Upgrade Specialist in Another World

Staring quizzically at him, Bai Yunfei asked with narrowed eyes, “Are you…”

“Haha, this old ma—ah—my name is Nalan Yin.” The man’s hand had run halfway down an imaginary beard when he suddenly gave up and turned forty-five degrees, looking at a well-rounded young wife standing on the second floor of a nearby restaurant. “I am from a wealthy family, but my fortune-telling has always been accurate. People have called me the ‘Right Hand of the God of Fate,’ hehe, or perhaps, the ‘miser’ would be a better nickname… shit, judging from your reaction, you’ve never seen or heard of me before? How inexperienced you are…”

“……”

Frowning, Bai Yunfei turned to walk away from the person.

“Hey, don’t go yet! Hero, what I’m saying is true!” Nalan Yin flew off like an arrow when he saw Bai Yunfei leaving him. “I’m only just warning you. If you don’t believe me, let me divine it again. I guarantee that you’ll embrace what I’m saying as true!”

As he spoke, he lifted his right hand up for Bai Yunfei to see. On his wrist was a palm-sized tortoiseshell. From the looks of how dirty and smeared it was, the tortoiseshell looked as if it had just been recently excavated from the earth.

“Put your hand on this. I’m feeling generous today, so I’ll divine your trigram and show you how to avoid disaster…” Nalan Yin moved the tortoiseshell over to Bai Yunfei’s face so that it was touching his nose.

Unsure whether he should laugh or cry, Bai Yunfei took two steps back and pushed the man’s hand away. “My apologies, but I’ve no interested in what divination you plan on doing. Take your business somewhere else…”

However, it felt as if Nalan Yin was determined to ‘help’ him. Pushing his tortoiseshell forward, the male said, “We can talk about money later, if my divination isn’t accurate, then it’ll be free of charge….”

“I said there’s no need, you can go awa—”

In the middle of his speech, Bai Yunfei’s hand pressed against the tortoiseshell to push it away when, all of a sudden, his words died in his mouth. Shock registered his face as Bai Yunfei stared at the tortoiseshell right in front of him.

Elemental Affinity: Earth

Defense: 4690

Equipment Effect: When paired with a special technique, there is a 5% chance of predicting the future. The level of detail may vary.

Upgrade Requirement: 260 Soulpoints

Completely by accident, the notification for the tortoiseshell appeared in Bai Yunfei’s head.

“……”

“……”

The two stood in silence against one another. Bai Yunfei was still because of his shock, but Nalan Yin was still because he was confused why Bai Yunfei was shocked.

When Nalan Yin noticed that Bai Yunfei was looking at the tortoiseshell in shock, the look on his face tightened.

Quickly drawing back his hand, the male harrumphed, “A no is a no I suppose! I have changed my mind. I’ll be taking my leave elsewhere. Goodbye now!”

And with that, the male turned face and walked away.

“Hey!”

By the time Bai Yunfei thought about grabbing him, the male was already a dozen meters away and close to blending in with the crowd.

Just faintly, a voice tickled Bai Yunfei’s ear.

“Hero, this is my last warning to you. Be sure to avoid trouble and keep those you care about close, else you will find regret to be the only thing left in your embrace!!”

“……”

After thinking about what had been said, Bai Yunfei gave up the idea of chasing after the person with a confused shake of his head.

“Who in the world was that person? I thought he was a swindler at first, but… that mid-heaven tier item… that tortoiseshell was mid-heaven-tiered!! Who would’ve thought that the very first item I have seen like that would be found in a situation like this?

“And… that equipment effect…” Bai Yunfei took an unconscious step back, “Predicting? Was there an effect like that in this world? It wasn’t even an effect from being upgraded… how could that be real? Predicting the future?”

Then another thought struck him, “Ah! Could he be someone from the Fate School!?”

Looking off in the direction Nalan Yin had disappeared, Bai Yunfei sighed before turning to go buy the tanghulu from the vendor.

