Those recorded in historical texts, biographies, and local annals as skilled in the Six壬 (Six Secret Teachings) method.

予所見各書之言善六壬者，《吳越春秋》則載子胥、少伯、文種、公孫聖，《晉書》則載戴洋，《龍城錄》則載馮存澄，《五代史》則載梁太祖，《夷堅志》則載蔣堅，《稗史》則允升、堯山堂，《外紀》亦載朱允升，《徽州府志》則載程九圭，《松江府志》則載陳雨化，《蘇州府志》則載徐大衍、皇甫焯，《元史》則載劉文成，然古今書籍之言善六壬者，當不止此數人，奈予未之見耳。

I have seen various books mentioning people skilled in the Six壬 (Liuren) divination method: The "Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu-Yue" mentions Wu Zixu, Fan Li (also known as Shao Bo), Wen Zhong, and Gongsun Sheng; the "Book of Jin" mentions Dai Yang; the "Dragon City Records" mentions Feng Cuncheng; the "Five Dynasties History" mentions Liang Taizu; the "Yijian Zhi" mentions Jiang Jian; the "Bai Shi" mentions Zhu Yunsheng and Yao Mountain Hall, and the "Wai Ji" also mentions Zhu Yunsheng; the "Huizhou Prefecture Annals" mentions Cheng Jiugui; the "Songjiang Prefecture Annals" mentions Chen Yuhua; the "Suzhou Prefecture Annals" mentions Xu Dayan and Huangfu Zhuo; and the "Yuan Shi" mentions Liu Wencheng (i.e., Liu Ji, posthumously honored as Wencheng). These people had different backgrounds: some were strategists in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, some were officials in charge of divination during the Jin dynasty, some were founders of dynasties in the Five Dynasties period, some were famous ministers in the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, and some were local scholars known for their expertise in numerology and divination. This shows that the study of Six壬 has continued through the ages and is not limited to the realm of technical arts. However, there are certainly more people mentioned in ancient and modern books who were skilled in Six壬, but I have not been able to see all of them.

馬端臨《文獻通考》之《論六壬》云：“近世寧黽消息，而此術甚行。”又云：“《五代史》、《金鑾密記》皆極言其驗。”夫所云《五代史》者，尚指《賀環傳》而言，而《金蠻密記》予所見者皆摘本，未知全部中所載云何。

In his "Discussion on the Six壬" in the "Comprehensive Examination of Literature and Records" by Ma Duolin, it is said: "In recent times, people have become very interested in matters concerning auspicious and inauspicious signs, thus this system of divination has become very popular." It is also said: "Both the "History of the Five Dynasties" and the "Secret Records of the Golden Pavilion" highly praise its accuracy." The "History of the Five Dynasties" he refers to still means the passage about the "Biography of He Gui." As for the "Secret Records of the Golden Pavilion," all the copies I have seen are abridged versions, and I do not know what the full text contains.

《畢法》以丁神帶月厭、天目、飛廉、大煞、墓庫、螣蛇而為本命者，宜祈禱上天星辰，庶免其凶。天網自裹宜祈禱本命星辰。鬼臨三四宜去邪作福，墓虎臨支宜召法官行遣，蓋本邵彥和為伊知縣占課而觸類旁通者也。

The "Bifa" states: When the Ding spirit is accompanied by the Month Aversion, Heavenly Eye, Fei Lian, Great Sha, Storage, and Teng Snake, and it precisely falls on the native's destiny, one should pray to the heavenly stars and celestial bodies to avoid misfortune; when "Heavenly Net Envelops," one should pray to the native's star; when the official ghost falls on the third or fourth lesson, one should exorcise evil and pray for fortune; when the Storage and White Tiger are on the day branch, one should summon a judge to perform rituals and send away the evil. These several rules are actually all derived from Shao Yanhe's divination for the county magistrate, and they are generalized from that case.

