Calamity Avoidance Skill

Profound Heaven City.

News that Profound Heaven Dao Academy was widely opening its mountain gates spread across the entire city.

"Profound Heaven Dao Academy is opening its mountain gates! They're taking in disciples!"

"I've finally waited for this opportunity. That's Profound Heaven Dao Academy, after all!"

"Father! I want to go become an immortal master too!!"

At the city gates, Lu Qing waited in line to enter, listening to the countless gossip buzzing around him with an excited heart.

He did not know the foundation of Profound Heaven Dao Academy, but he knew that this was definitely a place for immortal cultivation. Otherwise, he wouldn't have journeyed through dust and wind—not quite passing six passes and slaying six generals, but certainly enduring eighty-one tribulations. The perilous situations he had encountered along the way were simply innumerable.

If not for the Calamity Avoidance Skill that had followed him over, he might have long since been snatched away by a passing wild beast.

In short, every step of the journey was filled with bitter tears.

That's right, Lu Qing was a transmigrator. He had collided with a golden light when dying suddenly from overwork, and after arriving in an ancient world completely different from Blue Star, he became a refugee beggar and even obtained a golden finger.

This golden finger was actually a skill.

It was a skill from a game he played before his sudden death in his past life, called Calamity Avoidance.

True to its name, it avoided calamities. Because of how the game was developed, it also came with an extra lifespan-extension effect, randomly dropping a bit of lifespan each month.

This was precisely why Lu Qing's heart wasn't all that panicked.

Translating to the present, Lu Qing had relied on his Calamity Avoidance Talent to steer clear of countless dangers. The pity was that when he played before, he hadn't gathered the grand skills of turning misfortune into fortune and Turn Calamity into Fortune.

The golden finger he possessed was a pure Calamity Avoidance Talent, but it couldn't be viewed so simply either. At the very least, even in a situation of ten deaths and zero life, the Calamity Avoidance Talent could forcefully carve out a calming hexagram. As long as an ominous hexagram appeared, there would definitely be a calming hexagram accompanying it, and Lu Qing conducted all his actions according to the calming hexagrams.

Lu Qing fondly recalled how, not long after his transmigration, he had wanted to properly understand this world, only to later see a streak of flowing light race across the sky. The light was extremely fast, yet Lu Qing had been utterly shocked at the time.

Because that streak of flowing light was clearly a person's silhouette.

How could a person fly in the sky?

Turns out, what he came to wasn't a purely ancient world, but a world where the power of cultivation existed.

Because of this, Lu Qing made a prompt and decisive decision to seek immortality.

For an ordinary mortal on the road wanting to cross boundless mountains, it was undoubtedly harder than ascending to heaven. He continuously inquired for news, and if not for having this skill, Lu Qing really wouldn't have been able to make up his mind so quickly.

A calming hexagram had once opened up when Lu Qing was crossing a deep mountain, resulting in four greatly ominous hexagrams appearing. A tiger on the left was preparing to emerge from its cave to hunt, a venomous python was on the right, a jackal was behind him, and the front was a dead-end cliff.

Danger on all four sides!

After the Calamity Avoidance Talent triggered, Lu Qing drew a calming hexagram: [Stay in place, you can resolve the immediate crisis. Calm.]

In the end, meteorites fell from the sky. Meteorites rained down from all directions, smashing to death the wild beasts of peril on all four sides.

Lu Qing was also able to make a detour and leave that steep, perilous cliff.

Peril was omnipresent, and sometimes the divination signs produced by calming hexagrams could also be quite a trap. Lu Qing was determined to pursue cultivation, so he had no choice but to plunge himself into perilous situations and then rely on the next divined hexagram to search for the path to the Cultivation World.

Seeking immortality along the road, as he approached this Profound Heaven City, the number of cultivators he saw was obviously much greater than before.

I wonder if I have any aptitude, or any spiritual roots and the like.

Even though he told himself not to expect much, when facing immortal cultivation, who could fail to harbor expectations?

"Esteemed guest, the hot water has arrived."

The tavern attendant at the door knocked.

"Little brother, I heard there's a cultivation dao academy here?"

The attendant beamed from ear to ear, rubbing the tip Lu Qing handed him as he said, "Esteemed guest, you're from out of town, right? Our Profound Heaven Dao Academy here is famous far and wide. Every year, people come here to seek immortality and practice cultivation. You've come at just the right time."

"Starting tomorrow, Profound Heaven Dao Academy is recruiting disciples right here in our city. There aren't any standards for the annual recruitment; they just take a mirror and shine it. They don't test cultivation aptitude, but..."

The attendant spoke fluently, clearly having encountered plenty of such questions here.

After the attendant left, Lu Qing understood as well.

Profound Heaven City was a mortal city under the jurisdiction of Profound Heaven Dao Academy.

Every three years, Profound Heaven Dao Academy would open its mountain gates. Within the surrounding region, at least in the attendant's opinion, there was no sect more powerful than Profound Heaven Dao Academy.

