The Opportunity Had Arrived?!

The Zhao Clan Temple had twenty-eight shrines of varying sizes.

Among them were three main halls.

And twenty-five side halls.

The three main halls were the Wealth God Hall, the Longevity Star Hall, and Emperor Wenchang Hall.

It was not hard to see from their attributes that the Zhao Clan Temple specialized in deities of the scholarly path.

Though it also housed martial-path deities like the Thunder Ancestor.

They were assigned to lower-tier side halls.

Though those halls were equally majestic and splendidly decorated.

Compared with the three main halls.

Whether in location or level of decoration, they were clearly a grade lower.

It was not that the Zhao Clan Temple looked down on the Thunder Ancestor.

It was directly related to the temple's positioning.

Among Jiangdu City's four great families.

The Zhao and Wang families had followed the scholarly path ever since they established their temples.

The Sun and Qian families followed the martial path.

Though the Sun Clan Temple also had its own Longevity Star Hall.

By the same reasoning, it was only a side hall.

Though the difference was just one word, the effects were worlds apart.

Praying to the Longevity Star in the Zhao family's main hall gave one at least a twenty to thirty percent higher chance of success than doing so in the Sun family's side hall, perhaps even more.

That was the fundamental reason why, despite being competitors, the Sun family had invited someone to pray to the Longevity Star directly at the Zhao family's temple.

To put it bluntly, the Zhao Clan Temple's Longevity Star Hall was more efficacious than the Sun family's—and by a great deal!

For that chance alone, the Sun family had chosen the Zhao Clan Temple for this worship.

By the time Lu Chen arrived at the Longevity Star Hall.

The entire hall was practically surrounded so tightly that not even water could pass through.

A large group of staff members and Sun family security guards formed a human wall, setting up cordons and keeping all worshippers several meters away.

Inside the great hall.

The Longevity Star's golden statue stood majestic and extraordinary, its bearing gentle and benevolent.

The only people in the hall were members of the Sun family, Tan Kun, Zhao Zhihong, and a few others.

The life-extending spiritual practitioner—Tan Kun—was already holding a stick of premium purple incense as he began the worship.

Purple incense!

The highest-grade incense available in a temple.

And premium incense at that!

One stick probably cost at least two or three hundred thousand.

Truly extravagant!

"Hey, how many offerings do you think Master Tan will need before he succeeds? Want to make a bet?"

Watching the spectacle was not enough for the surrounding worshippers; now they were even placing wagers.

"With his Divine Service Rating, in theory, he should succeed once every two attempts. But this sort of thing is only theory. With good luck, once is enough; with bad luck, failing more than ten times is perfectly normal. If we're betting, I'm betting ten times!"

"You're seriously underestimating Master Tan. In terms of praying for blessings and added lifespan, he ranks in the top three across all of Jiang Province. And among those three, he's the only one you can hire. The other two are elders of great clans and never offer blessings to outsiders. I say two tries at most—no, three! He'll succeed within three attempts!"

"Bet five hundred?"

"Fine, it's a bet!"

Listening to the chatter around him, Lu Chen silently mused, Tan Kun's own strength is only that of a second-grade Spiritualist, weaker than even the guards of ordinary great families.

Yet the treatment he receives is something even fifth-grade or sixth-grade Spiritualists might not enjoy.

All because the Longevity Star is the hottest of all popular deities.

To establish a 47% Divine Service Rating with such a deity, he truly does have the right to be proud!

In terms of sheer value.

Lu Chen did not deny that Tan Kun's 47% far surpassed his own 43%!

A thought stirred in him.

Lu Chen turned to the two men making bets beside him. "Hello, brothers. May I boldly ask you two questions?"

"Oh, aren't you that handsome guy from earlier? The one with 43% and a fated connection to Lord God of Wealth? We didn't even notice you were here. Forgive our lack of manners."

Seeing that it was Lu Chen, they were quite polite as well.

"What do you want to ask? Go ahead."

"Thank you. I just wanted to ask, how much does Master Tan usually charge to pray for blessings for someone once?"

"What, are you planning to take the path of a bounty Spiritualist in the future too?"

"Uh... I really am considering it." Lu Chen did not hide it. "You two brothers seem so knowledgeable, so I thought I'd ask for your guidance."

The two men were pleased by his words and immediately explained, "We don't know the exact prices, but we heard that once, Master Tan charged seven million to pray for one extra year of someone's life."

"Seven million!"

"What does seven million count for to rich people? Forget seven million—when the moment of truth comes, there are people willing to pay seventy million."

That was true. If money could buy life, the wealthy would beg for it.

