“Young Master Zhang is already dead. Prepare for the funeral.”
“!!!” Staring at the figure drifting away, Su Huaijia stood motionless, unable to react for a long time.
At this moment, he felt as dumbfounded as the onlookers around him.
More strangely, he felt this statement resonated so perfectly with his own thoughts, giving him an inexplicable sense of agreement.
…Why? That carefree demeanor looked so infuriatingly cool! How could such a casual remark be so annoyingly appealing to him, practically exuding confidence?!
…Was this still the charlatan he had in mind? What exactly was wrong?
Yet no matter how he looked, from left to right, up and down, he couldn’t see a single trace of immortal aura on this mortal!
Could it be that his cultivation wasn’t advanced enough and he had misjudged?
Unaware that his lines had been stolen, and that more of his lines would likely be stolen in the future, Su Huaijia was now feeling quite unsettled, suddenly beginning to question his life.
Before he could dwell on it further, two figures suddenly rushed towards Su Huaijia, falling to their knees with a thud, about to grab his legs, “Immortal master, Immortal master, please help us! Our son was perfectly fine, just a bit late coming home. How could he already be… It must be that fraud Qi Jiu talking nonsense! Immortal master, we beg you to be merciful and divine for us once more!”At this point, Mr. and Mrs. Zhang, absolutely unwilling to accept the “Little Heavenly Master’s” divination result, had now become Su Huaijia’s most fervent believers.
Su Huaijia stepped back in time, avoiding their grasping hands, and frowned at the two people crying on the ground.
Meeting their pleading gaze, he nodded.
“If that’s the case, I’ll divine for you.”
Taking out his oracle bones, Su Huaijia’s spirits lifted again.
…Indeed, although he had seen that this couple was fated to be childless, the time of their son’s death wasn’t necessarily certain. What if that Qi Jiu was just making a wild guess?
Bang, bang, bang!
As the oracle bones fell, Su Huaijia fell silent once again.
Ah, this…
Sorry to disappoint you, but the person really is dead! Perhaps if you go to collect the body now… you might still make it?
Faced with Mr. and Mrs. Zhang’s expectant gaze, he opened his mouth, almost unconsciously uttering a sentence.
“Young Master Zhang is already dead. Prepare for the funeral.”
As soon as these words left his mouth, Su Huaijia was stunned.
…No, this damned mouth of mine, why did it unconsciously imitate that fellow Qi Jiu’s words?
…But why did this sentence feel exceptionally natural? It was as if it truly came from his heart?
Although Su Huaijia himself felt that this sentence was truly too natural and slipped out unconsciously, the expressions of the onlookers around indicated that they clearly didn’t think so.
—Just a moment ago, you were questioning the Little Heavenly Master’s authenticity, but then you go through all these fancy operations with oracle bones and calculations, only to come up with a result identical to the Little Heavenly Master’s, as if copying the answer, without changing even a single word?
Good grief, is this what a disciple of an immortal sect is like?
—I could do that too!
At once, the onlookers’ gazes towards Su Huaijia became peculiar. It was as if they were looking at a fake top student exposed as a poor performer.
Su Huaijia: ???
This farce that occurred at the Zhang family’s door quickly spread throughout the small county town of Yong City. Except for the Zhang family, who had fallen into utter grief, everyone else was reveling in the gossip.
In such a remote small county town, there weren’t many exciting events to witness, with new happenings occurring rarely. Today’s confrontation between the immortal sect disciple Su Huaijia and the Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation Qi Jiu was undoubtedly the kind of “top headline” that could keep the entire Yong City buzzing and discussing for a long time.
Su Huaijia could never have imagined that upon his return to Yong City, his attempt to expose Qi Jiu as a charlatan would instead reinforce Qi Jiu’s image as a divine calculator in the hearts of Yong City’s citizens, achieving the opposite of his intentions.
As for Su Huaijia, the returned disciple of an immortal sect who should have been enthusiastically embraced by all the common folk, his lackluster performance in this confrontation undoubtedly lowered everyone’s admiration and worship of him by a notch.
Although the people still admired this immortal sect disciple, they now seemed to view him as being on par with their familiar Little Heavenly Master.
Translating their mindset, it was something like:
#Even a graduate from a prestigious school is just at this level, about the same as our self-taught Village Chief Qi#
#Although the prestigious school graduate is impressive, our Village Chief Qi can do what he does, so life goes on as usual#
#Is this legendary prestigious school really not a diploma mill?#
#Even if it’s a diploma mill, we still have to look up to it, after all, it’s a prestigious school graduate who knows more than us#
This trend was something Su Huaijia couldn’t tolerate.
Originally doubting his life choices due to the result of the previous confrontation, Su Huaijia secluded himself at home for a few days. Upon learning of the change in public opinion in the county town, he was both angry and amused.
He knew his skills were mediocre, merely average within his sect, which was why he was sent away from the mountain after just ten years, cited as “lacking immortal affinity” by his seniors. However, without a doubt, the image of his sect in Su Huaijia’s heart was beyond reproach.
Not to mention… because of his own mistake, people now looked down not only on him but on his entire sect.
…No, he couldn’t give up like this.
…No matter how you looked at it, that Qi Jiu was just a charlatan. Back then, his seniors had determined that the old Heavenly Master was just a fraud pretending to be mystic. His seniors’ judgment couldn’t be wrong. How could a fraud pretending to be mystic raise a true Heavenly Master?
Perhaps Qi Jiu just happened to guess correctly by chance!
