The crowd in front of the Temple of No Words was as vast as the sea and the mountains, far exceeding the spectacle that Song Zhao had witnessed a few days ago when accompanying the Empress Dowager to Hanshan Temple.
Noble Consort Chen was annoyed by the overcrowding. Her magnificent attire was being jostled by the commoners, and it was becoming wrinkled. So she whispered to Xiao Jingheng, "Your Majesty! What's so interesting about a fortune teller? No matter how talented he is, can he surpass the Imperial Astronomical Bureau? Let's go~ The weather is already hot, and this place is filled with so many people. It wouldn't be good if Your Majesty gets accidentally injured."
Song Zhao also added, "Noble Consort, what you said is true. This place is chaotic and crowded. It's better for Your Majesty to avoid it."
Xiao Jingheng was initially just curious, but seeing the overwhelming crowd, he grew impatient and decided to heed their advice and turn back.
However, after taking only a couple of steps, a temple servant emerged from the Temple of No Words and shouted for the people to quiet down. He solemnly announced, "The master is closing the temple today. Everyone, please go back."
As the crowd dispersed, grumbling and complaining, the temple servant caught up to Xiao Jingheng and said, "Honored guest, please wait. My master invites you to come inside."
Xiao Jingheng found this strange, but since the servant singled him out from the crowd, he thought that perhaps the master had discovered something mysterious about him.
His curiosity piqued, he led Song Zhao and Noble Consort Chen into the temple.
Upon entering, they saw a young man dressed in green robes, who had been waiting with a bow for quite some time.
He appeared very young and handsome, far from the image of an old sage with white hair and an ethereal aura that Xiao Jingheng had imagined.
Before Xiao Jingheng could speak, the servant bowed deeply to everyone and respectfully said, "The humble one pays respects to Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty, long live, long live."
Everyone was taken aback by his words.
Xiao Jingheng furrowed his brow and scrutinized him, asking, "How do you know my identity?"
The servant, Tan Yuezhi, replied, "Receiving a distinguished guest from the Wei family into the imperial garden is already a notable status. Furthermore, the number of patrols in the city has noticeably increased these past few days, and Mister Wei personally donated thirty thousand taels of silver to repair the river embankment. All these signs indicate that someone honorable is coming. It's not difficult to make an educated guess."
Tan Yuezhi was renowned in Suzhou as a master of divination. Xiao Jingheng had expected him to spout nonsense, claiming that he had foreseen everything through his divination. But instead, he spoke the truth.
Hearing his words, Xiao Jingheng dispensed with formalities and said, "You are indeed sincere. The people of Suzhou refer to you as the 'Half Immortal,' but are you using these petty tricks to deceive others?"
Upon hearing this, Tan Yuezhi's relaxed expression suddenly turned serious, and he said solemnly, "The art of divination based on the eight trigrams of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches reveals the fate of the person being divined. It is the disclosure of heavenly secrets. Because of this, how dare I disrespect the gods? What is true is true, and what is false is false. I would never dare to fabricate anything, or else I would incur heavenly punishment."
These few words increased Xiao Jingheng's interest.
He turned and took a seat in the hall, casually jesting, "Oh? Then give me a divination. Let me see your skills."
"It is my honor to divine for Your Majesty," Tan Yuezhi replied.
Tan Yuezhi's method of divination was based on the ancient diagrams of the Luoshu, which was quite different from the Luoshu used by the Imperial Astronomical Bureau.
Song Zhao never believed in these baseless things.
Now he sat beside Xiao Jingheng, watching Tan Yuezhi present a divination diagram, throwing coins inside a tortoise shell and standing in the hall, acting all mysterious. Song Zhao thought it was just for amusement.
These so-called sorcerers of the martial world were nothing more than swindlers making a living. When he divined for Xiao Jingheng, it was mostly a show to entertain him with auspicious words after some tricks and pretending to be a deity.
But unexpectedly, as Tan Yuezhi continued his divination, his face suddenly changed, and he lost all color in an instant.
He knelt down abruptly, trembling with fear, and said, "Your Majesty, this... the divination shows an omen of great calamity, indicating that Your Majesty will encounter a bloody disaster during your southern expedition!"
His words were like a thousand-pound weight dropping into everyone's ears, causing a shock.
Noble Consort Chen was particularly annoyed and said, "Nonsense! Guards, drag this impertinent charlatan out and beat him to death!"
With her command, more than ten guards rushed in, ready to act against Tan Yuezhi.
"Hold on."
However, Xiao Jingheng stopped them, squinting his eyes as he looked at Tan Yuezhi, who was trembling on the ground.
"You are not a fool; you should know that what you just said is highly disrespectful. Even if you really foresaw some anomaly, you could have told me everything was fine and flattered me to gain favor."
With trembling lips, Tan Yuezhi replied, "The humble one said earlier that the divination of the innate eight trigrams cannot be filled with nonsense; it must be truthfully revealed. Otherwise, it will incur dark and ominous forces and invite heavenly condemnation..."
Seeing that he was willing to speak even if it meant death, Xiao Jingheng asked, "Then tell me, what is this prophecy of a bloody disaster?"
Tan Yuezhi understood the order and picked up the fallen divination tool, continuing his calculations.
But this time, his expression gradually relaxed.
After a long while, he breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Fortunately, fortunately! The divination only shows the presence of a bloody disaster, but as for the source of this calamity, the divination cannot deduce, and the humble one cannot determine. However, based on the divination, this calamity will be mitigated by the presence of a noble person by Your Majesty's side, whose noble aura will safeguard you, and Your Majesty will not suffer any harm!"
Noble Consort Chen scolded, "Your words are as good as saying nothing. You keep changing your story. It seems you're not someone talented."
She looked at Xiao Jingheng and said, "The Emperor must be tired of listening to his nonsensical ramblings. Let's go back."
Xiao Jingheng remained silent for a moment, then ordered Jiang Deshun to give Tan Yuezhi a hundred taels of silver notes, and then they left the temple.
Later, after strolling around the city for a while and noticing the dark clouds gathering, signaling an imminent rain, they decided to return to the boat and head to Lake Heart Island.
Inside the cabin, Xiao Jingheng was enjoying tea with Noble Consort Chen and Song Zhao.
Noble Consort Chen couldn't help but complain, "If Your Majesty allows me to speak, that person is nothing but a shameless charlatan. It's only because of your benevolence, Your Majesty, that you don't hold him accountable. Otherwise, speaking such disrespectful words would surely bring him nothing but trouble!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Song Zhao, who was sitting near the ship's rail, heard a commotion outside.
Curious, he opened the window to see what was happening.
He saw countless palace maids running around on the deck, each wearing a gloomy expression.
Just as he was wondering, Jiang Deshun suddenly burst in, looking alarmed. He exclaimed,
"Your Majesty! The ship is leaking!"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingheng and Song Zhao remained calm, not overly worried.
Instead, it was Noble Consort Chen who was taken aback and exclaimed, "How could this happen out of the blue? What... What should we do?"
Song Zhao reassured her in a firm tone, "Noble Consort, there's no need to panic. There are still twelve wooden boats on the ship. Even if this ship sinks, we will be safe."
Noble Consort Chen composed herself and gave him a disapproving look, saying, "Who said I was panicking? I'm definitely not panicking. I'm just worried that Your Majesty will be bothered by this..."
