Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
“Come on!” Chen Changgeng shouted loudly as he started to fight without much thought.
He pedaled out the Eight Diagrams and pushed forth his palms with force. The shadows of his changing palm motions were like a net covering heaven and earth.
At that time, he saw “Heavenly Primogenitor ” opposite him simply reaching out his right hand. His momentum was huge and strong, as if he had come from the ancient times and had existed with time and tide.
His fingers were slender and as white as jade. His movements were of primitive simplicity and fairly close to the unchanging laws between the heaven and earth.
The airflow was disrupted and everything rushed towards that palm, causing the countless palm shadows to return to two ordinary hands.
“Bang!” “Heavenly Primogenitor’s” right hand struck the center of Chen Changgeng’s palms. He felt both of his hands turn numb and his body unexpectedly advanced. He could not help taking a few steps forward, knocking into a chair on his way and falling on the ground. He stared at “Heavenly Primogenitor” who was near a medium-sized table opposite him.
“Donor Chen, could you please make yourself understood?” Meng Qi asked with a heavy voice.
A lot of sweat was running from Chen Changgeng ‘s forehead. After glancing at Heavenly Primogenitor’s powerful, thick hands, he turned his head towards his bodyguards and said, “Go out and prevent the others from entering.”
The others he referred to here were the masters who were rushing over to help him at his order.
Finishing his order, he abjectly asked, “May I know your aim coming here?”
“Did you send your servants to bury a corpse on the mass grave more than three years ago?” Meng Qi asked directly.
“It’s time…” Chen Changgeng’s expression changed, and he felt something out of the ordinary. Then he smiled bitterly. “Yes, I have been upset for years, I can finally be relieved today.”
“Was it you that killed him?” Meng Qi activated Supernatural Power of Shaking Heaven and Hitting Earth to sense Chen Changgeng’s mood.
“That night, I suddenly wanted to go to a brothel. The moment I opened my side door, I found a man lying on the ground. Carefully observing him with a lantern, I knew he was dead.”
“His face was pale, almost green. He had been dead for about two hours. There were no obvious fresh wounds nor signs of evil doing. The clothes and shoes beside him were tidy as if he had come to my home to wait for death after he took them off.”
“It was too strange. Afraid of becoming a scapegoat and involved in any following trouble, I did not inform Six Fan School of it, and simply asked my servants to burn his clothes and shoes before burying him in the mass grave. Ever since then, this thing has often woken me up in the middle of the night. I was afraid the mishap would hunt me down sooner or later.”
Chen Changgeng was a bit upset and excited. He seemed to have been bothered by this issue for a long time.
“At that time, did you notice any special traces or objects?” Judging from his logical sequence of what he described and his emotional shift, Meng Qi could tell that Chen Changgeng had not lied, so he turned to ask about the clues.
Of course, if he were a Wild Actor, it would be another matter. Nevertheless, his Family was all there, so he could not break away from them.
“No.” Chen Changgeng had thought about it many times and could blurt it out at once.
Meng Qi nodded and then asked about other details.
What puzzled him most was why the corpse of Jin Li was left outside Chen Changgeng’s house, because it would have been easier to bury him in any other place without a trace.
“Does Donor Chen have any personal enemies?” This was the only reason he could think of for now.
Chen Changgeng had suspected that he really had an enemy too. He coughed and said, “Due to the land and water sources, I don’t get along well with the families and sects nearby. They are the Sun Family, the Jia Family, sects of the Regions to the left of the Yangtze River and Heaven-destined Temple. And Family Shen hated me very much because I deprived their wharf of other families. All these things happened before the corpse’s appearance.”
Meng Qi silently remembered these families and sects. After casually asking a few questions, he slowly got up and said, “Donor Chen, thank you for telling me these things.”
“I wonder who the dead man is?” Chen Changgeng could not help but ask.
Meng Qi put his hand on the door and laughed, “You’re better off not knowing.”
Saying this, he opened the door and his figure suddenly blurred. He did not disappear but his pace was miraculous, like magic, allowing people to see the residual of his shadows.
