A single divination predicts life and death; the entire internet begs me to start a live stream.

"Young Master."

"You shouldn't have come back so early."

As soon as the old man finished speaking, the main hall seemed to fall silent.

The light from the white lanterns shone in from outside the door.

Pale white, cold.

The light shone on the old man's hunched back, and also on the memorial tablets of Chen Bufan's parents.

Chen Bufan stood in front of the offering table.

He was still clutching that old brass button in his hand.

Lin Wanqing sensed a rare emotional fluctuation in Chen Bufan, beneath which something indescribable was suppressed.

It's been over twenty years.

This was the first time someone had stood in the Chen family's ancestral home and called him "Young Master."

It's not Mr. Chen.

It's not Master Chen.

Not a streamer.

It's the young master.

It turns out he was never alone.

The fire at the Chen family's residence did not completely destroy everyone who remembered him.

Lin Wanqing hadn't put the gun down yet.

She stared at the old woman, her voice calm:

"You're Chen Laojiu?"

The old man slowly raised his head and glanced at her.

Then he nodded gently.

"Yes."

His voice was hoarse.

With each word I uttered, it felt like I had a lump of phlegm stuck in my throat.

"Old servant Chen Lao Jiu".

"Originally a servant in the outer courtyard of the Chen family."

"I've met Officer Lin."

Lin Wanqing frowned slightly.

"You know me?"

Chen Laojiu smiled bitterly.

"I've seen a bit about who's been around the young master these past few days."

Lin Wanqing put away her gun.

"You're following us?"

Chen Lao Jiu shook his head.

"I wouldn't dare."

"While the young master is being targeted by the 'Fate Gate' technique, I also need to keep an eye on things."

Chen Bufan finally spoke.

"How long have you been watching?"

Chen Lao Jiu looked at him.

In those cloudy eyes, the emotions were so complex that they were almost impossible to suppress.

"Let's start with Shen Qingyue's divination."

There was a slight fluctuation in Chen Bufan's eyes.

"So you already knew I was in Haicheng."

Chen Laojiu lowered his head.

"Know."

"So you know I've broken the Black Fate Mark?"

"Know."

"Did you know Lu Changsheng came to me?"

"Know."

Chen Bufan took a step forward.

"Then why did you only come out now?"

This statement is not serious.

But the oppressive atmosphere made the entire main hall feel colder.

Chen Laojiu's fingers gripped the wooden cane.

He did not answer immediately.

Chen Bufan stared at him.

"I'm asking you."

"Why did it only appear now?"

"Why didn't you say so sooner?"

"Why did you avoid me before?"

Chen Bufan initially tried to suppress his voice, but later he couldn't help but let it grow louder and louder.

"Why do you have to put your life-or-death money at my doorstep?"

"Why do you insist on taking me back to my ancestral home?"

"Why was it you who set up my parents' memorial tablets?"

Lin Wanqing glanced at Chen Bufan.

It was rare for her to hear Chen Bufan interrogate an old man in such a tone.

This is not ordinary anger.

After more than twenty years of silence, I have finally found someone I can talk to.

Chen Laojiu's lips trembled.

He suddenly bent down.

He started coughing.

"Cough...cough cough..."

The cough was very loud.

It felt like I was coughing up my lungs.

Lin Wanqing remained vigilant, but still frowned slightly.

The old man is in very poor health.

Old injury to left leg.

There is a disease in the lungs.

But those eyes were too clear, unlike those of an ordinary madman.

Chen Lao Jiu coughed for a long time before he caught his breath.

He looked up at Chen Bufan, his voice even hoarser.

"Young Master."

It's not that I don't want to contact you.

"Someone has been keeping an eye on the Chen family's bloodline."

Chen Bufan's eyes darkened.

"Who?"

Chen Lao Jiu shook his head.

"Many people."

"There are also some people who didn't all die back then."

Lin Wanqing immediately grasped the key point.

"Those who didn't all die back then?"

Chen Laojiu didn't look at her.

