The number 8, great fortune

"What are you doing?"

Fang Weiyan came over and hurried to help the middle-aged man in front of him up.

When Zhou Wenfei saw Fang Weiyan, he froze for a moment, then hurriedly asked, "Are you the Daoist priest from Cloud-Stilling Temple?"

"I'm not a Daoist priest, just a lay practitioner cultivating here. Everyone calls me that for convenience, but I am indeed the only person living at Cloud-Stilling Temple."

Hearing this, Fang Weiyan explained once more.

Zhou Wenfei did not care about that. As long as Fang Weiyan really could tell fortunes, that was enough for him.

At this thought, he hurriedly said, "Daoist, please tell my fortune. My child was abducted ten years ago, and I've been searching for ten years. All this time, I haven't known whether my child is alive or dead. Please take pity on me, Daoist, and do a reading for me, so I can at least know where my child is."

Hearing this, Fang Weiyan glanced at Zhou Wenfei, who was already drenched in sweat. He was here to find his child.

After a moment's thought, Fang Weiyan asked, "Do you have a photograph of your child?"

"If I'm going to do a reading from facial features, I'll need a photograph of your child."

"Yes, yes, I do!"

Hearing this, Zhou Wenfei hurriedly nodded, then took out a photograph. He always carried it with him.

He often took it out to look at it.

Fang Weiyan picked up the photograph, his right hand immediately beginning to form hand seals as he silently recited.

"At Yin, begin with Great Peace; at Si, begin with Lingering; at Wu, begin with Swift Joy; at Wei, begin with Red Mouth; at Zi, begin with Minor Fortune; at Chou, begin with Emptiness."

The onlookers could only see Fang Weiyan seemingly reciting something under his breath, holding the photograph in one hand while appearing to work something out with the other.

At that moment, every one of them could not help craning their necks.

Once Fang Weiyan finished his calculations, he raised his head to look at the sky.

"It's the hour of Shen now. Shen, southwest, the number 8, yang, an auspicious number."

"All done."

Having finished his calculations, Fang Weiyan handed the photograph back to him.

"Daoist, did you work it out...?"

Zhou Wenfei swallowed, looking at Fang Weiyan with an extremely tense expression, his face full of anxious uncertainty.

"I did."

Fang Weiyan said, "Head southwest, about seventy kilometers. There should be a school. Go inside and look for a student named Bao Chongliang, then try getting a paternity test."

"That precise?"

The people around them froze at these words. Was this still fortune-telling? Wasn't it GPS tracking?

If his reading really proved accurate, that would truly be incredible...

Everyone drew in sharp breaths, finding it utterly unbelievable.

Give him a photograph, and he could directly work out someone's exact location. How was that even possible...?

Just thinking about it was terrifying.

But Zhou Wenfei could not concern himself with all that now. Fang Weiyan's words had given him tremendous hope, and he wanted to hurry over there and take a look.

"Thank you. How much do I owe you?"

Zhou Wenfei hurried to get some money for Fang Weiyan.

Seeing this, Fang Weiyan waved a hand. "There's no need for money. If you find your child, offer a few more sticks of incense when you come back to fulfill your vow."

Sure enough, this Daoist did not charge for fortune-telling.

He really was a cultivator.

Not only did he live in such a remote place, but they hardly seemed to see him from day to day. He was almost always cultivating.

Daoists like this were very rare nowadays.

Seeing this, everyone felt great admiration for him.

Zhou Wenfei nodded repeatedly and, after agreeing, prepared to head down the mountain.

Someone beside him spoke up. "Let me drive you there. I came by car, so it'll be faster if I take you."

Motorcycles were not allowed on the expressways around here, so driving him there would be quicker.

Hearing this, Zhou Wenfei thanked him repeatedly.

The others also called out, "Could you make a group chat? If there's any good news later, let us know in the group."

"Yes, we hope he can find his child too."

"Sure, I'll make a group for you to join. I'll go with him and see if we can find the child."

The man who had offered to drive Zhou Wenfei immediately agreed.

He created a group on his phone, then left its QR code behind before hurrying down the mountain with Zhou Wenfei.

Seeing that quite a few worshippers remained, Fang Weiyan hurriedly said, "Offering incense is free. Come offer some incense, everyone. This temple barely gets any incense offerings anymore."

They had just witnessed Fang Weiyan tell someone's fortune for free. Whether his reading was accurate or not, upon hearing this, the worshippers picked up incense from the side, lit it, and began making their offerings.

Standing to one side and watching, Fang Weiyan could clearly see that the incense power flowing into the divine tablet had grown considerably richer.

At this sight, Fang Weiyan felt a little joy.

Lately, more and more people had been coming to offer incense.

If this continued, the Earth God's divine power should grow stronger and stronger.

Then he could ask the Earth God to share some divine power with him.

Besides, he also needed to think about how he could possess some divine power himself.

Not the kind the Earth God shared with him, but power he cultivated directly himself.

Otherwise, every time he used up his divine power, he would need the Earth God to share more with him. That was rather troublesome.

He just did not know whether the Earth God had any cultivation formulas of that sort.

Fang Weiyan pondered this.

Meanwhile, the people who had finished offering incense still wanted Fang Weiyan to tell their fortunes.

But Fang Weiyan refused outright, saying plainly that he would do no more readings today.

He had already used up the divine power the Earth God had shared with him, so he could not do any more readings.

The worshippers were somewhat disappointed, but they could not force him.

Some worshippers did, however, take out coins and toss them into the wishing pond beside them.

A short while after the coins fell into the wishing pond, a silver koi swam out, sweeping its long, broom-like tail over the coins.

Then it leisurely swam back.

Anyone looking closely enough would have seen that the koi was holding a coin in its mouth.

Fang Weiyan also caught sight of this and found it a little strange.

Would this koi only pick up coins that he had tossed in himself?

Looking closely at the pond, he saw that a layer of coins already covered the bottom, and the koi seemed to have no intention of picking up any of the others.

"Is this wishing pond really that effective? This is the third time you've dragged me here."

A woman beside them held her boyfriend's arm, looking at the pond before her in puzzlement.

She could not understand it. Her boyfriend had never believed in fortune-telling, astrology, tarot cards, or anything of the sort, so why did he now seem to have such absolute faith in this place?

Hearing this, the man beside her immediately said, "Really, this wishing pond really works. I feel like my luck has gotten much better lately. I'm not nearly as unlucky as I used to be!"