DKIE CH36: The Paradoxer

The divination was scheduled for ten o’clock at night. During the day, Luka buried his head in his room, writing.

It wasn’t until the mechanical clock struck half-past nine that he belatedly put down his pen, tidied up, and prepared to go out.

A guard had already informed him that the divination would be held at the landmark building of Red Banyan City—the Blood-Red Terrace.

The guild hall where Luka was staying was very close to the Blood-Red Terrace.

In just about ten minutes, he and Quill walked there.

A quick scan revealed that the overall area of the terrace was comparable to a large square. In the center stood not a statue of the Demon King, but one of the demon race’s ancestor.

In the distance, the platform was slightly raised, a little higher than the other areas, and covered with intricate patterns that couldn’t be seen clearly due to the height difference.

When Luka arrived, apart from the well-trained guards and the crowd that had come to watch the ceremony, he didn’t see a single important demon.

“Did I remember the time wrong?”

Grover had arrived early. Seeing him walk over, he said, “They’re probably trying to make an entrance, arriving just on time.”

As he spoke, a turbulent demonic energy in the sky stirred up a strong wind, making people’s faces sting.

Luka frowned and looked over. A figure had appeared in the mid-air. When he was still over a thousand meters from the ground, he actually jumped down directly.

When his boots landed, it was as light as a feather. The floor tiles did not crack, and the man still stood with a proud and imposing air.

“…” Is he insane?

This face was somewhat familiar. It seemed to be the fourth prince of the demon world. Luka had seen him at the opera house during the premiere of “The Real and Fake Young Masters.”

Having nothing better to do, he proactively went over to strike up a conversation. “Little Four, want to make a bet?”

Little you… He couldn’t find a suitable object to curse.

The Fourth Highness squinted, looking at Luka with some vigilance, clearly not having forgotten the disgusting experience of the movie.

He hadn’t been going out much recently, as if the whole world was looking at him with the eyes of the fake young master.

A bet?

“What do you want to bet?” In public, he couldn’t lose his momentum.
Bet on life, or wealth?

Luka: “Let’s just bet on whether the next one to arrive is a man or a woman.”

The Fourth Highness: “…”

The crowd and soldiers: “…”

Luka preempted, “I bet on a woman.”

A short while later, a dense demonic energy once again surged in the air. Black withered butterflies swirled, a spectacular sight under the night sky.

Unfortunately, because of Luka’s earlier words, everyone subconsciously cared more about the gender of the newcomer, trying to see clearly through the demonic energy.

The Second Highness, Eve, with her wheat-colored skin and a somewhat pirate-like attire, was greeted by countless pairs of eyes staring like copper bells the moment she appeared.

Luka: “Woman, woman, woman, yes! I win.”

Eve: “?”

The Fourth Highness finally reacted. “Who made a bet with you?”

Luka didn’t care and continued, “Guess if the next one lands with their left foot or right foot first. I bet on the left foot.”

This time, Eve finally understood what they had been doing earlier and glared at them fiercely.
Psychopaths.

The Fourth Highness: “…”
What’s it got to do with me.

This game seemed to have a demonic charm. Although everyone was complaining about it, whenever a figure appeared, they would instinctively guess an answer in their minds.
They couldn’t control it at all.

Next to arrive was the Third Highness, Klein. He was extremely handsome, with a pink snake coiled around his wrist and another around his waist. He appeared elegantly in a beast-drawn chariot.

Just as he was about to step down, Klein suddenly felt something was wrong.
The beast pulling his chariot today was one he had fought for two days in a valley to obtain, all for the sake of making a stunning entrance.

But why was everyone looking at his feet and no one at the exotic beast?

Luka: Left, left, left.
 

Eve and the Fourth Highness: Right, right, right.

Left or right, the soldiers and onlookers also had their own answers in their hearts.
 

Klein’s right foot landed.

“Damn it!” Luka cursed under his breath.
Eve and the Fourth Highness, on the other hand, simultaneously curled their lips into a smile.

Alec was the second to last crown prince to arrive. Luka felt that he had changed his arm again. Judging from the palm, the knuckles were longer and more slender than Alec’s other hand, clearly grafted directly from someone else.

A minute after Alec’s appearance, the atmosphere suddenly changed.

