Not far away, a young woman carried a bucket to the riverbank and whispered, "Celestials won't cheat us mortals of our money. To them, our money is useless. Even if we sell our city, it won't help them."
Lu Yin nodded and took a sip of his drink, "That's right. Mortals and celestials are too far apart." He sighed and looked at the young woman, "How about I read your fortune for free?
You won't lose out anyway. "
The woman looked at Lu Yin in confusion and then lowered her head, not daring to speak.
Lu Yin did not force the issue and continued drifting. The river flowed very slowly, and the dense seaweed on both sides formed a green bridge that connected the two sides.
The seaweed prevented the raft from drifting.
Lu Yin did not move it away and simply let it drift in place while he slept.
After an unknown amount of time, he heard a soft sound and opened his eyes.
It was the young woman, who was tapping the raft with a bamboo pole and looking at him.
"It's already dark, why aren't you leaving?
Our city has a curfew, and you'll be in trouble if you're seen. "
Lu Yin was confused, "There's still a city with a curfew?"
"Hurry up and leave."
"But I haven't had my fortune read."
The woman was helpless, "No one will believe you. Just leave."
Lu Yin smiled and looked at her, "Girl, you have a good heart."
She was stunned and looked at him strangely, "I should be older than you."
"Don't you know that celestials can stay young forever?" Lu Yin smiled.
She was envious, "Celestials are so nice."
"Do you want to be a celestial?"
"No."
"Why?
You can stay young forever, and you can also leave this city. You won't be bothered by the curfew, and you can go anywhere you want to do. "
The young woman looked at the grayish-white stone house not far away. "My child and husband are here. I want to be with them."
Lu Yin smiled, "You're very lucky."
"Thank you, but you should hurry up and leave. No one will believe you." She then left with the bucket.
Lu Yin watched her leave, "Can you do me a favor?"
She looked back, puzzled, "Pull your raft over?"
"Write a word, anywhere, even on the ground."
She shook her head, "I can't read."
"Just write whatever you want, it doesn't matter."
The young woman thought for a moment, picked up the branch, and wrote two strokes on the ground: "Ten."
"My son seems to have written this word before." After saying that, he left. It was already dark.
Lu Yin looked at the word on the ground. So that was how it was. Writing didn't necessarily require one to know the meaning of the word. It could also be written for someone or something, and the meaning wasn't important.
She could have written "one" to save time, but instead, she added one more stroke. This stroke represented her love for her son and the warmth of this family.
Lu Yin looked at the grayish-white stone house and scanned it with his consciousness, dispelling the diseases on the young woman, her husband, and her son. "I wish you all a long life."
The water plants parted, and the bamboo raft continued drifting. Lu Yin didn't know where it was headed. To cultivators, this city was very small and could be crossed with a single step, but to mortals, it was very large. It would take a day to walk from one end of the city to the other, and if they circled around the river, it would take at least a day and a half.
However, this river didn't just flow within this city; it also connected to another city, one after another. There were dozens of cities on the ground, but in the eyes of cultivators, they were nothing more than grains of sand. Even if they casually fell, they might not even touch a city. Such a city was too small in this universe.
"Hey, hey."
Not long after drifting, someone called out from the darkness.
Lu Yin looked over. Whether it was day or night made no difference to him, "I knew you would come looking for me."
The person who had called out was an old woman. Her face was sallow, and her eyes were cloudy. However, there was a shrewdness that didn't match her appearance.
When she heard Lu Yin's words, her eyes flickered, "You divined it?"
"I could tell."
"I don't believe you. Can you really read fortunes?"
Lu Yin leisurely said, "It's up to you to believe it or not."
The old woman looked at the words on the bamboo pole. It was up to her to believe it or not, and she had to believe it even if she didn't want to. She hesitated.
Lu Yin didn't rush her.
The old woman gritted her teeth, "How much do you charge?"
Lu Yin found it funny, "You believe it?"
"No."
"Then why do you still want to read it?"
"This old woman has lived her entire life and wants to understand. I don't ask you to read the future, but I hope you can help me understand the past."
Lu Yin understood, "Not the future, but the heart."
"Tell me, how much do you charge?"
"Six taels of gold."
The old woman trembled and looked at Lu Yin in shock, "You, you?"
Lu Yin closed his eyes and leisurely sipped his drink.
"How did you know?"
"Tell me, how did you know?"
The old woman was anxious. She had saved up a total of six taels of gold in her life. To be honest, for someone of her age, six taels of gold was enough for her to retire. Thus, she had hidden it well and only checked it once a year. The last time she checked it was half a year ago. How did this person know?
Even if he was watching her, he couldn't have done it for half a year just for six taels of gold.
The way she looked at Lu Yin changed, as though she was looking at a ghost.
"Do you still believe it now?" Lu Yin asked. He naturally saw it through karma.
The old woman gulped and directly knelt down and kowtowed, "I beg you to help me, I beg you to help me, I beg you to help me …"
Lu Yin waved his hand and a gentle breeze helped the old woman up.
The old woman couldn't control her body, and her reverence for Lu Yin grew.
