Night——
The rain gradually stopped.
Li Qingran looked at the amulet in her hand with some tension, preparing to carry out the final three steps.
Step one, replenish the spiritual energy of the amulet.
She didn’t know how much spiritual energy was needed for the remaining materials from the immortal-grade formation flags used to make the amulet. She only knew that all 50 lower-grade spirit stones were used up, and she herself had been drained of all her spiritual energy just to barely fill the amulet with the required amount to activate it.
She rubbed her pale face and took a deep breath: “Next is step two!”
Engrave the name!
The creator of the amulet must use their own blood as ink to write the name of the person being protected on the amulet.
This step was supposed to be the simplest, but Li Qingran was even more nervous than before.
“Write well, write well, you must definitely write well…”
She muttered to herself, finally writing the three characters ‘Chen Huaian’ on the amulet.
But then a smile appeared on her face that was more painful than crying: “It’s over, this will just make people laugh even more…”
Looking at the crooked and messy characters on the amulet, they were even worse than chicken scratches.
Li Qingran had a natural weakness – her handwriting was terrible.
Not that she was crude or uncivilized, but mainly because before entering the Bluecloud Sect, she was the daughter of a general. Although her parents had required her to learn the skills of a young lady, she simply had no interest in them. All her attention was focused on horsemanship, spear techniques, archery, and other combat skills that were necessary for battle.
Back then, when her parents forced her to learn writing, she would cry.
Riding into battle and killing enemies did not require good handwriting.
Now she regretted it.
If she had another chance, she would certainly have learned to write properly from her parents.
“Father once said, the most important thing about a gift is the sincerity behind it.” Li Qingran waved her fists to give herself courage and moved on to the final step – bestowing fortune.
As the name implies, it was about giving luck to someone else.
The balance of heaven and earth’s fortune has its own rules; there is increase and decrease.
Fortunately, with the amulet as a medium, the fortune sent out would only be temporary.
However, after sending out the fortune, the person who bestowed it would experience bad luck for a while due to the loss of fortune.
But Li Qingran thought this was no big deal. Regardless of whether the elder needed this meager fortune or not, she only hoped the elder would be safe and sound.
Using a secret technique to lock the fortune inside the amulet, Li Qingran’s complexion visibly worsened, but she smiled happily.
“This amulet will be placed on the table first.”
Li Qingran bowed toward the roof, not caring whether the elder could hear her or not, surely they could.
“Junior Qingran owes gratitude to the elder for taking care of her and helping her recover from her injuries. Feeling unable to repay, I specially made this amulet as a gift! Though the gift is small, it carries my sincere heart… I hope the elder does not disdain it.”
After saying that, she lowered her head, yet her eyes nervously glanced upward, carefully watching the amulet on the table.
One second, two seconds, three seconds.
Whoosh—!
The amulet disappeared.
The elder accepted her gift!
Li Qingran’s heart was filled with joy, and an involuntary smile appeared on her face as she shyly said: “Thank you, elder, for not disdaining my clumsiness, hehe.”
After being busy all night, her wounds had just healed, and she was already physically and mentally exhausted. Turning back to the bed, drowsiness instantly swept over her.
For a full half month, this was the first time she slept on such a soft bed, and sleepiness immediately crept into her mind.
But she still stared at the ceiling, struggling, humming vaguely in a daze.
“Elder, good night…”
…
…
“Sister Song Jiaojiao, your cultivation has improved quite a bit recently, reaching the ninth level of Qi refinement? Perfect, I have something for you to do.”
“Tell me.”
“Help me kill Li Qingran!”
“What? Kill Li Qingran?! You… are you still hung up on that matter?”
“Hmph, so what if I am? Li Qingran’s reputation in the sect is already ruined, dying wouldn’t matter, she deserves it! Besides, as long as you handle it cleanly, you can completely attribute her death to the beasts in the Wan青山 range… Good girl~ If you do this well, I’ll get you a foundation-establishing pill.”
“Foundation… Establishing Pill? Alright! You’ll get good news from me!”
…
…
The next morning, it was still dark.
The first thing Chen Huaian did was start his <Electronic Girlfriend>.
【Your lifespan remaining is 131 days】
“Nerve!”
What kind of game is this, starting with such a sentence?
He knew he had a terminal illness, but even a simple game shouldn’t predict when he would die.
It’s ridiculous!
However, Chen Huaian thought for a moment. This must refer to the character ‘elder’ in the game having 131 days left to live. But since it’s a game, there must be a corresponding solution later.
“Tsk, just when my relationship with Li Qingran is getting better, my elder character is about to die, then they want me to pay real money to extend life!? I’ve seen through your tricks!” Chen Huaian coldly laughed.
Then another prompt popped up.
Affected by heavenly retribution, fortune depleted.]
[Today’s divination: Li Hexagram – Minor Good Fortune – Suitable for marriage, unsuitable for mountain climbing]
[Tomorrow’s divination: Zhen Hexagram – Inauspicious – Suitable for cleaning, unsuitable for mountain climbing]
“Ho ho, you calculated this too?” Chen Huaian smirked: “I, Chen Huaian, already have one foot in the Yama Palace, what should I avoid?”
And he was terminally ill anyway, so every day should be extremely inauspicious. It showed that this game was randomly calculating nonsense, don’t believe a word of it.
However, Chen Huaian himself was somewhat interested in these mysterious things.
So he searched online out of curiosity: The Zhen hexagram symbolizes thunder and vibration, corresponding to the feet of a person. Generally, when the Zhen hexagram appears with an ominous sign, travel should be avoided. Inauspicious is easy to understand. Great inauspicious means imminent death, while inauspicious is slightly less severe, indicating serious injury, like losing limbs.
To put it simply, if he climbed Panshan Mountain, he might be struck by lightning and die?!
He checked the weather forecast again.
For the next two days, the temperature in the Panshan area would be over thirty degrees Celsius, where would there be rain?
He closed the two notification boxes; they were blocking Li Qingran’s beautiful sleeping face.
Li Qingran was indeed still asleep, this little lass had a good sleeping posture, not moving all night. However, for some reason, her complexion wasn’t very good. Last night, after finishing the guide for Panshan, he went to sleep without paying attention to Li Qingran’s condition. Anyway, before he went to sleep, Li Qingran was still meditating, practicing diligently whenever she had free time, like a perpetual motion machine.
He tapped on Li Qingran’s face and checked her information.
A new debuff appeared: fortune depletion.
“Strange, could deducing celestial secrets affect Li Qingran?” After pondering, it seemed there was no other explanation.
[Status: Sleeping]
[Current Affection Level 25 (Admiration)]
[Affection Level reached 25, triggered a small gift]
[Your electronic girlfriend ‘Li Qingran’ has made you a small gift, delivered]
“A gift system, pretty common.”
Chen Huaian nodded while stroking his chin, but after searching for a long time, he couldn’t find Li Qingran’s gift in the game backpack.
There was no mailbox feature.
This game was extremely pay-to-win, and wouldn’t give hundreds of draws upon server opening.
“It’s probably not refreshed yet.” Chen Huaian made such a guess.
Some low-budget games were like this.
Announcements update quickly, but props lag behind. Perhaps by eight or nine o’clock in the morning, it would be available.
Just then, there was a sudden knock on the door outside.
Chen Huaian opened the door with confusion, but there was no one outside.
Just as he was about to close the door, he noticed a palm-sized delivery box on the ground.
“Huh? I haven’t bought anything, and who sends packages at five in the morning…”
He picked up the box.
There was no logo of any courier company on the label, nor any waybill number.
Only a line of regular script:
<Li Qingran's Little Gift> – For Elder Chen.
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