No Protagonist's Fate? Striking It Rich in One Go

"Forcing me into it-wouldn't that be repaying kindness with malice?" Lu Yuan asked.

"I'm a Dou Emperor offering to be your Dao companion. I can also provide you with cultivation resources and protection for the Lu Clan." Now that everything was out in the open, Yun Yun had stopped pretending altogether.

"But I have Dao companions." Lu Yuan pressed a hand to his forehead. "You can't expect me to start something and then abandon them. Do you really want your man to be that sort of person?"

A conflicted look flashed through Yun Yun's eyes, but she quickly said, "On the Dou Qi Continent, strength is supreme, and the strong possess everything. Male cultivators can have three wives and four concubines, and there are empresses who fill their harems as well. I'm stronger than you, so you'd be forced to leave them by me, not willingly climbing the dragon and clinging to the phoenix. It's different."

Very good. Sect Master Yun Yun had certainly thought this through.

"By that logic, if I become stronger than you someday, you won't mind if I have three wives and four concubines either, right?" Lu Yuan looked straight into Yun Yun's eyes.

"Agreed." A trace of amusement and confidence flashed in Yun Yun's eyes as she said decisively, "As long as you're stronger than me, I absolutely won't interfere if you have three wives and four concubines, and I absolutely won't have a change of heart either."

Yun Yun didn't believe Lu Yuan would ever be stronger than her.

She was a Dou Huang expert, and the Misty Cloud Sect Master to boot.

Could a young master from a small clan like Lu Yuan really catch up and surpass her?

If that day ever came, she, Yun Yun, wouldn't mind being his little wife.

In short, she first had to keep Lu Yuan here as her little husband.

That way, she could treat what she had experienced over the past few days as a bit of fun.

"You said it." Lu Yuan gave her a meaningful look.

"Yes, I, Yun Zhi, said it." Yun Yun nodded firmly.

"Yun Zhi?" Lu Yuan folded his arms. "You're already planning to make me your live-in husband, and you still intend to hide your identity?"

Yun Yun's expression stiffened. A little surprised, she asked, "You know who I really am?"

"Was it hard to guess?" The corner of Lu Yuan's mouth twitched. "Your surname is Yun, you're a female Dou Emperor and a wind-attribute cultivator, and you're skilled with a sword. In the entire Jia Ma Empire, who else could you be but Yun Yun, the Misty Cloud Sect Master?"

"Next time you use an alias, at least change your surname."

Yun Yun was mortified. She had never imagined she had given herself away from the very beginning.

"Good, then you know." Yun Yun's tone grew somewhat haughty. "In that case, you should understand that agreeing to my offer is your only choice."

"Is that so?" Lu Yuan suddenly stepped forward, moving close to Yun Yun.

"W-what are you doing?" Feeling the pressure of Lu Yuan towering over her, Yun Yun, who was now too weak to truss a chicken, instinctively took a step back.

"What am I doing?" Lu Yuan's gaze turned predatory. "Since you're forcing me to be your little man, wouldn't I be perfectly justified in doing something to you right now?"

"No!" Yun Yun backed against a wall, her voice trembling. "I-I'm not ready yet. You can't."

"Is that up to you?" Lu Yuan reached out and braced a hand above Yun Yun's shoulder, leaning in over her. "Weren't you the one who said strength is supreme and the strong possess everything? Right now, I'm stronger than you."

"I wouldn't kill you over something like this, but if I'm destined to become your Dao companion and obediently listen to you from now on, wouldn't I be losing out if I didn't do something while I'm still stronger than you?"

Feeling Lu Yuan's warm breath against her, Yun Yun's body went limp.

As sect master and the Jia Ma Empire's only female Dou Emperor, her word was law, and she was domineering in her dealings.

This feeling of being completely at someone else's mercy was unfamiliar, thrilling, and unsettling, yet it also filled her with an inexplicable anticipation.

"Lu Yuan, if you dare try anything, I'll never forgive you." Yun Yun gently bit her lip.

Tsk.

So this was all Sect Master Yun Yun had.

"Hm!?"

Just as Lu Yuan was about to tease Yun Yun further, his soul suddenly trembled.

A massive figure had suddenly appeared within his perception.

It was a giant wolf with a long, lean body, its coat blue-gray from head to toe.

It was more than ten zhang long and several zhang tall, with four legs like pillars and a row of sharp wooden spikes jutting from its back. Rich Wood Attribute Dou Qi flowed faintly through its gray-green fur.

Its dark green, vertical pupils held the instinctive appraisal of a predator sizing up its prey as they slowly swept over the rock walls around the cave entrance.

This was a Green Wood Wind Wolf, one of the three Fifth-Order Magical Beasts under the Amethyst Winged Lion King. It was of the wood attribute.

"Did this beast catch the scent the Earth Nether Rock Turtle left outside and come looking for it?" Lu Yuan thought his luck was truly terrible.

Wood countered earth, and the earth-attribute Earth Nether Rock Turtle happened to be on the Green Wood Wind Wolf's menu-and an absolute delicacy at that.

