Ao Li Seeks a Reading

Four days have passed since Yao Yuanguang gave the fortune to Pilan.

Normally, Yao Yuanguang wouldn't wait in the same spot, but after Zhang Xuezhou and the others dissipated their flying power and landed, they indeed found Yao Yuanguang below.

Is this an attempt to obtain an audience with the Holy Mother of Wudang?

Yao Yuanguang sat in the thatched pavilion where Wei Shao'er had previously refined elixirs, and dug up some yams and kudzu roots to roast, his mouth covered in black ash as he ate.

Upon seeing the crowd arrive, he wiped his mouth repeatedly with his dirty sleeve.

"Fellow Daoist Pilan, have you found him? Have you returned to thank me?"

Yao Yuanguang glanced at the bird-bodied, human-headed Pilan, then at Zhang Xuezhou and Ao Li. When a naked child popped out from behind Ao Li, he vaguely felt that something was wrong.

"You damn liar!"

Pilan cursed, which made Yao Yuanguang feel uneasy, as if he had made another mistake in his fortune-telling.

He reached out and brushed his hand towards his body, but then realized that his teleportation technique had failed.

This made Yao Yuanguang raise his head and look at the handsome man wearing a robe.

Pilan is Demon Cultivator skilled in flying and detoxification. Since there was no way to disrupt his spellcasting, Zhang Xuezhou would not dare to attack him casually. As for the little brat, let's not even talk about him. It's not hard to guess who else made the move.

The person who possesses such skills is undoubtedly superior to him.

"I've already drunk the Thousand Flower Dew to detoxify myself, so please give me some face and don't hit my face when you hit me!"

Yao Yuanguang shouted loudly, then squatted down with his hands on his head.

The fortune teller wasn't good at direct confrontation; he couldn't win in a fight, nor could he escape. And Pilan's Thousand Flower Dew was out of the question. Yao Yuanguang felt that his only option was to endure a brutal beating to get through this ordeal.

"Oh dear, look at this! This old swindler even tries to cheat a widow like me! Where is justice?!"

Pilan shouted for quite a while.

But when she thought about how she had received Ao Li's dragon saliva, she felt that she hadn't lost out.

In short, having lost the Thousand Flower Dew but gained the Dragon Saliva, Pilan felt he had made a profit. If he could get the Thousand Flower Dew back, it would be a huge gain; if he couldn't, he could accept it.

She cried and wailed for a few minutes, then fell silent.

Pilan was a chatterbox, but she wouldn't hit someone casually; she couldn't bring herself to lay a hand on Yao Yuanguang.

"That's interesting!"

Ao Li used his Demon Power to disrupt Yao Yuanguang's Technique Method, causing the latter to fail in his attempt to escape. Seeing Yao Yuanguang helplessly covering his head and waiting to be beaten, he couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing.

Judging from Yao Yuanguang's practiced manner of begging for mercy with his head in his hands, the other party must have done this kind of thing many times before.

It's normal for fortune tellers to be inaccurate, but it's remarkable that someone could endure beatings and live to this age.

After a short period of contact, Ao Li's evaluation of Yao Yuanguang has already been released.

This is a skilled fortune teller, but not a top-tier one.

But in an era where fortune tellers were scarce, finding such an old fortune teller was extremely rare.

"I've heard from my fellow Daoists that your physiognomy skills are unparalleled. I would be honored if you could perform a physiognomy reading for me!"

Ao Li's visit to seek justice for Pi Lan was secondary; he also wanted to hear Yao Yuanguang's physiognomy skills.

"The art of physiognomy? For fortune telling?"

Yao Yuanguang, with his hands covering his head, peeked out through the slits of his eyes, constantly scrutinizing Ao Li, his gaze then sweeping over Zhang Xuezhou and Bi Lan.

"Let me make this clear first, I charge a fee for my physiognomy skills," Yao Yuanguang said.

"It's normal to receive payment for performing magic. As long as I can afford it, just name your price," Ao Li nodded and said, "My only requirement is that it must be agreed upon!"