His gaze remained fixed on Chen Bufan.

"Young Master, after you were taken away when you were a child, at least three groups of people came to the Chen family ancestral home."

"One group is looking for the 'Record of Destiny'."

"A group is looking for you."

"There's another group; we're looking for survivors."

Chen Bufan's voice was deep.

"You are the one who survives."

Chen Laojiu smiled bitterly.

"Yes."

"I should have died anyway."

He glanced down at his left leg.

"That night I was pinned down by a burning beam, and I almost lost half my leg."

Everyone thought I was dead.

"It is precisely because they thought I was dead that I am still alive today."

Chen Bufan looked at his legs.

"You witnessed what happened that night?"

Chen Laojiu's fingers trembled.

After a long pause, he nodded.

"I saw part of it."

Lin Wanqing immediately asked:

What caused the fire?

Chen Lao Jiu looked up, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.

"Fire?"

"Officer Lin, that's not a fire."

"That was wiping out the entire family."

The air in the main hall seemed to freeze.

The white lantern outside the door swayed gently.

Before the memorial tablets of Chen Bufan's parents, the clear water in the white porcelain bowl rippled with fine lines.

Lin Wanqing turned on the voice recorder.

To be specific.

Chen Laojiu did not immediately recount the details of that night.

Instead, he looked at Chen Bufan.

"Young Master."

"Before we talk about that night, you need to know what the Chen family is."

Chen Bufan looked at him without saying a word.

Lin Wanqing asked instead:

"Isn't the Chen family a family of fortune tellers?"

"no."

Chen Lao Jiu shook his head.

Outsiders thought the Chen family could tell fortunes, read faces, analyze feng shui, and write talismans.

"But that's just the skin."

"The Chen family ancestors did not make a living by telling fortunes."

"The Chen family is a legitimate lineage of fortune tellers."

Lin Wanqing frowned.

"The orthodox lineage of fortune tellers?"

Chen Lao Jiu said:

"Fortune tellers do not interpret fate in order to seek good fortune and avoid misfortune."

"It is not so that we may examine cause and effect, judge good and evil, and settle karmic debts."

"Ordinary fortune tellers only tell when a person will become rich, when they will get married, and when they will suffer misfortune."

"The Chen family fortune tellers are looking at—"

He paused for a moment.

The voice lowered a few decibels.

"Should we make this money?"

"Should this marriage go through?"

"Should this disaster be averted?"

"Should this life be saved?"

Chen Bufan recalled many things.

These words were almost identical to the rules his master had taught him.

I will not change the fate of evil people.

There's no need for virtuous people to shield us from disaster.

Do not use the Taoist sect to amass ill-gotten gains.

Fate can be foreseen, disasters can be averted, and debts can be settled, but one cannot decide another's fate.

It turns out these weren't rules set by the master himself.

Rather, it is the ancestral precepts of the Chen family's destiny master.

Chen Lao Jiu looked at the "Record of Destiny" on the offering table.

To be precise, she was looking at the yellow booklet that Chen Bufan had brought with him.

His eyes held awe.

"Young Master."

"The 'Record of Destiny' in your hand is not a fortune-telling book."

Lin Wanqing looked at Chen Bufan.

Chen Bufan lowered his eyes.

"What is that?"

Old Chen said, word by word:

"Writ of Judgment".

Inside the main hall, all sounds seemed to be drowned out by those three words.

Lin Wanqing couldn't help but ask:

"Judging fate?"

Chen Lao Jiu nodded.

"Looking at fate is just looking."

"To judge is to decide."

"When someone is destined for disaster, an ordinary sorcerer will only think about how to avoid it."

"But the Chen family fortune teller wants to conduct an initial examination."

"Did he bring this disaster upon himself?"

"Is this debt owed by him?"

"Can this life be saved?"

"After saving them, will they harm even more people?"

He looked at Chen Bufan, his eyes filled with a multitude of emotions.

"The Record of Destiny is not meant to allow the Chen family to defy fate."

