freenovelworld Chapter 39 The Diviner
Chapter 39 The Diviner
After asking around, Kiana learned the meeting point for everyone. When Kiana arrived, she saw the train crew standing in front of a shop watching others play mahjong.
"Didn't we say we were going to the Temple of the Apostles? Why are you still here watching other people play mahjong?" Kiana asked.
"Well, we came here because the person we were supposed to meet said we should meet here, and when we got here, we saw her playing... mahjong?"
March 7th pointed to the short girl in the crowd and explained. However, this girl didn't seem to like the name "Mahjong" very much.
"Esteemed guest, this is the Imperial Jade Tablet, which I painstakingly recreated from ancient books. It's a lost form of entertainment, not some kind of mahjong game!"
While drawing cards and pondering how to play, the girl said, "I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Qingque. I am an envoy sent by Lord Taibu to escort you guests to the Taibu Temple."
"But when I got there, there was no one in sight. I wondered if the guests were shopping elsewhere, so I asked the Grand Diviner for your contact information and waited for you to come while I played cards."
Xing naturally has her own explanation for people who slack off at work.
"Miss Qingque, you don't want the Grand Diviner to know you're playing cards at work, do you?"
"Hey! That's not quite right~" Qingque said, playing a card from her hand. "I've contacted you. You need time to come over, and in the meantime, to keep myself from getting bored, I've played a round of Imperial Jade cards to pass the time. It's not too late to take you to the Imperial Apothecary after I finish this round. This way, I can slack off and work at the same time~"
Before long, the game of the Imperial Jade Token was over. Qingque, who had won a great victory, let out a satisfied sigh and then led everyone away from the shop.
On the way, Qingque finally couldn't suppress her curiosity and asked.
"But what exactly is this mahjong you mentioned earlier, sir?"
"This is a traditional entertainment activity in a place called Shenzhou, the hometown of Mr. Walter and me. It's very similar to the Imperial Jade Cards you just played. Based on my observation, the rules should be quite similar as well."
Upon hearing this, Qingque immediately became interested.
"So, does that mean there are other forms of entertainment like the Imperial Jade Tablet in this universe? Could you teach me about them?"
"Just call me Kiana. To be honest, I'm not very good at it either. I'm afraid I can't teach you."
“I didn’t expect Kiana to know this,” Welt said.
"There's nothing I can do. It's really boring on the moon. Besides studying, the only thing I can do to pass the time is play video games. But the latency on the moon is too high, which makes my experience playing video games not very good. So I stopped playing them after a while. It was around that time that I saw some researchers from Shenzhou playing mahjong. So I asked them to teach me how to play. But I don't know why, after playing a few rounds with me, they stopped playing mahjong with me."
"Kiana, I want to ask if playing mahjong requires a certain amount of luck?"
"Of course, if you're lucky enough, you can quickly get the hand you want. Mahjong depends on your luck, besides your skill. Any questions?"
Seeing Kiana's puzzled look, Welt silently adjusted his glasses; the reflective lenses made it impossible for others to see his expression.
"nothing…"
Walter's answer left Kiana even more confused, but she wasn't one to hold grudges. Since he didn't say anything, she wouldn't press the matter.
"I never imagined mahjong required a bit of luck! These mahjong tiles and the Imperial Jade Tiles are so similar. Miss Kiana, would you be interested in learning how to play the Imperial Jade Tiles with me? Mr. Welt showed interest in them before you arrived, and this one too…"
Xing realized that Qingque was talking about her, and naturally followed up with her self-introduction.
"My name is Xing."
"Me too! Me too! My name is March 7th!"
March 7th was as lively as ever.
"Yes, yes, Xing, my best friend! She's also interested in the Imperial Jade Token, so we can play a game together!"
"To be honest, when did Xing become your best friend?" March 7th asked, tapping his eyebrows. "We only just met, didn't we?"
"What's the big deal? As long as you like the Imperial Jade Pendant, we're best friends!"
"Exactly, can't people who like the same things immediately become best friends?"
Xing chimed in.
Of course, wonderful times are always short-lived. After arriving at a dock, the group had only been on the star raft for a few minutes when they arrived at the Temple.
After disembarking from the Star Raft, Qingque led everyone to the main gate, but the gate was tightly closed. Qingque knocked on the door for a long time, but no one came to open it.
"That's strange. The door was fine when I came out, so how come it was locked in such a short time?"
Qingque muttered to herself, then called out to the door in hopes that someone would come and open it.
However, things didn't seem to go as she wished, and Xing couldn't help but tease her about it.
"Could it be that you've already been fired?"
"Impossible. Although I do like to slack off, I still do my job well. Besides, I've already been demoted to a librarian, so there's no room for further demotion. If I'm demoted any further, I can only be a gatekeeper."
Faced with Qingque's self-righteous words, the group was at a loss for words. Then, Qingque led them to a rather secluded doorway.
"There's no other way, it seems I'll have to lead you in through here. This is a side entrance, not many people come here usually. I always sneak out to work this way, so I usually call this entrance the 'Free and Easy Entrance'."
However, today the door of the Taipusi seemed to be deliberately going against Qingque. Qingque tried for a long time but could not open the door. In the end, she found that the door seemed to be locked.
"This is a real problem! Why did they have to lock the door now of all times? And to make matters worse, I know absolutely nothing about this type of lock!"
Kiana, seeing that Qingque had been trying to open the door for a long time without success, finally couldn't help but step forward and ask, "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, I just don't know which person had a change of heart locked the side door. But I'm not good with this kind of lock. I only know the principle, but it's very slow to unlock it."
"How about this, you tell us how to pick the lock, and we'll figure out a way to open it?"
"Great suggestion!" Qingque said. "Actually, the principle of this lock is very simple. You just need to rotate the beads on it to the designated position!"
After listening, Xing stepped forward and opened the lock in no time. It was so easy that Xing couldn't help but wonder if Qingque was too lazy to open it herself and just wanted someone else to do it for her.
But there's no point in saying all this now; even if I did, Qingque would probably just brush it off with some other excuse.
As the group entered the Tabushi Temple and saw the corpses of some demons on the ground, they realized why no one had come to open the door.
Walter concluded after examining all the monster corpses.
"The wounds on these monsters are all the same shape, probably caused by some kind of standard weapon. It looks like there was just an attack here, which explains why no one came to open the door. They must have gone to take refuge."
"That's really strange. Everything was fine before I left, so how come this place was attacked right after I left? Although Taibusi is the place of divination in Luofu, and most of the diviners here don't have much combat power, there are usually many cloud cavalry patrolling here. Who would be so foolish as to attack here? Aren't they afraid of being found out immediately afterward?"
"I don't know the specifics. There were very few clues left at the scene. Although it was a demon, there were also demonic spirits among them. It cannot be ruled out that a group of demonic spirits suddenly acted up."
"Forget it, let the Grand Diviner worry about this himself. Why should a mere librarian like me concern myself with this? Let's just take you guests to the Grand Diviner as soon as possible."
After Qingque finished speaking, she led everyone to the center of the Taibu Si (a place name), where they saw Fu Xuan talking to Jing Yuan's projection.
The conversation ended just as everyone arrived.