Chapter 79: The Use of Fate

“Come in.” Zhu Qiong did not even lift her head.

At these words, a female cultivator dressed in a loose, dark robe pushed open the private room’s door and walked in.

She stood before Zhu Qiong and gave a slight bow in accordance with sect etiquette, then removed her veil, revealing sharp eyes with narrow ends, filled with a striking heroic air.

“What important matter brings you here?” Zhu Qiong’s voice was cool.

“This is the sect’s selection criteria for this year’s Choosing-the-Moon, drafted according to the sect’s laws. Please, True Disciple Zhu, correct it.” Shu You respectfully offered a jade slip with both hands.

Mirror Moon Palace had tens of thousands of disciples, yet only a hundred could be counted among the True Disciples.

Each of them was a seed with hopes of forming a Golden Core, holding a status far above inner disciples, second only to Golden Core elders.

And Zhu Qiong, the True Disciple, was anything but ordinary.

She had been selected through the sect’s True Disciple trial, a guardian and a killing god. The number of Foundation Establishment cultivators from other sects who had perished by her hand could be counted on both hands.

Before such a fierce and murderous figure, Shu You dared not reveal the slightest hidden thought.

“All for such a trivial matter.” Zhu Qiong’s brows slightly furrowed.

She knew all too well that Mirror Moon Sect was full of tangled factions, preferring to handle matters through favors and connections, following the so-called “spiritual herbs, pills, and furnaces” triad.

It was no exaggeration to say that nearly one-tenth of the disciples admitted each year did not meet the sect’s Choosing-the-Moon standards, yet still entered successfully through family ties and nepotism.

Faced with such a survival law, though she disapproved, she had no intention of challenging it.

Seeing the True Disciple frown, Shu You’s heart tightened.

She had already left ten inner disciple candidate slots aside for the Choosing-the-Moon Envoy. Could it still not be enough?

“Just follow the sect’s Choosing-the-Moon standards. No need to alter anything.” Zhu Qiong toyed with a Water Arrow Talisman without even sparing a glance at the jade slip.

Her current journey away from the sect was not for recruiting disciples or choosing the brightest full moon, but to travel through the mortal world in search of an opportunity to break through to Golden Core.

Although this Water Arrow Talisman was low-grade, only first-tier, the principle it embodied—“the Great Dao is simple, water transforms all things”—was something she deeply appreciated, even resonating with it slightly.

“Understood. Thank you for True Disciple Zhu’s guidance.”

Shu You quietly breathed a sigh of relief, while her eyes flicked imperceptibly toward the talisman in Zhu Qiong’s hand.

…

“Time to slip away.”

Sensing that the orange glow of fate on the second floor opposite remained, Chen Beiwu lost all interest in eavesdropping further.

He packed up his stall and hurried back to his residence to cultivate, lest a Foundation Establishment old monster set their eyes on him.

After cultivating quietly for a full day and night, confirming no orange fate had appeared outside his cave residence, Chen Beiwu finally activated the Gate of Ten Directions and returned to the Immortal Alliance.

“Cultivating diligently is good, but you still have to eat.”

The moment he came downstairs, he heard his mother’s nagging. Chen Beiwu smiled, replying naturally, “I have Antitoxin Pills prepared in my storage pouch. Not to mention a day or two without food—even if I went into seclusion for months, I would be fine.”

After dinner, that evening, Chen Beiwu started his livestream by Still Abyss West Lake.

【The missing person has returned.】

【Unfollow unfollow. Fish-Runner, how can you catch fish? Still bragging for a whole year about that Jade Scale Fish!】

【Oh wow, Fish-Runner is finally popular. First time I’ve seen this many people in the stream.】

【Two years fishing unknown, one day selling goods world-renowned. Indeed, the final destination of all livestreams is selling.】

Sweeping a glance at the barrage of comments, Chen Beiwu cast his hook, sat on his small stool, and began chatting with viewers.

