“A purple hairpin to determine one's destiny, two geomantic compasses to crush Yin-Yang.” If Wang Chong was here, he would surely recognize the daoist present here as the famous Mister Taijia of the capital.
Among Yin-Yang practitioners who divulged the secrets of the heaven, Mister Taijia was one of the most esteemed figures in the field.
Many had heard of his affairs, but very few knew him.
Furthermore, he was under the direct command of the royal family.
"Mister Taijia, I know not of divination, I work only for the welfare of the Third Prince. I believe that you should know how highly His Highness thinks of this matter. If there's indeed a huge spirit vein in the deep mountains, it'll definitely become an invaluable support to the His Highness's goals. Thus, I hope that you won't disappoint His Highness," the gray-robed elder said.
"Phantom Hands, don't worry. It's impossible for there to be any mistakes in my divination. Let's proceed ahead, I'll bring you to the secret spirit vein that no one knows of," Mister Taijia replied confidently.
The elder known as Phantom Hands nodded silently. With a wave of his hands, the yellow-robed guards that came along with them began paving the way once more.
The journey was plagued with thorns, poisonous insects, venomous worms, and ferocious beasts.
It was already their third day on the mountain, but regardless of whether it was the unfathomable elder known as Phantom Hands, the seer that many addressed as Mister Taijia, or the powerful-looking guards who clearly came from a distinguished background, none uttered a word of complaint at all.
Standing within the expansive mountain range, the group trudged forward like an insignificant group of ants, searching for their goal.
Just as everyone was fatigued by the journey, Mister Taijia abruptly pointed forward while gazing at his compass, and he exclaimed with a particularly excited tone, "I have found it! It is right in front!"
The compass in his left hand was trembling far more than it had throughout the journey.
Upon hearing those words, the crowd was revitalized, and immediately paved the way with greater vigor.
Kacha!
When last few thorny vines and trees were knocked apart, the sight before them abruptly opened up. Standing beneath a few large trees, they saw a verdant mountain of several hundred zhang tall towering right before them, like a resting colossal dragon. A primordial aura drifted in the surroundings.
Even if Mister Taijia didn't say anything at this point, everyone could feel the heightened concentration of spiritual energy in the air.
Under a slight breeze carrying the concentrated spiritual energy, the gray-robed elder shuddered in comfort, and he found his fatigue being washed away.
"Wonderful!" the elder trembled in excitement. They had spent four days trudging arduously through the wilderness, but their diligence had paid off.
Finally, they had found the treasure hidden in the mountain range.
With this unprecedentedly immense spirit vein, the Third Prince's plight would surely improve greatly. He would be able to attract and groom even more experts, thus giving him more leverage in the fight against the other princes.
"Mister Taijia, you have truly contributed greatly to us this time around! His Highness will surely be delighted to learn of this!"
The voice of the agitated Phantom Hands was slightly higher than usual.
"Hurry up and send a messenger to inform His Highness of this matter-"
But before Phantom Hands could finish his words, a shocked exclamation sounded in the air.
"How could this be?"
"Lord, look over there. How can there be houses over here?"
The royal guards pointed to the peak of the mountain and uttered in astonishment.
Phantom Hands, along with the exhausted Mister Taijia, immediately jolted in shock. They hurriedly lifted their gazes in the direction the guard was pointing at.
Hong long!
Unfolding before their flabbergasted gazes were several majestic golden palaces rising amidst the clouds.
As though lightning had struck him, Phantom Hands froze.
Dumbfounded, Mister Taijia didn't even realize that he had dropped the golden dual-layered geomantic compass in his hands.
How could this be?
This was the only thought that filled Mister Taijia's mind in this very moment.
Chapter 305: Revelation of the Spirit Vein!
Chapter 305: Revelation of the Spirit Vein!
Stunned. Everyone was stunned!
This was especially so for Mister Taijia and Phantom Hands. Their mouths were wide open, but not a single word would come out.
"Taijia, what is going on? Didn't you say that this is a plot of undeveloped land, and no one else except for us is aware of it?" The livid Phantom Hands spewed out these words one by one through gritted teeth.
"This shouldn't be possible!" Mister Taijia uttered as he stepped forward. He hadn't noticed Phantom Hands' words at all. Astonishment had consumed him completely.
His divination mastery had already reached the peak a dozen years ago. There were very few in the capital who could compete with him in this field.
Based on his divination, this land should be completely unknown to anyone other than him. It was impossible for anyone to beat him to it.
But reality was showing him a very different picture.
Someone found this location way faster than him. The elegant infrastructures and the cluster of buildings… it was impossible to build all of those without a lengthy period of construction.
"Mister, is there any chance that they haven't noticed the spirit vein yet?" three royal guards of the Third Prince asked hopefully.
"That's not possible!" Mister Taijia refuted the suggestion without any hesitation.
"The place is extremely remote, and it is a far distance away from the main route. If they hadn't noticed something, they wouldn't have built such elaborate structures here."
