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Chapter 72: One-eyed Mystic

Since it’s set up in the Merchant Association, it’s clear they’re here to do business.

However, to be honest, this Mr. One-eyed Mystic’s business doesn’t seem too good, or perhaps… describing it as having an empty house would be more appropriate.

Aside from the four who just arrived, there was only another girl sitting at the table, dressed similarly in a Taoist robe and wearing a small hat, looking like she was a disciple of the former. She had gray hair and was diligently studying several bamboo slips filled with writing in her hands.

“Twenty-five for the heavens, thirty for the earth… So, this is, uh… what was this again?”

When Murong Yun brought the three girls closer, the girl dressed like a fortune teller was still engrossed in her research on the bamboo slips. Murong Yun waited for a moment, seeing that she still hadn’t noticed their presence, so he raised his hand and gently tapped on the table.

“Xiao Yi, still doing your homework?”

“Eek! Who’s there?!”

The sudden voice and large shadow startled the girl, and she let out a high-pitched scream, springing up from her seat like a spring, grabbing what looked like a non-lethal wooden sword from under the table, and stood protectively in front of her modestly sized little valley, her expression a mix of surprise and uncertainty.

But the middle-aged man in white was clearly used to her antics; he could only shake his head helplessly.

“It’s me, Murong Yun. It’s been half a year, and you’re still the same.”

“Eh… Uncle Yun? Is it really you?! You’re still alive?!”

“What do you mean by ‘still alive’…”

Once she recognized the visitor’s face and attire, the girl named Xiao Yi hurriedly put down her meaningless, toy-like wooden sword, scratching her face awkwardly.

“Ahahaha, what I meant was… long time no see, Uncle Yun! You look even healthier than the last time we met!”

As she spoke, she unconsciously started to fortune-tell.

“Heavenly light shines, auspicious energy rushes through the door—this is a sign of meeting a noble person. Could it be that you’ve recently encountered some extremely auspicious being and received their goodwill?”

Tilting her head to glance at the three girls, who looked a bit surprised, Murong Yun smiled slightly and answered ambiguously.

“As expected of Old One-eyed’s well-favored disciple, your fortune-telling skills are becoming increasingly adept, quite reminiscent of him. But today, I didn’t come just to reminisce… I have business to discuss.”

Following his gaze, Xiao Yi finally noticed the other three people beside Murong Yun, as if she suddenly realized, and hurriedly nodded her head wildly.

“Oh! Look at me, just focused on the fortune-telling!”

She quickly dashed around to the back of the table, shaking the one who had been snoring peacefully the whole time, seemingly unfazed even by the earlier commotion.

“Old man, wake up! We have a guest! Uncle Yun is here too!”

However, even with that nudging, he remained like a monk in meditation, comfortably dreaming away while ignoring the girl.

Xiao Yi scratched her head in frustration, pondered for a moment, and could only pull out a fragrant pouch from underneath the table, waving it in front of the mystic’s nose.

This worked wonders.

“Aha… AHH-CHOO!!!”

With a loud sneeze, the guy finally opened his eyes impatiently.

“Shut up… What time is it? Making such a disturbance… Didn’t I say to just kick out anyone irrelevant?”

“It’s Uncle Yun!”

“Uncle Yun?”

Mumbling softly, the middle-aged mystic lazily turned his gaze toward the four.

Vilyric was, of course, also observing him.

This One-eyed Mystic, like his daughter, belonged to the most common gray-haired type in the Western Spirit Kingdom, but compared to the fair-looking Xiao Yi, he was rather unpleasant to behold, with long cheekbones, a narrow forehead, and thin lips, giving a first impression of being cunning and untrustworthy.

To be honest, the Priestess didn’t expect Xiao Yi to be his daughter; perhaps she inherited more from her mother.

Moreover… this guy was actually an ordinary person; at least Vilyric confidently felt she couldn’t sense any energy flow from him. Even a physical cultivator like Murong Yun should have something akin to inner strength.

What a puzzling scenario.

As his gaze swept by, the mystic soon collected his impatience and initiated the conversation.

