A master of comedy!

Chapter 174 Immortal Cave

After a brief hesitation, Zhou Sheng finally made up his mind: no matter what, he had to take the gamble today.

Fortune favors the bold!
He consulted the Luoshu (洛书) and began divination using the sixty-four hexagrams.

As the energy was consumed, the sound of copper coins clashing echoed again inside the tortoise shell, and the Bagua pattern appeared and disappeared, circulating around.

The experience of the Tianfeng Gou hexagram has proven the power of the sixty-four hexagrams. They can forcibly change a person's fate in a single day, and even powerful beings at the Earth Immortal realm fall into their "net" without realizing it.

What if he draws an extremely auspicious hexagram indicating boundless good fortune?
In "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", Xu Zhu did not know anything about Go, but by sheer luck, he unexpectedly broke the game by making a move.

It's too difficult to see through Zhang Sanfeng's chess game; the only thing Zhou Sheng could think of was relying on fate.

A moment later, three copper coins rolled out of the tortoise shell.

"The hexagram 'Kun' (困) signifies a predicament where there is no water in the marsh, indicating a difficult situation..."

Upon hearing this divination, Zhou Sheng immediately felt as if a dark cloud was looming over him, obscuring his Dao heart and dulling his senses.

Good grief, I actually drew a terrible lot.

However, he remained unfazed and continued to expend energy to perform divination, the sound of copper coins clattering echoing once more from within the tortoise shell.

I control my own life!
"The hexagram 'Stripping' signifies a mountain clinging to the earth, with yin prevailing over yang, the foundation crumbling, and a sign of decline..."

Zhou Sheng felt a chill in his heart; it was yet another ominous divination.

He suddenly wondered if, under an unfavorable divination state, the hexagram he drew was more likely to be an extremely unlucky one.
After all, unlucky people often have bad luck.

However, the die is cast, and there's no turning back now, since Zhou Sheng can't possibly live a single day under the weight of this divination.

He had already witnessed the power of the hexagram Tianfeng Gou. If he were to go out with this hexagram, would he be killed by a meteor?
As long as you have enough energy, try not to accept inauspicious omens.

The result of the third divination brought him a slight sense of relief.

"The hexagram 'Xu' (需) signifies water over heaven, with clouds rising in the sky, awaiting the time to rain..."

The divination result is not bad, quite remarkable, but it is still far from Zhou Sheng's expected goal.

With a heavy heart, I continued calculating.

"The Yi hexagram, wind and thunder..."

"Lu Gua, Tianze Lu..."

"Wind and Sky Small Beast..."

Whether it was just bad luck or not, Zhou Sheng consulted the oracle several times in a row, but still couldn't get the best fortune slip.

Most of the energy has already been used up.

Should we take another gamble, or stop here?

Without much hesitation, Zhou Sheng set himself a limit: three times. If he couldn't get the hexagram he wanted within three times, he would give up on the game.

After all, he needed to save some energy for unforeseen circumstances before the Ghost Festival performance.

But fate seemed to take a turn for the better. When the tortoise shell spat out the copper coin once more, a brilliant light instantly illuminated his sea of ​​consciousness.

Each copper coin shone brightly, its golden light dazzling and eye-catching, together forming a hexagram.

"The hexagram of Great Possession (大有卦): Fire above Heaven. Fire shines upon all things, bringing great wealth and abundance..."

Upon hearing this divination, Zhou Sheng immediately felt his soul lighten, all his turbidity dissipate, and wisdom arise spontaneously, giving him an indescribable sense of comfort from the inside out.

Extremely auspicious!

Zhou Sheng slowly opened his eyes, his gaze intense, then picked up a white piece and, guided by instinct, placed it on a certain spot on the chessboard.

With a sharp snap, the sound of the piece being placed was exceptionally crisp.

He didn't know if his trick would work, but it was the best he could do at the moment.

If that still doesn't work, it means this game of chess is temporarily out of his reach.

