Witch Wind

Chapter 374 The Heavenly Contract (Part 1)

Xing Tianli carefully examined the Heavenly Calculator.

He didn't use any Taoist magic or supernatural powers to dispel illusions, break evil, or sweep away falsehoods. Beings of this rank are probably on par with the World Mother Tree, and any means used against them would be ineffective.

If someone wants you to see something, just obediently and attentively watch.

"So, why me?" Xing Tianli changed his approach.

"Well, how should I put it..." The fortune teller's hand trembled, and the title on the cover of "The Analects" changed to the four characters "Sun Tzu's Art of War." He picked up the book and used it as a fan to fan his face. He pondered for a while and then slowly said, "According to my rules, you have to pay for any question you ask."

"But, considering that dog from earlier, and your connection with him... he still has a large sum of money with me, and he just throws it away like that. He's quite arrogant."

"Consider his half as payment for keeping you company while we chat; that's a reasonable price."

"So, it's very simple. I don't know who those unlucky Tarot people will run into, but whoever they run into, that person will be the one with the strongest luck and the most unpredictable fate among all the intelligent beings that Tarot people will encounter in the near future."

The fortune teller chuckled slyly: "It's like a tarot reader is pulling a cart. I'm asking them to precisely roll over a tiny pebble with the wheel in the thick fog. That's very difficult."

"However, in the thick fog, there is a mountain that is thousands of miles high and stretches for tens of thousands of miles... I want this guy pulling the cart to crash into this mountain and say hello to it. It's that simple!"

Steam filled the well, and a vivid picture appeared before Xing Tianli's eyes—in the picture, a panting Tarot man was pulling a rickshaw, running wildly through the thick fog. He ran and ran and ran, until with a 'bang,' he crashed headfirst into the cliff of a towering mountain, his face bruised and swollen, and all his teeth shattered.

Well, it's really fresh.

Xing Tianli coughed lightly. This fortune teller had quite a wicked sense of humor.

Once the shimmering water had dissipated, Xing Tianli looked at the Heavenly Calculator: "So, the person you're looking for with such good fortune and unpredictable destiny is me? What brings you here?"

The fortune teller put down his book, took a deep drag on his cigarette, raised his head, and slowly exhaled a smoke ring.

He pulled out a small cake from somewhere, its white cream topped with—cough cough, adorned with a few grasshoppers, bee pupae, and other insects. He took out a small fork and ate the cake piece by piece, smacking his lips constantly, his large tongue darting around his mouth, splashing lots of saliva.

Xing Tian stared at it for a long time.

That day, the fortune teller seemed to have gotten addicted to the cake. He munched on that small piece of cake for a full quarter of an hour before finally sticking out his big tongue and licking the porcelain plate that held the cake, before swallowing the whole plate into his mouth with satisfaction.

Xing Tianli glanced sideways: "You're eating?"

The fortune teller raised an eyebrow: "How rare! I'm a living, breathing human being. If I don't eat, what am I supposed to do with the wind?"

Xing Tianli rolled his eyes.

A living person?
The skin on your body looks like that of a living person.

Eating... Ha, do you, such an unfathomable old monster, even need to eat? Drinking the northwest wind would be a great tonic for you, wouldn't it?
He continued, "So, why did you come to me?"

The fortune teller flicked his hand and pulled out a sugarcane, as thick as a wrist and over ten feet long. No one knew what the sugarcane was made of or what it tasted like, but he gnawed on it as if it were a real person.

He took a couple of bites, chewed for a while, and then spat out the sugarcane residue all over the ground with a "pui" sound.

So, this guy gnawed on the sugarcane for a full fifteen minutes without uttering a sound.

Xing Tianli rolled his eyes repeatedly—he finally understood why the jackal-headed god had been squatting by the well curb, staring blankly into the depths of the well for so long, just to watch this guy slack off.
Having gnawed on more than half a sugarcane, the fortune teller lazily yawned, looked up, glanced at Xing Tianli, and suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Huh? You're still here?"