"My fee is six taels of gold. I've already said it. Are you willing?"
The old woman looked at Lu Yin in a daze. Six taels of gold, that was all she had. How could she be willing to give it to this person? How was she going to live?
What about the hardships she had suffered in the first half of her life?
She shook her head, subconsciously unwilling to give it to him.
Lu Yin looked at her with a smile that didn't look like a smile, "See, isn't there an answer?"
The old woman was puzzled at first, but then her eyes widened as she looked at Lu Yin in a daze. Yes, there was an answer. Six taels of gold. This was the result of her hard work in the first half of her life. It was her everything, and everything revolved around this six taels of gold. At this moment, the experiences of the first half of her life flashed through her mind. She had worked hard for the gold, and she had worked hard for herself. Everything else had nothing to do with her.
Neighborhood disputes, wars, none of these had anything to do with her.
She didn't want to get married because she didn't want her hardships to be shared with another person.
Looking back at her life, there was no other person like her.
She slumped to the ground. At this moment, she was awake, but also old.
For the sake of that six taels of gold, she had forgotten everything. Thus, she was lost and wanted to seek an answer through fortune-telling. However, this answer left her in despair.
Lu Yin looked at the old woman sympathetically, "A mortal's life is only a hundred years. There are many things worth remembering, but you only have six taels of gold. How sad, how lamentable."
The old woman smiled bitterly and lay on the ground, "How sad, how lamentable, how laughable."
"Pay me six taels of gold and I'll let you live to a hundred years old. You can still live for another thirty years."
The old woman was seventy years old, and in her mind, she didn't have much time left. At most, she only had a few more years to live. Now that she heard that she could live for another thirty years, she was naturally moved. However, the reward was six taels of gold. This was equivalent to using the first half of her life to buy the second half of her life. Was it worth it?
She was at a loss.
Lu Yin wasn't in a hurry and waited patiently.
He didn't ask the old woman to write. There was no need for her to write. In her heart, words were money.
Words didn't necessarily have to be written.
After a long time, the old woman looked up at Lu Yin, "This old woman is willing."
Lu Yin looked at her and smiled.
The old woman stood up shakily, "This old woman will give you six taels of gold. I hope that you will agree."
"Aren't you afraid that I'm a swindler?"
The old woman's back was to Lu Yin as she whispered, "A few years or even a few decades won't buy you the first half of your life. What's the point?"
Lu Yin looked at the old woman's back, "There's no need."
The old woman turned back and looked at Lu Yin in confusion, "What do you mean?"
Lu Yin said, "Six taels of gold is nothing more than sand to me. It's not even comparable to this river that can carry me. Since you've already gotten your answer, I'll give you thirty years of life. Enjoy it."
With a wave of his hand, the old woman was blown away by the wind and returned to her room in the blink of an eye. The heavy feeling in her body disappeared, and she felt as if she had returned to a few decades ago.
She was moved and knelt down in the direction of the river, "Thank you, Celestial. Thank you …"
Lu Yin retracted his gaze and picked up the cup, looking at it in a daze.
The first half of her life and the second half of her life had changed this old woman's life with just a few words. It had also changed the people around her.
She had seen herself clearly.
Then, what about himself?
Looking back at the first half of his life — cultivation, fighting, fighting, and leaving — it was very tiring to think about it.
If he was tired, he needed to relax.
Lu Yin allowed the wooden raft to drift. This mortal world was really not bad.
He always felt like he was making up for something, but he could not explain it.
Just as the old woman was willing to give six taels of gold, beside the lotus pond in the Karmic Sea, Qinglian Shangyu looked at the universe with his hands behind his back and smiled, "You're really fast. Then, how much can you steal in the end?"
…
The city became lively, and many people came looking for Lu Yin for fortune-telling. It was all because of the old woman's advertisement.
Lu Yin did not refuse, as those who came were fated. These people heard the advertisement and believed it, so they came. This was fate, and it was also karma that he could read.
"Write."
"You don't want to read my palm?"
"I only want to read the words."
"What's so good about words?" Although this person muttered, he still wrote the word "heart", which had a profound meaning.
Lu Yin looked at that person, "You're making things difficult for me by writing this word."
"I just want to write this word."
"You deliberately wrote the word" heart ". You didn't write it casually, but because of the meaning of this word. No one can see through a person's heart, but I can. Go back and tell your master that she can get it in thirty years. I gave her thirty years of lifespan. If you want to take it away before then, don't blame me for being rude." With that, Lu Yin waved his hand, and that person disappeared.
The surrounding people were shocked. Where did he go?
Lu Yin's expression did not change. That person had been incited to cause trouble because they had their eyes on the old woman's six taels of gold. They were waiting for the old woman to die, but who would have thought that Lu Yin would let her recover? They were angry and wanted to cause trouble, but they did not dare to go too far.
After all, they were diviners.
Thus, they had deliberately written the word "heart" to embarrass Lu Yin and force him to leave the city.
Some people wrote because of others, while others wrote because of the meaning of the word itself. They were all different.