The soldiers uniformly bowed their heads in salute. Silver long spears were raised and lowered, hitting the ground with a crisp, synchronized rhythm.

The onlookers also lowered their heads. No one dared to recklessly guess left or right foot anymore.

Amidst the formation of soldiers welcoming them, the Red Banyan City Lord and Princess Mary walked side by side.

The Red Banyan City Lord was speaking to Princess Mary. Next to them was the Fifth Highness, Alicia. They seemed to be talking about something interesting, which made Princess Mary laugh out loud.

They walked straight past Luka.

The warmth in Princess Mary’s eyes vanished. As if she knew what had happened on the stage earlier, she tapped the ground heavily with her cane.
“Just like your mother, keen on pulling some low-class tricks.”

Luka’s expression turned slightly cold, but he still managed to press down on Quill’s restless fingers in the nick of time.

The divination was about to begin. If he caused a delay, the other demons wouldn’t dare to resent Princess Mary; instead, they would blame him.
Just wait.
When the “Evil Mother-in-Law” book was released, he would hire tens of thousands of mercenaries to read it aloud in front of this old hag’s door, and see if she wouldn’t be angered to death.

“Your Excellency Mary!” The Snow-White Dragon, Grover, smiled gracefully. “The last time we met was before my slumber.”

Hearing about the dragon clan siding with Luka these days, and constrained by her status, Princess Mary gave a symbolic nod.

Grover sighed lightly. “I remember back then, you were as famous as Grandpa Denton. Not long ago, I heard Grandpa Denton lamenting that he already has half a foot in the grave.”

The Red Banyan City Lord was slightly stunned.

Luka almost burst out laughing on the spot.
Denton, having entered his twilight years, still had several hundred years of life left. If he had half a foot in the grave, then what did that make Princess Mary? Only her head was left above ground, spewing venom at people?

Princess Mary, whose health was deteriorating, her face suddenly turned ugly.
Before she could say anything, Alicia whispered a reminder to Princess Mary, “The witches have arrived.”

Before her words had even faded, a faint, ethereal voice came from not far away:
“Reincarnation is the ever-burning fuel of the universe. Why grieve over an end?”

The witch from the south was draped in a black robe, her skin pale, the bloodshot veins in her eyes like the patterns of the stars.

The chief witch’s steps were abnormally slow and heavy. She also leaned on a cane. In reality, her speed was astonishingly fast. Like a puff of smoke, she appeared silently on the terrace.

Witches were born with a pair of void eyes. Almost no one dared to meet their gaze directly.

Princess Mary frowned, not agreeing with her words, but she couldn’t be bothered to argue.
If it’s so good, why don’t you go and die?

At the same time, the astrologers also appeared from the other side. In complete contrast to the witches, they were always dressed in special star-chart white cloaks, giving them the uncoordinated feeling of string puppets.

Luka felt like he was surrounded by the Black and White Impermanence.

No matter how much he denounced feudal superstition, he had to admit that witches and astrologers were a very special group.

Even though they were all standing together, it seemed as if they were not on the same layer.
They were more like people who had walked out of the past.

The terrace was surrounded by onlookers, and the entire scene was unusually quiet.
Anyone who made a loud noise and disturbed the astrologers or witches would be severely punished.

Confirming that everyone had arrived, the Red Banyan City Lord stood at the highest point in the center, and the aura he had previously restrained erupted in an instant.

After expressing his welcome to the witches and astrologers, the Red Banyan City Lord said in a deep voice:
“The vastness and immensity of fate are like the starry sky. What we capture tonight is but the tip of the iceberg.”

He then looked at all the crown princes, his tone solemn. “May fate bless you.”

With that, the Red Banyan City Lord gave the command in a loud voice, “Dispel the clouds—”

From the high towers in all four directions, tens of thousands of mages appeared simultaneously. They merged with the dark night and uniformly cast their spells. Beams of intense magic exploded in the sky, and the sea of clouds receded.

“Chase the moon—”

The moon then sank below the horizon like a setting sun. The moon hid, and the stars appeared, shining brightly.

On the terrace, a white flame appeared in the palm of the witch’s hand and shot straight into the sky. The flame transformed into a triangular long ruler, and the trajectories of the stars instantly became clear.

