In the eyes of diviners, the future was always like flowers glimpsed through mist, full of mystery and uncertainty.
But according to one "very famous" diviner, people's different choices would produce many different futures. Yet no matter which choice they made, none of it was coincidence.
Because there was no coincidence in this world, only inevitability.
Even a seemingly chance encounter between two people was actually inevitable. One inevitable event after another drove the wheels of history onward, giving rise to all sorts of inevitable futures!
After all that, there was really only one point to make—the results of a diviner's readings could never be wrong. Even if they were wrong, it was only because the reading had shown the inevitable future of another parallel world. You had simply followed a different inevitable course into a different future.
So the diviner wasn't wrong. The world was!
The above was the self-defense of a failed diviner who had performed countless readings and never once gotten one right. You've probably guessed it already. That's right—this diviner was none other than the esteemed Copper Trigram Immortal Master of the Nine Provinces Number One Group.
Though he was a thoroughly unreliable diviner, his words did have a certain twisted logic to them.
Song Shuhang had never expected to meet that black-haired, long-legged beauty again. After all, the world was so big. How could there be that many coincidences?
Yet he hadn't expected to run into her again after wandering around for a while.
He was just coming out of the Glory Beef Restaurant, carrying a large bag of specialties from Foodie's Paradise to bring back to his roommates. The moment he stepped outside, he saw the girl with long, straight black hair striding toward him, dragging her enormous suitcase.
This time, Song Shuhang experienced the power of "long legs, fast walking" head-on. When he first saw her, she was still a good distance away, yet in the blink of an eye, a few strides had brought her right in front of him.
Shuhang shifted slightly to the side, making room for her to pass with her enormous suitcase.
"Thank you." The black-haired beauty's voice was soft and shy.
Then she stepped into the little shop behind him.
Song Shuhang nodded slightly. Checking the time, he figured it was about time to head back to the dorm.
By the time he had taken two or three steps, the black-haired beauty behind him had already finished her shopping and was asking the owner a question. Song Shuhang had no intention of eavesdropping on someone else's private conversation. He simply happened to hear what she asked.
And her question froze Shuhang's raised foot in midair...
"Sir, do you know whether there's a temple called the Ghost Lantern Temple near the Luoxin District?"
After thinking for a moment, the owner shook his head. "The Ghost Lantern Temple? Never heard of it. But I only moved here two years ago, so there are plenty of places around here I don't know. Why don't you ask at some of the older shops, miss? They've been in the Luoxin District longer and know more about it."
The owner was clearly a kind, friendly man, offering such a helpful explanation. Or perhaps, in this age where looks opened doors, the black-haired girl came with an aura that gave everyone's affection toward her a +100 boost.
The Ghost Lantern Temple? The Luoxin District?
Naturally, Shuhang thought of the girl in the group named Soft Feather of Spirit Butterfly Island.
Did I hear that wrong?
With that thought, Song Shuhang pulled the enormous phone out from inside his clothes and swiped to unlock it. Then he deftly opened his chat app and brought up the Nine Provinces Number One Group.
Sure enough, several more messages had appeared since he had left.
The first was a message from Soft Feather of Spirit Butterfly Island, posted more than two hours ago.
She said she hadn't managed to find any information about the Ghost Lantern Temple, but she had already taken a taxi straight to the Luoxin District. She planned to ask the local residents directly.
The next message was from twenty minutes ago.
Soft Feather of Spirit Butterfly Island had written, "I've made it to the Luoxin District without any trouble. There are so many people here, and it's so lively! It's completely different from what I imagined. It's actually a food street. I saw lots of delicious things on the way."
It was clear she was in a very good mood, partly because she had "successfully" found the Luoxin District, and partly because there was so much delicious food here.
"About a two-hour drive from Jiangnan Region Airport, and a Luoxin District with lots of delicious food." Song Shuhang rubbed his face.
Even if the driver sped the whole way, there was no way to reach J City from Jiangnan Airport in two hours, was there?
Judging by the taxi journey's duration and Soft Feather's description of her destination, she had almost certainly gone to the wrong place. She hadn't reached the Luoxin District in J City at all, but had instead ended up in Foodie's Paradise near Jiangnan University Town.
And if this really wasn't a coincidence, could the black-haired beauty with the incredibly long legs behind him be Soft Feather?