Little Saint chuckled and mocked, "Second Brother, I've seen you think for so long, how come the last move you made is exactly the same as what I was thinking?" It had just picked up a chess piece and was about to place it randomly when, coincidentally, it chose the same spot as Zhou Sheng.

"So you're just like me, blindly wandering around with your eyes closed—"

Before Xiao Sheng could finish speaking, the entire chessboard suddenly trembled, swirling with wisps of mysterious energy, as if some ancient creature were quietly awakening in the mountains and seas.

"Second brother, be careful!"

The little holy body shone with golden light and reached out to grab Zhou Sheng, but missed.

Zhou Sheng, who was standing by the chessboard, vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye, and even its keen eyes couldn't detect anything amiss.

……

Roar!
Accompanied by a high-pitched dragon roar.

Zhou Sheng suddenly awoke from his dream and found himself in a chessboard that resembled a starry sky, riding a white dragon and roaming the sea of ​​stars.

Black's attack was fierce, like a venomous dragon, and it once made White's dragon look bad. But with the final move, the dragon's tail, the situation was reversed.

On the 160th move, a flying point from the sky activated the entire board, turning many previously "useless" moves into gold in an instant and breaking the black's eye position.

Even with its fierce and ruthless attacks, the Poison Dragon could not escape its sudden death.

With a roar, the white dragon carried Zhou Sheng out of the chessboard, across the Milky Way, and finally into a mysterious void rift.

The light and shadows shifted before his eyes, and as the feeling of solid ground appeared beneath his feet, Zhou Sheng looked closely and realized that he had arrived in a cave.

The white dragon has disappeared, as if delivering him here was the end of its mission.

This is a natural rock cave formed by sand cliffs, shaped like a Buddha's hand. Thousands of stalactites hang from the cave ceiling, resembling Laozi's whisk hanging down, with dripping water carving lotus flowers from the stone.

The cave is ancient, secluded, and clean. The most eye-catching thing is the statue of a Taoist priest carrying a sword on his back. He has an otherworldly air and a majestic and elegant appearance. There are also two couplets next to him.

"Ancient cave with a thousand-year history of mystical wonders, Yueyang's three immortals who got drunk on it."

"To call someone a teacher or an ancestor is to follow the Way or to adhere to Confucianism."

Upon seeing these two couplets, Zhou Sheng immediately understood that the statue of the sword-wielding Taoist in front of him was none other than Lü Dongbin, the Pure Yang Patriarch.

This ancient cave is said to be the abode where Lu Zu cultivated himself into an immortal.

After respectfully bowing to the statue of Lü Zu, Zhou Sheng began to examine the Immortal Cave.

He discovered that the cave was not large, only about ten feet deep, and he finished looking at it after walking only a few steps.

At the deepest part of the cave, two springs flow down the rocks and drip into a natural stone cellar, making a melodious and pleasant sound. This is the "One Drop Spring" that has never run dry for thousands of years, as recorded in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty.

Apart from that, there's nothing else to see.

He drank a few mouthfuls of "One Drop Spring" and found that the water was sweet, clean and clear, and was excellent mountain spring water, but that was all; it did not enhance his spiritual practice.

However, he still took out his water bottle and filled it with water, since it was the essence of Lushan spring water, which was a perfect match for brewing Lushan cloud and mist tea.

It would be good to use it for alchemy and weapon crafting.

After fetching the spring water, Zhou Sheng returned to the statue of Lu Zu and gazed at it for a long time before his eyes fell on the precious sword behind it.

The Immortal Cave contained a sword embryo, which attracted the covetous eyes of a black-robed monk. Zhang Sanfeng appeared and played a game of chess with him, thus protecting the sword embryo.

According to the mountain god's recollection, Zhang Sanfeng once said that the person who can solve the chess game is the destined one for the sword embryo.

He has clearly broken the chess game, but he hasn't seen a sword embryo or even the five-colored mica.

Zhou Sheng was naturally unwilling to leave like this. He stared at the sword behind Lu Zu and a bold idea popped into his mind again.

"Lord Lü, please forgive my rudeness!"

……

(End of this chapter)