"Accurately judging this is a bit difficult," Yao Yuanguang said, scratching his head. "But I offer a three-day money-back guarantee. If you find it inaccurate within three days, just come back to me, and I'll refund you exactly what you paid!"

"And what about me?" Pilan interjected.

"I waited for you here for three days, and when you didn't return within three days, I drank the Thousand Flower Dew," Yao Yuanguang said. "You've returned on the fourth day now, so this isn't my fault!"

"That seems to be the case?"

After thinking for a moment, Bi Lan realized that Yao Yuanguang seemed to have said something similar to her, which put her mind at ease regarding physiognomy.

This made her wanting to seek justice feel awkward.

"I was delayed by a day because I went to Jiangxia!"

Pilan replied sullenly, then turned the small porcelain bottle he had retrieved from Jiangxia.

With the ambergris in hand, she was in a very good mood and didn't bother to argue with Yao Yuanguang anymore.

"Demons really do have some intellectual problems!"

Zhang Xuezhou neither spoke nor interrupted. He watched as Yao Yuanguang dismissed Pilan in a short time, and felt that while it was important for a fortune teller to be accurate, it was even more important to save his life and shirk responsibility if he was inaccurate.

If Zhang Xuezhou's guess was correct, Yao Yuanguang's physiognomy reading for Bilan involved nearly three days in Bashu. According to the agreed time, Bilan simply couldn't return within three days.

However, demons solve problems differently than humans; they prefer to settle things with their fists. Yao Yuanguang couldn't argue his way out, so he chose to cover his head and take the beating.

Only after Ao Li stopped targeting him and then tried to ask Yao Yuanguang for a technique did Yao Yuanguang become more assertive.

Zhang Xuezhou pondered this and, wanting to see how Yao Yuanguang would perform the technique under normal circumstances, also wanted to observe it.

He had seen Yao Yuanguang tell Nezha's fortune, but that fortune telling involved Divine Ability powers and Zhang Xuezhou's assistance, and both of them almost lost their lives. Under normal circumstances, it would be almost impossible to reproduce that kind of technique again.

Yao Yuanguang, being a normal fortune teller, would not perform any techniques that could harm someone's life, so he needed to use normal fortune telling methods.

However, Yao Yuanguang's cultivation level should be far inferior to Ao Li's.

Zhang Xuezhou suddenly became more interested in this physiognomy demonstration and wanted to see how Yao Yuanguang would interpret it.

"If my physiognomy proves true, I would like to ask you to help me enter a secret place near Chang'an City three days from now!"

After thinking for a while, Yao Yuanguang finally made his request.

His request wasn't unreasonable; he was even willing to wait three days before receiving payment.

This prompted Ao Li to agree without hesitation.

"Please," Yao Yuanguang said, extending his hand in invitation, and then asked, "I still don't know what you'd like to see, friend?"

Seeing Yao Yuanguang speak to Ao Li, Zhang Xuezhou felt that Yao Yuanguang had already set a trap before even using his physiognomy skills.

"The time limit for divination is very important. Uncle Yao seems to be mentioning the required reward, but in reality, he may have already changed what Ao Li is asking for!"

Yao Yuanguang's words would inevitably lead Ao Li to choose something that is easy to verify, and something that can be verified within three days.

Once the verification is complete, Ao Li will have less doubt about important matters from Yao Yuanguang, and may even disregard the three-day deadline.

Zhang Xuezhou felt that physiognomy was indeed a nine-out-of-ten-true art, even for someone like Yao Yuanguang, the top physiognomist in the Southern Jambudvipa Continent.

Zhang Xuezhou's physiognomy skills had always been in a stage of deceptive pseudo-psychology; he never expected that Yao Yuanguang would also be doing the same thing.

Everyone is the same, so he no longer feels that there is anything wrong with his abilities.

Compared to others who face themselves honestly, Zhang Xuezhou felt that he might have unknowingly approached Yao Yuanguang's level in the art of physiognomy.

The only difference between him and Yao Yuanguang is that he is one-tenth genuine.