Chapter 870: Matters of Qi Destiny

They continued along the road.

The horse carriage clattered along.

"Hmm?"

Chen Changsheng paused, looking over.

He saw a stream of qi destiny drifting in from afar.

Thanks to the insights he had gleaned from the Fate-Suspending Method, he could clearly discern its trajectory.

The qi destiny circled once above his head, and when Chen Changsheng raised his hand, the mass of fortune settled into his palm.

Upon sensing it, he realized this qi destiny originated from the Northwestern Lands.

Chen Changsheng blinked. "Qi destiny from the Northwest?"

As always, karma was bound to this mass of fortune. Closing his eyes to trace it, he discovered that it stemmed from a certain medical text.

He opened his eyes, a smile surfacing on his lips.

This was a good thing.

That medical book hadn't been buried by time; it was fulfilling its rightful purpose.

"Then This Chen will gladly accept this qi destiny from the Human Dao."

The mass of qi destiny swirled around Chen Changsheng, leaping and frolicking like a playful child.

Yu Hongjin seemed to sense something. She poked her head out of the carriage, looked over, and saw the qi destiny as well.

At that moment, Chen Changsheng noticed the qi destiny suddenly turning its attention toward Yu Hongjin.

He hurriedly channeled his power, confining the qi destiny to himself.

Yu Hongjin looked at him, blinked, and quickly explained, "I didn't do anything! It tried to come over here on its own."

"This Chen knows," Chen Changsheng said. "But given your current condition, it's best you stay far away from such qi destiny. If the balance within your Dantian is completely shattered, it will truly be a matter of life and death."

Yu Hongjin paled. "It's that dangerous?"

"Naturally," Chen Changsheng nodded. "Moreover, taking another person's qi destiny isn't so simple. Fortune is often earned through a person's specific actions. If you forcibly take their destiny for yourself, you must recreate every deed they performed to earn it. Otherwise, the karmic backlash will swiftly end your life."

Yu Hongjin froze, a look of worry creeping onto her face.

"But I wasn't doing anything! I didn't try to steal anyone's fortune. It just ran toward me on its own. What was I supposed to do?"

Chen Changsheng smiled. "Doesn't everything require a step-by-step process? This is also a part of your cultivation, is it not?"

Yu Hongjin groaned. "Cultivation, cultivation... what even is cultivation? I don't understand any of it."

She looked at Chen Changsheng, seemingly seeking an answer.

Chen Changsheng merely spread his hands. "Don't ask This Chen. This Chen doesn't know either."

Yu Hongjin sighed softly and dropped the subject.

She really didn't know what to do about her situation.

Suddenly, she looked back up. "Wait, speaking of which... if that's how the karma of good fortune works, what about misfortune? It can't be that if someone murdered a bunch of people, I'd have to kill just as many, right?"

Chen Changsheng looked at her and said, "You guessed correctly."

"It really is like that?" Yu Hongjin asked, taken aback.

Chen Changsheng nodded, lightly urging the horse forward as he spoke. "According to the records of the Suspended Fortune Divine Ability, many cultivators who practiced the Fate-Suspending Method lost their true selves while trying to resolve karma after their balance shattered. Some even fell into the demonic path as a result. For a time, the Fate-Suspending Method was branded an evil, demonic art, and even a forbidden book. However, you are lucky. The misfortune in your body stems partly from the Heavenly Dao's misfortune during Tao'er's wedding, and partly from the heavenly punishment that fell during the emperor's prayers. These misfortunes are entirely pure without exception. You don't need to find another way to resolve their karma, because heaven's will is fundamentally a karma without a solution."

Yu Hongjin's eyes lit up. "Then... doesn't that mean this is a good thing?"

"For you, it is indeed a good thing," Chen Changsheng agreed.

If it were anyone else, they likely wouldn't have been able to handle it.

Yu Hongjin possessed an extraordinary amount of qi destiny. If another cultivator practicing the Fate-Suspending Method had come into contact with that heavenly punishment's misfortune, their own fortune would have been devoured, and it was highly likely they would have died on the spot. Yet, Yu Hongjin was perfectly fine.

She might look a bit dim-witted at times, but when it came to the Fate-Suspending Method, she had more than earned the right to be called an expert among her peers.

Yu Hongjin asked in confusion, "That's not right. Chen the Good Man, didn't you say I needed balance? Before I had the misfortune from Mo Yuan, nothing happened to me either."

Chen Changsheng looked at her. "You would have to ask yourself that."

"Huh?"

"Actually, This Chen has carefully pondered this question. I've also consulted the notes left by predecessors and have never seen a situation like yours. Cultivators who practice this method mostly prepare equal amounts of good fortune and misfortune beforehand to achieve the goal of balance. In many records, special circumstances have occurred, but mostly only when the person already had qi destiny blessing them. Someone like you, however, seems to be an anomaly."

Yu Hongjin stared blankly at him. After a long pause, she muttered, "Why does it feel like you're scolding me, Mister?"

Chen Changsheng chuckled. "The words might be blunt, but they ring true. You really are an anomaly."

Yu Hongjin smacked her lips. "So you don't actually know what's going on either, Mister?"

Chen Changsheng nodded. "This Chen isn't all that capable to begin with. Isn't it perfectly normal for me not to understand?"

Yu Hongjin narrowed her eyes, giving him a rather skeptical look.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing. I was just wondering how to bluff people as well as Mister does."

Chen Changsheng gave a helpless smile and asked, "How is it bluffing now?"

"Isn't it?"

Yu Hongjin said, "If other cultivators heard what Mister just said, wouldn't they want to bury themselves in shame?"

Chen Changsheng coughed lightly. "One must always be a bit modest in how they conduct themselves."

"Is Mister being modest?"

"Am I not modest enough?"

"..."

For a moment, Yu Hongjin didn't know how to reply.

Mister was truly unconventional.

She had thought so for a long time.

...

In Jindi, mountain bandits were not commonly seen, which was actually thanks to Prince Jin. Back when this place was still under Prince Xiao's rule, bandits had been numerous. After Prince Jin annexed the region, he acted with absolute dominance wherever he went, leaving these bandits with only two paths: submit, or die.

And in fact, Prince Jin had done exactly that.

Some bandits truly didn't fear death, and even thought Prince Jin wouldn't go so far as to kill them all. There was a very large stronghold with a full three hundred people, yet with a single command from Prince Jin, none of those three hundred lived past that night. The old, the weak, the sick, and the crippled—none were spared.

This world was just like this.

Prince Jin, having seen the 'world', did not place any value on human life to begin with.

As a prince in troubled times, one had to be ruthless. Ruling with benevolence and peace, like the Shu Lands, would only result in a tragic end; this was what Prince Jin believed.