272: Chapter 269 The Hermit of No Dust

Looking at this Daoist priest named Zhou Sheng, Li Changsheng squatted down and re-examined him.

Although the other party seemed to have poor sleep, with bloodshot eyes, a closer look revealed symptoms of his inner spirit being restrained. However, he had likely been in poor spirits recently, which left him looking rather haggard.

"Your Internal Alchemy is accomplished, but your body is extremely weak. In particular, your legs have suffered from long-term insufficient circulation of Qi and blood, clearly lacking enough physical activity."

Li Changsheng shook his head; this could be considered a common ailment for those devoted to Internal Alchemy.

This Zhou Sheng should belong to the ancient cultivation school. Theoretically, few modern practitioners of Internal Alchemy do this; most would supplement it with other health-preservation methods, such as the Eight Brocades or the Five Animal Frolics. Pure Internal Alchemy, when combined with long-term sedentary meditation, very easily leads to hallucinations.

Li Changsheng felt that if he didn't know the truth about Genentech, he would also think this guy was hallucinating and had something wrong with his brain.

Even now, it seemed that this person was somewhat mentally unstable.

"Daoist Priest Zhou Sheng..."

"Sigh, do not call me Zhou Sheng. My Daoist name is Lay Practitioner Wuchen; you may address me as such."

When this point was raised, Zhou Sheng became sharp, as if being addressed by his given name was a sign of disrespect.

"Uh... Daoist Priest Wuchen, it's like this. You are proficient in Qimen, Bagua, and Feng Shui, and you said that this place has gathered four major ominous signs. But why are they all ominous signs related to water? Could it be that a flood will occur here?"

Li Changsheng asked, mainly to probe this person to see if he truly had real skills or if he, like himself, already knew the truth and was simply using this method to warn everyone.

"Little brother, you must not be someone from the Xuanmen, right? If you knew a little about the I Ching, you wouldn't ask such a question."

Zhou Sheng shook his head and chuckled lightly. The madness in his eyes had diminished slightly. He cast a disdainful glance at Chen Youcai in the distance, and seeing the other party turn away with equal disdain, he laughed and said:

"The reason for the water is not because of a flood, but simply because the understanding of ancient people was limited. In ancient times, drowning or being submerged by floodwaters was considered inauspicious."

"At the same time, water also represents difficulties and obstacles. Just like the crashing of great waves, difficulties come one after another, representing predicaments, rough patches, and the low points of life."

"The Zhun hexagram has thunder, representing the state of mind, signifying danger and a dilemma. The Kun hexagram uses the marsh as its hexagram image, representing predicaments and numerous troubles."

"The Jian hexagram uses the images of water and mountain. If combined with the previous mountain, water, and marsh, it signifies a person climbing a high mountain and encountering water flowing downstream. One can see the danger at that time, referring to being in a dilemma, with obstacles and crises everywhere. Four hexagrams gathering together is ominous upon ominous!"

As Zhou Sheng spoke, the expression on his face became increasingly grave.

Li Changsheng listened, feeling lost in the clouds. Although he didn't quite understand, he still nodded in agreement.

He still felt that this Zhou Sheng had some real skills.

"Don't disbelieve me. I have studied Qimen, Feng Shui, physiognomy, and Bagua for many years; I can calculate a little bit of everything. Little brother, you must have encountered an extremely difficult illness in the past, right?"

"I see several hexagram images on you: Qian, Kun, Zhun, Yu, Wu Wang, Bi, and Yi."

"Among them, the common point of Qian, Kun, Zhun, and Yu is the liver, while Wu Wang points more to various liver diseases, and Bi indicates the affliction of cancer. And Yi, that points it out."

"If I am not mistaken, you must have suffered from cancer, and it was quite extensive. It looks like it was not in the Early Stage, but late stage, and it had already spread!"

Zhou Sheng shook his head while speaking, as if he were carefully pondering something.

"However, how you managed to cross this life-and-death hurdle is very puzzling to me. I cannot tell from looking at your physiognomy. May I examine your palm, Lay Practitioner?"

At this moment, listening to all this, Li Changsheng's heart was already surging with stormy waves.

He had originally thought he was a Jianghu con artist, but he never expected him to be a True God.

Of course, calling him a True God was a bit of an exaggeration. Li Changsheng had read some commentaries on the I Ching by others; it was equivalent to an ancient analytical technique, and modern equivalents existed too, using appearance and lifestyle to judge a person's life—it was somewhat similar to an alternative form of deduction.

"That won't be necessary, Daoist Priest."

Li Changsheng shook his head; he was now somewhat wary.

If he continued to let this Daoist priest deduce further, who knew if he would end up exposing everything he had.

After all, he hadn't just survived cancer; he had also experienced a Rebirth.

"Calculating me is boring. Why don't you calculate someone else here, Daoist Priest?"

"Calculate who?"

Seeing that Li Changsheng did not want him to read his face, Zhou Sheng was somewhat disappointed. He was very interested in the little brother before him right now.

"Uh... just over there!"

Originally, Li Changsheng intended to point at someone randomly, but after thinking about it, regarding the Martial Masters from the Xia Kingdom, even if this person hadn't calculated them, he had likely inquired about them through side channels. So, he simply pointed to another area.

"Koreans?"

Looking at the direction Li Changsheng pointed to, which was clearly Taekwondo, Zhou Sheng was stunned.

There wasn't just Taekwondo over there, but also ancient Taekwondo techniques, which was the Hwarangdo of Lanwei Country.

"There are too many people; I can't be bothered to calculate them. Let's just calculate how their national destiny is," Zhou Sheng said.

"Hmm?"

Li Changsheng was a bit confused. Wouldn't that be more difficult? Besides, can things like national destiny really be deduced at will? Wouldn't it lead to scenes in cultivation novels where one coughs up three liters of blood?

"Daoist Priest Wuchen, please take it easy. National destiny is a serious matter."

Li Changsheng's intention was for him to choose another target.

However, Zhou Sheng scoffed and waved his hand. "Sigh, calculating the national destiny of other countries is indeed a bit difficult, but the national destiny of Lanwei Country can be understood by learning just a little bit of the I Ching."

"How so?"

What did he mean by saying other countries were difficult, while Lanwei Country was easy? Could it be that Lanwei Country was special?

"Hehe, look, haven't they already put their national destiny out in the open long ago!"

As he spoke, Zhou Sheng pointed to a certain place over there.

Looking in the direction he pointed, he clearly saw a very small flag of Lanwei Country placed somewhere in the Taekwondo area, probably stuck there spontaneously by some Korean.

"Look, is this not a hexagram image?"

Zhou Sheng smiled, but he couldn't help but laugh out loud again.

Li Changsheng didn't quite understand the hexagram image, so he didn't know why it was so funny.

Zhou Sheng continued: "Lanwei Country has today thanks to, and must thank, a British captain named James from back then, who modified the early Bagua flag."

"The early Bagua flag was actually quite normal; it was the orthodox Taiji Bagua of my Xuanmen, suggested by an ambassador of the Qing Dynasty. If they had continued to use that Taiji Bagua flag, perhaps things would be vastly different today."

"But back then, Lanwei Country listened to the advice of the foreign devils and didn't understand the meaning of Yin and Yang or the Bagua, so they messed it up completely, turning it into something unrecognizable. And this directly affected the national destiny of Lanwei Country!"

Listening to Zhou Sheng's emotional remarks, Li Changsheng also realized that this seemed to contain a great mystery.

"Daoist Priest, does the current flag have some specific meaning? It doesn't seem to look that different from the Taiji Bagua flag to me."