104: Bad luck is intertwined with good fortune
After settling the massive debt with the burying netherworld, Liu Qingtian felt his tree soul lighten up a bit. Although his injuries were still severe, without the pressure of that death-warrant-like debt, even absorbing the Power of the Stars to repair his demon body seemed smoother.
He decided to leave this extremely unstable wasteland, which had been affected by Star Shattering Realm combat, and find a safer place for secluded Cultivation to fully recover his strength and properly study that myriad manifestations star disk fragment.
Wang Gou naturally followed. In his own words, “Following Old Liu is a bit thrilling, but at least I can broaden my horizons, which is better than wandering around aimlessly by myself.”
The two concealed their Qi and proceeded discreetly. Several days later, they finally left the desolate and silent area completely and entered a seemingly normal mountain range. The mountains undulated, ancient trees reached the sky, and although the Spiritual Qi wasn't particularly dense, at least there were no more chaotic spatial cracks and energy turbulence.
“Finally, I can catch my breath.” Wang Gou let out a long sigh, plopped down on a blue stone by the stream, pulled out a waterskin, and took a few gulps.
Liu Qingtian also returned to his human form, found a secluded corner, and prepared to regulate his breathing for a moment. However, soon after sitting down, his brow furrowed slightly. Although the Eye of Delusion Breaking was not fully open, being extremely sensitive to Qi mechanisms, he sensed an extremely strange “airflow” approaching.
It was strange because this “airflow” was neither an energy fluctuation nor a life aura, but rather a circulation method of an indescribable “Dao of Luck,” full of contradictions—both vast and vigorous, long like rivers, yet tangled with countless black thread-like misfortunes, extremely obscure, like a walking source of disaster.
“Huh?” Wang Gou, who was nearby, also seemed to sense something. He scratched his head and looked around, “Why do I suddenly feel... a bit chilly?”
Just then, there was a rustling sound in the woods ahead, and a figure stumbled out. This person looked young, with an ordinary face, but his brow was shrouded in an intractable aura of bad Luck (Mei Qi). His Daoist robe was tattered and covered in dirt and grass, and his Cultivation base was probably in the Early Kaishan Realm. His Qi was unstable, as if he had just survived a great catastrophe.
As soon as this person burst out of the woods, his gaze fell directly onto Liu Qingtian. A flash of astonishment crossed his eyes, followed immediately by a near-desperate ecstasy, as if he had spotted the only lighthouse in boundless darkness!
“Found him! I finally found him! Great Luck Bearer! The noble person who can suppress my bad Luck!” he shouted incoherently, completely ignoring Wang Gou beside him, and pounced toward Liu Qingtian at an astonishing speed like a starving tiger attacking its prey!
Liu Qingtian's eyes turned cold, and he subconsciously prepared to strike. Killing this kind of unknown, strangely behaving guy was the easiest solution. A willow branches silently lifted, its tip condensing a point of withered Death Qi.
However, just as the pouncing Cultivator was still ten meters away from Liu Qingtian, a sudden anomaly occurred!
“Crack!” With a crisp sound, the ground beneath Liu Qingtian's feet, which had been solid moments before, suddenly collapsed without warning, revealing a pitch-black hole! If he hadn't reacted quickly and stabilized his posture in time, he would have fallen in.
Almost simultaneously, “Boom!” A large section of a seemingly stable cliff face nearby slid down without warning, sending a deluge of rocks crashing down on the three of them!
Wang Gou let out a strange cry, his figure flickering like a ghost. He narrowly avoided the main rockfall area but was still hit by a few small stones, making him grimace.
Liu Qingtian swung his willow branches, sweeping away the boulders heading toward him, his face grim. This change was too sudden and too coincidental!
The pouncing Cultivator, however, seemed accustomed to all this. Although he was forced to dodge the falling rocks in a panic, his goal remained firm. Taking advantage of the moment Liu Qingtian was distracted by the rockfall, he successfully rushed to Liu Qingtian's side and... grabbed hold of one of Liu Qingtian's “legs” (which was actually a thick aerial root at the base of the main trunk)!
“Noble person! Save me! Let me follow you! Only your Luck can temporarily neutralize the backlash of my ‘Ten Thousand Misfortunes Entanglement Technique’!” The Cultivator hugged him tightly, weeping and wailing with snot and tears.
