“Trust me, this fortune teller is incredibly accurate!”
“It’s all just psychological manipulation; you actually believe it.”
On a street in Queens, New York City, in front of a small shop, a man and a woman were in a tug-of-war.
The man’s face was filled with helplessness. He wasn't at all interested in so-called fortune-telling, but the girl’s persistent demands led him into the small shop.
The fortune-telling shop wasn't large, and the items inside were chaotically arranged but complete, with everything from strings of copper coins and compasses to crystal balls and tarot cards, a mix of Eastern and Western.
In the center of the room was a table with a transparent crystal ball on it, and behind the table sat a man wearing a beige cardigan.
The man rested his hands on the table, watching the two customers who had entered, a faint, imperceptible yellow glow flickering in his eyes.
“Amanda, you’re here again.”
“Yes, Master White, my boyfriend has been restless lately, always having bad premonitions, and often waking up from nightmares…”
Her boyfriend extended his hand, interrupting Amanda’s narration, and sat directly opposite the fortune-telling table, crossing his legs and looking at White very assertively.
“I hear you can tell the past and the future? Then guess what I’m going to do next?”
The man’s words were full of aggression; rather than coming for a fortune-telling, he seemed more like he was there to expose a fraud.
White looked at the White man, and ripples spread in the reflections in his eyes. Scenes flashed through the ripples—the past and future of the person before him.
“Choose one, Mr. Kliche.”
White pushed the tarot cards and crystal ball on the table towards Kliche.
Amanda glanced at her slightly tense boyfriend. As far as she knew, the name ‘Kliche’ was not in her boyfriend’s name.
Kliche’s breathing quickened slightly. After a few seconds of hesitation, he placed his hand on the crystal ball.
In the bright crystal ball, he saw a young man raising an axe and brutally striking his companion’s head. The body crashed heavily to the ground, and blood, mixed with the rain falling from the sky, gathered into a pool.
The young man stood still, his back revealing a hint of madness. He slowly turned his head, looked up at the sky, and that face was Kliche himself.
Their eyes met, and a sense of fear crept into his heart.
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“Ah!”
Kliche sprang from the chair, his palms clenching tightly as if he had been electrocuted.
The unveiling of hidden sins brought intense unease.
“What’s wrong with you! What did you see?!” Amanda hugged her boyfriend, comforting him.
“The mist will eventually dissipate, and the blood of the lunar eclipse night will flow upstream.” White recited enigmatic words, put away the crystal ball, and pointed to the price sign next to him.
Kliche tremblingly took out his wallet, threw a few U.S. dollars onto the table, and then pulled his girlfriend towards the door.
At the last moment before pushing the door open to leave, Kliche turned to look at White, who was looking down and collecting the money, and the killing intent in his eyes could no longer be suppressed.
After they left, the “open” sign on the door flipped to “close.”
“The 3rd killer.”
“The 23rd customer.”
“The numbers are quite good…”
White was muttering when he suddenly looked up in one direction, “People from the New York Sanctum? Their reaction speed is getting faster and faster.”
No sooner had he spoken than a portal opened in the shop, and robed monks cautiously stepped out.
After surveying the small fortune-telling room, the monks straightened up, “We’re late, the intruder has left again.”
White sat behind the fortune-telling table, quietly watching the monks quickly check every element in the room, confirming nothing was missed before they left.
“Troublesome. It seems this identity can only be used up to now.”
With that, a White Shadow rose from White’s body. Losing his support, White slumped in the chair, the color rapidly draining from his face.
The White Shadow was named Xie Huiming, not born in this World, but a common Transmigrator.
Unlike most of his peers, Xie Huiming was unable to directly enter this World, instead becoming a lone Shadow upon the long river of the World.
The living conditions there were much harsher than within the Universe. As an outsider, Xie Huiming could only constantly hide, avoiding the continuously emerging crises and various demon gods that scurried about after breaking through the World’s river barrier.
Unlike those demon gods born with certain rules, Xie Huiming gained power through the gravitational tides caused by information collisions between different Worlds.
Simply put, he was like a drop of ink falling into this World; the breadth of the ripples represented the intensity of his power, and the length of the color’s penetration determined the depth of his power.
Therefore, to escape his precarious situation, Xie Huiming first needed to establish contact with this Universe’s center of mysticism.
However, this place unfortunately had its own Guardian. In this situation, Xie Huiming could only apply his influence like a guerrilla fighter.
White was an outer shell Xie Huiming created by intercepting the karma of the deceased. After so long in New York, the concealment of this shell was already depleted.
Now, it could only be put to one last use.
White’s corpse stood up on its own, pressed against the wall, its chest slowly tearing open. A transparent blade emerged from the air, pinning him to the wall, creating a suspicious murder scene.
Immediately after applying his influence, a mighty force of Time erupted from the present, spreading towards the past and future.
“Ancient One! I only exerted this much influence, and you’re using the Time Stone to find me?!”
After completing his final actions, Xie Huiming hurriedly ascended from the long river of the World, leaving this World and moving away from the area the Time Stone could cover.
He was quite familiar with the power of the Time Stone; when he previously fortune-told for Kliche, he was simulating the effect of that wondrous item.
After transforming back into a lone Shadow, Xie Huiming looked at the river surface below his feet.
He noticed that the power projections of the demon god Dormammu and Earth’s Guardian, Ancient One, were clashing.
It seemed this time was just collateral damage. Dormammu was stirring again, wanting to invade Earth, but the outcome would likely be the same as before: repelled by Ancient One, who wielded the Time Stone.
This was good. With someone attracting the Guardian’s attention in front, Xie Huiming could better begin his plan.
After all, having never directly confronted them, Xie Huiming was confident that the secrecy he imposed could fool the monks of the Mystic Arts, but he wasn’t too confident it could hide from Ancient One’s eyes.
One should know that Ancient One, apart from not having jumped out of the long river of the World, was in terms of power no weaker than some of the demon gods Xie Huiming had encountered.
Moreover, this individual also had support behind her. Vishanti was fine; Xie Huiming couldn’t directly clash with them, so he would just hide for a while.
But if Eternity appeared, that would be troublesome. Eternity was the manifestation of the will of the World below, a quintessential local power.
As the old saying goes, a mighty dragon does not oppress a local snake, and what’s more, Xie Huiming could not even be considered a mighty dragon yet.
