“What does it even mean?” Rouxi asked.

“Well, it basically means you’ll probably do fine either way,” the taoist priest replied. “You have many interests and are hesitant about narrowing your focus. But whatever topics you do pick, you'll devote your studies to it. You’re a high achiever, aren’t you? Just be cautious in the future...”

Rouxi chuckled, seemingly satisfied by the vague answer. She then looked at Li Yun, “Want to give it a try?”

Li Yun nodded, he was interested. The taoist priest had a better knowledge of divination than he initially thought. Although his words were vague, Li Yun also felt that he was holding back a bit.

“Is he practicing?” Li Yun thought.

A diviner needed to have a good understanding of the social and cosmological laws of the world. Divination was more than fortune-telling; it was about probability, cause and effect, and decision-making. By understanding the client's state of mind and the type of question that was asked, a good diviner was able to use a telescope to see further ahead of the path than what their client could see. It was why diviners were well respected in the past by kings and leaders.

Diviners often recorded their predictions and later generations would review them to gauge how accurate the predictions were. Over the course of a thousand years, there were certain lineages of diviners who retained such accuracy that it could be described as miraculous and mysterious. In other words, diviners were extremely good chessmasters (go players.)

“So, young man, what would you like to div?” the Taoist asked.

“If I shift my focus to feng shui, will I proceed further in my mission?” Li Yun asked.

Li Yun hadn’t been neglecting the study of feng shui, but like divination and TCM, it was complex and required a lineage and master to truly understand the esoteric way of thinking. The Taoist priest thought it was one of the more unusual questions he had encountered.

“Yo, you’re also a practitioner?” the Taoist asked.

Li Yun tilted his head, but he didn’t know what he was, “Are you studying under a lineage?”

“Yeah, I’m from the Shui Sect. The name's Lihom.”

“Li Yun,” Li Yun reached out his hand to shake Lihom’s hand.

Lihom’s dantian was interesting. He may be the first person Li Yun had encountered with a dantian around 20% larger than most people. The triangle wasn’t even and it looked like he focused on qi and jing, but his shen was quite average.

“So, what lineage are you from?” Lihom asked.

“I mainly study TCM under Dr. Yi Bao.”

Lihom nodded. He wasn’t aware of people in the TCM world, but many lineages were quite small and hidden. It wasn’t like they advertised themselves on TV or the internet. He often asked his master to join in on UTube, but his master refused to have anything to do with technology.

“How much do you know about divination?” asked Lihom.

“Just the basics from reading the I, Ching.”

Despite reading it, Li Yun could not divine anything. There were many reasons. First, the original was lost, and the earliest example of the I, Ching was not the original I, Ching. Second, there were many versions found throughout history. Changes were made by editors either intentionally or because it was an attempt to fill in the gaps. Written in seal scripts, many words were not understood by modern society. Third, the nature of the hexagrams itself was open for interpretation. As the name suggests, the readings were based on the questions and the subjects. The same hexagram could be auspicious or an omen depending on the person’s questions.

The hexagram also changed in accordance with the time and hierarchy. When the writers in ancient times wrote their predictions, it was based on their particular circumstances. As society changed, so was the need to interpret the hexagram based on changes of the time.

Lihom nodded, “Okay, I’ll help out a fellow practitioner.”

Lihom took out his coins and began to mumble a couple of words. Li Yun wasn’t sure what he was saying, but it sounded closer to Cantonese or a language from the southern region. Lihom threw the coins onto his stand. Li Yun wasn’t sure what method the taoist was using, but he calculated in his own head based on whatever method that was taught to him.

9,9,9,6,6 and -. The taoist stared in shock at the coin closest to him. It had broken in half, with one half tail and the other half head. The coins were made from cheap plastic, but still...

“Uh…” Lihom scratched his head and then examined Li Yun once again. “You’re not some secret master trying to act clueless?”

Li Yun laughed. “I don’t think I’m a secret master. Do you think I can meet your master?”

“Hold up, let me call him up,” Lihom took out his phone and dialed his master up. “Hey, I found a practitioner who would like to meet-- No I didn’t encounter a fraud- No I didn’t give him money -- What’s up man, I’m not a child- My coin broke when I did his div. Yes, Yes, okay.” Lihom hung up the phone and looked at Li Yun. “Master Gen said you can visit him, but lives near the city center.”

Lihom quickly packed up his things.

“You’re going to pack up already, didn’t you just come here?” asked Rouxi.

“Master Gen said this is important and I should escort Master Yun to see him,” Lihom said as he placed his foldable table into a large backpack.

"When did I suddenly become a master?" Li Yun thought.

****

Li Yun drove toward the city center, following the route that Lihom had sent him on Ourchat.

“You don’t think any of this is odd?” Li Yun asked Rouxi on the way to visit Master Gen.

Rouxi shook her head. “Yun, that taoist…”

Li Yun nodded. “What did you see when you saw Lihom?”

He had guessed that her intention to greet Lihom wasn’t for fortune telling.

“His aura is really odd. When it comes to potential, I gauge it by the glow of their inner spirit. When I see him, I don’t think his glow is particularly strong, but the size is bigger than most people.”

Li Yun wondered if she could see directly into a person’s dantian and soul of a person. Although he could see people’s dantian, their potential wasn’t linked with it.

“Have you seen anyone with a strong aura?” Li Yun wondered who else had a special aura.

Rouxi thought about the people she had met so far, “Master Yi Bao, and a few people, but their auras are only slightly bigger. Lihom is definitely noticeably bigger, but his glow is weaker.” She looked at him. “Yun, are you cultivating something?”

Li Yun wondered if she could sense him getting stronger. As he pulled into the street, he parked the car and looked at her. “Have you heard about my missions from Wu Ling?”

She nodded. Wu Ling didn't say much, but as a criticism toward Li Yun, she would say he had suffered from fifth grade syndrome.

“I’m not sure if this is Taoist cultivation, but every time I complete the mission, I feel like I am getting stronger.”

Whatever tasks the systems had given him, it was meant to improve his mentality and body. For the exact purpose, he hadn’t been able to figure it out. It was possible that the system was a lost Taoist cultivation lineage. He could not remember when it had started, and when he asked his parents, they couldn’t remember it as well.

“So it’s not as useless as you say,” Rouxi mused.

Li Yun laughed. “I never said it was useless.”

“Yes you did. Lingling said you were always complaining about how useless your system was.”

Li Yun laughed again, and then looked at the heavy statue in his hand. “Look, it’s still useless. What sort of system has no inventory box?”