At the foot of the mountain gate of Kirishō Holy Land, two massive stone turtles crouched solemnly.
From each turtle's head hung a couplet.
On the left turtle:
"Divining romance and Dao companions for pure-hearted lovers."
On the right turtle:
"Judging fortune and treasure—Old Wang, the cuckold's bane."
Between the two stone turtles stood a tall banner pole. The flag fluttered lazily in the mountain wind. Beneath it sat a small fortune-telling stall. A bamboo cylinder filled with divination sticks rested atop the table.
And seated before it—
A refined, handsome young man in white.
The mountain breeze brushed past him, lifting a loose strand of hair at his temple. Under the sunlight, he almost looked transcendent.
He adjusted the hem of his robe, snapped open his folding fan with a crisp clack, and revealed the horizontal inscription:
"No One Understands Divination Better Than I Do."
He flipped the fan.
"Accuracy Not Guaranteed."
He cleared his throat.
"Grand opening…"
The moment the handsome young man called out, a faint tremor rippled beneath the foot of Kirishō Holy Land.
Within moments, a line over a hundred meters long formed before his stall.
"Master Su! My sow still hasn't given birth since yesterday! What should I do?!"
"No need to panic," Suri replied calmly. "Sing a few soothing songs to your sow tonight. Relax her mind. Prepare postpartum care within seven days."
"Master Su! I am the richest man in Rinjiang Town. The townsfolk respectfully call me Lord Rō. I have eighteen concubines and over thirty children. Which son should inherit my family business so that our lineage prospers eternally?"
The handsome man named Suri closed his fan.
"May I ask, Lord Rō… among your thirty-plus children, is there not a single one who resembles you?"
Lord Rō pondered carefully, then slapped his palm.
"Sir, your calculations are divine! Indeed, not one of them resembles—"
Suddenly, his face turned ashen.
"Brother Su! I'm an outer disciple of Kirishō Holy Land. Lately, I've been conversing spiritually with my goddess every night. But after a while, she always says she's going to bathe. Brother Su… do I still have a chance?"
"Tonight, after bathing, your goddess will head to the grove behind Green Tea Peak of our Holy Land," Suri replied serenely. "Brother, you may go see for yourself. Stay strong."
"Sir, my heart aches. Could you massage it for me?"
"Miss, drink more hot water."
"Fellow Daoist Su, I've been so gentle, yet no girls have ever pursued me. Do I lack peach blossom luck?"
Suri pinched his fingers, calculating.
"Fellow Daoist, no need to rush. Three years from now, you will meet the one destined for you. As for now… I suggest you practice fencing."
"Master Su, when will I become rich?"
"My apologies. I cannot answer that. However, I foresee that in three years, a neighbor surnamed Wang will move next door. Best return home early."
"Fellow Daoist, will I pass the inner disciple examination in two years?"
"I cannot divine that. But I do know your horse is about to disappear. Tie it securely."
From dawn to noon, whether cultivators or ordinary townsfolk living below Kirishō Holy Land, all came seeking Suri's divinations.
Some asked about romance.Some asked about wealth.Some asked about cultivation.
For those he could answer, Suri answered earnestly.For those he could not—
Well.
Accuracy not guaranteed.
When the sun stood high overhead, Suri checked the time and finally packed up his stall, returning to the mountain.
Riding his flying artifact back toward Ueshō Peak, Suri closed his eyes. In his mind, his status panel surfaced.
[Name: Suri]
[Gender: Male]
[Realm: Mid-Stage Furnace RealmDestiny Points: 250/1000(Reach 1000 to break through)]
[Cultivation Method: Ueshō Immortal Art (First Pavilion)Destiny Points: 380/5000(Reach 5000 to break through)]
[Today's Destiny Point Acquisition:
Guided Factory Chief Wang in raising pigs — 0.1 point.
Revealed Lord Rō's fertility dilemma — 1 point.
…]
[PS: As of 12:15 PM, total Destiny Points gained today: 25.]
"Only twenty-five points?" Suri sighed softly. "Looks like fortune-telling isn't the path for me anymore."
With a thought, he allocated the twenty-five points into his Realm.
[Realm: Mid-Stage Furnace RealmDestiny Points: 275/1000]
Gazing at his rather pitiful panel, Suri slowly opened his eyes and tilted his head upward at a forty-five-degree angle, staring into the blinding sky.
Wind brushing his face. Sunlight warming his skin.
Even without melancholic music, Suri felt the urge to reflect upon life.
