Chapter Nineteen: Efficacious

“Hmm...” Shang Luo had actually read about tea leaf divination in a magazine before. This so-called “Western secret art” always seemed intriguingly effective.

Yet, the cup of black tea he poured from the vending machine was almost finished, and there were only a few scattered tea leaves at the bottom—far too few to perform any meaningful divination.

[Miscalculation. There’s simply no usable tea residue. Take out your cards; let’s try divination with those.]

Shang Luo checked his pouch to make sure all his belongings were still there. Before the Jinyiwei came to kill him, he only had time to grab his valuables—his wallet and ID—and two items related to Apollonia: the music box and the deck of cards.

All these were tucked into a small pouch slung across his shoulder. Nothing else remained.

However, he still had about fifty taels in treasure notes and silver dollars on hand, so food wouldn’t be an immediate concern.

“Alright, let’s begin the divination.”

He glanced toward the clerk, who was watching him but only smiled politely. There was nothing embarrassing about this; drawing tarot cards to divinate in Las Vegas was hardly unusual.

Shang Luo opened the small box containing the cards.

“Huh???” It was empty inside. Yet the box still felt heavy.

He tried turning the box upside down, but still nothing inside.

“Hey.” He reached into his pocket and touched Apollonia. “What’s going on? Where are the cards?”

[The cards are definitely in the box — they’re just not visible now. Don’t let go. Keep your left hand touching me, and use your right hand to open the box.]

Following Apollonia’s instructions, Shang Luo opened the box once more. Sure enough, the heavy box was filled with cards.

“Why is that?”

[Because when I cast my spell, I exhaust all the ‘possibilities’ of that deck — so the cards, which are just a magic prop, become linked to the Akashic Records. The music box works the same way; it projects a ‘profile’ of me, housing infinite divine mechanisms so I can be repaired like a machine. Now that I’ve mostly recovered, my connection to the Akashic Records has normalized, so I no longer transmit random signals like before.]

“So how do I use them from now on?”

[Keep one hand pinching me to maintain contact, and manipulate the cards with the other.]

“I have to pinch you with one hand? Are you some kind of magic tool? Isn’t that like Sun Wukong needing a free hand to perform the water-resisting hand seal?”

[A bit troublesome, sure, but better than bleeding out. Only this way can I provide you with truly controllable support. And it’s the only way I can interpret the divination; before, I couldn’t even make sense of it. Did you look at the backs of the cards in the box?]

Aren’t they different?

Indeed, the backs of the cards had changed—from the ornate starry pattern to pure white. A spiritual aura also emanated from the cards—they seemed focused, with no obvious personality. Yet when Shang Luo concentrated on them, he sensed a profoundly subtle mystical energy.

He casually drew a card:

The card displayed two hexagrams stacked vertically. The top was Water ☵, the bottom Thunder ☳.

[Water and Thunder—that’s the ‘Difficulty at the Beginning’ hexagram.]

“Wait, weren’t these tarot cards before? How did they turn into the I Ching?”

[Because the tarot cards exceeded their service range. Now the I Ching takes over—actually, since the box is a magical prop containing cards, once I exhaust its possibilities, it can produce whatever cards you need. It’s a small trick; don’t mind it. The initial casting isn’t important; interpreting the hexagram is. You want a divination, right? The ‘Difficulty at the Beginning’ hexagram is your current base hexagram. It corresponds to the birth of all things, sometimes facing hardships and obstacles, but overall a minor auspicious sign.]

“Wait, wait! Does the I Ching work by drawing cards? And it’s already started? What am I supposed to do?”

[You want to accumulate money, right? That’s what you’re divining. Draw another card, then interpret the hexagram. Interpretation is far more important than casting.]

Shang Luo drew another card. It showed six lines, five broken and only the second solid.

[Hmm... Water above earth. This is the ‘Holding Together’ hexagram.]

“Where’s the water?”

[I mean the hexagram! Earth ☷ below, Water ☵ above. This hexagram symbolizes unity and gathering. For accumulating money, it’s very auspicious. You’re going to have good fortune! Maybe you can gather that 2.7 million taels in a short time.]

“Good, I’ll take your blessing. But when do you plan to give me the formula for the Foundation-Building Pill?”

[Whenever you want. But how to deliver it is the problem. I can’t just say it aloud—that would be too heavy with karmic consequences.]

“Then what do we do? If you don’t speak and can’t hold a pen, how do I get the formula from you?”

[Leave it to me. Set a time.]

“Tonight then.” He flipped through a map. “Honestly, I’m not fully trusting you yet. What if the formula for the Foundation-Building Pill is some weird concoction and I poison myself? Every commoner in Ming knows about the Red Pill Incident—I don’t want to drop dead in a month. So this afternoon...”

He pointed to Las Vegas Street on the map: “Today is your chance to work a miracle. There are 69 casinos on this street, and 6 racetracks nearby. Several of these have the latest pachinko machines.”

[Hey, hey, you still want to gamble?]

“Pfft. Do you think I’m like those barbarians? Vulgar and foolish? Using divine machines on pachinko is like killing a chicken with a sledgehammer. Besides, I’d attract the Jinyiwei’s attention in the casinos, just like the people who kidnapped me before. Otherwise, how could the Jinyiwei have come so swiftly to clean house?”

[Then what’s your plan?]

“Las Vegas—whose money is easiest to earn? Gamblers! Sixty-nine casinos, six racetracks—they all prey on gamblers’ money. Why pick teeth from the casinos when I can make money off the gamblers themselves? And do you know what kind of gambler’s money is easiest to take? The desperate ones, those on the brink of drowning—they’ll believe anything.”

[Makes sense. So how do you make a gambler desperate?]

[Do I have to do that? Las Vegas lacks many things, but desperate gamblers are not one of them. I just need to spend some time finding the right target.]

[Are you some kind of demon...? People already feel sorry for the losers, and you want to kick them when they’re down. So where do you start?]

“This.” He pointed to the map cover, at a Maya Revivalist building—the Chichen Itza Hotel. “They just stocked pachinko machines themed after ‘Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.’ That’s the place.”

With that, he raised his hand: “Check, please!”

Actually, he should have paid when ordering, but the printer had glitches and the receipt wasn’t printed. The clerk had just handed it over: black tea, preserved egg and pork congee, and a burger, totaling 52 wen.

“Ding~” The cash register chimed pleasantly.

“Welcome again!”

Shang Luo walked out, clutching a handful of change slips. After sorting the coins into his wallet, he counted.

Fifty taels remained. To reach his goal of 2.7 million taels, he still needed 2,699,950. No big deal.

The Chichen Itza Hotel was not far away. That was today’s target.

The grand Maya Revivalist architecture revealed itself between the buildings—the sturdy main structure of gray marble, adorned with massive bas-reliefs themed around the Fifth Era’s creation. The carvings were brightly colored with malachite and cinnabar pigments. At the hotel’s central tower stood a clock tower, but it didn’t follow a 24-hour cycle; instead, it displayed the Maya Tzolk’in calendar.

The clock had 20 marks, each represented by symbols like water, dog, monkey, and rabbit. Each symbol signified one day, moving one mark per day; 20 days completed one cycle, equivalent to a Tzolk’in month.

Casinos often employed such extravagant decorations, seemingly believing these engravings of cosmic order could bring gamblers abundant luck.

However, the United Fruits logo still hung above the hotel’s portico. The ostentatious advertisement somewhat spoiled the building’s mystique, but the hotel had been invested in by United Fruits, with Maya script signs placed side by side with their commercial branding.