Chapter 222: The Marrying Maiden Oversteps the Time

Continuous heavy rain fell. Lu Xingzhou huddled in a mountain cave, lighting a fire, and nestled with Ah Nuo, roasting sweet potatoes. Ye Tinglan leaned against the cave entrance, eyes closed, resting, oblivious to everything.

Ah Nuo sniffled and grumbled, "She's not as good as Ah Lü. She could actually help." Lu Xingzhou shushed her, and Ah Nuo covered her mouth.

The old woman was not to be offended. Putting aside everything else, if it weren't for her, they would have faced continuous bloody battles after leaving the capital. While in the capital, it seemed safe because the Huo family or Prince Jin dared not cause trouble there, fearing public opinion—it was like dancing with their heads on the line. Once out of the capital, with the martial world in turmoil, no one would care how they died.

A significant reason Lu Xingzhou was willing to leave so quietly was to avoid being targeted. Since he hadn't reached the third rank, he couldn't fly, and he still traveled by wheelchair-glider, which was very slow and made him easy prey for pursuers. He considered Madam Ye a first-rank expert, but the opposing forces combined had several first-rankers. Furthermore, Madam Ye's previous battle ended with her suicide by a fanatic, which lowered Lu Xingzhou's estimation of her. It seemed like the usual weakness of a master alchemist: looking strong but lacking top-tier combat prowess. Still, even if she wasn't top-tier, she was a first-ranker, and if he didn't want to be hacked to death by a mob of armed thugs, he had to flatter her.

On the way, they passed a town, and he had wanted to find an inn for the night, but the old woman refused, insisting they press on. So, he had no choice but to continue flying in the wheelchair-glider. As a result, they encountered torrential rain by night, with visibility too low to travel safely. They had to land in the mountains and find a cave to spend the night. Ah Nuo's face was practically overflowing with resentment, knowing they could have stayed in an inn earlier. If they hadn't brought a few sweet potatoes, they wouldn't have had anything to eat.

"Ahem." Lu Xingzhou picked up a roasted sweet potato and offered it to Ye Tinglan, "Would you like some, sir? Just make do." Ye Tinglan didn't even open her eyes. "I don't need to eat."

"I can also go many days without eating... but isn't it a basic human habit? The appetite is there." Lu Xingzhou was trying to extract information, wondering how old the "sir" truly was. Shen Tang and Pei Chuyun had both reached the third rank while with him, yet they still ate afterwards, with Pei Chuyun even snatching buns from Ah Nuo. Only after prolonged cultivation would one gradually shed these human habits... This "sir" was very likely over a hundred years old.

Ye Tinglan didn't reply, simply saying, "There are only a few sweet potatoes; you and Ah Nuo should eat them yourselves.""Don't you think they smell delicious?""They don't smell like elixirs," Ye Tinglan said. "If you have time to roast sweet potatoes, you might as well refine an elixir."

What a boring old woman. Lu Xingzhou was planning to cultivate at this time anyway; he didn't need her to tell him. But people are strange: even when they want to cultivate, if a master sternly orders them to do so, they suddenly lose interest. Lu Xingzhou sat directly beside her, peeling the sweet potato, eating it with relish, and sighing contentedly.

Ye Tinglan opened her eyes, caught between laughter and tears. "Aren't you childish?""Just chatting," Lu Xingzhou said. "You only told me to travel west, but you still haven't said where we're going."

"I also need to divine and ascertain the location. Anyway, heading west is good for you, isn't it? Aren't you eager to return to Mount Danxia?""Yes. It's been four months, and I'm very curious about the sect's condition." Lu Xingzhou said, "Although you always treat me like the King of Hell's Palace, my sect is actually the Skyfaring Sword Sect, and I hope you'll change your perception of it in the future."

"What guest elder has this kind of belonging? If you had a formal position, outsiders' perceptions would be different. So, why didn't Shen Tang give you a formal position?" Lu Xingzhou smiled. "I'm still their landlord; why would I need a formal position? I'd rather be considered a partner. Shouldn't a partner have a sense of belonging?"

Of course, not giving him a formal position was to avoid clearly establishing a "subordinate-superior relationship," which would draw criticism from conservative people if they started a romance. How much better it was this way: they could be superiors and subordinates, allowing for "attack speed buffs," yet not truly be superiors and subordinates in a way that required public explanation. What business was it of anyone's if the sect leader and her landlord got together? It was just that Ah Tang's academic performance was too ideal, leaving no room for jokes.

"Partner..." Ye Tinglan's expression became slightly odd. If Shen Tang's goal was the throne, did he understand the value of a partner? Back then, the partners of the Gu clan ancestors were none other than their Skyjade Holy Land. Lu Xingzhou's mindset had been quite high from the start... He wasn't merely joining the Skyfaring Sword Sect, as outsiders might think.

"Here..." Lu Xingzhou still pulled off a small piece of sweet potato and held it to Ye Tinglan's mouth. It truly smelled delicious... Ye Tinglan, wearing her veil, looked at the sweet potato close by, a hint of hesitation in her eyes.

"Sir, you worry too much," Lu Xingzhou sighed. "Can't you just be a human?" How could such well-intentioned words sound so off-key? Ye Tinglan irritably took the sweet potato. "You're the one who isn't being human." Saying this, she lifted a corner of her veil and swiftly popped the sweet potato into her red lips.