Lu Chen continued, "Then at most, how many years of lifespan can he pray for?"

"At most one year per attempt. And Master Tan has set a rule: one person can only pray twice at most. After all, life is something you pray for. Forget two extra years—even two extra months or two extra days of life is something to secretly rejoice over. Any more than that would violate the will of Heaven."

"Are there no cases where it fails?"

"Of course there are. It's about half and half, but that's already incredible. Don't forget, this is the Longevity Star we're talking about!"

"I understand! Thank you both for clearing that up!"

Lu Chen clasped his hands in thanks.

After learning more, it seemed that bounty Spiritualists really could make money.

However, someone like Tan Kun was an outstanding figure in the industry, an exception that did not apply to all bounty Spiritualists.

What profession at the top of the pyramid paid poorly?

Lu Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. If I also make offerings to a deity capable of extending lifespans, perhaps... I can tear a piece of meat from Tan Kun's mouth.

He immediately began considering which deities were related to lifespan.

Other than the most famous Longevity Star.

There were indeed several other deities capable of increasing lifespan.

1: Magu Goddess. She was a female Longevity Star and a maidservant under the Queen Mother of the West. She attained sainthood through great merit, but compared to the Longevity Star, she was undoubtedly an obscure deity.

2: Longevity Star Lord. One of the Six Departments of the Southern Dipper, he oversaw lifespan, rank, and emolument, holding authority over extending life and preserving one's life. Among the people, he was called the "Longevity-Extension Bureau."

3: Great Emperor of the Southern Pole, Eternal Life, also known as the Southern Pole Immortal Elder. He was the Primordial Celestial Venerable's chief disciple, the senior brother of the Chan Teaching's second generation, one of the Six Royals, and of the same rank as the Jade Emperor.

Yet Daoist circles had always debated whether the Longevity Star was merely an incarnation of the Southern Pole Immortal Elder.

Others believed that the Longevity Star's original form was the Old Man of the Southern Pole.

Then some people jumped in to say that the Old Man of the Southern Pole was merely an incarnation of the Southern Pole Immortal Elder, that the two were originally one.

In short, the arguments never ceased.

If you carefully studied the Daoist pantheon, you would find it was a complete mess.

It showed serious signs of "inbreeding."

The Longevity Star and the Southern Pole Immortal Elder were only one example.

One of the Primordial Celestial Venerable's incarnations was the Nine-Heavens Thunderbolt Universalizing Heavenly Venerable, namely the Thunder Ancestor. That was another example.

For instance, one incarnation of Taiyi Heavenly Venerable Who Rescues from Suffering was the Great Emperor of Eastern Azure Radiance. That was yet another.

There were too many examples to list.

When Lu Chen had studied this in the past, he had always felt that these big shots seemed to split off an incarnation at every turn and occupy another divine position.

It made it seem as though the Heavenly Court had only a few hundred divine positions in total, but once those incarnations were removed, there were really only one or two hundred deities.

A large portion of them were one deity playing multiple roles.

Of course, Lu Chen did not know whether this world worked the same way.

Still, he thought that bestowing blessings and extending lifespans was an extremely lucrative line of work.

He could give it a try someday!

Inside the Longevity Star Hall.

A moment later.

Master Tan abruptly opened his eyes.

The faint confusion in his gaze.

Clearly showed that the first offering had failed, without surprise.

"Master, how did it go?"

Sun Qingcang and the others immediately gathered around him.

Master Tan raised a hand, his face calm. "Patriarch Sun, do not worry. Allow Tan to warm up first. There is still plenty of time."

Sun Qingcang had not expected a one-shot success anyway, so he immediately clasped his hands. "Thank you for your hard work, Master."

Song, Sun Qingcang's wife, hurriedly added, "Master, our old master is entirely in your hands. You must succeed."

"Yes, Master, I'm cheering for you! I believe you can do it!"

The speaker was Sun Qingcang's youngest son, Sun Xingwen, who had the look of a spoiled young master.

As for the Sun family's celebrity eldest daughter—Sun Yourong—though she said nothing, her eyes were clearly full of concern. She too looked at Tan Kun with encouraging expectation.

"Rest assured, everyone. Since Tan has accepted this task, I will certainly give it my all. All right, I must begin the second round of offerings. Please step back for now."

With that, Master Tan lit another stick of premium purple incense.

Once they had left.

A flicker of panic passed through his eyes.

Strange. Whenever I communicated with the Longevity Star before, His Elder always gave some response or another. Whether it succeeded or not, there would at least be a fluctuation of divine power. Why is there not even a trace of divine power fluctuation today?

