Who Was the Lucky One?

Inside the Ruined Temple.

Li Xingtian was cultivating diligently. According to his own plan, he needed to break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm as soon as possible.

According to the system's notification, Li Xingtian was currently at the eighth level of Qi Refining.

He reckoned he would need another two days.

Li Yingling and Ning Qianqian were drinking chicken soup. After all, even if Li Yingling crammed at the last minute, she could no longer make the sort of huge gains possible in the Qi Refining Realm.

She had merely been a cultivation genius before, not some reincarnated mighty cultivator.

As for Ning Qianqian... she could not even meet the requirements for becoming his disciple, so her aptitude was probably nothing to write home about either. Cultivating would get her nowhere; drinking more chicken soup to nourish herself was more practical.

Chu Xingchen's cultivation was currently at the middle stage of the flawless golden core. Once Li Xingtian achieved Foundation Establishment, he should reach the late Golden Core stage.

So, of everyone in the sect, Li Xingtian was the one whose efforts would yield the greatest results. As soon as he achieved Foundation Establishment, the sect's strength would take a qualitative leap!

Naturally, Chu Xingchen had also gathered some intelligence on the Clearwind Sect. One of its supreme elders was in the Nascent Soul Realm.

Even if he caused trouble, that supreme elder might not show up.

But having scraped by in this world for a few years, Chu Xingchen knew he had to prepare for the worst rather than pin his hopes on things going well.

Everything was bound to tumble toward the unluckiest possible outcome, so Chu Xingchen had specifically reminded Li Xingtian to make arrangements for the worst-case scenario. Even if they could not rescue anyone, they had to ensure that their own people could retreat without trouble.

After all, rescuing people was only a side quest. Chu Xingchen was not kind enough to gamble his own disciples' lives for strangers.

Speaking of bad luck, though, Chu Xingchen turned his gaze toward Li Yingling as she drank her chicken soup.

His eldest disciple had the [Strong Fortune] trait, but he had spent quite a while with her and had not noticed her being particularly lucky. Nor had he seen her stumble across any Ancient Treasure or other good loot while walking around.

Even going out to hunt a pheasant left her looking as though the wilderness had hunted her instead.

Could my bad luck have canceled hers out?

Noticing her master's gaze, Li Yingling set down her bowl and looked at him questioningly.

"Yingling, how would you rate your luck?" Chu Xingchen asked with a smile.

Li Yingling tilted her head slightly and thought for a moment. "Pretty decent, I guess."

Since there was nothing to do right now anyway, he might as well test just how good his disciple's "pretty decent" really was!

Chu Xingchen took two dice cups out of his Spatial Ring.

When it came to luck, nothing gave a clearer demonstration than these.

Chu Xingchen handed one of the dice cups to Li Yingling. "Want to play a few rounds? Highest total wins?"

"I'm not very good at this... there's no punishment for losing, right?" Li Yingling asked warily, casually shaking her dice cup.

Chu Xingchen pulled a half-burned stick of firewood from the fire and waved its charred black end.

"The loser gets a mark drawn on their face."

Li Yingling's eyes lit up at that. She was still a young girl, after all, and naturally found this sort of game fascinating. Still, she first carefully checked both their cups and dice to make sure her master was not cheating.

The contest between master and disciple soon began.

Li Yingling shook her cup hard while muttering something under her breath, then slammed it down on the dining table in front of her with a powerful flourish.

She fixed Chu Xingchen with a piercing gaze, looking certain of victory.

Chu Xingchen appeared calm and unruffled, but inwardly, he was on high alert. He really was not cheating this time, and he finished shaking his cup with utmost care.

They slowly lifted their cups at the same time.

Li Yingling's three dice showed six, six, and five.

Chu Xingchen's showed six, six, and six.

"Master! Did you cheat with spiritual energy?!"

Faced with this unbelievable result, Li Yingling shot him a suspicious look!

"I didn't cheat." Chu Xingchen was just as surprised by the result. Li Yingling, with her Strong Fortune trait, had lost to him at dice?

But the suspicion in Li Yingling's eyes did not fade, so Chu Xingchen could only say, "Then let Ning Qianqian shake them for me."

Ning Qianqian, who had been happily enjoying her soup, set down her bowl and glanced cautiously at the dice cup. "I-I don't know how to play."

Li Yingling handed the dice cup straight to Ning Qianqian. There was no way she would let her master keep shaking it.

"Just give it a few shakes. That's all."

Ning Qianqian looked up at Chu Xingchen. After seeing him nod his approval, she held down the dice cup, gave it a few casual shakes, and left it on the table.

Li Yingling's confidence immediately soared. As long as her master did not cheat, with her luck, she would surely paint his entire face pitch-black.

Her earlier "pretty decent" had merely been modesty. Ever since she was little, she had never lost a game that involved luck!

She had even saved up quite a bit of silver as a child by playing little games back at the family residence!

She had won so much from the legitimate children there that they took detours whenever they saw her.

Now brimming with confidence, Li Yingling declared boldly, "That last round doesn't count! We start counting now."

About ten minutes later.

Li Yingling sat blankly in her chair, her entire face smeared black, seemingly pondering the meaning of life.

For ten whole minutes, she had not won a single round! Even when she shook with all her might and rolled three sixes, Ning Qianqian could match her with three sixes after a few casual shakes.

At first, she had thought her master had rigged the dice cup, but swapping it out had made no difference.

This was the first time she had ever lost so miserably. And judging by the look in her master's eyes, he did not seem to have cheated.

Several sticks had already been used to draw on her face, and Chu Xingchen had tossed them carelessly aside onto the floor.

There was not a single mark on Chu Xingchen's face. He, too, was looking at Li Yingling in utter bewilderment.

Could Li Yingling's Strong Fortune trait be fake?

How could she have failed to win even once? Chu Xingchen glanced at Ning Qianqian. Her traits did not include any luck bonuses either.

Could my luck completely overwhelm Li Yingling's?

But recalling what had happened when he first arrived in this world, Chu Xingchen quickly dismissed that thought.

Back then, he had been so unlucky that even a sip of cold water could get stuck between his teeth.

Maybe this [Good Fortune] only activates under other circumstances?

Li Yingling stood up, her face blackened, and cast a gloomy look at her master. It was not that she could not take a loss; she was simply frustrated by losing.

"Master, I'm going back to my room to sleep."

Over the past two days, Li Yingling had more or less finished building her little cabin. It stood on the sheltered side of the Ruined Temple, very close by.

Chu Xingchen waved goodbye to Li Yingling.

Still holding the dice cup, Ning Qianqian asked with cautious curiosity, "Great Immortal, were you really cheating?"

"No." Chu Xingchen glanced at her, then pointed to the bed Li Yingling had originally occupied. "You'll sleep in that bed tonight."

The wooden partition had not been moved yet. Li Xingtian had probably been sleeping in Chu Xingchen's own bed before.

Li Xingtian needed to put in extra cultivation time lately anyway, so he could skip sleeping for now, or keep sleeping out back.

Surely I, as the master, shouldn't have to sleep out back?

Ning Qianqian said nothing. She simply set the dice cup back on the table, then obediently followed his instructions and went to the wooden bed behind the partition.

After putting everything away, Chu Xingchen lay back down on his own bed and closed his eyes to rest.