"But is there a chance that they are just to tour around?"
"Do you think that they will tour in a place where venomous snakes roam?"
The question rendered the guards speechless.
On the journey here, they had imagined all kinds of scenarios, be it whether the spirit vein didn't exist at all, or that Mister Taijia had miscalculated. The one and only scenario they had failed to take into account was that... someone had beat them to the spirit vein.
Looking at the rows of buildings on the peak of the mountain, all their hearts turned cold.
"Mister Taijia, is this the spirit vein you have divined for us?" Phantom Hands asked with a frigid voice. At this moment, his eyes were blazing with fury. If not for the Third Prince's high regard for the diviner, he would have long killed the man for this farce.
"This is indeed the spirit vein..." Mister Taijia said, but before he could finish his words, Phantom Hands interjected in displeasure.
"Then you divine again!"
Sou!
The diviner stretched out his hand, and the golden dual-layered geomantic compass immediately flew into Mister Taijia's hands.
Casually picking a leaf near the spirit vein, Mister Taijia began his divination.
"How can this be?" The abruptly different results Taijia saw left him stunned.
The consecutive divination over the course of the past few days had left his face pale, but at this moment, it looked as though it was completely drained of color.
He had spent his entire life dabbling in divination, and he was extremely confident of his own divinations.
However, Taijia suddenly realized that his divination was inaccurate.
In his entire life, this was the first time he had received an uncertain result.
"How can this be? What is going on?" The trembling Taijia muttered under his breath anxiously. The confidence he had built over the years was shattered all of a sudden.
"Is it the malicious aura... No, the malicious aura can't possibly affect my results by so m
uch. There must be other factors in place! The mist concealing the river... This is an intervention from an external force. Who in the world is the person who built these structures to interfere in my divination?"
Staring at the towering palace-like buildings that rose into the clouds, Taijia's mind was in a state of chaos.
The results he had received on his compass was the phenomenon of "the mist concealing the river". This was a divination that would only appear when meeting those possessing extremely strong "destiny", resulting in an inconclusive divination.
However, with his high mastery in the art of divination, he had divined for innumerable people, ranging from the prestigious kings and nobles to the officials and scions, but he had never encountered such a situation before.
Glancing at the spirit vein amidst the clouds, Taijia immediately made a divination regarding the mastermind who managed to beat him to the spirit vein.
No matter what, he was determined to uncover the identity of the man who was able to interfere even with his divination.
Weng!
As if a boulder had fallen from the sky, Taijia suddenly felt incomparably heavy. The resilience of the other party's "destiny" was far stronger than he thought.
Who in the world is that person?
Taijia's heart turned cold. He had barely started his divination when a pressure reminiscent of a falling mountain crushed down on him. This was a situation he had never encountered in the past.
But this only served to further fuel his curiosity.
The Third Prince had regarded this operation with utmost importance, and Taijia knew that he would have to provide him an answer regardless of the situation.
Boom!
Just as Taijia gathered his determination to continue his divination, an immense power from the world suddenly struck him as if a bolt of lightning.
Immense pain grasped Taijia's heart, and blood flowed from his nostrils. He had already been weakened from the fatigue of consecutive divinations, and this blow added injury to his wound. In an instant, the sight before him darkened, and he fell backward.
"Mister Taijia!"
"Mister Taijia!"
"Mister! ..."
Astonished, the group of men hurried forward to grab Taijia.
"Lord, what do we do now?"
The group turned toward Phantom Hands.
"Don't worry, he has just fainted out of exhaustion." Phantom Hands replied after placing his fingers on the pulse on Taijia's neck. Even though he was incapable of divination, he had learned some basic knowledge about it following behind the Third Prince, and he knew that divination was extremely exhausting on one's spirit.
The more thorough and uncharted the divination was, the more tiring it would be.
Clearly, Mister Taijia had overexerted himself and fainted as a result.
"You got off the hook easily," Phantom Hands muttered quietly as he stood up from the ground. He was still bubbling with rage, but with Master Taijia fainted, there was nowhere he could vent his anger, so he could only let it go.
"Lord, what do we do now? His Highness bears high expectations for this operation. Why don't we kill the men on the mountain? As long as we move carefully, we should be able to succeed without leaving behind any traces," a guard stepped forward and proposed. As he spoke, he made the aggressive gesture of sliding his thumb across his neck.
They were all the elites of the Third Prince's guard. As long as the command was issued, it shouldn't be too difficult for them to wipe out the group on the mountain.
"Wait a moment!" Even though Phantom Hands had the same thought in mind, he knew better than to act so recklessly. "There's no hurry in this matter. Let's ask about this matter at the Court of Judicial Review first, to confirm whether this plot of land is taken or not. If it isn't, we shall take it down, and they would have to evacuate no matter how many buildings they have constructed on the mountain.
