After Zhong Zhengyuan returned home at night, he calculated the fate of that gentleman once more.
âHow did it still come out as deadâŠâ
Zhong Zhengyuan felt upset inside. He found it strange because since he entered the mortal world, he had never made a mistake in divination, but that day he had messed up several times.
âI want to see just how strong you are!â
As he spoke, Zhong Zhengyuan unexpectedly took out two more copper coins from his pocket and added them to the three he already had, holding them in his hand.
âClatter, clatterâŠâ
The copper coins fell to the ground. However, to Zhong Zhengyuanâs surprise, those five copper coins kept spinning without stopping for a long while.
âThisâŠâ
He paused for a moment, then suddenly shuddered all over.
He saw a golden light begin to glow on his body. That was his meritâs golden light, and without knowing why, it uncontrollably started to pour out.
âHmm!!â
In the next moment, Zhong Zhengyuanâs merit golden light vanished at a very fast speed.
He widened his eyes, quickly reached out his hand, and gathered up all five copper coins.
In an instant, cold sweat poured down his back.
When he looked again, half of his merit was gone!!
âMy merit!!!â
A cry of sorrow came from Youling County.
Moyuan, who was sitting drowsily in the courtyard, abruptly woke up.
âWhatâs all this yelling in the middle of the night?â
Moyuan blinked his eyes but didnât care at all. Propping up his chin, he went back to sleep.
But the next morning, when Moyuan saw Zhong Zhengyuan, the man looked like he had lost his soul.
What Moyuan didnât know was that this fortune-teller had saved up merit for several hundred yearsâŠ
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In just one night, most of it had vanished!
Luckily, he had saved enough, or it might not have been so simple.
Moyuan thought Mr. Chen would return soon, so he stuck close to Zhong Zhengyuan over the next days.
Yet since that night, Zhong Zhengyuan seemed much grumpier. His words were not so gentle anymore, and sometimes he even left Moyuan speechless with his snappy replies.
Moyuan didnât hold back either, calling him an âold thingâ every other word, but it was just bickering. He didnât actually start a fight because Zhong Zhengyuan was still Mr. Chenâs friend, and he was afraid of making Mr. Chen upset.
No one knew what madness the old thing had fallen into, but he was fussing all day long.
Amid the bickering, Moyuan stayed in Youling County for over two weeks, yet still couldnât wait for Mr. Chen to come.
âHey old thing, what do you think Mr. Chen is doing?â
Whenever Chen Changsheng was mentioned, Zhong Zhengyuan got angry: âWhatâs it to me? Itâs best if he doesnât come. You should leave too, so I donât have to look at you.â
He was having a hard timeâone divination had left him with an unlucky old age.
Zhong Zhengyuan thought no one was worse off than him.
Moyuan chuckled and said: âI donât even want to be stuck here with you. If not for the fact youâre Mr. Chenâs friend, Iâd have dealt with you long ago.â
Zhong Zhengyuan glanced at him: âGo ahead. Finish me off. Do it right now.â
âLook at you, with all your hundreds of years of cultivation. Itâs amazing how a wise person like you can talk so badly.â
âWhat about you? Stinky swamp creature!â
âOld thing!â
Moyuan was truly getting fed up: âAlright, Iâm done arguing with you. Looks like Mr. Chen wonât be coming for a while. Iâll come back later.â
âGet lost!â
âWe met each other once and are sort of friends. Arenât you going to give me a farewell gift? That copper coin in your hand looks prettyâŠâ
âOut!!!â
Zhong Zhengyuan shooed Moyuan out.
Moyuan wasnât angry; he just thought the old thing was stingy and didnât fuss over it.
Then he left Youling County.
After Moyuan was gone, Zhong Zhengyuan felt the world was much quieter.
But whenever he remembered the vanished merit, it felt like his heart was bleeding.
It was like someone saving up money their whole life, only to get robbed for no reason while walking down the street.
So miserable!
âŠ
Moyuan didnât go back to Bibo Lake after leaving. Instead, he headed straight to Mr. Chenâs retreat.
Flowing Cloud Temple was peaceful as usual.
Miss Taoâer was holding a broom and sweeping fallen leaves in the courtyard.
Tong Zhihuan had gone down the mountain to see patients those past days. After all, there wasnât much food up in the mountain, so he needed to earn some money for expenses. Also, he wanted to visit his parents and show more filial piety.
When she finished sweeping, Miss Taoâer went to the Library Pavilion to get a book to read. She didnât understand it, but she felt she would grasp it someday.
However, while reading, she suddenly heard some movement outside the temple.
She frowned and called out: âWhoâs out there?â
The temple door was pushed open a crack.
Moyuan poked his head in and looked at the courtyard. He blinked at Taoâer and asked: âIs Mr. Chen here?â
Taoâer paused: âYou areâŠâ
Moyuan couldnât help but freeze when he saw Taoâer.
âAn innate wood spirit?â
Taoâer frowned, a bit wary.
Moyuan snapped out of it and explained: âMoyuan greets the wood spirit. I was here beforeâdo you remember me?â
Miss Taoâer hesitated: âHere before?â
Suddenly she remembered, pointing at Moyuan: âYouâre that flood dragon!!â
Moyuan nodded his head, then started explaining his reason for coming. Taoâer learned from him where Mr. Chen had gone, and slowly lowered her guard.
So Moyuan stayed at the temple.
At first, Taoâer had a good impression of Moyuan, but later on, things werenât so positive.
She even started doubting inside if the person before her was really a True Dragon of thousands of years of cultivation.
Why was his mouth so naggy!?
âHow did Miss Taoâer become an innate wood spirit?â
âThe peaches must be delicious to eat, right?â
âThis place is so boring.â
âMiss Taoâer, could I pluck a peach to eat?â
âMiss Taoâer?â
âDo you sweep every day, Miss Taoâer? How long does that take? Shouldnât Moyuan give it a try?â
Moyuan took a breath and made the whole mountain tremble several times. It was clean afterward, but the mountain nearly collapsed.
ââŠâ
Taoâer couldnât take it anymore: âMaybe you should just go back to your Bibo Lake.â
Moyuan didnât understand why and laughed lightly: âI really like it here.â
Taoâer opened her mouth; she truly didnât know how to say bad words. Mr. Chen never taught her that, so she decided to wait for Tong Zhihuan to return to the mountain and then learn a bit.
Not many days later, Tong Zhihuan came back.
He was puzzled when he saw Moyuan, but later understood the situation from Taoâerâs account.
It was that flood dragon!
At first, Tong Zhihuan felt some fear inside, but after spending time together, he didnât find it so scary anymore.
This was totally different from how he imagined a flood dragon would be!
The gap was huge!
Later on, he even looked at Moyuan with a bit of dislike.
Tong Zhihuan quietly asked Miss Taoâer: âWhat was Mr. Chen thinking? Why did he save something like that?â
Miss Taoâer blinked: âI donât know.â