Tongtian Pavilion naturally had Eight Trigrams formation boards and yarrow stalks and other divination implements. A’Piao had even specially prepared a complete divination chamber for her on the top floor of Tongtian Pavilion. Antique bronze wind chimes hung from the eaves, and in one corner of the room stood a bronze Vermilion Bird lamp, the bird holding a jade bell in its beak.

On the long jade table sat the Eight Trigrams formation board, and at the edge of the table stood a long jade cylinder containing fifty precisely arranged yarrow stalks.

Lang Jiuchuan picked up one of the stalks and felt the spiritual energy within it. Looking more closely, she found it sleek and lustrous, glinting with a cool light, and giving off a faint fragrance of agarwood — as though it had been kept for many years and regularly handled with care. She looked toward A’Piao with some surprise. “These yarrow stalks…”

A’Piao raised his chin proudly. “Tongtian Pavilion has no inferior goods. These yarrow stalks have existed longer than even this old ghost’s life span — over a hundred years old. They have been steeped in the finest agarwood and have received incense offerings before the divine statue of the Patriarch of the Dao. Consider yourself fortunate.”

Lang Jiuchuan said nothing, running her fingers over the yarrow stalks. A strange sense of familiarity washed over her, inexplicably so.

A’Piao watched her bow her head in contemplation and said, “The Xuan Clan may not be great, but they have the advantage of numbers and some accumulated resources. Among them are those of decent cultivation. If all the clans combined their strength, they would eventually be able to locate the wicked demon’s whereabouts. You need not put your divine soul and your body on the line.”

He was somewhat worried. Could Lang Jiuchuan’s body withstand the physical toll of performing a Grand Divination?

“I don’t trust them.” Lang Jiuchuan’s fingers traced over the ancient Eight Trigrams formation board. “What I seek to divine is the propitious date and location of this wicked demon’s descent into the world — and ideally, I want to see the full picture of its situation. Only then can I seize the advantage.”

“Actually, even if they were to keep that weapon, you wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. If they truly dared to keep it, they would ultimately reap the bitter fruit and bear the karmic consequences.”

Lang Jiuchuan raised her head to look at him. “By then, far too many innocent people would already be dead.”

A’Piao mocked her: “Oh my — wasn’t it you who just said not long ago that you’re not a good person? Then what would you call what you’re doing right now?”

“I’m doing this for myself, nothing more. People say that fortune is found amid danger — Manager A’Piao, what I’m after is merit found amid danger.” Lang Jiuchuan grinned at him. “I sustain my life and nourish my soul through merit.”

A’Piao found that smile jarringly conspicuous. Leaning against the doorframe, he gazed out the window and said, “There’s nothing wrong with not being able to go on living. Follow my master — and a paper body will always be provided for you to dwell in.”

Lang Jiuchuan shook her head. “You and I are different. My soul is incomplete. If I die again, there may be no coming back from it.”

Inside her spiritual court, Jiangche heard this and felt a pang of unease. “Didn’t you say that if you died again, you’d just go cause a scene in the underworld?”

Lang Jiuchuan said nothing. In the past, she had thought she could be so brazen — but after passing through the Small Nine Pagoda and hearing what the Venerable Luo Le said upon placing his hand on her head, she no longer dared to be so presumptuous.

A remnant soul can still achieve nirvana.

She was most likely only a remnant soul. The fact that she could maintain two souls and five spirits was already a mystery she couldn’t account for — how could she dare act recklessly?

“I’m going to set up the altar,” said Lang Jiuchuan.

A’Piao put down his hand and straightened up.

Lang Jiuchuan said no more. She washed her hands and offered incense to heaven and earth. This time, her offering of incense lasted longer than any she had given before — for this was a Grand Divination, a glimpse at the secrets of heaven. Of course, she had to say a few extra words.

She was doing this for all living beings. She beseeched the Heavenly Way to be lenient in its punishment.

After presenting the incense, she also bowed three times. Then she gently composed herself, sat cross-legged before the small table, and first took out one yarrow stalk, placing it in the most prominent position before the Eight Trigrams formation board — this represented the symbol of the Supreme Ultimate.

Within the Book of Changes lies the Supreme Ultimate, which gives rise to the Two Modes; the Two Modes give rise to the Four Images; the Four Images give rise to the Eight Trigrams; the Eight Trigrams determine good fortune and misfortune. What she sought — was for the sake of all living beings.

She then took nine more stalks and placed them in the position of the Wind trigram, in the meaning of the Grand Yarrow’s fifty — with Heaven’s yarrow being forty-nine.

