Guo Pu was a very sensible person. After being captured—oh no, invited—to Jianye, he remained very quiet, neither making a fuss nor causing trouble, quite in keeping with a famous scholar’s demeanor.
Wang Dun personally brought him to see the Prince of Langya. Before going, he ordered him to read the Prince’s fate.
Guo Pu glanced at the sword in Wang Dun’s hand and very obediently agreed.
As soon as he saw the Prince of Langya, Guo Pu’s calm expression broke. He looked the Prince up and down in astonishment, then after a moment stiffly turned his head back to look at Wang Dun, his expression rather strange.
Wang Dun stared at him coldly.
Guo Pu calmly withdrew his gaze.
The hand hidden in his sleeve kept calculating. After finishing, Guo Pu was somewhat incredulous and took out a turtle shell to divine again. After a long while, he sighed and said, “Your Highness possesses Heaven’s mandate.”
Wang Dun’s eyes lit up. He immediately turned to look at Wang Dao, then laughed heartily. “Congratulations, Your Highness! Felicitations, Your Highness!”
The Prince of Langya was completely confused, not understanding what riddle the Wang brothers were playing.
Wang Dun enthusiastically introduced Guo Pu to him. “Your Highness, this is Guo Jingchun, a master of Daoist arts and divination.”
The Prince of Langya had obviously heard of Guo Pu. His eyes lit up when he heard this. Recalling what he had just said about Heaven’s mandate, he was even more delighted and pointed to a seat beside him, smiling: “Sir, please sit.”
He possessed Heaven’s mandate—didn’t that mean the new emperor in Yanzhou would soon…
The Prince of Langya’s eyes sparkled brightly. Wang Dun was also very excited. Only Wang Dao stood quietly to the side, his gaze moving between the three of them.
His Heaven’s mandate and Wang Dun’s weren’t the same thing at all.
After comprehensive comparison, he had discovered that Zhao Hanzhang seemed more suitable to be the ruler of this realm. He believed that every person was a gift from Heaven.
Since Heaven had produced a Zhao Hanzhang at this time and allowed her to gradually seize power, it must be because she was useful.
Originally, he thought that with Zhao Hanzhang’s female identity holding power, there would inevitably be cruel struggles in the future, and everything she currently possessed would transfer to the next person, like what happened with Gou Xi.
He believed the Prince of Langya was that excellent next person.
Dajin seemed trapped in a kind of curse. Every powerful minister who approached the emperor underwent a drastic transformation.
The Prince of Donghai was like this, Gou Xi was like this, and Zhao Hanzhang would be like this too, right?
The reason he was confident the Prince of Langya wouldn’t be like this was first because he had a good relationship with the Prince and had known him for decades—he believed in his character. Second, Wang Dao believed he himself wouldn’t become like the Prince of Donghai or Gou Xi. He would remain clear-headed and wise in assisting the Prince of Langya…
Frankly speaking, Wang Dao still believed in himself.
But recently, the Prince of Langya had changed after just tasting the pinnacle of power.
After deeper cooperation, the Prince discovered Wang Dao’s unprecedented assertiveness, while Wang Dao also discovered the Prince similarly possessed the Sima family’s characteristic muddleheadedness—once gaining power, he became carried away.
Meanwhile, Zhao Hanzhang, who was still resisting Xiongnu and Jie invasions, was too dazzling. So dazzling that Wang Dao began to doubt his choice.
If Zhao Hanzhang remained this wise and clearheaded, the great division and struggle he envisioned wouldn’t occur. Then wouldn’t everything he was doing now make him a criminal for the ages?
Wang Dao did indeed put family interests first and chose the Prince of Langya to ensure the Wang clan’s invincibility. But…this didn’t mean he wanted to use the entire realm’s chaos as the price.
Since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, over a hundred years had passed. This realm had been in chaos for over a hundred years. Though briefly unified in between, power wasn’t concentrated and the court could barely control the regions.
Wang Dao was a young man with ideals and ambitions. He wanted the Wang clan invincible, but he also wanted to establish unprecedented merit—grand unification!
