Chapter 59: Shen Gong Bao Advances to Chao Ge (Part 2)

  The great merchant is in Chang'an, the capital city.

  Shen Gong Bao secretly sent Xia Da Ji back to Jizhou City, and after seeing her being taken away by the household servants of the Marquis of Jizhou's mansion, he felt relieved and left Jizhou City, heading towards his next destination - Chaoge.

  Nowadays, under the rule of Emperor Di Yi, Daxiang is still a prosperous city with only one main street. Chaoge is the most important commercial center of Daxiang, and its prosperity is self-evident.

  The deep brown towering city wall, clearly visible with mottled traces of wind and rain, is filled with a sense of historical vicissitudes, precipitating a rich cultural heritage.

  The wide bluestone street was crowded with people, merchants and travelers were everywhere, and from time to time, a pair of armored guards holding huge swords patrolled by.

  Shen Gong Bao walked down the main street with a sly smile, feeling the ancient and rustic atmosphere of this famous old city, while constantly sizing up the people around him, preparing for his next move.

  However, something that made Shen Gongbao even more depressed happened. Seeing some young girls who were involuntarily keeping their distance from him, Shen Gongbao sighed in his heart: "Growing up like this, it's really not my fault!"

  It's said that when you've seen too many things, you'll become numb. Shen Gongbao was no exception. He just saw him make a mischievous smile at a young girl who was walking away from him, and the girl instantly lost her composure, her face turned pale and she trembled as she rushed into the crowd. Seeing this, Shen Gongbao chuckled to himself.

  Every time he arrived at a place, Shen Gong Bao would go to the local wine house, tasting all kinds of human delicacies. Although Shen Gong Bao was a cultivator, he didn't care about some behaviors and habits that cultivators often talked about.

  Most people who practice Taoism think that the five grains of the secular world are too impure, so they all eat some spiritual fruits, or simply do not need food at all, and can cultivate qi by meditating every day.

  A cultivator who has reached a certain level of cultivation can dispense with food, and from then on only needs to sit in meditation to cultivate his energy. As for worldly desires for food and drink, they have become much weaker.

  However, Shen Gongbao was not used to this, unless he retreated to cultivate in seclusion, otherwise there would be no delicious food for him to taste, wouldn't that be one less worldly pleasure.

  A cultivator who has no tribulations or disasters is generally a long-lived person, but without some hobbies and interests, the prolonged life is just spent sitting in meditation every day, practicing internal energy. This kind of life is not what Shen Gongbao wants.

  But then Shengong Bao, after a good drink and meal, lazily walked out of the wine tower alone, hesitated for a moment, chuckled to himself, and then walked into a quiet alley. After looking around, he found that there was no one else present, so he quickly disguised himself at an incredible speed, took out the props he had prepared earlier from his sleeve space, and transformed into a wandering Taoist priest roaming the rivers and lakes.

  He wore a black hat with two silk ribbons hanging down from the brim to his shoulders, a brown monk's robe, holding a wooden box in his right hand and a large flag in his left hand, on which was written: "Unbeatable strategy, tried a hundred times without failure, passing by don't miss it!"

  After carefully checking himself and finding nothing out of place, he chuckled to himself, stroked his small mustache, and swaggered out of the alley into the main street.

  There is a saying that money can make ghosts grind mills. After Shen Gongbao paid several pieces of silver, he easily obtained his stall from a book-selling scholar and arranged his tools, sat in front of the desk, and began to meditate with his eyes closed.

  During the Da Shang period, ordinary people still knew that there were many Taoist practitioners hidden in the deep mountains and old forests. These extraordinary people all possessed great abilities, could calculate good or bad fortune, and it was because of this that Shen Gong Bao was not afraid of no one coming to ask for divination.

  All great men are well-versed in the way of divination, and the higher their cultivation, the more accurate their calculations. For example, with the ability of a sage, one can instantly perceive the operation and change of the Tao from the void, penetrate the affairs of the world, and for the sage, there is almost nothing secret to speak of.

  However, generally speaking, a highly accomplished cultivator would not come out to calculate fortunes and misfortunes for others. Firstly, they have attained a high level of cultivation and only like to quietly cultivate their energy and improve their cultivation. Secondly, calculating fortunes and misfortunes for others is also revealing heavenly secrets, increasing karma, if it's someone unrelated, they naturally wouldn't do such a thing.

