"Boss, put this one on the Fu family's tab."
On a bright morning, Lucian finished his breakfast and spoke to the stall owner as he swaggered away from his regular noodle stall.
As for why he put the tab for his breakfast on the Fu family, it wasn't that he had no money to pay—it was just that putting it on someone else's tab and letting them foot the bill for him felt really good.
In any case, now that he was staying comfortably in the Fu residence, he could see Fu Xuan every day.
And yet, despite this opportunity, there had been no real progress between them.
Fu Xuan was truly a bookworm, always shut inside her room or the library with her nose buried in a book—even when they met, she only asked questions about divination, showing no interest in anything else.
Regardless, there would always be a chance to know her better—after all, time was something he didn't lack.
"Greetings, Guest Elder!"
"Good morning, Guest Elder!"
"Guest Elder, I have a question I don't understand. Could you please teach me?"
Whenever the Fu family's younger members passed Lucian, they had to respectfully greet him—some of them even gathered together to seek his guidance, though most, or rather, almost all, were girls.
It was only natural, for in typical Xianxia stories, elders were supposed to guide and enlighten the juniors.
Unfortunately, in Lucian's case, not a single one of those girls was actually paying attention to his lesson.
All they did was stare at his face from up close, admiring him like a piece of art, and from time to time, one would cling to his arm, tug on his sleeve, or even brazenly invite him to their rooms for some suspicious reasons.
"Hahh..." Lucian sighed tiredly as he finished dealing with those clingy girls. "Guess it's more peaceful to fish in my little courtyard."
As their most precious guest elder, the Fu family had arranged independent quarters with a beautiful courtyard for Lucian, called the 'Starrest Pavilion.'
As Lucian pushed open the carved wooden gate of the courtyard, the first thing in view was an ancient ginkgo tree, so wide that it would take three people to encircle it, while beneath it were a stone table and stools.
Bronze wind chimes hung from the eaves, and beside them lay a crystal clear pond, which made the view calming.
However, the most marvelous part of this place was the three-story tower standing in the center of the courtyard, radiating an impressive aura.
Clearly, this place was not cheap.
Done admiring the courtyard, Lucian stepped into it, set up a bamboo reclining chair by the pond, lay back on it with a fishing rod at his side, and enjoyed his leisurely daily life.
However, while he was living at ease, another was weighed down with worries.
===
Inside the Fu residence's library, Fu Xuan pinched the bridge of her nose, her expression visibly distressed.
In her head, the string representing 'rationality' was being steadily frayed by twisted hexagrams and chaotic star charts, groaning and trembling under an unbearable strain.
"Heaven and fire at odds, water refusing to merge... a hidden wind rising in the west... just where on earth is this mess even pointing...?"
Fu Xuan muttered to herself while glaring fiercely at the divination tools spread across the table before her.
For three whole hours, her jade abacus and hexagram plate had buzzed nonstop, data streaming down like a roaring waterfall, yet not a single clear or decisive answer had emerged from the chaos.
Annoying!
Absolutely infuriating!
"They all call me a genius, yet I can't even figure out these hexagrams on my own..." Fu Xuan muttered helplessly, frustration seeping into her voice. "Luckily, that guest elder knows plenty..."
In the end, after pondering for a moment, she packed up her books and divination tools and decided to go find Lucian for guidance.
Every time she faced a difficult problem, he could always explain it to her easily.
Stargazing, holy triangles, six-line hexagrams, divination slips, rituals, star plates, bone casting, palm reading—his mastery of divination arts never failed to impress her.
===
A few minutes later, Fu Xuan finally arrived at Lucian's quarters.
As she entered the courtyard, she was greeted by little bridges and flowing water, drooping willows swaying in the breeze, and air that carried the damp scent of fresh grass.
As she walked further inside, she finally saw the guest elder she sought sitting by the pond.
At this moment, he was sprawled wide open on a broad bamboo recliner, his head resting on his arms, one leg crossed lazily over the other, humming some unknown tune.
In her eyes, he looked every bit like the image of a hidden master.
Fu Xuan shifted her gaze and saw that next to him was nothing more than an ordinary fishing rod, its line dangling into the clear water of the pond.
'Wait a second...'
Fu Xuan's eyes squinted.
As she looked more carefully, the pond was actually so clear that every pebble on the bottom was visible.
Forget fish—there wasn't even a shrimp in sight!
Besides, the float was so still that it might as well have been welded to the surface.
In that case, what was this guest elder fishing?
"Guest Elder." Fu Xuan called politely from the side.
"I've told you enough times—don't be so stiff. Just call me Lucian." Lucian said lazily, without even lifting his eyelids. "So, what brings you here today? Got another problem?"
Fu Xuan, momentarily choked by his casual, slacking-off attitude, resisted the urge to roll her eyes and stepped closer.
From above, she could see the smooth lines of Lucian's muscles beneath his open collar, and his face—strikingly handsome in the play of light and shadow—wearing an air of effortless laziness.
'Wait, what am I even thinking?!'
Fu Xuan thought in bewilderment, then quickly turned her gaze to the fishing rod.
"Guest El—Lucian, are you... fishing for air?" Fu Xuan asked seriously. "I was always told that the path of mastery is like rowing against the current—if you don't move forward, you fall back. Aren't you afraid of... wasting yourself by lazing around like this?"
