Evening.
Ghost Market Street, Treasureless Pavilion.
It wasn’t yet time for the night market to open.
The main hall of Treasureless Pavilion remained unlit, its doors still shut.
In a small room in the inner quarters.
Shen Buyao stared silently at the large sheet of paper spread across the table for a long while.
Then, she turned to Shen Jiuyi sitting across from her and said:
"Big Cow, hurry up and analyze the chart already!"
"I don’t understand this crap—what am I even looking at?"
"Isn’t that why I called you here?"
Shen Jiuyi held a pen in her hand, having stared at the drawn chart even longer than Shen Buyao.
But her prolonged silence was driving the antique-obsessed sister up the wall.
"Buyao, are you absolutely sure you got Lin Yu’s accurate birth details? No mistakes?"
Shen Buyao crossed her arms, her tone firm:
"Our landlady told me this herself."
"Down to the exact hour—it can’t be wrong!"
Shen Jiuyi bit the tip of her pen, giving Shen Buyao a grave look.
Shen Jiuyi: "…"
Shen Buyao: "???"
Shen Jiuyi: "Tsk…"
Shen Buyao: "Just analyze the damn chart already—why are you staring at me?"
Shen Jiuyi took a deep breath:
"Buyao, in all my years studying Zi Wei Dou Shu under ‘Grandma,’ I’ve… never seen a destiny chart this overwhelmingly powerful!"
Shen Buyao raised one eyebrow skeptically.
She glanced at the handwritten chart on the paper, baffled:
"Look, I might not know much, but I’ve heard a thing or two."
"Aren’t charts with stars like Purple Star, Broken Army, or Greedy Wolf supposed to be the impressive ones?"
"Lin Yu’s chart doesn’t even have any of those flashy constellations!"
Shen Jiuyi immediately shot her a disdainful look.
It was a look Shen Buyao knew all too well—the same one she gave Shen Jiuyi whenever the latter went off about "antique trivia."
Shen Jiuyi continued with a deeper explanation:
"Amateurs should really keep quiet."
"What makes a destiny chart overwhelmingly powerful?"
"It’s not about one palace showing wealth or high status."
"The most crucial thing is… the stars being in their rightful positions!"
"The Sun governs career—when it resides in the Career Palace, that’s its rightful place."
"The Moon governs wealth—when it resides in the Wealth Palace, that’s its rightful place."
"…"
Shen Buyao, lost in the jargon, cut her off impatiently:
"Ugh, fine, fine, we get it—you’re the expert, okay?"
"Can you dumb it down for me? What does it all mean?"
All that technical talk might as well have been gibberish to her.
Shen Buyao wasn’t here for a lecture.
Shen Jiuyi sighed in resignation, her expression cold:
"The Heavenly Secret Star in the Life Palace means this person is incredibly sharp, well-liked, and has a knack for deep understanding and research."
"Plus, their IQ is off the charts—don’t even think about outsmarting them, or they’ll destroy you."
Shen Buyao nodded approvingly:
"See? Now that’s something I understand. Go on."
Shen Jiuyi then proceeded to break down the rest of Lin Yu’s destiny placements in plain terms.
But this was just the appetizer.
Zi Wei Dou Shu had evolved over time, now incorporating broader analyses tailored to modern circumstances.
A person’s destiny shifted every ten years in major cycles.
At twenty, Lin Yu was currently in the midst of a powerful phase.
And based on Shen Buyao’s descriptions of his recent changes, the chart aligned perfectly.
Moreover, the analysis suggested that for the next year, Lin Yu’s unstoppable momentum would continue unabated.
Nothing—divine or demonic—could stand in his way.
After several minutes of explanation, Shen Jiuyi concluded with emphasis:
"To sum up Lin Yu’s destiny—he has the toughest fate I’ve ever seen!"
Shen Buyao’s hands clenched, her heart skipping a beat: "!!!"
Now she understood why Shen Jiuyi had kept glancing at her during the reading.
In Zi Wei Dou Shu, there existed an exceptionally rare destiny configuration…
The Calamity Star: representing impulsiveness and a tendency to attract misfortune.
The Lonely Star: representing isolation and self-reliance.