Many masters of the Chen family outside the door had lost sight of their enemy even before they could do anything. Only two doors were left swinging in the cold wind there.
“Hu, who is this master…” Chen Changgeng breathed a sigh of relief.
…
As one of the Turf Lords, Lyu Jian was highly efficient. Before the second day’s dusk, he had a general idea of the love affairs which had occurred after Jin Li’s disappearance.
Of course, they were all relatively large events, or were involved in famous sects and families. Otherwise, it would be quite difficult for him to get that much information on ordinary people’s love affairs and marriages after they had occurred more than three years ago, unless he specifically asked for a certain family. However, these people could not have anything to do with Jin Li.
Setting off a few fireworks at the door, he returned to the study and patiently waited there.
Because the New Year’s Day was approaching, fireworks were seen from time to time. Therefore, what he had just done would not draw much attention or arouse suspicion.
“Bang!” The window was blown open by the wind followed by a chill. Lyu Jian quickly looked at the window, thinking that the young master in blue was coming. However, upon taking a closer look, he didn’t see anything there except some plum flowers.
Could it be that the servant did not close the window? He shook his head. The moment he turned his head, he froze.
The young master in blue was standing there with his hands behind his back. He was browsing the books on the shelf in an elegant and refined manner.
“He, when did he come in? !” Lyu Jian’s expression changed slightly. He was quite shocked, clearly sensing that there was a big gap between him and a real master.
“What did you find?” Meng Qi did not turn his head, like a parent making small talk.
Lyu Jian calmed down and answered Meng Qi with great respect, “A few days after Jin Li disappeared, the Shen Family’s daughter suddenly declared that she would rather die than marry into the Jia Family. Although she failed to commit suicide, she managed to break the engagement and is still alone at present. What’s more, there is suddenly one more nun in the Heaven-destined Temple. She is silent and never leaves the temple.”
“The Shen Family… Heaven-destined Temple …” Meng Qi repeated.
They were the enemies Chen Changgeng mentioned, and as long as their Lightness Skills were good, they could get anywhere in Wen An within two hours.
Lyu Jian thought that Meng Qi did not know the Shen Family or Heaven-destined Temple, so he hurriedly explained, “The Shen Family has been here since then. They built the Shen Compound. Their family estate was based on the Department Stores, wharves, mines and herbal garden. Because of the fight for the wharves, they had skirmishes with a lot of the famous Families and sects, so they do not contact each other much. Though there are a lot of masters in his family, they seldom make trouble and seem quite mysterious.”
“Heaven-destined Temple was not its original name. A few decades ago, a Taoist passed by and somehow decided to stay behind. He changed this sparsely populated weak Taoist temple into a prosperous one with a lot of incense being offered. It is both a temple and a sect.”
“His strength is not known. He calls himself Heaven-destined Cultivator. He converted Taoist Temple into Heaven-destined Temple. He is conversational and often talks about destiny with no cause and no effect, a good deed never gathering virtue, no striving for the impossible, and so on. However, he can tell people apart precisely from their appearances. If he predicts what will happen to somebody, nine out of ten times he is right, which makes me laugh at him yet revere him.”
“It’s a little strange…” Meng Qi said with a heavy voice, “Does he have any other love affairs?”
“There are a few, but they are humble families. It’s impossible for them to trouble Jin Li…” Lyu Jian briefly mentioned other things.
“Well, I will verify it myself.” Meng Qi did not cast a mist before Lyu Jian’s eyes. He directly pushed the door open and went out with a carefree attitude, paying no attention to the servants along the way, causing Lyu Jian to click his tongue non-stop.
…
The weather in River East was mild. Heaven-destined Temple was located on a delicate peak of the hills. There were stone steps along the road which zigzagged to the gate of the temple.
Because the fortunetelling was quite efficacious, a lot of pilgrims would come to the temple to pray. Hence, it was very boisterous.