As for deeper inside stories, nothing more could be asked out of him. The attendant was a mortal and didn't understand the inner workings of cultivation.

Lu Qing had already decided to enter this dao academy, and of course, the most important thing was that his Calamity Avoidance Talent hadn't shown any reaction. It seemed that entering the dao academy here held no peril.

Even a slight ominous hexagram was still ominous. Having lived a second life, Lu Qing only wanted to steadily step onto the immortal path.

Just as this thought arose in his mind, a sudden flash of insight appeared in his heart.

Several hexagrams leaped out. No way, an ominous portent has appeared again.

[Greatly Ominous Hexagram: Do not fall asleep. Hearing movement in the neighboring room, strain your ear to eavesdrop, stumble upon someone else's secret, and suffer a tragic silencing with ten deaths and zero life. Greatly ominous.]

[Ominous Hexagram: Wake up at midnight at twelve o'clock, open your eyes, and discover movement outside the window. Be poisoned by someone with a poison Gu, from then on straying far from the dao path and becoming a puppet in the hands of others. Ominous.]

[Slightly Ominous Hexagram: Wake up at one in the morning, head to the neighboring room, and obtain a portion of Five Spirits Liquid. Consuming it can slightly raise comprehension, but the Five Spirits Liquid already conceals someone else's poison. Consuming it belongs to pulling shoots to help them grow, and you will be discovered tomorrow at the dao academy's disciple-selection site, losing all ties to the dao path. Slightly ominous.]

Lu Qing remained steadfast in cultivation. Perhaps because the skill was influenced by him, losing ties to the dao path had also turned into a slightly ominous hexagram within the divination signs. If it were changed to back in the mortal realms, losing ties to the dao path would have simply been a calming hexagram.

This is too exaggerated. The perils of the Cultivation World are impossible to guard against.

Because his Calamity Avoidance Talent came from a game skill, the creators over there had not intended to develop any real difficulty.

Therefore, the divinations all adopted easily understandable plain language, clearly and explicitly writing out the origin of the divination.

There were times when Lu Qing wished this Calamity Avoidance Talent would not trigger, but since it had appeared, he still quickly looked at the Calming Hexagram.

As for what was written above, he would follow the Calming Hexagram. After all, judging from the previous Ominous Hexagram, as long as he slept through the night and did not wake up even upon hearing commotions, the disaster would naturally avert itself.

I only have one little life.

[Calming Hexagram: Sleep straight through the night until nine o'clock in the morning, and you can avoid the calamity of being entangled in this aftermath; no lingering troubles, calm.]

"Hiss."

"What is going on."

Lu Qing felt his scalp tingle. He had entered this Profound Heaven City, and back-to-back ominous situations had rushed right at him, inescapable. If he did not have this Calming Hexagram, he would have had to face the next calamity connected to this one all over again.

He wanted nothing to do with calamities.

It looked like this Five Spirits Liquid calamity was far from reaching its end, and instead would continue endlessly, entangling him without rest.

Fortunately, the Calming Hexagram was there for him. As for those great fortunes of supreme auspiciousness, Lu Qing was in no condition to enjoy them right now.

After washing up, he immediately looked at the sky outside. The moon had just risen, and Lu Qing decided to start brewing some sleepiness right then.

He even specifically had the inn servant help him get a few cotton balls to stuff into his ears so he could hear nothing at all, and even if pushed to the absolute limit, he would keep his eyes squeezed tightly shut.

He also had the window shut tight. This time, even if you wanted to give me a commotion to look at, I wouldn't even bother glancing.

Even if the Heavenly Sovereign himself came, he still wouldn't wake up.

Lu Qing went to sleep securely and soundly.

Midnight arrived, and rustling sounds began from the neighboring room.

When the first watch came, the sound of wind and rain stirred outside the window, pattering and accompanied by the sound of blades, all drowned out by the sealed window.

At six in the morning, the breakfast stalls opened, the inn guests woke up, and several extra voices appeared downstairs.

Just past nine in the morning, the inn servant's voice sounded from outside the door.

"Guest, I've brought up your washbasin, towel, and morning meal!"

In this lifetime, Lu Qing had somewhat of a jittery disposition at the slightest hint of trouble, but fortunately, in his past life he was also someone who dabbled slightly in hypnosis. Having given himself a suggestion, he managed to sleep somewhat soundly through this night.

Naturally, he had also paved the way with money beforehand to get this kind of treatment from the servant.

Because he knew that the time for the Dao Academy's introductory disciple selection in Profound Heaven City was three days, and they would not wait past the deadline.

"Little second brother, just leave it outside the door."

"Coming right up!"

This sleep had been secure and sound, and upon waking up he temporarily discovered no other commotions.

Because during that period right after crossing over, Lu Qing had suffered quite a bit, though those hardships had no risk—they were purely from not being full.

Now that he had food to eat, there was no way he would mistreat himself.