“This art of physiognomy is no ordinary face reading, palmistry, or feng shui. It is a manual called The Secret Methods of Divination.”
Its material is impervious to water and fire, and no one knows where it came from. Among its contents is a method for reading auras, described in grand terms: “With this method, a modest degree of mastery lets you read the fortunes of ordinary people; great mastery lets you read the fate of a nation; and mastery to the utmost lets you seize the decrees of heaven.”
How many treasures have been lost or buried by the world, their brilliance hidden beneath the dust? What a pity. Is there a way to see the whereabouts of treasures directly? Bailong says, “That is the Treasure-Finding Art.”
In this vast sea of people, how tragic it is for those who love one another to pass by without ever meeting. Is there a way to sense where the other person is? Bailong says, “That is the Person-Seeking Art.”
People are often fated from birth to remain what they were born as, whether abandoned infants and beggars or nobles of the imperial family. How unfair. Is there a way to defy heaven and change one’s fate? Bailong says, “Of course. There is the Soul-Chasing Fate-Merging Art, which lets you return to life in another’s body. There is also the Life-Seizing Art, which lets you swap a cat for a crown prince, though heaven will punish you for it. There is no escaping heaven’s punishment, so I was struck by lightning and sent to another world.”
In this other world, the gods establish religions and maintain strict order. From commoners to rulers of entire nations, all revere the gods. Is there a way to overthrow them and restore human rights and imperial authority? Bailong says, “That is the Art of Becoming a Dragon!”