When I Turned Around, That Person Was There, Amid the Fading Lantern Lights

In the eyes of diviners, the future had always been like flowers seen through fog, filled with all manner of mystery and uncertainty.

But in the eyes of one "very famous" diviner—different choices made by people would produce many different futures. Yet no matter which choice it was, none of them were accidental.

Because there were no accidents in this world. There was only inevitability.

Even what appeared to be a chance encounter between two people was, in truth, inevitable. One inevitable event after another pushed the wheels of history rumbling forward, giving rise to all kinds of inevitable futures!

After saying so much, there was really only one point to make—that a diviner's results could not be wrong. Even if they were wrong, it was merely because the hexagram calculated by the diviner had revealed the inevitable future of another parallel world. You had simply followed another inevitability into another future.

So the one at fault was not the diviner, but this world!

The above was the self-defense of a pathetic diviner who had cast countless fortunes yet never gotten one right. You had probably guessed it already. That was right—this diviner was none other than the great Copper Gua Master from the No. 1 Group of the Nine Provinces.

Though he was an extremely unreliable diviner, his words did contain a few crooked truths.

Song Shuhang had never expected to run into that black-haired, long-legged beauty again. After all, the world was so vast—where could so many coincidences come from?

Yet after taking a stroll around, he unexpectedly ran into the girl again.

Just as he came out of Glory Beef Shop, carrying a huge bag of Foodie Paradise specialties to bring back for his roommates, he saw the Black Long Straight Hair girl dragging an enormous suitcase quickly toward him.

This time, Song Shuhang truly experienced the terrifying reality of "long legs, walking so fast." She had still been quite far away when he spotted her, yet in the blink of an eye, the Black Long Straight Hair girl had crossed several strides and arrived right before him.

Shuhang shifted slightly aside, making room for her to drag her enormous suitcase past.

"Thank you." The black-haired beauty's voice was soft and gentle, and she seemed very shy.

Then she stepped into the little shop behind him.

Song Shuhang nodded slightly. Seeing that the time was about right, he prepared to return to the dormitory.

After he had taken two or three steps, the black-haired beauty behind him had already efficiently finished buying her things and was asking the shop owner for information. Song Shuhang had no intention of eavesdropping on someone else's private conversation. He merely happened to hear her question.

And the question that girl asked made Shuhang's raised foot freeze in midair...

"Boss, do you know whether there's a temple called Ghost Lantern Temple near Luoxin Street?"

After pondering for a moment, the shop owner shook his head. "Ghost Lantern Temple? Never heard of it. But I only moved here two years ago, so I'm unfamiliar with many places nearby. Why don't you ask some of the older shop owners? They've been on Luoxin Street longer and probably know more."

The shop owner was clearly a warmhearted good person, enthusiastically explaining things to her. Or perhaps, in this age of judging by faces, the black-haired girl came with an aura that gave her a +100 favorable impression.

Ghost Lantern Temple, Luoxin Street?

Shuhang naturally thought of the girl in the group called Feathery.

Did I hear that wrong?

Thinking this, Song Shuhang pulled that enormous phone from his pocket and unlocked it with a swipe of his finger. Then he skillfully opened the chat app and entered the No. 1 Group of the Nine Provinces.

Sure enough, after he had left, several more chat records had appeared in the group.

The first was a message Feathery had left more than two hours ago.

She said that she had failed to find any information about Ghost Lantern Temple, but had already taken a taxi directly to Luoxin Street. Then, she planned to ask the local residents directly.

Then came a message from twenty minutes ago.

Feathery left a message: "I've successfully arrived at Luoxin Street. There are so many people here, and it's so lively—completely different from what I imagined. This is actually a food street! I saw so many delicious things along the way."

It was clear that she was in quite a good mood. First, because she had "successfully" found Luoxin Street, and second, because there was so much delicious food here.

"About two hours by car from Jiangnan Region Airport; then Luoxin Street with lots of delicious food." Song Shuhang rubbed his face.

Starting from Jiangnan Airport, even if she had been racing, it would have been impossible to reach J City in two hours, right?

Judging by the taxi travel time and Yurouzi's description of the destination, there was an eighty to ninety percent chance that she had gone to the wrong place—she had not reached Luoxin Street in J City at all, but had gone to Foodie Paradise near Jiangnan University Town.

And if it truly was not a coincidence, then the black-haired beauty with the unbelievably long legs behind him might be Yurouzi?