This highly abnormal situation gave Tan Kun a faint sense of unease.

He took a deep breath and raised the incense before him once more.

"Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits, Old Lord Longevity Star, show your divine power!"

As the worship began again.

Nearby, Sun Qingcang sat with his brows tightly furrowed, unable to settle down.

Zhao Zhihong eagerly offered reassurance. "President Sun, don't worry. I believe Elder Sun will surely be blessed by Heaven, for good people are protected by Heaven!"

Sun Qingcang nodded. "Then I'll borrow Manager Zhao's auspicious words."

Seeing that his flattery had landed, Zhao Zhihong said no more and stepped back.

Yet the second attempt, unsurprisingly, also failed.

A thin sheen of sweat had appeared on Tan Kun's forehead, and his heartbeat began to accelerate uncontrollably.

He reassured himself, Don't panic! It's only just begun. It'll be fine!

Without resting, he immediately lit another stick of incense!

Yet...

The third attempt failed!

The fourth attempt failed!

The fifth attempt failed!

Until an hour later.

After more than an hour of continuous worship, Tan Kun's forehead was already covered in dense beads of sweat that streamed constantly downward.

He looked as if he had been dragged out of water.

Completely drained.

"How could this be? How could this be?"

With another failure.

Tan Kun could no longer conceal the panic in his heart.

Eighteen attempts in total, without a single hint of a response.

Could it be that His Elder the Longevity Star does not want me to pray for blessings for the Sun family?

His heart had nearly plunged to rock bottom.

The Sun family's hearts had fallen to the bottom with it.

One or two attempts were one thing.

Three or four were still acceptable.

But after more than ten consecutive failures, the unease in Sun Qingcang's heart had been magnified without limit.

Seeing Tan Kun fail again.

Sun Qingcang could not help rushing over once more.

"Master Tan, how is it? Still no response?"

Outside the hall.

Seeing what was happening inside, the gathered worshippers also began discussing it.

"Damn, what's going on? How many times has it been already? Why hasn't he succeeded yet?"

"Damn, that had to be nearly twenty times already. They'd burned through almost two million in incense money. Looks like Master Tan was in for more bad than good today."

"Even a 47% Divine Service Rating couldn't succeed. Who knew whether Master Tan's luck was bad, or the Sun family's luck was bad."

"Looks like Heaven was determined to take the Sun family's old master."

Hearing these words,

Lu Chen, standing amid the crowd, wiped the sweat from his forehead. Fortunately, the sun was not blazing today. Otherwise, after standing here for an hour, he would have been cooked dry.

He found it equally unbelievable.

That shouldn't be possible. With a 47% Divine Service Rating, whether or not he could bestow blessings, at the very least communicating with the deity should have been no problem.

How could there be no reaction at all?

Could it be... Tan Kun's defeat was already set in stone?

As that thought rose,

Lu Chen's heart suddenly jolted, and he unexpectedly began to stir with restless excitement.

Because another mad thought was rapidly climbing into his mind...

At the same time, inside the hall,

"I'm sorry, Head of the Sun family, but I'm afraid Tan cannot be of help with today's task."

The moment those words fell,

the Sun family's expressions changed drastically. Even Sun Yourong was clearly panicking now.

Sun Qingcang stepped forward at once and gripped Tan Kun's hand, his tone brimming with earnest pleading. "That won't do, Master Tan. In all of Jiangdu City—even Jiang Province—who hasn't heard of your great name as the Immortal Who Extends Lifespans? If you give up, who else can I turn to?"

"That's right, Master Tan. You're the most powerful spirit envoy we could find. You absolutely cannot give up. If you give up, what are we supposed to do?"

Madam Song burst into tears on the spot, though it was unclear whether she was frantic or simply frightened by Tan Kun's intention to give up.

"Master, don't worry. Money isn't an issue. As long as you can pray for my grandfather and add years to his life, we're willing to pay more!"

"That's right, my son is right. Master, as long as you can succeed, on top of the original amount, my Sun family is willing to add another ten million—no, twenty million!! Please, you absolutely must not give up!"

Sun Qingcang raised two fingers and shouted loudly.

His voice was so loud that even the incense pilgrims standing outside heard it clearly.

"Holy crap, an extra twenty million! My god!"

"The Sun family really deserved to be called a [great clan]. They're downright extravagant."

"What's that? Trading twenty million for one more year of the Sun family old master's lifespan is totally worth it!"

Heated discussion erupted through the crowd.

At that moment, upon hearing Sun Qingcang's words, Lu Chen's expression abruptly changed. He could no longer suppress the thought in his heart.

Could it be... my chance had really come?!