Iron-Mouthed Judge of Fortune

In the bustling market, shops and roadside stalls lined the streets. Noise and cries filled the air, while pedestrians hurried past in an endless stream.

"Pancakes! Freshly baked pancakes!"

"Tofu, tofu! Freshly ground tofu!"

"Fortune-telling! Divine ancestral readings, ten coins per session! No charge if it isn't accurate!"

Zhao Huai passed by, strolling leisurely toward the pawnshop as he tossed copper coins up and down in his hand.

His fortune today was excellent; they were all "blessings," yet no Fate Character had emerged. It was truly contradictory.

Suddenly, Zhao Huai was grabbed by an old man at a roadside stall.

The old man wore a brown hemp robe. The wrinkles on his face were piled together, and his hair was already streaked with gray.

He kept muttering:

"Divine ancestral readings! Would this young master not calculate his fate? It would be such a pity not to!"

Zhao Huai silently shook off the man's hand and said expressionlessly:

"My fate is very good. No need to calculate it, thank you."

Having said that, he turned to leave, only to be stopped again. The old fortune-teller wore the look of someone lecturing a junior. "Young man, I've seen too many people like you. Young and reckless, relying on a bit of strength and thinking you know neither heaven nor earth. You have no idea what great calamities are waiting behind you."

"Heh."

Zhao Huai was amused by the man's solemn expression.

With the Golden Coin on him, did he still need this man to tell his fortune?

It would be more likely for this fraud to ruin his future.

Zhao Huai immediately sneered. "Fine, I'll let you calculate it. But if you're wrong, you have to give me a hundred taels of silver."

The old fortune-teller froze, then said speechlessly, "Young man, that's robbery."

"What, scared? Are you still going to calculate it or not?"

Zhao Huai smiled faintly.

The old fortune-teller regained his composure and smiled. "Fine. If it isn't accurate at all, what harm is there in giving you a hundred taels of silver?"

Zhao Huai immediately decided that if there was even the slightest discrepancy in what the man said, he would deny it with all his might. He was determined to teach these Jianghu swindlers a lesson.

"My Iron-Mouthed Judge of Fortune reputation isn't something I brag about."

The old fortune-teller said proudly.

"Would the young master like a palm reading or character divination?"

"A palm reading."

Zhao Huai directly held out his hand.

The old fortune-teller grasped it, narrowed his eyes, and began examining it closely.

After looking for a long while, the old fortune-teller's brows gradually furrowed.

Seeing this, Zhao Huai smiled teasingly. "Can't make anything of it?"

To his surprise, the old fortune-teller shook his head with a smile. "No, this old man has a rough idea now."

"Really?"

Zhao Huai asked suspiciously.

"Of course it's true."

The old fortune-teller's tone was full of confidence.

"In my view, this young master's palm corresponds to yin and yang, with joy soaring into the heavens. You should have just gotten married a few days ago, correct?"

Zhao Huai was slightly stunned. Then his brows drew together as he pressed:

"What else?"

The old fortune-teller smiled. "Judging from the young master's face, joy has risen to your brow. Your wife must be extraordinarily beautiful, and the two of you must be deeply in love."

"Have you been following me?"

Zhao Huai said blandly.

Anyone who knew him could learn those things with a little attention.

"This old man has not."

The old fortune-teller shook his head and continued. "Since the young master doesn't believe me, let me speak of your Good Luck instead."

"Just now, I found it strange. Your Good Luck was indeed that of great wealth and nobility. By all reason, it should have fallen and broken off three years ago, declining completely. Yet now, your Good Luck has risen again from dead ashes, even sprouting a few strands of hope. It is quite peculiar."

"But one thing is certain: in the coming years, young master, you will soar into the sky in a single bound."

The old fortune-teller's voice seemed both filled with emotion and tinged with wistfulness.

If the information from before could be attributed to human investigation, then what he was hearing now struck Zhao Huai as somewhat eerie.

Because his path was exactly as the old man had described. After Great Yan fell, his Good Luck naturally plummeted. Only after Great Luck Overhead appeared did his fortune improve slightly.

Zhao Huai believed him somewhat, yet did not dare believe him completely. Thus, he said with an even expression, "I'll draw a fortune stick."

"Please."

The old fortune-teller smiled and took out a box of wooden sticks, handing it over as he explained:

"Young master, whatever you wish to ask or know, simply recite the question silently in your heart. Then shake the sticks, and you will receive Heaven's guidance."

Heaven's guidance? If Heaven truly gave guidance, it should hurry and send him back to his original world.

Though Zhao Huai thought so, if such an opportunity truly came, he would not choose that path. His present life was far freer and more carefree than before.

Today, he had finally made a prayer for once. He had never believed in ghosts or gods, but after coming to this world, he could only half-believe and half-doubt. Rather than anything else, he might as well ask how he could attain the immortal path.

After making up his mind, Zhao Huai shook the fortune sticks.

"Tap."

A wooden stick fell lightly to the ground.

Zhao Huai stepped forward, picked it up, and muttered as he looked at the words:

"Still, for what my heart held dear, I would not regret it even if I died nine times."

The old fortune-teller glanced at the words and smiled.

"These are the words of Qu Yuan, an ancient sage. They tell us that so long as it is something your heart seeks and has set its mind upon, you must not regret it even in death. Persist, and you will always achieve it."

"The immortal path without regret..."

Zhao Huai seemed to understand something.

The old fortune-teller put away the wooden sticks and earnestly instructed him, "One's destiny can change through human effort. Heaven merely offers us a warning. The Book of Changes is called the Book of Changes because change means transformation. If one gives one's all, even a bad fortune stick will not turn out too badly."

"Young master, was my reading accurate?"

Zhao Huai pondered for a long time, then smiled faintly without answering.

Instead, he took out ten copper coins from his waist and tossed them to the old man.

"Thanks."

Afterward, he turned and left.

The old fortune-teller held the ten copper coins and watched Zhao Huai's departing back with an amused smile.

"Old Yu, did he really have no cultivation?"

At that moment, the woman selling candied hawthorns at the neighboring roadside stall slowly approached the old man and asked quietly.

"Indeed, he does not."

The old fortune-teller shook his head. "I felt his bones and examined his dantian. He truly is an ordinary person."

The woman nodded, then asked, "Then was everything in your divination about him true?"

"Half true, half false."

"Which parts were true, and which were false?"

The old fortune-teller smiled lightly. "What Qing Han told us was naturally true. As for the rest, Heaven's secrets cannot be revealed."

The woman sighed. "Princess took me in and raised me from childhood. I followed Her Highness north all the way, storming cities and seizing lands, invincible in every battle. She was the idol in my heart."

"But now, when have we ever seen her like this? Where has that valiant and heroic Supreme General, unparalleled in cultivation, clad in silver armor and wielding a long halberd, gone?"

"Now Prince Qin's people have seized half the court. What should we do?"

The old fortune-teller's expression remained calm. "Perhaps this is her true self. This old man has accompanied Princess for many years and served as her adviser for several. I anticipated that this day would come long ago.

"An ordinary person's life is not necessarily a bad thing. Besides, the husband she married may not remain ordinary in the future."