NEBM Chapter 57: Divination

Shen Zhixian patted the pegasus and took the initiative to land first one meter away from the flower. He looked around.

The area was a deserted wilderness, with only these random flowers swaying in the wind.

It really did look like the flower on Madam’s Meng’s wrist.

Moon white petals, slightly pale at the bottom, partially opened and partially closed. At night, it seemed to blend with the moon.

It was just that…

Shen Zhixian sniffed at the strange scent in the air and frowned. “Why did it…smell like steamed buns?”

Yan Jin nodded and pulled out his sword.

Shen Zhixian took a few steps back, watching as Yan Jin swiped gently as the flowers with the scabbard of his sword. The moment he did this, the petals fell to the ground.

Nope. It was a steamed bun.

Shen Zhixian was stunned. His gaze switched between the petals on the floor and the steamed buns. He said in bemusement, “On the ground…how can there be steamed buns?”

Yan Jin suddenly moved toward the bolder not far away. Soon after, he forced a man out from behind the stone.

It was a bald-headed monk with slanted eyes. Forced by Yan Jin’s sword, he hurriedly crawled out, yelling, “What are you doing? What are you doing?”

When he saw the steamed bun, he sighed in relief. Then, he pounced on it in distress. “My steamed buns! Didn’t you see my flowers? Why did you destroy it?”

He plucked one of the remaining flower stems and a steamed bun dropped into his hand at once. He put it in his mouth, chewed, chewed, and swallowed.

Shen Zhixian asked, “Who are you?”

The bald monkey paused while he picked up another flower. After a moment, he smiled casually. “No name, no surname, just a bald monk.”

Shen Zhixian glanced at his weathered forehead and asked noncommittally, “What are you doing here with the steamed buns?”

The bald monk shoved the last surviving steamed bun flower into his mouth, rubbed his hands, and said unconcernedly, “I like this flower. Tonight, the air is fresh and the moonlight is just right. Isn’t it a wonderful sight when flowers bloom under the moon?”

Shen Zhixian glanced at Yan Jin, and Yan Jin thrusted his sword out slightly.

The sword immediately exuded a cold chill.

The bald monk wiped his face, swallowed the steamed bun in his mouth, and quickly said, “Actually, I did something wrong. This is my atonement to heaven. This flower is my offering to heaven…”

Shen Zhixian looked at this bald monk babbling nonsense and dragged out his voice, saying, “A’jin, beat him up.”

Before Yan Jin could do anything, the bald monk jumped away, shouting loudly, “Ah! What are you doing?! Don’t respect the elderly at all!”

He evaded Yan Jin, fleeing in all directions. But, every time he turned around, Yan Jin was in his path. A short time later, he couldn’t stand it anymore. As he gasped for breath and stomped his feet, he helplessly said, “Okay, okay. Stop chasing me. I’ll speak more…”

The bald monk sighed. “I really was just passing by. The atonement is true. This flower is my favorite flower…”

Shen Zhixian casually said, “This flower could only be seen in one place, right?”

The bald monk glanced at them suspiciously. “Do you recognize this flower? This is a flower outside the Undead City. Have you been to the Undead City?”

Shen Zhixian smiled and said, “Never.”

“Then how did you know?”

Shen Zhixian followed his question with some half-truths.

This bald monk was not part of any sect and simply wandered around. By chance, he’d stumbled upon the Undead City. In recent days. He’d been walking around aimlessly. Bored, he’d used a bag of steamed buns to create the illusion of Wanggui flowers.

He mumbled, “I’m here to admire the flowers. I haven’t bothered anyone…”

Shen Zhixian’s thoughts turned silently. “We’re thinking about going to the Undead City. If you know the way, you might as well do a good thing and lead us the way.”

The bald monk frowned for a moment, then flatly refused. “No, that place is not something you can go casually. If something should go wrong, you’ll blame me. Then what should I do? ”

“What can happen there?”

The bald monk looked at Shen Zhixian. “In the Undead City, there are countless big demons, small demons, and goblins of all shapes and sizes. They’re incredibly terrifying and, among these, there are also many evil…” He paused, before finishing, “fiend.”

Shen Zhixian looked at him, faintly surprised.

The bald monk seemed to know more about the Undead City than the painted skin demon. She hadn’t mentioned any of these before.

The Undead City…Was it really such a place?

The bald monk saw that he seemed hesitant and waved his hand. “Forget it. You have no reason to go to such a place. If you like this flower, I can show it to you.”

Shen Zhixian said, “No, we’re going.”

The bald monk still wanted to refuse, but in the end, under Yan Jin’s intimidation and Shen Zhixian’s persuasion, he reluctantly nodded and promised, “I’ll take you to the Undead City, but once you get there, if anything happens, don’t blame me!”

The bald monk pondered and looked up at the sky for a while. Finally, he chose a direction that was far from Shen Zhixian and Yan Jin’s original route. “Let’s go this way.”

Since the bald monk didn’t have a mount, Shen Zhixian rode with Yan Jin and gave him the civet cat. In consideration of the pegasus’s ability to carry two people instead of one, the three men didn’t travel very fast. As a result, it was already dawn by the time they reached the nearest town.

It wasn’t boring along the way. The bald monk couldn’t keep his mouth shut and kept talking and talking about divination.

“So you know how to tell fortunes?”

