As they argued, the buyer suddenly drew a knife and his expression was intense; in the chaos, a flying blade flew forth and pierced Su Fu’s heart…
Darkness fell again.
Su Fu: “…”
‘A disaster out of nowhere! What kind of pointless calamity was this!’
When she opened her eyes again, Jiang Ziya’s remnant shadow appeared at her side, “To observe people in the marketplace, you must not only watch their actions, but also sense their fate.”
“All have threads of fate entwined around them. Mortals cannot see them, but the heart can sense them.”
Su Fu was taken aback, ‘Another lesson?’
A bit hard to understand, but she decided to act on it.
She re-entered the market, trying to “sense” the aura around people.
Who knew how long it took, but in her eyes, the people of the world began to change.
The scene reset; Su Fu analyzed: “That merchant’s fate is on the decline, so he resorts to trickery.”
“That buyer’s fortune has run out, but he doesn’t realize it. Where their destinies entwine, bloodshed follows.”
“If you know this, how can you change it?” Jiang Ziya posed the key question.
Su Fu thought—’the last question was: how can mortals foresee fate?’
‘This time, it must be: once fate is known, how can it be changed?’
She pondered, then approached the merchant, striking up a casual conversation to steer him toward discussing his recent misfortunes, hinting that dishonesty might be the cause.
The merchant considered her words and found them reasonable.
When the buyer arrived, Su Fu tactfully revealed the true value of the goods.
In the end, the deal went smoothly, both sides making concessions.
Then, Jiang Taigong posed the next question…
Time passed without her noticing—spring gave way to autumn, winter to summer, the cycles repeating endlessly.
Jiang Ziya taught her the art of fate-insight, explaining the relationship between destiny and fate.
Fate was both mutable and immutable—the great tide could not be halted, but the flow of tributaries could be gently guided with subtle changes.
In spring, she learned to observe omens in nature and predict disasters—reading the clouds for rain, reading birds for wind.
In summer, she practiced military formations at Taigong’s drill ground, deducing ambushes and attacks from the trembling of banners and the restlessness of horses—after many life-and-death moments, she could finally predict the tide of battle by a single shift in the air.
In autumn, she traveled among the people, learning to discern marriages, enmities, and fortunes from people’s faces, actions, and entangled fate threads.
But sometimes she misjudged disguised monsters and died terribly, or saved someone fated for a short life and suffered the backlash of fate.
In winter, before the Fengshen Platform, she began to understand the invisible web of destiny enshrouding all things.
Dying and restarting, again and again, she gradually understood—what was fate?
“Fate can be known but is hard to defy. It can be nudged, but not reversed.”
When she realized this, a powerful premonition suddenly surged up within her—
“It’s time to eat the Wisdom Fruit.”
Without hesitation, she took out the Wisdom Fruit and swallowed it in one bite.
In an instant, it felt as if thousands of lights and shadows exploded in her mind, and she saw countless tiny signs she had previously overlooked—all now crystal clear.
The world unfolded to her in a completely new way, the threads of fate vividly revealed.
After a long time, Shen Yan’s voice rang out:
[“You have successfully comprehended and obtained the Investiture Authority: Favored by Fate”]
At that moment, a golden thread of luck coiled around her shined brilliantly.
Jiang Ziya’s remnant shadow trembled, “To know fate… to be favored by it… Could it be… you may change destiny?”
When the effect of the fruit faded, Su Fu awoke with a start.
A sudden intuition filled her mind—what did it mean to be ‘favored by fate’?
That was partiality—favor bestowed by destiny.
Or, to put it in fishing terms, “never an empty hook.”
Was that not a kind of heavenly favor?
At that moment, Jiang Ziya’s voice sounded: “Our affinity ends here. I have only one final question for you.”
“Do you think you now fully understand fate?”
“No, I have only just lifted the corner of fate,” Su Fu replied.
“Good. For mortals, to know fate is not about foreseeing, but about alignment; to understand the principles of all things—small, to protect oneself; great, to bring peace to the nation and benefit the world.”
Jiang Ziya’s remnant shadow slowly faded away, leaving only his profound words: “Those who wish, take the hook—it is not I who lures them, but fate itself.”
“The wise see the fish take the hook and know fate; the insightful know when the fish will bite; the sage… knows when to release the fish back to the river.”
“This disciple will remember.” Su Fu bowed respectfully.
The world blurred, only the murmuring Weishui remained, the shadow of a fishing rod dangling.
The scenario ended.
Su Fu returned to Kunlun in a daze.
She felt as though she had experienced long ages, but it was only an instant.
She murmured, “As expected, fate is a profound and boundless study.”
At that moment, a sudden change occurred.
A dazzling pillar of golden light fell from the sky, piercing the clouds and enveloping Su Fu.
[Favored by Fate] was activated.
The clouds changed color, divine power gathered, as if the entire Kunlun Mountain was celebrating for her.
Su Fu felt the divine power flooding into her like a breached river.
Her Divine Manifestation stage rose two levels in an instant, just a step from perfection!
In other words, not only her Great Sage Divine Manifestation, but all her manifestations were elevated.
“So this is Favored by Fate?” Su Fu was shocked by the transformation within herself, suddenly realizing—not only was it favor, it was outright partiality.
If perfection could be gifted, she would have been instantly filled.
