Chapter One Hundred Three: Clear and Turbid Intermingle, the Wuxing Hazy
Volume Three: Supporting the Cosmos Across Eternal Ages — Heaven and Earth Take Fixed Form
Xiwei and Yuanji's presence accelerated the intermingling of clear and turbid between Heaven and Earth. Xiwei's radiance carried clear qi upward; Yuanji's stillness drew turbid qi downward. The two forces converged and fused within the Heaven-Earth Interlayer, giving rise to various intermediate states of Primordial Qi.
Pangu observed that these intermediate qi states were beginning to exhibit distinct properties. Some were warm and rising, some cold and sinking; some moist and flowing, some dry and rigid; some fell between extremes and were highly malleable. These five properties reminded him of the number five within the innate principles of celestial number.
He named these five qi forms the embryonic Wuxing: the warmth of Fire, the moistness of Water, the vital growth of Wood, the firmness of Metal, and the thickness of Earth. The embryonic Wuxing circulated slowly through the Heaven-Earth Interlayer, each interacting with the others. They had not yet fully taken shape, but each already possessed its own distinct inclination.
Within the haziness of the Wuxing, the primordial qi between Heaven and Earth began to manifest in ever more diverse forms. Clear and turbid were no longer the only modes of qi. The five properties — Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth — began to emerge independently. The world's composition was moving from the duality of clear and turbid toward the multiplicity of the Wuxing.
Clear and turbid intermingling, the Wuxing hazy. Pangu stood between Heaven and Earth and felt the stirring of the Wuxing qi. The mutual generation and mutual overcoming of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth would become a vital law governing the world's order.
Between Heaven and Earth, Xiwei's light cast dappled shadows where clear and turbid converged. The Wuxing qi — which would take full form in ages to come — displayed their distinct colors in that interplay of light and shadow.
After their long separation, clear and turbid qi began to show new signs of intermingling. That intermingling produced new substances at the interface of the two forces. Pangu observed that those new substances possessed different properties — some were hard, some supple; some could burn, some could flow. Their individual characteristics were differentiating, like five independent children branching off from the parent clear and turbid. The embryonic forms of the Wuxing qi first appeared in the deepest zones of clear-turbid intermingling. Pangu noticed that at the clear-turbid interface, within qi that had already thoroughly mixed, five types of subtle energy with distinct characteristics were emerging — some sharp as a blade, some supple as a vine, some flowing like water, some rising like flame, some heavy as earth. Those energies were not yet stable, flickering in and out of being, but their appearance had already proved that clear-turbid intermingling could produce structures far more complex than mere duality.
In the intervals between day and night, Pangu sank into a state of deep perception. He closed his eyes — the better to open his inner senses. Clear and turbid qi swirled around him, their flow paths altered by Xiwei and Yuanji's presence: clear qi drawn upward by light, turbid qi guided downward by darkness. And in the interlayer where the two met, a phenomenon never seen before was emerging — clear and turbid were no longer sharply partitioned on opposite sides, but had begun to interpenetrate at the finest level.
He extended a single finger and inserted it into the clear-turbid interface. Where his fingertip touched, he felt a fine layering. The clear and turbid qi did not meet there by mixing together — rather, they were stacked, one layer of clear atop one layer of turbid, layer upon layer, like a mille-feuille composed of countless thin sheets. Each layer's thickness varied — in the temperate zones, the layers were thin as cicada wings; in the cold zones, thick as tree trunks. When the two made contact in this stratified way, an entirely new energy appeared at the interface — not wholly clear, not wholly turbid, but a third existence born of their prolonged contact.
Pangu named that energy 'primordial qi' — primordial qi intermediate between clear and turbid. The appearance of primordial qi was the prelude to the sprouting of the Wuxing. He began orderatically observing the different manifestations of primordial qi across various regions. In the high sky, primordial qi carried an upward tendency, warm and light — he called it 'Fire-natured primordial qi.' In low, damp places, primordial qi carried a flowing tendency, moist and soft — he called it 'Water-natured primordial qi.' In zones of piled rock, primordial qi carried a solidifying tendency, hard and stable — he called it 'Metal-natured primordial qi.' In regions where grass and trees were first sprouting, primordial qi carried a growth tendency, supple and vital — he called it 'Wood-natured primordial qi.' In flat, open areas, primordial qi carried an embracing tendency, thick and stable — he called it 'Earth-natured primordial qi.'
