Chapter 94: The Carefree Life of Gu Xian

  Shen Bailian immediately forgot about the scholar and female knight who were still arguing, and quickly walked over. The black-clad middle-aged man saw him coming and didn't look at him again, only holding a coarse ceramic bowl to sip his noodles. When Shen Bailian arrived in front of him, he had just finished drinking the last mouthful, and calmly stood up saying: "Let's go." He then ignored Shen Bailian and walked forward on his own.

  Shen Bailian was taken aback, and his doubts grew even more. However, the middle-aged man's demeanor was unusual, and he couldn't bring himself to ask questions. The two of them slowly entered a teahouse, and Shen Bailian followed the middle-aged man to sit down at a table. As he listened to the man order tea from the waiter, his mind remained puzzled. Just as he furrowed his brow in contemplation, the waiter arrived with the teapot and cups. The middle-aged man slowly poured two cups of tea, pushing one of them towards Shen Bailian. After drinking his own cup, he finally spoke up: "Your fate is quite interesting - you lack familial ties but have an abundance of romantic entanglements. Observing your emotional path, it's clear that you're a straightforward and honest man, the kind that young women like. But how could you be... Ah, strange, indeed!" As he spoke, he stroked his chin thoughtfully, shaking his head in confusion.

  Shen Bailian suddenly heard the man say a lot of things, something about kinship and emotional connections, but felt inexplicably puzzled. However, the middle-aged man had an air of dignity under his ordinary appearance, which seemed to have a profound and mysterious flavor. At this moment, she couldn't help but mutter: "Yang is prosperous... Yin is lacking?" In her heart, she thought, what does this mean? Suddenly, another thought occurred to her, this person kept talking about numerology, it seemed like he was pretending to be a Taoist fortune teller, but he wasn't wearing a Taoist robe, and there was no big black mole with long hair on his chin... Wait, fortune telling? This man had just shown off his skills, now... Could it be, could it be that he is actually...

  Just thinking about it, a surge of excitement rushed to his head, and he hurriedly cupped his hands and said: "This senior, I just saw that with a casual flick of your wrist, you were able to save someone from under the elephant's foot. Such skill and demeanor is truly heartbreaking..."

  The middle-aged man waved his hand and said, "The noodles are already eaten, the soup is also drunk, and the wooden chopsticks are naturally useless. Besides, those wooden chopsticks aren't mine, so throwing them away doesn't count as a big deal. If I were to show you my skill in shooting dice, ha! That would be a real feat, unmatched in all of Chen Prefecture's brothels!" As he spoke, the middle-aged man seemed to recall something pleasant and a hint of a smile appeared in his small eyes. He shook his head and said, "In the days I've been in Chen Prefecture, I've also evaluated those girls who sing and dance on the balconies. Only that Peony Girl has some discerning taste, and can somewhat rival me!"

  "Peony?" Shen Bailian was stunned, and said vaguely, "To be able to compete with a senior like you, it's probably also an extraordinary master. But this leaning railing and pavilion... what family or school is it from? How come I've never heard of it before?"

  The middle-aged man burst out laughing: "Shen Xiaoyou is really interesting, the railing song pavilion is the most famous brothel here, and Peony is the flower girl there. Her hand technique of shooting and covering is quite famous, but she also lost to Xiao Lao a few times, can't be considered a top-notch master! Haha, haha!"

  It turned out to be a misunderstanding... Shen Bailian's face immediately flashed with embarrassment, and he quickly changed the subject: "Senior, how did you know my surname is Shen? May I ask your honorable surname?"

  The middle-aged man said with a smile that was not quite a smile: "I don't just know your surname is Shen, I also know you're called Shen Bailian, a not-too-big-or-small monster. As for my name and surname... can't you really guess who I am?" As he spoke, he dipped his hand in the tea water and wrote a sloppy "卦" character on the table.

  "You're Guaxian Laoqianbei!"

  The middle-aged man nodded slightly.

