Go all out

Chapter 34: Unraveling the Mystery

After touching Tian Zhan’s brow, his vital point appeared somewhat blurred to me. Then, using the same method, I touched Yin Fang’s brow, and her vital point also became blurred. I touched my own brow and tapped it once. After releasing the “qi,” I felt as if my body had been emptied out, leaving me feeling dejected. It seems that, as a Level 1 fortune-teller, using “Qi” divination—one of the Four Divination Methods—is still a bit beyond my current capabilities. But there’s nothing I can do about it—a fortune-teller’s rank isn’t something you can advance in a short time. “So, by tapping like this, your master won’t be able to use ‘qi’ to divine our fortunes?” Tian Zhan touched his forehead; he didn’t seem to sense any change and couldn’t help but ask in confusion. “In theory, yes,” I said. “In theory? Damn it, can’t you actually do something practical, kid?” Tian Zhan muttered under his breath. Yin Fang, however, looked at me and nodded. “For someone his age to be able to control ‘qi’ like that, he’s already quite talented.” I shook my head. “He’s still a long way off. The Four Methods of Divination sound simple enough, but they involve so many complexities. I’d be grateful just to fully master them in this lifetime.” That was certainly true. Divination really wasn’t as simple as people thought. You had to be thoroughly versed in the I Ching and the Eight Trigrams—and that was just the foundation. Just thinking about the rest gave me a headache. Since we’d sealed the Life Gate, we decided to keep moving forward. The three of us gathered our things and continued onward. Strangely enough, after sealing the Gate of Life, we kept moving forward, yet I felt a sense of freedom inside—as if the hand that had been pulling my nose had finally let go. This, in a way, naturally gave me some confidence, yet it also left a bitter aftertaste. My master had entrusted me with everything, and now I had to use those very things against him—was this some kind of “repayment”? Heh, I could only smile bitterly to myself. With Tian Zhan’s Life Gate sealed at this moment, I could still barely make out that the black mist above his Life Palace was no longer as dense as before. Did that mean my master had already left? But just then, Tian Zhan seemed to sense something suddenly. He whipped his head toward me and took a swift stride toward me. “Xiao Tian, get down!” Tian Zhan shouted at me. I instinctively crouched down, just as I felt a claw sweep past my shoulder. A cold sweat broke out on my back, and I quickly rolled on the ground. Tian Zhan had already pulled out a yellow talisman and shot it toward the creature. With a loud “bang,” a furious roar followed. I quickly retreated behind Tian Zhan. The beam of his powerful flashlight illuminated the creature with the emerald-green eyes, finally revealing its true form: its body was covered in gray fur, its back arched as it crouched low, and a large, bushy tail swayed back and forth. To my shock, it was a gray wolf, baring its teeth and growling menacingly at me. I was taken aback. Did my master keep wolves, too? This inevitably reminded me of the plaque in my master’s room inscribed with “Gray Third Wolf.” Was this gray wolf the very “Gray Third Wolf” my master worshipped? “Hmph, so you’re the one who killed people. Since you’ve come here to die, you might as well stay!” Tian Zhan let out a cold laugh, flipped his hand to draw a peachwood sword from behind his back, bit his finger to draw blood, swiped it across the blade, and immediately charged forward. Roar! The gray wolf swung its massive paws at Tian Zhan. Its movements were swift and incredibly agile, but to my surprise, the wolf remained purely on the defensive, seemingly too afraid to even attack Tian Zhan. I was puzzled. Setting aside whether the gray wolf could defeat Tian Zhan, the mere fact that it dared not attack suggested that my master didn’t dare lay a finger on Tian Zhan—or perhaps he was wary of the people behind Tian Zhan. This made me even more curious about Tian Zhan’s true background. Yin Fang, standing nearby, also drew a dagger, intent on ending this quickly. I remained on guard, but just then, my master’s voice suddenly echoed in my mind. “I didn’t expect you two to actually show up. If you want to clear up the doubts in your mind, I’ll be waiting for you here.” Startled, I instinctively glanced in a certain direction and saw a familiar figure slowly emerge from the darkness—it was my master. His eyes, shrouded in the darkness, were cold and indifferent, and my expression grew complex. I glanced back at Tian