“Who would’ve thought that the very first person I’d meet after stepping down the mountain would be such a mysterious person? I wonder what his goal was… he was clearly a strong soul cultivator if I couldn’t sense him before… but still, I shouldn’t meet with a suspicious people like him. I came here to play, not to find trouble…”

……

On the other side of the road, Nalan Yin had already walked a few thousand meters away from Bai Yunfei. Turning back to look at Bai Yunfei, the carefree look in his eyes was replaced by a look of solemn dignity.

“That youngster is a strange one! How dangerous! He could tell how special the Absolute Earth Trigram Shell!” Nalan Yin raised the tortoiseshell up to his eye and looked it over. “There’s no problems with the shell, and the tortoiseshell is practically indistinguishable to any other tortoiseshell when not being used. Did he really realize what was going on?

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen a person with such clear omens of ‘divided luck’... I was only curious to see what he was like, never did I think that his ‘knowledge’ would be that strong. It’s fortunate I got out quick. If trouble were to befall me for a small moment’s curiosity, I’d be getting the short end of the stick…”

Nalan Yin shook his head and turned away. With his banner fluttering slightly in the wind, the man walked back into the ocean of people and disappeared.

……

After buying the tanghulu, Bai Yunfei walked back down the road to where his friends were, but when he saw them, Bai Yunfei paused briefly where he stood.

There was a crowd of people where his friends were, but everyone was moving about in a rather chaotic manner. Several people were even whispering to one another as they inched away from the spot.

At the center, two parties of people were facing one another.

One of the two parties was Tang Xinyun and the others. On the other side was a group of strong-looking attendants with a rather importantly-dressed youth leading the front.

It seemed as if the two parties were talking with one another.

Narrowing his eyes, Bai Yunfei quickened his pace.

“Xinyun, what’s going on?” Bai Yunfei asked Tang Xinyun as soon as he got there while casting an eye at the people in front of them.

“Brother strawhat, you’re finally back! That took way too long!” Tang Xinyun hadn’t even opened her mouth to say something when Huangfu Rui voiced her annoyance, but when she saw the tanghulu Bai Yunfei had, her annoyed face gave way to joy as she took one.

From the side, Mo Xiaoxuan explained, “Brother Bai, what happened was that just a second ago, there were a few bullies who thought they’d be able to pick up senior Tang. By the time we realized she was in trouble, lord Sima was already in the middle of stopping them… he and senior Fei Nian look like they’re friends.”

“Oh?” Bai Yunfei asked. Turning around to look at the people next to the two parties, Bai Yunfei noticed five dirtily-dressed men pressed against the ground with pale faces. Their left hands clutched tightly at their strangely-bent right hands and their faces were heavily sweating.

Clearly, their right hands were broken, but they were afraid to voice their pain.

Looking up, Bai Yunfei could see a young youth in his twenties looking suspiciously at him. By his side was a delicate-looking young woman who was also staring curiously.

“Yunfei, let me introduce you.” It was right at that time Fei Nian spoke to Bai Yunfei rather than to his companion. “This is the third heir to the house of Sima, Sima Dong. He’s a friend of mine, and this is his younger sister, Sima Yue.”

“The house of Sima?” Bai Yunfei asked, “isn’t that…”

Fei Nian nodded. “Yes. The very same house of Sima as Marquis Sima Wenxu, the administrator of Redfire City.”

Turning back to Sima Dong, Fei Nian said, “Elder brother Sima, this is Bai Yunfei. He just joined the Crafting School, but he is my… martial uncle.”

A smile graced Sima Dong’s face when he listened to Fei Nian’s introduction. “Ah, so you are lord Bai, it’s a pleasure to mee—”

Then the weight of what Fei Nian said sank in.

Whipping his head back to look at Fei Nian, Sima Dong asked, “What did you just say? He’s… your martial uncle!?”