin Suanpan and the others was inappropriate. Thus, he intentionally left it with Sun Guofu, the Yin-Yang Eye, hoping that the Feng Shui secrets of the Mojin Xiaowei might be passed down, perhaps leading to a future revival.