Chapter 6: A Fateful Encounter at the Pavilion

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Chapter 6: A Fateful Encounter at the Pavilion

As a mystic, choosing the right place to set up a stall was extremely important. This wasn’t ancient times, when Chen Yuan could simply carry a banner that read Ten Readings a Day—Chen the Half-Immortal and wander through the streets and alleys. A “Half-Immortal” was someone whose mastery had surpassed that of ordinary mortals, yet who ultimately remained a mortal himself.

As someone raised by an old Daoist, setting up a stall outside a temple didn’t feel quite right either. As for setting up in a busy commercial district, that was the sort of thing only low-class wandering mystics did. There might well be true masters hidden among the common people, but such places lacked a certain tranquility.

So after asking around, Chen Yuan brought Huo Jian to a park where setting up stalls wasn’t prohibited and settled there.

Calling it a park was a little misleading. It was very different from the parks Chen Yuan remembered. The place they had come to was clearly an exquisite classical garden. There were bridges over flowing water, green willows and red cherry blossoms, pavilions nestled among the trees, and carefully arranged rock formations. It was truly a beautiful sight.

Chen Yuan was pleasantly surprised. He had already realized that this world seemed to hold traditional things in high regard, but he hadn’t expected even an ordinary park to be like this. Judging by Huo Jian’s accustomed expression, parks like this must have been commonplace. The park’s feng shui layout was excellent as well. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed to have been arranged under the guidance of a master.

“These parks are all several hundred years old. They were built when Huaxia was founded. They built several hundred parks back then!” Huo Jian explained as he followed Chen Yuan along the path.

Chen Yuan raised an eyebrow and led Huo Jian straight to a pavilion in one corner of the park. This was the spot he had chosen for his fortune-telling stall. The small pavilion stood slightly higher than its surroundings, with relatively tall pillars that made it feel open and spacious. Trees grew thickly around it, including several parasol trees.

The sun had not yet risen. Looking at the lush trees around the pavilion, Chen Yuan noticed that there was a long stretch of open space facing east, with nothing tall blocking the view. Once the sun rose, its rays would shine directly into the pavilion.

Trees represented wood, and wood represented growth. Only with continuous growth could wealth flourish. Brightness and openness left no place for filth to gather, which meant prosperous fortune. The phoenix perched on the parasol tree, and a phoenix would never settle in a place without treasures, making parasol trees an auspicious sign as well. The open space to the east would welcome the morning light, whose upward-rising rays brought vitality. The pavilion might look unremarkable, but it was truly an excellent spot.

Finding such a suitable place first thing in the morning put Chen Yuan in a very good mood.

On the way to the park, Chen Yuan stopped at a convenience store that was open around the clock and bought some paper, pens, and other odds and ends. There was a stone table in the pavilion, so he used it to write “Physiognomy” and “Character Analysis” on a sheet of paper, then placed it closer to his side of the table. He then turned toward the east, facing the opening that would welcome the morning light. Crossing his legs, he closed his eyes and quietly rested.

Huo Jian sat in the pavilion and yawned. He was still sleepy from getting up so early. But the thought of going out with a true master to set up a fortune-telling stall had him so excited that he had managed to drag himself out of bed and follow Chen Yuan to the park.

Actually, Huo Jian found it rather strange. If they were setting up a fortune-telling stall, shouldn’t they have chosen somewhere crowded? But Chen Yuan had asked him from the very beginning to find a few quieter places. Huo Jian had no idea whether there was some particular reason for it. After all, he didn’t understand how any of these mysterious things worked.

The sky was only beginning to brighten. Sitting in the pavilion and watching Chen Yuan meditate, Huo Jian wondered whether he should go find some of the people doing their morning exercises in the park and bring a few of them over for a fortune-telling session.

The sun finally broke above the horizon. When the first ray of sunlight pierced the morning mist and fell into the pavilion, Chen Yuan suddenly opened his eyes and looked directly at the light, which was not yet bright enough to hurt his eyes.

Chen Yuan was a practitioner, not an immortal cultivator. He couldn’t absorb purple qi or anything else that sounded so mystical. But feeling the warm, expansive sensation of the morning light each day was enough. To align oneself with the will of Heaven and become one with nature, that was the true path of cultivation.

Feng shui was much the same. Feng shui existed because different things affected their surroundings, and the environment in turn affected people, for better or worse. Feng shui was the means of coordinating these influences and guiding them in a particular direction.

“Physiognomy?”

An unfamiliar voice sounded from the pavilion. Chen Yuan turned around and saw a tall man standing at the entrance, his eyes slightly narrowed as he looked over.

With the light behind him, Chen Yuan could clearly see the man’s features.

And inwardly, he couldn’t help sighing.

What a good face!

The man standing before him was exceptionally handsome, but that was naturally not why Chen Yuan considered him to have a good face. To Chen Yuan, a good face was one that reflected a favorable fate.

His forehead was broad and full, a sign of success at a young age. His glabella was suffused with healthy color, indicating that his fortune was at its peak. His thick eyebrows were neat and well-defined, long and fine, suggesting that his future was destined to be great and limitless.

His eyes were distinctly black and white, like ink on white paper, revealing a sharp and intelligent mind. His nose was full and straight, smooth and well-defined, neither turned upward nor exposed, with an even, continuous flow of qi. This was the face of a high-ranking official.

His cheekbones were full and rounded, complementing his nose perfectly and elevating his already excellent features. His philtrum was deep and long, and his lips were shaped like a boat, all signs of a smooth and prosperous life.

This face alone was enough to prove that the man before him was no ordinary person!

Chen Yuan studied him for only a moment before calmly saying, “There’s no need to read your face any further. You’re clearly destined for great wealth and status.”

“Great wealth and status? You can tell just from that?” Yu Shenliu found it rather amusing. He hadn’t expected that on the rare occasion he got up early to take a walk and get some fresh air in the park, he would stumble upon something like this. And the young man sitting across from him had taken one look at his face and declared that he was destined for wealth and status.

“Hehe.” Chen Yuan smiled faintly and said nothing more. He tapped the sheet of paper on the table. “Unfortunately, I don’t have enough tools with me to calculate your chart properly. But would you like to have a character analyzed?”

He was much more proactive than usual. Normally, Chen Yuan wouldn’t take the initiative to solicit customers. But this man was different.

Unlike Huo Jian, whom he had simply run into by chance on the street, Chen Yuan had deliberately chosen this relatively quiet park. Any customer who could still cross paths with him in a place like this was unlikely to share a shallow fate with him. In other words, he could probably get quite a bit out of them.

And after seeing the man’s face, Chen Yuan became even more certain of his judgment. With a face like that, how could he be an ordinary person? The sooner he caught this big fish, the sooner he could carry out his plans.

Sitting beside them and completely ignored by the two, Huo Jian first stared at Yu Shenliu in confusion. Then a look of surprise slowly appeared on his face. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but the two of them had such a strong presence that he couldn’t find a way to interrupt, so he silently swallowed his words.

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