Early the next morning, Fu Qian went out and headed straight to the roadside breakfast stall, and sure enough, the familiar young man was there.
"Your Excellency, it's me again, hahaha."
By now, Fu Qian had already changed the way he addressed the young man to 'Your Excellency.'
Even though he himself was a patriarch of a distinguished family, at this moment, he had to respectfully address the young man before him with that honorific.
What had happened to him yesterday—he had also divined it himself, attempting to find a way to undo his misfortune, yet he had been completely powerless.
Political punishment was something he had to bear one hundred percent, with no alternative—that was his absolute fate.
All diviners knew that many things could not be avoided and could not be changed, and yet, with just one move, this young man had directly overturned fate itself, proving that he was a true master of divination.
"It's you again, uncle." Lucian said calmly, his expression remaining steady and unruffled. "Aren't you supposed to be at work now?"
Changing fate might have been troublesome for others, but for him, who walked the way of a cheater, it was merely a matter of activating one ability, and the problem would resolve itself with no difficulty at all.
"Of course I'll go to work, but there's something more important than work." Fu Qian grinned widely. "Remember when you said you had a fate with the Fu family? Why don't you move into the Fu family, become our guest elder, and slowly seek out that fate?"
Lucian chuckled inwardly as he realized he had finally received a proper invitation into the Fu family, personally extended by Fu Xuan's father, the patriarch himself.
However, he had to keep up appearances, so he needed to play hard to get.
"No need." Lucian waved his hand dismissively. "I'll wait here every day. I'll find it eventually."
He looked as though he cared nothing at all for the Fu family.
'I invited him personally, and he still refused?' Fu Qian thought inwardly, feeling quite surprised. 'It seems this young man truly doesn't care about the Fu family's power, wealth, or status. What a genuine nature... I absolutely must bring him in!'
Becoming even more determined, he spoke again.
"Your Excellency, since your fate lies within the Fu family, then you must enter to find it." Fu Qian coaxed with a fawning smile. "Standing outside only puts a wall in the way. A wall can block disaster, but it can also block fate."
Upon hearing this, Lucian finally smiled since these words gave him all the reason he needed.
"Very well..." Lucian nodded slowly. "Since that's the case, I shall accept your offer."
Just like that, he agreed without hesitation, moving into the Fu family as a guest elder of this prestigious family of diviners.
Being a guest elder was a good thing, since he would have little work and still get paid plenty—but most importantly, he could put all his expenses under the Fu family's tab instead of his own.
===
Xianzhou Yuque, Fu Residence.
"Guest Elder, please, take a seat."
Inside the grand, main hall of the Fu residence, Fu Qian welcomed Lucian joyfully and gestured toward a purple sandalwood round-backed chair already prepared at the lower left of the main seat—a place neither too high nor too low, showing the Fu family's outward respect toward their new guest elder.
Lucian turned as instructed and walked slowly toward the chair—his footsteps landed on the mirror-bright floor, making faint tapping sounds.
Needless to say, he was deliberately imitating the gait of a hidden master, looking steady and unhurried.
Right after Lucian sat down, Fu Qian immediately summoned all the family elders one by one to meet him.
Naturally, Fu Xuan also had to come and see for herself the man her father had personally invited—what was different about him, and what made him so remarkable?
A few moments later, after Lucian introduced himself, he also got to know the Fu family's various members—but of course, none of these men and women mattered to him, since his target was only a particular one.
At last, he saw his target.
Fu Xuan stood beside a massive coiling dragon pillar in the main hall—her figure was still slender and delicate, far from the imposing presence of the future Master Diviner who would one day preside over the Xianzhou Luofu's Divination Commission.
At this moment, she wore a narrow-sleeved moon-white ruqun clothing, fitted to her frame, with only faint indigo cloud patterns—symbols of the Fu family—trimming the collar and cuffs.
Her hair was arranged into an elaborate bun, loosely pinned with a few plain jade hairpins, while the rest of her soft pink hair cascaded down her shoulders like a waterfall.
However, most striking of all were her eyes—large, clear, and even a little cute.
He had to admit, the current Fu Xuan, who still carried the traces of girlish youth, truly had a unique charm.
It was just that her height, unfortunately, would have no future.
Lucian measured Fu Xuan's body quickly and soon understood that, considering she was already in her early teens yet only had a height of about one meter forty—almost the same height as her future self—there wasn't much time left for her to grow taller.
