"You all practice your techniques first, my disciple is here to see me."
The old man walked out triumphantly, and when he saw Xinghe, his face scrunched up with a wide grin.
"Why did Xingxing come today?"
Xinghe found a secluded spot, her smile fading. She looked at the old man with a serious expression, "Why did you die? Why did you owe so many merit points? What does all this have to do with me?"
The old man's mustache twitched uncomfortably. "Why bring this up again? I've already said I died of old age; the merit points were an accident."
"You're lying again."
Xinghe's beautiful cat-like eyes held no smile; her face was stern. "If you won't tell me, I'll find out myself."
"You can divine the secrets of heaven, and so can I. I can afford the backlash."
Xinghe immediately made a starting gesture.
"You little brat! Do you think you can just peek into the secrets of heaven? Are you out of your mind?!"
Master Suiyuan grabbed Xinghe's hand, his face showing a hint of fear.
"Then Master, tell me what you divined back then."
The old man looked somewhat dejected, picking at his fingers with a hint of resistance.
“Master, we are running out of time. I don’t believe you can’t sense that this world is collapsing.”
"Okay, okay."
The old man lowered his eyes and said, "I'm just trying to prevent the use of language."
“You can’t fool me, Master. I just want to know the whole truth.”
The old man was starting to give up. "This is so annoying! Who's the master here, you or me?"
After a moment, the old man said, "You were too young back then, so you probably don't remember much. Ever since I found you, you've had a lot of bad luck."
"Although my ghost-catching skills are average, I have lived in Fuyun Temple for so many years and have dealt with most of the evil spirits around here. Since you came, the number of evil spirits and vengeful ghosts around here has increased several times, and they all come after you."
“When you were two or three years old, didn’t I make you a small wooden sword? It was passed down from your grandmaster and could conceal your body’s aura.”
“After that, there were slightly fewer geniuses around you keeping an eye on you.”
"But you've also been constantly getting sick, both major and minor, and it became even more noticeable when you were in your teens."
The old man clasped his hands together. “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to support you, so I secretly performed divination twice. Because of your identity, the first divination failed, and I performed it again later.”
He looked up at the starry sky. "The divination shows that your life was already over."
But Xinghe was still alive. Master Suiyuan refused to believe in this superstition and traveled to countless places, trying to find a solution.
Later, he found a way to exchange his life for his own.
He gave his life to save Xinghe's.
He spoke vaguely, "I found a way, but it went against the will of Heaven, and I owed a lot of merit points. Then my lifespan ended, and I came to the underworld. That's how it is."
Xinghe stared intently at him, then reached out and divined the old man's fate.
She couldn't divine anything further, but she could clearly see that the old man's fate was completely different from before.
She had read his face before.
"The art of changing fate." Xinghe's eyelashes fluttered slightly, and his heart was gripped tightly.
Her eyes felt a little hot, and she didn't look at Master Suiyuan.
"And then, there must be something else you're hiding from me."
"without--"
Before the old man could finish speaking, Xinghe raised his hand, trying to forcefully spy on him.
"Fine, fine, I give up."
The old man was also troubled; he had no temper whatsoever with the child he had raised.
"After... I swapped lives, I saw a bit of your past and present lives."
The old man looked conflicted, and Xinghe withdrew the warmth from his eyes.
She hesitated, "Was I something shameful in my past life?"
"No! You weren't human in your past life."
"ah?"
"You should be considered part of the world consciousness."
Having said all that, the old man had nothing left to hide: "Some of the people of the Heavenly Cult are right, the lifespan of this world has come to an end."
"It was created by the Heavenly Dao to be the executor of cleansing this world."
"In the previous life, this world did not last until now. Unnatural events broke out overnight, and all the land fell. You were originally just a wisp of consciousness, but the wailing everywhere, the devastation and the immense grief awakened you."
"You couldn't bear to see all living beings perish, so you sacrificed yourself to bring about this cycle of reincarnation."
"From the perspective of Heaven, you are a heretic, and it wants to eliminate you, so you have been plagued by misfortune since birth."
Premature birth, torrential rain, chaotic power outages, being replaced, and everything that followed.
Even Sheng Yue was a pre-arranged thief, stealing everything that belonged to Xinghe from him.
Xinghe was silent for a moment. Just when Daoist Suiyuan thought she was too stimulated, Xinghe's eyes lit up. "I was so awesome in my past life."
Old man: ……
Sometimes it's quite speechless.
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