At the thought that such a modern, fashionably dressed beauty might be an xianxia-obsessed chuunibyou, Song Shuhang felt an indescribable sense of distortion in his heart.

But... these clues alone still could not confirm that the black-haired beauty inside was Yurouzi.

After all, it was not impossible that Ghost Lantern Temple on Luoxin Street in J City was holding some special event, and many people were rushing there. Then surely many people, like Yurouzi in the group, had gone to the wrong place.

The possibility was small, but it was not nonexistent.

Song Shuhang continued swiping across the phone screen, but there were no new messages in the group chat. Northern River Loose Cultivator was not online either. Perhaps he was helping inquire about Ghost Lantern Temple?

Just as Shuhang was swiping through the screen, Feathery happened to post a voice message in the chat group.

Song Shuhang opened it without thinking.

Yurouzi dragged her suitcase wearily out of the shop, somewhat disappointed.

This was already the twelfth shop. The shop owner's suggestion just now had been good, but she had asked at many old and new shops alike, and not a single person knew anything about Ghost Lantern Temple.

With a sigh, she took out her phone. Her thumb nimbly swiped across the screen as she opened the chat app and tapped the No. 1 Group of the Nine Provinces chat window.

The reply she had been hoping for from Senior North River had not yet arrived.

Since it was inconvenient to type with one hand, she opened the voice function and said in a soft voice, "Senior North River, do you have any news about Ghost Lantern Temple on your end? I've asked many shop owners on Luoxin Street, but not one of them knows anything about Ghost Lantern Temple. Please reply when you receive this."

Her thumb lifted, and the voice message was successfully sent.

She put away her phone. Before receiving a message from Northern River Loose Cultivator, she still had to keep asking the shop owners on Luoxin Street about Ghost Lantern Temple. She could not give up!

By the roadside outside the shop, Yurouzi saw that the young man who had made way for her earlier was still standing there. He was holding his phone and swiping at it, though she had no idea what he was doing.

Yurouzi did not pay it any mind and continued onward.

Just then... a voice that Yurouzi found incomparably familiar came from the young man's phone.

"Senior North River, do you have any news about Ghost Lantern Temple on your end? I've asked many shop owners on Luoxin Street, but not one of them knows anything about Ghost Lantern Temple. Please reply when you receive this."

Wasn't that... her own voice?

And this was the voice message she had just sent, wasn't it?!

Yurouzi froze for a moment. Then an indescribable delight surged from the depths of her heart—this young man before her was actually a senior from the Nine Provinces group!

Lost and dejected, Yurouzi was suddenly like a drowning person who had seized a lifesaving straw.

She turned two steps into one and rushed to the side of this "senior" who looked like a young man!

Song Shuhang had just tapped the voice message Yurouzi posted in the group. That soft voice was indeed very pleasant to hear. Then, he suddenly sensed someone slipping in behind him.

A fragrant breeze followed, carrying a faint floral scent, somewhat like a woman's natural body fragrance.

Shuhang turned around and saw that long-legged, black-haired girl standing behind him with a delighted expression, her gaze fixed on his phone.

"No. 1 Group of the Nine Provinces?" The black-haired woman's gentle voice brimmed with the joy of encountering an old friend in a foreign land.

At that moment, Song Shuhang had no idea what expression he should use to face this girl.

At this point, she no longer needed to introduce herself. If Song Shuhang still could not guess her identity, he might as well buy a block of tofu and bash himself to death with it.

"Feathery?" Song Shuhang felt that his voice sounded terribly unnatural and awkward.

"That's me! May I ask for Senior's Daoist Name?" Yurouzi finally calmed down somewhat and began carefully sizing up this "senior."

In her memory, aside from Su Clan's A-Sixteen, who had undergone tribulation yesterday, every other cultivator in the No. 1 Group of the Nine Provinces was a senior.

This senior before her looked eighteen or nineteen on the outside. Of course, that definitely could not be his true age, right? He was around one meter seventy-five tall, with a kind-looking face and an appearance that made him seem easy to talk to.

Kind-looking... put bluntly, he had the face of a good person, the sort easily handed a good-guy card.

Moreover, she could not sense this senior's cultivation realm at all—apparently, his aura was completely restrained. When he stood before her, it was as though he had blended into the world of ordinary people. He had likely reached a state of returning to simplicity like her father, hadn't he? That was what Yurouzi thought.

Senior?! That form of address made Song Shuhang's liver ache faintly.