The Maoshan Taoists Descended the Mountain

"Uncle Zhang, come in," Li Xiang called from the mortuary.

"This..." Old Zhang stepped inside and gently stroked Gangzi's face, now peaceful again. Tears streamed down his cheeks.

"Gangzi, look how nicely Xiao Li's made you up... When you get down there, no one will dare laugh at you for being a shabby ghost."

The dockworkers' eyes were red too. They thanked Li Xiang over and over.

Old Zhang took a crumpled blue cloth bundle from his coat and unfolded it layer by layer, revealing a heap of loose copper coins and a few scraps of silver.

"Xiao Li, we all chipped in, but this is all we've got. I know it can't be enough for your work. When we get paid next month, we'll..."

Li Xiang raised a hand to stop him. He did not take it all. Instead, he reached into the pile with two slender fingers, picked through it, and took only half the agreed sum. He gently pushed the rest back.

"Rules are rules. I won't hesitate to take what I'm owed—that's cause and effect. And I won't take a coin more than I should—that's my duty."

Li Xiang's voice sounded quiet beneath the dim yellow light.

"Gangzi died a violent death. His resentment runs deep, and the road to the Yellow Springs won't be easy. Without money to pay off the little ghosts, he's bound to suffer. Let the rest be his toll money."

Old Zhang froze. He held the little pile of money, his lips trembling, unable to say a word for a long while.

At last, several men carried Gangzi's body away and vanished into the night.

After seeing them off, Li Xiang shut the shop door and let out a long breath.

He did not sleep that night.

But life went on.

The morning fog had yet to lift from Blackwater Ancient Town, but the west dock was already bustling with voices.

Unlike the east dock, where a motley crowd of laborers earned their living by sheer muscle, the west dock mostly served passenger boats.

Besides traveling merchants, there were families visiting relatives and friends. Now and then, a fashionable young woman in Western dress could be seen.

The people here had money in their pockets and plenty of schemes in their heads. But they valued their lives more, and they were more superstitious.

"Ironclad Divination! If I'm wrong, you don't pay—"

Li Xiang planted his white cloth banner beside the road, found a corner that was visible without blocking anyone, and set up shop.

Today he was not gnawing on a flatbread. He sat upright on a little stool with an old folding fan in his hand, waving it with something of a fortune-teller's air.

"Beautiful lady, a moment, please."

Waving his fan, Li Xiang called out to a middle-aged woman hurrying past with a vegetable basket.

She stopped and gave him a suspicious look. "Beautiful lady? Me?"

"That's right." Li Xiang smiled faintly, his gaze seeming to drift over her basket and sleeves.

"There's a rosy glow between your brows, and joy on your face, though I see a trace of worry too. If I'm not mistaken, is a guest from afar coming to your home today?"

The woman's eyes widened. "That's uncanny! How did you know? My nephew from my mother's side is coming today. I rushed out first thing this morning to buy a fresh fish!"

Li Xiang chuckled inwardly.

Did that really take divination?

I could smell the fish in your basket from far away. You're obviously preparing a feast.

Ordinary families don't lay on a feast unless it's a holiday or someone's visiting. For the sake of appearances, they'll grit their teeth and put a whole table of food together.

"You've chosen well with that fish, beautiful lady. It's just..." Li Xiang changed tack, putting on an air of mystery.

"On your way home, you'd best avoid Willow Tree Alley. Judging by the wind today, I'm afraid disaster may strike there out of nowhere. It would be a shame to let it spoil such a happy occasion."

In truth, Li Xiang had seen people splashing manure and scrubbing a wall in Willow Tree Alley on his way over. The stench was unbearable. Anyone who walked through there would regret it.

"Oh! Thank you for the warning, young sir. I'll take another route!"

The woman thanked him profusely, tossed a copper coin onto his stall, and went on her way in high spirits.

[Fortune told. Fortune-teller experience +1]

This money's much easier to earn than an undertaker's. The pay doesn't come as fast, but the experience does.

A funeral-clothing shop made its money from the dead. It could go three months without a customer, then earn enough from one to last another three. Fortune-telling could not compare.

