Calculating Chances

Furthermore, it wasn't as if the imperial family of the Pusi Kingdom lacked high-level cultivators holding the fort.

At this moment, while Song Jusheng was enjoying a brief moment of leisure, he heard a clamor rising from the streets below.

He looked down and saw a group of thirteen or fourteen-year-old youths in luxurious clothes laughing and running into the teahouse.

As a Golden Core cultivator, it took him only a single glance to see that one of the youths seemed to possess outstanding spiritual root aptitude.

He felt a surge of joy in his heart.

Because one of the purposes of his sect establishing a presence in the capital was to scout for talented children of nobility who might have missed the decennial grand selection.

Indeed, unlike the remote provinces that recruited disciples once every thirty years, the capital held its recruitment every ten years.

However, the three major sects had always shared an agreement: they could not force mortal children to join their sects; it had to be completely voluntary.

In recent decades, the Shangyang Sect had been steadily declining among the three major sects of the Pusi Kingdom due to the dwindling output of their spirit stone mines.

As a result, this year, all the exceptional disciples with single spiritual roots from the capital's noble circles had chosen the other two sects. Not a single one chose their Shangyang Sect!

Therefore, there was an ulterior motive for the sect to send him, a Golden Core elder, to station in the capital this time.

The sect had previously found out that within the capital's noble circles, the youngest son of the Weiyuan General's Manor was rumored to have a Heavenly Spiritual Root. During the disciple recruitment held by the three major sects last month, he was actually tested to have a single Fire Spiritual Root!

Yet, this youngest son of the Weiyuan General's Manor, Mo Yuanjiao, did not choose any sect. He insisted that he had a dream where his path to immortality did not lie within these three sects, and that his true fortune was elsewhere. Joining any of the three sects would only delay him from embarking on his true path of cultivation.

However, when others asked him what and where this fortune was, he could not answer. He merely stubbornly refused to join any sect.

Since he was unwilling to go, others were helpless to force him.

The entire General's Manor doted on this youngest son immensely. Thus, when he threw a fuss, the elders of the manor all yielded to him, allowing him to wait for this great fortune from his dream.

Now, Song Jusheng's mission was to come over and figure out a way to get this Mo Yuanjiao to join the Shangyang Sect.

Although his cultivation base wasn't the highest in the sect, his skill in coaxing and deceiving people was famously formidable throughout the entire sect.

Song Jusheng stroked his long beard, his mind churning, and soon came up with a plan.

He raised his hand and waved it over his face, giving himself a simple disguise. Then, he took out a fortune-telling banner from his storage ring and stood it to the side.

He then gave a meaningful glance to the disciple beside him and sent a few voice transmissions to instruct him.

That disciple looked out of the compartment. Seeing that Mo Yuanjiao and the other youths had just run up to the second floor and estimating that they could hear the commotion from their side, he excitedly shouted and bowed to Song Jusheng:

"Oh my! The immortal is truly divine in his calculations! This humble one is thoroughly convinced and prostrates in admiration! I went home and did exactly as the immortal instructed, and who would have thought it would have such miraculous effects! The immortal is truly amazing!"

Sure enough, this shout attracted the attention of Mo Yuanjiao and his group.

The other youths only took one glance before turning their heads away in disdain, saying:

"Tch, another wandering charlatan from who knows where, actually daring to come to our capital to swindle people. Does he not know that our land is protected by the three authentic great immortal sects?"

"Exactly. If you ask me, we should show these swindlers a thing or two, lest they always think our capital is some backwater countryside that hasn't seen the world."

With that said, the youths were about to step forward and cause trouble for Song Jusheng.

Unexpectedly, they were stopped by Mo Yuanjiao.

"Hey, wait a minute. What if this person really is a divine calculator? The world is so vast; how do you know there are no other immortals besides those from the three major sects who have come here?"

Saying so, he took the lead, stepping forward and bowing to Song Jusheng.

"I wonder if sir's fortune-telling is real?"

Seeing him approach, the disciple who was acting as a shill quietly found an inconspicuous spot and slipped away.

On this side, Song Jusheng's half-closed eyes looked at him indifferently, and he slowly spoke:

"If you believe, it is real; if you do not, it is not."

Seeing his demeanor, Mo Yuanjiao, who had always been spoiled by his family and possessed a simple mind, immediately believed him a bit more. He looked at Song Jusheng with shining eyes and said:

"I ask sir to read my fortune!"

Hearing him say this, Song Jusheng felt quite smug in his heart. This little kid from the Mo family was quite easy to deal with, taking the bait so easily.

However, his face remained very calm, even indifferent, as he said:

"What do you wish to ask?"

"I want to know where my fortune lies! And when it will arrive!" Mo Yuanjiao bowed respectfully.

Hearing this, Song Jusheng was not surprised at all. With a calm expression, he tapped the table in front of Mo Yuanjiao in a professional manner and said:

"Fortune-telling costs five copper coins. No more."

The attendant behind Mo Yuanjiao immediately stepped forward, took out five copper coins, and placed them on the table.

Seeing this, Song Jusheng closed his eyes, raised his right hand, and began to pinch his fingers together in a plausible pretense of calculation.

Mo Yuanjiao waited nervously to the side, watching the fortune-teller without daring to breathe heavily.

His companions watched Mo Yuanjiao's demeanor. Although they muttered in their hearts about this fortune-teller who had suddenly popped up, they did not speak out to interrupt.

They knew that Mo Yuanjiao's days had not been very easy lately.

After all, in their noble circles, especially for top-tier nobles like the Mo family, if they failed to produce a disciple with a dual spiritual root or better every twenty years, it wasn't just a matter of losing face.

It would even affect the family's status in the imperial court for the next ten years or more.

After all, if a family didn't produce any highly talented disciples in the next twenty years, it meant that the family had no foundation or backing within the immortal sects.

The Pusi Kingdom was a nation supported by the immortal sects. The upper-class circles were inextricably linked to their respective statuses within these sects.

And the entire Mo family, up until this year, had not produced a child with an aptitude of a dual spiritual root or higher for thirty years.

Perhaps some might wonder, what about twenty years ago? That is, thirty years ago or even earlier, the Mo family surely had talented people join the sects, right?

Wouldn't that count as the Mo family's foundation and backing within the immortal sects?

However, in reality, leaving aside the disciples who died for various reasons on the path of cultivation.

Thirty years was enough time for an exceptionally talented disciple to reach Foundation Establishment.

And thirty years was also enough for these exceptionally talented family disciples to sever their mortal ties within the sect.

The sect would inevitably educate these recruited disciples in the ways of the sect. After all, the sect trained them in cultivation not so they could give back to their respective mortal families.