Tian Hao was a transmigrator from Earth Village who had crossed over into this martial arts world, bringing a Golden Finger with him.
His Golden Finger was called the Heaven-Defying Mirror. Thirty-six gemstones lined its rim, and its surface could display Tian Hao's three innate attributes—essence, qi, and spirit—as well as a special fate attribute.
Unfortunately, the thing could only display his own innate attributes and was otherwise damn useless. He had spent over a decade exploring it without getting anywhere.
He had been wavering over whether to keep hanging around the Mount Hua Sect. After all, it had rather a lot of enemies to face: the Sun-Moon Demon Cult threatened it from outside, the Mount Song Sect watched like a hungry tiger from within, and Shaolin and the Wudang Sect seemed to have issues too. Then there was a walking disaster like Linghu Chong in its own ranks. The future looked bleak!
Fortunately, the Golden Finger he had almost given up on finally changed that day.
Yue Lingshan Spirit: 15 Qi: 11 Essence: 8 Fate: -60
For the first time, another set of attributes appeared on the mirror's surface, which had previously shown only Tian Hao's own innate attributes. They belonged to Yue Lingshan.
"I knew it! There are only useless transmigrators, never useless Golden Fingers!"
After a moment of stunned silence, Tian Hao grew excited.
Eighteen years. Eighteen whole years, and he had finally uncovered a new function.
Although he still did not know exactly what it did, at least this counted as progress.
Forcing down his excitement, he calmly pretended to examine Yue Lingshan's palm while actually studying the Heaven-Defying Mirror.
Only he could see the Heaven-Defying Mirror. It was invisible to everyone else, so he need not worry about Yue Lingshan noticing anything.
There's a percentage download bar after her name, and her fate attribute is negative too. Could that be the condition for triggering the Heaven-Defying Mirror?
Comparing it with his own innate attributes, Tian Hao immediately spotted the differences.
His own innate attributes were rather pathetic, nowhere near Yue Lingshan's. His fate attribute was also negative, though his was even more extreme: negative one hundred, while Yue Lingshan's was only negative sixty.
Fate... could it mean destiny?
Guessing its meaning from the word, he quickly thought of Yue Lingshan's fate in the original story. It really was miserable as hell.
She finally got married, only for her husband to castrate himself and become her sister instead. Her father also castrated himself and ultimately died a horrible death, her mother committed suicide, and she herself was stabbed to death by her husband, Lin Pingzhi.
He just did not know when Lin Pingzhi had castrated himself-before or after the wedding. If it was before, that made things even more wretched. She would never even have experienced a woman's pleasure.
A tragedy through and through!
Aside from that fate attribute, something resembling a download bar followed Yue Lingshan's name. It contained the figure 1.5%, which soon changed to 1.6%.
Just then, the girl withdrew her hand, startling Tian Hao. At the same time, he noticed the download bar stop, as though its internet connection had been cut.
That displeased him. Very, very much.
"You're only checking the shape of my hand. Do you really need to stare for so long?"
Wariness filled Yue Lingshan's bright eyes. She had realized something was very wrong with this fellow. He was probably a lecher.
She had misjudged him before!
"I'm not interested in a washboard like you, with no boobs and no butt. You're already eighteen, and your chest isn't even as big as mine."
Noticing her wariness, Tian Hao openly gave her another contemptuous look.
"You... you bastard!"
Following Tian Hao's gaze downward, the girl's eyes instantly reddened. She was so angry she wanted to hack someone apart.
No woman could stomach such words, and she was no exception.
Most infuriating of all, she could not refute him. That fellow's pectorals really were huge-bigger than hers.
He was infuriating enough to kill her!
"There are iron rods of different diameters over there. Go find the one that feels most comfortable in your hand."
Pointing at a pile of iron rods in the corner, Tian Hao ignored her fury and motioned for her to search through them while he continued studying the changes in the Heaven-Defying Mirror.
"One day, I'm going to shave you bald!"
After muttering that, Yue Lingshan finally walked over to the pile of iron rods of varying thicknesses. She picked one up and performed a sequence of Mount Hua Swordsmanship. Unsatisfied, she switched to another and kept trying.
The download stopped. Do I have to hold that girl's hand to stay connected and keep downloading? And at this speed, it'll take at least an hour to finish. Holding her hand for an hour won't be easy.
Frowning in thought, Tian Hao still did not know what would happen once the download bar filled, but it was bound to benefit him.
Besides, this was the only change he had managed to uncover in over a decade. He could not give up.
But...
Holding that girl's hand for an hour won't be easy. She'll definitely think I'm molesting her. If Old Yue finds out, he might even purge me from the sect. I need to create an opportunity.
Turning to glance at the girl selecting an iron rod, Tian Hao's star-bright eyes brimmed with greed.
"This one. It feels great."
After quite some time, Yue Lingshan returned with an iron rod, looking pleased. Its thickness fitted her palm perfectly, allowing her to exert force more effectively.
If the Jade Water Sword's hilt could be made like this, it would be perfect!
"I'll get the alterations done as soon as possible!"
