“Hey, Taoist, can you tell fortunes?”
At the city gate, a young woman in pink kicked the disheveled Taoist sleeping against the city wall, her small mouth pursed slightly.
“Huh? Ah.”
The disheveled Taoist woke up, rubbing his sleepy eyes, and looked at the young madam before him.
“What do you wish to know, young lady?”
“Look clearly, I am a madam, can’t you tell from my hair bun?”
“Oh, apologies, Madam, are you here to inquire about your marriage?”
“...I’m already married, what else is there to inquire about marriage? Are you any good? If not, I’ll find someone else.”
“Hey, hey, hey, who says I’m not capable? Tell me, what do you want to know? No charge if it’s wrong.”
The disheveled Taoist quickly called out to the young woman.
“Tell me, when will I have a child? My husband and I have been married for three years.”
“Oh, it’s calculated, it’s today.”
“Ah? Are you any good? You didn’t even take out your divination charts or use coins, you’re just guessing randomly? If you’re going to cheat people, at least put on a show.”
“What I mean is, if Madam is willing to spend the night with this humble Taoist, you will have a child today.”
“Tsk, so you’re a madman, disgusting.”
The young woman’s face turned red, she spat at the disheveled Taoist and walked straight into the city.
“Don’t disbelieve me, if I say you’ll get pregnant today, you’ll get pregnant today. This humble Taoist’s calculations are very accurate, hahaha.”
After laughing, the disheveled Taoist took out a bottle of wine and began to drink.
A quarter of an hour later, the young woman hurried back, crouched beside the disheveled Taoist,
“Daoist Master, your divination is incredibly accurate. I just went to see a physician and I am indeed pregnant. Daoist Master is truly a celestial calculator.”
As the young woman spoke, she took out a handful of copper coins and placed them beside the disheveled Taoist.
“Hahahaha, of course, this humble Taoist calculates everything, heaven and earth, my Taoist name is… Tian Suanzi.”
The disheveled Taoist stood up, holding his wine bottle, swaying as he walked.
“The mortal world no longer knows Wang Fugui, drifting in the mortal world, Tian Suanzi, hahaha, good poem, good poem.”
He was unrestrained, he played in the mortal world.
Others laughed at him for being too mad, but he didn’t laugh at them for not seeing through him.
He drank all day, and when he woke up, he cultivated. After cultivating, he traveled, not knowing where he was going, but he never left the boundaries of Lan Ning Kingdom.
What a life of carefree abandon, he loved this kind of life.
Ten years later, he was still the same.
His favorite was winter, he loved winter.
Winter had snow, he said he would take her to see the most beautiful snow.
He passed out in the snow.
The snow covered his cheeks, so warm.
“Who are you?”
Tian Suanzi got up from the snow, shaking his dizzy head, unable to tell if the old Taoist with the white beard before him was real or not.
“You possess immense psionic power, yet why is your cultivation so weak?”
“What business is it of yours? This humble Taoist cultivates when he wants to, and plays when he wants to…”
“Do you think getting drunk can make you forget her?”
The old Taoist with the white beard smiled.
“When I’m drunk, I miss her even more. I’ve missed her for ten years, and I still do.”
“What do you want to do?”
“I said I would take her to see the most beautiful snow, but the snow is here, and she is not.”
“The most beautiful snow is in your heart.”
“In my heart? What good is it in my heart? She can’t see it.”
“If you want her to see it, use your psionic power to let her see the snow. It’s not about taking her to where the snow is, but wherever you are, there will be snow.”
“Psionic power? What is that?”
A mysterious flowing light appeared in the white-bearded old Taoist’s hand, and then, that flowing light entered Tian Suanzi’s brow.
“This venerable one was ordered by the Immortal Venerable to journey to the Myriad Fire Plane, and passed by the Thunder Wind Realm. It seems we have a connection.
I bestow upon you a seed of psionic power. Think what you wish, desire what you yearn for.
When the time comes, this venerable one shall take you to the Immortal Realm to cultivate, as my disciple.”
“To the Immortal Realm? When will that be?”
“When the wind and thunder accompany each other, on the day you overcome tribulations and become an immortal.”
“Who are you?”
“Heavenly Venerable.”
“Heavenly Venerable?”
“The Thunder Wind Realm is a good place, a land of outstanding people and spiritual resources.”
After saying this, the white-bearded old Taoist vanished in an instant.
“Heh…”
Tian Suanzi sneered and then collapsed back into the snow, falling asleep.
To him, this was merely a fanciful dream after getting drunk.
But if he were in the Immortal Realm, he would know what the title Heavenly Venerable represented.
The founder of the Qi Cultivation school, the first saint in the Immortal Realm, the leader of the first Immortal-Demon War, the strongest being among all sentient life in the prime planes, second only to the five Immortal Venerables in bearing the title of Venerable.
Furthermore, Heavenly Venerable existed before Immortal Venerable.
Tian Suanzi woke up again, dispelling the cold from his body with his cultivation, and continued walking north at the foot of the mountain.
Where to, he did not know.
“I said I would take you to see the most beautiful snow, where are you?”
The snow grew heavier, falling all around.
On the other side of the mountain.
“What wretched weather, it was sunny just now, and now it’s snowing even harder. Oh well, I’ll go drink.”
A Taoist nun muttered a few words and flew south.
Tian Suanzi walked, chanting, he had been searching for ten years and still hadn’t found the person in his heart.
He didn’t know where she was, but an invisible belief told him to persist, to think what he thought, and one day, his wishes would come true.
This was psionic power, he seemed to understand it a little.
Twenty years passed.
Tian Suanzi continued to wander in Lan Ning Kingdom, many people recognized the mad Taoist.
Some said he was simply a lunatic, driven mad by qi deviation during cultivation.
Some said he was a man of great wisdom, acting foolishly, a true recluse, having seen through the world, living with carefree abandon.
Some said he was a weakling, still at the Initial Strength Realm at such an old age, all bluster.
Yes, Tian Suanzi was over forty years old. Wrinkles appeared on his face, his skin turned sallow, and his posture became stooped.
He never cared about his appearance. Sometimes he would drink and chat with people at the next table, and sometimes he would whistle and flirt with beautiful women, a lewd smile on his face.
The image of a handsome young man in white robes was no longer to be found on him.
Fortunately, these years were not wasted. By telling fortunes and grave robbing, he had earned some spirit stones and elixirs, breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage.
“I can live to two hundred years old, that’s great, I still have over a hundred years to find you.”
A dash of ink paints the snow like beauty,
Two sleeves flutter, playing with cold tears.
Three or two silver pots warm jade plum blossoms,
Four directions welcome the wind, calling for people to return…
Thirty years passed.
A rare blizzard swept across the northwest of the Thunder Wind Continent, and many poor people did not survive the winter, freezing to death.
When spring arrived, the accumulated snow melted, the land became more fertile, and farmers had better harvests.
Fortune and misfortune are intertwined.
Forty years passed, and the snow each year was heavier than the last, covering half the Northern Region in white.
Many national scholars gathered to discuss how humans’ neglect of the environment and the greenhouse effect had caused global warming, leading to increasingly heavy snowfall.
Fifty years passed.
The snow continued to fall heavier, and people sought the reason, leading to various speculations.