The peculiar odors lingering in the courtyard were a mixed bag.
There was the scent of incense, much like that of an Earth God Temple; a certain warmth reminiscent of solid bedrock; a bizarre, earthy reek; and even a chilly taint resembling the Three Powers Demon-Suppressing Coins...
It gave the impression of a veritable curio shop.
These scents were faint and thin. Evidently, even if they were trinkets of the Xuanmen, none were of particularly high quality.
Yet this alone proved that the man inside was a genuine practitioner!
Li Yan's annoyance turned to delight. Seeing the courtyard gate wide open, he stepped inside.
The courtyard was not large, but it was kept tidy and clean. A jujube tree grew on the left, while a stone trough served as a fish basin on the right, where several small red fish swam merrily about.
A bagua mirror hung in the northwest corner, and a stone pier rested in the center.
The entire yard exuded an air of refreshing tranquility.
With just a single glance, Li Yan had the measure of it.
The jujube wood represented Wood, the fish basin represented Water, the bronze bagua mirror represented Metal, and the central stone pier represented Earth to anchor the dwelling. It was an unmistakable feng shui arrangement for a residence of the living laid out according to the Five Elements—lacking only Fire.
Li Yan turned his head to look around, a smile touching his lips.
Over there sat the kitchen. Worshipping the Kitchen God—was that not Fire?
The main room of the courtyard stood with its doors wide open as well, revealing an incense altar and offering table within, upon which stood a divine statue surrounded by numerous offerings.
The statue depicted a three-eyed Daoist cradling a longsword. His Daoist robes were painted with the sun, the moon, stars, and the Four Symbols—the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise—appearing rather flamboyant.
Upon the spirit tablet was written: *Seat of Heavenly Lord Chen of Xuanqi's Manifest Might*.
Li Yan did not recognize the deity, yet he could smell that the scent of incense clinging to it was somewhat similar to that of an Earth God Temple—faint by comparison, yet far more august and imposing.
Inside, a middle-aged Daoist sat upright before a low desk.
The Daoist was naturally Wang Daoxuan. His attire was rather curious: he wore casual black robes beneath a short white jacket, an embroidered bagua pattern on his back, a square-folded scholar's cap upon his head, and square-toed black cloth shoes adorned with auspicious clouds on his feet.
The outfit was not cheap. Though washed pale with age, it remained neat and tidy.
What caught the eye most was his countenance. Lean and hale, with a black beard trailing down to his chest, clear and upright features, and a gentle gaze, he might not have possessed the immortal bearing of a transcendent master, yet a single look at him naturally inspired goodwill.
Holding a weasel-hair brush, the Daoist was writing and drawing upon a sheet of paper.
Across from him sat a young man who appeared to be a scholar. Bitterness lined his face, and his brow was knotted with misery.
One look was all Li Yan needed to know this was character dissection.
In the jianghu, this trade belonged to the Gold Branch.
The Gold Branch stood foremost among the Eight Visible Branches, primarily encompassing nine disciplines: fortune-telling, physiognomy, character dissection, spirit-writing, scrying, underworld travel, astrology, ritual sorcery, and shamanism. Thus ran the old jianghu ditty: *Nine Golds, eighteen Skins, seventy-two tricks of the solitary operators.*
The reason it ranked at the head of the eight branches was, first, that practitioners of the Gold Branch were adept at reading people's expressions and possessed silver tongues, knowing countless ins and outs. Once one mastered the methods of the Gold Branch, one could easily draw parallels to understand the other eight.
For instance, the techniques of the Gold Branch could be applied directly to the Skin Branch of itinerant medicine peddlers, giving rise to the saying: *Switching from Gold to Skin takes but a morning.*
Furthermore, the trade was a mixed bag of dragons and snakes. While charlatans and frauds predominated, one might also run into true Xuanmen masters endowed with arcane arts. Therefore, whenever travelers in the jianghu encountered them, they were usually quite polite.