Su Fu recalled—’other pantheons seemed not to have such an instant comprehension upgrade, right?’
Within Kunlun Immortal Palace, everyone was shocked by the heaven-sent phenomenon.
In the Forging Hall, George and Theresa were discussing plans when the golden light startled them—they looked out the window in unison, the hammer in their hands clanging to the ground.
On the lounge chair, Tao Tao jumped up with delight, exclaiming, “It’s Big Sister! Big Sister is back!”
Everyone excitedly ran toward Su Fu.
George ran and shouted, “Half a semester, Boss! You finally came out! If you didn’t, you’d miss the league! Who knows what kind of scenario you just went through.”
It was dusk, sunset glowing.
Golden sunlight streamed through the clouds, painting the towering palaces in a warm glow.
At the peak of Kunlun, atop Jade Void Peak, Tai Xuanzi and Zhuge Yan leaned on the railing.
The sea of clouds surged like waves, majestic and dreamlike.
Zhuge Yan, in a dark blue long robe, folding fan in hand, the sunset casting light on his handsome face, turned to Tai Xuanzi and said: “Su Fu came back at just the right time. Do you want to see her before you go?”
Tai Xuanzi gazed at the pillar of light soaring to the sky, her pupils reflecting the brilliant gold, murmuring, “I never thought she could obtain the favor of fate. With this, I can rest easy. We have paved her path long ago. Whether we meet or not changes nothing.”
Zhuge Yan folded his fan and sighed, “Fine, then.”
Tai Xuanzi lowered her eyes, the breeze brushing her cheek, her long hair, pinned by a jade hairpin, fluttering in the wind.
She turned, waved her hand, and a rift opened, “Let’s go.”
But just as she was about to step into the rift, a loud shout rang out: “Master!”
Tai Xuanzi paused and turned back.
In the distance, Su Fu was waving wildly, hands around her mouth to form a megaphone as she yelled: “Master! I did it!”
Su Fu’s voice carried clearly across the mountain valley.
For the first time, a gentle expression appeared on Tai Xuanzi’s face.
Indeed, she was even more successful than expected.
Su Fu continued to wave enthusiastically, “I just wanted to tell the Master myself! Go ahead and take care of your tasks! When you come back next time, I’ll take you for a ride on the Kunpeng Battleship!”
She infused her voice with divine power, letting it echo across the mountain, fearing Tai Xuanzi wouldn’t hear.
Tai Xuanzi looked at Su Fu for a long time, then finally smiled and said, “Alright.”
She turned and entered the spatial rift.
Zhuge Yan followed without hesitation.
The rift collapsed into a line and closed instantly.
They left so quickly that they didn’t even see George already piloting the Kunpeng Battleship, which appeared and hovered above Kunlun.
The great ship floated above the sea of clouds over Kunlun Mountain, its massive engines streaming gentle blue energy.
It moved slowly, like a Kunpeng spreading its wings to fly, its presence awe-inspiring.
Golden afterglow fell on the ship’s hull, making it shimmer.
The Kunpeng Battleship seemed to truly be sailing the sea.
George watched Tai Xuanzi disappear, a little disappointed, muttering, “Why did the Headmaster leave so fast?”
Su Fu patted his shoulder and said, “It’s fine. Master is probably busy again. Anyway, before the spirit is instilled, it’s no different from other starships to her.”
“After I finish the spirit-infusion, Master can see it when she returns—she’ll definitely be happy to see the Kunpeng.”
“Let’s go, let’s start the spirit-infusion now. Let me tell you, my understanding of divine skills has really deepened now…”
Although she couldn’t use divine power at first in the Weishui scenario, as later scenes unfolded, the restrictions were gradually lifted.
Time meant nothing in the mountain—yet in the world, a thousand years had passed.
Spending so long “in the mountain,” she had studied every divine skill in detail.
If not for this, she wouldn’t have improved so dramatically upon emerging.
It was destiny’s favor, but also the result of accumulated effort.
Hearing this, George rubbed his hands together excitedly, “Hehe, great! I’ve been waiting for this moment forever! By the way, Boss, do you know how many starships we’ve built?”
“How many?”
George puffed his chest out with pride and said, “Actually, we were really slow at first, but then I improved a lot of the manufacturing process, optimized the material forging techniques, and even introduced a multi-phase energy stabilization circuit system…”
“Plus, with all the money Tao Tao made, we bought an automated divine-pattern engraving system, and our production line efficiency is up, up, up!”
“In short,” George took a deep breath, a proud grin on his face, “I finished every ‘pie’ you drew!”
Su Fu: “???”
‘Heavens!’
Was her original goal too small after all?
“Oh, right,” George suddenly remembered, “Boss, you’d better register for the league now, or it’ll be too late soon!”
“Ah?” Su Fu blinked, snapping back to her senses, “I almost forgot!”
She hurriedly opened her divine phone as George eagerly prompted her: “Hurry, hurry, just click here, confirm your identity and sign up!”
At the same time, the Serpent of Temptation was coiled atop a pavilion, water streaming around and flowers blooming on the shore.
It had waited for a long time, yet Tai Xuanzi hadn’t returned.
“Did Tai Xuanzi really leave? Not tricking me this time?”
There was nothing for it—Tai Xuanzi really had done this before, hiding in the shadows to observe, waiting until it let its guard down to suddenly reappear, giving it a lingering sense of unease.
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