Some people die at eight, but aren't buried until eighty.
Suri was fortunate.
He lived ten years longer.
He died at eighteen.
And then… he transmigrated.
Truthfully, Suri didn't even know how it happened.
In his previous life, he had been an orphan.
But even as an orphan, he studied hard. He passed middle school exams, then college entrance exams.
And on the day he checked his score—
When the number 650 appeared before his eyes…When he exceeded the undergraduate cutoff by two hundred points—
He…
Died of happiness.
It was… rather sudden.
When Suri opened his eyes again, he had become a seven-year-old child.
Still an orphan.
Worse—an orphan in the midst of war.
During the chaos, he met another scrawny child, even thinner than himself. Short-haired, covered in mud, face smeared with charcoal so heavily one could barely see their features.
Suri didn't even know whether that kid was male or female.
He just treated them like a brother.
After all, when stealing buns, that kid was fearless.
Though Suri treated them as a brother, the kid seemed to treat Suri as a girl.
Back then, Suri had long hair and delicate features. He looked a bit too refined.
But that hardly mattered.
The two relied on each other to survive. Yet during another outbreak of fighting, they were separated.
Half a year later, in a winter of heavy snow—In that season of white pages—
Starving, freezing, and alone, Suri encountered a woman carrying a wine jug, reeking of alcohol.
Before he could refuse—indeed, he lacked the strength to refuse—he was taken directly to Kirishō Holy Land's Ueshō Peak and accepted as her disciple.
When she sobered up, she realized Suri was male.
Unfortunately, Ueshō Peak accepted only female disciples.
The mistake stemmed from Suri's childhood appearance—long hair to his waist and far too delicate features. Drunk as she was, she had misjudged.
Awkward.
But a disciple once taken is taken.
Thus, Suri became the first male disciple in Ueshō Peak's history.
As for his lost companion, Suri once asked his master to divine their fate.
After a brief calculation, she merely said:
"No need to worry. They're living better than you."
Alive and well.
That was enough.
When Suri was nine, his master brought back a doll-like little girl.
The following year—
She ran away.
Leaving Suri and his new junior sister to depend on each other.
Why she fled, Suri did not know.
Eight years passed.
Though everyone claimed his master had once been the most beautiful woman in the cultivation world, Suri's memory of her had grown faint.
If forced to describe her using all nine years of compulsory education, plus three years of test prep and a score two hundred points above the cutoff—
One phrase came to mind:
"Magnificently endowed."
Still, Kirishō Holy Land was the number one Holy Land in Kirishō Continent. Raising two children was hardly a burden.
Suri had planned to coast through life. Worst case, he would become a minor functionary within the Holy Land.
After his master left, he advanced to the Furnace Realm within two years—a stunning achievement. Even the elders praised him.
But after reaching the Furnace Realm—
He stalled.
And here lay the problem.
Even becoming a low-level Holy Land functionary required the Cave Abode Realm.
But!
Heaven never seals all paths!
Three days ago—
While dreaming of marrying eighteen wives—
His system awakened.
Without hesitation, Suri bound it.
What was a system?
Light! Fire! The golden ticket to the peak of life and marrying a rich, beautiful wife!
And yet…
Regret came swiftly.
When the system finished binding and announced:
"Host has agreed to remain single for one thousand years to bind this system."
Suri froze.
Unbinding was impossible.
"Single? Fine. Compared to a lifespan of tens of thousands of years, what's a mere thousand with only one's right hand for company? After a thousand years, I'll still be a hero!"
He convinced himself.
But three days later—
He realized something was terribly wrong.
Before the system awakened, though his cultivation speed was tortoise-like, it progressed.
After the system awakened—
No matter how he cultivated, nothing changed.
Until the system reminded him:
[Host's Realm advancement may only be increased through Destiny Points.]
If that were all, perhaps he could endure.
But the most devastating part—
"Senior Brother, you're back. Lunch is ready."
As Suri descended upon Ueshō Peak, a girl in a pale red dress walked toward him.
Her long black hair flowed to her waist, slightly gathered by a jade hairpin. The rest cascaded over her snow-white shoulders.
Under gauzy sleeves thin as cicada wings, her slender hands rested gracefully before her. Skin like frost. Soft as boneless silk.
Her eyes shone like red agate.
Her voice was always gentle.
And yet—
Above her head floated a golden script.
The script of her life.
When opened, every page was blank.
Except the final line.
It read:
"One thousand years later, Chiyun kills Senior Brother Suri, cradles his severed head… and ascends to immortality."