In the main hall,
Everyone was happy to see the two siblings meet after many years...
But Huai, sitting on the throne, was thinking about Wuhe. He had been gone for a long time but hadn't returned to him yet... Before he left, he had just said he needed to discuss something with that man. But he never came back.
Huai stood up from his seat. Alongside him, everyone in the hall stood up too. He looked toward everyone and said, "Now that things are done here, focus on cultivation. The next steps won't be easy for us... I can't take action myself all the time. If I take action too often while my powers are still restrained... this plane will be destroyed."
Everyone nodded at him and bowed, and Huai disappeared from his spot...
Huai reappeared on a busy street where vendors were shouting and selling their goods, haggling over prices and discussing their products with customers.
The air smelled of roasted chestnuts and fresh ink.
This is the place from where he sensed Wuhe's aura...
And in the middle of all that noise, there was a small, simple stall with a faded cloth sign that read: Fate Telling - One Copper Coin.
Behind it wasn't the old, hunched fortune-teller Huai expected. It was Wu Tianji, who he saved just a moment ago.
After regaining his old appearance and his powers, he didn't look like the withered old man from before at all. His back was straight, his black hair was tied neatly, and his eyes were clear and bright. He looked... Like a lively young man.
He was sitting cross-legged, laughing as a crowd of little children surrounded his stall.
"Uncle Tianji, uncle Tianji! Tell me if I'll marry a princess!" a chubby boy shouted, shoving a copper coin forward.
Wu Tianji flicked the boy's forehead gently and chuckled. "You? You'll marry the girl who sells steamed meat buns at the corner, and you'll be happy because she'll always let you eat for free. Now go, don't waste your mother's money."
The children burst into laughter, and the boy ran off red-faced while his friends teased him.
Next to him, the actual owner of the stall, an old mortal fate teller with trembling hands, was watching him with wide, worshipful eyes, quickly scribbling notes on a piece of paper.
Wu Tianji wasn't just telling fortunes. He was teaching the old man too.
"Look again," he said to the old man, pointing at a tired-looking merchant woman who had just sat down.
"Don't look at her palm lines first. Look at her shoulders. See how the left one is lower? She carries heavy baskets every day. Her fate line is broken not because of bad luck, but because of exhaustion. Tell her to rest, not to buy your talisman."
He turned to the woman and his voice softened. "Sister, your son will pass the county exam next spring. But you won't live to see it if you keep working through the fever you have now. Go home. Drink ginger soup. That is your true fortune for today."
The woman's eyes filled with tears. She pressed three copper coins into his hand instead of one and bowed deeply before leaving.
Huai stood at the edge of the crowd, he was like nature, no one could see him until he wanted, watching everything with a smiling face.
He didn't know about anything that happened between Tianji and Wuhe just a moment ago.
This was the same man who had just been trembling while recounting the story of a Calamity that made seven Divine Sovereigns kneel.
Now he was here, using the profound Dao of Fate he had comprehended for thousands of years... to help a mortal fortune-teller learn how to read tired shoulders, and to coax children with silly predictions.
He wasn't charging spirit stones. He wasn't seeking karma. He was just... happy to be alive and useful again.
One little girl tugged on Wu Tianji's sleeve. "Uncle !, my kite is stuck in the tree!"
Without a second thought, Wu Tianji waved his hand. A gentle breeze lifted the kite down perfectly into her arms. The old fate teller gasped, "Immortal technique!"
Wu Tianji just winked. "No, no. That's just... good wind-reading. Write that down too."
From across the street, Huai felt the tightness in his own chest loosen just a little. Wuhe was still not back, but seeing this... it was peaceful. He wanted everyone to be happy like this...
Huai had a bizarre idea in his head. He had always wanted to know his own fate. And as a fate teller himself, he had tried to check his own future many times, but he was never able to see anything... as if some force was blocking his vision.
He chuckled softly to himself.
In the next instant, his tall figure shimmered. The aura of a Divine sovereign vanished, replaced by the innocent presence of a child. He turned himself into a little boy around ten years old.
He was beautiful, with long black hair tied loosely, light brown eyes that held a galaxy of stars, and he was wearing a light blue robe with intricate golden designs stitched along the sleeves.
He hid his Eternal Token away in his system space.
Taichu Baihua was still hanging at his waist... and it was now bigger than he was, dragging slightly on the ground with a soft clink, clink as he walked.
He toddled his way through the crowd, looking exactly like a lost young master from a rich clan, and stopped right in front of Wu Tianji's stall.
He put on his most pitiful, childish voice and held out a single copper coin with both hands.
