activa-t Chapter 78 Conspiring with Heaven
Chapter 78 Conspiring with Heaven
Upon entering Tianque City, a bustling atmosphere, completely different from that of the Northern Territory, immediately greets you.
The air was filled with a moist and abundant spiritual energy. The streets were wide, with many buildings and a constant flow of people, including cultivators and mortals.
Lu Ming had no interest in lingering in the bustling city. After inquiring about the situation, he headed straight for the teleportation station in the city.
As one of the most powerful sects in China, Zhenwu Sect naturally has a teleportation array nearby in a major city like Tianque City.
The teleportation array is located in the inner city, in a huge plaza where cultivators come and go in an endless stream.
After paying fifty high-grade spirit stones and completing the teleportation procedures to Wuling City near Zhenwu Sect, Lu Ming was informed that the teleportation array would open at Chenshi (7-9 AM) the following day.
Lu Ming received a jade token and then left the teleportation plaza.
Since he was going to stay in Tianque City for one night, he decided to wander around the city.
The streets were lined with shops selling a wide variety of goods, including elixirs, talismans, magical artifacts, and materials. Many of these items were rare and exotic, items he had never seen before in the Northern Territory.
He just looked around casually, without buying anything. The sword box he carried made him look like an ordinary traveling cultivator, not particularly eye-catching.
Upon reaching a relatively quiet street corner, a fortune-telling stall stood against the wall, seemingly out of place amidst the surrounding bustle.
Behind the fortune-telling stall sat an old man with white hair and beard, dressed in somewhat tattered clothes, dozing with his eyes half-closed. In front of him was a white cloth with four crooked characters written on it: "Seeking the Way with Heaven." Next to it was a simple Tai Chi Yin Yang Bagua diagram.
The old man showed no signs of spiritual energy and appeared no different from an ordinary mortal.
Lu Ming intended to walk straight past, but the old man suddenly opened his eyes. His eyes seemed cloudy, but a glint of light flashed between them.
He waved to Lu Ming, a somewhat snobbish smile plastered on his face:
"Hey buddy, wait a minute, wait a minute!"
Lu Ming stopped and looked at the old man with some confusion.
The old man didn't answer. He stood up, slowly circled Lu Ming, and scrutinized his face with his cloudy eyes, sometimes getting closer, sometimes backing away, his brows slightly furrowed, muttering to himself, "Strange, how bizarre..."
"Old sir?" Lu Ming felt a little uncomfortable being stared at.
The old man stopped and gestured for Lu Ming to extend his left hand.
Although Lu Ming felt puzzled, he still extended his hand as instructed.
The old man's withered fingers touched Lu Ming's palm lines, while also observing Lu Ming's facial features.
"Young man, look at your face..." the old man murmured, his finger lightly touching Lu Ming's brow.
"A bluish aura at the root of the nose is an omen of a guest star invading the host, indicating many obstacles on long journeys and entanglements with petty people."
He then pointed to the corner of Lu Ming's eye, "There are fine horizontal lines at the corner of his eye, like swords clashing. These are the marks of punishment and evil, indicating the danger of war and bloodshed."
Then, he looked down and carefully examined Lu Ming's palm lines, sliding his fingers along several main lines: "Let's look at this palm."
A long and deep lifeline is generally a sign of good fortune and longevity. However, if it suddenly forks in the middle, as if encountering a precipice, this is a sign of impending doom, indicating that there will be major obstacles on the road ahead. One wrong step could lead to ruin.
Career line... Hmm, your fortune is extraordinary, with signs of rising auspicious energy. You should have soared to great heights, but alas..."
He pointed to a complex intersecting pattern on his career line: "This area is filled with chaotic, tangled lines, indicating a life full of twists and turns, with opportunities and calamities going hand in hand. What seems like a glimmer of hope is actually fraught with hidden dangers. What's even more strange is..."
The old man raised his head and lowered his voice: "Young man, there is a trace of golden evil energy deep within your life palace. This is not the evil energy of ordinary weapons."
It's like the awakening of some ancient, dormant sharpness, intertwined with your life, its fortunes and misfortunes unpredictable.
Moreover, the aura emanating from your body subtly resonates with an extremely ancient, almost Dao-like, remnant energy, carrying immense causal implications... How strange, truly strange!