Even the bandits of the Lan Family Branch adhered to eight categories they would never rob, and one of them was the Gold Branch.
Seeing that Wang Daoxuan was conducting business, Li Yan remained silent and stood outside the doorway.
Wang Daoxuan had clearly noticed him, yet he paid him no heed. Instead, he laid down the brush, picked up the ink-covered paper, and scrutinized it for a moment. Only then, under the young man's anxious gaze, did he stroke his beard and speak:
"You provided the character 'Jin'—Gold. Gold is the treasure of the world and a burden to man; only through long tempering does it turn fine.
"Deducing from your eight characters and horoscope, you ought to have spent your youth free of worry. Yet these past few years have been rough, your family fortune in decline...
"What is more, your financial luck has turned poor of late, and vile schemers are plotting against you..."
"Yes, yes, yes! You are entirely right, Daoist Master!"
The young man nodded hurriedly, his face filled with awe.
Watching this, Li Yan chuckled inwardly.
Having witnessed certain things with his own eyes, his interest in the Xuanmen had been piqued, but he remained skeptical about divination and fate. Even if such things existed, he did not believe mere mortals could peer into the future.
Besides, he had detected no peculiar scent from the man.
Li Yan's father had once spoken of this technique in broad strokes: it was called the 'hitching post'—the art of tethering a mark securely before luring him into the snare.
The young man before them had a frail frame and uncalloused hands, yet his clothes were threadbare. One look revealed him to be a scholar who had grown up in comfort only to suffer a collapse in family fortunes.
Besides, if a person's life were sailing smoothly, who would idle away their time seeking a fortune-teller?
The young man had chosen the character 'Gold'—one did not even need to dissect the strokes to know he was desperately strapped for cash.
As for vile schemers, who the hell didn't have a villain dogging their steps!
Li Yan saw through the trick, but he did not speak up to shatter it.
For one, it was a rule of the jianghu: exposing someone else's game meant smashing their rice bowl, which was avoided unless the act was so egregious one could not bear to watch.
For another, such a tactic was hardly novel.
In his past life, hawking goods with deceitful slogans, stoking emotions to fleece the flock, dangling profits to swallow principal... there had been endless schemes of every variety. Which of them was not a hitching post?
The jianghu remained unchanged and human nature stayed the same; only the outward appearance had shifted. Barring the unexpected, the harvest was about to begin.
Sure enough, without Wang Daoxuan pressing further, the young man let out a mournful sigh. "To tell you the truth, I hail from Xingping County. My family owned a silk shop, but we ran into swindlers and were swindled out of everything.
"My father was enraged to death, my mother wept until she went blind, and my studies came to nothing. Only then did I realize that of all things, a scholar is the most useless.
"Pity my poor wife and child, who must suffer alongside me while my former classmates mock me. I truly cannot go on living like this... What am I to do...?"
Listening to this, Li Yan was somewhat at a loss for words.
When people fell on hard times, they often rambled endlessly, seeking someone to confide in.
Yet this young man was laying bare every scrap of his background. Any green novice could have strung him along and run him in circles.
Was this not walking right into the tiger's jaws?
Wang Daoxuan, however, was in no rush. His expression remained placid as he stroked his beard and listened.
Only after the young man finished did he pick up the paper once more, studying it for a long while before speaking with thoughtful deliberation: "It is not entirely without a remedy."
The young man's eyes lit up. "Please guide me, Daoist Master!"
Wang Daoxuan pointed at the paper. "Look at your character 'Gold'. It is crowned by the 'Person' radical, standing upright and vigorous. This signifies that the path to resolution lies in 'man'!"
"A benefactor?"
The young man pondered. "Daoist Master, do you mean a noble benefactor will come to my aid?"
Wang Daoxuan nodded slightly. "Naturally there is a benefactor, but this benefactor is no one else—it is yourself."
"Me? How could that be!"
The young man was visibly stunned.