“Ah, it’s you, kid… I didn’t expect you to still be alive. That big trouble you went through before should have been impossible for you to survive; looks like you got lucky meeting some noble person.”

Wow, he really does sound like that, so they truly are father and daughter.

Murong Yun nodded calmly.

“Being able to survive and return here was indeed quite fortunate, but Old One-eyed, wasn’t it you who told me that the calamity was unavoidable, and the only way was to go to the Tidal Deep Valley near Yangyuan City and decipher its secrets for a sliver of hope? You didn’t forget that, did you?”

The One-eyed Mystic curled his lip slightly.

“Tch… It’s easy to know the heavens, but hard to go against them; I was just saying that off the cuff. It’s your good fortune, so don’t overthink it. Now, what brings you back this time?”

“Well, on one hand, it’s to report that I’m safe, and on the other, we’d like to ask for your help in finding someone.”

“We…? Hmm, looking for someone…”

While rubbing his sparse beard, the old One-eyed Mystic’s discerning eyes moved back and forth over the three young ladies beside Murong Yun, seemingly observing something.

After a moment, he looked somewhat surprised and proactively spoke up.

“Your new friends? Aren’t you going to introduce them to your old man?”

Murong Yun nodded slightly.

“This is Miss Ling Feng, this is Miss Bai’er, and this is Miss Vilyric. They’re all friends I met during my trip to Yangyuan City, and now we’ve come to Xiangshou County to look for someone.”

“Looking for someone? Heh, the person you’re searching for isn’t simple, huh?”

Noticing the slight differences in how the middle-aged man in white referred to each girl, the One-eyed Mystic narrowed his already thin eyes and chuckled softly.

“I see, it seems the good person who helped you through the calamity is this black-haired little girl. It’s rare to see such pure bloodlines of elemental veins… But you really do have a knack for attracting fortunes, even your benefactor is a delicate little girl, hehe…”

The middle-aged man in white’s expression turned serious as he said in a low voice.

“Old One-eyed, you shouldn’t speak lightly of a girl’s purity; be careful of causing troubles with your words. I’m just friends with these three.”

“Hehe, I know, I know, Murong Yun won’t be able to pursue such an expensive fortune, I was just joking. You’re still so serious, it’s really boring.”

Saying so, the One-eyed Mystic smiled nonchalantly.

“Moreover, as for causing troubles with words, we’re fortune tellers who peek at the heavens, going against the natural order, placing life and death on the line. I’m not afraid of the heavens, so why should I fear mere mortals?”

“Alright, enough of the chitchat. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for people, objects, or those elusive opportunities. The rules shouldn’t be broken. If you want me to help…”

He raised his hand and held out one finger.

“First, a payment of ten million gold coins, and then we can discuss the specifics.”

“H-How much?!”

Almost instinctively, Bai’er exclaimed loudly first.

“For just a divination, you want ten million gold coins?! Even if you hired an entire Taoist temple with hundreds of people for a big ceremony, it wouldn’t cost this much! Are you serious?!”

The One-eyed Mystic raised his remaining eye and glanced at her.

“Oh, little girl, you know the market price for our line of work well! Correct, what you said wasn’t wrong.”

“But you get what you pay for! My divination abilities as a One-eyed Mystic are unparalleled, so the price naturally reflects that.”

Shaking his head, the mystic didn’t seem worried about offending her, casually continuing.

“Ten million gold coins; not a copper coin less. If you can’t pay it, then please turn around and leave.”

“Wow…”

Vilyric finally understood why this stall could directly operate within the Lingyin Merchant Association, yet no one was inquiring.

Well, at least his prices could indeed rival those exquisite treasures, couldn’t they?

The egg of the legendary beast, Cloud Dream, only sold for ten million gold coins; that was close to the theoretical price of acquiring spirit weapon-level gear, so calling it exorbitant was not an exaggeration.

Although Vilyric’s group didn’t lack money in reality, there was no reason to be blatantly ripped off like this…

Naturally, the three girls’ gazes unconsciously turned towards the middle-aged man in white, who was responsible for leading the way.