Chapter 9: The Wonders of Divination, the Hope of Becoming Immortal

At dusk, as the sky grew darker, most of the merchants on the street had already closed their stalls, and many night markets were preparing to entertain their night business.

In Huai's pawnshop.

After cleaning up the bloodstains on the ground, Zhao Huai moved the two corpses to the backyard.

He then skillfully took out the golden bronze coins from his waist, threw them into the air, pressed them on his hand, and began checking the results.

[Misfortune and blessings depend on one another, let's see]

[Hexagram One: Dispose of the corpses and erase the traces. Bury them under the tree, and all troubles will be gone. The hint you get is "blessing".]

[Hexagram Two: Be clear and insightful. Investigate the corpses and trace the origins of the incident. The hint you get is "misfortune".]

[Hexagram Three: Killers must shed blood, and weeds must be uprooted. Report to the government office. The hint you get is "misfortune".]

...

This time, Zhao Huai was not satisfied with the "blessing" result.

Because the black-robed men's superiors would definitely investigate, he had to find the most secure way to handle the situation.

So he tossed the golden bronze coins again and again, hoping for more results.

Once, twice, three times...

Zhao Huai didn't know how many times he had tossed, but the results were mostly similar.

Either he was to dispose of the bodies secretly, or seek help from other forces.

But during the process, a white light suddenly appeared.

However, Zhao Huai's expression did not change.

Because he was too familiar with this light.

It represented the Human Grade destiny, the lowest grade of destiny, and the most common one he had seen in the past three years.

So he didn't hold any hope for it.

[Immortal's Guidance (Human Grade Excellent)]: A crude trick of the rivers and lakes, mastering the initial art of divination and reciting I Ching skillfully.

As expected, the Human Grade destiny never disappoints, it has always been disappointing in the same way.

If he could really know what would happen next, it would be fine. However, it was just a trick of the rivers and lakes' swindlers, no different from those who deceive with their boxing skills.

But Zhao Huai started to think about the destiny of [Immortal's Guidance].

Logically speaking, since this destiny could be activated, it must have its uses. Even if it is the so-called absolutely useless Human Grade destiny, would it be useful after upgrading to Yellow Grade?

Thinking about this, Zhao Huai couldn't help but give it a try.

In order to upgrade the destiny's grade, other destinies need to be merged. When low-level destinies upgrade high-level destinies, the speed is very limited. However, when high-level destinies upgrade low-level destinies, the speed is immediate.

Zhao Huai immediately found the unused [Dragon Seeking] Yellow Grade destiny in his mind.

This destiny was useless to him, so he decided to give it a try.

[Would you like to decompose destiny?]

"Decompose."

Zhao Huai directly decomposed the [Dragon Seeking] destiny in his mind, turning it into countless dots.

Then he had these dots all absorbed by [Immortal's Path Guidance].

The white light immediately dimmed, and in its place, a yellow light bloomed from the center.

[Trace Origins (Yellow Grade Average)]: Trace the origins of events to happen, and you can trace some of the results of misfortune and blessings.

"Trace the partial results of misfortune and blessings? What does it mean?"

Zhao Huai muttered to himself, then firmly decided:

"Never mind, I'll know when I try."

[Misfortune and blessings depend on one another, let's see]

[Hexagram One: Dispose of the corpses and erase the traces. Bury them under the tree, and all troubles will be gone. The hint you get is "blessing"]

Trace Guidance: The killers acted independently, burying under a tree, putting all troubles to rest.

[Hexagram Two: Be clear and insightful. Investigate the corpses and trace the origins of the incident. The hint you get is "misfortune".]

Trace Guidance: Investigating will bring trouble.

[Hexagram Three: Killers must shed blood, and weeds must be uprooted. Report to the government office. The hint you get is "misfortune".]

Trace Guidance: The government is as a chessboard.

"It seems that the two assassins acted independently before, no wonder no one could find out if they were buried."

After reading the latest results, Zhao Huai felt quite satisfied. This [Trace Origins] destiny was like an upgrade to the golden bronze coins technique.

Before, [Lucky Strike] increased the probability of destinies, allowing him to change misfortune and blessings once a day. With [Trace Origins], his judgments became more supported.

The combination of the two makes it almost perfect.

This also made his goal of becoming an immortal even more determined.

In this world full of crises, the internal strife of Xia Country was far from over. The traces of demons and monsters could be seen everywhere among the people. Bordering alien tribes took advantage of Xia Country's rest and recuperation to annex many small countries nearby, always staring, waiting for the right moment to strike. They did not know when a crisis would erupt.

When chaos arrives, lives would be as insignificant as straw. Only by becoming an immortal can one survive.

As long as he can upgrade his destiny to the immortal grade and obtain an invincible destiny, he will be invincible in the world.

Once he had buried the two corpses under the tree, Zhao Huai finally breathed a sigh of relief.

He returned to the shop, poured a cup of tea, and took a sip.

He then took out a token.

This token was found on the bodies of the black-robed men.

On it was a large letter "通" engraved with gold.

This seemed to be a token for colleagues to travel between cities, allowing people to pass through without any obstacles, crossing all city walls without being intercepted by anyone.

It was very similar to the emperor's imperial envoy.

For him, this thing was quite useful.

However, this also showed that the forces behind the black-robed men were extremely powerful since they could carry such a thing around.

As for the purpose of the black-robed men, Zhao Huai did have some guesses.

From their conversation, it seemed that they wanted to use him to threaten someone.

Who was that person?

The next second, Yu Qinghan's face flashed across Zhao Huai's mind.

The only person he had recently interacted with was her.

Maybe it was Yu Qinghan's enemy who got wind of her whereabouts and tried to assassinate her.

When they found they could not beat her, they came after him, plotting against him.

In the end, they were killed by him.

Upon reflection, the logic seemed quite reasonable.

To be honest, forming a marriage alliance with Yu Qinghan had another consideration.

He could make use of Yu Qinghan's connections to learn some inside information about the happenings in the world and in the imperial court.

Her family was an aristocratic military family, so they must have access to a lot of information.

Maybe he could even gain some benefits from it.

However, as they would be husband and wife in the future, would it be inappropriate to engage in such schemes?

After thinking about it for a while, Zhao Huai decided not to think about it any more.

After all, as long as he was strong, he had nothing to fear.

As long as he reached the Initiation Stage, he would have officially entered the path of Immortal Cultivation.

By then, there would be very few people who could pose a challenge to him.

Lounging in the Taishi Chair, with nothing to do, Zhao Huai took out the black ring and started to study it.

He took out the stack of thick parchments and a bottle of pills, and began to study them carefully.

Zhao Huai spread out the parchment and scanned it. In his mind, the [Heavenly Heart Wisdom Eyes] destiny started to run slowly. The obscure ancient characters on the parchment turned into a row of symbols and recombined.

In the end, they appeared before Zhao Huai.

...