Xing Tianli was so angry that he almost summoned Pangu's incarnation and poured a hundred million Chaos Creation Divine Thunders into the well.

He gave a dry laugh: "Why should I leave when we haven't figured anything out yet?"

The fortune teller sighed: "Since you don't want to leave, then follow the rules... If you want something, you have to put your price down. How am I supposed to know what you want if you don't put down any money?"

The fortune teller muttered, "You're quite strange. You've come all this way to a place for business, yet you're just standing there dumbfounded. It doesn't make any sense. Could you be mentally challenged?"

Xing Tianli was so angry he almost collapsed. He gritted his teeth and said, "You... fine, yes, I came to the Black Abyss on my own initiative. Ha, but now that I'm here, I'm overwhelmed with worries and don't know what you can do to help me... Hmm, tell me."

Xing Tianli pointed his finger, and with a 'whoosh,' a large amount of silver coins transformed into a torrent, rushing into the well. He said softly, "I once heard the word 'mayfly' from a senior... but those who are called mayflies are the most powerful saints at the pinnacle of my world."

"This humble Taoist wishes to understand how the levels of cultivation are actually divided?"

The astrologer beamed as he watched the silver coins rain down upon him. He stood up, swaying his plump body with glee, letting the coins pelt his smooth, yellow-green striped form.

He hopped around triumphantly, even croaking a song.

After a while, Xing Tianli calculated that the silver coins he had poured in were enough to fill the well, which was less than six feet in diameter and only about ten feet deep, ten thousand times. Only then did the fortune teller clap his hands in satisfaction: "That's enough, that's enough. It's the first time we've done business together, so giving you a discount is more than enough."

"That's all... Don't throw any more in, cough, you'll have more questions and more trouble later, then we'll talk about it." The fortune teller patted his chubby belly, and the silver coins he threw into the well quickly disappeared. Soon the well was empty, leaving only the thick straw mat and a book whose cover had been changed to "Jin Ping Mei".

Xing Tianli looked at the book and sighed silently.

What kind of supernatural power did this guy use to turn the title of the book he was looking at into an object he was familiar with?
Nonsence.

Xing Tianli was completely unfamiliar with "Jin Ping Mei" and had no idea that such a book existed—the methods of this fortune teller were truly unbelievable.

“Well, it’s actually quite easy to explain.” The fortune teller sat down on the grass again.

He was munching on sugarcane, juice splashing from his mouth. Light and shadow flickered in front of him, and the image appearing in the light and shadow was a primordial world embryo, in which an innate being of unbelievably enormous size was being conceived.

With a loud bang, the primordial being sprang out of the primordial embryo.

He wielded his enormous companion spirit weapon, frantically slashing at the surrounding chaos, gradually devouring it, expanding the primordial embryo's size, and slowly enhancing its foundation. The primordial embryo's power caused Him, who was intimately connected to it, to rapidly grow stronger as well.

"This scene doesn't seem unfamiliar, does it?"

The astrologer said softly, "In the boundless void, there are countless dimensions, immeasurable space, and immeasurable time... but the birth of a world is roughly like this."

"Although the creation of heaven and earth and the birth of life vary in appearance, temperament, power and so on, depending on the strength of the world's origin and the different attributes of the world... in the end, it is all the same thing."

"Immeasurable dimensions, immeasurable time, immeasurable space... the boundless and unfathomable spacetime is like a vast ocean... and each newly born world is a pond. You understand what I'm saying, right? If you don't, please turn around and leave. I don't do business with fools."

Xing Tianli was so angry his eyes were practically steaming. This bastard…

Well, the fact that He has managed to stay safely in the Black Abyss for so many years without being killed by passing guests is quite an achievement.

Exhaling a deep breath, Xing Tianli smiled and nodded emphatically: "This humble Taoist has a little bit of comprehension."