"On the other hand, if the land is sold to someone without a sufficiently powerful background, we will have a good talk with them. We will have them sell the land to us using the Third Prince's name.
"And if he refuses to budge, we'll just get rid of him and clear away his men here."
Phantom Hands' thoughts were extremely rational. It seemed like it wasn't the first time he had conducted such a deed.
"... But what if the other party has a powerful background?" a guard asked.
"Hmph!" Phantom Hands sneered in disdain as a cold, piercing gleam shone from his eyes. "Do you think that there's anyone with a background larger than the Third Prince?"
"Understood!" everyone lowered their heads and responded.
Without alarming anyone, the group carried Mister Taijia and descended the mountain.
They were unaware that several li away, a pair of eyes was silently staring at every single of actions of theirs. Only when they finally left with Mister Taijia in their hands did the Demonic Emperor Old Man sigh deeply and close his eyes.
-------
Surprisingly, it didn't take them much effort to uncover the identity of the man they were looking for in the Court of Judicial Review. There was a map of the geographical terrain around the capital there.
They only had to point at the location of the mountain to receive the information they wanted.
Phantom Hands and the others had hypothesized this situation numerous times, but when they heard the name of the owner of the spirit vein, they were still stunned.
"Wang Chong?"
"The man who caused a huge uproar in the royal court via the regional commanders incident, alarming even the Sage Emperor?"
"Duke Jiu's grandson?"
"The offspring of the Wang Clan?"
Everyone, including Taijia who had barely awoken, was startled to hear the answer.
That was truly a person who a strong background!
No one had expected the Wang Clan to actually be involved in this matter.
The Third Prince was a son of the royal family, a potential successor to the throne. In the Central Plains, all powers were nothing more than a joke before him.
This was also the reason why Phantom Hands had no fear at the start.
But if the Wang Clan was involved...
This would cast some doubt on the matter. No one could say what the result of the clash would be.
The Wang Clan didn't have any members who possessed the royal bloodline, but their standing was comparable to one, perhaps exceeding it even. When the Sage Emperor was younger, it was the old master of the Wang Clan who supported him taking the throne.
The Sage Emperor had said on more than one occasion that if not for the old master of the Wang Clan, Duke Jiu, he wouldn't have achieved so much in his lifetime.
Great Tang wouldn't be as prosperous as it was, either!
In fact, even after the old master of the Wang Clan retired, the Sage Emperor even established a Four Quarters Embassy to house him so that he could seek the other party's advice whenever required.
Through this, one could see the standing of the Wang Clan in the royal court.
If the old master of the Wang Clan were to report a complaint to the Sage Emperor regarding the Third Prince, the Third Prince would be in trouble.
Everyone suddenly felt hesitant.
They dared not make a move at all!
The Wang Clan mustn't be offended!
Even if the Third Prince learned of this matter, he would surely stop them from doing something as risky as this.
"What is going on? How did that fellow learn of the spirit vein's existence? Is that son of the Wang Clan that formidable?"
Phantom Hands was a person who wouldn't even blink when a blade was pressed against his neck, but at this moment, a deep frown surfaced on his forehead. He suddenly realized that this matter was far more complicated than he had expected.
"Lord, what do we do now?" the leader of the guards asked.
"We should lay low for the moment and reconsider our options. The Wang Clan is not a power we c
an trifle with at the moment, we can only find another solution to this matter, "Phantom Hands replied as he grabbed his aching head.
"So the owner of those structures is him?" At the same time, many thoughts were whirling inside the awoken Master Taijia's head.
He had spent his life around the royal family and the nobility of the capital. However, at this moment, he suddenly felt a strong interest in the legendary fifteen-year-old child of the capital.
A person who could result in the failure of his divination couldn't possibly be someone ordinary. No matter what, he was determined to uncover the secrets hidden on that young man.
With such thoughts in mind, Master Taijia, Phantom Hands, and the others left the Court of Judicial Review.
------
Three days later, an earth-shattering news took the entire capital by storm.
A massive spirit vein was found amidst the mountain range less than thirty li beyond the capital.
The spiritual energy gathered on the spirit vein was tenfold more than Shenwei, Longwei, and Kunwu, as well as the spirit veins located around the capital.
Even if they were to take the entire world into scope, there were probably very few spirit veins who could compare with it.
Ten days of training on the spirit vein could easily match several months of hard work elsewhere.
As soon as the news hit the street, a huge uproar rose in the capital.
And along with the news, another familiar name also reached the ears of the crowd——
Wang Chong!
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Tl Notes:
The term for destiny used here is (ming ge).
There is a traditional belief that luck played a role in one's ultimate fate, and this "luck" is often determined at birth. If you have watched Chinese or Korean historical drama often, I am sure you have come across plotlines where a new 'Star of the General' rose into the sky when a child was born or something along that line. Take Consort Taizhen as an example: she is said to be born with the 'destiny of the Phoenix', which hints that she will eventually take the role of the queen in Great Tang (or an equivalent position).
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