Lucian finally bothered to open his eyes, giving her a sidelong glance—it was the kind of look one gave to a model student buried in textbooks who acted like they knew everything and believed they were always right.
"Tch..."
He made a vague clicking sound with his tongue, sat up slowly, and picked up a willow twig, poking at the ornate hexagram plate hanging from Fu Xuan's waist.
"See?" Lucian pointed with his chin. "Read too many books, and even your words turn unpleasant."
"You—!" Fu Xuan puffed her cheeks in anger.
"See? You're upset again." Lucian tossed away the twig and patted the empty spot beside him, motioning for her to sit.
Fu Xuan hesitated for a moment but still sat down stiffly—her posture perfectly straight, keeping half an arm's length between them.
"Let me ask you something..." Lucian said while gazing at the sky. "You divine every day, predicting fortune and misfortune, deducing fate's secrets—what's the point of it all?"
"Naturally, it's to seek fortune and avoid disaster, to perceive the changes of the future."
Lucian's question was so basic that Fu Xuan blurted out her answer without thinking.
"If disaster is coming, knowing in advance lets us prepare, turn danger into safety, or seize opportunities." Fu Xuan continued with a frown. "As a true diviner, you should understand that this is the path of a diviner—the duty of guarding the Xianzhou."
"Ohh~" Lucian dragged out the sound, nodding before suddenly shifting the subject, pointing at the utterly motionless fishing rod. "In that case, why don't you divine this for me? Will I catch a fish in this pond today?"
Fu Xuan followed his finger, checking again the crystal-clear, utterly empty pond.
Did this even need divination?
Even so, for the sake of professionalism, she went through the motions of divining.
"Don't joke—there are no signs of aquatic life here." Fu Xuan's lips curved into a confident smile, tinged with a hint of pride. "Today, you absolutely cannot catch a fish. My hexagram makes it plain—set in stone!"
As she spoke, she even sat straighter, brimming with certainty and pride.
Seeing her so confident, Lucian chuckled, then leisurely picked up the fishing rod, his fingers brushing its rough bamboo shaft as his gaze drifted off into the distance.
"Fu Xuan, what you divined was the common rule of this place." Lucian said slowly, his voice carrying a peculiar rhythm. "But a true hexagram… or rather, what a true divination master plays with… isn't fortune-telling's little tricks of fate."
Upon hearing this, Fu Xuan froze for a moment, then asked with a solemn expression.
"What is it then...?"
At her question, Lucian smiled faintly, his expression carrying both the depth and mockery of a fraud diviner.
"It's making fate obey the diviner."
As his words fell, Lucian activated Sham Diviner without hesitation, turning the 'impossible to catch a fish in this pond' into 'catching a fish in this pond.'
In the next second—
*Splash!*
In another elder's courtyard pond, an abrupt anomaly erupted!
A golden koi, half the size of a man, its body glittering with radiant scales and its head exuding draconic might, suddenly burst forth as if summoned by a supreme will—it soared far higher than any normal leap, its shining scales exploding with dazzling brilliance under the sun, water cascading from its powerful body like a waterfall!
And that wasn't all!
Its mighty tail lashed in midair as if it had truly borrowed the power of 'leaping the dragon gate,' before landing with unerring precision into Lucian's pond!
*Splash!*
Water splashed high, drenching Fu Xuan's face before she could react.
"Ahh!"
Fu Xuan yelped, wiping frantically at her face as droplets rolled down her chin, soaking her fine robes.
In the next moment, however, she was completely frozen as she saw the koi, terrified after its sudden relocation, thrashing wildly in the cramped, previously empty pond, churning the clear water into a muddy, chaotic froth.
Under Fu Xuan's dazed gaze, Lucian calmly flicked his wrist, causing the line to snap taut as the hook caught neatly at the koi's mouth.
"See?"
With a light lift, Lucian raised the heavy, glittering 'prize' from the water, its body writhing uselessly in his hand. He then turned with a smile toward the drenched girl, whose hair was still dripping.
"Accurate, wasn't it?"
As Lucian's words resounded, the rippling pond reflected Fu Xuan's dazed expression.
"Fate obeys... the diviner...." Fu Xuan muttered in a daze, her eyes unfocused, overwhelmed by the sight she had just witnessed.
Everything she had studied shattered in that moment—obliterated by the living, thrashing koi that had appeared out of nowhere.
Clearly, this wasn't seeking fortune and avoiding misfortune—it was creating fortune out of nothing and commanding misfortune to scatter!
In all her life, she had never heard that divination could be used in such a way.
Fate, something that should be absolute and unchangeable, could be altered so crudely and so easily, like plucking a string on a zither?
Incredible!
A flood of emotions—terror, obsession, and burning desire—instantly exploded inside Fu Xuan's heart like molten lava.
"I…"
With her wet hair still clinging to her cheeks, Fu Xuan no longer cared about her composure—she jerked her head up, staring straight at Lucian.
"I-I want to learn too! I want to become a diviner as great as you!"
Fu Xuan, her eyes burning with a hungry fire, exclaimed in a voice trembling with awe and worship as she gazed at Lucian.
===
[A bonus chapter for every 500 Power Stones.]
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