When both appeared in a chart, it formed the "Calamitous Lone Star" destiny.
In the twelve palaces, no other stars interacted with these.
Or, to put it another way—forming deep relationships with others would inevitably bring them calamity.
Ever since "Grandma" had analyzed Shen Buyao’s chart as a child, her life had unfolded exactly as predicted.
Her expression flickered with complexity for just a moment before she scoffed, reverting to her usual defiance:
"Pfft, Big Cow, quit trying to scare me with this nonsense."
"I don’t believe in this outdated crap—my fate is mine to control!"
"Got it? Screw destiny!"
Shen Jiuyi folded the paper on the table and asked nonchalantly:
"If you don’t believe it, why did the Shen family split apart?"
"If you don’t believe it, why have you pushed away everyone who tried to get close all these years?"
"If you don’t believe it, why did you rent an apartment after I calculated your wealth luck lay at the crossroads of east, west, south, and north?"
"If you don’t believe it…"
"Then why did you bring me Lin Yu’s birth details to analyze?"
Shen Buyao’s eyelids twitched, her hands gripping tightly behind her back: "!!!"
Shen Jiuyi hadn’t raised her voice, yet her words carried an invisible weight.
Shen Buyao quickly changed the subject:
"Whatever—this ‘Calamitous Lone Star’ nonsense means nothing. No one stays with anyone forever anyway, and I don’t need that."
Shen Jiuyi: "You don’t?"
Shen Buyao: "Do I?"
Shen Jiuyi: "Don’t you?"
Shen Buyao: "Do I?"
Shen Jiuyi: "You’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever met."
Shen Buyao: "You fu—"
Shen Jiuyi: "I’m your grandma."
Shen Buyao: "…"
Realizing she was outmatched, Shen Buyao turned and headed for the door, muttering:
"Stay here for a bit. I’m going out."
Shen Jiuyi raised an eyebrow:
"Where to?"
Shen Buyao glanced back, her tone petulant:
"To find Lin Yu, strip down, and make babies with him. Got a problem?"
Shen Jiuyi shook her head calmly:
"Blessings."
……
Meanwhile.
In the apartment’s first-floor kitchen.
Lin Yu was chopping vegetables with a knife, preparing to show off his cooking skills to Chen Qimeng.
Suddenly, the system’s notification echoed in his mind.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations, Host! You’ve successfully bound your first Daoist cultivation partner!]
[Partner’s sect identity: Elder of the Heavenly Artifice Pavilion, Hidden Vein of the Mystic Gate (Shen Buyao)]
[Rewards: 100 Sect Contribution Points, 200 Spirit Stones]
"Holy shit!!"
Lin Yu’s hand jerked, his mind reeling.
The knife slipped, nearly slicing his finger.
Lin Yu: "???"
What the hell is that antique-obsessed woman…
Doing?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
] [Lone Wolf, No Male Gaze] [Protagonist is pursued early on; extreme protagonist-stans, stay away!] The "Carnival Paradise" descends and slowly devours the real world in the form of a game. By chance, Zhu Yan awakens the talent [Roleplay], becoming one of the first beta players. He thought he could develop safely, but after clearing the first instance, he is branded by humanity as the chief culprit behind the game's spread—a traitorous villain. A villain? Who would ever... become one! He'll be the villain! From then on, Zhu Yan is not only a player but also a lackey for the Carnival Paradise. Between the straight path and the crooked path, he chooses the con. With his left hand, he dons the villain's mantle, staging scenes within instances, infuriating players who decry him as a despicable traitor, all while the game happily promotes him. With his right hand, he joins the non-human organization "Fangcun Mountain," which opposes the Carnival Paradise, transforming into a mysterious player who slaughters game bosses, earning cheers of "Long live the expert!" from fellow players. Gradually, Zhu Yan rises to become an S-rank human player in Fangcun Mountain's archives, while also being the Carnival Paradise's certified top game Boss. But when the final war erupts and both major factions place their hopes in him— Players tag his various aliases: "Experts, this offensive depends on you." The Carnival Paradise's supreme Boss throws an arm around his neck: "Bro, you're the iron, I'm the steel; you can't let me down again!"
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!
