An elder stood on a mountain top.

He folded his hands and looked toward the mountain path leading to the mountain top. Over there, he could see a steady stream of cultivators making their way up the mountain. All they sought was a rare opportunity.

"Not bad."

The pavilion master was grateful.

The reform that he had worked hard for was finally taking effect!

True enough.

New era, new rules!

One had to innovate and follow historical trends to have a better development! Ever since he became the pavilion master of Starry Sky Pavilion, he had implemented several rounds of reforms!

Every reform brought new changes to the Starry Sky Pavilion!

The Starry Sky Pavilion would be brought to new heights with every reform!

After one hundred years, the Starry Sky Pavilion would become the most powerful organization in the Scout vocation!

There was no other organization that could be compared to it!

"How's the revenue for the Starry Sky Pavilion this month?"

The pavilion master suddenly asked.

There was a young man half a meter behind him.

"Compared to the situation before the reform, it has increased 300%!"

The young man said indifferently.

"Look…"

The pavilion master was grateful. "I was right about the reform, wasn't I?"

"But this is not good."

The young man wore an indifferent expression. "Master said in the past that some rules have to be enforced."

"This is why he is dead."

The pavilion master rolled his eyes. "When he was around, the business in the Starry Sky Pavilion was not good, if we didn't reform, all of us would have gone hungry. Look, right now, the Starry Sky Pavilion is very popular…"

"But it is still not good."

The young man felt helpless. "Especially with the newly implemented member system."

The pavilion master pursed his lips.

Humph.

He looked young, but he sounded more mature than him.

He sounded like his master!

Rules!

Rules!

All he knew how to do was preach about rules!

He was most pleased with the member system!

If one spent one thousand yuan, one would become an iron member and one could request a disciple at the beginner level in the Starry Sky Pavilion deduce for them.

If one spent ten thousand yuan, one would become a bronze member, and one could request a disciple at the intermediate level in the Starry Sky Pavilion deduce for them.

If one spent one hundred thousand yuan, one would become a silver member, and one could request that a disciple at the advanced level in the Starry Sky Pavilion deduce for them.

If one spent one million yuan, one would become a gold member…

On top of this, there were even higher levels like the platinum members (the elders from the Starry Sky Pavilion would deduce), diamond members (the pavilion masters at the Starry Sky Pavilion would help to deduce), etc., to meet the needs of cultivators who were at various stages!

Afterward…

He even rolled out corresponding points acc.u.mulation campaigns!

Different treasures corresponded to different points… One could use money to exchange for points. There were all types of redemption methods and rewards!

This was the essence of what he learned after he went down the mountain to get a haircut.

True enough.

The business at the Starry Sky Pavilion had boomed.

"This won't do."

The young man sighed. "There are some business deals that we should not accept, for example invading one's privacy… There will be retribution!"

Their master had instructed them that personal privacy was the bottom line. The Scouts must never cross that line! It was a pity that the martial uncle refused to listen to him.

"That's too pedantic!"

The pavilion master was unconcerned. "Nothing will happen."

Ever since he imported the little blue pills in batches, he felt invigorated, as if he was young and full of energy again!

He had made a deduction for the Starry Sky Pavilion's future.

If everything went well, they would become a powerful force!

"You must not follow in your master's footsteps."

The pavilion master looked indifferent. "He…"

Suddenly…

Bang!

There was a loud sound in the distance.

"Oh?"

The pavilion master was startled.

In the distance, one disciple arrived panting heavily.

"Pavilion master!

"This is bad! They… they are fighting…"

The disciple shouted in terror.

"A fight?"

The pavilion master had an inexplicable expression on his face.

What was this place?

Starry Sky Pavilion!

Their base!

Other than the disciples from the Starry Sky Pavilion, other powerful veterans would go there to request a deduction. Who would dare to create trouble there? They must have been courting death!

However…

Bang!

Another surge of powerful auras emerged.

Oh no!

The pavilion master's expression changed drastically.

Shus.h.!.+

Lights and shadows flashed.