"It's to make the Chen family see clearly which lives can be saved and which cannot."

Chen Bufan remained silent.

He then understood why the backlash would become increasingly severe every time he opened the "Record of Destiny," and why he felt as if he had died when he fell asleep, without dreams or sound.

It turns out he wasn't just watching.

He is on trial.

The deeper he investigates, the more he seems to be trying to take other people's karma into his own eyes.

Good causes are good too.

Even if it's a karmic debt.

They all have to live up to his fate.

So books will consume his life.

This is what Lu Changsheng mentioned earlier.

Lin Wanqing's expression turned serious upon hearing this.

She was originally a criminal police officer.

She believes in evidence, procedures, and the law.

But tonight, standing in the Chen family's ancestral home and listening to Chen Lao Jiu say these things, she actually felt a subtle sense of familiarity.

Judgement of fate.

Determine cause and effect.

In some ways, it bears a resemblance to real-world case handling, conviction, and trials.

However, the law judges actions.

The Chen family is investigating cases involving life debts.

Chen Bufan suddenly asked:

"What about changing one's fate?"

Chen Lao Jiu paused, looked outside, as if recalling something from a very distant past.

"The key to changing one's fate should never have existed."

"Its ancestor was also a member of the Chen family."

Lin Wanqing immediately looked at Chen Laojiu.

"The Chen family?"

Chen Lao Jiu nodded.

"In the sixty-fourth generation of the Chen family, there was a man named Chen Wujiu."

"This person is extremely talented."

"At sixteen, one can see the lamp of destiny."

"At nineteen, one can decide life and death."

"At the age of twenty-two, he was already able to examine the cause and effect of three generations in the 'Record of Destiny'."

"Back then, everyone thought he would become the next head of the Chen family."

Chen Bufan said:

"And then?"

Chen Laojiu's voice turned somber.

"Later, he wanted to change his fate."

He thought the Chen family rules were too rigid.

"We can see our fate, but we can't change it."

"They could have saved the wealthy and powerful and gained more resources, but they chose to cling to the karma of ordinary people."

He asked one question.

Chen Lao Jiu raised his head and looked at Chen Bufan.

"If sacrificing one person can save ten thousand, why can't we sacrifice ourselves?"

Lu Changsheng also said the same thing.

However, Lu Changsheng spoke in a gentler and more dignified manner.

Chen Lao Jiu continued:

"According to the Chen family's ancestral teachings, a fortune teller cannot decide a person's fate."

"But Chen Wujiu disagreed."

"He secretly altered his destiny."

"Using the lifespan of a death row inmate to extend the life of a dying VIP by three years."

"During those three years, that important figure did indeed do several things that benefited the people."

"Chen Wujiu then used this as evidence to say that he was not wrong."

Lin Wanqing frowned.

"Is this the beginning of changing one's fate?"

"Yes."

Chen Lao Jiu said.

"From then on, he went further and further away."

"At first, he only used the lives of evil people."

"Later, he used the lives of the weak."

"Later on, he was willing to risk anyone's life as long as it brought him greater benefits."

"The fate of the poor."

"The patient's life."

"The child's life."

"A woman's marriage destiny."

"The fortune of ordinary people."

"He risked his life."

"Treating cause and effect as a business."

Finally, he took a group of Chen family collateral branches and outer disciples with him.

"Establish a new destiny gate."

Chen Bufan's fingers slowly tightened.

"Therefore, changing one's fate is a betrayal of the Chen family."

Chen Lao Jiu nodded.

"He is a traitor to the Chen family, and also the Chen family's greatest sin."

The main hall fell silent.

The answer was simpler and clearer than Chen Bufan had imagined. But it was also more complex.

The Fate-Changing School is not an evil sect from abroad.

It wasn't an enemy that appeared out of nowhere.

It is rotten flesh torn from the orthodox lineage of the Chen family.

It understands the Chen family's techniques.

Understand the rules of the "Record of Heavenly Mandate".

They also understood the weaknesses of the Chen family's fortune tellers.