The thought that such a modern, fashionable beauty might be suffering from an immortal-hero fantasy obsession gave Song Shuhang an indescribably jarring feeling.
Still... this alone wasn't enough to prove that the black-haired beauty inside was Soft Feather.
After all, he couldn't rule out the possibility that some special event at the Ghost Lantern Temple in J City's Luoxin District was drawing lots of people there. In that case, there were bound to be others who had gone to the wrong place, just like Soft Feather from the group.
It was unlikely, but not impossible.
Song Shuhang kept swiping across his phone's screen, but there were no new messages in the group. Even Northern River's Loose Cultivator wasn't online. Perhaps he had gone to ask around about the Ghost Lantern Temple?
As Shuhang was scrolling, Soft Feather of Spirit Butterfly Island happened to post a voice message in the group.
Song Shuhang instinctively tapped it.
Soft Feather dragged her suitcase out of the shop wearily, feeling a little disappointed.
This was already the twelfth shop. The owner's suggestion had been a good one, but she had asked at plenty of shops, both old and new, without finding a single person who knew anything about the Ghost Lantern Temple.
Sighing, she took out her phone, swiped deftly with her thumb, opened the chat app, and tapped the Nine Provinces Number One chat window.
Senior Northern River, whose reply she had been hoping for, still hadn't sent a message.
Since typing with one hand was inconvenient, she activated the voice message feature and said in her soft voice, "Senior Northern River, have you found any information about the Ghost Lantern Temple? I've asked at lots of shops in the Luoxin District, but not a single person knows anything about it. Please reply when you get this."
She lifted her thumb, and the voice message was sent successfully.
She put away her phone. Until she heard back from Northern River's Loose Cultivator, she would keep asking the shopkeepers in the Luoxin District about the Ghost Lantern Temple. She couldn't give up!
Beside the road outside the shop, Soft Feather saw that the young man who had made way for her earlier was still standing there. He was holding his phone and swiping across it, though she had no idea what he was doing.
Soft Feather paid him little mind and continued forward.
Just then... a voice that sounded incredibly familiar to Soft Feather came from the young man's phone.
"Senior Northern River, have you found any information about the Ghost Lantern Temple? I've asked at lots of shops in the Luoxin District, but not a single person knows anything about it. Please reply when you get this."
Wasn't... that her own voice?
And wasn't that the voice message she had just sent?
Soft Feather froze for a moment. Then an indescribable joy welled up in her heart—the youthful-looking man before her was actually a senior from the Nine Provinces Group!
Lost and dejected, Soft Feather suddenly felt like a drowning person who had caught hold of a lifesaving straw.
She hurried over to the youthful-looking "senior" with long strides!
Song Shuhang had just tapped the voice message Soft Feather had posted in the group. Her soft voice really was pleasant to listen to. Then he suddenly sensed someone slip behind him.
A fragrant breeze reached his nose. It was a faint floral scent, with something of a woman's natural fragrance.
Shuhang turned and saw the long-legged, black-haired girl standing behind him, her face full of delight. Her eyes were fixed on his phone.
"The Nine Provinces Number One Group?" The black-haired girl's gentle voice was filled with the joy of meeting an old friend far from home.
At that moment, Song Shuhang had absolutely no idea what expression he should wear as he faced her.
She no longer needed to introduce herself. If Song Shuhang still couldn't guess who she was, he might as well buy a block of tofu and bash himself to death against it.
"Soft Feather of Spirit Butterfly Island?" Song Shuhang felt that his voice sounded terribly unnatural and awkward.
"That's me! May I ask your Daoist name, Senior?" Soft Feather finally calmed down a little and began carefully studying this "senior."
As far as she remembered, every fellow Daoist in the Nine Provinces Number One Group was her senior, apart from Su Clan's Sixteen, who had undergone tribulation transcendence yesterday.
The senior before her looked eighteen or nineteen, though that surely wasn't his real age, was it? He was about 175 centimeters tall, with a kind face that made him look easy to talk to.
A kind face... to put it plainly, he had the face of a nice guy, the sort who would easily get turned down with "you're a nice guy, but..."
Moreover, she couldn't sense his cultivation level at all. It seemed he had completely drawn in his aura. Standing before her, he appeared to have blended into the world of ordinary people. Had he already reached the same realm as her father, returning to simplicity and his true nature? That was what Soft Feather thought.
Senior?! That form of address made Song Shuhang's liver ache faintly.
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