Volume 1, Chapter 13 – Fortune

Before Shi Lan could savor the taste of the blood ginseng, it suddenly melted in her mouth, turning into a rush of heat that poured down her throat.

A scorching energy surged up from deep within her body. Shi Lan’s face flushed red in an instant, and two streams of blood gushed from her nostrils like opened faucets, completely out of control.

That bite she’d just taken was far more than half a qian—almost half a liang, nearly ten times the proper amount. With her current body, there was no way she could withstand that much medicinal power.

“This is way too strong…”

Shi Lan cursed inwardly. After wiping twice and finding the bleeding wouldn’t stop at all, she simply sat down cross-legged, forced herself to calm her mind, and began circulating the Jade Tempering Art.

In her condition, this was clearly what people called “too weak to handle the tonic.” As long as she could dissolve this surge of medicinal power, she should be fine.

The Jade Tempering Art took effect quickly. The airflow reappeared inside her, nearly ten times thicker than before. The burning sensation slowly began to fade as her skin, muscles, and bones toughened rapidly under the tempering of the qi.

Thin wisps of white steam rose from the top of Shi Lan’s head, and the medicinal power gradually scattered.

Nearly an hour later, Shi Lan slowly opened her eyes. She braced a hand against the floor and bounced up from the ground in one smooth motion.

Letting out a long breath of turbid air, Shi Lan looked toward the window. The sky was already turning pale with dawn.

She had been up all night, yet instead of feeling tired, she was brimming with energy, in better shape than ever before.

After taking a bath and changing into a fresh set of clothes, Shi Lan pulled the door open and walked out.

Arriving in the courtyard, facing the morning light, Shi Lan slowly began to practice the Vajra Divine Fist.

With each wide, forceful move of the fist art, the spiritual qi in the surroundings was drawn into her body, nourishing every strand of muscle and steadily increasing her strength.

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Before she knew it, Shi Lan had finished an entire set of the Vajra Divine Fist.

She was still drenched in sweat, but the sharp exhaustion and soreness from before were gone. Her body felt as if it were soaking in warm water—comfortably heated, relaxed from head to toe.

This kind of visible progress made a deep sense of satisfaction rise in Shi Lan’s heart, and a bright smile spread across her face.

Watching Shi Lan stand in the morning light with that smile on her face, Shi Feng stared, momentarily dazed. Ripples stirred in his heart. He had never seen such a radiant smile on Shi Lan before.

……

In stark contrast to Shi Lan’s good mood, the Xu family was shrouded in misery.

Inside Xu Yuanbai’s room.

Xu Yuanbai lay on the bed, his face dark and vicious as he stared straight at the ceiling, his eyes filled with an unshakeable resentment.

“That damned little beast—how could he be so cruel, to beat my son into this state?” Xu Yuanbai’s mother sat at the bedside, wiping her tears over and over.

Ever since Xu Yuanbai had been carried back and opened his eyes, a whole night had passed. He had not spoken a single word, hadn’t taken a sip of water or a bite of food, just stared like that, unblinking.

“Yuanbai, at least drink some porridge. Your injuries are so severe. If you don’t eat anything, how will your body hold up?”

Xu Yuanbai still said nothing.

“Look at yourself! You’re a grown man. It was just a beating—did it scare your soul right out of you?” Standing to the side, Xu Mingda scolded, hating iron for not becoming steel.

“Why are you yelling at the child? If you’ve got the guts, go yell at that little beast from the Shi family instead!”

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Xu Mingda closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. “Yuanbai ended up like this, and you, as his dear mother, deserve no small share of the credit.”

“Stop arguing…”

Xu Yuanbai finally spoke, his voice dry and hoarse.

“Let’s leave Tenglong City…”

Hearing this, both Xu Mingda and his wife’s expressions changed.

“Yuanbai, it doesn’t have to come to that, does it?” His mother hesitated, face torn.

Leaving Tenglong City meant starting all over again. All the effort the Xu family had poured into this place would be washed away like foam.

And in another city, they would surely be squeezed and suppressed by the local powers.

Xu Yuanbai shook his head with difficulty. “In Tenglong City, our Xu family will never rise again.”

The Xu family’s business had grown to its current scale largely because of the Shi family. Most of the people who dealt with the Xu family did so for the Shi family’s sake.

Once word got out that he had completely fallen out with Shi Lan, the Xu family’s business in Tenglong City would be finished. There would even be people who’d step on them while they were down just to curry favor with the Shi family.

“Bai’er is right.” Xu Mingda nodded. “Have you decided where you want to go?”

“I…want to go study at Taixu Academy…” Xu Yuanbai’s gaze flickered uncertainly.

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Shi Lan, these injuries I carry now—I’ll make sure you suffer them ten times, a hundred times over one day.

The wheel of fortune turns; the tables will turn. Just wash your neck and wait for me!

……

Shi Lan took another bath, changed out of her sweat-soaked clothes, and, feeling refreshed, got ready to head out for a stroll.

Yesterday she had only taken a quick, cursory lap around Tenglong City. There were plenty of fun places she hadn’t had time to actually experience.

When she reached the gate, the gate guards stopped her again, and she had to wait nearly half a quarter-hour for the escort squad to assemble.

Spotting Shi Feng among the guards, Shi Lan’s eyes turned, and she remembered the Heaven’s Eye Qi-Observing Art she’d drawn last night.

Shi Feng had brought her such a fine stalk of blood ginseng—she ought to show some appreciation.

The Heaven’s Eye Qi-Observing Art could see the height and span of a person’s fortune. She could take a look at Shi Feng’s fate trend, offer him a bit of guidance, and help make his future path smoother.

With a thought, Shi Lan slowly closed her eyes and opened the “Heaven’s Eye” at the spiritual platform between her brows.

The world within the Heaven’s Eye was completely different from what she saw with her naked eyes. The spiritual qi drifting in the air, usually invisible, now appeared in her mind with crystal clarity.

It was a riot of color—gorgeous to behold.

But at the moment, Shi Lan had no mind to appreciate this never-before-seen beauty. She just stared blankly at Shi Feng with her “sight.”

Behind Shi Feng, his fortune rose like a pillar propping up the sky, reaching from heaven to earth, pressing down upon the world, almost taking the shape of a dragon.

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He was only one step away from the legendary state described in the Heaven’s Eye Qi-Observing Art—“fortune like a dragon.”

With fortune this immense, as long as no overwhelming external force interfered, he was destined to be a true dragon among men.

What stunned Shi Lan, however, wasn’t how vast Shi Feng’s fortune was, but that this towering pillar of luck was bound by a pale blue chain—its other end connected to her.

Shi Lan was utterly taken aback. She was actually the shackle and stumbling block in Shi Feng’s life? How did that make any sense?

“Young Master, Young Master?”

Seeing Shi Lan standing there with her eyes closed and not moving, Shi Feng finally asked, puzzled.

Shi Lan snapped back to herself, dispersed the Heaven’s Eye Qi-Observing Art, and opened her eyes. The look she gave Shi Feng carried a faint hint of strangeness.

“Young Master, what’s wrong?”

Being stared at like that made Shi Feng feel a little uneasy.

“N-nothing.”

Shi Lan withdrew her gaze and walked out of the Shi residence. As she walked, she mulled things over inwardly. Would she and Shi Feng become enemies in the future? Or would there be some complicated entanglements between them?

Or perhaps, in the past, the former Shi Lan and Shi Feng had already experienced something that had left a deep mark on his life.