Before he transmigrated, Luka had heard of measuring the starry sky in the news. He had never thought he would be able to witness it with his own eyes.

Everyone was looking up at the starry sky. Quill whispered, “Look over there.”

Luka discreetly glanced in the direction Quill had indicated and found several hidden demon guards.
These were obviously sent to gather intelligence. It seemed everyone was taking this divination very seriously.

The starry sky began to have some of the brightness of daytime. The inner field rose further, and the special, massive astrolabe patterns were completely revealed.

A bard played a hymn in praise of the starry sky.
When the song ended, the Red Banyan City Lord formally announced, “The observation begins!”

The crown princes were seated in designated positions.
At this moment, every crown prince, even the low-key Alicia, had a look of eagerness in their eyes, as if they were all very confident in their own fates.

The leading astrologer spoke first. “As the City Lord said, there are infinite wonderful possibilities in a lifetime. There is no need to be confined to one corner.”

The chief witch was much more direct, asking coldly, “Who starts?”

The Fourth Highness suddenly looked at Luka. “You’re probably not familiar with the rules yet. You can go last.”

The other crown princes also nodded in a considerate manner.

Luka understood in a second. An exam always needs someone at the bottom. No matter how good or bad the divinations before were, once he took the stage, they wouldn’t lose too much face.

“Fine.” Anyway, he only cared about how many reporters had come today.

The order of the other divinations was determined by drawing lots. The results showed that it would start with the Fifth Highness, Alicia.

When she stood in the center of the astrolabe, the crown princes secretly prayed for a Waterloo.
Alicia was relatively calm. “I’ll have to trouble you.”

The chief witch stared at her.
For a few seconds, the witch’s already small pupils actually disappeared, and her entire face looked strangely terrifying.
Alicia subconsciously took a small step back.

Outside the inner field, Princess Mary, who was betting on her, her expression unchanged, but her hand gripping the snake-headed cane tightened slightly.
She had lived a long time and knew more.
Compared to the other canvassing sessions of the Hunt, the vast majority of the royal family actually valued the divination more.

Even though everyone verbally said that fate was unpredictable, the fate of successful people in history had never been bad.

“…In the long river of time, the point of light belonging to you is incomparably bright,” the chief witch finally spoke, her mouth opening and closing with a mechanical feel.

The other witch apprentices did not directly prophesize for Alicia but verified it through their special tools.
The astrologer focused more on the starry sky and the astrolabe in his hand. After a series of complex calculations, he came to a conclusion. “Fate favors you. Although the trajectory is somewhat vague, it still has its sharpness.”

His view was similar to the chief witch’s. They unanimously determined that Alicia had a Kunling fate.
Fates were usually divided into seven grades. The best three, from high to low, were Yao Xing (Shining Star), Kunling (Earth Spirit), and Chulu (First Dew).

A second-grade fate.
Alicia let out a slight sigh of relief. A very good result.
Princess Mary, however, was a little disappointed. After all, the successive Demon Kings had all had the Yao Xing fate.

Next was the Fourth Highness’s turn.
The witch did not spend much time on him and directly declared his fate to be Chulu.
“You might want to take another look,” the Fourth Highness’s face turned ashen.

Among ordinary demons, this fate was quite good. But in this divination competition, it had no advantage.

The chief witch shook her head. “My eyes do not make mistakes.”

Alicia had set a good precedent, giving the illusion that a second-grade fate was easy to come by.
Reality mercilessly slapped everyone in the face.

Next, the Second, Third, and Sixth Highnesses all successively tested as having the Chulu fate. The Sixth Highness even barely reached the third-grade fate.

The Fourth Highness’s mentality returned to a stable state. From nine to ten o’clock, the divination continued.

When it was the Seventh Highness’s turn, a dispute arose for the first time. The witch believed that her fate was shrouded in a shadow of premature decline, at most a fourth-grade fate. The astrologer, however, denied this view.
As neither would back down, the Red Banyan City Lord spoke up to mediate.

“There is still one… two Highnesses whose fates have not been divined. Why don’t we look at theirs first?”

The witch and the astrologer were caught in a silent confrontation. They turned their heads at the same time, their gazes falling on both Alec and Luka.

Seeing Alec, the chief witch showed some interest.
Alec smiled and stepped forward, performing a noble’s etiquette.