If it discovered the cave and found him and Yun Yun hiding inside, they would surely die.

I can't panic! Lu Yuan took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.

The only possible solution now might be to send the Earth Nether Rock Turtle charging out to lure the Green Wood Wind Wolf away.

As long as he and Yun Yun weren't discovered, they would still have a chance to escape once it was safe.

But this plan didn't have a high chance of success either.

As a Fifth-Order Magical Beast, the Green Wood Wind Wolf had a keen sense of smell and could also call upon the wind-attribute energy of heaven and earth.

The moment the Earth Nether Rock Turtle revealed itself, the Green Wood Wind Wolf would very likely discover him and Yun Yun as well.

"If I have to take a gamble, it's not as if there aren't other ways." Lu Yuan turned his attention to the Fortune Catalog.

[Fortune figure: Yun Yun]

[Extreme Wind Sword Canon (High Xuan Tier cultivation method; can reach Low Earth Tier if sword intent is mastered), Extreme Wind: Meteor Kill (a Dou Technique linked to soul power, initially Mid Xuan Tier) / Setting Sun Radiance (High-grade Profound Tier Dou Technique), Three-Star Dou Emperor (cultivation), Middle Mortal Realm (soul power)...]

[Intermediate Copy / Plunder (progress 90/30)]

[Intermediate Copy or Plunder available.]

"Activate Intermediate Copy." Lu Yuan's eyes burned.

[Intermediate Copy: You have obtained forty percent of Yun Yun's experience with Extreme Wind: Meteor Kill]

"Extreme Wind: Meteor Kill!" Lu Yuan's heart sank.

He had lost his gamble. He hadn't obtained her cultivation.

If he had known, he would have used Plunder and made Yun Yun start cultivating again from scratch.

As long as he became an alchemist in the future, helping Yun Yun return to the Dou Emperor level or even break through to a higher realm would be quick.

"Is it because I don't have a protagonist's fate that I can't turn danger into safety?" Lu Yuan's eyes flickered.

He had never agreed with that notion.

A protagonist wasn't a protagonist because they were destined to succeed. Rather, the person who had already succeeded was the protagonist.

"No, there's still a chance." Lu Yuan looked at Yun Yun's red lips, his expression turning serious. "Yun Yun, you don't want to die, do you?"

"What?" Yun Yun opened her eyes.

"A Fifth-Order Green Wood Wind Wolf has come looking for us outside," Lu Yuan said.

Yun Yun's pupils contracted, and her gaze immediately fell on the Earth Nether Rock Turtle nearby. "Because of your pet beast."

"Most likely." Lu Yuan spoke rapidly. "Whatever the reason, danger is already here."

"I'm going to send the Earth Nether Rock Turtle out and have it run deeper into the Magical Beast Mountain Range to lure the Green Wood Wind Wolf away. It's a gamble."

"But before that, I'm going to take another gamble."

"What gamble?" Yun Yun asked, puzzled.

"Forgive the offense!" Without explaining, Lu Yuan lowered his head and kissed Yun Yun's soft lips.

"Mmph!??" Yun Yun's eyes flew wide open.

What kind of gamble is this?

Isn't he just taking advantage of me?

Does he not want to leave any regrets before he dies!?

[Fortune figure: Yun Yun]

[Extreme Wind Sword Canon...]

[Advanced Copy / Plunder (progress 95/100)]

Seeing the progress shoot up five points, Lu Yuan's eyes filled with delight.

It really worked.

The closer they were, the faster the fortune points rose.

Kissing was faster, and dual cultivation would probably speed it up even more.

"But this still isn't fast enough."

Lu Yuan hesitated no longer and pushed past Yun Yun's teeth.

Yun Yun went limp all over, a mist of moisture appearing in her eyes.

But Lu Yuan was thrilled!

A new line of text had appeared in the Fortune Catalog.

[Advanced Copy / Plunder (progress 100/100)]

[Advanced Copy or Plunder available.]

[First activation of Advanced Copy: You may specify a target.]

"Being able to choose is good."

"Sixty percent of a Three-Star Dou Emperor's cultivation shouldn't disappoint me!"

"Activate Copy. I choose cultivation."

[Advanced Copy: Sixty percent of Yun Yun's Three-Star Dou Emperor cultivation]

Boom.

A boundless, terrifying flood of energy poured out of the Fortune Catalog and flowed entirely into Lu Yuan's dantian.

His cultivation began to skyrocket, faster than a rocket taking off.

Seven-Star Dou Shi, Eight-Star Dou Shi...

Dou Qi condensed into liquid, and the liquid formed a Dou Crystal.

The Dou Crystal transformed, sprouting nine irregular spikes.

The nine spikes rapidly disappeared one by one, until it was smooth and whole.

The smooth Dou Technique madly devoured the incoming energy like a sponge, rapidly beginning to grow.

Lu Yuan found that his body could now sense the poison-, yin-, and lightning-attribute energy of heaven and earth in the outside world.

"This feeling... it's the power of heaven and earth!"

"Excellent. Struck it rich in one go."