1: Snowstorm servants, destiny chart awakens

Brain Storage Area

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The cold wind was like a knife, whipping large, goose-feather snowflakes against the rickety wooden window of the Qingyun Sect's Servant Peak, producing a mournful wail. Inside the woodshed, Chen Feng was curled up on a pile of moldy hay, his thin coarse linen clothes unable to ward off the bone-piercing chill. Every breath he took released a thin puff of white vapor, which was immediately swallowed by the icy air.

His stomach was completely empty, his gut wrung and twisted as if by an invisible hand. The coarse rice mixed with grit that should have been his afternoon meal had been withheld by the black-hearted steward, Li Laogou, on the grounds that the firewood he split today was “not enough.” Also withheld were three strikes of a barbed rattan whip; the searing pain was now spreading across his back, reminding him of his position as an ant at the bottom rung.

“Damn the heavens...” Chen Feng gritted his teeth, bringing his frozen, purplish, and bleeding hands to his mouth to breathe on them, but he couldn't retain even a hint of warmth. The gash on his palm, cut open by the sharp edge of Cold Iron Ore he had moved earlier that day, looked particularly gruesome in the dim light. The seeping blood had long since congealed, mixing with the black ash of the slag to form a dark red scab. “Everyone else transmigrates as a Saint Son or a genius, or at least a rich young master... I, on the other hand, start straight in hell!”

His name was Chen Feng, and he came from a blue planet called Earth. An accident caused his soul to fall into this dog-eat-dog, strictly hierarchical cultivation world, possessing the body of a servant disciple with the same name and equally terrible luck. A False Spiritual Root, mixed Five Elements. After three years of cultivating the Qi Induction Art, the faint sensation of Qi inside him was more fleeting than a flickering candle in the wind. With no background and no resources, he was like a stubborn rock tossed into the lowest level of the Servant Peak, enduring the heaviest labor and the harshest oppression day after day.

Despair was like an icy tide, attempting to drown him again and again. Just as he was staring at the wound on his palm, mocking whether this humble life would quietly extinguish on some unknown cold night—

An anomaly suddenly occurred!

Deep within the gruesome wound on his palm, a gray light so faint it almost blended with the darkness suddenly flashed! It was so quick it felt like an illusion.

But immediately following that, a massive stream of information—cold, vast, and completely beyond Chen Feng's comprehension—rushed violently into his mind like a breaching flood.

[Cos...mic... Des...tiny... Plate...]

[Energy... De...pleted...]

[First activation... Scanning host... Binding in progress...]

The mechanical, cold, and emotionless voice roared directly in the deepest part of Chen Feng's consciousness! Every syllable was like a heavy drumstick, fiercely striking his fragile soul.

“Agh!” Chen Feng felt as if struck by lightning. His body shot up from the straw mat, only to crash back down onto the hay due to weakness and intense pain. He desperately clutched his head, as if something was trying to burst out of his skull. Intense dizziness and tearing pain instantly overwhelmed his senses.

After an unknown amount of time, the inhuman agony slowly receded like a tide. Chen Feng was soaked in cold sweat, looking as if he had just been pulled from the water. He gasped for air, his heart pounding like a war drum. Still shaken, he spread open his trembling hands and cautiously sank his consciousness into his mind.

There, there was no longer darkness and despair.

A gray wheel—ancient, mysterious, and exuding an aura of primordial vastness—quietly floated in the center of his Sea of Consciousness. The wheel was made of neither gold nor jade, and was engraved with countless runes that were complex and profoundly mysterious. These runes were not static; they slowly flowed, generated, and extinguished, like the movement of stars, containing ineffable great truths. At the center of the wheel was a deep, chaotic vortex, seemingly connected to the unknown past and future.

[cosmic destiny plate binding complete.]

[Host: Chen Feng.]

[Status: Extremely Weak (Hunger, Cold, External Injury).]

[Realm: Mortal (False Spiritual Root).]

[Available Energy: None (Spirit Stones, Spiritual Items, Lifespan, Fortune, etc., can all be converted into energy).]

[Currently Available Function: Destiny Deduction (Simplified Version).]

The cold information reappeared, clearly explaining the existence of this mysterious wheel.

“life plate... Deduction...” Chen Feng muttered, his voice dry and hoarse, yet an unprecedented light burst forth in his eyes! In this desperate situation, this sudden anomaly was no different from a drowning man grasping the last straw! A Golden Finger! The transmigrator's benefit had finally arrived!