“Don’t ask where the streamer has been. I’m still a student. Normally, I need to cultivate—streaming is just a part-time thing.”

【Eighteen-Year-Old Sexy Mother Cockroach has gifted the streamer a sports car *1—streamer, can you stream for four hours today?】

“Thank you, Eighteen-Year-Old, for the sports car. Don’t worry everyone, tonight I’ll be live until eleven.”

Just then, the bobber shook. Chen Beiwu pulled hard.

“Got one, brothers!”

At his shout, a plump-bodied fish with eyes of black and white yin-yang, gills glowing faintly like fireflies, landed on the shore, setting off a storm of comments.

【Holy crap, Fish-Runner is cheating! Last time it was a Jade Scale Fish, now he caught a Fathead Fish!】

【For real, if that Fathead Fish dies, the streamer’s going to jail for at least two years.】

【Oh no, Fish-Runner’s about to wear silver bracelets!】

But Chen Beiwu could not spare attention for the comments. His eyes were fixed on the fat-headed fish with a natural “smile” curved on its mouth.

The Two-Rites Sturgeon, commonly known as Fathead Fish, preferred to roam alone though sometimes traveled in groups. It usually inhabited the main flow of Still Abyss River, was a forbidden catch, and classified as a first-level protected spirit fish by the Immortal Alliance.

Its eyes bore natural Dao marks of yin and yang, formed from the union of the river’s essence and the qi of Yin and Yang. Though an adult was barely six inches long, it symbolized a thread of fortune belonging to Still Abyss River.

In ancient legend, any cultivator who caught a Two-Rites Sturgeon was fated with water destiny, their fate pattern extraordinary.

At this thought, Chen Beiwu’s pupils shrank. He quickly removed the hook and released it back.

The fish turned back longingly several times before vanishing into the water.

“Whew!”

Chen Beiwu exhaled, glanced at his phone, and found his livestream had already been shut down for violations.

The next instant, a rainbow streak appeared in the night sky. As it dispersed, a figure was revealed.

The newcomer’s white hair was tied into a Daoist topknot, his brows sharp as peaks, eyes glowing with divine light—clearly no ordinary cultivator.

“Where is that Two-Rites Sturgeon?” the old man demanded, stepping forward.

“Released.” Chen Beiwu glanced imperceptibly at the orange fate above the old man’s head.

“Released?!” The old man was stunned, then irritated. “Why didn’t you wait a little before letting it go?”

“The Two-Rites Sturgeon is a forbidden catch of Still Abyss River. This junior had no choice but to release it.” Chen Beiwu replied tactfully.

“What a pity.” The old man shook his head, unwilling to argue with a Qi Refining junior, and turned into rainbow light, vanishing.

Watching the departing light, Chen Beiwu let out a long breath.

The orange fate above that man’s head and his abyss-like aura made it impossible to tell whether he was a Foundation Establishment or Golden Core cultivator. What he did know was that he was absolutely no match.

‘Something’s wrong. Could it be that my fishing spots were really what held back my skill?’ Chen Beiwu frowned.

By Pearl River, he caught nothing but oddities.

Yet at Still Abyss West Lake, after only two trips, he had hooked a Two-Rites Sturgeon most fishermen would never see in their lifetime.

Wait!

Chen Beiwu’s heart sank as he remembered something. His gaze turned to that faint thread of golden fate drifting in the depths of Nine-Breath Chaos.

‘Could it be that Two-Rites Sturgeon was drawn here by this golden fate?’ At the thought, Chen Beiwu’s eyes lit up.

If that were true, then it meant his previous use of divine ability—to merely convert fate into encounters—was far too simplistic.

The fate accumulated in Nine-Breath Breathing Technique was not only capable of suppressing his own fate, but perhaps could also attract auspicious beasts to submit.

The reason he had not noticed this before was likely because the quality of fate gathered in his inner chaotic world was too low. It could hardly be called great fate, let alone enough to lure a spirit like the Two-Rites Sturgeon.

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