Classic of Suspicious Dragons: Upper Chapter

Where is the dragon most difficult to discern? Having found the star-peaks, they turn out to be branches. Barrier-gorges follow in escort with protective support; spear-and-banner formations line up rigidly on both sides. Star-peaks on the trunk do not take metal form — the 'star-peak dragon method' is nearly empty talk. Let me dispel some of your doubts: tracing the dragon on the trunk is the truly reliable approach. The trunk dragon extends far and endlessly. Midway along its course, yang-qi gathers. The mountains and water ahead are appealing; the protective dragons behind all turn their backs. If you ask about the suspicious dragon at this point — this is the trunk dragon's welcoming-and-escorting retinue. Like carrying provisions on a thousand-li journey — there must be resting-stops along the way, inside and out. The dragon travels far into the distance; there are certainly attendants and retinue stretching along its length. Wherever fine mountains serve the trunk's advance, at the end of each branch dragon there are spear-and-banner formations. These spear-and-banner forms are also star-peak creations — round, clean, pointed, square, high and outstanding. Yet if you seek acupoints among them, no acupoint is there — the trunk has not yet halted while the branch has already fallen.

Acupoints can also be cut on a branch dragon's body — half are false blossoms, half are true embryos. False blossoms have no audience-response; true embryos have protective escort returning to them. When examining the wrapping, observe the number of layers: one layer returning, the dragon's body gazes back. Do not hastily consider this the real thing — this is just protective dragon-leaves interlacing. Three layers or five layers wrapping back — this is working on the branch dragon's waist. The trunk dragon still follows the water onward, its escort stretching far without looking back. The true dragon's body does not sprout peaks; whatever peaks exist are all branch-and-leaf escorts. If you see the trunk dragon's body, seek directly at the trunk dragon's terminus. Yet when you find the trunk dragon's terminus — two waters cross, and the acupoint receives wind. Wind-blown and water-stripped, this is not an acupoint; arriving here, you face the suspicious dragon. Look where the waters cross and entwine: beyond the water, mountains come to gather. The dragon flips its body to regard its mother and honor its ancestor — this is the turning-dragon's pivot-point. The gracefully turning dragon is like a hanging hook: before making an acupoint, it first creates an audience-mountain. The audience-mountains are all ancestor and progenitor — not a single one of the thousand distant li is wasted. Before the acupoint, all the official-peaks bow in salute; a thousand sources and ten thousand tributaries all flow in tribute. This is the great method-gate for tracing dragons: wherever two waters converge, everything turns in salute.

Finding the true dragon but not recognizing the acupoint — without recognizing the acupoint, all talk is empty. Recognizing both dragon and acupoint is the true skill; when you set a true dragon, official rank never ceases. The true dragon hides clumsily, and the acupoint is hard to find — only the audience-mountain reveals the fortunate heart. When the audience-mountain is high, set the acupoint high. When the audience-mountain is low, set the acupoint low. Audience-mountains have their own true and false. A true one comes specifically to pay tribute. A false one — the mountain does not come; you merely admire its pointed or rounded shape, artful as a painting. If there is a true audience-mountain entering your embrace, it need not be pointed or rounded like a dragon or horse. What matters is that it approaches with low-and-high undulations; what is unwanted is sharp peaks tilting straight away. A straight-departing peak is called a 'falling audience-mountain' — even if pointed and rounded, it is useless. It is like a noble person standing with their back to you — their feelings and intentions have nothing to do with you.

I dare bring the footsteps of Yu to ask you — on the map above, one must examine carefully. Tracing dragons discusses veins and especially discusses momentum; the earth's momentum — how does it belong to Kun? If we divide mountains and rivers into two realms: the Yellow River and the Yangtze represent two source-branches. Between them, the Ji and He rivers are branches; the Huai, Han, and Xiang are also long-source rivers. Within trunks there are branches, and branches have trunks — long ones enter the sea, short ones enter enclosures. If we trace the great terminus of the trunk dragon: the Taihang range extends to Jieshi and on to the sea. There are also high mountains entering the Wei Ridge, further dividing into the Ru and Ying rivers, swallowed by the Yellow River. The southern trunk sends branches inland; Hebei and Hedong do not turn away. The Congling range stretches continuously into Guilin, then enters Hengyang and reaches the Yangtze shore. Along the way, it bends and divides arms in innumerable branches and leaves. Another branch enters the East Sea; another ascends Jieshi to form an enclosure. One branch escorts to Haimen; the trunk dragon's terminus is at the Jiangyin burial. If one considers the trunk dragon the most noble, the southeastern coast is heaven's center-ground. But the enclosure-stars are often not there — most are distributed on branch dragons' bodies. At that point, trunk and branch become hard to distinguish; branches mostly form prefectures and counties. The capital cities are mostly in the central-east. Where the coast ends and mountains are exhausted, wind scatters the qi. If you wish to recognize trunk and branch dragons, read further in the Middle and Lower Chapters of the Suspicious Dragon Classic.