Lanke Chess Edge

Chapter 376: Stars Rise at Cloud Mountain Temple

Ji Yuan added everything he could think of, and finally looked at Taoist Qingsong.“So, Master Taoist, are you confident?”

Taoist Qingsong looked back and forth from Qin Zizhou to Ji Yuan, his expression becoming firm.

“Let’s give it a try!”

At this point, Taoist Qingsong suddenly realized something and promptly asked Ji Yuan for clarification.

“Mr. Ji, will there be any danger in this divination? I’m just an ordinary mortal. If even you need to ask me for help with this, how could I…”

“Haha… It seems that Taoist Qingsong still values ​​his life.”

Ji Yuan smiled and continued.

“Don’t worry, it’s no big danger. Even if you were to divine the fate of immortals or masters, it would be fine. You wouldn’t encounter danger just because you performed a divination.1 Of course, if you divine something involving special heavenly secrets and then blurt it out, or if someone with great supernatural powers is deliberately targeting you, then it would be easy for trouble to occur. However, there won’t be any problems with what I am asking of you today.”

“Oh, oh, oh.”

Qi Xuan nodded in understanding, then asked cautiously.

“Mr. Ji, can you not solve this yourself?”

Ji Yuan shook his head. Cloud Mountain Temple was the place where he was most comfortable outside of Ning’an County. Everyone present was someone he could fully trust, so he had no psychological pressure to put on airs.

“Even I am not omnipotent. As the saying goes, everyone has their own expertise. When it comes to divination and the Book of Changes,2 you, Master Qingsong, are quite talented, far more skilled than me, and even better than many so-called immortals and gods.”

Qin Zizhou also smiled and offered a compliment from the other side of the table.

“With such praise from Mr. Ji, Master Qi has every reason to be proud!”

The two experts praised him so much that the already elderly Taoist Qingsong became somewhat embarrassed and even scratched his head.

“Then, shall I perform the divination?”

“Please, Taoist Master!”

Taoist Qingsong nodded, then began to adjust his mental state. He flipped his hands up and down, and then gently waved them a few times in front and behind him. This action itself did not have any special power, but it was a kind of ritual on a mental level.

Then, Taoist Qingsong calmed himself and fixed his gaze on the scroll of the “Sword Intent Inscription,” gently scanning its edges.

Qi Xuan himself had not comprehended any profound spiritual techniques, but Ji Yuan could tell that he was “measuring” the paper, taking into account its thickness, length, width, and even the wooden dowels of the scroll rods at the ends of the paper, as if he were examining the feng shui of a house.

“The room is half a foot wide by two feet long, with wooden supports on the sides… The head of the household was born at a quarter past the shenshi hour,3 on the ninth day of the first month of the year Guiwei…”4

Taoist Qingsong muttered to himself, using his fingers to count and record the previous information, reflexively guiding the divination in a conditioned manner.

During this process, Qin Zizhou and Ji Yuan did not make a sound, so as not to disturb Taoist Qingsong’s divination. Ji Yuan even opened his eyes wide and carefully observed Qi Xuan’s current state, not missing a single change.

From his aura to his demeanor, the changes in Taoist Qingsong’s thoughts were reflected in the progress of the divination, also causing changes in his aura.

After a long while, Taoist Qingsong’s aura suddenly underwent a more noticeable change. His fiery aura—or rather, the entirety of his aura—began to lean towards a brighter color, indicating that a result was likely imminent.

Sure enough, the Taoist Qingsong whispered some things he had divined.

“Many households, choosing to live near water, preferring sandalwood and ink but disliking strong light, residing in a foreign land, as of early in the ninth lunar month of the year of Jiawu…5 This seems too far… Mr. Ji, have I miscalculated?”

Normally, Taoist Qingsong was very confident in his divination skills, but since this matter is special and the subject was not a human, nor even a normal living being, he did not dare to make any guarantees.

Ji Yuan immediately waved his hand.

“You’ve probably calculated it correctly. Keep divining. Don’t be afraid. Just having a general direction or range is enough. If it’s close, it’ll be easier for me to find it.”

“Alright.”

Taoist Qingsong continued calculating the divination with peace of mind, eventually reaching a figure of tens of thousands of li to the northwest. Qi Xuan had led Qi Wen through a considerable amount of Dazhen’s land, so he knew that this was definitely outside of Dazhen’s borders, though he didn’t know the exact location.

However, Ji Yuan was very satisfied with the results Taoist Qingsong had calculated. Qi Xuan had not only given him the general direction and approximate distance, but also described some possible characteristics of the environment where those “characters” were located, such as the possible presence of ponds and rivers, trees, and some man-made elements around them.

Even if an ordinary person had known this information, they would still have been clueless. But it was Ji Yuan who was being informed. After combining the information with the Sword Intent Inscription and placing it at the appropriate distance, he could divine it for himself a few times, and was quite confident in accurately finding those “characters.”

After Taoist Qingsong finished recounting everything he had calculated, he felt no physical discomfort. However, he was still unsure whether his calculations were correct. After all, from his perspective, if he were divining some supernatural matters, then there should be some reaction, right? Usually, when he told fortunes for others, he would get beaten up from time to time. This time, nothing happened, which made him feel a little uncomfortable.

Fortunately, Ji Yuan was unaware of Taoist Qingsong’s thoughts. If he had, he might have added “masochist” to his impression of Qi Xuan, in addition to “divination fanatic.”

Ji Yuan focused his mind and carefully reviewed Qi Xuan’s divinations. He became even more certain of Qi Xuan’s conclusions, and a vivid image even appeared in his mind.

After coming to his senses, Ji Yuan stood up and solemnly bowed to Taoist Qingsong in thanks.

