Child of Fortune?

Shen Ge had spent a full five months in the market. He had gained nothing else, but he had grown more proficient at drawing Golden Sword Talismans and Qi Shield Talismans. He could now successfully draw three out of ten, and if he was lucky, he might even manage five.

The craft of drawing talismans was a real mystery. Even when he understood the principles, he would sometimes fail for no apparent reason.

Looking at the things lying in his Storage Bag, Shen Ge nodded in satisfaction. He could now be said to be armed to the teeth.

Even if he faced five or six people at the same cultivation level, he wouldn't flinch.

"Almost everyone's gone. There's no point staying any longer. It's time I left too." Brushing nonexistent dust from his clothes, Shen Ge got up, walked out of the cave abode, and strode toward the market exit.

As he passed the street of stalls, Shen Ge made a point of taking a few looks. The street had long since lost its former bustle. Hundreds of stalls had dwindled to three or five, and the crowds of pedestrians were gone, with only a handful of people wandering about.

Although the market stayed open for a year, in the last three months there were already very few people left.

Shen Ge looked over the wares on the stalls and shook his head in disappointment. Not one of them caught his eye; they were all little trinkets.

On second thought, that made sense. How could there be chances to pick up overlooked treasures everywhere? Like those protagonists in novels who found good things wherever they went-surely a little thought was enough to show how unreasonable that was.

Of course, Shen Ge didn't dare rule it out completely. After all, those were children of destiny, blessed with great fortune. It seemed plausible that they would come across good things.

Shen Ge had just reached the exit and was preparing to leave when the grand formation suddenly opened on its own. Before long, a boy walked in. His clothes were in tatters and he was covered in blood, but his expression was resolute.

When the boy saw Shen Ge, he wasted no words. He stepped forward, knelt before him, and said, "Senior, I have a Law Artifact here. I'd like to ask you to kill someone!"

"Oh?" Shen Ge was a little surprised as he looked at the boy kneeling before him, who was only at the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining. What was the world coming to? Even someone at the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining had a Law Artifact?

It would have made sense if he were a sect disciple or came from a cultivation family, but one look at the boy was enough to tell he had no such background. Curious, Shen Ge asked, "You have a Law Artifact? Did an elder leave it to you?"

The boy took a dark cyan robe straight out of his Storage Bag and presented it with both hands. "Senior, I brought this out of a cave at the bottom of a cliff. A year ago, I accidentally fell off a cliff. I survived the disaster and obtained a Cultivation Method, this Storage Bag, and this robe."

"There were only two bottles of pills in the Storage Bag, just enough for me to cultivate to the Third Layer of Qi Refining."

"It was also my fault for not knowing anything. I mistook this Azure Dark Robe for ordinary clothing and wore it around ostentatiously, bringing a deadly calamity upon myself."

"Please accept it, Senior, and kill those three villains for me!"

Shen Ge's expression turned a little strange. Falling off a cliff, surviving a great disaster, obtaining an inheritance and treasures-wasn't this the textbook protagonist template?

He had only just been wondering whether children of fortune existed, and now he had run headlong into one. Was the Heavenly Dao fucking big data?

Shen Ge picked up the Azure Dark Robe and examined it. It had no special markings and wasn't any kind of sect attire. It looked pretty good, too, with no damage or anything of the sort. It could be considered a rare defensive Law Artifact.

After accepting the robe, Shen Ge nodded. "It's good. I'll take it. Come on, I'll take you to kill them."

"Thank you, Senior!" The boy thanked him and stood up, his expression turning vicious.

As soon as they left the market, Shen Ge sensed a fireball flying toward him. Unhurried, he raised a hand and pressed down, extinguishing it.

"Not good! That brat brought an expert!"

With that cry of alarm, the three men turned and ran.

Shen Ge glanced casually at the three men, who were only at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining. They were full of vicious, baleful presence, and one look was enough to tell they were no good. Besides, he had taken payment to deal with someone else's trouble, so he didn't waste words with them. He summoned the Golden Light Sword and attacked.

A Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement cultivator against three at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining-honestly, it took hardly any effort. After the flying sword darted back and forth a few times, they were all dead.

After all, the gap between the two sides was far too great, whether in spiritual power, Law Artifacts, or Law Techniques. For the strong to kill the weak truly took no more than a thought.

Of course, that wasn't absolute. After all, a good treasure could overturn the gap between cultivation realms.

"It's done. Whatever those three have on them is yours." Putting away his flying sword, Shen Ge spoke with an impassive expression.

The boy stared at the three corpses in shock, standing dazed for a while before coming to his senses. He looked at Shen Ge with reverence, cupped his fists, and bowed. "Thank you, Senior!"

"A word of advice: don't be so reckless in the future. Also, don't casually show off your good things when others are stronger than you. You ran into me today. If it had been someone else, you wouldn't just have lost your things; you might even have lost your life."

"Thank you for your guidance, Senior. I'll be sure to remember it."

Shen Ge nodded and took a step, vanishing from where he stood and leaving only a sentence echoing in the air: "Take care of yourself."

"Farewell, Senior!"

Under a large tree five hundred meters away, Shen Ge looked with a pained expression at his clothes, which had been torn after snagging on something. He sighed. "That's what you get for showing off. Look what happened now-a piece of clothing ruined."

But on second thought, he had gotten to show off in front of this child of fortune. Though he had lost a piece of clothing, it didn't seem like a bad deal.

Shen Ge leaped to the top of a nearby tree and quietly watched what happened over there. He had no other reason; he simply wanted to see whether the boy really was a child of fortune.

If the boy could dig some treasure out of the corpses of those three Rogue Cultivators, who were only at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining, Shen Ge would acknowledge him as a child of fortune.

The boy remained bent in a bow for quite a while. Once he was certain Shen Ge had completely left, he quickly ran over to the three corpses and began searching them.

But after rummaging through them for a long time, he didn't find a single Storage Bag. He did, however, get a book.

"Spirit Rhinoceros Finger. This must be the Law Technique that bastard used to hit me just now. Its power is pretty good."

After leafing through a few pages, the boy frowned, as if he had noticed something. He hurriedly put the book away and soon left.

In the distance, Shen Ge frowned. It was hard to tell from the boy's reaction whether there was a treasure. Still, judging by his reaction, there was probably something good, though how good it was remained uncertain.

For an instant, Shen Ge actually had the urge to rush over, kill the boy, and seize the treasure. But on second thought, it felt somewhat unnecessary. They had no grievance or enmity, and he couldn't bring himself to kill someone for no reason. Besides, the boy was very likely a child of fortune. It was hard to say whether Shen Ge could even kill him, and if he let the boy escape in the end, he would have no peaceful days ahead of him.

"Forget it. It's just one treasure. There's no need. If I leave him with a favorable impression, perhaps the return will be worth more than this thing someday."

Shaking his head, Shen Ge turned and disappeared into the woods.