He forcefully suppressed the excitement that was nearly bursting through his chest, focused his mind, and carefully “read” the description of [Destiny Deduction (Simplified Version)]:

[Consume specific energy to deduce the host's cultivation journey and life trajectory for a future period (dependent on the amount of energy). After the deduction, based on the simulation evaluation, one ability, insight, or item (partial or complete) obtained during the simulation can be selected and brought back to reality.]

“Energy... energy...” Chen Feng's gaze was fixed on the word “Lifespan.” According to the vague memories of the body's original owner, a mortal, if free from illness and disaster, had a lifespan of about seventy to eighty years. And with his False Spiritual Root, without a miraculous encounter, he had no hope of achieving Qi Entering the Body, making his lifespan no different from a mortal's.

In his consciousness, the gray wheel of the life plate rotated slightly, and a cold selection box popped up:

[Do you wish to consume three years of Lifespan to perform a 'Future Three Days' Destiny Deduction (Simplified Version)?]

[Yes / No]

Three years of Lifespan!

Chen Feng's breath hitched abruptly. The price was so heavy it made his heart tremble. He subconsciously touched his face, which was young but covered in chilblains and calluses. Three years of time was not a small amount for a mortal.

“Hoo... hoo...” His heavy breathing was exceptionally clear in the silent woodshed. Outside the window, the wind and snow intensified. The wailing wind seemed to carry the amplified curses of Steward Li Laogou tomorrow, the numb and indifferent eyes of his fellow servants, and the bottomless Cold Iron Mine that seemed ready to swallow lives at any moment... Without this life plate, his three, or even thirty, years of Lifespan could easily be snatched away tomorrow, the day after, or in some inconspicuous moment by Li Laogou's whip, the diseases of cold and hunger, or an accidental cave-in! Like a speck of dust, silently.

Rather than exhausting his Lifespan in despair and dying humbly like a stray dog... A fierce determination, mixed with unwillingness, madness, and desperation, suddenly erupted from the deepest part of Chen Feng's heart! It instantly overwhelmed all hesitation and fear!

“Damn it! If I die, I die facing the sky; if I live, I live forever! I... I'll bet it all!” Chen Feng's eyes were bloodshot, his teeth grinding audibly. His intent, like a drawn sword, fiercely struck the [Yes] option!

**Buzz—!**

The instant his intent landed, an irresistible weakness instantly swept over his entire body! It was as if some invisible yet vital essence had been forcibly extracted from him! It was worse than hunger, more chilling than the cold! His vision suddenly went black, and the intense dizziness made him nearly vomit.

Immediately afterward, the gray [cosmic destiny plate] in his Sea of Consciousness suddenly burst into brilliant light! The chaotic vortex at its center began to spin wildly, and countless mysterious runes danced and combined like living things!

Chen Feng felt his consciousness being forcibly dragged away from the cold woodshed by an unparalleled force, thrown into a turbulent River of Time and Space composed of countless fragmented light and shadows!

Countless noisy sounds, blurred and distorted images, and soul-tearing emotional fragments... violently assaulted his consciousness like a raging tsunami!

“Clang, clang, clang... That's the sound of digging in the Cold Iron Mine... and Elder Zhao's reprimand? No... the direction of that sound... is the abandoned 'C-Seven' fork deep within the mine? Why would Elder Zhao be there... Ah! Is that... Senior Sister Wang?! No—!”

A piercing, desperate shriek, filled with endless terror and despair, plunged into Chen Feng's eardrums like a poisoned steel needle! It instantly drowned out all other noise!

His “vision” was forcibly dragged by an invisible force, piercing through the chaotic torrent of light and shadows, and cast toward the dark, damp, moss-covered abandoned fork deep inside the mine!

In the dim light, Outer Sect Elder Zhao Kun, who was usually dignified and responsible for supervising Inner Sect Disciples, had a face now covered in ferocity and a... hard-to-conceal panic! At his feet lay a slender body dressed in the moon-white robes of an Inner Sect Disciple. A horrifying charred hole was visible in the woman's chest, with lingering wisps of cold black energy around the edges! Blood spread out beneath her, like a strange, blooming flower.

Zhao Kun was tightly clutching a delicately made pink Sachet sewn from fine Cloud Brocade! On the Sachet, a pair of lifelike Twin Lotus Flowers embroidered on it looked particularly glaring in the dim light!

