Human Destiny Star: Trapped Pig Breaking the Pen

Before his eyes, centered on Yu Ping beneath the quilt, brilliant light burst forth.

Through the thin quilt, a pair of crossed blade and sword flashed above Yu Ping's head, followed by a small earthen grave mound floating overhead.

That little grave mound looked remarkably like Yu Ping's bulging quilt.

Li Qingxian looked toward the grave mound but could not see his past or future.

He should have quite a good Destiny Mold. It is actually stronger than Dong Ying's, preventing me from bypassing the Destiny Mold to see the Fate Projection.

With that thought, Li Qingxian first examined Yu Ping's Annual Fate Fortune.

The Four Fiends were Decline, Death, Tomb, and Extinction.

Decline could be understood as encountering unexpected difficulties, varying in severity.

Death meant encountering a great calamity.

Tomb meant possible death.

Extinction meant certain death.

Those blades represented "Decline." Yu Ping's dantian had been destroyed a few days ago, which matched Decline.

After "Decline" came "Death." With two fiends connected, even heaven could scarcely save him. Yet after Decline, he skipped over Death and entered Tomb directly. This was the legendary "skipping fiends," and it instead meant he might turn misfortune into fortune.

Fate Arts changed in ways too mysterious to predict.

"Tomb" did indeed represent a person entering a grave, but was it his own grave or someone else's? Was it an ordinary tomb, or an ancient Imperial Mausoleum?

If a person entered a tomb, aside from dying, could he possibly return laden with treasures?

Thus, through deduction, Destiny Arts Masters discovered that Tomb was overt, while Treasury was hidden. Tomb and Treasury were one and the same.

A treasury was like a treasure hoard.

Thus there was a Fate Arts verse: When youths encounter a treasury, they stumble through in confusion. When young adults encounter a treasury, they bustle about endlessly. When middle-aged people encounter a treasury, they gain countless riches. When old men encounter a treasury, they gain a coffin.

Young people did not understand, young adults were reckless, and old people could not endure such exertion. Middle-aged people were different: their minds were most mature, and they were still in their prime. Once they obtained a treasury, they would surely ride the momentum and soar high.

However, fate had no fixed number.

If someone was mature beyond his years in youth, wise in young adulthood, or strong-bodied in old age, he could still gain wealth and rise in status upon encountering a treasury.

Li Qingxian carefully observed Yu Ping's "Tomb" and smiled faintly.

Earlier, when he had looked at Ye Han's "Taking Office," it had possessed vitality, pride, and splendor.

The fiendish Tomb likewise had three manifestations: sealing the coffin, burial in earth, and erecting a gravestone.

Yu Ping had none of the three. When fiendish fortune bore no manifestation, it meant approaching fortune.

What delighted Li Qingxian was that a crack had opened at the exact center above the grave mound.

"This kid isn't entirely unlucky."

Among fortunes, the Twelve Longevity Stages represented "favorable fortune," but other factors could affect or even reverse fortune. When blessing and calamity changed places, it was called "changing fortune."

A crack opening in a tomb was called "Breaking Ground," precisely a manifestation of changing fortune.

Once this tomb split completely open, it would turn from fiendish to ordinary fortune, perhaps even from ordinary fortune to auspicious fortune.

Looking at it this way, Yu Ping would at least be safe for some time to come.

Li Qingxian drew a deep breath and looked beyond the "Tomb," into a stretch of black void.

The void twisted into a blue vortex, and Li Qingxian's consciousness was violently sucked inside.

Darkness flashed before his eyes, then light, and he appeared within a courtyard.

The courtyard was utterly level, with no rockery and no pond. The ground was completely bare.

A Destiny Cloud drifted above the courtyard, and it too was utterly empty.

Ahead stood a house with white stone walls and a black-tiled roof.

Li Qingxian was speechless. Even Yu Ping's Destiny Mansion was a little better than his own?

Li Qingxian walked to the entrance. The stone door stood wide open.

The interior was unexpectedly quite different as well.

A Destiny Ground stood inside the door too, but behind it was another step and a second Destiny Ground.

"Yu Ping is older than me. He is already twenty, so he possesses both a Youth Destiny Ground and a Young Adult Destiny Ground."

Li Qingxian looked toward the Destiny Pillars of Yu Ping's Youth Destiny Ground.

One Destiny Star hung above each of the Year Destiny Pillar and Month Destiny Pillar, while the other two Destiny Pillars were empty.

The Destiny Ground was incomplete, so it could not form a configuration or produce divinity.

The Destiny Star above the Year Destiny Pillar resembled a transparent, colorless glass dome the size of a human head. Starlight surrounded it like an asteroid belt around a planet, magnificent and dazzling.

Within the Destiny Star, water rippled. A thin rice seedling lay toppled over, its green leaves floating on the water's surface and gently swaying with the waves.

Destiny Star: Lodging Green Rice. Fiendish.

Li Qingxian sighed softly.

Lodging Green Rice was one of the poorer Destiny Molds, indicating that Yu Ping's youth had been difficult.