“Many thanks for your divination, Master Qingsong. This trip to Cloud Mountain Temple was definitely worthwhile!”

Master Qingsong quickly stood up to return the bow.

“I dare not accept such praise. If Mr. Ji needs anything, just say the word, and I will do my best to help. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be so healthy and strong at my current age!”

Hearing Qi Xuan say this, Ji Yuan was somewhat dazed. Looking at Qi Xuan, who had a full head of black hair and a strong body, no one could tell from his appearance that he was already over fifty years old and nearing sixty.

“Master, Mr. Ji, Grandpa Qin, I’m back!”

Qi Wen returned briskly, carrying a basket on his back, which was full of fresh ingredients bought from the village at the foot of the mountain. He was not only overjoyed at Mr. Ji’s arrival, but also pleased to be able to enjoy a good meal.

“Come, come, Mr. Ji, it’s a rare occasion for you to visit. I’ll show off my culinary skills again today. Qi Wen, fetch some firewood and start a fire!”

“Okay!”

The master and disciple of Cloud Mountain Temple went to the temple’s kitchen one after the other in high spirits. Judging from their enthusiasm, it was hard to tell that this master and disciple pair were over fifty and thirty years old respectively.6

Ji Yuan stood in front of the main hall of the Taoist temple, calmly watching the master and disciple busying themselves in the kitchen. Qin Zizhou beside him had also stood up.

“Qi Wen doesn’t plan to settle down?”

Qin Zizhou stroked his long beard and replied.

“Although it is not forbidden for Taoist priests of Cloud Mountain Temple to marry, Master Qingyuan’s heart is devoted to the Tao and has no intention of getting married, at least from what I can see.”

Ji Yuan turned to look at Qin Zizhou, then glanced at the Taoist star chart in the main hall behind him.

“Lord Qin, what do you think of the stars rising at Cloud Mountain Temple?”

Qin Zizhou seemed to have been waiting for Ji Yuan to ask this seemingly random question, and simply nodded to Ji Yuan.

Ji Yuan understood, and solemnly clasped his hands in a bow. Qin Zizhou also made the same gesture at almost the same moment. In the kitchen, Qi Wen lit the stove and looked up towards the main hall.

Just then, he saw Ji Yuan and Qin Zizhou standing in front of the main hall of the temple, bowing to each other on either side. Behind them, extending into the hall, he could see the enormous star chart of Cloud Mountain Temple.

“What are you looking at? The fire in the stove is about to go out!”

Taoist Qingsong’s rebuke brought Qi Wen back to his senses.

“Oh, oh, oh, I’ll stoke it right away, I’ll stoke it right away!”

Qi Wen quickly threw a knot of dry grass into the stove to start a fire, and then added some split firewood.

Once the fire was burning, he looked back towards the main hall again. He saw Mr. Ji and Grandpa Qin sitting on stools, basking in the sun.

Strangely enough, in Qi Wen’s opinion, although Grandpa Qin looked very old, Mr. Ji sitting next to him did not give off the feeling of being a “younger man” or a junior at all.

Meanwhile, Ji Yuan and Qin Zizhou, sitting together like two old men basking in the sun, chatted idly about matters that could affect the future of Cloud Mountain Temple and the two Taoist priests, Qi Wen and Qi Xuan.

“However, we are still too few. With Taoist Qingsong and Taoist Qingyuan, plus myself, we don’t even have enough to cover all the fingers on one hand…”

Qin Zizhou had barely uttered those words when Ji Yuan smiled and looked toward the courtyard wall next to the Taoist temple’s kitchen, off in the distance.

“There’s enough for all fingers!”

Qin Zizhou was taken aback. Following Ji Yuan’s gaze, he saw two gray martens peeking towards the kitchen from atop the distant courtyard wall, clearly tempted by the fragrant aroma of seasonings emanating from the kitchen.

“Haha, alright, enough for a full hand, wonderful!”

Ji Yuan smiled, stood up again, and with a flick of his wrist, a wolf-hair brush flew out from his sleeve and landed in his palm.

He looked back at the silver and gold star chart in the main temple hall.

“I was thinking of waiting a little longer, but the lifespan of ordinary people is limited, and Qi Xuan is no longer young. In that case, I shall not be stingy!”

Ji Yuan stepped into the main hall of Cloud Mountain Temple, with Qin Zizhou following behind. He saw Ji Yuan’s hand holding the brush wave slightly from side to side, and the tip of the pen was enveloped in a layer of mysterious yellow light.

“This star banner is already quite unique, and with the cultivation that Mr. Qin has accumulated over the years, you are off to a good start. As the saying goes, ‘to paint a dragon, add the finishing touch,’7 so I, Ji, will paint the chart and add the stars.”

As he spoke, Ji Yuan slowly floated into the air, his figure hovering in front of the star chart. With the very first stroke, the star chart, which was originally a bit wrinkled, seemed to transform into a flat iron plate.

The next moment, the wolf-hair brush moved with a flick of the wrist, strokes swiftly settling onto the star chart.

Streaks of gold and silver light flashed in front of the star chart, drawing the attention of Qi Xuan and Qi Wen, who were busy in the kitchen. The two came out to look. the two martens on the courtyard wall also stared intently.

T/n: my life has recently been taken over by cat videos

T/n: yeah, the problem comes from his loose lips An ancient Chinese divination text, among the oldest of the Chinese classics. It’s where we get the well-known image of the hexagrams from 3-5 pm 20th year of the 60 year cycle, associated with Water element and Goat zodiac 31st year of the 60 year cycle, associatd with Wood element and Horse zodiac T/n: holy heck hang on Qi Wen is 30??? I thought he was like 13?? i.e. if you want something done well, do it all the way