"Everyone, today is not suitable for divination. Please come back another day."
A voice echoed out from the void, carrying a sense of age and cold indifference. It seemed to arise from nowhere, landing in everyone's hearts like a morning bell or evening drum. The people waiting at the village entrance were all stunned.
Yolanda Fang and Lynn Chen heard the voice, their eyes wide, faces filled with confusion.
"It's the Old Immortal Sage!" The people in line, upon hearing the voice, were all shocked to their core.
"Over there! The Old Immortal Sage is coming out!" Someone spotted, at the edge of the village, a slightly hunched old man slowly walking toward them.
He wasn't tall, dressed like a rural villager, his face covered in wrinkles. Except for the sharp glint in his eyes, he looked like any ordinary person.
He walked slowly, each step seeming light and weightless. From a distance, he looked as airy as a feather, almost ethereal. When his feet touched the soft dusty ground, not a single speck of dust was stirred.
In no time, the old man arrived before them.
An elderly villager was visibly excited: "Old Immortal Sage, why have you come out?"
"It's fine now. Tell the villagers to go home and rest, and not to go out today." The Old Immortal Sage glanced at the village elder and gave a gentle instruction.
The old man didn't dare hesitate for a second. He nodded repeatedly and quickly went back into the village to notify everyone to return home, even rounding up all the kids who were playing around.
The suited bosses on the side saw the Old Immortal Sage come out and got excited, ready to rush forward, but the Sage glanced at them and shook his head slightly. "Sorry, everyone, today's not a good day. Please come back another time."
"Whatever the Old Immortal Sage says, goes! We'll leave for now and come back another day!"
"Even though I didn't get my fortune told today, just seeing the Old Immortal Sage's face was worth the trip."
The group of bosses who'd been so arrogant outside, now all acted super respectful in front of the Old Immortal Sage.
The Old Immortal Sage walked over to the broken mud wall, where the fat man Harvey Xie had thrown was lying, clearly hurting pretty bad.
Everyone watched as the Old Immortal Sage took a tiny pill from his pocket and gently fed it to the fat man. In just a second, the man's face went from pained to rosy, and he bounced up full of energy, looking at the Sage with pure admiration.
"That pill I just gave you will fix your... you-know-what problem. Consider it compensation for what happened earlier," the Sage said, sounding a bit world-weary.
Instead of getting mad about being called out in public, the fat man was actually thrilled. He bowed again and again, shouting, "The Old Immortal Sage really is a miracle worker! He even knew why I came before I said a word. I'll definitely come back with more offerings next time!"
Everyone else saw this and became even more convinced the Old Immortal Sage was the real deal.
"Alright, everyone head home now. Take it slow on the way back," the Sage said.
The Old Immortal Sage waved his hand, and the crowd reluctantly left.
Soon, almost everyone who needed to leave was gone.
Uncle Victor Li and Melissa Mu both looked at the Old Immortal Sage.
Uncle Victor stepped forward with a slight smile, just about to introduce himself, but the Old Immortal Sage simply glanced at him and said calmly, "You and that girl are from Jinnan. Someone in your family is sick or dying. With an Elder from Medicine King Valley right beside you, you should be asking them for help, not me."
His words stunned both Uncle Victor and Melissa.
Then the Old Immortal Sage looked past Elder Huo's group at Yolanda Fang and Lynn Chen. "You two will meet a benefactor in your lives. Whether it's a blessing or a disaster, it's hard to say."
"A benefactor?" Yolanda and Lynn both blinked in confusion.
Elder Huo watched the Sage coldly and said, "Since you're so good at fortune-telling, you should know why I'm here. Are you going to hand over the item, or do I have to take it myself?"
"Hurry up and stop wasting time. In the eyes of mortals, you might be called 'Old Immortal Sage,' but in front of my master, you're nothing," Harvey Xie sneered.
The Old Immortal Sage didn't get angry. Instead, he gave Evan Lin a meaningful look, then turned around and said calmly, "In that case, please follow me."
"Medicine King Valley has ruled Haizhou for years. I never thought a broken old man like me would end up on their hit list. What an honor," the Sage said, voice tinged with sarcasm.
After speaking, the Old Immortal Sage slowly walked into the village, muttering under his breath, "Killing my disciple wasn't enough? Now they're here to kill me too?"
His voice was so quiet that no one heard, and the flash of icy killing intent in his eyes vanished instantly, leaving him looking calm and ordinary again.
Elder Huo followed behind him, face cold and expressionless.
"Something feels off," Yolanda frowned, glancing at Evan Lin. "Hey, are you nervous at all?"
"I'm Evan Nine-Mysteries Lin. Why would I panic?" Evan replied, smiling.
"Yeah, right," Yolanda clearly didn't believe him.
Lynn Chen looked uneasy, staring at the group ahead. "Maybe we shouldn't go in," she said, sensing the weird atmosphere.
"No way, I'm going in to watch the show! Everyone's acting all mysterious, calling each other 'Immortal' and 'Elder.' I wanna see what they're up to." Yolanda shook her head, determined to get in on the action. She shot Evan a look. "Hey, if things get dangerous, would you risk your life for us?"
Lynn also glanced at Evan, curious about his answer.
"Nope," Evan answered bluntly, shaking his head.
Honestly, there was nothing here that could really threaten him. If a real fight broke out, Evan was confident he could wipe out every enemy in sight.
Seeing Evan answer so directly, Yolanda rolled her eyes, and Lynn looked a little disappointed. Lynn huffed and turned away.
"Coward," Yolanda muttered, kicking Evan's calf and pouting. "Even if you can't do much and you're kind of scared, when a girl asks you that, you should at least lie and say you'd protect her!"
"How can you just admit you're scared so easily? Seriously, you should learn from Harvey Xie—he keeps pretending to be cool even when he's getting beat up!"
"Evan! With how honest you are, you'll end up a straight-laced guy who never gets married! Single for ten thousand years, just you and your left hand forever!" Yolanda groaned, half joking and half annoyed.
As soon as she finished, Lynn pinched Yolanda's arm hard, face turning red as she shot her bestie a glare. She really couldn't do anything about Yolanda's shameless mouth.