其課繫癸亥日未將亥時，干上酉，三傳未卯亥、常貴勾，龍戌加寅命，陰巳加行年，邵公命其露天謝罪七日，壽可少延，而未言其故。予以管窺度之，蓋巳為日德生氣，宜修德也，乘太陰為禱祝；太常乘未發用亦為禱祝，加亥上，亥為天德，宜露天謝罪也；中傳貴為乘神祗乘太沖而制鬼，故可少延也。

That lesson was on Guihai day, with the hour of Hai in the sixth position. The day stem was You. The three transmissions were Wei, Mao, and Hai, each riding Tai Chang, Nobleman, and Gou Chen respectively. The Azure Dragon rode Xu and was placed on the native's birth year Yin, while Tai Yin rode Si and was placed on the year of the person's age. Master Zhao ordered him to confess in the open for seven days, saying his lifespan could be slightly extended, but he did not explain the reason. I dare to offer a tentative interpretation: Si is both the day's virtue and life qi, which is suitable for cultivating virtue, and it rides Tai Yin, which governs prayer and supplication. Tai Chang rides Wei and initiates the transmission, also indicating prayer and supplication. Wei is placed on Hai, which is the heavenly virtue, so confessing in the open is appropriate. The middle transmission's Nobleman has the image of a deity, and it rides Tai Chong, which can subdue official ghosts, hence the lifespan can be slightly prolonged.

其餘見《斷案》中，邵公為應貢元占前程，知其陰德洪泰，貴壽兩全。為應秀才占前程，知其孝義有虧，壽元不久，此實課中觀此象，非附會之言也。

Other examples can be found in the "Dissecting Cases": Shao Gong predicted the future of Ying Gongyuan, seeing that his Yin Virtue was deep and broad, thus he would attain both wealth and honor as well as a long life; he also predicted the future of Ying Xiucai, noting that he lacked filial piety and righteousness, and thus his lifespan would not be long. All these conclusions were genuinely derived from the divination signs, not fabricated after the fact.

予屏山大兄往年亦習六壬，己未歲在金華時，曾為家雲友先生占壽並終身，得干上亥水作太陰生壬，斷其得冥冥中之默佑。雲友因云：“十六歲時，夢至一處，遍堆書籍，隨手抽閱，恰見己名上下注程起隆，字雲友，國學生，妻祝氏，三子一女，壽六十一。”寤後告人，疑信相半，迨後一一不爽。然則壽止六十有一矣。

My older brother, Pingshan, once studied the Six Changes divination method. In the Jiwei year, while in Jinhua, he once cast a fortune for his cousin Cheng Yunyou, predicting both his lifespan and his future. The day stem was亥 water, with Tai Yin multiplying upon it to nourish the壬 water day stem. He concluded that Cheng Yunyou would receive quiet protection from the unseen forces. Cheng Yunyou then said, "At the age of sixteen, I dreamed that I arrived at a place where books were piled up everywhere. I randomly took a book and opened it, and there was my name, with the notes reading 'Cheng Qilong, style name Yunyou, a national student, wife named Zhu, three sons and one daughter, lifespan sixty-one.'" When he awoke, he told others, who were half-believing and half-doubtful. Later, each event turned out exactly as predicted. According to this, his lifespan was only sixty-one years.

果至六十一歲患痢甚危，自以為必死，堅不服藥，一日請其堂弟寄巢先生至床前，曰：“適見一人，手執片紙，上書程起隆有施藥施棺施陰騭文之小善，準延年一季，然則今可不死矣？夫一季為三個月，今雲延年一季者，意豈其三年乎？”次日其痢漸止，服藥乃痊。果延三年而壽終，可見果報之不爽，而太陰生干得冥冥中之默助，信而有征也。

