Chapter 437 (2/2)

“What do you want to ask?” The old man asked as if he was some master.

Shao Xuan looked at the straw rope and the blocks on the table and didn’t speak. Maoda said, “Why don’t you check how our luck will be today?”

The old man pointed at the blocks. “Pull the rope. You know the rules, right?”

“Yes, yes.” Although Maoda said they were unimportant, he was still a frequent customer. He often sought readings when he visited.

Without totemic power, Maoda shook the rope and the blocks fell apart on the table.

The old man looked at the table scattered on the table and took out a smaller block. He looked at the patterns on the table, muttering.

After about ten minutes, the old man stopped and wiped the sweat on his forehead. “Good news.”

“Hehe!” Maoda was happy. “Shao Xuan, what do you want to ask? Hurry up.”

“That reading, it’s over?” Shao Xuan was confused.

“Over.” Maoda nodded.

Shao Xuan looked at the old man but didn’t say what he wanted. “Do you know how to perform knot divination?”

The old man laughed. “I can tell you don’t know much. Knot divination? That has disappeared a thousand years ago. The knot divination these days are just little tricks scammers use. Young man, let me tell you this, next time anyone tells you about it, you must be careful. Don’t get scammed.” The old man spoke as if it was for his own good.

“That means it existed a thousand years ago?” asked Shao Xuan.

“Of course. It was one of the three divinations of the Yi family. It’s too bad there were changes in the family and the art disappeared. It doesn’t matter, without knotting, our Yi family still has other more powerful methods. During these centuries, the Yi family has created many new ways of divination.” The old man looked up proudly. Although he was just a minor member of the family, he often mentioned ‘our Yi family’.

As for knotting, the old man didn’t say much about it.

“Knotting is just with one piece of string? How does the reading work?” Maoda was curious.

The old man looked down on him. “What do you know about divination?”

“Hehe! Don’t look down on me, you don’t know much either!” retorted Maoda.

“I don’t know?” the old man blew on his moustache. “The wood-string divination method I use is similar to the knot divination! Plus, mine is more accurate. For example, I did a reading for myself today that said there will be an incident today related to life and death.”

“Life and death, yet you speak of it like it’s nothing. You’re not worried?” Maoda didn’t believe him.

“Why should I? What will come, will come.” The old man was calm. “If you don’t believe me, you can stay and wait.”

Maoda frowned. What has your life and death got to do with me? I’d rather look at swords at the Gongjia house than wait for your death here.

“Let’s go, Shao Xuan. we should go to the Gongjia’s now. I heard they’re testing swords.” Maoda was impatient.

Shao Xuan did not stay but before he left, he told the old man, “Aren’t you tired, sitting here all day? You should head outside, walk towards the direction where the sun rises.”

“You don’t have to talk to him, the Yi family only trusts themselves,” said Black Bear, though he saw Shao Xuan toss something in his peripheral vision. It was some bits of yellowed grass like a broken piece of string.

As they left, the old man kept thinking about what the young man said.

Should he head out? This place was owned by the Yi family, they had their reputation. There were so many pairs of eyes here too so no one would steal.

He had been sitting a long time, might as well walk around.

He got up and walked out of the shop. In two steps, he looked up and thought hard. He turned around and walked in the direction of the sunrise.

He had taken eighty steps when he wondered if he should return after one hundred steps. Then he heard a rumble and the deafening cry of a mammoth.

A mammoth had gone crazy for some reason and was rushing from another street. It had smashed into several buildings, including the old man’s own shop.

Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh!

Sharp, deadly spears few like a storm, engulfing the mammoth.

Pfft---

Blood splattered.

In a second, the mammoth had turned into a porcupine. The smell of blood lingered.

People on the street did not scream, most of them leaning in to watch. Incidents like that were not rare but the unlucky ones could suffer-- for example one could have been crushed in the collapsed buildings, or stepped on, or many get stabbed by one of the spears.

The old man did not hear any of the conversations around him. He stared at the rubble that used to be his shop. There wasn’t even one wooden plank that was intact. Blood everywhere. If he hadn’t walked out…