Chapter 2185: Predicting Death to Proclaim Life
Zu An looked up and couldn't help but feel a bit surprised. The person who had run over in great alarm actually resembled the members of the Yaksha Ocean Patrol he had met when he first encountered Shang Hongyu. However, this person was different, and his physique and strength were also inferior.
“What happened?” Zu An asked seriously. Right now, he didn’t have enough information at all, so it was best to wait and see for now.
The Yaksha replied, “This humble subject followed the water to the riverside and started listening to the conversation of a fisherman and a woodcutter. When I was about to leave, I heard terrible news. The fisherman said that along Eternal Peace City’s western gate street, there is a divination master who is extremely precise. Whenever he is given a golden carp, he passes on a lesson, teaching them many things. If he really is skilled and capable, won't we water creatures be completely eradicated? Why would they still pay the Water Manor any respect and revere our great king’s power?”
When he heard those words, Zu An immediately felt a mysterious sense of anger. He couldn't help but feel surprised.
Why are my emotions so unstable?
Immediately after, he realized that he was in the body of this Jing River Dragon King. This person was probably quite arrogant normally, and yet he had ended up being offended by some ordinary people. That was why he had become so angry.
There was a famous phrase, 'golden carp leap by the gates of the dragons'. Golden carp were the water creatures’ most precious and respected dragon sons and grandsons. If they were being captured by an ordinary person to boil into soup, how could the water creatures possibly stand that?
But Zu An wasn’t a real Dragon King, so he quickly calmed down to think about how to solve this fragment of spacetime. Could it be that the key lay in this event?
Just then, some dragon descendents cried out in fury. “That’s absolutely preposterous! We’ll raise our swords to take the head of that divination master!”
Zu An said solemnly, “It’s best if I personally make the trip.”
What he lacked the most was information. How could he entrust this task to others?
When they heard what he said, many subjects advised against it. “Great king, please quell your anger! As the common saying goes, words that pass the ears cannot be fully trusted. If the great king goes as is, the clouds will accompany you and the winds will assist you, alarming the populace of Eternal Peace City. If the great king does not make himself known and only acts as an outstanding scholar, it will be much easier for you to obtain information in Eternal Peace City. If this person exists, it will not be too late to end him then, but if he does not exist, we will not need to needlessly harm others!”
Zu An’s memories surfaced and he recognized the ones who spoke: Minister Shrimp, Commander Crab, Advisor Shad, High Official Perch, and Governor Carp. They were all freshwater creatures, quite unlike in the Dragon Palace of his world.
“What my beloved officials say is indeed true.” Zu An wasn’t too interested in going out and making a huge fuss to begin with. He just wanted to go and take a look at what was going on to see if he could figure out any solutions for this place. It was these people who had misunderstood, thinking that he was planning to take up the sword to punish the evildoer, but he just went along with what they said.
When they heard that he had ‘changed’ his mind, the subjects sighed in relief and accompanied him to the shore.
Along the way, Zu An carefully asked about information related to the Dragon Palace. He discovered that compared to the Ocean races’ complicated structure, the Dragon Palace here was much smaller in both governmental structure and size. The ones he had seen earlier were already most of the important individuals of the Jing River Dragon Palace.
Among them were the Jing River Dragon King’s sons. They were all hedonistic individuals who oppressed the people. One of his sons had even abused his wife every day, to the point that she ran away. “They’re all dregs of society.” Zu An sneered. If not for the fact that he knew these things had already happened and that finding the solution to the trial was more important, he would teach those sons a proper lesson.
Along the way, he didn’t see anything especially noteworthy.
When he arrived, General Shad reminded him, “The great king’s bearing is too outstanding. If it isn’t changed a bit, it might end up causing alarm in the city.”
Zu An nodded. He had been thinking of taking out a face-changing mask, but just then, he realized that this body seemed to have some kind of transformation skill. With a thought, his appearance changed. He had a jade-colored gown and had a carefree headband on his head, making him resemble a handsome scholar.
The subjects all voiced their praise. “Your highness really is heroic and handsome, towering over valleys and reaching into the sky, graceful and poised, majestic and mighty!”
Zu An thought to himself, No wonder everyone covets authority. Being showered in praise day after day by these guys really felt quite amazing.
But he quickly gathered his thoughts. He began to think to himself that this Jing River Dragon King’s transformation skill was quite amazing. It even resembled the Lord of Myriad Transformations a bit. His own Face of a Thousand Identities now seemed like a pale imitation instead.
... After bidding all of the subjects goodbye, he walked toward the towering city up ahead. With his speed, he quickly arrived at the city gates./ When he saw the words ‘Eternal Peace’ written in massive characters on the city gates, he suddenly became a bit absent-minded.
When he interacted with the water race’s high officials, he hadn’t noticed anything noteworthy about the Dragon Palace’s side. However, the conditions on the human side were worth pondering over. This was the human empire’s capital, Eternal Peace City, and the human emperor was known as Emperor Tang.
Zu An had tried to ask why that person was called Emperor Tang. He wanted to check if the emperor had anything to do with the Emperor Tang from his previous world. But unfortunately, the ministers had all been confused. They only knew that he was called Emperor Tang and didn’t even know what his name really was.
“Don’t tell me this is a secret dungeon...” Zu An was a bit shaken up. He had experienced many secret dungeons over the years. Almost every single one of them had something to do with the history of his previous world. Of course, only the names were similar and the rest of the details were revised. There were frequently magical events, such as shifting mountains and filled seas. The events were far more incredible than those of the dynasties from his previous world.