Liu Qingtian was furious. Death Qi erupted around him, and he was about to shake off or even strangle this guy who didn't know what was good for him. He hated any uncontrolled contact, especially this kind of inexplicable clinging.
But the next moment, his actions suddenly froze!
In the vision of the Eye of Delusion Breaking, he clearly saw that the instant the Cultivator hugged him, the light of Luck on his own body—which was stable, though not blazing—quickly became covered in a layer of gray darkness, as if ink had been spilled on it! Meanwhile, the vast but pitch-black Misfortune Qi on the other man seemed to have found an outlet, winding around him thread by thread, creating a strange connection with his Luck!
What shocked him even more was that the moment a strong Killing Intent arose in his heart, he felt a palpitation like a great disaster was imminent! It was as if, should he kill the person in front of him, his own Luck would immediately suffer an unimaginable backlash, possibly even collapsing entirely!
“Ten Thousand Misfortunes Entanglement Technique?” Liu Qingtian's voice was icy, laced with Killing Intent. “Let go!”
The Cultivator shivered, terrified by Liu Qingtian's Killing Intent, but hugged even tighter, wailing: “I can't let go, noble person! If I let go, I'll immediately suffer terrible bad Luck—the kind where I die without an intact corpse! Please, be kind and take me with you! Although I'm unlucky, my Cultivation Technique has a special characteristic: as long as I follow someone with strong enough Luck, not only can it temporarily suppress my bad Luck, but it can also... transfer some of the bad Luck to enemies! When fighting, it becomes a contest of who is killed by bad Luck first!”
Wang Gou was dumbfounded on the side. Pointing at the Cultivator, he stammered, “Th-there's a Cultivation Technique like that? You Cultivate specifically to be unlucky? And fight enemies using bad Luck?”
The Cultivator nodded repeatedly: “Yes, yes, exactly! My name is Fu Yisheng—Fu as in paying, Yisheng as in lifelong bad Luck! The deeper I Cultivate this Cultivation Technique, the heavier my own bad Luck becomes. But if I can find a Great Luck Bearer to attach to, I can form a ‘Misfortune Domain’ when fighting enemies! Opponents will inexplicably encounter all sorts of accidents: Magic Treasure malfunctions, Qi Deviation, or even calamities falling from the sky! Until one side's Luck is depleted and they fall!”
Liu Qingtian's face was extremely grim. He tried to circulate the Power of Annihilation, wanting to forcibly cut off the Luck connection, but found the connection was bizarrely non-physical energy, but rather a deeper level of rule entanglement. With his current methods, he couldn't shake it at all! He couldn't kill him, and he couldn't shake him off; it was like getting stuck with a stubborn nuisance!
He recalled some strange tales of the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Realms that Lin Feng had casually mentioned. Among them, there seemed to be similar strange Cultivator who relied on bad Luck to fight enemies, known as “Harbingers of Misfortune” or “Calamity Stars.” Everyone avoided them like the plague. He never expected to run into one today, especially one who actively clung to him and couldn't be shaken off!
Fu Yisheng saw Liu Qingtian's expression change and quickly added: “Noble person, don't worry! As long as you let me follow you, I promise not to cause trouble actively! Plus, I have a special sensitivity to various dangerous places and desperate situations, which can help you avoid a lot of trouble... Uh, although it might attract a different kind of trouble, it's better than walking straight into a dead end!”
Liu Qingtian looked at Fu Yisheng, who was desperately hugging his “leg,” and felt his own Luck, which was clearly dimmed by a few shades of bad Luck. A sense of powerlessness welled up deep within his tree soul. He had just escaped the wolf's den, only to enter... what kind of den was this?
Wang Gou leaned over and whispered, “Old Liu, what... what should we do? It looks like we can't shake him off. If we take him with us, will we trip while walking and choke on cold water?”
Liu Qingtian remained silent for a long time. Finally, he squeezed a sentence through his teeth: “Take him for now. If you dare to play tricks, or if you attract trouble that we can't handle, I will risk the Luck backlash and destroy you first!”
Fu Yisheng looked as if he had received a general amnesty: “Thank you, noble person, for sparing my life! Thank you, noble person! I will definitely behave honestly and absolutely not cause you trouble... Uh, I'll try to cause less trouble!”
Thus, Liu Qingtian's team gained another extremely bizarre member, one who emanated an aura of bad Luck. The future was uncertain, and this time, even “Luck” itself seemed unreliable.