Chapter 157: Fu Xuan: What is Wrong With This Divination?
"Oh... So you aren't the shadow general after all."
After a brief, and rather theatrical, explanation from Leon, Stelle finally accepted that Qingque was not, in fact, some clandestine military leader. Even so, a look of deep disappointment was still written all over her face, her shoulders slumping slightly.
"What exactly are you so disappointed about? A story like that sounds completely fake from the get-go!" March 7th couldn't help but retort, hands on her hips.
"Exactly, exactly. As for being a 'shadow general'or whatever, I definitely couldn't handle that," Qingque added, waving her hands in a gesture of helpless surrender.'So you're really let down that I'm not some high-ranking officer, huh?'
"But you have to admit, my story about the shadow general was pretty well-crafted, wasn't it?" Leon interjected, a smug grin playing on his lips.
"I'd be thanking the heavens if you just stopped causing trouble for me," Qingque muttered, pressing a hand to her forehead in exasperation.
"Exactly, exactly! Just stop causing trouble!" March 7th chimed in, nodding vigorously.
They hadn't forgotten the second task General Jing Yuan had entrusted to them: find the person spreading outrageous rumors across the Xianzhou Luofu. Although it felt unlikely that Leon was the culprit... what if he was?
Given Leon's erratic, elusive, and utterly shameless personality, neither March nor the others dared to completely rule out the possibility. At first, they had thought he wouldn't be bored enough—or rather, bold enough—to spread a scandalous drama about the "star-crossed love" between Lan the Hunt and Yaoshi the Abundance.
But now... it was genuinely hard to say. The man was a walking agent of chaos.
"Miss Qingque, if you don't mind, how about I take a look at this door?" Welt spoke up at the perfect moment, deftly pulling the conversation back on track. If they kept chatting, it was only a matter of time before the topic of the "source of the rumors" came up again, and that would be troublesome.
"Hey... wouldn't that be a bit inappropriate?" Qingque blinked, a playful glint in her eyes, before a lazy smile spread across her face. "Alright, I was just being polite. There's nothing wrong with it at all. Mr. Yang, let me show you how it works. This thing is actually quite fun."
Before long, with a soft click, Welt successfully unlocked the mechanism.
"Mr. Yang, you're truly amazing! An outsider who can so easily handle one of our Carefree Doors," Qingque teased with a grin. "I hereby officially transfer the title of 'Divination Commission Carefree Door Sect Leader' to you."
Under Qingque's surprisingly competent guidance, the Astral Express crew continued onward, arriving at the location of the Matrix of Prescience amidst lighthearted chatter.
"Up ahead is the large-scale jade abacus computational terminal that my Divination Commission is so proud of... the Matrix of Prescience," Qingque announced, gesturing with a sweep of her arm.
"We've heard people mention 'jade abacuses' a few times along the way. Miss Qingque, what exactly are they?" Caelus asked, his curiosity piqued.
"A jade abacus... is just a jade abacus." Qingque scratched her head, looking stumped for a moment. "Mr. Caelus, you've asked a good question. I can't really explain it clearly in just a few words... Let me think."
She gathered her thoughts, her expression momentarily serious. "It's a bit like carving a seal... The artisans of the Artisans Commission carve trillions of talismans, invisible to the naked eye, into jade crystal lattices. These are then embedded into various mechanisms as needed, allowing them to operate according to preset intentions."
"Some jade abacuses are small enough to be kept in bracelets and jewelry. The larger ones, however, are installed into arrays to deduce variables and examine the past to know the future."
"Just like this Matrix of Prescience. Whether it's the evolution of celestial phenomena or the changes in human affairs, as long as there is sufficient information, it can provide a deduced answer."
"It is said that the principles of the talismans within were developed in consultation with Nous, the celestial lord of comprehension. As for its profoundness, in the entire Divination Commission, I'm afraid only our Grand Diviner can claim to know it like the back of her hand."
"So, it's a computer," Leon summarized with a deadpan expression. "The small ones are like phones, and this big one is a supercomputer."
