"Help me."
Xu Zhaoyin was taken aback, clearly not expecting this answer.
He looked her up and down, and she appeared healthy without any visible issues.
"Who are you?"
Suddenly, a voice sounded from behind them, startling the two into jumping up.
A tall figure slowly emerged from the darkness, the firelight dispelling the darkness around him. In the dim light, one could vaguely make out his youthful and tranquil features, his hair tied up in a bun.
"You're Qingxuan Daoist Priest." Ren Ran said.
Qing Xuan looked at the two. Many adventurous tourists came to Taihe Mountain, but these two did not seem like that type.
"You're looking for me?"
Ren Ran nodded, "Yes."
"We've been waiting here for you for three days." Xu Zhaoyin added.
Qing Xuan's tranquil gaze swept over the two before he stepped towards his dwelling, lighting a candle after entering.
"Come in."
The two followed him inside.
The furnishings inside the house were simple, and the lamps primitive. Ten years of the same life was cultivation for them.
Qing Xuan's gaze fell upon Ren Ran.
"I'm stepping out for a smoke." Xu Zhaoyin said and left the house.
"I'd like you to read my fortune."
Qing Xuan kept his stoic demeanor as he scrutinized her face carefully. "Date and time of birth."
Ren Ran reported her date and time of birth.
Qing Xuan gestured as he calculated, lifting his eyes to study her face intently again. After a long pause, he muttered, "Odd."
"Give me a moment, let me calculate again."
Qing Xuan mumbled under his breath, his frown deepening.
How could this be?
Giving someone their first reading, yet the results differed between destiny and physiognomy. Her destiny was noble, yet her face faintly exuded an ominous air, though shallow, was enough to catch his attention.
The faint ominousness would be hard for ordinary cultivation practitioners to detect, but as successor of the Zhengyi school, he had special methods to glean some insight, hence finding it unbelievable.
With such a destiny, it was impossible for ominous energy to appear. Could he have made a mistake somewhere?
Ever since appearing, he had kept a stoic face, putting on an aloof expert facade. He thought with his cultivation, reading destiny would be a walk in the park. But now his heart was in turmoil.
Soon, fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
Ren Ran noticed Qing Xuan's odd expression and tentatively prompted, "Qingxuan Daoist Priest, could it be that the destiny in my birth details and physiognomy are completely opposite?"
Qing Xuan's eyes widened in shock, unable to maintain his expert facade. "You know?"
As expected, the other party had made their move.
Ren Ran's heart sank as she thought of the calamities in her past life caused by ill fortune, and a chill rose from the soles of her feet.
Just who were they?!
"Before coming here, I met a grandmaster who told me my destiny may have been tampered with. He mentioned you and your master to me, saying only you could help me."
This was nine parts true, one part false.
Qing Xuan lightly tapped his forehead, wondering how he hadn't thought of this possibility earlier.
Tampering with destiny was rare indeed.
Even he hadn't noticed it right away.
With this train of thought, Qing Xuan no longer doubted his own lacking skills.
"Give me a moment."
He got up and took out a tortoise shell and some old copper coins from a cabinet behind him. He put the coins in the shell, shook and poured them out, repeating this three times.
"Your destiny has indeed been replaced by the heavens. Fortunately the time is still early."
"Is there a way to break this?"
"Hold on."
Qing Xuan got up again and went into the adjoining room, searching the bookshelf until he found a worn ancient text in the topmost wooden box. He dusted it off and carefully flipped through under the oil lamp.
Ren Ran quietly waited.
After some time, Qing Xuan finally found the section on tampered destiny and read it carefully before sighing heavily.
This would be difficult!
"Qingxuan Daoist Priest, have you found a way to break this?"
This was her main concern right now.
It concerned the lives of her whole family. The misfortune brought by the tampered destiny led to the downfall of the Ren family.
For these intangible things one couldn't see or touch, rebirth alone couldn't avoid it.
You could stop your mother from taking sleeping pills and dying, but who's to say fate wouldn't lead her to another death some other way.
There were experts for the esoteric arts. Relying solely on the foreknowledge from rebirth had a high chance of repeating the same mistakes.
To be reborn once was heavenly grace. She didn't dare waste it or become complacent.
Qingxuan Daoist Priest's expression was apologetic. "The method to break this is not specified in the text. I recall my master mentioning it before, so he should know how to break it."
"I sincerely ask that Daoist Priest contact your master to help me through this plight."
"Heh." Qingxuan laughed awkwardly. "Well, you see, my master has wandered off, and I don't know where he is."
"Call him."
"My master doesn't like using high tech things. He feels those gadgets corrupt the mind and are detrimental to cultivation."
Ren Ran: "......"
(ಥ_ಥ)
Seeing her choking expression, Qingxuan quickly consoled, "Don't panic, don't fret. Tampering with destiny is not easily accomplished with such sinister means. Your destiny is determined by the heavens, and has heavenly protection."
Ren Ran was doubtful, but did not voice it, letting him continue speaking.
"Unless your personal fortune declines. One's fortune can be affected by external factors, as well as artifacts or talismans assisting."【Note 1】
"External factors?"
Qingxuan Daoist Priest thought for a bit before explaining in layman's terms. "Let me give a simple example. There's a saying 'the face reveals the heart,' but physiognomy doesn't remain unchanged. Some people have gentle appearances when young, but life's tribulations and endless vexations change their mentality, and ill temper arises, affecting their appearance. Likewise, those with poor physiognomy when young, under the edification of good people and events, can change their mentality, and their appearance changes along with it."
Ren Ran understood this clearly.
She had an example right around her. A neighbor auntie was once a gentle, cultured wife, but over ten years ago her husband went bankrupt and committed suicide, leaving her and two children behind, burdened with enormous debt.
When Ren Ran saw the auntie again over ten years later, her worn face no longer held the gentleness of the past, only sharpness and overbearingness remained.
Qingxuan Daoist Priest continued, "Tampering with destiny is not so easily accomplished. First, they need to weaken your fortune. Create all kinds of troubles around you, so everything goes wrong for you, influencing your mentality. When you're anguished or your temper rises, your fortune will weaken. Next, pairing it with insidious artifacts that influence your aura, further weakening your fortune. The two complement each other, trapping you in the thorns they arranged. When your fortune has declined to a certain degree, they can then fully replace your destiny."
"If I'm guessing right, the other party should have already begun taking action."