Indeed, when he reached the age of sixty-one, he fell seriously ill with dysentery, believing himself to be dying, and refused to take medicine. One day, he asked his cousin, Ji Naoshan, to come to his bedside and said, "I just saw a person holding a piece of paper that said, 'Cheng Qilong has done small good deeds such as giving medicine, giving a coffin, and printing and distributing the Yinyuzhengwen; therefore, his life is extended by three months.' So does this mean I can now survive? Three months is half a year; now it says extending life by three months, does that mean three years?" The next day, his dysentery gradually stopped, and after taking medicine, he recovered. Indeed, he lived for another three years before passing away. This clearly shows that the principle of cause and effect is never mistaken; and the previous judgment that 'Tai Yin's birthday coincides with the Day Stem, and thus receives secret help from the unseen' was indeed credible and verified.

歙有叔侄二人，交相為惡，唆訟詐財，欺孤滅寡，不可勝數。其侄尤多淫惡，里人畏之如虎。戊午年夏月有常遭其凌虐者，占此二人為何結局，得甲寅日返吟，干叔支侄，此定位也。各受申克，既為死神，又兼暗鬼，德喪祿絕，蛇虎紛紛，豈能久乎？

In She County there were two men, uncle and nephew, who conspired together to do evil, inciting lawsuits, defrauding money, and bullying orphans and widows, their crimes being countless. The nephew was especially wicked, and the villagers feared him as they would a tiger. In the summer of the Wuwu year, a person who had often been oppressed by them came to consult about their ultimate fate, and received the Jiayin day return-echoing divination: the day stem represents the uncle, and the day branch represents the nephew, this being the fixed position. Both are subject to therestrain of Sheng metal. Sheng serves both as the Death Deity and as the hidden ghost; the day's virtue is lost, the禄神 is cut off, and Teng Snake and White Tiger appear in abundance—how can such people last long?

後二年其侄患病，眾鬼憑之，而言內有一女鬼尤厲。蓋此女遭其淫後，被乃夫知之，推滋於河中死也。又其亡兄亦來索命，蓋乾隆五十七年汪裡太為人回家葬祖，其兄分辦酒席，兼有資財，乃唆其兄與人爭訟，藉此捲入己囊，致其兄抱恨而卒，後凌虐兄之子，是以其兄不甘也。患病月餘，藉草臥地，木盤盛食，伏而啜之，哼哼作豕聲而卒。

Two years later, the nephew fell ill, and a number of ghosts attached themselves to his body and spoke through him. Among them, a female ghost was the most powerful. Originally, this woman had been raped by him. When her husband discovered the affair, he pushed her into the river and she drowned. In addition, his deceased elder brother also came to claim his soul. In the 57th year of the Qianlong reign, Wang Li's village invited people back to the village to bury their ancestors. The elder brother was in charge of arranging the banquet, and he was also in possession of some money. The nephew encouraged his brother to file a lawsuit, and took the opportunity to embezzle the money, causing his brother to die with regret. Later, he also bullied his brother's son, so his brother would not rest in peace. The nephew was ill for more than a month, lying on the ground with straw, eating from a wooden tray, crawling to eat, and making noises like a pig, and eventually died.

其叔見乃侄如此 ，次年往九華山進香，殆將懺悔，至羊叉，忽顧謂同伴之萬官曰：“人人說我是黑心，不能進香，今我何為？”語畢仆地而僵，天大雷電，以風尸即潰腐，其家既得凶信，扛梓往迎，而路途相左，仍以尸舁於背現青紫痕一道，人以為靈官鞭此擊雲。

His uncle saw his nephew end up in such a situation, and the next year he went to Jiuhua Mountain to burn incense, probably intending to repent. When he reached Yangxia, he suddenly turned around and said to his companion, Wan Guan: "Everyone says I have a black heart and am not worthy of burning incense; now, what should I do?" As soon as he finished speaking, he collapsed and died. At that moment, there was a thunderstorm, and the body quickly rotted after being exposed to the wind. His family received the news of his death and carried a coffin to meet him, but on the way they took a wrong turn; later they still carried the body back, and a purple-blue mark appeared on his back, and people said it was left by the spiritual officer's whip.