The Celestial Calculator glanced at Xing Tianli and sighed softly, "Don't think I'm cursing. It's just that some races have a bit of a quirk... Let alone ordinary races, some innate deities born at the beginning of time, cough cough, some of them only have heads, not brains."

"They are stupid, extremely stupid. Sometimes, I even want to break my vow and beat them into mincemeat, wrap them in pies and eat them... It really infuriates me."

Xing Tianli was taken aback.

Is such a thing really true? Are there really races so stupid that they couldn't even understand what you just said? Or are they primordial deities who created the world? Could there really be such stupid primordial deities?
The Celestial Calculator glanced sideways at Xing Tianli, his large tongue slurring in his mouth, making strange smacking sounds: "You, you, you don't know how lucky you are... But no wonder... your life force is so immature, you probably haven't lived that long, have you? How many strange and unusual races have you seen?"

"And me? Let's not talk about my past. It's too painful to recall. It's truly heartbreaking to think about... Just tell me, how many years have I stayed in this hellish place, Black Abyss?"

With its webbed paws, the creature began to count, muttering to itself.

Xing Tianli watched this fellow quietly. The way he counted was just as 'naive' as a kindergarten underachiever... After a long, long time, this fellow pulled out thousands of blades of grass from the pile of grass under his buttocks and arranged them into all sorts of strange symbols.

Finally, He raised His head and gave Xing Tianli a number comparable to the 'Gregorian number'.

"I've been in the Black Abyss for so many years. Can you guess how many strange and unusual races I've encountered in all that time?"

“Countless races. But those with wisdom are few; those with sufficient wisdom are extremely rare; those with relatively profound wisdom are heartbreakingly few; those who can reach…” The Celestial Calculator looked at Xing Tianli, his eyes flashing, his expression becoming very strange: “You are the only one. How many races have I seen with wisdom high enough to be similar to your race, to the point of mastering great supernatural powers like ‘Creation of Void’ and ‘Creation of Life’?”

Xing Tianli's heart clenched violently.

"rare?"

While answering the diviner, Xing Tianli began to recall the concept of 'Gregor's number'—he let out a deep breath, what a monstrous number, huh... In his previous life, as a liberal arts student, Xing Tianli scoffed at concepts like 'Gregor's number'. In his previous life, Xing Tianli firmly believed that such things were heresy and should not exist in the humanities world!
In this life, by sheer luck, his cultivation level soared and his immortal soul expanded. After his immortal soul had been greatly enhanced, it took Xing Tianli a tenth of a snap of his fingers to finally understand what the 'Ge Liheng Number' really was!

Nonsence!

After figuring out the 'Gregorian Number' with his Great Luo Immortal Soul, Xing Tianli cursed inwardly. Then, a chill ran down his spine, and goosebumps rose all over his body—this guy before him had actually survived an era of the 'Gregorian Number' in the Black Abyss? Heavens above, he was still mentally sound, and hadn't turned into a mad, murderous maniac?
Uh, maybe He already is?
Xing Tianli's face twitched: "Could it be that the 'Manipulating Creation' divine power is so rare?"

The Celestial Calculator rolled his eyes at Xing Tianli and said in a low voice, "You don't understand at all. Life is very common in the boundless space and time... Life is an extremely lowly thing, not worth mentioning... Wisdom, and the great light of the Great Dao derived from wisdom, are the most precious and rare treasures."

“Such a long time, I have seen countless races that I can’t even remember… In the Black Abyss, I have received so many guests, like you, races that possess… oh, the ability to ‘manipulate creation,’ plus the intelligent race behind you…” The Celestial Calculator stretched out his right palm—He happily transformed his hand into the shape of a human palm.

"Five?" Xing Tianli's pupils shrank, and he hissed in horror.

With a 'crack', four of the fortune teller's five fingers split open vertically. He laughed gleefully, "Wrong, it's nine... Hahaha, you're not very smart, you silly boy. I clearly showed you nine fingers, how could you see five?"

