Bone-Reading in the Village

The sky gradually darkened.

Bai Qingzhou and his two companions finished their meal and sat together in the courtyard, chatting casually.

"Senior Brother, your culinary skills are truly amazing!" He Zuo said, rubbing his belly with a look of deep satisfaction.

"As long as you both enjoy it," Bai Qingzhou said with a smile.

The rice and dishes on the table had been completely cleaned out, yet Bai Qingzhou had not eaten much. Ever since he reached the Foundation Establishment stage, he could survive without consuming food at all, and he had only taken a few bites earlier just to go through the motions.

Nearby, He Li was also thoroughly satisfied with the meal, leaning back comfortably in her chair while rubbing her stomach.

"Senior Brother, when are we setting off?" she suddenly asked.

Bai Qingzhou looked up at the sky and replied, "Tomorrow morning. We will leave after waking up."

Hearing this, He Li nodded silently.

"Senior Brother, I've always had a question..." He Zuo turned his head toward Bai Qingzhou, asking with curiosity, "Why don't we take a spirit boat? Spirit boats don't even require you to pilot them personally, they have comfortable places to rest, and they're much faster than traveling like this..."

Bai Qingzhou ruffled He Zuo's hair, laughing and scolding, "You rascal, you really don't know how to save money for your Senior Brother. While taking a spirit boat is quite convenient, the price is certainly not cheap. A round trip costs quite a bit; traveling on our own is simply a bit more frugal."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "Besides, we get to admire the beautiful mountains and rivers along the way. Isn't that a delight in itself?"

"That's right! He Zuo, you always just think about comfort! How can that do? I agree with Senior Brother!" He Li chimed in from the side.

"I didn't say I disagreed! I was just asking out of curiosity!" He Zuo immediately retorted loudly.

"Hahaha..." Bai Qingzhou laughed heartily, then asked, "Have either of you ever ridden a spirit boat before?"

"We have! Once, when Senior Brother Qin brought us along, we rode one at a marketplace!" He Zuo shouted excitedly. "And for some reason, when we passed through a certain place along the way, breathing became extremely difficult..."

By the end of his sentence, He Zuo still looked a bit shaken at the memory.

"Difficulty breathing..." Bai Qingzhou pondered for a moment, then smiled mysteriously. "Then I know where that is. We'll be passing through that place too when the time comes."

Having long since planned out the route, Bai Qingzhou immediately knew the place He Zuo was referring to.

Hearing this, He Zuo looked curious and asked, "Why would that place..."

Before his voice could trail off.

"Knock, knock, knock!"

A series of knocks suddenly sounded from outside the door.

Bai Qingzhou sensed subtly and discovered that over a dozen people had arrived outside.

"Xiao Zuo, go open the door," Bai Qingzhou instructed.

"Coming right up!" He Zuo walked quickly to the courtyard entrance and pulled the wooden door open.

"Eh?" Seeing the dozen or so children standing at the door, He Zuo looked somewhat startled.

The dozen children stared blankly at He Zuo. Many of them had seen He Zuo display incredible divine might at the entrance of the village earlier that day, so their gazes still carried a trace of fear.

Among the crowd stood an elderly man—the very same village chief from earlier.

Looking at the old man whose home he had effectively commandeered, He Zuo couldn't help but ask, "What is this about?"

The village chief, who was leading the group, said somewhat nervously, "Immortal Master... Immortal Master, these are the children of our village. Might we ask the Immortal Master to help check if any of them have the aptitude for immortality?"

As soon as he went outside earlier, he learned from Huzi—the most worldly person in the village—that these individuals were not ordinary mortals, but true immortals!

Upon learning that the three of them were cultivators, the village chief immediately became restless and subsequently called everyone together to discuss whether they could seize a shred of immortal affinity.

After more than an hour of discussion, the villagers decided to select the dozen or so cleverest children in the village and send them here, begging the immortals to help test their immortal bones.

"Come in." Bai Qingzhou, sitting in the courtyard, had naturally heard what the village chief said and directly ordered them to enter.

He Zuo turned around to lead the way, and soon, he brought all the children before Bai Qingzhou.

"Pay... pay respects to the Immortal!" The village chief took the lead and knelt, his trembling voice revealing that he was far from calm.

Seeing that the usually prestigious village chief had knelt down, the numerous children immediately followed suit, dropping to their knees in unison before Bai Qingzhou.

"Immortal... we wish to entrust the Immortal to help us see if these children have the potential to cultivate immortality..." the village chief said nervously while kneeling on the ground.

"Hmm..." The moment they knelt, Bai Qingzhou had already begun using the pure spiritual energy within his body to examine the children.

After advancing to the Foundation Establishment stage, his spiritual energy could leave his body, allowing him not only to manipulate objects but also to inspect all kinds of materials.

When this ability was applied to mortals, he could instantly tell whether a person possessed immortal potential, making it much faster than the so-called potential testing stones.

The spiritual energy flashed across the bodies of the children one by one.

"Eh? I..."

"It feels like someone is touching me..."

"What is this!"

As the spiritual energy passed through their bodies, it immediately caused exclamations of surprise among many of the children as a mysterious, gentle force entered them.

Soon, Bai Qingzhou withdrew his spiritual energy and calmly said to them, "No potential. You may all withdraw."

"Ah..." Hearing this, the village chief's face filled with disappointment, and he could only obediently reply, "Yes..."

Many of the children looked indifferent, clearly not fully understanding the result, and turned to follow the village chief out of the courtyard.

Watching the group of children leave, Bai Qingzhou felt no surprise at all. After all, immortal cultivation potential was extremely rare. During the once-every-five-years Immortal Ascension Assembly, out of fifty or sixty thousand children, only four would typically be selected as cultivators with potential. If one could simply walk into a remote mountain village and casually find an immortal seed on the first try, that luck would be absurdly high.

Afterward, the three of them resumed their casual chatting for a while before each began their respective cultivation routines.

The journey was long, and none of them let up on their cultivation, persisting with it every single day.

Soon, the night passed.

"Bang! Bang!"

A round of knocking sounded from outside the door.

"Village chief! The immortals have left! Erniu said he saw them flying away!"

The voice instantly startled the village chief awake.

He hurriedly woke up from an unfamiliar bed. This was his cousin's house; the immortals had taken over his own home, forcing his entire family to disperse and stay with other villagers.

Fortunately, his accumulated prestige over the years allowed all his family members to find places to sleep.

"Let's go! Let's go take a look!"

Hearing that the immortal masters had departed, he immediately sprang out of bed, ran toward his own courtyard, and was closely followed by his cousin.

They reached the familiar path in less than half a moment.

Pushing open the courtyard door.

They found that the courtyard was still orderly and as clean as new. Even the dirt and grime in many areas had been swept away as if blown clean by a fierce gale, leaving it extraordinarily pristine.

"This... so clean!" he muttered.

"Older brother!" His cousin trailing behind him suddenly pointed at the table. "Look!"

The village chief shifted his gaze, his eyes lighting up as he strode closer.

"This is... silver!" he said in shock.

Neatly placed on the table were several dozens of taels of silver.

Those dozens of taels of silver were enough to support his entire family for a whole year!

Seeing this, the village chief's face filled with excitement. He cupped his fists toward the sky and shouted loudly, "Thank you, Immortal Master, for the bestowal!"