Emperor’s Domination

The daoist picked up one of the shells and raised it up. He then placed it between his palms and in front of his chest while chanting quietly.

"What are you doing?" Jian Ming asked.

The daoist ignored him and continued chanting. Once finished, he pointed the shell at Li Qiye and said: "Great Immortal, let me heat up my trigram."

Having said that, he controlled the shell to spin around Li Qiye and chanted again. The whole process made everyone think that he was actually a master.

"A preparatory trigram is essential before the actual one." He entered a ceremonial state.

"Activate!" He formed a seal then embedded it into his chest, causing it to become resplendent.

He turned his chest into a heart mirror with numerous ancient runes capable of deriving the mysteries of the dao.

Jian Ming was no longer in the mood to jeer. After all, he could see that this was an actual seering method capable of seeing the future.

"Trigram activated!" He raised his hand and his heart mirror illuminated the turtle shells.

The patterns on the shells became clear as day, seemingly coming back to life. They were no longer ashen like before. Rays started flowing through them.

The shells started shaking violently as if they were empowered by an incredible force. Alas, a suppressive power rendered them incapable of floating up. This made it impossible for the seering process to continue.

They were stuck in a struggle between their own empowerment and foreign suppression.

The daoist became startled since he lost control of his shells. This showed him the serious nature of the session.

"The trigrams can't do it, will he try again?" Wise Ancestor murmured.

"Would that work?" Jian Ming was experienced enough to see the problem as well.

It seemed that Li Qiye's future and past were difficult to gauge. It became a contest between the daoist's seering ability and Li Qiye's elusive fortune.

"Go!" The daoist didn't give up and used all of his power. He activated his heavenly gaze and his chest became increasingly resplendent.

In this radiance seemed to be a new dao power capable of raising all affinities. This helped his eyes see the river of time, hoping to catch Li Qiye there.

As he traveled back on the river, the shells harmonized with him. They also wanted to fly into the river in order to assist their master. He started sweating profusely, enough to wet his entire robe. The shells trembled more and more while his eyes became brighter.

"Boom!" Eventually, the shells couldn't handle the mysterious suppression. Large cracks appeared on the surface and they fell to the ground.

"Ugh…" The daoist vomited a mouthful of blood and staggered backward. His chest heaved up and down; his complexion became pale and his heart mirror dimmed down.

He actually managed to see Li Qiye on the river of time. Alas, all of his divine intents and senses were immediately severed from the river.

In other words, he couldn't finish this fortune reading. First, his ability was not good enough but most importantly, Li Qiye seemed incalculable.

This made him think of another existence - the will of the heaven. If one had enough power and mastery in calculation, they might be able to forcefully see some details.

Alas, this required a heavy price, ranging from dying to cursing their descendants for eras. This was the reason why their clan refused numerous masters coming to ask for help.

Their ancestors were mighty but reading the heaven's will was too risky. This was a warning repeated to them many times. The daoist realized that he had experienced something similar.

"Are you okay, old man?" Jian Ming became worried.

"My heirlooms…" The daoist regained his wits and crouched down to pick up the shells. He nearly destroyed his clan's heirlooms with his recklessness.

These shells were unimaginably powerful in terms of fortune-telling. Normally, he didn't need to do much to read the fate of regular people. Now, they have suffered considerable damage.

"I was right to call you Great Immortal." The daoist bowed his head and said: "I have overestimated myself and shamed our ancestors."

"No, your divination ability was masterful." Li Qiye didn't mind.

"I'm afraid I have made a fool out of myself." The daoist said humbly after realizing his underestimation of Li Qiye. At this point, there was no need to know Li Qiye's actual background to realize that he was a monster.

"Uh, I'll go listen around." Jian Ming left in order to not make it awkward for the daoist.

"Your ancestors have done a great job improving the art." Li Qiye said.

"You know our ancestors?" The daoist became aware of this.

"Is your river plate still there?" Li Qiye asked.

"Yes, it's still there." The emotional daoist bowed again.

"Your clan owed me a reading, it's unfortunate that its descendants still can't do it." Li Qiye revealed.