"I don’t believe it!" An Yiqing tossed her little head, letting out a proud and cold snort.
Old Jin was furious, "Damn it, how dare you not believe in your Master Jin’s abilities! Watch carefully, and follow closely!"
With that, it took the lead, strutting out first. Old Jin didn’t notice the triumphant smile on An Yiqing’s face behind his back.
Under Old Jin’s lead, the duo of human and cat spent over half an hour to finally walk out of the life-threatening formation. When An Yiqing ca out of the formation, sweating all over, she saw an old man pinching a child’s ear, with his other hand forming a hand seal.
The two people were stunned when they suddenly saw An Yiqing and Old Jin appear.
"Impossible! How did you co out?!" the child whose ear was being pinched exclaid incredulously, looking at An Yiqing as if she were a monster.
An Yiqing crossed her arms and sneered continuously. This child was the naughty little brat who had tricked her into the formation earlier! As for the old man holding his ear...
She looked at the old man blandly, and the old man gazed at her with curiosity, as if he had discovered a new continent.
"Young girl, how did you co out?" he asked with a smile.
An Yiqing shook her head and didn’t speak.
The old man didn’t get angry. He glanced at An Yiqing, then at Old Jin, who was sunbathing at her feet, having a calculated look in his eyes.
"Little girl, was it this cat who brought you out?"
An Yiqing was taken aback and suddenly beca alert. Did he know Old Jin’s identity?
The old man, cheerily waving his hand, tossed the little rascal to the side and walked over with steady steps, hands behind his back.
"You don’t need to worry; I’m not a bad person. This is a Spirit Beast, I can see the aura on him."
An Yiqing was startled and once again scrutinized the old man before her, growing a suspicion in her heart, "May I ask, who are you..."
The old man fondly stroked his long white beard, "Xuann, Tang Zhifeng."
...
In the living room, Tang Zhifeng sat in the main seat, and An Yiqing sat on the position to his right. The little rascal stood firmly in the courtyard, punished with legs in horse stance, each hand holding a full wooden bucket of water.
"Little Tiger is my god-grandson; he’s too mischievous and startled you, young girl. My apologies." Tang Zhifeng laughed warmly, more like a jolly Maitreya Buddha than a master hidden from the world.
"It’s fine," An Yiqing shook her head and looked at Tang Zhifeng.
This old man was no different from any ordinary elder you’d encounter on the street, with nothing special about him. He wore a grey, short buttoned-up coat, loose grey pants, and black slip-on cloth shoes. His black hair was thick and short; if not for the bald spot on top, he would appear even more pleasing. According to the old clan chief of the Dragon Clan, Tang Zhifeng was already sixty-three years old, but besides the grizzled beard on his chin, his rosy and bright skin, along with his lively eyes, didn’t reveal his advanced age.
"Young girl, did you co to see for sothing specific?" Tang Zhifeng looked at An Yiqing with a smile, and without giving her a chance to speak, he suddenly waved his hand, "Wait, let do a reading for you."
An Yiqing twitched the corner of her mouth, helplessly watching Tang Zhifeng take out three copper coins and scatter them on the table.
She knew that this was a six-line divination.
What is called a six-line bagua prediction is a principle that ancient people summarized by observing the patterns of nature’s operation. It originated from the NaJia system of the Western Han’s Jing Fang. Initially, 50 yarrow stalks were used, but in the Song Dynasty, "using money instead of yarrow" beca common. The predictor holds three coins in their hands, pondering the matter they are asuring, allowing the information to rge into the coins. After shaking their clasped hands, the coins are placed into the divination plate, cast six tis to complete the hexagram. Combined with trigram lines and moving variations, it uses the heavenly stems and earthly branches of the asurent day, with the six relatives and six beasts, mainly relying on the five elents of the useful god to prosper, in combination with the statents of the I Ching trigrams, to judge the developnt process and results of affairs. Six-line prediction is one of the most popular prediction thods among the masses, with variations such as ihua Nurology, Guanyin Divination, and King Wen’s 64 Hexagrams thods.