Wang Daoxuan stroked his beard. "You are destined to endure this tribulation in your lifetime. Yet as the saying goes, no gold is pure, and no man is perfect. True gold must still be refined in fire. So long as you withstand the blaze of this ordeal, your fortunes will turn. Though I cannot promise great wealth and high status, you will at least live out your days in peace.
"Furthermore, the 'Person' radical also represents the vile schemers meddling in your affairs, suppressing your fortune. Keep your distance from them, and the ill luck will disperse of its own accord."
A glimmer of hope rose in the young man's eyes. He hesitated a moment before asking cautiously, "Daoist Master, a yinyang master came to our door and told my mother to enshrine a yin immortal, claiming it could alter our fate and protect our luck..."
"Nonsense!"
Wang Daoxuan's eyebrows shot up. "Even the Master said: cleave to the noble man and keep your distance from the petty; respect ghosts and spirits, but keep your distance from them. As the saying goes, it is easy to invite a spirit in, but hard to send one away. Courting those entities—how is that any different from welcoming a vile schemer into your home?
"If you, as true gold, fear being refined in the fire, how do you differ from shattered roof tiles?
"To sever your own destiny—that is the only truly incurable ill!"
Shame instantly washed over the young man's face. "The Daoist Master speaks the truth. I was wrong."
He then reached into his robes, an embarrassed expression appearing. "May I ask the divination fee...?"
Wang Daoxuan held up three fingers and said calmly, "Your fortune is blocked, so this poor Daoist dares not ask for much. Three copper coins. As for the rest, if you withstand the trial by fire, come back to pay me then."
Overwhelmed with gratitude, the young man bowed deeply with clasped hands.
"Thank you, Daoist Master!"
With that, he pulled out three copper coins, laid them down, and turned to leave.
As he walked out the door, his gaze had turned resolute.
Li Yan watched him go, somewhat dazed, a sense of respect welling up within him.
Ghosts and spirits could hardly change fate; it was forged by the human heart.
He could already see that the young man's destiny had perhaps shifted at this very moment.
This was what it truly meant to point the way out of the maze!
With that thought, he strode right through the door, first clasping his fists in greeting before chuckling, "Daoist Wang, you drove down the hitching post and reeled off the interlocking patter, yet you let the sheep run free. Aren't you smashing your own rice bowl?"
By using this thieves' cant, he was both establishing his jianghu identity and commenting on what had just transpired.
Upon hearing this, Wang Daoxuan burst into laughter, rising to his feet and shaking his head. "A single word from this poor Daoist can decide life or death, but it can also amass hidden merit. I dare not act recklessly.
"Besides, such a scrawny sheep yields barely an ounce of fat. There was no need to take it."
Li Yan nodded slightly. "You are righteous, Daoist Master."
Yet Wang Daoxuan seemed not to register the compliment. He first glanced at the saber at Li Yan's waist, then peered out the window, sighing as he shook his head. "Last night I dreamed of being beset by wicked ghosts, and today I saw a magpie bearing a flower in its beak. I foresaw that a visitor would come, yet whether it bodes fortune or calamity, this poor Daoist cannot calculate.
"A bladesman comes calling... Has someone sent for this poor Daoist's humble life?"
"Please do not misunderstand, Daoist Master." Li Yan hurriedly clasped his hands. "In truth, I have come with questions to seek your counsel. If you can resolve my plight, there will surely be a handsome reward!"
With his divine abilities running out of control, how could he spare any thought for the Lu family's affairs?
Wang Daoxuan let out a quiet breath of relief, stroking his beard with a faint smile. "Does the patron wish to ask for a divination, or to select a feng shui site?"
Li Yan asked in a low, heavy voice, "Dare I ask—what is a cold-altar rampaging soldier?"
When Wang Daoxuan heard those words, he nearly yanked out his own beard, his expression shifting sharply.
"Just who... are you?!"
Chapter 21