Lu Chen followed him out of that pavilion whose plaque read "A Thousand Autumns" and whose couplet bore only the two chilly words "Dream Awakens." After descending the steps, he turned to take one last look.
Who knew when he would next revisit this old place?
"Back then, did you already know Old Man Yao's identity when you were setting up that fortune-telling stall?"
"At the time, this poor Daoist was not entirely certain of Old Man Yao's identity and could only make a few guesses. Deducing heaven's secrets within Pearl Cave Heaven was thankless work at best, and it was all too easy for it to backfire."
"Do you think Mr. Qi knew?"
"Qi Jingchun had remained in Pearl Cave Heaven for a full sixty years, and he also held the status of a seated Sage. He most likely knew long ago. So when this poor Daoist reviewed the matter afterward, especially after taking a trip down the River of Time, I truly found it deeply surprising."
The enormous heavenly tribulation accumulated by the small town over three thousand years, along with the karmic ties of every native resident, was destined to be unavoidable. It would never strike empty air. Yet apart from Confucian Qi Jingchun, there was another person willing to clean up this mess: the deeply hidden Old Man Yao, whose origins lay in the Western Buddha Country.
Thus, when Qi Jingchun first prepared to take Zhao Yao away from Pearl Cave Heaven, either he knew about this and could leave without concern, or he had confirmed it but did not alter his original intent. He merely employed an Illusion Technique. As for the reason, it was probably those four characters on the plaque of the town's Crab Workshop: Do not yield in benevolence?
To put it