"Uncle fortune-teller," little Huai said, blinking his big light-brown eyes, "Can you tell me my fate?"
Everyone who was standing near the stall turned to look at him and gasped.
His face, his looks, everything about him was like a divine being carved from jade.
Even as a ten-year-old, his skin was flawless and pale, his long black hair shone like silk in the afternoon sun, and those light brown eyes were clear and watery, as if they could see straight into your soul.
The light blue robe with golden thread made him look less like a child and more like a little immortal prince who had accidentally wandered down from the heavens.
The sword at his waist, Taichu Baihua, was comically oversized, dragging behind him, which only made him look even more adorable and pitiful.
Before Wu Tianji could even answer, there was a flurry of movement from the side of the street.
"AHHH! Whose child is this?!"
"Oh heavens, he's so pretty!"
A group of young women, all around twenty to thirty years old, who had been buying rouge and fabric from the vendors nearby, immediately swarmed him.
They completely surrounded his small stall, forming a wall of perfume and silk sleeves.
"Little young master, are you lost? Where are your parents?" one girl in a pink dress cooed, trying to pinch his cheek.
"Don't scare him! Look at his little face, it's so soft!" another quickly swatted her hand away and instead offered him a candied hawthorn stick. "Here, sweetie, do you want some tanghulu? Sister will buy it for you."
"His eyes are beautiful! I've never seen such a color, it's like amber," a third one whispered, leaning in way too close. "Little brother, how old are you? Do you want to come home with big sister? I have lots of cakes."
"Move, you're blocking his light!" another girl pushed forward, holding out a silk handkerchief to wipe a speck of dust that wasn't even on his robe. "This robe, this is cloud-brocade silk from the jade city ! This child must be from a major clan!"
Little Huai blinked up at them, utterly surrounded by a sea of giggling, fussing older sisters. He held his copper coin up higher, trying to stay in character, his small face perfectly serious.
"Excuse me, sisters," he said in his clear child's voice, "I am in line. I need Uncle to read my fate first."
The women melted on the spot.
"HE'S SO POLITE!"
"DID YOU HEAR HIM CALL ME SISTER?!"
Wu Tianji, sitting behind his stall, just stared at the scene in bewilderment. He set his teacup down and stroked his beard, looking at the ridiculously beautiful child with the oversized sword.
He had lived for thousands of years and read countless fates, but he had never seen a child with such an ethereal bone structure, or such calm, ancient eyes.
What noble family let their young master wander the streets alone with a sword bigger than he is? Tianji thought to himself, both amused and curious. This little one... his fate will be interesting to read.
He waved the crowd of women back gently. "Alright, alright, young ladies, give the child some air. Let this old man see what brings such a handsome young master to my humble stall."
Wu Tianji didn't even touch the child's hand to read his fate at first. That was for commoners. For a child like this, he just looked at him...
His old eyes, which had seen the rise and fall of empires, narrowed.
He looked at the boy's face first. The bone structure was perfect, like it was sculpted by the Heavenly Dao itself .
High, noble brow, a straight nose, a small mouth that was currently pouting.
"A face of extreme nobility," Tianji murmured, and the crowd of women around them sighed, "Ahhh !"
Then he looked at his shoulders. "Even and broad for a child. This is the frame of one who carries the weight of worlds, not just a sword."
He looked at the boy's hands, small and soft, but the fingertips had the faintest, invisible calluses. "Sword hands. You have held a blade since before you could walk properly."
He looked into those light brown eyes. And that was where his casual reading stopped. They were too old. Too calm. Like ancient amber that had trapped a whole starry sky inside.
Everyone around them gasped at each detail. "So accurate!" "Uncle is amazing!"
But the young man just frowned deeper and deeper, his little eyebrows knitting together. Seeing his serious, pouty face on such a divine-looking child, everyone couldn't help it.
They covered their faces with their hands and laughed a little, their hearts melting.
Wu Tianji chuckled and asked, "Young master! Are you not satisfied with my reading...?"
Huai shook his small head, the long black hair swaying. His voice was clear and stubborn. "Not that! I don't want to hear about my bones or hands . I want to know about my past! My future."
The smile faded from Wu Tianji's face. He nodded solemnly. This was a real request.
He closed his eyes, his fingers forming a complex seal. The faint power of the Fate Dao, which he had just regained, flowed out.
He tried to look at the FUTURE first.
And he instantly regretted it.
It wasn't a river. It wasn't a tree with branches. It was an ocean of light. Zillions upon zillions of golden, silver, black, and blood-red fate lines, all tangled, all breaking and reforming again and again, all converging onto this single small child standing in front of him...