Taking the iron rod and examining it, Tian Hao indicated that she could leave.
"Oh, right. Make a longsword out of meteoric iron, and make it a good one. I want to give it to Eldest Senior Brother myself when he gets back!"
Thinking of her eldest senior brother, who had been away for several months, Yue Lingshan's heart filled with longing and sweetness.
For a moment, the sour stink unique to romance spread through the air, leaving a certain single dog beside her feeling rather overstuffed.
Flaunt your love, hasten your death!
Sighing inwardly, Tian Hao felt obliged to help his little senior sister recognize reality's cruelty.
"Make sure it's good!"
After that reminder, Yue Lingshan turned to leave. She had only taken a few steps when a cry reached her ears.
"Watch out!"
Thwack!
Before she could react, pain struck the back of her neck, and then her vision and mind reeled.
But the instincts honed by years of martial arts training made her kick backward in retaliation. Her ankle was promptly clamped in place, making it even harder to balance on one leg. Her mind could no longer hold out either, and she lost consciousness, toppling to the floor-face-first.
That was close!
Clamping his little senior sister's slender yet powerful leg tightly between his own, Tian Hao inwardly exclaimed at his narrow escape.
After delivering that knife-hand strike, he had intended to step forward and catch his little senior sister as she fell. Who knew she would hit him with an anti-pervert move instead? He had nearly met the entry requirement for practicing the Sunflower Manual, and he had also missed the best moment to catch her.
He hurriedly crouched down to check her over, only breathing a sigh of relief after confirming that she was unharmed.
Although he wanted an unconscious little senior sister for a small experiment, he had never intended to hurt her.
He had been about to step forward and support her after the knife-hand strike. Who knew her reflexive counterattack would be so strong that she could still lash out before fainting? This really had not been intentional.
Seeing that his little senior sister was breathing steadily, Tian Hao took her fair little hand and quietly waited for the download bar to fill, while also testing whether he could improve the connection speed.
His earlier guess had been right. Skin contact was the condition for connecting, and it did not have to be through their palms. Contact with other body parts worked too.
Increasing the contact area and depth doesn't improve the connection speed? Bad review!
After experimenting for a while and seeing no change whatsoever in the Heaven-Defying Mirror's download speed, Tian Hao gave it a flat-out bad review.
An hour later, the download bar filled and turned into a photograph of Yue Lingshan-a black-and-white one. It was rather creepy and deeply inauspicious, but it fitted that negative fate attribute perfectly.
Aside from that, Yue Lingshan's innate attributes remained unchanged. One gemstone along the Heaven-Defying Mirror's rim, however, glimmered as though it had been activated.
Could each gemstone correspond to a person?
Deep in thought, Tian Hao willed the data on the mirror's surface to change, switching it to his own innate attributes.
At the top was likewise a three-inch black-and-white photograph, which looked decidedly inauspicious.
Tian Hao Spirit: 2.5+15 Qi: 0.1+11 Essence: 2.5+8 Fate: -100-60
Just as I guessed, the values can increase. Well, except for fate.
Looking at his brand-new innate attributes, Tian Hao was so excited he wanted to bust out dancing.
His innate attributes had originally consisted only of the numbers before the plus signs. The numbers after them had previously been zero, but now they had changed, matching Yue Lingshan's innate attribute values exactly.
Clearly, the Heaven-Defying Mirror's true function was to stack other people's innate attributes onto his own, though it seemed to be a somewhat picky eater.
He had touched plenty of people before, even his eldest senior brother, Linghu Chong. When he joined Mount Hua, Old Yue had personally examined his bones, yet none of those people had elicited any response from the Heaven-Defying Mirror.
Looks like the key lies in that fate attribute. Does it have to be a girl with a miserable destiny to trigger it?
He gazed thoughtfully at Yue Lingshan on the floor, then thought of his master's wife.
Without dwelling on it further, he patted his little senior sister's soft, smooth cheek.
"Little Senior Sister, wake up! Wake up!"
Frowning when the gentle pats elicited no response, Tian Hao stood, scooped a ladleful of cold water from the bucket, and took it into his mouth. Then he channeled qi through his dantian and sprayed it out forcefully.
"Still not waking up?"
His brows knitted even tighter. Since cold water would not work...
At that thought, Tian Hao turned toward the kettle boiling on the stove...
He hurriedly suppressed that stirring impulse and bent down to give his little senior sister artificial respiration, only to catch himself.
Artificial respiration is supposed to be for people who've stopped breathing, isn't it? I'd better get her to Master and Mistress right away.
Without delay, Tian Hao hoisted his little senior sister's light body onto his shoulder and raced toward his master and mistress's courtyard.
"Tian Hao?"
Lu Dayou, who had just emerged from the latrine, saw Tian Hao run past him, then shifted his gaze to Yue Lingshan slung over his shoulder.
"Little Junior Sister?"
He remembered those clothes. His little junior sister had been wearing that outfit during the day. Why was Junior Brother Hao carrying her away now?
What had that fellow done to his little junior sister?
At that thought, Lu Dayou's expression immediately darkened.
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