After all, judging whether a person is alive or dead is a simple choice with a 50% chance of being correct. It was normal for Qi Jiu to guess the person was dead when he was in a tight spot and happen to be right.
— This made sense.
Reaching this conclusion, Su Huaijia finally felt logically sound, no longer tormented by the question of #why someone who looked completely ordinary could divine correctly#.
Hmph, even if that guy was lucky…
He might get lucky once, but what about the second time, the third time, the fourth time?
If this continued, the guy would eventually show his true colors!
Having made up his mind, Su Huaijia became determined to challenge his opponent. Whenever he heard someone was consulting the Little Heavenly Master for divination, he would immediately rush there, ready to expose the truth — he refused to believe this charlatan could get away with it every time!
And so, in one event after another.
The stubborn Su Huaijia charged forward…
The stubborn Su Huaijia fell back.
The still stubborn Su Huaijia charged forward again…
The still stubborn Su Huaijia fell back again.
What followed became a series of extremely cruel scenes for Su Huaijia, repeatedly embarrassing moments of social death.
The first scene —
Facing a divination seeker who had recently been plagued by bad luck and nightmares, Su Huaijia had just taken out his oracle shells and barely started to arrange them…
The young Taoist gave a casual glance at the person’s face and provided an answer. “Your family’s ancestral grave has been damaged, disrupting the feng shui and geomantic veins. Your good fortune has been completely transformed into disasters.”
The quick-footed onlookers ran to and from the ancestral grave, shouting the result as they ran. “The Little Heavenly Master is truly a divine calculator, divine indeed! The Wang family’s ancestral grave really has a problem!”
With this exclamation, both the paying client and the other spectators turned into background characters, only capable of cheering, worshipping, and casting admiring glances at Bai Yi.
Only Su Huaijia, who hadn’t finished his divination, slowly petrified outside the crowd, as if struck by a critical hit.
“…This is impossible!”
Second scene—
Facing a client who reportedly lost their child, this time Su Huaijia took out his oracle shells even faster. But the young Taoist had already spoken without thinking. “The child isn’t lost, they’ve gone to play at their maternal grandparents’ house in the neighboring village. They’ll be back tonight.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the child’s uncle happened to arrive. “Sister, your Hu’er is at our house now. Mom and Dad sent me to let you know, don’t worry…”
Watching others sigh in relief, showing expressions of a false alarm, and praising the Little Heavenly Master’s accuracy…
Su Huaijia’s heart sank completely.
Critical hit damage ×2!
Su Huaijia’s hands holding the oracle shells were trembling.
He lowered his head.
“What use… are these oracle shells…”
Third scene—
The client had just invited the Little Heavenly Master, and hadn’t even spoken about their problem, when the young Taoist casually waved his sleeve. “Don’t worry about your mother’s illness. Not only will she survive this crisis, but she’ll live to 80 years old.”
The client’s face lit up with joy.
Meanwhile, the confused Su Huaijia’s expression gradually became blank.
“I must be dreaming…”
…
And so, Su Huaijia charged forward again and again, only to be defeated each time, inadvertently helping Bai Yi’s reputation as a divine calculator reach its peak among Yong City’s citizens.
If Bai Yi were to submit his mission now, he would likely pass directly, although the level of completion might not be considered very high since the “Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation” reputation was limited to Yong City.
— Of course, he wouldn’t choose to submit the mission like this.
After all, there was still plenty of wool to be fleeced.
With Su Huaijia’s help, the reputation of the Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation grew increasingly prominent. The people of Yong City were also happy to have such a divine calculator around, giving them an inexplicable sense of security.
For a time, everyone was happy, except for Su Huaijia.
A world where only Su Huaijia was hurt had been achieved.
Su Huaijia: “…”
Don’t speak, he just wanted to be quiet. And don’t ask who Quiet is.
It’s worth noting that in these repeated attempts to expose the charlatan’s true face, Su Huaijia had picked up the divination methods he had previously viewed as heterodox and hadn’t seriously practiced while at the sect. Now he invested unprecedented focus in them.
In this period of less than half a year, probably due to his frantic dedication, he felt his divination skills had greatly improved. Perhaps even the seniors who had once taught him divination might no longer be his match in this area.
If at first he had believed the other was just pretending and wanted to expose the charlatan’s true face, later he became certain that the other had real skills. It changed from exposing a fraud to an eager competition, a test of skills between fellow practitioners…
However, what Su Huaijia faced was a monster who never used any tools for divination, not even symbolic hand gestures for calculations. It was impossible to tell what method he used for divination.
It was as if, when that person stood before the client, he could see through their future with just one glance.
The young Taoist’s eternally carefree gaze even made people suspect whether he could see through everyone’s fate at a glance.
— Su Huaijia had never seen such an outrageous divine calculator!
This made him question his entire life, completely withdrawing into himself.
“So… I was the clown all along?”
“—Are you truly the unparalleled Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation?”
Looking at the thoroughly convinced Su Huaijia, Bai Yi, who had repeatedly used the “save file cheat” to directly copy answers from him, let out a sigh and couldn’t help but show a loving gaze.
Faced with such an adorable supporter who repeatedly charged forward only to fall back, voluntarily acting as a face-slapping tool to help boost his reputation, who wouldn’t be moved?
“No, the real Heavenly Master of Divine Calculation is actually you… You probably don’t even know how talented you are in divination!”
Bai Yi silently answered Su Huaijia in his heart.
On the surface, the young Taoist in flowing blue robes stood with his hands behind his back, looking up at the sky, appearing indescribably ethereal and lonely.
“—And I am nothing but an ordinary answer-copying machine.”
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