Chapter 53 The Master, the Master Has Arrived

The capital city remained as bustling as ever, with people coming and going on the Xinghe Sky Bridge.

Shen Yuepo, carrying her worn-out cloth bag, turned into a familiar corner, but suddenly stopped in her tracks.

It was completely empty.

There was no longer her simple little stool, nor the cardboard sign that read "Infallible Predictions! No Money If It Doesn't Work!"

She then remembered that after being surrounded and attacked by vengeful ghosts yesterday, she had left her belongings in the alley, and they were probably thrown away as trash.

Just as Shen Yuepo was preparing to come back another day, someone in the crowd recognized her.

"Master, the master has arrived!" a middle-aged man shouted excitedly.

The sound was like a pebble thrown into a calm lake, instantly triggering a chain reaction.

The crowd that had been gathered in the corner turned around in unison, their eyes fixed intently on Shen Yuepo.

"Truly a master!"

"Master, you've finally arrived! We've been waiting all morning!"

"Quick! Make way for the master!"

The crowd spontaneously parted to both sides, revealing a passage leading straight to the corner.

To Shen Yuepo's surprise, someone had already made a simple sign out of cardboard.

The words "Queue Area" were written crookedly in marker above, with numbers marked next to them.

The queue wasn't too long, but it was very orderly.

Clearly, yesterday's events have already spread privately, and the crowd has spontaneously maintained order.

Shen Yuepo's cold gaze swept over the homemade queue sign and the expectant eyes of the crowd, and she walked to her usual spot without any expression.

"Same as always. Today, we will only perform three divinations."

A wave of suppressed sighs of disappointment swept through the crowd, but it quickly subsided, and no one dared to voice any objections.

At the very front of the line, with the number "1", was a tall man with an upright posture.

He looked to be in his thirties, with a tanned complexion from years of exposure to the elements, and his sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, revealing his strong and muscular physique.

He walked a few steps to Shen Yuepo, solemnly holding a photocopy of a police officer's ID card, and handed it to Shen Yuepo.

His hands were large with distinct knuckles, but at that moment, his knuckles were white from the exertion and he was trembling slightly.

Shen Yuepo formed a hand seal, creating a barrier so that outsiders could only see them but not hear what they were saying.

The man looked at Shen Yuepo gratefully and said:

"Master," his voice was low and hoarse, "please, you must help me! My wife is a narcotics officer named Chen Yin. Two months ago, she was in the southwest region participating in the arrest of a group of ruthless drug traffickers..."

"Mission failed. She's the only one in the entire squad who's missing. There's no trace of her, neither alive nor dead!"

He took a deep breath, as if suppressing the despair and pain churning in his chest, before he could continue speaking calmly:

"It's been two months. The police have used all their resources, including searching the mountains, conducting investigations, using technical means, and issuing reward notices. But she seems to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace."

"Master, I know you have real skills! I don't ask for anything else, I just ask you to point me in the right direction. Is she still alive? Where is she? Even if... even if there is only one in ten thousand chance, I will go to find her!"

Shen Yuepo's gaze fell on the photocopy of the police officer's ID card. The photo showed a short-haired woman with a bright smile and a determined look, exuding a heroic spirit.

The pain behind the strength of the families of anti-drug police officers is even more touching.

"Her birth date and time."

The man immediately recited a precise date and time, down to the last detail.

Shen Yuepo closed her eyes, made a hand seal with her fingertips, and silently chanted.

She held three simple copper coins in her palm and shook them gently, making a crisp clinking sound.

A moment later, she flipped her wrist, and the copper coins clattered onto her open cloth bag.

The hexagram consists of two parts: Gen (艮) above and Gen (艮) below, which represents a mountain. The hexagram signifies heaviness and obstruction, indicating a sense of being lost, but not necessarily a hopeless situation.

Shen Yuepo stared at the divination chart, her fingertips tracing the positions of the copper coins, then looked up towards the southwest, her eyes seemingly shimmering with a clear light that pierced through the mists of thousands of miles away.

She could even sense a faint but extremely tenacious life force, like a candle flickering in the wind, swaying stubbornly across the vast distance.

"She's not dead." She opened her eyes and uttered three words.

These three words struck the man like a thunderclap.

He trembled violently, abruptly raised his head, and stared at Shen Yuepo in disbelief.

Overwhelming joy instantly shattered the composure he had been trying to maintain on his face.

He clenched his teeth to keep the sob from escaping his throat, but his eyes instantly turned red, and tears welled up uncontrollably.

He tilted his head back, took several deep breaths, and barely managed to suppress his almost out-of-control emotions, though his voice trembled violently:

"Really?! Master, are you sure?!"

As Shen Yuepo removed the barrier, a murmur of discussion erupted from the surrounding crowd.

"What's wrong with this man that makes him so agitated?"

Shen Yuepo's gaze fell on the divination chart, and he pointed to one of the directions with his fingertip.

“Trapped in the mountains,” she continued. “Southwest, at the confluence of Kun and Gen. Deep within an underground river or an abandoned mine.”

The air was thick with moisture, the chill biting, and the scent of metallic ore veins interfered with the usual search.

She paused, as if trying to catch a more subtle clue.

"A clue to finding someone," she said, looking at the man who was so excited he was almost fainting, giving him a very specific direction:

"Head northeast and look for the tin mine shaft that was abandoned ten years ago. The entrance should be half-hidden by vines or a collapse, and there should be an unusually damp and cold air seeping from the ground. Her presence is deep within."

The man was already in tears, engraving every word Shen Yuepo said into his heart.

"Thank you, Master! Thank you so much!"

He could no longer contain himself and bowed deeply and perfectly to Shen Yuepo. "I'll go right away, I'll set off immediately!"

He turned to leave, but then said, "Wait a minute."

Shen Yuepo called out to him and pulled out a yellow talisman folded into a triangle from her cloth bag. "Keep it close to your body. When you are near her, this item may have a faint sense of her presence."

The man accepted the yellow talisman as if it were a priceless treasure, bowed deeply, and turned to rush down the overpass as fast as he could.

However, after taking only a few steps, he suddenly stopped, as if he had just remembered something extremely important.

He quickly turned back and asked eagerly, "Master, how much is the divination fee?"

Shen Yuepo's gaze remained calm. "Ten yuan."

"Ten...ten dollars?"