At this moment, the fortune teller glanced at him, stood up, and bowed, saying, "Please take a seat, sir!"
Zaun's current identity is the Dragon King, and he himself is the regent of various races. He already has the majesty of a superior, so he naturally sat at the head of the table.
The people around him were amazed by his extraordinary demeanor.
After the servant boy served tea, the fortune teller named Yuan Shoucheng asked, "What brings you here, sir?"
Zu An glanced at the arrogant couplets in the room and replied, "Please, sir, divine the weather in the heavens."
The body's memories told him that the Jinghe Dragon King was in charge of controlling the clouds and rain in this region, and no one knew this better than him.
Yuan Shoucheng rolled up his sleeves, threw out a few divination sticks, observed them carefully for a while, and replied: "Clouds obscure the mountaintop, mist shrouds the treetops. If you are divining for rain, it will surely come tomorrow."
Zu'an pressed on, "When will it rain tomorrow? How much rain will it bring?"
This guy actually put on a convincing act. He knew that some fortune tellers in his past life liked to give ambiguous answers, so naturally they wouldn't give him that opportunity.
The fortune teller calmly replied, "Tomorrow at Chen hour (7-9 AM), clouds will gather; at Si hour (9-11 AM), thunder will rumble; at Wu hour (11 AM-1 PM), rain will fall; and by Wei hour (1-3 PM), the rain will stop, yielding a total of three feet, three inches, and forty-eight points of water."
Just as Zu An was about to say something, he suddenly felt an irrepressible urge and laughed, "This is no joke. If it rains tomorrow, I will give you fifty taels of silver as a token of my gratitude, according to the time and amount you predicted. If it doesn't rain, or if it doesn't rain according to the time and amount, I will tell you the truth: I will definitely smash your shop, tear down your signboard, and drive you out of Chang'an immediately, so you won't be allowed to mislead people here!"
After saying that, Zu'an was stunned. Although what he said made sense, something felt off, as if he had been bewitched.
An ordinary person might not be able to perceive the difference, but with his current level of cultivation and knowledge, he was keenly aware of the anomaly.
Yuan Shoucheng readily replied, "This is certainly at your discretion. Please, please. We'll meet again tomorrow after the rain."
Zu'an left the Yuan residence and fell into deep thought on the way.
Perhaps others who come to this time slice will subconsciously think that they have to defeat this fortune teller, drive him out of Chang'an City, and protect the aquatic creatures in the Dragon Palace from harm in order to complete their mission. However, he sensed something was wrong through the anomaly just now.
Is this really the way to win?
Before they knew it, they had returned to the banks of the Jing River, where ministers from various aquatic tribes came out to greet them: "How was Your Majesty's visit to the fortune teller?"
Zu'an recounted the conversation between the two to the ministers, who all burst into laughter: "His Majesty is the Grand Administrator of the Eight Rivers and the Great Dragon God in charge of rain. Only His Majesty knows whether it will rain or not. How dare he spout such nonsense? That fortune teller must have lost! He must have lost!"
Zu An couldn't laugh. He had always found it strange that the reason he made the bet with that man surnamed Yuan was because even he, the one who controlled the rain, didn't know if it would rain tomorrow. It was obvious that the fortune teller was destined to lose.
But he felt something was wrong, to the point that the hairs on his body stood on end.
This keen intuition was honed through his frequent exposure to life-or-death crises and his integration with the abilities of the "Book of Records".
But where exactly does the danger come from?
Could there be a hidden danger in tomorrow's bet? But even if I lose, so what?
A group of aquatic ministers were mocking the sorcerer surnamed Yuan for being blind to the greatness of the Dragon King and daring to show off his limited skills in front of him. They were all beaming with pride.
Zuan's unease grew stronger. This wasn't the kind of villain in novels who would ridicule and mock others to incite hatred, and who would be as smug as the protagonist in the beginning as he was in a miserable state later on.
So after all that, I've become the villain?
Who is the main character?
What about Yuan Shoucheng?
But shouldn't the protagonist be a teenager? That guy is an old man who's about to die. I really can't see any protagonist aura in him.
Zaun was getting a little annoyed. This kind of trial was really frustrating. There were no mission guidelines or mission objectives, and how to pass the test was entirely up to him to guess.
Just then, a voice suddenly came from mid-air: "Jing River Dragon King, receive the decree."
Everyone looked up and saw a golden-clad warrior holding the Jade Emperor's edict, heading straight for the Water Palace.
Zu An was stunned. It really was the Heavenly Court!
This golden-clad warrior shimmered with golden light and possessed an aura of holiness, suggesting he was a powerful being above the Earth Immortal level.
If a messenger is this powerful, I wonder what level of power the Jade Emperor must be.
Is there anyone in the entire Heavenly Court more powerful than the Heavenly Emperor?
Regardless, he at least realized one thing: the Heavenly Court was far beyond his current cultivation level to contend with, and he absolutely could not become its enemy.
At this moment, the minister beside him hurriedly reminded him, and Zu'an then straightened his clothes, burned incense, and received the imperial decree.
After the golden-clad warrior left, Zu An opened the imperial edict and read: "By imperial decree, the commander of the eight rivers is commanded to drive thunder and lightning; tomorrow, rain will be bestowed to universally benefit Chang'an City."
The time and number in the decree were exactly the same as the one the gentleman had predicted.
Zu An was terrified. No wonder he had been uneasy before; the problem lay here.
At this moment, the many ministers of the aquatic tribes looked at each other in bewilderment, and many of them sighed, "There are such spiritual beings in the mortal world! They can truly understand the heavens and the earth! It seems that we are doomed to lose this time."
At this moment, the strategist said, "Your Majesty, rest assured. What difficulty is there in defeating him? I have a plan that will surely silence that scoundrel."
Zu An glanced at him and said expressionlessly, "Tell me what you have to say."
The strategist said, "The rain was delayed and the amount was slightly less. It's just that the divination was inaccurate. I'm afraid we won't be able to beat him. What's so difficult about smashing his signboard and making him run away?"
The ministers all praised the idea, and the strategist, Shad, also looked quite pleased with himself.
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