Her two hands swiftly formed a hand seal. Inside the Small Nine Pagoda, the wooden fish, bound to her by the same pact, felt this seal and was somewhat astonished — she had actually grasped the Venerable’s inheritance, fusing the seals of both Buddhism and Daoism to perform the divination.

No — this didn’t seem to be the proper method for a Grand Divination, or at least, not solely that.

The wooden fish concentrated its attention to sense what was happening.

Lang Jiuchuan’s hands gently struck the jade cylinder with the formed seal, and several yarrow stalks rose without wind. She caught them with her left hand, tossed them upward, and chanted: “First change — divide into two to symbolize heaven and earth…”

As she drew a single line through the air with pressed fingers, the yarrow stalks in midair split of their own accord into two clusters. Divide-into-two, suspend-one, count-by-fours, set-aside-remainder — four operations completing one change — and one stalk gently descended to be taken between her fingers.

The stalk rested between her two fingers, and Lang Jiuchuan’s brow twitched sharply. A piercing pain spread from her fingertips as faint traces of blood began seeping from the gaps of her fingernails.

A’Piao, who had been treating himself as invisible all along, saw this and his expression changed drastically. This was a backlash of spiritual energy — how could it come so swiftly?

When she placed the yarrow stalk on the divination board, a clear ringing sound was heard, and he immediately snapped his gaze upward to the bronze wind chime hanging from the eaves — it was vibrating intensely and wildly.

Inside the room, the candlelight flickered and swayed.

Heaven was issuing its warning.

Lang Jiuchuan remained utterly unaware. Her expression unwavering, she shifted her hand seals and began the second change. From yin and yang giving rise to Two Modes, she drew down one yarrow stalk — and her palm felt as though sliced open by a sharp blade, a line of blood welling up.

A’Piao’s expression darkened. This was not purely a Grand Divination — had she lost her mind?

His mouth opened, nearly calling out for her to stop, when a voice shouted in his mind, “Don’t disturb her.”

A’Piao shuddered, his complexion turning pale.

Once a divination is disturbed, the backlash of spiritual energy she would suffer would be far greater.

This madwoman.

A’Piao, Jiangche, and even the wooden fish all arrived at this thought simultaneously — yet not one of them dared to make a sound.

Lang Jiuchuan’s mind was utterly undistracted. She changed her seals once more. By the time the third change completed a single line of the hexagram, cold sweat had soaked through the undergarment beneath her clothing, clinging to her back. Her face was pale and drained of all color.

Candlelight swayed in the darkness. Doors and windows seemed as though beaten by fierce winds and torrential rain, letting out heavy thudding sounds.

Lang Jiuchuan began the second line of the hexagram. The yarrow stalks trembled frantically, arranging themselves in formation beyond all control, sketching out the blurry outline of a hexagram.

Fzt.

The candleflame abruptly extinguished. In her ears, Lang Jiuchuan heard what felt like thunderclaps booming, intermingled with the howling of ten thousand vengeful souls — the piercing agony drove through her divine soul, and her body swayed slightly.

Dark blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.

A’Piao’s ghost eyes turned crimson.

This was a backlash of spiritual energy — what exactly was she trying to do?

Then came the third, fourth, and fifth lines. The jade bell on the Vermilion Bird lamp chimed with tinkling sounds; the Vermilion Bird let out a screaming cry. Lang Jiuchuan cast the yarrow stalks in her hands upward with a toss, and they flew rapidly across the Eight Trigrams formation board. It was as though some invisible hand inside the room was swiftly moving them, seeking to form the complete hexagram.

Clang, clang, clang.

The wind chimes hanging from the eaves let out a piercing, prolonged wail.

The yarrow stalks stilled.

All six lines of the hexagram were complete.

Lang Jiuchuan snapped her eyes open, taking the hexagram into her sight. Her eyes rapidly turned red.

Pfft.

She suddenly spat out a mist of blood. She stared fixedly at the blood mist, then seized a brush with both hands and began drawing something frantically on paper.

Outside, the sky and clouds shifted and churned. From within the dense, heavy cloud layer came rolling thunder, lightning flickering within.

Heavenly punishment was imminent.

Lang Jiuchuan’s mind was a sea of chaos — only her two hands, holding the brush, moved with the vigor and agility of a soaring dragon.

A’Piao watched the image gradually taking shape on the paper, his heart stirring intensely. Then he looked back at that person, and did not dare to look a second time.

Boom.

A muffled thunderclap descended with tremendous force, striking directly into the divination chamber — yet it seemed as though something intercepted and deflected it. Only the charred black window frame remained to show it had ever come.

Thud.

Lang Jiuchuan suddenly collapsed to the ground. Her divine soul was torn apart; blood seeped from all seven orifices. She fell into complete unconsciousness.