Chapter 1328: The Beauty's Calamity

Meng Jingzhou covered his eyes and shrieked, drawing a crowd and startling Lu Yang.

“Hey, hey, hey! You’re supposed to be a fortune-teller, not a scam artist! Can’t you learn something respectable?”

Bystanders pointed at Meng Jingzhou. They were locals who often saw him there.

“He’s definitely trying to con someone.”

“Yeah, he’s been setting up his stall here for ages and barely gets any customers. He must be relying on these tricks to make money.”

“Scam artist, my foot!” Meng Jingzhou fumed. He usually had no problems, but after meeting Lu Yang today, he, a dignified demigod, was being mistaken for a charlatan.

With a snap of his fingers, he temporarily blocked the bystanders’ perception of them. The passersby looked confused, having forgotten what just happened, and continued their shopping, completely oblivious to the two men standing there.

Lu Yang secretly nodded. He had seen this skill used by the second Imperial Advisor of the Great Yu Dynasty; it was truly divine.

Meng Jingzhou rubbed his eyes. Fortunately, he had only been momentarily dazzled, so the impact wasn't too severe; his eyes were just bloodshot.

He shook his head, his gaze a bit blurry, seeing double.

“Old Lu, your karma is ridiculously heavy! I didn’t see this much even when I looked at Ancestor Jiang’s and Ancestor Meng’s karmic threads.”

After Meng Jingzhou formed the nascent form of the karmic Dao fruit, he tested it on Jiang Ping’an and Meng Junzi, observing and studying their karma.

The immortal level was too high, and the nascent Dao fruit had difficulty affecting immortals; their karma wasn’t easy to read. Meng Jingzhou had to try several times just to get a general idea, but the insights gained were worth it.

When viewing entities of the same level, there were far fewer restrictions; he could observe them freely.

For instance, he could clearly see Lu Yang’s karma.

But the cost was obvious: Lu Yang was entangled in so much karma that it exceeded Meng Jingzhou’s tolerance.

Lu Yang thought Old Meng’s reaction wasn’t faked, and he felt a bit guilty. “Could you have made a mistake? Maybe you should check again?”

“Get lost!”

If they weren’t on a crowded street, Meng Jingzhou would have loved to kick the obnoxious Lu Yang a couple of times.

It took quite a while for Meng Jingzhou’s eyes to return to normal.

“I knew it! I’m such an honest person, yet trouble follows me everywhere. Turns out it’s all because of you!” Meng Jingzhou finally felt vindicated. Forming this nascent karmic Dao fruit was truly worthwhile.

Heaven knew, before he met Lu Yang, he was at most a local bully in the Imperial City, wild and lawless, but his influence was limited to his peers.

Ever since he met Lu Yang, there was first the reckless invitation to his Senior Sister to discuss cheating in a carriage, followed by demigod battles and even immortal battles becoming commonplace. Even his own ancestors couldn’t keep things under control.

“You weren’t faking it just now, were you?” Lu Yang asked suspiciously. “The second Imperial Advisor of the Great Yu Dynasty didn’t react that strongly when he looked at my karma.”

“Pfft, how can that compare? You were only at the Golden Core stage back then. How much karma could you have accumulated?”

“Old Lu, your karma isn’t just abundant; its quality is extraordinary. I faintly detect an aura of emperorship within your karma.”

“Aura of emperorship?” Lu Yang’s expression was odd. *Where would I get an aura of emperorship? Old Meng, are your eyes really okay?*

Meng Jingzhou nodded. He was a professional in this field and wouldn’t be mistaken. “Ancestor Jiang also has this aura of emperorship, but yours is even more potent than his, which means you’ll become an even more powerful emperor than Ancestor Jiang in the future!”

“But don’t worry, as your good brother, I definitely won’t tell anyone. Just give me a heads-up when you plan your rebellion; I’ve never tried rebelling before.” Meng Jingzhou winked, highly interested in the topic.

“It’s strange, though. You’re not an emperor yet, but you have incredibly stable imperial karma. When did you become a crown prince?” Meng Jingzhou rubbed his chin, pondering. This didn’t make sense. Could it be that his nascent karmic Dao fruit wasn’t fully cultivated and made a mistake?