Zhan and Yin Fang, who were still fighting, then gritted my teeth and walked toward my master. He quickly vanished into the darkness, so I naturally had to pick up the pace to keep up with him. I didn’t know what gave me the courage to follow him alone, but I desperately wanted to ask him face-to-face: “Master, why did you do this?” And what about my origins? He must know something—or perhaps he’d deduced something from me—which is why he’d taken me away from my mother to raise me himself. I wanted to know all of this. Following behind my master, watching his back—it felt familiar, yet it didn’t have the same feeling as before. I didn’t know how long we’d been walking when a faint glow appeared around us; my master had led me into a secluded cave. There were some basic necessities here; it was clear that Master had once lived here. My master found a spot to sit down and looked at me with a blank expression. “If you have any questions, you can ask me now.” I took a deep breath and asked, “Did you kill all four people in the village?” “That’s right.” The Master spoke calmly, as if it were no big deal. The last shred of hope I had clung to vanished completely, and I smiled bitterly to myself. “Then why did you kill Uncle Zhang?” That was the first question on my mind. I could “understand” why Master had killed the three people in the photo, but why did he have to kill Uncle Zhang, the man who’d shot my mother on the mountain? My master’s face remained impassive. “It’s simple. He injured that beast, giving her an excuse to kill. But I didn’t expect that beast to actually hold back. So I helped her out—it was the perfect opportunity to pin everything on her.” It suddenly “clicked” in my mind. So that’s how it was. Uncle Zhang had died unjustly after all. By wounding my mom, he naturally gave her a reason to kill—and Master simply went with the flow, using the same method to kill the other three. It was just a pity that Master hadn’t anticipated my mom had no intention of killing anyone. Back then, the fact that my mom could offer warmth to a stranger like me in the snow proved that she was a very kind-hearted wolf. “So you killed them to get the book from Fu Xi?” I asked hoarsely. “The book?” My master let out a cold laugh. “I got that book nineteen years ago. What, didn’t you know?” I was taken aback. What did that mean? How would I know? Could it be that everything my master taught me came from that book? How could that be? “What about the Dragon Ball?” I asked next. The Dragon Pearl from Longquan had been taken—and my master was probably the prime suspect. My master paused for a moment, then shook his head. “I don’t know anything about the Dragon Pearl. I’m not skilled enough to take it right under that guy’s nose.” So it wasn’t my master who took it? I stared at my master’s face. He had no reason to lie to me now, but it was very strange. It was only after the Dragon Pearl from the Dragon Spring region was taken that the drought began, followed by Zhang Daoling’s appearance, his prayer for rain, the snowfall, and then my own inexplicable arrival… All of this seemed like a logical sequence of events. But if my sudden appearance was connected to whoever took the Dragon Balls, then this matter was far more complex—and far more significant—than I had imagined. Of course, deep down, I instinctively didn’t believe that the person who took the Dragon Pearl had anything to do with my inexplicable appearance—after all, if I kept speculating like that, it would never end. Perhaps my appearance was just a coincidence. “So you’re saying a Fuxi really used to live here?” I couldn’t help but ask. Ever since I walked in—from the scales to the murals on the walls—everything has exuded an air of mystery and myth, and the image of that strange creature has been stuck in my mind ever since. Does it actually exist? I’m really curious now. My master fixed his gaze on me, but instead of answering my question, he asked in a flat tone, “What’s the matter? Have you stopped calling me ‘Master’?” I stared back at him in silence. After a minute of silence, there was a strange shift in the Master’s voice. “But I suppose it makes sense. I’ve raised you all these years without ever treating you as a true disciple. I taught you these skills for my own sake, and the fact that you’ve lived this long is because you are…” Hearing this, I held my breath—my master was about to reveal the truth of my origins. Just then, I heard footsteps slowly approaching from outside. I froze, and my master’s words trailed off. Who was coming? Could it be that Tian Zhan and Yin Fang had found their way here?