Fortunately, the seedling leaves were whole and still green. Had it continued developing until the leaves yellowed and withered, or even been uprooted entirely, it would have transformed into another Destiny Mold, and he would not have lived until now.

Li Qingxian looked toward the Destiny Star above the Month Pillar.

This Destiny Star also resembled a spherical glass cover and was the size of a human head. The difference was that no starlight encircled it, making it exceedingly plain.

That Lodging Green Rice was Heaven's Mandate. This Destiny Star had no starlight around it, making it a Human Destiny Star.

Within this Destiny Star, a fist-sized rock had split open. From within the crack, a yellow wheat seed had sprouted a white shoot.

Destiny Star: Seed Falling into a Rock Crevice. Auspicious.

One was Lodging Green Rice, the other Seed Falling into a Rock Crevice. They both appeared to concern young seedlings growing, complementing each other.

Li Qingxian silently invoked the Fate Arts "Deduction Technique." A translucent Destiny Disk appeared in his mind, but an instant later, the Heaven's Mandate Instrument replaced it and immediately deduced that these two Destiny Stars formed a typical "fiendish suppression turning to depletion" relationship.

Rice grew in the south, wheat in the north.

Rice grew in water, while the wheat seed lay within rock. Rock belonged to earth, and earth suppressed water.

An auspicious star suppressing a fiendish star was originally a good thing.

Yet no matter how much water entered the rock crevice, it would drain away completely, unable to truly save the green rice.

Suppression and drainage combined, turning instead into depletion.

These two Destiny Stars would drain Yu Ping for his entire life, draining his fortune and draining his opportunities.

Still, it was somewhat better than having only a fiendish star dominate.

Li Qingxian's chest felt tight.

Heaven's Mandate was fixed by heaven; Human Destiny was fixed by oneself.

Every Human Destiny Star was formed only after a person endured immense effort and hardship before finally condensing it.

What kind of suffering had a child experienced to condense such a Human Destiny Mold in his youth?

Li Qingxian had never understood why Yu Ping ate without stopping all day and had grown so fat. Now, realization suddenly dawned on him.

It was like how he had once mocked his elders for being reluctant to throw anything away and always liking to stockpile food. Yet when disaster struck, he too had frantically hoarded supplies.

It was not that they were foolish, but that he had never experienced their suffering.

When someone lived for a long time in an environment where he could starve to death at any moment, his eating or craving was not gluttony. It was self-rescue.

No matter how tall or fair and plump Yu Ping was, in some corner of his body, a thin little child would forever remain curled up, crying out from hunger and crying for help.

Those who had not shared the same experience could not hear him.

Li Qingxian remained silent for a long time, then looked toward the four pillars in the Young Adult Destiny Ground on the next step.

Four pillars, one star.

Above the Month Pillar floated the last, third Destiny Star.

Within the Destiny Star, the sun shone brightly and heaven and earth were warm. A fair, chubby little pig frolicked on the grass, nudging here with its snout and nudging there. Once it had tired itself out from running, it lay on its back with all four hooves in the air, snoring deeply and grunting away.

In the distance, the pigpen gate had been shoved open with a hole in it, while the fence lay toppled in every direction.

Li Qingxian could not help laughing.

Human Destiny Star: Trapped Beast Breaking the Pen. Greatly auspicious.

Normally, a trapped beast breaking the pen should have been a fierce beast, generally called Trapped Wolf Breaking the Pen or Trapped Dragon Breaking the Pen. But this was Trapped Pig Breaking the Pen.

Li Qingxian looked at the grunting little white pig and let out a breath of relief.

Trapped Beast Breaking the Pen was renowned far and wide.

After enduring countless hardships, a person with this Destiny Star had not bowed his head to suffering. He had remained positive and optimistic, believing in the future and believing in the world, until he finally condensed this power.

This Human Destiny Star was exceedingly difficult to condense.

A verse said: Ten Declines, ten Illnesses; ten failures, ten Nurtures. The trapped beast still fights; breaking the pen lies in sight.

Once condensed, no matter how much suffering such a person encountered afterward, he could slowly resolve it all.

In the days ahead, so long as no major accident occurred, Yu Ping could advance and achieve modest success in his career, or lie low and live a stable life.

He could not become enormously wealthy or exalted, but neither would he suffer great rises and falls again.

Li Qingxian kept smiling.

Perhaps that was why, despite having his dantian destroyed and meeting him for the first time today, Yu Ping had still been the first to reach for the plate of pastries.

The hardships of the past could not stop him from pursuing the happiness of the present.

Such a resilient Human Destiny Mold did not consume fortune, so naturally Li Qingxian's Qi-Gazing Technique could not see through it.

Suddenly, Li Qingxian felt weak all over and hurriedly withdrew.

The magical power on the surface of the Thunder Dragon Fire Seal had vanished without a trace.

When Li Qingxian opened his eyes, the little grave mound across the bed had disappeared.

Yu Ping lay on his side, making soft, gentle snoring sounds in deep sleep.

The room had grown much brighter. Moonlight from outside the window seemed to have shone in.

The snoring next door had grown much quieter as well.

Li Qingxian shifted his body, lay down comfortably, closed his eyes with a smile on his face, and entered the land of dreams.