Just then, Zhao Kun seemed to sense something and suddenly turned his head! His face, usually so righteous, was now twisted like a demon from hell! His eyes were cold, cruel, filled with naked killing intent, utterly devoid of humanity! They pierced through the chaotic River of Time and Space, precisely “locking onto” the location of Chen Feng's consciousness!

“Ant! You saw what you shouldn't have seen, die!”

The bone-chilling voice exploded directly in Chen Feng's soul! Zhao Kun pointed two fingers like a sword, and a black light, condensed into substance and radiating a dense aura of deathly stillness, instantly tore through the light and shadows in the River of Time and Space. Carrying the suffocating terror and pressure of a Golden Core Cultivator, it shot toward Chen Feng's consciousness like the Grim Reaper's scythe!

Fast! Unimaginably fast!

Strong! Strong enough to annihilate all mortal beings!

The cold, desperate, and irresistible shadow of death instantly consumed Chen Feng completely! He could even “feel” the instantaneous sharp pain and the darkness of sinking consciousness as the black light pierced through his skull!

“No—!!!”

Chen Feng suddenly sprang up from the straw mat, letting out a hoarse, inhuman scream! His whole body trembled violently, as if he had just been pulled from an ice cave. Cold sweat had completely soaked his clothes and the hay beneath him! His heart pounded frantically in his chest, feeling as if it would explode the next second!

He desperately clutched his temples, where the phantom pain of being pierced seemed to linger. The icy air rushing into his lungs brought on a violent fit of coughing, making tears and snot stream down his face, nearly causing him to pass out.

He was still in the woodshed... The wind and snow were still beating against the broken window... The stinging pain of the whip marks on his back and the hunger in his stomach were so real... But the desperate feeling of near-death just now, Zhao Kun's demonic face, and the black death light that pierced his soul... were so clear, as if branded deep into his soul with a searing hot iron! That wasn't a dream! That was... a real “death” experience!

“Zhao... Zhao Kun...” Chen Feng's voice was hoarse and trembling, filled with the immense fear of someone who had narrowly escaped death. Yet, at the very bottom of this fear, a flame called “madness” and “hope” began to burn fiercely! He knew! He knew a secret sufficient to condemn Zhao Kun to eternal damnation! A secret concerning his own life and death!

He practically crawled into a sitting position, closed his eyes, and sank his intent back into his Sea of Consciousness.

The gray [cosmic destiny plate] floated quietly, the light around the wheel's edge already dimmed. Lines of cold text appeared above the wheel:

[Simulation ended.]

[Simulation Duration: Future Three Days.]

[Actual Survival Time: 2 days and 15 Shichen.]

[Cause of Death: Witnessed Outer Sect Elder Zhao Kun committing murder (killing Inner Sect Disciple Wang Yun) at the C-Seven fork of the Cold Iron Mine, and was silenced by him.]

[Simulation Evaluation: Extremely Poor (You were easily crushed like an ant and failed to produce any positive impact on fate).]

[Optional Bring-Back Rewards (Select one):

1. [Shallow Mineral Vein Distribution Map of the Cold Iron Mine (White)]: A simple map marking shallow Cold Iron Ore points and some abandoned tunnels; limited value.

2. [Partial Aura Perception of Zhao Kun (Green)]: You will become exceptionally sensitive to Zhao Kun's aura, making it easier to perceive his location and emotional fluctuations (especially malice). Effective time: Three days in reality.]

Chen Feng's gaze was fixed on the second option like a hawk. He clenched his jaw so hard that his gums nearly bled.

“Zhao Kun...” That name was now synonymous with the Grim Reaper in his heart. But he had also seen it! He saw the pink Sachet! He saw Wang Yun's corpse! He saw Zhao Kun's panic in that moment!

Three years of Lifespan, exchanged for a secret that could be fatal, but also a... fulcrum that might pry open the gears of fate!

“You want to kill me?” Chen Feng slowly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes looking through the gap in the broken window toward the Cold Iron Mountain, which was shrouded in wind and snow like a slumbering behemoth. A cold and maniacal grin spread across his lips.

“Then let's see who kills whom first!”

**(End of Chapter 1)**

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**Chapter 2 Preview:**

How will Chen Feng, holding Zhao Kun's fatal leverage, survive the three-day death trap? What mystery does the secretive Sachet conceal? How will the unexpectedly involved cool and aloof girl, Su Wanzhao, affect the scales of destiny? Chen Feng will use the [Zhao Kun Aura Perception] and the “precognition” granted by the life plate to set a dangerous trap in his desperate situation!

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