No wonder it has been keeping an eye on the Chen family.

No wonder Lu Changsheng knew about the Chen family's past.

This is probably the reason why the Chen family was wiped out back then.

Lin Wanqing also understood why the Chen family's affairs were so deeply involved.

If the "Changing Fate Gate" was established by a traitor of the Chen family, then the enmity between the Chen family and the "Changing Fate Gate" is not just an ordinary feud.

It is both orthodoxy and rebellion.

It is about rules and breaking them.

It's also an old debt that has been passed down for generations.

Chen Bufan looked at Chen Laojiu.

"Then why did you say I came back too early?"

Chen Lao Jiu looked helpless.

"Young Master, you are still young and your foundation is not yet solid. You should not have come out now and openly made enemies of the prestigious sect."

"Now they're forcing you onto the stage, step by step!"

"Now that you, young master, have stepped onto this stage, this old servant can only accompany you and continue the performance."

Chen Bufan sighed. Now, was he facing the changed name sect, or had the changed name sect finally found him? The rights and wrongs were hard to say.

Where is Lu Changsheng?

"Is he a descendant of Chen Wujiu?"

Chen Lao Jiu shook his head.

"I don't know."

"I only heard of the name Lu Changsheng in recent years."

"But the words 'longevity' are not ordinary names in the world of destiny alteration."

Chen Bufan said:

"What do you mean?"

Chen Laojiu lowered his voice.

"The leaders of the Destiny Changing Sect throughout history have all used longevity as their title."

"Lu Changsheng may not be his real name."

"He may just be the 'immortal' of this generation."

Lin Wanqing seemed to be deep in thought.

"So, Lu Changsheng isn't necessarily a fixed person?"

Chen Lao Jiu glanced at her.

"Officer Lin is indeed clever."

"What the 'Fate-Changing Technique' seeks is never how long a person lives."

"Instead, it's about ensuring that the position of 'immortality' continues to exist."

Chen Bufan recalled the densely packed shadows of life behind Lu Changsheng.

Many people's lives are earned through hard work and sacrifice.

It turned out to be the case.

No wonder the "Records of Destiny" couldn't reveal Lu Changsheng's fate.

Because Lu Changsheng may never have been a truly complete person.

Rather, it is a position offered up by countless destinies.

Chen Lao Jiu suddenly started coughing again.

This time the cough was worse.

He was leaning on his cane, his body bent so low he could barely stand.

Lin Wanqing frowned.

"You need to go to the hospital."

Chen Laojiu waved his hand.

"This old servant's life should have ended long ago."

"We were only able to hold out until the young master returned because we were already borrowing money."

Chen Bufan stared at him.

"Who lent it to you?"

Chen Laojiu froze.

no answer.

Chen Bufan's voice turned cold.

"Have you also borrowed a life?"

Chen Laojiu remained silent.

Inside the main hall, the light from the white lantern flickered.

After a long while, Chen Laojiu gave a bitter smile.

"Young Master."

"This old servant's life was given to him by the Chen family."

"So it should be returned to the Chen family."

Chen Bufan wanted to ask more, but Chen Laojiu suddenly threw away his cane.

With a thud.

He knelt on the ground.

Chen Bufan frowned.

"What are you doing?"

Chen Lao Jiu knelt before his parents' memorial tablets, then turned to Chen Bufan.

His forehead slammed heavily onto the ground.

a bit.

It was very loud.

"Young Master."

"The old slave is guilty."

Chen Bufan's voice was deep.

"Stand up and speak."

Chen Laojiu did not get up.

His forehead was pressed against the ground, and his voice trembled violently.

"Back then, this old servant was unable to save Master and Madam."

"They couldn't even protect the Chen family."

"And I couldn't even tell you the truth."

Chen Bufan's gaze gradually darkened.

"the truth?"

Chen Lao Jiu slowly raised his head.

His aged face was covered in tears.

"Young Master."

"The person who truly caused your parents' deaths back then..."

"It's not just about changing one's fate."