However, because each feng shui master’s level differs, the results predicted by the six lines also have discrepancies.
Tang Zhifeng manipulated the coins six tis on the table; he didn’t record each divination result like other feng shui masters, but directly morized them ntally. An Yiqing observed his actions carefully, and when she noticed this peculiarity, a hint of respect appeared in her eyes.
To morize the hexagrams without recording them, Tang Zhifeng truly deserves to be the Sect Leader of Xuann.
However, once the hexagram was fully revealed, Tang Zhifeng deeply furrowed his brows. He glanced up at An Yiqing, his eyes filled with confusion and astonishnt.
"Girl, are you here because of... the calamity issue?"
An Yiqing nodded, smiling faintly, "Indeed, Old Tang, this is my letter of introduction."
Tang Zhifeng looked at An Yiqing in surprise, reaching out to take the letter of introduction from her hand. Upon seeing the handwriting on the envelope, he was montarily stunned and then his expression drastically changed.
Quickly opening the envelope, Tang Zhifeng took out the letter inside and unfolded it.
The more he read, the more surprised he beca; the more he read, the greater his astonishnt. Eventually, he gently placed the letter aside, slowly closed his eyes, pondering deeply over sothing.
An Yiqing did not disturb his contemplation, sitting quietly in place, waiting for Tang Zhifeng’s response.
Much later, to the point where Little Tiger thought his god-grandfather had fallen asleep, Tang Zhifeng finally opened his eyes slowly.
"I didn’t expect, that this day would finally co! Ah! Girl, follow !"
With that, Tang Zhifeng stood up, waved his hand and walked out of the living room with large strides. Seeing this, An Yiqing quickly followed.
The two took several turns, finally arriving at a small room deep in the courtyard. Tang Zhifeng opened the door, and as An Yiqing followed him inside, she discovered that although the room looked small from the outside, it held hidden wonders within.
Upon entering, the first sight was a small hall. The hall was spotlessly clean, except for two chairs covered in dust, there was nothing else inside.
Lifting a curtain hanging on the wall of the hall revealed a small door opening. Stepping through, they entered a long corridor. Without electric lights, both An Yiqing and Tang Zhifeng, being able to see in the dark, didn’t mind. They walked on for an unknown length of ti until the corridor finally reached its end, opening into a circular room.
Tang Zhifeng rubbed sothing on the wall, turning on the room’s light.
An Yiqing squinted her eyes, taking a clear look at the room. It was a standard design of heaven being round and earth square.
The floor was square, perfectly ford without the slightest error. From the ceiling to the walls, the room was ford into a semicircle. From the outside, the room must appear as a hemisphere.
Inside the room, one wall held a peculiar-looking bookshelf. Only a few scattered books lay on it, undisturbed for ages, with a thick layer of dust settled on their covers.
On the wall opposite the bookshelf was a black Eight Immortals Table, flanked by two chairs, evidently unused for a long ti as well.
But these weren’t what intrigued An Yiqing the most. What piqued her interest was a circular platform on the floor.
The circular platform sat right at the center of the square floor, with a diater of about two ters, enough to let an adult male lie on it fully.
Looking around this unusual room, An Yiqing noted the mix of round and square elents and felt a sense of mystery in it.
"Co, girl, sit down," Tang Zhifeng gestured to her from beside the Eight Immortals Table.
On hearing the words, An Yiqing walked over. Seeing the thick layer of dust on the table and chairs, she couldn’t help but grimace. Without looking at Tang Zhifeng, she drew so tissues from her backpack, thoroughly wiped the table clean, then wiped Tang Zhifeng’s chair, and finally used the last tissue to clean her chair.
Tang Zhifeng didn’t utter a word throughout, rely watching her with his usual smiling eyes, which now held a glint of fondness.
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