Xing Tianli's lips twitched repeatedly, as he desperately wanted to slap the Tongtian Seal directly onto Xing Tianli's forehead.

Asshole!
You clearly extended five fingers, but suddenly they split into nine—ha, hehe, if you keep doing this, Xing Tianli could extend a single finger and split off the fingers of 'Gregor's number,' do you believe it or not!

The fortune teller withdrew his hand, shook it, and it transformed back into a webbed frog's paw.

He took out a second sugarcane and happily munched on it. His gaze was melancholy as he fell into deep thought. And so, a long, long, long time passed... Xing Tianli finally couldn't hold back any longer. After the sugarcane residue that this thing spat out almost buried his entire body, Xing Tianli said in a deep voice, "Nine, I understand."

The fortune teller looked up and laughed heartily: "That's right, you wanted to ask me, and if you didn't play along, where would I get the motivation to tell you the story? For an intelligent people, communication is key, isn't it?"

After chuckling a few times, the astrologer waved his hand, and the pile of sugarcane residue disappeared. He then took out a piece of cream cake decorated with dried insects and began to nibble on it: "Nine. Including you, I have seen nine races with this ability... Of course, there are other races that have similar but not identical abilities."

"But the real supernatural power to create things out of thin air with just a drop of blood, and even to give them a soul, is only nine..."

Xing Tianli was about to complain that the natives of the March World seemed to have also mastered the ability to create physical bodies within the cultivation chamber.

But upon closer examination, did the abilities of those natives of the March World truly originate from their own civilization? More likely, they acquired the relevant knowledge and skills from the human alliance.

After all, some ordinary low-level cultivators among the demonic cultivators have mastered the skill of creating flesh and blood puppets.

Moreover, the natives of the March World do not seem to have developed souls in the physical bodies they created—while the bodies that Xing Tianli just gave to the Jackal Head Outer God did have a wisp of innate spirituality.

Therefore, the fortune teller was right.

This ability is truly rare!
But nine...

This is too little.

"Incredible wisdom, incredible creation, and the incredible foundation of your world have created such exceptionally intelligent beings as you, making you, though clearly acquired beings, possess the supernatural power to create life."

The diviner murmured, "Nine. I remember it very clearly. There are only nine such intelligent races."

"Hmm, the other eight races didn't fare very well either." The fortune teller said softly, "Excessive wisdom leads to a short life, and too much wisdom inevitably results in an early death... Those eight races, tsk, before they could even shine, they... 'crack'!"

The fortune teller shook his head: "Well, we've gone off on a tangent. Let's get back to the point. You're smart enough to understand what I just said, which is very good, excellent."

He stuffed the whole cake into his mouth, clapped his hands, took out a jar of fine wine, and took a sip with a happy grin—he took out a small wine cup and began to pour himself a drink.

Xing Tianli asked very cooperatively, "So, the Boundless Spacetime is a boundless ocean, and each world is a primordial embryo that gives birth to a world. Whether it is a great world or an ordinary star, it is just a small pond."

The fortune teller smiled broadly: "Not bad, very clever... Hmm, little pond."

"What can grow in a small pond? Water plants, small shrimp, snails, small fish..." the fortune teller said softly, "It's nothing more than these things. Water plants, snails, and small shrimp, needless to say, no matter how long they live, they can never know what's outside the pond... Their final fate is to turn into mud and become nutrients for the pond."

"Little fish... some little fish, they jumped and struggled. Hmm, not bad, they leaped out of the water and glanced into the distance. However, their eyesight is limited, and even though they leaped out of the water, they couldn't see very far."

"Only the lucky mayfly!"

"Even if they are weak, even if they live only a day... they are truly extraordinary beings... they have wings, they have left the pond... they spread their wings and fly high, and if they are lucky enough, they can fly farther and see more!"

"Of course, the greatest fortune of mayflies is that they can spread their 'seeds' to more worlds, thus having more possibilities!"

(End of this chapter)