Meng Qi, who was dressed in a blue robe, strolled into it with his hands behind his back. He seemed quite relaxed.
He looked at the Taoists who were entertaining the pilgrims and tried to find the taoist nun. Unfortunately, he failed to find her. Maybe she was retreating.
Meng Qi did not get straight to searching for her because he was quite wary of Heaven-destined Cultivator. He went up to a Tao child and said with a smile, “I want to ask Heaven-destined Cultivator to tell me my fortune. Could you please inform him of my intention?”
He decided to see Heaven-destined Cultivator first.
“100,000 silver taels for a one-time consultation. Our cultivator said that he was destined to have so much.” The Tao child had seen too many pilgrims like Meng Qi, so he said this in a straightforward manner, “After the fortunate-telling, you can use items of equal value. Of course, if what he says are not facts, you can refuse to pay for it. And if you think it is too expensive, you can choose other Senior Brothers, the cheapest one only asks for five silver taels.”
“They’re really unashamed of their greed…” Meng Qi took the land title of the River East into account and he was curious about his fate, so he said with a smile, “I’d better ask your cultivator.”
“Donor, this way please.” The child led Meng Qi through the back of the temple and into a small courtyard.
The courtyard was silent. The leaves had all fallen off, leaving bare branches. A taoist with a half white beard in a blue robe was sitting on a stone bench, staring at the swirlingleaves.
“Cultivator, this man wants to ask about his destiny.” The child said with a bow.
The Taoist turned back. His face was smooth without any wrinkles. Meng Qi could not tell how old he was!
“Do you want to know your own fate?” His voice was old.
“I’m just curious about why my destiny has been fixed and I can’t change it again.” Meng Qi lifted the front part of his robe and unceremoniously sat on another stone bench.
The Taoist turned back to watch the swirling dead leaves and said, “If I pushed you with my palm, your body and genuine Qi would react to it. So, whether you would move to the left or the right, the front or the back, the result would be a doomed you, and we wouldn’t change it again.”
“This is the theory of cause and effect, but have you said that there is no cause without an effect?” Meng Qi laughed.
“The theory of the cause and effect is a common trick. Actually, if all the premises are available, the positive results will be surely produced and in turn, will analyze a variety of conditions. Dating back to your birth or to the birth of heaven and earth, you’ll find everything has been arranged since then, and they’ll develop according to their destiny. No matter how hard you struggle and how many good deeds you do, you can’t do anything for the after-life. Hence, you’d better enjoy the present life, whether it is sweet or bitter.” The Taoist turned up his nose at the theory of the cause and effect.
“What a pessimistic statement…” Meng Qi was a little shocked but did not argue with him. Then he continued to ask him, “How many kinds of destinies are there?”
“From the time of birth, our destinies have been decided. Everyone has to accept it. There are six types of destinies with different colors. The worst one is black, for all of their life will be filled with sadness and pain; the second one is green, they are average people who will go through hardship and enjoy peace and happiness as well; the next one is red, because they possess high positions and great wealth, like the Jianghu heroes, but they still have different torments. Then, when it comes to the people that have the yellow lifelines, they are the Destined Rulers with high power and strength as well as various hardship. The second best lifeline is white. If people belong to this kind, they are destined to become immortals. The last and best is the pure white one, for they are to become Buddha or Primogenitors, which is very rare for it has not appeared since long ago. What’s more, each color has a lot of levels.”
Meng Qi listened with curiosity and said, “Heaven-destined Cultivator, please tell me what color my lifeline is.”
Heaven-destined Cultivator turned back to Meng Qi. His eyes were deep and empty like a blind man.
Getting a close look at Meng Qi, he plainly said, “The Green lifeline.”
“No, the red one, no-no, the yellow one!”
“White? How, how can it become pure white!”
Heaven-destined Cultivator’s face changed drastically, as if he had met a demon. He quickly retreated and forgot that he was sitting on a stone bench, falling to the ground.
Meng Qi’s mouth twitched. “Fortunately, my destiny is one of the six colors and not seven.”
