Hearing Xiang Mantang's words, the old man who had previously been lying on the ground, his body twitching, suddenly jumped up high from the ground.
He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his dirty sleeve, complaining yet sounding delighted, "Why didn't you just pay up earlier, making me spit blood?"
After speaking, he held out his hand to Xiang Mantang, "Here, give me the money."
Naturally, Xiang Mantang didn't carry cash on him—he gestured with his lips towards Gao Yu.
Gao Yu also wasn't in the habit of carrying cash, but he had money in WeChat.
So, he asked the old man, "Can you do QR code payment?"
"Of course." The old man nodded proudly, then pulled out the latest iPhone from his pocket, opened his WeChat QR code, and extended the screen towards Gao Yu, "Here, scan it."
Gao Yu was speechless. This scamming old fellow was actually keeping up with the times, even using QR codes to receive money.
Speechless though he was, Gao Yu still held a wary respect for this crazy yet unfathomably powerful old man, so he quickly made a transfer via QR code, sending over five thousand yuan.
Seeing the notification of the received money, the old man's eyes narrowed into crescent moon shapes with delight.
Holding his phone, he couldn't stop smiling, "Sure enough, the prophecy of today wasn't wrong. Although I encountered a bloody mishap, I also made an unexpected fortune."
Having said that, the old man was ready to leave with his phone in hand.
However, he paused for some reason, then turned back to look at Xiang Mantang, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Seeing how honest you look, I'll give you a free fortune-telling today. What would you like to know?"
"No need." Xiang Mantang shook his head in refusal.
If this had been a person of the Path, Xiang Mantang would naturally not have refused, and would even have begged him to calculate how to obtain the thing that could revive Mu Jinyu.
But with this old man's frivolous demeanour, who was scamming for five thousand yuan, it was clear he wouldn't be of any help. It was best to get rid of him quickly.
The old man, upon hearing Xiang Mantang's refusal, immediately glared, dissatisfied, "What? You look down on me? You should know that I'm the Divine Diviner, missing nothing. This morning, I predicted I'd encounter a bloody mishap as well as make a fortune. See, hasn't it all been verified?"
Gao Yu was speechless to the extreme.
He finally couldn't help but say, "That 'bloody mishap' of yours, wasn't it self-inflicted? And the 'fortune' you mentioned, wasn't it just swindling us?"
"Yes." The old man nodded frankly, not at all embarrassed, "My actions are to attract good luck and avoid disaster. A minor car accident is better than a bloody death, right? The bit of fortune I received may be small, but I'm still alive, isn't that good for everyone?"
"We got scammed by you, how is that good for us?" Gao Yu said discontentedly.
If it weren't for the old man's unpredictable strength, he would have felt an urge to beat him up.
Of course, Gao Yu also noticed that although the old man was full of nonsense, he was quite easy to talk to. If not for the terrifying strength the old man had displayed earlier, he would never dare to speak to him in this manner.
The old man said, "You also benefited from a misfortune by getting advice from me. Isn't that good too?"
While saying that, he huffed discontentedly, "You should know that ordinary people, even if they spend billions, wouldn't be qualified to have me read their fortune."
By the end, the old man looked at Xiang Mantang meaningfully, his words lingering, "You should cherish this blessing!"
"Gao Yu, let's not bother with him anymore, let's go," Xiang Mantang said impatiently, wanting to leave directly without further contact with the madman who behaved oddly at every turn.
Just as they returned to the car, a cement truck suddenly lost control at the intersection behind them, barreling into pedestrians crossing the road on a green light, crushing them under its weight.
The scene was too horrific to watch as people were ground into a bloody paste!
"This..."
Xiang Mantang, sitting in the backseat of the car, watched the accident at the intersection unfold in an instant, his pupils involuntarily constricting.
He suddenly remembered what the old man had just said, "Being hit and bleeding a little is far better than being completely obliterated, isn't it?"
The sum I received, though small, at least allowed me to stay alive.
To begin with, Xiang Mantang thought the old man was talking nonsense, but now, watching the accident, he felt that there was indeed some truth in his words.
If he had been an ordinary person, aware that a bloodbath was imminent, he might have sought to attract good fortune and avoid disaster by intentionally getting hit by someone in a minor collision, which certainly would be better than being crushed to death by a cement truck, right?
And although the compensation for the minor collision might not be much, it wouldn't compare to the latter, but at least he would still be alive!
The old man stood on the side, watching the accident unfold, his expression somewhat dazed. He then wiped the cold sweat from his forehead in relief and muttered, "My goodness, it really did keep disaster at bay. If I had been run over by that truck, my frail body wouldn't have stood a chance."
Although Xiang Mantang felt that the old man, with his strength, would likely have survived being hit by the cement truck unexpectedly, his attitude had changed. He humbly asked, "Old man, how do you divine a fortune?""
"It's simple," said the old man, coming back to reality after hearing Xiang Mantang's words, indifferent to the accident and the screams nearby, proudly telling Xiang Mantang, "Just give me a word, and I'll be able to divine for you."
As he spoke, he mumbled, "Actually, it wasn't supposed to be that complicated, but I couldn't clearly see your face because it's shrouded in a layer of fog, so I need you to give me a word."
Xiang Mantang, surprised by the old man's words, had thought he would be refused with mockery or asked for an exorbitant price.
After all, he had just turned down the old man's offer of a free fortune, and he thought that if he changed his mind, the old man would take the opportunity to gouge him. But to his surprise, the old man readily agreed to tell his fortune.
It felt as though the old man had intentionally come to divine his fortune.
With that thought, Xiang Mantang still spoke a word, saying, "Jade."
"What jade?" asked the old man.
Xiang Mantang replied, "The jade of a Jade Pendant."
Upon hearing this, the old man nodded and began to calculate by counting on his fingers. As he did so, his expression grew more serious.
Then, he murmured, "The word for jade, minus the dot, becomes the word for king. This person is born to be a king, destined to shine brilliantly. Unfortunately, that missing dot signifies a calamity in his fate, which could well mean it's better to shatter as jade than remain intact as a tile!"
Muttering to himself, the old man turned to Xiang Mantang and asked, "You're not divining this for yourself, are you? It's for someone else, right?"
"Why would you ask that?" Xiang Mantang inquired.
The old man said dismissively, "Because you're still alive and well, whereas the person I've divined for, if not dead, should be at his last breath by now. He certainly couldn't be standing in front of me talking. So it's obvious you're divining for someone else..."