Leon had always figured jade abacuses were just the Xianzhou's version of smartphones, but Qingque's explanation clarified that phones were merely one application of the technology. It was a matter of inclusion.
"That may be so... but the name 'jade abacus' sounds much better, don't you think? Besides, how could an ordinary computer have such a mysterious origin?"
March 7th couldn't help but nod in agreement. "It's technology personally guided by Nous! Even in Madam Herta's Space Station, I've never seen anything directly related to an Aeon."
"I've recorded what you just said," Leon chuckled, tapping his ear. "I'll send it to Herta later for her to listen to."
"Hey! Are you that bored?!" March 7th glared at him, her cheeks puffing out.
"Actually, there's no need to dwell on the change in names..." Qingque smiled, smoothing things over with her characteristic nonchalance. "As long as the technology works, what difference does it make whether you call it a jade abacus or a computer?"
"It's like today," she continued, a thoughtful smile on her face. "As long as someone could bring you here, that's all that matters... whether it was Qingque or Baique, it makes no difference at all." She found this Leon fellow to be a fascinating person; he really knew how to speak her language.
"Up ahead is the heart of the Matrix of Prescience. The Grand Diviner should already be waiting there."
Inside the core of the Divination Commission's Matrix of Prescience, ethereal streams of data flowed like rivers of light.
"Lady Fu... how goes the divination?" Jing Yuan's shimmering, translucent projection materialized beside Fu Xuan. After ensuring Luocha and Jingliu were settled properly, he had immediately contacted her, hoping a divination might put his mind at ease.
Fu Xuan's precognitive abilities were renowned throughout the Luofu; even without the aid of the Matrix, she rarely made a mistake.
"The flux is caught between Qian and Zhen... Calamity is in motion, and there is no benefit to be found..."
Fu Xuan stared intently at the glowing talismans circulating in the array, her brows gradually knitting together. "Strange... This divination is too strange."
She muttered to herself, running the deduction several more times, only for the result to remain stubbornly the same.
"Lady Fu, please speak like a normal person," Jing Yuan said, a hint of helplessness in his voice.
"Ahem..." Fu Xuan cleared her throat, her expression grim. "In short, this is a chaotic omen where fortune and misfortune are intertwined, good and evil accompany each other, benefits and harms follow one another, and gains and losses coexist... also, the reading is exceptionally blurry and difficult to discern."
Jing Yuan fell silent, his own mind sinking into deep thought. The Xianzhou Luofu was a bastion of power in the galaxy. What kind of existence could possibly plunge it into such a chaotic state, where destiny itself seemed to be a tangled, unreadable mess?
This was also the first time Jing Yuan had ever seen one of Fu Xuan's divinations prove so utterly inconclusive. In the past, her readings were always clear, the omens of fortune or disaster never so uncertain.
In fact, the moment Fu Xuan had returned to the Divination Commission after the Kafka incident, she had cast a divination for the Xianzhou and those around her. This chaotic omen of "fortune and misfortune intertwined" was something she had never encountered before.
Unwilling to give up, she had performed divinations one by one for the Xianzhou Luofu, and even for the people she knew. Yet, the results were all much the same. It was as if some unfathomable power was shrouding the heavenly secrets, and no matter how she calculated, she could only perceive a hazy, confusing fog.
She couldn't see it... She truly couldn't see a thing.
"Haha, before me stands Lady Fu, known as the 'Prophet of the Unknown, Dharma Eye Unquestioned.' Is not seeking good fortune and avoiding calamity your specialty?" Jing Yuan said, his tone deliberately relaxed in an attempt to ease the tense atmosphere.
"There's no need to feed me that chicken soup, General," Fu Xuan shot back, glancing at his projection. "The flux of fortune is a natural law; don't always try to use petty tricks to escape it. The Divination Commission only places the good and bad omens before your eyes, helping people make the right choices to the best of our ability. We do not possess the magical means to turn the tides."
She didn't know why, but she felt as if she had overlooked something critical.
The Stellaron, the Stellaron Hunters, the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus... what was it? What crucial piece of the puzzle had she missed?
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