Luoyan Province.
"Strange. It should be right around here, no doubt about it."
"So why..."
Frowning deeply, Han Yi circled the area below for most of the day once again.
He still could not pinpoint the exact location of the opportunity he had sensed.
"It definitely points here, but it only locks onto a general area. The moment I enter, that feeling in my heart mysteriously vanishes."
"It's as if something is deliberately interfering."
At this moment, Han Yi felt both delight and apprehension.
Nothing like this had ever happened to him before. According to the records of heavenly fortune, this meant either that the opportunity was so immense that it exceeded the upper limit of what he could bear at present—making it a disaster rather than a blessing—or that the fortune here was shielding its own heavenly secrets to prevent outsiders from discovering it.
"I have no choice but to go down and search for it myself. I'll play it by ear, and if it cannot be done, I'll let it go. After all, no matter what, preserving my life must come first." Han Yi pondered for a moment and made his decision at once.
Having traveled so far after leaving the Congyun Sea, he had gradually calmed down along the way. He felt that over this recent period, affected by the backlash of his fortune, he had been far too impulsive in making decisions. With the foundation of the Heavenly Fortune Scripture and the Feather of the Profound Bird in his possession, combined with his knowledge of an undeveloped pocket world where a Heavenly Destiny Profound Bird had perished, as long as he did not meet an untimely end and simply proceeded step by step, reaching Soul Formation was guaranteed, and Dao Integration was well within reach.
Even the realm of Longevity was not out of the question.
Though the Primal Scripture of Empty Calamity was wonderful, it was ultimately just icing on the cake.
With this thought, Han Yi's state of mind grew peaceful.
Stripped of the obsession that he absolutely must find the opportunity, he simply wandered about with the mindset of "what is destined to be yours will come; what is not destined, do not force."
This place was a small town populated by mortals, with no cultivators stationed to garrison it.
Han Yi concealed his cultivation, disguised himself as a mortal, and mingled among them.
However, the natural bearing of a cultivator was always hard to conceal; among a crowd of mortals, Han Yi stood out like a crane among chickens.
Although they could not be certain whether Han Yi was a true "immortal master," his air was extraordinary and distinguished, clearly marking him as someone of high wealth or noble birth.
The mortals instinctively avoided him, so in the end, Han Yi found it impossible to blend in.
His plan to secretly seek out the opportunity was ruined before it could even begin.
"I've heard that ancient cultivators tempered their minds and cultivated their natures. Even with heaven-defying cultivation, they could still live seamlessly among mortals with complete ease, without showing the slightest flaw. I truly wonder how they did it."
Seeing those mortals in the town trembling in fear before he even opened his mouth, Han Yi could only shake his head.
Though they answered every question down to the smallest detail, it was all irrelevant trivia that had nothing to do with anything.
Hoping to find the true opportunity from that was nothing short of a fool's dream.
Han Yi could not help feeling a sense of helplessness.
"Opportunities are just like that. Seek them deliberately, and all your schemes come to naught."
Unwilling to give up, he feigned leaving the town, altered his appearance, and returned, wandering around the town for several more days, all to no avail.
He had considered trying his luck in the surrounding areas outside the town, but the range of his sensation narrowed once again.
The opportunity was right inside the town!
This feeling of being so close yet unable to grasp it made Han Yi feel so stifled he could vomit blood.
The calm he had worked so hard to attain was stirred up once more.
His composure gave way to impatience.
Yet the more anxious he became, the more elusive it remained.
Just like that, he had no idea how long he lingered in the town, treading across nearly every inch of ground.
Still, he found nothing.
Meanwhile, the mortals in town took note of all this.
They were unable to cultivate, but that did not mean they were fools.
This cultivator had lingered in town for so long, unwilling to leave, clearly searching for something.
Consequently, rumors that "there is a treasure in town" spread like wildfire.
Even though none of them—including Han Yi—knew what the treasure was, that did not stop everyone in town from becoming suspicious and hypervigilant.
Whether they found it themselves and hid it away to defy the heavens and alter their fate, or handed it over in exchange for a reward from the immortal master, for the mortals of the town, it was a chance to completely transform their destinies.
They turned their homes upside down, rummaging through chests and cupboards to dig out any old, suspicious-looking objects, inspecting them closely.
The petty antics of the mortals naturally could not escape Han Yi's discerning eyes.
However, he did not care in the slightest.
How could mere mortals comprehend his methods?
As long as the sensation of heavenly fortune did not fade, the opportunity was still here.
All he needed to do was monitor the entire town.
If something unusual occurred and the sensation shifted or vanished, he could instantly lock onto the opportunity!
And so Han Yi simply took over a residence in the City Lord's estate.
He never stepped outside day or night, using his divine sense to monitor every mortal in the town.
Several more months passed this way. Having still achieved nothing, Han Yi finally decided to give up.
"It seems I am simply not destined for it," Han Yi sighed inwardly, preparing to depart.
Just at that moment, he suddenly realized that the sensation of fortune, which had remained static for so long, moved!
Han Yi's heart instantly leaped.
"Who is it?"
His divine sense swept across the entire town in a flash, and Han Yi spotted an old man clad in a coir raincoat, carrying a fish basket on his back, who was just about to leave.
"Him?"
Han Yi did not know the man's full name, only that people called him "Old Yu," a common fisherman.
Every day, he caught fish in a river east of town and brought them back to sell.
Because he was taciturn and poor at hawking his catch, business was mediocre at best. It was only because his prices were low that he managed to scrape together a living.
Han Yi had seen this man more than once before, but aside from the coir raincoat on his back, the man possessed nothing.
His home was destitute, with four bare walls and not the slightest sign of any treasure.
"Could he have dredged something up from the river recently?"
A thought struck Han Yi, and looking at the fish basket on the man's back, he became increasingly convinced of his conjecture.
Rising abruptly, he threw caution to the wind and flew straight after Yufu outside the town.
Yet just as he was rapidly closing in with great excitement, preparing to seize the old man and question him, this deeply wrinkled old man suddenly raised his head toward his direction and cast an offhand glance.
That single look was truly like a bucket of icy water poured over his head.
Every hair on Han Yi's body stood on end in sheer horror.
"Something's wrong!"
His spiritual intuition began frantically sounding alarms, and the auspicious omen of fortune he had previously sensed transformed into an unimaginable catastrophe.
In an instant, he understood.
The opportunity here was no treasure. Nor was Yufu any mortal.
He was a true powerhouse who had concealed himself in the mortal world for reasons unknown.
The opportunity was him!
Because he had stayed in the town all this time, the sensation of fortune had remained anchored to this little town.
Han Yi simply had failed to recognize a true dragon, turning a blind eye to him again and again.
Now that he chose to leave, the sensation shifted accordingly!
If he had acted rashly just now and provoked this supreme expert...
In an instant, as everything clicked into place, cold sweat drenched Han Yi.
His flying speed abruptly slowed; Han Yi decided not to take this risk and let the matter drop.
"Why have you come?"
Just then, Yufu suddenly spoke up to ask.
Chapter 593