“You, not bad.”
Before the prophecy, the witch could already see some things.

The waiting process was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
A little blood flowed from the witch’s ears. On the other side, the astrologer’s eyes also cracked slightly at the corners, his face turning a sickly white.

The onlookers couldn’t help but get a little excited.
For the demons living in the central cities, among all the crown princes, they were more optimistic about the Grand Prince.

The corner of Alec’s mouth also couldn’t help but curve upwards.
The demon guards were observing in secret. The Red Banyan City Lord did not stop them; they were most likely people sent by his father, the King.
Things had not been going smoothly since the Holy City. He could finally wash away the shame of the past few days. Alec’s heart surged.
The diviner bled and cried. A good thing!

As expected, this time the witch’s and the astrologer’s judgment was surprisingly unified.
“In the midst of countless crises, the path of fate will always leave a gate of life open for you.”
“You have the opportunity to turn misfortune into good fortune and continue to shine brightly.”

A standard Yao Xing fate.
Alicia’s face instantly changed slightly. The other crown princes’ faces were not much better.

After divining for Alec, both the witch and the astrologer were in a rather poor state due to expending too much energy.
The chief witch directly had the other followers prophesize for Luka.

The Red Banyan City Lord shook his head. “I’m afraid this is not appropriate.”
He was not speaking for Luka. In past observations, there had been no precedent for an apprentice to be the first to divine for a crown prince.

The chief witch said faintly, “When the results are out, I will re-check them with my tools.”
The Red Banyan City Lord hesitated for a moment and ultimately did not say more.

Alec sneered inwardly. If it were any other crown prince, the Red Banyan City Lord might have argued a bit. But unfortunately, no matter how much of a stir Iliad made, he still had no foundation in the demon race.

What’s more, Princess Mary, who envied and hated the Saintess and her son, was also present.

The followers couldn’t help but look at the equally unwell astrologer. “Teacher…”
“No need.”
The astrologer insisted on going up himself.

He had had a strange feeling when he saw this child during the day.
So when Luka went up to the stage, looking a little sleepy, the astrologer did not hesitate to directly use his ability. Translucent threads appeared on his body. One part was connected to the astrolabe, the other part floated in the air like headless balloon strings, pointing towards the starry sky.

He didn’t know if it was because he was not in a good state, but he took a rather long time this time.
A moment later, the astrologer showed a clear emotional fluctuation for the first time.

“Huh?”
The witch apprentice who was divining also had a strange expression.
Seeing them like this, the chief witch couldn’t help but become curious.

Constrained by her pride, she did not ask, but just stood behind the other apprentices and glanced at the result of the tool’s divination.
It was this glance that immediately made the chief witch change her mind. She wiped the blood from her ears and had the apprentice step back.

“Child, come closer to me,” the chief witch said in a hoarse voice.
Luka hesitated and walked closer.
He kept muttering in his heart, did a negative and a negative really make a positive?

The Snow-White Dragon and Quill, who was preparing to cheat in secret, also looked over in surprise.
Next, the chief witch very solemnly divined for Luka herself.

When he was being stared at by those vanished pupils, a deeper sense of being窺ed at came over him. Luka frowned slightly, very uncomfortable with this feeling. It was as if there were countless spotlights above his head, forcing every detail of him to be exposed.

“Truly… incredible.”
After a long while, the chief witch murmured.
These actions made the other onlookers even more curious.
The several crown princes were startled.
Could there be a better fate than Yao Xing?

Luka’s eyes also lit up. Was this the destiny of a transmigrator? They would all have a place to shine!

“Impossible,” the Third Highness said bluntly. “No prophet has bled.”
When prophesying some special things, one would suffer a backlash.
To surpass Alec’s fate, at the very least, there should be some nosebleeds and tears from the corners of the eyes.

Luka: “That’s right, why didn’t you bleed?”
The chief witch was at a loss for whether to laugh or cry.
Princess Mary’s face, which had just gotten a little better, also changed. But she soon relaxed. In the past, the Saintess had asked an astrologer to observe Iliad’s fate, and the result was very unsatisfactory.

The Green Crystal Dragon, who had just arrived not far away, couldn’t wait any longer and urged, “If you have something to say, say it. What’s with the riddles?”
The chief witch and the astrologer no longer had their initial hostility. They looked at each other now.