Li Xiang picked up the copper coin, blew on it, and felt his spirits lift.

For the next few hours, Li Xiang repeated the trick.

When he met a scholar, he praised the stirring of the Star of Literary Excellence, then warned against pride and impatience.

When he met a merchant, he said the man's Palace of Wealth was full, but that these next few days called for holding firm rather than pressing forward.

And when someone looked plainly down on their luck, he offered a few auspicious words about losing money to avert disaster.

Most of it was vague talk that went round and round. But paired with his keen eye, it hit the mark seven or eight times out of ten. The crowd around him grew, and so did his little pile of copper coins.

Then the sun dipped westward, its last light spilling across the glittering river.

Li Xiang had just finished reading a fish seller's palm when a clear hum suddenly sounded in his mind.

It was as though someone had pierced a sheet of paper over a window. In an instant, the world looked different to him.

[Fortune told. Fortune-teller experience +1]

[Fortune-teller level increased to Lv5]

[Unlocking profession ability...]

[Profession ability acquired: Ironclad Divination]

[Ironclad Divination: The secrets of heaven must not be revealed, but you may steal a glance by reading someone's face or birth date and hour.

Briefly perceive the flow of their fortune over the next twelve two-hour periods and see a wisp of colored energy appear above their head.

Black energy: Darkness gathers between the brows. A dire omen; bloodshed is certain.

Red energy: The Red Luan Star stirs. Romance blooms; favorable for marriage.

Yellow energy: Wealth flows freely, or an unexpected delight may come, such as stepping in dog shit.

Gray energy: Bad luck clings. Nothing goes smoothly; even a sip of cold water gets stuck between the teeth.

Limit: Can be used only three times per day. Remember: never speak in absolutes. Reveal too many secrets of heaven, and you will surely diminish your own blessings.]

This new ability isn't bad.

Li Xiang felt a faint warmth between his brows, as if he had grown another eye. Instinctively, he looked for someone to try his new ability on.

His gaze swept over the crowd.

Nothing hovered over the candied-hawthorn seller's head. There was no hair there either. He seemed an ordinary man.

What about that shrew arguing with someone?

Li Xiang focused on her and willed the ability to work. Open!

Buzz!

A slight wave of dizziness washed over him.

A faint wisp of gray energy really did rise above the woman's head, curling like coal smoke that refused to disperse.

Gray energy... bad luck clinging to her?

The thought had barely crossed Li Xiang's mind when the woman, carried away by her own tirade, stepped backward onto a rotten watermelon rind.

"Ow!"

She sprawled flat on her back. Her vegetable basket flew from her hand, and several eggs splattered across the ground, spilling yolk all over her.

Spot on!

Li Xiang's eyes lit up.

This was a cheat he could take wherever he went.

He could only see whether fortune was broadly good or bad, but in these chaotic times, knowing what lay ahead could mean the difference between life and death.

Li Xiang was about to pack up and buy a roast chicken to treat himself when a faint scent of sandalwood cut through the dock's fishy smell and reached his nose.

He looked up. In the last light of sunset, two figures were slowly approaching.

They stood out sharply among the bare-chested, sweat-soaked laborers around them.

Both wore blue-green Taoist robes and ten-direction shoes, and each carried a peachwood sword wrapped in yellow cloth on his back.

The one on the left was older, around twenty-five or twenty-six, with a lean face and eyes as calm as still water.

The one on the right looked a few years younger than Li Xiang. Round-faced and bright-eyed, he had a quick, clever air. He held a map in one hand and a compass in the other, glancing down to compare them as he adjusted the compass.

"The compass points right around here. The foul energy's thick. There's definitely something big down below."

The younger Taoist muttered as they walked.

"Senior Brother, Master sent us down the mountain to sell a female jiangshi to those warlord people. Doesn't that break the rules of yin and yang?"

He clicked his tongue and went on. "Tsk, tsk. Ten little gold bars. That's a lot faster money than slogging away in the mountains catching ghosts and driving corpses.

"If you ask me, why should we Maoshan folk go to all the trouble of coming down the mountain to slay demons? We could just make a business of this, with nothing to put up..."