Chapter 56: Celestial Ninefold Strike
“Could this guy be a fraud?” Looking at Nuo’s dejected appearance, Eleanor felt both sorry and suspicious.
The other girls were still chattering and discussing. Eleanor strode over and asked directly:
“Have you decided? Why don’t I go next?”
“Go, go.” The girls replied quickly.
They still wanted to argue for a while about whether the prophet was credible.
So Eleanor walked up to Zhang Sanfeng, took out a banknote, and asked:
“Are you the prophet?”
“Is that your question?” Zhang Sanfeng raised his white eyebrows. “One person can only ask one question.”
“No.” Eleanor said straightforwardly. “Then let me ask you, can I successfully inherit my father’s title?”
Zhang Sanfeng nodded, took out six copper coins and threw them on the ground, looked at the result of heads and tails, and smiled:
“You’re asking about career? Hey, interesting. This hexagram is Fire over Thunder, Shihe(hexagram), lower Li(Fire) upper Zhen(Thunder), biting through hard objects.”
“I don’t understand.” Eleanor frowned. “Just tell me whether I can or not.”
“The lower trigram is Zhen, the upper trigram is Li. You’re asking about your father’s title, but both Li and Zhen have a yang line at the bottom, which one refers to your father?”
Zhang Sanfeng stroked his beard, puzzled. “Your question is very strange. From the hexagram, the answer should be related to two men.”
“Whether I can inherit my father’s title, of course, only depends on whether my father is willing to hand over the family business to me.” Eleanor also pondered.
“A man other than my father… You mean Asker? As long as I become the strongest with his help, my father will acknowledge that I have strength no less than a man, and then he will be willing to let me inherit his career?”
“Don’t force it, don’t make things up.” Zhang Sanfeng shook his head. “The biggest taboo in interpreting hexagrams is to force the interpretation. Let me calculate again.”
“Lower Zhen upper Li, thunder and fire complement each other, you’re asking about career… Your career will have two peaks, the yin trigram represents that the first peak is illusory, the yang trigram indicates that the second peak is real, but why is there one real and one illusory…”
“I can’t interpret it.” He scratched his head and said with some annoyance. “My knowledge is limited, I can’t see through it. I’ll return the money to you.”
Eleanor didn’t refuse and took the banknote back. She told the girls who were waiting expectantly behind her what had just happened, and finally concluded:
“He’s a fraud.”
“See, I told you he was a fraud.” Mia hummed excitedly, crossed her arms, and said, “He doesn’t look like a prophet at all!”
“Eleanor.” Medea frowned. “You say he’s a fraud because he can’t predict your fate?”
“But if he really was a fraud, he would either deliberately tell you what you want to hear or talk nonsense, how could he admit that he can’t predict?”
“Uh.” Eleanor also had to admit that logically, this was indeed the case. The old man didn’t seem to be lying.
“I’ll go try it.” Medea said, taking a pound and going over.
“Girl, what do you want to ask?” Zhang Sanfeng took the banknote and couldn’t help but take a few more glances at this charming and alluring red-haired woman.
“My future husband and marriage.” Medea said with a smile.
After throwing down the six copper coins, Zhang Sanfeng looked at the result on the ground and said thoughtfully:
“This hexagram is Water over Thunder, Tun(hexagram). The wind blows the tangled threads without a head, everything is upside down and worrisome. If you proceed slowly and patiently, things will go smoothly, but haste will only lead to restrictions.”
“Lower Zhen upper Kan, thunder and rain together, it seems your childhood was very difficult. Both Zhen and Kan are yin trigrams, Zhen represents movement, Kan represents falling into a trap, full of danger, you must have some unspoken secrets.”
“You’re asking about marriage, and the young yang line indicates unfavorable relationships with men…”
He paused for a moment, stared at Medea strangely, and said: “But you look good and have a good figure? You have the beauty of Daji(Fox Spirit or Femme Fatale meaning), but unfavorable relationships with men, are you naturally infertile?”
Medea’s eyes twitched. From the other party’s shallow memory, she understood the meaning of the word “infertile” and her face darkened. She could only say in a harsh voice:
“Don’t worry about me! Just tell me the result.”
“The interpretation is simple.” Zhang Sanfeng stroked his beard. “Thunder and rain symbolize crisis, and after the rain, all things begin to grow. You just need to wait patiently and follow the time of heaven. There will be a crisis in your destiny, but you will be able to turn danger into opportunity.”
“At that time, if you actively strive and pursue boldly, then your marriage will be like the plants after a thunderstorm, sprouting rapidly, flourishing, and ultimately successful.”
“Oh.” Medea nodded, turned around, and returned to the girls, saying, “This guy has some real skills.”
“How was it?” Sidlipha asked.
“He guessed that I have androphobia.” Medea said concisely.
“Wow!!!” The girls immediately became excited. He could even figure this out, this guy must be a real prophet.
Sidlipha couldn’t wait to run over, stuffed the banknote into Zhang Sanfeng’s hand, and shouted:
“Ask about career! Can I be a lord?”
Zhang Sanfeng nodded, picked up the copper coins and threw them on the ground again, stroking his beard and saying:
“Earth over Water, Shi(Hexagram), advancing through danger smoothly. The general receives the decree and goes on an expedition, riding a fierce horse and drawing a strong bow, hitting the target with every shot at a hundred paces, the arrow hitting the coin, bringing forth joy.”
“You girl, you will be a warrior all your life, with great military fortune.”
“That’s right!” Sidlipha laughed heartily. “I’m really good at fighting!”
“From the hexagram, there are many obstacles and difficulties in your career. But you just need to maintain your brave and diligent attitude, overcome obstacles and break through traps, and naturally you will be able to turn danger into opportunity. Also, there will be someone to help you, you need to cooperate closely and not be overly suspicious.”