The bald monk clutched the civet cat’s fur and smiled, turning his narrowed eyes into slits. He couldn’t help but puffed his chest. “I know divination. I’ve divined three times in my life. It was fulfilled every time.”

‘What were they?” Shen Zhixian asked casually.

The bald monk suddenly grew silent, and he rubbed the civet cat’s fur as if he was remembering something. After a while, he slowly said, “In fact, I really regretted it afterward. I shouldn’t have calculated those three divinatory diagrams.”

He sighed, his expression somewhat melancholic. “The first time I calculated, I destroyed a child’s life. The second time, I destroyed my only close friend. The third time, I destroyed the world.”

The bald monk had smiled throughout their journey. Now, he suddenly became so serious. Shen Zhixian was surprised. But, after thinking about his words, he felt that it was a little ridiculous. “…Destroyed the world?”

Shen Zhixian wanted to ask more, but the bald monk laughed again. He changed the topic and no matter how Shen Zhixian tried, he never mentioned it again.

When Shen Zhixian saw this, he no longer asked any more questions, but he silently remembered those words in his heart.

Noon found them in a restaurant in town.

The bald monk tentatively said, “This meal …”

Shen Zhixian glanced at him and put a piece of silver on the table.

The bald monk immediately laughed and yelled to the waiter, “Three baskets of meat buns–Ah, no. Four baskets!”

He rubbed his hands excitedly. “I haven’t eaten meat buns in a long time. I’ve only been able to afford steamed buns….Mmn, I don’t have anything to reciprocate. How about I calculate a divination for you?”

“Haven’t you been eating steamed buns…I thought you love steamed buns dearly.”

The bald monk merely smiled at Shen Shixian’s words. With a wink, he said, “Do you want a divination? It’s been a long time since I’ve done one. I see that you two are well matched. It could even be considered as a peach blossom fate.”

Peach blossom, a marriage predestined by fate.

Along the way, Shen Zhixian and Yan Jin hadn’t concealed their intimate relationships with each other. He didn’t know if the bald monk was either too shameless or too open-minded. But, he didn’t view their relationship as strange and was even happy to give them a peach blossom relationship.

Shen Zhixian glanced at him. Anyway, the food still hadn’t arrived. He also wanted to see what type of medicine this bald monk was selling in his gourd. He didn’t refuse and merely smiled as he took a sip of tea.

He thought the bald monk would tell fortune like Xuanji Tower and draw divination sticks. To his surprise, the bald monk didn’t take anything out. Instead, he looked at them carefully, mumbling to himself. After whispering and mumbling for a time, he looked at their faces again.

It looked like he was counting.

Shen Zhixian was also wearing an illusion over his face. But, he didn’t mention it; he wanted to see what the bald monk would be able to figure out.

The bald monk mumbled for a long time. Suddenly, he let out a short sight of joy and exclaimed. “Good! Very good!”

His voice wasn’t small, causing everyone around to turn their heads and look at them. The bald monk waved his hand, lowered his voice, and said mysteriously and secretly, “You two have very rare good facial features! I’ve never seen such a good face…”

Shen Zhixian seemed to have encountered this phrase before. Before they’d entered the secret realm, Su Cheng, a disciple of Xuanji Tower, had said something similar when he’d divined for Shen Zhixian.

He’d said that Shen Zhixian’s face was a rare good sign and that he would get what he wanted in the end.

Shen Zhixian did ended up getting what he wanted…Speaking of which, it seemed quite accurate?

In the secret realm, he got the scale. Once he came out, he–coughed–caught a little hedgehog and no longer had to worry about one day being inexplicably killed.

No matter from which perspective, it was quite accurate.

Seeing that Shen Zhixian was ignoring him, the bald monk brought his clenched fist up to his mouth and coughed a few times to gain his attention. He solemnly said, “Cough, cough, cough. Listen to me. This is a predestined peach blossom fate, blessed by the Heavens. As long as you trust and support each other, hold each other with one heart, and don’t give up…”

“What nonsense.”

The bald monk hadn’t finished speaking when a cold voice indifferently interrupted him.

The moment the bald monk heard this voice, he immediately froze. He stammered “never betray” twice, choked on the rest of his words, and, unable to continue, finally sighed in annoyance. He mumbled to himself, “Why did I meet this murderous person again?”

He helplessly spread his hands at Shen Zhixian, made an apologetic gesture, and turned to look at the speaker.

Shen Zhixian also looked over.

Sitting at the table next to them was a man in a moon white slim-fitting robe, with sword eyebrows and black eyes. His thin lips were tightly pinched, seeming to not have one speck of personality. The whole person was like a piece of ice cut out from an extremely chilly block, emitting a terrible cold.

His cold aura was different from Yan Jin. Yan Jin may have looked cold on the surface, but his indifference was merely introversion. Unless he was angry, the aura he emitted wasn’t a cold or threatening as this man before them.

Shen Zhixian found out that no one sat near him.

When the man turned his head to look at them, he unconsciously stroked the long whip coiled around his left wrist.

The long whip was crimson, and its handle was painted with overlapping fiery cloud patterns. It looked like a raging fire on his wrist, which was completely inconsistent with the cold chill he was emitting.

As soon as the bald monk saw his whip, he trembled with terror. He scrambled to his feet and moved to the chair farthest from him. “You, you, you speak nicely. This is a public place. You, you, you, you don’t hit–Ah!”