Seeing both the Prince of Langya and Wang Dun looking very pleased, Wang Dao frowned in silence.
Perhaps because Guo Pu’s pronouncement made the Prince too excited, he directly asked, “I wonder when Heaven’s mandate will be fulfilled?”
Guo Pu said nothing.
Wang Dun’s expression darkened. His hand went to his sword hilt as he said coldly, “His Highness is asking you a question. Answer!”
Guo Pu pressed his lips together and said irritably, “Anytime, as long as the Prince of Langya is willing.”
The Prince froze and quickly asked, “What does this mean? The new emperor of the Central Plains still exists—how can Heaven’s mandate be with me?”
Guo Pu raised his eyes to glance at him. The realm was already in utter chaos. Anyone could declare themselves king or emperor—who cared about this anymore?
Guo Pu said, “Forgive Guo’s shallow skills—I cannot calculate it. But Heaven’s mandate is indeed with Your Highness.”
The Prince of Langya hesitated for a long while before gritting his teeth and asking, “What about Zhao Hanzhang?”
Guo Pu said, “I have never seen Zhao Hanzhang, so I don’t know.”
The Prince’s heart burned like fire as he pressed: “Would a portrait work?”
Guo Pu calmly shook his head. “How can a portrait compare to a real person? Physiognomy reads a person’s soul and future through their features. What use are lines drawn with brush and ink?”
The Prince decided to send Guo Pu to see Zhao Hanzhang. He promised Guo Pu, “If you make this trip, I’ll grant you a general’s position.”
Guo Pu: …Thank you, but I don’t need it.
Guo Pu merely smiled without speaking. The Prince assumed he had accepted these terms and immediately added guards to arrange for an escort to take him north to find Zhao Hanzhang.
The Prince never considered that Guo Pu might escape. Since Heaven’s mandate was with him, Guo Pu could barely be counted as having merit from following the dragon. With such a great opportunity, why would he run?
But in reality, as soon as they left Jianye, Guo Pu started thinking about running. And after two days of effort, finding the right moment, he actually succeeded in escaping.
Once free, Guo Pu stood at a fork in the road pondering where to go.
He couldn’t return to Jiangdong or Jiangnan. Wang Dun was domineering, and the Prince of Langya wasn’t good-tempered either. If he went back, he’d definitely be captured again, and next time his luck wouldn’t be this good.
The north…they were at war. It looked very dangerous.
Mentally sorting through his options, Guo Pu decided to go to Shu.
He heard Shu was experiencing refugee disasters and serious bandit problems, but it was still better than the great chaos in the north.
Guo Pu turned to head west, habitually taking out his turtle shell to divine. He thought the divination would comply with his wishes as always, but as soon as the shell hit the ground, his brow twitched.
The smile slowly faded from Guo Pu’s face. He bent down to pick up the shell. This time, he bowed reverently before casting it again. Seeing the result, Guo Pu expressionlessly picked up the shell.
He caressed it for a moment but ultimately didn’t cast a third time.
They say things come in threes. This was already twice. It showed Heaven’s will—calculating a third time would just waste his merit.
Guo Pu turned around, sighed, and resignedly headed north.
The divination said his path to survival lay in the north, not the west.
Guo Pu truly believed in divination and considered his readings very accurate.
Though cunning, he never lied about divination. After all, this transmitted Heaven’s will—how could he lie?
So the Prince of Langya truly did possess Heaven’s mandate. It was just that he would die young, and his death was imminent.
And his relationship with Wang Dun was very special—both loving and killing.
Between the two of them, either the Prince would die by Wang Dun’s hand, or Wang Dun would die by the Prince’s hand.
So Guo Pu only said half his statement. The other half that might cost his life, he didn’t speak.
They didn’t ask anyway.
Heaven didn’t forbid him from lying, but still allowed him to keep silent.
Sigh, who knew what the north was like now? Shi Lei had already surrendered. Zhao Hanzhang should be able to drive out the Xiongnu soon, right?
That way, it didn’t seem so dangerous.
Guo Pu muttered to himself as he walked north, his heart full of worry.
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