Zu An didn’t go straight toward where the fortune-teller was, and chose to look around the city first instead. Anyone who played role-playing games knew that exploring for intelligence and triggering side quests was far better than just blindly clicking ‘next’. Judging from the information he had obtained before, he could completely predict that once he approached the divination master, the main storyline would immediately progress. If he did that, he would be going in completely blind. It would be too difficult to change anything then.
After strolling around leisurely, Zu An couldn't help but feel a bit confused. This Eternal Peace Cty’s citizens were all ordinary people. He didn’t see many cultivators at all. There was no way this really could be the Tang Dynasty from his memories, right?
He didn’t learn anything useful along the way at all. After asking around, he learned that the current Tang Emperor was Li Shimin, the second Tang emperor he remembered, and that it had already been many years since the Xuanwu gate coup. Everyone praised their ruler as a good emperor.
As he strolled around, he arrived at the Imperial Palace. He wanted to go inside and have a chat with Li Shimin, but his eyes suddenly narrowed. Ordinary people couldn't see it, but in his line of sight, the entire Imperial Palace was shrouded under the protection of heavenly dao. It was impossible for someone like him to enter without being noticed.
He looked up at the sky.
Is this the real meaning of the title ‘son of heaven’ that's usually applied to emperors? To obtain the acknowledgement of heavenly dao?
The water race subjects had also mentioned a place known as the Celestial Court. It seemed such things really did exist in this world.
Zu An's expression became grave. If the Celestial Court existed, that meant there were far more incredible beings here. A single Jing River Dragon King like him wouldn’t be able to do much at all. At first, he had thought that this was a world of ordinary people, and that with his powerful cultivation, he could do whatever he wanted. But now, it seemed that this world was far more powerful than he imagined!
He didn’t force his way into the Imperial Palace, as he had already gathered roughly enough intelligence. He turned around and walked in the direction of Eternal Peace’s west gate. The divination master that the Yaksha had mentioned earlier was to be found there.
As he walked, he continued to think.
Tang Dynasty, Celestial Court immortals... It’s not that world, is it...
When he thought of that possibility, Zu An smiled bitterly. Even though he was strong now, that was only compared to human cultivators. If it really was that world, there were just too many big shots around.
Just then, he noticed a rowdy area not too far away from him. He saw that a group of people had gathered there as if they were watching something really lively. Loud and arrogant words emerged from inside every so often. “Those born with the dragon zodiac clash with the tiger zodiac. Yin, chen, si, and hai of the earthly branches! Even though it seems like a harmonious combination, the day’s energies are in conflict with the prevailing energies of the year.”
When he heard those words, Zu An immediately knew that the voice had to belong to the divination master.
He walked up. Even though there were a lot of people here, with his cultivation, an invisible energy field spread around him. The crowd was easily separated and he was able to reach the very front. It turned out that all of them were gathered outside a residence’s entrance.
The bell boy saw that he had an impressive bearing and didn’t dare to hold him back. Thus, Zu An was quickly guided inside.
...
The interior of the residence was splendidly decorated with pearls and silk. A duck-shaped incense burner was present inside the room, adding a unique sandalwood fragrance to the air. There were also some decorative porcelain bottles that looked rather elegant.
Several paintings hung on the walls around them. Even though Zu An didn’t know much about painting, he could still tell that they were special. The scenery depicted was ancient and remote, and they even seemed to convey the essence of zen. He noticed that the name 'Venerable Master Moshé' was inscribed on one of them.
Is this Wang Wei’s painting?
He had studied his poetry in literature class, so he had some impression of that name.
There was another painting high on the wall right in front of him. The painting was of an elder, and judging from the character next to it, it seemed to be the Ghost Valley Master. In his previous world’s history, the Ghost Valley Master had been a hermit who excelled at the art of strategic maneuvering and diplomatic skill; he was Zhang Yi and Su Qin’s master. Another legend claimed that he even knew the technique for immortal cultivation. He was an extremely mysterious figure in Chinese history.
Zu An’s eyes quickly scanned the room. There were several rhyming couplets hanging from the pillars:
“Well-versed in the six lines; proficient in the eight divinatory trigrams.”
“Capable of understanding the principles of heaven and earth; skilled at discerning the emotions of ghosts and deities.”
“Events of the future and events of the past should be viewed like the reflection of the mirror or moon. Some fortunes rise, some fortunes fall; the key lies in insight and discernment.”
"Knowing ominousness to determine auspiciousness; predicting death to proclaim life."
"When speaking, storms come swiftly; when writing, even ghosts and deities are startled."
...
When he saw these pairs of verses, Zu An’s body suddenly erupted with rage. This ordinary man is really full of himself!
Forget about the original Jing River Dragon King, even Zu An himself felt that these verses were a bit too arrogant. Also, why was the setup so similar to what a con-man would use?
The divination master was seated at the central position. On the desk was a duanshi inkstone and some golden ink sticks. Surrounded by bold, vigorous strokes and fine, delicate details, the person himself was quite handsome and had an air of elegance. His name was on the signboard next to him: Divination Master Yuan Shoucheng.
“Yuan Shoucheng?” Zu An frowned slightly. He didn’t have much of an impression of that name. He only knew one magician surnamed Yuan from the Tang Dynasty; that was Yuan Tiangang, a man associated with great mystery, character, and all sorts of legends.