丙辰年五月丁巳日，予卜丙寅命人怙惡不悛，收成若何。得干上申，三傳申酉戌，合朱蛇，從申酉金而入火庫，命上又見敗神，知其必敗，兼帶火鬼、火煞、死神、死氣，命上卯為血忌，以為不出七年，當患火痰血光而亡。誰知是持刀將手足劃破，向一汪姓者訛作，至經官理論，大耗其財，而劃破之處，血流不止，精神逐日消乏，懨懨而亡。

On the day of Dingsi in the fifth lunar month of the Bingchen year, I divined for a person born in the Bingyin year who had been doing evil and refused to change. The day stem was Shen, and the three transmissions were Shen, You, and Xu, each riding on Liu He, Zhuque, and Teng Snake respectively. The path of metal from Shen to You leads into the fire warehouse Xu, and the person's birth year also shows the败神. This clearly indicates that he will surely fail. Moreover, he carries the fire ghost, fire demon, death deity, and death qi, and his birth year's卯 also serves as the blood taboo. I therefore predicted that within seven years he would suffer from phlegm fire, encounter bloodshed, and die. However, the actual outcome was that he used a knife to cut his own hands and feet, falsely accused a man named Wang, and ended up in legal trouble, losing a large sum of money. The wounds bled heavily, and his spirit gradually weakened, leading to a gradual decline and eventual death.

予始悟申金發用，刀也；酉為小刀，亦為血也；酉戌相害，酉卯相沖，戌為足，卯為手，手足受傷也。初傳從干上發出，引出許多不美，自戕也。六合而變蛇雀也。申為官符殺，故具訟也。更異者，未沒之前數月好蹲於地，仰首視人，如犬之狀。每一外出，群犬嘗吠而齧之。此非戌為末傳墓干之故歟？因備記之，即作果報觀可也。

I then gradually understood the correspondence of the divination symbols: the use of the metal element Shen (申) as the initiating transmission indicates a knife; You (酉), representing a small knife, also signifies blood; You and Xu (戌) are in mutual harm, and You and Mao (卯) are in opposition, with Xu representing the feet and Mao representing the hands, which exactly corresponds to injuries to the hands and feet. The first transmission originates from the day stem, leading to many negative events, which corresponds to self-inflicted harm. TheLiu He (Liu He) transforms into Teng Snake (螣蛇) and Vermilion Bird (朱雀), indicating a shift from harmony to disputes and litigation. Shen is also the official symbol (官符), hence there is litigation. Even more strangely, in the months before his death, he liked to sit on the ground, looking up at people with a dog-like expression; every time he went out, a group of dogs would bite him—this is precisely because Xu is both the final transmission and the resting place (墓) of the day stem. I therefore recorded this in detail, and regarded it as a case of karmic retribution without any problem.

予友鄭體功先生長於考據之學，嘗取邵公斷案一一疏明其所以然，所疏應貢元一課尤為詳細，發人神智不淺，又讎《心鏡》全部遺予，揚州盧繼塘先生見之，欽佩不已。

My friend Mr. Zheng Tigong is skilled in textual scholarship. He has provided detailed explanations for each case in Shao Yanhe's judgments, clearly explaining the reasons behind them. Among these, his explanation of the case "Should be a top scholar" is especially thorough and very enlightening. He also corrected and sent me the entire book of "Heart Mirror." Mr. Lu Jitan from Yangzhou was greatly impressed upon seeing it.