In the end, it was the astrologer who spoke hesitantly. “I saw darkness,忌神, baleful energy…”
None of it sounded good.

Luka frowned. “What does that mean?”
“You can simply understand it as your whole life is very broken. Your family ties are weak, you will be displaced and wandering, and even if you start a family in the future, your wife will leave you and your children will be scattered.”

When he finished speaking, dark clouds covered the starry sky, casting a deeper shadow.
Luka’s eyelid twitched. A negative and a negative making a positive was indeed a lie.

This was just the beginning. The astrologer’s cloak burned some of its patterns during the observation. He emphasized again, “In my entire life, I have never seen such a, such a broken fate.”

Even the worst seventh-grade fate would be an unattainable height for this observed person.
For a time, the entire scene was silent.
After an unknown amount of time, some sneers came from the corner.

The several crown princes who had been worried also shook their heads. They had been scared for nothing.
Alec even pretended to sigh lightly. “The public prophecies of the witches and astrologers should not be wrong.”

By tomorrow, no, tonight, he would contact those newspapers. Didn’t they all like to have Iliad as their headline? What could be more newsworthy than this?
However, this schadenfreude did not last long. Alec gradually discovered that something was wrong.

The dragon clan, who was on good terms with Iliad, actually had smiles on their faces. The Red Banyan City Lord did not speak immediately but instead stared at Luka thoughtfully. Even the demon guards who had come to investigate in mid-air, after seeing the results, did not immediately rush back to report but stood there in astonishment.

What really made his heart sink to the bottom was Princess Mary’s gritted-teeth expression.
What happened?
Wasn’t his fate bad? Why was their emotional turmoil even stronger than when his own fate was revealed?

In the center of the field, Luka, who was about to give a speech about “my fate is not for the heavens to decide,” seemed to have figured something out.
He tilted his head and obediently raised his hand to ask a question:

“Um, can the last sentence be understood as I am a jinx to my wife and children?”
“Since there is a bloodline chain of being a jinx to one’s children, it should be possible to extend it one level up. Am I also a jinx to my parents?”

Luka continued to round up and down. “…A jinx to my father, does that mean I can also be a jinx to these ‘brothers and sisters’?”
Alec suddenly looked up.

The Second Highness: “!!”
The Third Highness: “!!!”
…
The faces of the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth simultaneously changed.

The astrologer fell silent.
This silence was enough to explain many problems.

Luka became interested. He glanced at Princess Mary and Alec and went for the kill. “Can I really be a jinx to the point of disowning all my relatives?”
The astrologer remained silent.

The chief witch recalled the fate verdict she had given Alec. When she thought of “turning misfortune into good fortune,” her expression became a little strange.
The premise of turning misfortune into good fortune was to encounter misfortune, and whether it could be turned into good fortune was also a matter of probability.
It seemed she now knew where this misfortune came from.

This time, Alec’s expression completely changed.
He could feel that the gazes of admiration that had been cast on him had become much more complicated.

At this time, the divination was coming to an end. The central city demons who had come to watch the ceremony finally couldn’t help but start talking. For a time, a heated discussion broke out.

One of the demons recalled, “I have seen in human books that there is something called ‘calamity star.’ Those with this fate, the people around them are prone to accidents, disasters, or financial loss.”

The entire venue fell silent again for some reason.
Holy crap, how vicious. Does misfortune only befall those around him?

After an unknown amount of time, a very old demon, with his back hunched, did some equivalent exchange.
“The Demon King and the Saintess already represent the top five percent of the continent. Doesn’t that mean Iliad can jinx even the remaining ninety-five percent of the continent?!”

Many of the onlookers’ mouths gaped wide open.
On the stage, Luka had a complete epiphany.

He immediately seized the opportunity and, facing all the onlookers, said in a loud voice:
“What’s the use of having a good fate?”

“Friends—
To forge iron, one must be hard oneself!”

__

Author’s Note:
Excerpt from Luka’s Diary:
Please vote for the best article of the year in your heart @everyone.

1. The Beloevd Three-and-a-Half-Year-Old 
2.  My Demon King Father
    

One hour later:
 

Luka: Where are the people? Where have all the tourists gone