Secrets of Talismans: Exploring the Five Elements Disaster Escape Array

 Among the secret methods for avoiding disasters, there is one called the Five Elements Disaster Escape Array.

 It utilizes the Five Elements of Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth to perform escape techniques. This is a magical method for resolving disasters, specifically used for dodging calamities, which differs from the Five Elements Escape Arts.

 This method is specifically targeted at one's destiny and body. If a person's destiny chart shows obvious disasters, or if there are significant disasters in their major luck cycles or annual luck, the Five Elements Escape method can be used to escape these disasters.

 Its principle is to use the Five Elements to counter and eliminate disasters. There is always one element capable of controlling the disaster, so this method can handle all kinds of disasters.

 Similarly, this method is often applied in Feng Shui. By using the Five Elements for external protection, myriad evils and malevolent forces are always suppressed and cannot enter.

 Although it sounds like a perfect solution, there are practical difficulties when using it. For example, when disasters are extremely heavy and the Five Elements' power is very strong, this protection may not necessarily work. Therefore, in practice, this method is rarely used alone.

 Instead, one must first address the problem directly, and then use the Five Elements Disaster Escape method for protection.

 Another situation arises when encountering star煞 (malevolent stars). At this time, one can only hide and cannot forcefully break through; otherwise, not only will the attempt fail, but one will also get injured. There is a distinction between stars that can be avoided and those that cannot. For instance, encountering the Metal Star causing disaster in winter is unavoidable because the Metal Star's power is at its peak, omnipresent. It cannot be broken nor avoided. Using the Five Elements Disaster Escape method can only alleviate or mitigate it; only the ritual of appeasing stars can change the star's power.

 This method requires all Five Elements to be complete. Usually, sand/soil, candle fire, clear water, wooden sticks, and a small sword are taken as the five items. After gathering the Five Elements, talismans are used to connect the Five Elements with the person's soul, followed by forming hand seals, stepping on the Big Dipper pattern, and performing the ritual. Afterwards comes the protection phase. If anomalies such as turbid water, extinguished fire, scattered earth, fallen wood, or a broken sword appear, it indicates that the spell has been broken. However, this can also determine which Five Element is causing the harm.

 Generally, such protective arrays also use the Eight Trigrams (Bagua) array internally for protection. If the outer Five Elements array shows anomalies, the internal Bagua array can continue to provide protection for about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense. At this point, since the strongest invading element is known, one only needs to build another array within the Bagua array to forcefully suppress and drain that specific element.

 Building an array internally, because it projects into the human body, brings some side effects. For example, building a Fire array causes rapid heartbeat and a quick rise in blood pressure. If the person already has high blood pressure, using a Fire array might cause a cerebral hemorrhage, making such cases difficult to treat. In modern practice, trying to take antihypertensive medication alone under a doctor's guidance still yields poor results. However, combining it with rhino horn powder has shown miraculous effects, though such cases are rare and are kept as special records.

 Another case involved a person cursed with a low-level hex. Their whites of the eyes had obvious black spots, and the vitreous humor was already infected. Initially, it was a poisoning symptom, so the poison was detoxified. However, after recovery, the person always felt as if insects were biting them inside, and often heard voices speaking in their head, unable to find peace. Attempts to repel insects were ineffective. Upon inspection, their soul was still intact, but the Yuan Chen (primary spirit) was dim. It was speculated that the toxicity had been removed, and the remaining issues were caused by the curse. The Five Elements Disaster Escape method was then established, followed by setting up a Fire Prison to capture and interrogate the evil spirits. Finally, a Star Lamp was used to adjust the Yin soul, leading to recovery.

 There was also a case of resolving a marriage disaster. The man had an affair outside. His Bazi (Eight Characters) did not show the Xianchi Peach Blossom star, only the Indirect Wealth star was prominent. The method of cutting off Peach Blossoms was ineffective here, and one could not simply remove it based on Indirect Wealth. Later, trying to use the Five Elements to suppress the Indirect Wealth achieved some effect but also damaged financial luck. Subsequently, trying to build a Five Elements Disaster Escape method for the female party to stimulate the male party's Indirect Wealth luck resulted in anomalies in the array. Upon investigation, the invading element was different from the Indirect Wealth element. The mechanism of Five Elements transformation is subtle and inexhaustible. Therefore, information objects from both parties were taken, and the array was quickly used to identify the invading element, dividing it into Yin and Yang for mutual suppression. Only in this way was the disaster resolved.