However, the problem is, if this divination house is really so effective, why would it be located in such a remote place?
Those with such capabilities should find it hard not to become wealthy.
"It's not troublesome... or rather, your divination results were very accurate, and I've benefited a lot," Chaoyang said.
The old man smiled, "That's good to hear."
"May I have another divination? Perhaps about my future fortunes..." Shidong considered, then asked.
The other party stared at him for a moment, then shook his head, "I can feel that you no longer have urgent worries. Once you lose that, a blind divination would only bring blind results. Moreover, I must remind you, child... wishing always comes with a price, a price like a snowball; at first, everyone can afford to pay, but once it starts rolling, not everyone can extricate themselves."
That's true... there was no need for him to worry so much.
Shidong suppressed the various thoughts welling up in his heart, took a deep breath, and let it out. Whether it was coincidence or fact, the other party had helped him. In a way, the old man was his sister's lifesaver; he should not and could not speculate about him negatively.
Shidong reached into his waist pouch and placed three silver coins on the low table.
"This is for the fee."
"Wait, there is one more thing that needs to be done." The old man stopped him and turned to get a piece of thin paper. "As we agreed, the divination needs to be concluded with a contract. Only when you finish signing, does the matter come to an end."
"Hey, I can't possibly put my name and seal on this thing," Shidong furrowed his brow— the other party had indeed mentioned similar requirements before the divination, but he had not taken it seriously at the time. The pursuit of money was the reason for his work; once the money was provided, everything should be negotiable; there shouldn't be so many rules. "Can't I just pay one more Serir coin instead?"
"We agreed upon what we agreed upon, the contract cannot be changed," to his surprise, the old man directly refused his proposition, "Of course, I understand your concerns, so the signature doesn't have to be your name or seal specifically. Any mark made with genuine intention will suffice, including your fingerprint, an item you carry, or even a strand of hair."
This man must be mad to prefer hair over silver coins.
Since no signature was needed, Shidong didn't bother to argue further. He plucked a strand of hair, stuck it to the thin paper, and uttered the final words, "The contract is completed. Is this satisfactory?"
The old man showed a satisfied expression, "The contract is completed."
Shidong had no desire to stay a moment longer. He stood up, bending as he left the shack, and when the curtain dropped, he felt an invisible pressure dissipate, and even the air of the West District seemed much more pleasant to breathe. At the same time, a wave of fatigue swept over him, making his steps less steady than usual.
He hoped he would never have to return here.
He took a long look at the sign above the shack before walking toward the direction of the city wall.
...
"Phew, is this the feeling of wishing power feedback? It's too delectable..." Chaoyang closed his eyes, feeling the warm flow filling his body, and couldn't help but sigh with contentment. The experience was like a person who hadn't eaten for seven or eight days tasting delicious food once again, without having to worry about overeating.
Unfortunately, the amount of the wish was not significant, and the warm flow quickly subsided. Although it solved the urgent need, after deducting various expenses, it was probably only enough to sustain his life for half a month at most; he was far from being able to rest easy.
"I still need to continue finding customers," he licked his lips, murmuring to himself.
To his own disbelief, just over a month ago, he was one among many working class people, and now he had become a "Demon" who operated between two worlds.
All the unthinkable changes had come from that awakening morning.
Indeed, he had awakened and become a Demon, a mythical creature that survived on "wishing power." Just as a mammalian newborn instinctively looks for its mother's milk, he understood in that instant the key to his own survival.
That was to find people with urgent desires, fulfill their wishes, and collect their souls—or rather the power within their souls.
Then Chaoyang discovered that his world... no longer had such a thing.
Despite the temples in the East being overcrowded and the believers in the West visiting in an endless stream, he couldn't absorb even a trace of wishing power. This situation wasn't just despairing, it was downright disheartening.
Of course, it wasn't entirely nonexistent.
For example, he could occasionally catch a glimmer of wishing power from the wishes made on children's birthdays and from pet owners looking for their lost cats and dogs. But this meager return was so negligible that it couldn't change the situation; in fact, the power spent in the process of fulfilling those wishes was often more than what he gained.
A Demon without wishing power would gradually decline and eventually face death, which to outsiders would look like a mysterious terminal illness.
What's more terrifying was that he couldn't even refuse this shock.
The moment of awakening, Chaoyang had also understood the nature of the Demon bloodline—it didn't pass through inheritance but awakened randomly, like buying a lottery ticket. It ran throughout human history, across all places and times. Perhaps as soon as humankind conceived the concept of wishing, it already existed.
Over the span of a month, Chaoyang quit his job and wandered the world aimlessly in hopes of finding a wisher with strong wishing power or even another of his kind.
But the results were despairing; he found neither, and his body grew weaker.
It was not hard to deduce that every unfortunate soul who awakened as a Demon was now dead and gone.
Just when Chaoyang thought he would follow in their footsteps, an unexpected opportunity arose—the Eye of Lingxi didn't lead him to his own kind but instead revealed a strange rift. Driven by the thought that he was going to die anyway, he mustered all his strength to cross the rift and thus arrived in a magical place called Magnificent Castle.
...Chaoyang crawled out from the back door of the shack.
The moment he left the fortune teller's hut, age and emaciation quickly fell away from his body, like shedding skin. In less than a few seconds, he had completely transformed into another person.
Of course, even in the guise of a young man, it wasn't his original appearance. Chaoyang knew it was better to keep his identity as secret as possible. After all, for this unknown world, he was a complete outsider, and caution was imperative in everything he did. Besides, there were things he feared more than his identity—
Chaoyang walked out of the alley and looked up towards the city above.
Through the Eye of Lingxi, numerous pillars of light shot up from the city, piercing the heavens like columns. They varied in color, some blue as ribbons, others red as sunsets.
That was the wondrous sight wrought by wishing power.
It made the city shine bright, and even without the twinkling neon lights, Magnificent Castle was more dazzling than any city he knew.
Chaoyang was used to seeing mostly a dull grey on the other side of the rift, as if the whole world was encased in cold, grey concrete.
Unfortunately... he couldn't claim all the tempting wishing power for himself.
Because all these columns of light "had owners."