Cheng Yaojin Explores the Cave
Neutral
The poem
Original: 人行半岭日衔山 / 竣岭崖岩未可安 / 仰望上天为护佑 / 此身犹在太平间
The story
Feasting to celebrate a victory, Cheng Yaojin saw the ground split open into a bottomless hole. Lots were drawn to decide who should go down, and the lot fell to him. Roped about the waist, he found stone doors, tables and chairs below, and on a table a dragon robe and jade belt; he put them on, climbed out, and reigned three years as the Rogue King.
What it means
The image is washing sand for gold while standing in a dangerous place, and it promises helpful people. You are halfway up with the sun already going down and no comfortable footing. Look up, because you are still held. There genuinely is something to be had, but it must be cut out of rock and washed out of sand, so effort is required and it will be wearing. The present flatness is not a dead end; go down where others will not, and the treasure is yours.
By area of life
Wealth
The investment is flat: not a loss, but not a profit either. Only long holding will bring anything out of it.
Love
Affection is in a cold spell and the situation feels uncertain. Only patient cultivation over a long time will produce a result.
Work
Business is low and turnover thin, and you are getting by with difficulty. Long effort, and some generosity, lay the foundation.
Health
Not immediately threatening, but persistently unsettling. For a chronic complaint, quiet cultivation is much the best form of care available.
Travel
Your circumstances are already cheerless, and going far away may deepen that. Any result would be thin at the very best.
Advice
Gold comes to whoever is willing to go down into the sand.