He flashed and he appeared next to the pavilion.

The main building of the Starry Sky Pavilion.

It was crowded with people and in the center was a young man. He sat cross-legged on the ground, blocking the path to the main building.

Some of the people came out from the Starry Sky Pavilion and were at a loss.

The most interesting thing was that…

The customers who had a good relations.h.i.+p with the Starry Sky Pavilion crowded around as well.

Thump!

The pavilion master was startled.

Things… seem to be complicated.

"What is happening?"

He did not dare to step in directly but he pulled at a disciple nearby.

"Pavilion master."

The disciple had a bitter smile on his face. "A disciple made a bad deduction…"

"Bad deduction???"

The pavilion master frowned.

Wait a minute…

There were no bad deductions! A deduction was based on probability. It was normal to have errors. Before every deduction, they would need to sign a disclaimer!

"Did he sign the disclaimer?"

The pavilion master whispered.

"Yes."

"Then there's nothing to be afraid of!"

The pavilion master suddenly seemed spirited. "There are variables in deduction. It is about probabilities! There might be other factors like human factors or incidents that happened that changed the outcome. Nothing is promised! Since we can make a deduction, whatever happens can change as well. This is an interrelated game. There is no absolute answer! He does not have the right to fuss about it!

"Send him away!"

The pavilion master did not care about being polite.

"Well…"

The disciple paused and sighed. "The problem now is that the deduction result was effective before the customer left…"

"What?"

The pavilion master stiffened.

"Before… the customer left?"

"Yes."

The disciple was being very frank about it. "It was effective even before he left."

The pavilion master was silent.

Why did this happen?!

"What did he deduce?"

"He deduced the abilities of someone by the name of Lu Ming. Senior brother made the deduction that he would not exceed beginner four-star in his entire life. In the end, the customer had yet to leave and he received the news… that the other party was an intermediate four-star."

The disciple felt very helpless too.

The pavilion master did not come to his senses for a long time.

Before he even left…

This unlucky child…

"Well, it would be good if he had left."

The pavilion master sighed.

If only the customer had left after the other party broke through, they could always say that he had gone against his fate to improve…

They had a lot of excuses!

It was a sheer pity.

"What did the customer say?"

The pavilion master whispered.

"He wants a refund. The deduction fee is very high and the other party offered a Ming Dynasty emerald," the disciple said.

"Return it to him."

The pavilion master waved his hands.

The disciple was helpless. "Well, this mission was arranged due to the lack of a Ming dynasty emerald. Therefore it was taken away once we received it."

"Who took it away?"

The pavilion master frowned.

"An elder. He used it for his cultivation. After all, no one thought that this would happen…"

The disciple smiled bitterly.

"I'll tell you what."

The pavilion master thought before saying, "Get someone to do another deduction for him… let's upgrade his members.h.i.+p level. How about that?"

"If hi level is upgraded further, you will have to do the deduction," the disciple said.

"Then I will do it."

The pavilion master sighed.

It seemed that he had to do it.

…

At this very moment…

Somewhere.

A young lady sat cross-legged, her Sword Embryo suspended in the air.

Buzz—

Buzz—

Lights and shadows flashed.

Faint lights danced on the Sword Embryo.

"You are awake," the young lady suddenly said.

Buzz—

The Sword Embryo shook slightly.

I pretended to be asleep… Why was I discovered… Ah, this is so terrifying… Lu Ming, please save me… I have no wish to self-destruct…

That was right!

Xiao-Xiaojian, the card spirit who was experienced with the workings of the society, had shared some skills with it…

"I… I know a lot of things!"

The Sword Embryo shook slightly.

It decided to take the initiative to prove its abilities.

"Oh?"

Lu Yan was curious.

"It's true."

Xiao-Xiaolan glowed rampantly, trying to cultivate by itself. However, it failed as there was no way for it to store energy inside itself!

A Sword Embryo was after all a Sword Embryo!

A Sword Embryo was as powerful as it was sharp. It was not known for its stability or storage. Therefore…

The card spirit could self-cultivate while it could not!