張繼秀先生名維楨，戊申副貢，又塘其外號也。作文敏捷，頃刻而成一篇。專於天文，兼精三式之法，阮蕓薹先生為諸生時，向先生問終身，先生曾許為兩廣總督，今已如其言矣。而先生謙謙自下，以為當時未有此言。

Zhang Jixiu was a man named Weizhen, who was a secondary candidate in theWushen examination. His other name was "Youtang." He was quick in writing, able to compose an article in a moment. He specialized in astronomy and also mastered the three systems of divination. When Ruan Yuntai (Ruan Yuan) was still a candidate, he asked Zhang about his destiny, and Zhang predicted that he would eventually hold the position of governor-general of the Two Guang provinces. This prediction has indeed come true; however, Zhang was humble and modest, saying that he had not actually made such a statement at that time.

先生與泰州團蕉墩先生交好，團先生亦善六壬，嘗言：“占鄉試會試，課象雖吉，倘有一端未善，即不可許。”其繼塘先生曾舉以勖予，予按其說良，然當為人占得朱雀空亡而不得地者，年命上神沖剋朱雀者，占鄉試得木局者，占會試得金局者，干支並乘敗神者，縱然簾幕青龍諸吉入課傳，無益也。

Master Zhang is on good terms with Master Tuan from Taizhou, who is also skilled in the Six Changes divination method. Master Tuan once said, "When predicting the local examination or the metropolitan examination, even if the course pattern is favorable, if there is one place that is not appropriate, we cannot predict that the examinee will pass." Master Ji塘 once used these words to encourage me. I comment: these words are indeed correct. I have once predicted for others, and whenever there was the Vermilion Bird in the Kongwang position and not in its proper place, or when the year and life god clashed with the Vermilion Bird, or when predicting the local examination and the course pattern was of the wood structure, or when predicting the metropolitan examination and the course pattern was of the metal structure, or when the day stem and day branch both had the defeated god, even if the auspicious gods and generals such as the Nobleman and the Azure Dragon were all present in the course and transmission, they were of no use. This shows that in matters of academic success, the course must not have any single flaw, and one cannot only look for the good aspects.

六壬金口訣以方傳為主，觀其神將遁干而占吉凶，亦頗有驗，惜其下卷歌括不甚醒，故習之者殊少。昔者屏山大兄嘗以之射覆，似較大六壬為確。又嘗考試，但得天官不受傷而克遁干者，名曰官動，必取中，屢驗。近於繼塘先生處，見《鴉池經》一冊，亦非金口訣之辭也。

The Six Rén Golden Mouth诀 mainly relies on "fang chuan" to determine fortune, judging good or bad based on its spiritual generals and hidden stems. It is quite effective. Unfortunately, the verses in the lower volume are not very clear, so few people study it. My elder brother Pingshan once used it to predict covered objects, and it seemed more accurate than the Great Six Rén. He also used it to predict examination results. If the heavenly official is not harmed and can overcome the hidden stem, it is called "official movement," and it is certain to pass the exam, and it has been verified repeatedly. Recently, I saw a book called "Ya Chi Jing" at Jitang Master's place. Although the title is similar, the content is not the same as the Golden Mouth诀.

金華府入詠門外有馬姓者，丙申年春向屏山大兄占流年，大兄曰：“此課極惡，夏日有跌撲之災。” 蓋驛馬克干，又帶跌撲煞也。馬姓司府中房科，府堂基甚立，階有數十級。一日馬姓者失足跌下，二便出血，舁歸，即云“奇哉！”

In the city of Jinhua, there was a man surnamed Ma who once consulted my elder brother Pingshan about his annual fortune in the spring of the Bingshen year. My elder brother said, "This divination is extremely ominous; there will be an accident involving a fall during the summer." The reason given was that the Post-horse was marked on the day stem, and the chart also contained the falling and bruising evil spirit. This man surnamed Ma was in charge of handling official documents in the prefectural office, which had a high platform with dozens of stone steps. One day, he slipped and fell from the top, suffering from both blood loss from his urine and feces, and was carried home, where he soon died. (The original text ends with the words "qizai," which do not fit the context and are likely a corrupted form of "jimou," meaning "died immediately.")