  Shen Bailian was both shocked and delighted, only now convinced that the middle-aged man in front of her was indeed the high-ranking friend of Kun Qian's, Gu Bozang. He had originally thought that since Lord Kunpeng had lived for so many years, his closest friends would also be elderly men with a large age gap, but unexpectedly, Gu Bozang looked like he was only in his thirties. However, thinking back to how he had just casually referred to himself as "little old man", it seemed that his actual age wasn't small at all, he simply had the skill of preserving his youthful appearance, and his face looked young.

  Since he found Bozhanzi, he naturally wanted to ask him to calculate his fate. He hurriedly bowed deeply and said: "Gua Xian Lao Qianbei, I asked about your whereabouts from Beiming Palace Kun Qianbei, and came all the way here with a request." As he spoke, he carefully told Bozhanzi about his search for Yuanyu's daughter, finally saying: "If that girl is still alive, she would be 18 or 19 years old by now. However, she has the Emperor's Jade on her body, making it difficult to detect any demonic aura. I've searched everywhere in heaven and earth, even venturing into the ghost realm, but couldn't find her anywhere. She was forced to leave her mother's side, which is all my fault. If she hasn't been living well these past years, or if she's dead, I fear my guilt will only grow thicker." As he spoke, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

  He stroked his long beard, listening quietly to him, while also pouring a cup of tea and drinking it slowly. When the second cup of tea was finished, he said: "Do you know the girl's birth eight characters?" After finishing speaking, he shook his head, "You monsters are probably not particular about these things, you don't even know her name, this is difficult to calculate... Ah, it can be done from your two junior brothers and sisters! Let me take a look..." As he said "take a look", he pinched his beard and closed his eyes.

  Shen Bailian was perplexed, suddenly his eyes widened in disbelief, staring intently at Bu Suanzi's face. Only to see that ordinary face suddenly seemed transparent, faintly revealing the numerous scars crisscrossing underneath, as if there was another extremely ugly face beneath, and on that face, between the eyebrows, a fine line of cracks slowly opened...

  He was staring intently at the golden light that seeped through the gap, when suddenly his eyes stung as if pricked by a needle. Then he heard a soft rebuke from beside his ear: "Still not turning away!"

  Shen Bailian's heart skipped a beat as she realized that she might have seen some secret method of the Qian Xian senior. She quickly turned her head to look around the teahouse, and was stunned again. The tea customers at the surrounding tables and the shop assistants behind the counter were all motionless, sitting or standing still, with their hands holding cups suspended in mid-air, their mouths open in mid-conversation, and even the shop assistant's hand wiping the counter had stopped moving. Everything was frozen in an instant, without a single sound.

  The scene seemed to have existed for only an instant, yet it also seemed to have lasted for a long time. When Shen Bailian came back to his senses, in front of him was again the middle-aged man's ordinary and unremarkable face. The noise around his ears returned, and everything from just now seemed like an illusion. Just as he was dazed, Bu Suanzi slowly opened his eyes, and a pair of small eyes shone brightly, like a dazzling firework that had just been lit, but was gradually fading into the previous dullness. He heard him say: "You little brat are really bold, even daring to casually spy on the Heavenly Eye. If you were discovered by the Heavenly Way... Fortunately, nothing happened! You also don't need to think that my face is terrifying. To get rare abilities, one must pay the corresponding price. It's just a ruined face, after all. A man doesn't rely on a handsome face to make his way in the world."

  Shen Bailian was stunned for a moment, and then suddenly realized that the ugly face he had seen earlier was actually the true face of Guaxian. He only thought it through now, why this Guaxian's expression remained wooden when talking and laughing, even when laughing loudly, his facial muscles didn't move at all... That ordinary-looking face... It must be just a mask!