“Great!” Sidlipha ran back happily. “I’m done, anyone else want a prophecy?”
“I don’t.” Mia said, “I don’t believe in prophecies.”
“I won’t go either.” Miel said.
“Does Peggy want to go?” Asker asked.
“No.” Peggy replied.
“If you don’t want to ask, then I’ll go.” Asker said as he walked towards Zhang Sanfeng again.
Perhaps because they saw that the old man from the Dragon Kingdom wasn’t very interested, the Siris people in the pavilion also left.
Zhang Sanfeng stood on the beach by the sea, looking at the boundless ocean in the distance, his right hand constantly stroking his beard. Asker came to his side and cupped his hands again:
“Master.”
“Why are you here again?” Zhang Sanfeng glared and said, “One person can only have their fortune told once. Asking too much about heaven’s secrets will bring about divine retribution.”
“I’m not here for fortune-telling.” Asker said, “I just want to ask you for something.”
“What is it?”
“Celestial Ninefold Strike.” Asker replied seriously.
Zhang Sanfeng was silent for a long time, looking at him strangely. “How do you know I have the ‘Celestial Ninefold Strike’?”
Before Asker could answer, he immediately waved his hand and said:
“I see, I see, this thing has been waiting for you.”
“No wonder I drifted across the ocean and came to this distant western land. I didn’t expect that it was to deliver this.”
Asker: ???
“Here, take it.” Zhang Sanfeng took out a jade slip from his sleeve and stuffed it into his hand. “Do you know how to read it? Just probe it with your divine sense.”
“Divine sense, you call it spirituality here, just understand it.”
“You’re just giving it to me like this?” Asker asked incredulously. “Don’t I need to do a quest or something?”
“What quest? I said I’ll give it to you, so I’ll give it to you, what quest do you need?” Zhang Sanfeng said, blowing his beard and staring. “Foolish child, why are you still trapped in the illusion of perception?”
“The place you are in now is a completely real world, and the people around you are all flesh and blood! If you continue to be obsessed, you will regret it sooner or later!”
He turned around angrily, a flying sword already in his hand. “The thing has been delivered, the cause and effect are over, this old Taoist should also leave this world. If I stay any longer, I will be backlashed by the fate of this world, it’s too much to bear!”
After saying that, he flicked his sleeve, and the flying sword shot out a huge sword qi. The entire sea immediately parted, revealing a waterless path about three zhang wide.
Zhang Sanfeng stepped onto the flying sword, his whole body instantly turning into a stream of light, passing through the path in an instant and disappearing into the distance where the clouds met the sea.
The seawater quickly closed up, and the old man’s singing echoed in the air, his voice tinged with desolation:
“I thought I had seen all the plays in my life, but looking back, I am already a character in the play.”
“The Red Phoenix star moves, the jade drum beats, the Pojun star rises, the sword becomes a tomb.”
“I have never feared mountains of corpses and seas of blood, but the soft jade and warm fragrance have broken my heart.”
“When the day of Double Ninth Festival comes, a new emperor will have new ministers.”
What a crappy poem! Asker was both amused and speechless.
Although his literary accomplishment wasn’t very high, he could tell that this was just a doggerel, neither melodious nor meaningful, he didn’t know what it was singing about.
Turning around, he saw the girls all staring at the sea with dumbfounded expressions, their faces almost petrified with shock.
“That was… Asker, what was that just now…” Eleanor asked incredulously, her voice trembling. “Was it a miracle? Legend has it that Moses parted the sea to create a path with such a miracle…”
Asker: …
He immersed his spirituality into the jade slip and immediately obtained all the information about the “Celestial Ninefold Strike.”
As a supernatural sword technique, the “Celestial Ninefold Strike” had a total of nine specific sword techniques, divided into three levels: lower, middle, and upper, spanning three stages. The lower three sword techniques could be learned during the bloodline stage, and they were “Sharp Break,” “Heavy Break,” and “Grazing Shot.”
Sharp Break: Ignores enemy blocks or dodges, guaranteed to hit.
Heavy Break: Pierces through shield defenses, breaks parrying weapons.
Grazing Shot: High-speed slashes weave a sword net, intercepting all ranged attacks.
(The above descriptions are for reference only, the actual effects depend on the user’s skill level.)
Theoretically, as long as you mastered these three sword techniques, then apart from supernatural powers, there were almost no weapons that could hurt you.
Even when facing a siege of 10,000 soldiers with swords and spears, as long as your physical qualities could keep up, you could see through all the enemy’s attack patterns during battle and instantly know how to respond and counterattack in your mind. The rest of the time, you just had to follow the prompts.
It was like an elementary school arithmetic competition, everyone was struggling to memorize the multiplication table, and then during the exam, you took out a calculator from your pocket…
So let alone two-digit operations, even four arithmetic operations with 10-digit numbers were just a matter of pressing a few buttons.
In a sense, as a supernatural sword technique, the Celestial Ninefold Strike had a qualitative difference in realm from other sword techniques.
The only problem was that learning the lower three sword techniques was equivalent to building a calculator in your mind…
Inputting all kinds of attack moves, you had to output the corresponding counter moves. This was a job that relied purely on memory and understanding, there was no shortcut, you had to put in the hard work.
After learning the lower three sword techniques, you had to wait until you reached level 10 or above and had a preliminary understanding of laws before you could learn the middle three sword techniques, which were “Life Sever,” “Spirit Break,” and “Heart Burn.”
As for the upper three sword techniques of the demigod realm, “Law Break,” “Domain Sever,” and “Law Annihilation,” he had only just begun to master them in his previous life and was far from proficient.
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