"I…"

Xiao-Xiaolan was anxious. "Wait! I… I know how to block the deduction abilities!"

It suddenly remembered.

Xiao-Xiaojian had taught it how to block deductions…

Shus.h.!.+

Lights and shadows flashed.

It tried to do it according to the methods taught by Xiao-Xiaojian…

"Oh?"

Lu Yan was curious.

s.h.i.+elding?

She was used to fighting head-on. She hated intangible powers the most, for example, curses and deductions. If they could really be blocked…

She would not be schemed by others.

"Give it a try," she instructed.

"Okay."

Xiao-Xiaolan was joyful.

It began to cast the abilities madly.

Buzz—

Buzz—

The azure glow flashed and a special force suddenly spread forth.

…

At this very moment…

Starry Sky Pavilion.

The pavilion master walked to stand in front of the pavilion. Many people crowded around him, including the young man who was wearing a pretty and flirtatious, half-transparent lacy top…

His appearance…

"Perhaps the young hero's surname is Cai?"

The pavilion master whispered.

"No."

The young man covered his mouth and smiled. "My name is Zhou Yang."

Oh.

The child from the Zhou family…

The pavilion master remembered him.

Rumors had it that there were two children in the Zhou family, both were just as talented. They were good at wielding spears and had inherited the teachings of the Zhou family. From the looks of it… he wondered if Zhou Yang's spear was still with him…

"What happened just now was merely a coincidence."

The pavilion master said, "This time I will make the deduction."

"Coincidence?"

Zhou Yang smiled lightly.

He already knew Lu Ming's abilities. There was no need to make any deduction. He would not get weaker with more deductions. Their deduction would land him in trouble when he settled scores with Lu Ming!

However, since they insisted on compensating him, then well…

"How about making a deduction of Lu Yan's abilities?"

Zhou Yang asked gently.

Since he was after Lu Ming, he must take into consideration Lu Yan as well!

According to the rumors, Lu Yan self-destructed to save her brother. She was still in the midst of re-cultivation. He should make use of this chance to… get rid of Lu Yan?

"Okay."

The pavilion master nodded.

Shus.h.!.+

Lights and shadows flashed.

The pavilion master began his deduction.

The crowd squinted, awaiting the results.

The disciple had failed in the deduction previously, but he refused to give a refund. They were concerned with the way they handled this situation. Right now, they would observe the situation first.

Of course.

Some people began to investigate secretly.

"Is he deducing Lu Yan's abilities? All of you should go and check it out. I remembered that recently some people saw Lu Yan and Senior Qiu together. They should know what Lu Yan's abilities."

…

Shus.h.!.+

Lights burst.

The entire Starry Sky Pavilion shook.

The pavilion master of the Starry Sky Pavilion was going to do the deduction personally. The terrifying lights shot straight into the sky and there were flashes of lights, forming various strange and mysterious futures…

After a long while…

The pavilion master was doubtful.

The deduction was completed…

"This is strange."

The pavilion master lowered his voice. "Why is Lu Yan a three-star? I remembered that she is already a six-star."

"If she is a three-star, then it is correct."

Zhou Yang laughed instead. "This is because she has re-cultivated. What I wanted to know is her future abilities!"

"If everything goes as planned, she will only reach beginner four-star in the future."

The pavilion master looked at the deduction results.

In the results, Lu Yan's abilities were stuck at a three-star level… and she was forever a three-star. No matter what happened, she was still a three-star!

This meant that…

Lu Yan was seriously wounded and she could not improve ever!

Of course.

As the pavilion master of the Starry Sky Pavilion, he was not as foolish as his disciples. He would leave some room for himself. Therefore, he said that she would be stuck as a beginner four-star.

And he mentioned that if everything went as planned…

If Lu Yan really broke through, that would be something unexpected. It was reasonable.

"Oh?"

Zhou Yang covered his mouth and smiled.

A beginner four-star…

Hehe.

It seemed that Lu Yan had shaken her foundation by helping her younger brother…

"I understand now."