  Baizhanzi stretched out his hand to touch the teapot, and Shen Bailian hurriedly poured a cup of tea and pushed it over. He slowly raised the cup and drank, then said in a low voice: "I just investigated and found that your two fellow disciples are likely to have passed away, and there is no news of them in the mortal world. You also said you went to the ghost realm but didn't find them either. There's only one explanation - those two must have drunk from the River of Forgetfulness and been reincarnated."

  Shen Bailian was stunned, they... Yun Tianqing and Su Yu... had they really died? The smile of the young man's face and the girl's jade-like complexion flashed before his eyes, a wave of grief suddenly surged up his throat, he muttered with a few sobs: "Dead? How could they... be dead?" After a while, he thought of Yan You's daughter again, feeling that all hope was lost. Yun Tianqing and Su Yu had already died, how could the girl possibly still be alive? Even if she were alive, it would be hard to find her.

  He glanced at him and said lightly, "Everyone in the world will die, what's there to be sad about? Just because they died doesn't mean the girl you're looking for is dead too. I've investigated their last moments before they passed away, and it was on a mountain peak in Huangshan. If you have the heart, you might as well go take a look. Even if you can't find the girl for the time being, what's the harm? I also took the liberty of calculating your fortune, and although your journey to find her is fraught with difficulties, there are signs of life. Here's a phrase of criticism: 'Treading on broken iron shoes without a place to search, getting everything without effort'. Think about it carefully."

  Shen Bailian was stunned for a moment, and the sad expression on his face gradually faded. He thought to himself: Since Yun Shidi and Su Yu Shimei have already passed away, it's pointless to be sad anymore. For now, finding that girl is the most important thing... Ah yes, wasn't Taiping Village, where Yun Shidi grew up, located at the foot of Huangshan? He experienced many heartbreaks in that village and didn't want to return, but couldn't he still live in the nearby mountains? How come I didn't think of this earlier?

  He slowly opened his mouth and said, "When the time comes, you will naturally find it, and you don't need to be discouraged. Just follow the natural course... Since you are entrusted by that old fish, I'll give you another thing. Take good care of this object, and you will have your own benefits." As he spoke, he flipped over his palm, and a small eight-trigram mirror appeared in his palm. He seemed reluctant to part with it, rubbing it in his hand for a while before handing it over to Shen Bailian.

  That piece of Bagua mirror was only the size of a palm, and it was made of copper with a yellowish color. In the center, there were yin-yang fish carved, surrounded by the eight trigrams diagram, which was very delicate. Although Shen Bailian couldn't see any divine power from this Bagua mirror, since it was given by a superior person, it must be extraordinary. She immediately hung it around her neck along with the lotus bag she had carried for many years and hid them close to her body, thanking him repeatedly in her mouth.

  He waved his hand and was about to say something else, when he suddenly turned his head towards the entrance of the teahouse. A pair of small eyes sparkled with extreme surprise, and he immediately forgot to talk to Shen Baiying again. He threw away his tea cup and rushed out of the door, his footsteps quick and different from his previous leisurely and lazy attitude. He also shouted loudly: "Good disciple, don't go, wait for Lao Er!"

  P.S. Now I can answer the previous questions ~ The role of this divination master is my original creation, and it has not appeared in the game. However, according to my setting, he has a master-apprentice relationship with one character from Xian Jian 4, and has a deep connection with another character from Gu Jian ~ Guess who they are? If you guess correctly, there will be a prize ~(roughly speaking)

  At this time, Su Yu had indeed reincarnated, but perhaps some relatives would ask me, Yun Tianqing was still in the ghost realm, why did Master Brother and Bo Suanzi not find him? Here's a brief explanation: Master Brother went to the ghost realm when Yun Houzi hadn't died yet, later he died but Master Brother didn't go to the ghost realm again. Bo Suanzi opened his heavenly eye only to search for them in the human realm, so of course they couldn't be found. Thus, Master Brother once again fell into the "missing" cycle~

  Thanks to LuLu for finding a bug in time and secretly fixing it... Those who saw it, please pretend you didn't see anything...