"Guest Elder, this is my daughter, Fu Xuan." Fu Qian said with a happy smile and gestured for his daughter to come closer. "From a young age, she's been gifted, clever, and unmatched in talent—born with the bearing of a Master Diviner. Even Master Diviner Jingtian himself divined that she would one day become a Master Diviner..."
Once he began praising his daughter, Fu Qian spoke in an endless stream, not caring whether anyone wanted to listen to his ramblings—he just kept on bragging and bragging without knowing when to stop.
"Father, stop."
Fu Xuan spoke up, her young voice crisp and melodious, carrying a trace of shy annoyance that made her even more endearing as she forcefully cut off her father's stream of words.
In the next moment, she stepped forward, bowed respectfully toward Lucian as a junior, and then spoke up.
"May I ask, Guest Elder, what kind of divination arts are you skilled in?" Fu Xuan asked politely.
"All of them." Lucian answered instantly, a calm smile adorning his face.
Indeed, with Sham Diviner activated, he would instantly gain mastery of every civilization's divinations.
However, to the onlookers who didn't know about the existence of Sham Diviner, they were dumbfounded by his answer.
It couldn't be helped.
All of them?
Truly?
It should be noted that the Fu family was an ancient family specialized in divination, so their grasp of other forms of divination was deep.
Yet they didn't dare to claim to be skilled in every divination art.
Aside from the Master Diviner and the Arbiter-General of the Xianzhou Yuque, who could claim mastery of every divination art?
"Really? You know all of them?"
A sly glint suddenly appeared in Fu Xuan's clear eyes as she asked again.
Seeing her expression, Lucian understood at once—she apparently wanted to test him herself, just like her father did before.
Evidently, whether his skills were true or false, she would only be convinced once she saw it with her own eyes.
"Ask whatever you like." Lucian said with a confident smile. "Any question about divination—I can answer."
"Ahem, then, Guest Elder…"
Fu Xuan cleared her throat and began her question.
"Using the Plum Blossom Divination, the original hexagram obtained is Fire over Wind: the Cauldron."
Pausing, Fu Xuan glanced at her notes for a moment, then continued like a student reciting.
"As for the changing hexagram, it's Fire over Heaven: the Great Possessing."
Right after saying this, Fu Xuan handed Lucian a piece of paper—on it were the names of the two hexagrams and their corresponding symbols.
—Original hexagram: Fire over Wind, the Cauldron.
—Changing hexagram: Fire over Heaven, the Great Possessing.
"When the Cauldron transforms into the Great Possessing, which line is moving? What omen does it carry, good or bad? And how exactly should it be interpreted?"
Fu Xuan, standing squarely before Lucian, continued with a calm expression, but her eyes shone with a hunger for knowledge.
Seeing her shining eyes, Lucian felt he might've overthought this girl's intentions since it was clearly only the elders around who were truly watching and testing him.
In fact, outside of astrology, the majority of members of the Fu family, with their time and energy already stretched thin, found that even mastering astrology alone was difficult, and thus they rarely delved deeply into other divination arts.
For this reason, everyone stayed silent, waiting for Lucian's answer.
Lucian glanced at the paper and immediately activated Sham Diviner.
Thanks to this conceptual ability, he didn't need to calculate at all—just one glance at Fu Xuan's hexagrams, and the answer instantly surfaced in his mind.
"Because this hexagram has the fourth line moving, the judgment for the fourth line of the Cauldron reads: the Cauldron's legs are broken, the noble's food overturned, its form stained—ominous."
Lucian explained in a calm voice and expression, as if what he spoke of was merely a trivial matter.
"Next, the Cauldron's body is wood, transformed into Heaven's metal, but since metal overcomes wood, it means guest overcomes host—great misfortune."
"Yet, although the Cauldron's legs are broken, and its contents overturned, this is not the omen of seizing a cauldron, but of losing it entirely—in other words, the matter you seek will not only fail, but bring disaster upon you."
As Lucian finished his explanation, everyone looked at one another in surprise.
Fu Xuan, however, gave a slight nod, pulled out the answer note, and compared it with Lucian's answer.
"Indeed, it matches..." Fu Xuan said with a faint smile, then bowed again. "Guest Elder, your knowledge is profound. Fu Xuan is convinced."
At the same time, the others, seeing even their genius heiress convinced, instantly understood—anyone who could earn her respect had to be a true master.
Such a man must absolutely be honored!
Just like that, thanks to this event, Lucian wonderfully settled into the Fu family, welcomed by every family member with open arms.
From this day forward, everyone who saw him had to respectfully address him as 'Guest Elder.'
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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