Zhou Yang nodded.

He was pretty pleased with his results.

However…

Right then, a customer among the crowd received his investigation results. He made the person do another check and the result…

"Well…

"Lu Yan was spotted in a certain place just now and she is an intermediate four-star."

Shus.h.!.+

There was silence in the surroundings.

Zhou Yang who was about to leave froze.

Four-star…

Intermediate?!

Wait a minute. She had already broken through?!

The deduction…

The deduction was wrong again?

"Impossible!"

The pavilion master was dumbstruck. It was impossible. Given his abilities, it was impossible to have a wrong deduction! In order to be accurate, he had taken half a bottle of little blue pills!

However…

Several other customers did a check and it was confirmed that Lu Yan was an intermediate four-star!

The deduction… was wrong!

"How was that possible?"

The pavilion master was dumbfounded.

He had personally made the deduction. How could it be wrong?!

This was not logical!

Clearly…

Shus.h.!.+

This time…

All of the customers cast odd glances at the Starry Sky Pavilion.

They took great risks and paid a huge price to visit this place to find out information about others. But in the end, it turned out that it was fake…

No one could take it?!

"Refund!"

"Refund!"

The customers were enraged.

"Huh?"

The disciples of the Starry Sky Pavilion were in a panic.

There was no way to refund them!

The customers usually mortgaged treasures for the deduction and points were acc.u.mulated. Many of the treasures had been used directly. There was nothing that they could refund!

Should they give free deductions as compensation?

They were inaccurate. It was useless to compensate them!

Hence…

The Starry Sky Pavilion was doomed.

Bang!

Bang!

The angry cultivators destroyed the Starry Sky Pavilion.

…

According to sources…

That day, the Starry Sky Pavilion suffered huge losses.

As they were in too much hurry to expand the customer base to bring in more revenue, they eventually ended up inviting trouble for themselves. Everything that could be found in the Starry Sky Pavilion was taken away from them…

Many parts of the Starry Sky Pavilion were destroyed…

Of course.

This was still alright

The worst part was after this incident, the reputation of the Starry Sky Pavilion was in tatters. No one believed them ever again and they had no more customers…

This meant that the up and coming agency in the Scout vocation had met its doom.

At the same time, word spread in the Scout industry. "Fortune-telling? One that becomes ineffective even before the customer leaves…"

The Starry Sky Pavilion was in deep trouble!!!

…

As such…

The Starry Sky Pavilion tried to provide free deductions to restore their reputation.

They believed that given their abilities, if they redid the deductions, they would regain the customers' trust and recoup their losses. They believed that it would be an easy feat!

However, things were not going as smooth as they planned.

"h.e.l.lo, what would you like to deduce?"

"It doesn't matter what I want to deduce. What's important is it must be ineffective before I leave this place… I have cultivated for decades. I never have such a magical experience…"

"Get lost!"

…

"h.e.l.lo, what would you like to deduce?"

"Can I know when I will get to sit at the gates in front of the Starry Sky Pavilion… To be honest, I feel that it is boring to cultivate at home. The gate at the Starry Sky Pavilion should be quite interesting…"

"Get lost!"

…

And so on.

Therefore, the Starry Sky Pavilion had yet to provide free deductions and they were doomed.

Of course, there were people who sided with the Starry Sky Pavilion. They engaged in debates on the Internet, supporting the Starry Sky Pavilion. "Can all of you stop badmouthing the Starry Sky Pavilion? No Scout can promise that the deduction is completely accurate. In general, Scouts can only provide general data!"

The disciples of the Starry Sky Pavilion were in tears.

Finally, someone was on their side!

Afterward…

They continued to scroll further down and saw the second part of the comment. "Therefore, it is a rare instance that the deduction was wrong even before the customer left the place. Unusually, it is only ineffective after the customer leaves."

The disciples from the Starry Sky Pavilion were shocked.

Starry Sky Pavilion…

It was done for!

There was no way for it to be revived! Until the day they died… they would never know why they had been fine the previous day and doomed the next?!

…