The five tendencies were each independent, yet each interconnected with the others. At a mountain peak, Pangu saw Fire-natured and Metal-natured primordial qi appearing together — the rock there, under prolonged sunlight, had grown unusually hard, its surface faintly radiating heat, as if flame could at any moment be drawn from it. In river valley zones, Water-natured and Wood-natured primordial qi arose together — the flowing water nourished the primordial qi condensates on both banks, and those condensates in turn reinforced the riverbed, making the water flow more steadily. He found that natural affinities existed among the Wuxing: Fire drew close to Earth — regions strong in Fire often saw their Earth nature strengthen as well. Water drew close to Wood — places abundant in Water saw Wood nature flourish. Metal drew close to Water — zones of firm Metal nature often contained rich Water-natured qi. These relationships of affinity and distance had not been arranged by any will; they were entirely sedimented through the natural process of evolution.
Pangu observed the changes in the sprouting Wuxing in seven-day cycles. At the end of each cycle, he used his fingertip to trace a symbol in the air before him, recording the intensity distribution of the five elemental qi natures. At the end of the seventh cycle, the five symbols arrayed together formed a blurry ring-like structure — the embryonic form of the Wuxing' cycle of mutual generation. Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water, Water generates Wood — this cycle, which countless future generations of living beings would revere as supreme truth, had already revealed its most primitive outline in the age of opening Heaven and Earth.
He spread his five fingers apart and probed each into one of the five primordial qi types. When his index finger entered the Fire-natured zone, he felt a warm, rising thrust; when his middle finger entered the Earth-natured zone, the base of his palm was wrapped by an embracing force; when his ring finger entered the Metal-natured zone, his fingertip met a hard, dense resilience; when his little finger entered the Water-natured zone, a moist, cool fluid sensation came through his palm — and as for his thumb, placed into the Wood-natured zone, his entire arm felt a faint, prickling impulse toward growth. The five sensations were so distinct, so different from one another, that an involuntary, low sigh escaped him — it was surprise, it was wonder, it was heartfelt awe at the sublime subtlety of Heaven and Earth's creative transformations.
The sprouting Wuxing were not isolated from one another. Through continued observation, Pangu found that an invisible traction force existed among the five primordial qi types — like five unseen cords linking the five qi forms into a single network. He tried severing one — using his hand to block the qi exchange between the Fire-natured and Wood-natured zones. The brightness of the Wood-natured zone immediately dimmed, as if its nourishment had been cut off. Within three breaths of his releasing his hand, the Wood-natured zone's brightness was fully restored. This experiment convinced him that a close energy exchange existed among the sprouting Wuxing — a change in any one would immediately affect the condition of the other four.
In the deepest zone of clear-turbid intermingling, he discovered a critical node. That node was located at the exact center of the world — directly above his head was the position where Xiwei paused at noon; directly below his feet was the thickest region of the earth. At that position, the concentrations of the five primordial qi types were nearly equal, forming a perfect equilibrium. Pangu called that region the 'Central Nexus' — a state in which the Wuxing had not yet differentiated, the state before clear and turbid had divided their labor, equivalent to the world's 'primordial memory,' sealed away at the instant before all matter was generated. He reached into the Central Nexus, and as his hand passed through the five primordial qi types, he saw five colored phantoms flashing in alternation — red, green-blue, yellow, white, black — the five colors cycling in endless recurrence.
The five colors floated in his vision, lingering. As if his hand had been stained with pigment. Pangu stared at those colors for a moment, then lowered his head to look at his own palm. Traces of those colors remained in the lines of his palm — not staining, but permeation, marks the Wuxing qi had left inside his body. He understood a truth then: he was not only the creator of this world, but also a component of it. The Wuxing existed within his body as well; the process of clear-turbid intermingling was simultaneously proceeding inside him. He himself was a microcosm of Heaven and Earth.