That shouldn’t be the case; he hadn’t made any mistakes when observing immortal karma.

Lu Yang remained silent. He believed his aura of emperorship wasn’t due to any rebellion, but because he was the next successor to the Great Bean Dynasty.

Speaking of which, the Great Bean Dynasty’s system was quite progressive. In ancient and modern times, which dynasty didn't pass the throne to its descendants? Only the Great Bean Dynasty passed the throne to a pillar minister with no blood relation.

Disregarding bloodlines and selecting the most capable minister as the successor—such a system was definitely highly advanced.

“Little Yangzi, you accidentally spoke your thoughts aloud,” Immortal Fairy reminded him. Lu Yang had accidentally vocalized his inner monologue. Although his voice was low, it couldn’t escape an immortal’s hearing.

Upon hearing Little Yangzi’s thoughts, Immortal Fairy was quite pleased.

Lu Yang was overcome with shame. As an elder statesman of the dynasty, he should have been composed, yet he made such a basic mistake. “Just thinking about our wise Majesty and how much more advanced our Great Bean Dynasty’s system is compared to those feudal, decaying dynasties, I couldn’t help myself and lost control of my emotions. It won’t happen again.”

Lu Yang returned to the present and continued, “You said earlier that you’re good at reading romantic fortunes. Can you take a look at mine?”

Meng Jingzhou patted his chest and gave a thumbs-up. “We’re brothers, so there’s no need to be polite about ‘looking’ or not. Just tell me which girl you’re interested in, and I’ll directly play matchmaker for you.”

He smiled confidently. “Didn’t expect that, did you? I can not only see karma but also alter it.”

“So, tell me, who caught your eye?”

As he spoke, Meng Jingzhou suddenly shivered.

“What’s wrong?” Lu Yang asked.

Meng Jingzhou scratched his head, puzzled. “I don’t know. I suddenly felt a surge of killing intent, and now it’s gone. Didn’t you feel anything?”

Lu Yang shook his head blankly. “No, I didn’t.”

“Strange,” Meng Jingzhou muttered. He had traveled through the stars, formed the nascent Dao fruit, and set up a fortune-telling stall—everything had gone smoothly. Yet, ever since he met Lu Yang today, a string of misfortunes had occurred.

“Never mind, I’ll just calculate your romantic fortune for you.” Meng Jingzhou dared not directly look at his romantic karma again; doing so might cost him his eyesight.

He shook the copper coins in his hand. If someone knowledgeable saw these coins, they would be startled. These were the standard coinage samples from the Great Qian, Great Yu, and Great Xia Dynasties; all copper coins circulating among the populace were minted based on these samples.

Meng Jingzhou chanted incantations, continuously using the coins to fix the 'shadow' of Lu Yang’s romantic fate, indirectly deducing his future.

Lu Yang felt something unusual about his body, but he couldn't pinpoint it. It was only when Immortal Fairy prompted him that he understood.

“You’re sensing that the Meng kid is calculating your karma again.”

Meng Jingzhou's expression became strange after he calculated the result.

“A ‘femme fatale’ destiny? Prone to causing strife and chaos in the world?”

*This isn’t right.*

Meng Jingzhou worried Old Lu would mock him for an inaccurate reading, so he decided to only reveal part of the fortune. “Old Lu, your romantic luck is quite strong! There are many people interested in you.”

“Oh, just as I thought.” Lu Yang figured Old Meng wouldn't trick him in this regard and was quite pleased. This outcome didn’t surprise him, as he was very famous, and there were people who admired him everywhere in the cultivation world.

“Master Meng,” Lu Yang humbly asked, “is there any way I can increase the amount of my karma?”

*Since the Omniscient Realm is related to karma, perhaps the more karma one has, the easier it is to ascend to the Omniscient Realm?*

Meng Jingzhou’s eye twitched. “With the amount of karma you have, don’t deliberately try to increase it; it’s prone to backfiring. Just leave it be, and it’ll increase automatically.”