The first half of his words sounded like the alarmist talk of a charlatan, but Lu Ming didn't care at all.
But the further he went, the more turbulent the waves of emotion surged within Lu Ming!
This is clearly referring to the fragment of the immortal sword in his Dao foundation and his connection with Martial Ancestor Pan Yi! Yet, there is clearly no spiritual energy fluctuation on this old man's body!
Lu Ming's expression changed slightly, and his gaze towards the old man was filled with surprise and wariness: "Sir, you..."
The old man, seemingly exhausted, loosened his grip, reverting to his lazy demeanor. He yawned, rubbed his fingers together, and chuckled slyly, "Hehe, young man, revealing heavenly secrets shortens my lifespan. You see..."
Suppressing his shock, Lu Mingshen took out twenty low-grade spirit stones from his storage bag and placed them on the fortune-telling stall: "Thank you for your guidance, sir."
The old man's eyes lit up when he saw the spirit stone, and he quickly put it away, his smile widening as if the astonishing expert who had just spoken was merely an illusion.
"Young man, you are indeed a destined person, kind-hearted! However, I see that you still possess a righteous spirit between your brows, and your foundation is solid. As long as you stay true to yourself, turning misfortune into good fortune will not be difficult for you, and you might even turn misfortune into blessing! Haha!"
His words seemed contradictory, which only made Lu Ming more confused.
He said no more, cupped his hands in greeting to the old man, and turned to leave.
After walking a dozen steps, he couldn't help but look back. He saw the old man sitting back down behind his fortune-telling stall, his eyes half-closed, leaning against the wall, as if he had fallen asleep again, isolated from the surrounding noise, as ordinary as could be.
After Lu Ming's figure completely disappeared around the street corner, the old man who had seemed to be dozing off slowly opened his eyes.
The old man's eyes had cleared of their cloudiness, revealing a profound and mysterious depth.
He raised his withered fingers, a faint light swirling at the fingertips, a mysterious rhythm lingering within them.
He stared intently in the direction Lu Ming had gone, calculating carefully, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.
"Strange...truly strange..." the old man muttered to himself, the light at his fingertips flickering.
"At first glance, this child's fate seems to be only slightly bumpy, but upon closer examination, it is like trying to see flowers through the fog or trying to catch the moon's reflection in the water."
The first twenty years were clearly visible, but afterwards everything was in chaos, as if obscured by an immense force, or perhaps its very destiny was in a constant state of collapse and reconstruction?
He attempted to use more profound methods of deduction to explore the mysteries of fate, his divine sense reaching deep into the fog of destiny.
However, what came back was nothingness. At times, it seemed as if one saw the terrifying scene of stars falling and the earth sinking, and at other times, it seemed as if there was the vigorous vitality of all things reviving and creating the world. The contradictions were intertwined and chaotic, and it was impossible to make sense of it.
That fate line, carrying ancient cause and effect and the evil spirits of the metal element, is exceptionally resilient, yet it seems as if it could break at any unknown point at any moment.
"The secrets of heaven are in turmoil, and destiny unfolds on its own... This child is extraordinary, beyond the comprehension of the normal course of this era."
The old man withdrew his finger, the light faded, and a look of exhaustion appeared on his face, as if the deduction he had just made had exhausted a great deal of his mental energy.
He gazed in the direction where Lu Ming had disappeared, remaining silent for a long time before finally uttering a sigh that sounded like a prophecy:
"When the calamity appears, chaos reigns in the mortal world; when destiny is revealed, chaos is born."
After saying that, he shook his head, closed his eyes again, leaned against the wall, and became the ordinary fortune teller who made a living on the street corner again.
It was as if the scene of peering into the secrets of heaven and revealing profound mysteries had never happened.
Only that vague prophecy silently blended into the bustling winds of Tianque City.
As Lu Ming walked back to the inn, the inexplicable heaviness in his heart did not dissipate.
Those seemingly nonsensical words touched upon his deepest secrets and anxieties.
The road ahead is fraught with hardship, bloodshed, and entanglements of cause and effect... Lu Ming originally did not believe in the fortune-telling of such charlatans, but the old man's words touched upon his secrets, leaving him no choice but to believe.