"According to the Book of Supreme World Ordering, my one and only chance to defy fate in this life is today."
"Huh? Is it this place? Across the street... a lottery shop?"
"That's right. The jackpot has climbed to two hundred million. This is my chance to defy fate."
Lu Bian waited for the traffic light to turn green, then immediately dashed out.
He was going to cross the street and change his miserable life!!
"Huh?"
A big rig suddenly shot out onto the road.
"Aw, crap..."
Lu Bian woke up in the middle of a mountain forest.
He'd slept until he woke naturally, and his body and mind felt incredibly refreshed. He hadn't felt this comfortable in years.
Sitting up, he pressed his hands to his temples and tried to recall what had happened.
He remembered that, just as he was about to defy fate, a big rig had appeared and taken him away.
"So I didn't win the two-hundred-million-yuan jackpot after all?"
"Where have I been sent?"
A breeze passed through, stirring the shadows of the trees. Lu Bian felt a little cold.
He was naked, so of course the wind made him cold.
"This is a bit of a problem."
He'd crossed over, but only his body had come with him, not his clothes. What if someone saw the goods he was packing?
The survival instincts of ancient man rose naturally in Lu Bian's mind. He gathered weeds, leaves, and vines, then crudely wove them into a grass skirt to cover his privates. After that, he set off to inspect his surroundings.
Mountains surrounded him, and the vegetation grew thick and lush. Orioles sang and sparrows chirped in the woods, while the ruined walls in the distance sat in utter silence.
"At least I'll have somewhere to spend the night."
As Lu Bian drew closer, he passed through a crooked wooden paifang with four pillars and three openings, then followed a path paved with bluestone slabs. The slabs were uneven, and unknown plants sprouted from the cracks. It was plain that no one had tended the path in years.
He was curious, but also a little afraid.
Was this how Ning Caichen had felt when he sought shelter in that desolate old temple?
At the end of the bluestone path stood a broad flight of stone steps. Looking up, Lu Bian could see a mountain gate standing wide open.
Lu Bian sat down on the steps. He had no intention of going inside.
Some feeling in his heart told him that if he passed through that gate, there would be no turning back.
It was broad daylight, and the sun hung high in the sky, yet a chill wind seemed to blow through the decaying temple halls and pavilions, making Lu Bian's heart turn cold.
"Did I really defy fate?"
"But why send me to the set of a Chinese horror movie?"
"Where's my transmigrator cheat?"
"..."
Was he going the traditional route or the modern one?
The traditional route meant jade pendants, rings, secret martial arts manuals, and a wise old man living in your head. The modern route meant systems, stat screens, and talent traits...
After sitting quietly in meditation for half a day, Lu Bian still hadn't found any benefits that came with being a transmigrator.
"All right, then."
He stood up and looked back at the ruined mountain gate.
Lu Bian figured he was probably going to have to take the traditional route.
Looking at this cluster of abandoned ancient Chinese-style buildings, it was probably the ruins of some ancient cultivation sect that had suffered a terrible calamity. They were just waiting for a fated person like him to step inside, claim the sect's inheritance or meet a remnant soul of an old master, carry on the teachings of his predecessors, and shoulder some inexplicable mission.
That was absolutely not what Lu Bian wanted.
Lu Bian didn't consider himself a lucky person.
If he were lucky, he wouldn't have been obsessed with studying the Book of Supreme World Ordering and trying to figure out how to defy fate.
When Lu Bian was fourteen, an incurable illness struck him. His whole body hurt as if a road roller had run over him again and again, and he suffered from a high fever too. He saw many doctors, and at last they managed to ease his condition. But it only seemed like the hospital treatment had worked. In reality, the illness's active phase had simply passed.
Every three years, Lu Bian's illness entered another severe active phase. During those periods, he was plunged into endless pain and could do nothing. It wasn't just physical agony; it tormented him mentally, too.
He took a year off from middle school, then another year off from high school. Each time, the illness grew more severe during its active phase. By his sophomore year of college, he had to drop out altogether. This time, the active phase never let up.
As he sat on the mountain gate steps, Lu Bian wore a serene smile.
His body now felt like a "new" one. He'd always had a low-grade fever, but after crossing over, his body felt cool.
Breathing came easily. His ribs no longer hurt when they moved, and his muscles didn't cramp.
His waist felt fine, and his calves were strong too.
Was this what a normal person's body felt like?
Lu Bian felt that he was satisfied now.
His heart was at peace.
He hoped he could meet his eventual death in this healthy, normal state.
Become an immortal?
He didn't want that.
All Lu Bian wanted was to live a full life as a healthy, ordinary person.
In the first half of his life, he'd lived like a stray dog by the roadside. Nobody had cared whether he existed.
"I should find something to eat."
"Bear Grylls, Ed Stafford, lend me your wisdom!"
"Even if I'm living like a wild man, I'm happy now. I don't have to imagine that I'm happy."
Leaving the ancient ruins behind, Lu Bian searched the nearby woods and fields for something to fill his stomach.
He found nothing.
Before the sun went down, Lu Bian returned to the mountain gate with a few things that looked edible and some firewood.
"Strange. Why am I still not hungry?"
At forty kilograms, a person who stood one meter seventy-five would be skin and bones. That was what Lu Bian had been like as a sick person.
"Rub, rub. Start a fire..."
He rubbed the skin off his hands, but still couldn't get a fire going.
The moon rose, its bright light illuminating the land. Lu Bian realized that not having a fire wasn't so bad after all.
He cleared a patch of ground and lay down. Then he gazed at the moon in the sky.
He was certain this wasn't the moon that orbited Earth.
He closed his eyes, ready to sleep...
[Beep--!]
[Beep beep beep--!!]
[Chat Group creating--!]
[Beep, Chat Group creation complete. Please name your Chat Group...]
"Huh?"
Lu Bian opened his eyes.
"My cheat finally arrived?"
"I'll call it Peaceful Remainder of Life."
[Beep, Chat Group named successfully: Peaceful Remainder of Life Chat Group.]
"..."
"Nothing else?"
Lu Bian looked at the chat window that had appeared before him and began exploring the Chat Group's functions.
He was the group owner, and at the moment, he was the only member.
"Huh? Where are the other members?"
"Wait, no. In the novels I've read, people join Chat Groups one after another as soon as they're created!"
After exploring for a while, Lu Bian found two ways to add members: the Chat Group could add them automatically, or he could add them manually.
"Automatically add some members for me already!!"
Lu Bian used his mind to confirm that the Chat Group should add members automatically. Then...
[Shi Tianwu joined the Chat Group.]
Before you continue