He had seen her red lips before when she drank water, but seeing them now, glimpsed for a moment, they seemed especially alluring. Perhaps it was the torrential rain outside, the warm campfire inside, and the beauty like jade. Ye Tinglan, unaware that he was having such suggestive thoughts just from watching her eat, quickly sternly said, "All right, I've eaten. You go do what you need to do. I'll perform a quick divination."

Lu Xingzhou tilted his head and watched her for a moment. *Actually, you really want to be human, don't you...? What makes you flaunt it so subtly?* He said nothing more, simply stood up, and smiled, "Then I'll go cultivate. Speaking of which, you could also teach Ah Nuo how to divine."

Ye Tinglan sternly replied, "I'm merely a teacher at the Alchemy Academy, taking on alchemy apprentices, not a true master. Other skills are irrelevant to me." Ah Nuo, hugging her knees, said, "I don't even like learning it. Your divination skills definitely aren't great, at least not as good as your alchemy."

"?" Ye Tinglan laughed softly. "Reverse psychology won't work, little one." *It's not reverse psychology at all; you just can't see that you're about to be outsmarted.* Ah Nuo turned her head again to examine Ye Tinglan, but unfortunately, there was too much obscured now to see anything clearly.

"Trying to divine about me again?" Ye Tinglan chuckled. "How about this: you divine our fortune for this journey, and I'll see what level your divination skills are at." *She just said reverse psychology wouldn't work, so what is she doing now?* Ah Nuo grumbled inwardly. She reached for a handful of coins, casually tossed them, and looked at the resulting hexagrams on the ground. She calculated with her fingers, and her small face suddenly turned grim.

Ye Tinglan smiled. "What did you divine?""Zhen above Dui below, the Guimei hexagram," Ah Nuo said, feeling uneasy. The Guimei hexagram appeared related to marriage, but in fact, it could signify many things. Interpreted from the perspective of "fortune for this journey," it was an ominous hexagram. Guimei: Expedition is ominous, no advantage. Heaven and Earth do not connect, and nothing prospers. Compared to the other marriage-related "Jian" hexagram, which sounds auspicious with "wild geese gradually advancing," Guimei leads to nothing prospering, a stark difference.

Ye Tinglan glanced at it, unconcerned, and chuckled, "You can divine the six lines." Ah Nuo meticulously calculated for a long time, then scratched her head. "First Nine." First Nine: Guimei with a concubine, a lame person can walk, expedition auspicious. *Suddenly it became an auspicious hexagram, huh? So what's the point of divination anyway? Auspicious and ominous keep changing; any interpretation seems valid.* This hexagram would have been quite apt a few months ago, "a lame person can walk" fitting perfectly for her master. But now that her master wasn't lame anymore, what did this hexagram mean? And "di" (娣) had two interpretations: it could mean a concubine or a younger sister accompanying a bride as part of her dowry. What did it mean here... when she was divining fortune?

Ye Tinglan said coldly, "You're divining randomly. Were you actually thinking about our fortune, or just letting your mind wander when you were divining?" Ah Nuo still scratched her head, unsure.

"Never mind," Ye Tinglan said. "You're not very suited for divination... not because of a lack of talent, but because your mind isn't calm or sincere; you're too flighty. You can learn it for fun, but if you specialize in it, you might get into trouble." Ah Nuo said, "I was just playing around anyway. Master doesn't even like it, so I'm too lazy to learn."

Ye Tinglan looked at Lu Xingzhou but said nothing. Many cultivators disliked the path of divination, which she understood. However, divination was truly not the opportunistic, misleading practice that its detractors imagined. In many cases, it merely provided guidance or a hint to a confused mind, or simply offered psychological comfort.

She secretly performed a divination herself. This hexagram was a bit strange... it seemed to be constantly changing, or perhaps many of its elements fit. Such a changing hexagram shouldn't typically appear with the Guimei symbol; this hexagram should, by rights, be very stable... It was Lu Xingzhou who was a bit problematic; hexagrams involving him were often vague and subject to many changes, not something an ordinary person could divine. For example, Ah Nuo's "First Nine" wasn't wrong... it meant help would come, hence the auspicious expedition. As for marrying a concubine? Or a sister accompanying the bride? That was ridiculous.

The six lines rotated, finally settling on the Fourth Nine. Guimei delayed, late return at times. The will to delay means to wait and act. *Now this was right...* In terms of divining fortune, this indicated not to be hasty and to wait for the right moment. Although it might lead to delays, the appropriate opportunity would still arrive. This perfectly aligned with the journey's goal and initial prediction, providing the guidance not to rush—that was the value of divination. It seemed their original plan to return in a month was too early; the timeframe might need to be extended... She wasn't divining a marriage; the old woman wasn't getting married. Waiting to become an old woman just to find the right partner. *Who was divining that?*

Lu Xingzhou watched for a long time, completely baffled by the jumble of information, and then asked, "Sir, what's the verdict?""Of course, it's an auspicious hexagram." Ye Tinglan gave a brief explanation. "You're also a Daoist cultivator; you can't be completely ignorant of hexagrams. This divination isn't very deep, just a basic one. You could learn it; at least understand the concepts."

"I understand the basic concepts," Lu Xingzhou said, looking at the messy array. He thought to himself, *It's too much trouble. I know a similar hexagram statement, concise and clear at a glance: 'A withered poplar blossoms.'*