Chapter 3: Borrowed Luck

Translator: Henyee Translations  Editor: Henyee Translations

Chi Shuyan returned to the room and was in somewhat of a trance when she saw that the deep sea blue colored wallpaper still decorated the walls. She personally arranged everything in the room – all of which were her preferences. Yesterday was like a nightmare, but she knew that it had really happened. She knew all the more clearly that she was no longer just the simple and cowardly Shuyan, but a vicious and merciless Daoist Celestial Master, whom everyone feared and revered.

She sat in front of the desk and took a notebook with a combination lock on it from the table. She had long forgotten where the key to the notebook was hidden, but she smiled softly. She pressed her index and middle fingers together, folded the rest of her fingers together, and drew a stamp casually on it.

With a click, the combination lock of the notebook opened.

She wrote down two dates, August 8, 20XX and September 10, 20XX, with a fountain pen. The former was today’s date, while the latter, Chi Shuyan almost cut through the paper with force as she finished the last strokes.

She yanked the page and with a mysterious move with the paper in her hand, it suddenly burst into flames. Soon, it was about to roast Chi Shuyan’s fingers, but just as the fiery red flames were to spread to her fingers – Whoosh- it was put out in a flash. Only the hazy spiral of residual smoke proved that the flame that spontaneously ignited by itself had really existed.

She woke up to find out that she still had a skill or two left, though most of her feats were gone.

Chi Shuyan would never forget the date, September 10, 20XX – the beginning of her family’s demise.

A thought suddenly struck her. When she was a child in her previous life, a highly respected Daoist said that she had a superb physiognomy; that she was blessed with a good fortune, a wealthy and prosperous family, and good luck in everything that would only get better and better. But as she grew up, she took it less and less to heart, because if her luck was really good, she shouldn’t have lived life so poorly. So, she just thought that that great Daoist was a liar.

She later learned that her own destiny was indeed very good, but this goodness was like tripitaka meat[1.Tripitaka meat means something that everyone desires to possess.] – good enough to be coveted. Even her only best friend, Feng Yanli, also took advantage of their friendship for this purpose and even her destiny and fortunes stemmed from it.

Back then, Chi Shuyan, whom her aunt abused and her classmates ostracized, was also neglected by her teachers. She wanted to make a friend and Feng Yanli took the initiative to befriend her, so naturally, Chi Shuyan was flattered. She couldn’t wait to share all her treasures with her. Just like her fall into the reservoir this time and almost lost her life, it was inseparable from Feng Yanli.

Chi Shuyan knew herself too well in her previous life. She wasn’t too keen on getting in on the action, but she followed along because Feng Yanli encouraged her to do so. Her former self was truly stupid. If Feng Yanli really thought of her as a friend, she would have visited her at the hospital after the accident. But, she never did and instead avoided her.

Not only that, but a month and three days later, on September 10, 20XX, Feng Yanli would invite many of her classmates and friends to her home as guests. Rather than guests, it would be better to say a search for a fat sheep to be slaughtered.

Feng Yanli’s father was a nouveau riche, poor as a child, but made a fortune in his middle years. With a few small fortunes, he felt that his luck wasn’t good enough, so he invited a Warlock, who was into unorthodox practices, to his door. The Warlock told him about an insidious method of altering one’s fate against the Heavens and that was – borrowing luck.

There were two kinds of ‘borrowed luck’, one was in physical form and the other was in human form. Physical form was commonly used and could be borrowed from jade pendants, qi from artifacts and so on, which were according to standards, less powerful, and could only last 1 to 3 years.

The latter kind was the one that robbed other’s luck, which was unconscionable, but much more powerful. As long as the person was still alive, his luck could be borrowed for the rest of his life.

Chi Shuyan was an unlucky example of someone with ‘borrowed luck.’ She really felt like such an idiot now that she had thought about herself at that time. It was unbelievable how she never doubted Feng Yanli. After that day, she treated Chi Shuyan enthusiastically. It was a pity that instead of sensing the approaching danger, Chi Shuyan delivered herself to the door eagerly.

Chi Shuyan felt so remorseful whenever she thought about it. It was because of that borrowed luck that her family was ruined. Then, her father died in the line of duty. She failed her college entrance examinations. Her relatives took possession of her properties. Her Third Aunt and Uncle even robbed her only house and threw her out.

On the contrary, Feng Yanli’s family was like a godsend. Her family became richer and richer, and their fortunes skyrocketed. Feng Yanli grew from being a dark-skinned fat girl into a fair-skinned beautiful woman, like two entirely different people. She even got engaged to the son of a wealthy family and got married in grand style. Their extravagant wedding was even shown on TV.

But Chi Shuyan’s bad luck didn’t end there, going out and treading on shit to find a job. She was usually fired after half a month, even for the most common waitress job which required no degree. She frequently bumped into outrageous customers and was made fun of or humiliated. But in order to survive, she had to keep looking for work.

From toilet cleaner, street cleaner, sanitation worker and the like, she did it all. But no matter how hard she worked, no matter how tough her character was, she was always fired in less than half a month for no reason.

She was finally reduced to being a vagrant and sleeping on the streets.

Fortunately, her life wasn’t cut short. Her master picked her up and said that her face was strange. Apparently, she was born with good fortune and had the physiognomy of the wealthy, so she wondered why she was reduced to such a lonely bitterness. She did the calculations for her and only then found out that someone had borrowed her luck. Fortunately, the discovery was made in time, or her life would have been in danger.

When Chi Shuyan recalled Feng Yalin’s deeds, her pale face flashed with bloodlust and hostility, hatred blazing in her eyes. Even though she could have taken revenge by virtue of what her master had taught her, her father, who regarded her as a treasure, was gone at that time and everything had already passed. Whatsmore, if Feng Yanli had known her fate and fortune, she definitely wouldn’t have given up.

Chi Shuyan almost crumpled the hard cover of her notebook with her twisting grip and her eyes reddened. She wasn’t that simple and kind girl with a weak inferiority complex. Her revenge had to be fulfilled now – a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye. Anyone who dared to threaten her family, she’d kill the Gods, if Gods blocked and kill the Buddhas if Buddha’s blocked. She would hunt them to the ends of the earth. Those who harmed her would also be brought out one by one and broken into pieces.

A sharp banging on the door interrupted Chi Shuyan’s thoughts.

The person who knocked on the door probably felt impatient when nobody opened it and directly kicked the door – dud-dud. 

“Chi Shuyan, come out.” It was Gao Lingxue, the eldest daughter of her aunt, Chi Guihua.