  Ordinary people see wandering Taoist priests as low-ranking practitioners who only understand the surface of arithmetic. Due to their poor cultivation, they may not even know the concept of cause and effect, and their abilities are insufficient, so the fortune-telling and divination they do for others may not be accurate. Therefore, common people often see these wandering Taoist priests roaming the streets, telling fortunes and reading characters for others.

  Shen Gong Bao doesn't fear cause and effect, at least revealing a bit of heavenly secrets won't hurt. The ingenious handling of cause and effect is the merit of good deeds; if not, it's karma. A few ordinary people's cause and effect, even if all are karma, how much more karma can be added? Not to mention Shen Gong Bao still needs massive karma to refine the treasure of merits chart.

  At this time, the folk customs were simple and honest. The people who came out to divine characters and fortunes were mostly Taoist priests who understood the way of divination. Although sometimes their calculations were not very accurate, they did not deceive or cheat people like those in later generations. In later times, such people could no longer be called traveling Taoist priests, but only "swindlers".

  But soon after Shen Gongbao put out his sign, a customer came to the door. When Shen Gongbao looked up, he saw that the visitor was only twenty-eight years old. Although he was dressed exactly like a man, his white neck had no Adam's apple at all. Looking at his face, it was undoubtedly a beautiful young girl disguised as a boy.

  Shen Gong Bao was taken aback, never expecting his first customer to be a beautiful young girl. He couldn't help but smile to himself, unaware that a hint of a lewd grin had also appeared on his lips.

  That person came face to face, how could he not see Shen Gongbao's sly smile, his face tightened involuntarily, and his eyebrows furrowed tightly. At this time, a green-clothed girl who looked like a maid beside him said: "Little... young master, let's change another one!"

  Seeing the big starry eyes of his own young lady, the green-clothed girl was embarrassed and quickly changed her words to call him "young master", which was lovely, but she didn't know that Shen Gongbao had already seen through her true identity as a woman.

  The young master furrowed his brow for a moment before shaking his head and sitting down across from Shen Gongbao, saying: "Daozhang, I don't know if your fortune-telling and divination are accurate or not?"

  Her voice was soft and pleasant to the ear, and her long hair was so delicate and beautiful. Her body also subtly revealed a noble air, and she should be a young lady from a large family. However, it is unknown why she dressed as a man and appeared on the street with her head held high. Observing the worry in her eyebrows, Shen Gongbao understood that this "young master" must have encountered some troubles.

  Shen Gong Bao's expression was calm and composed as he said, "I am a cultivator of the Tao, this time I have come to accumulate virtue and do good deeds, how could I deceive you, young master?"

  Junxiu "Gongzi" heard this, his face relaxed, and he believed Shen Gongbao's words. He then said: "In that case, if your calculations are accurate, you won't be short of silver!"

  "What is it that you want to test, sir?" Then Shengong Bao handed over a blank bamboo slip, along with ink and brush, "Please write down just one word or phrase first, let me calculate it, and when the time comes, you will know whether my words are false or not."

  Junxiu "Gongzi" took over the brush and ink, and soon wrote a clear and elegant ancient character "Shang" on the blank bamboo slips!

  Shen Gong Bao took a look and was slightly surprised, then asked: "I don't know what aspect the young master's fortune-telling is about, is it marriage or career?"

  She blushed and whispered: "Fate!"

  Shen Gong Bao stretched out his right hand calmly, closed his eyes, and made a few fingers interlock in a pretentious manner. He muttered some inexplicable incantations under his breath that no one else could understand. In reality, these were all just nonsense that Shen Gong Bao had fabricated on the spot. He didn't want to make it seem too easy, and if he simply locked his fingers together once and came to a conclusion, this young girl would probably think he was a charlatan after all.

  At the current level of cultivation, with years of practice and supplemented by the "Huangting Neijing" and Da Yu's memories, he has a deep understanding of divination. Calculating the origin of the person in front of him is an instant matter.

  However, to match his own identity as a low-level cultivator, Shen Gongbao still pretended for a while before opening his eyes, looking at the girl in front of him with a tense expression, and Shen Gongbao couldn't help but smile mysteriously.