Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 85: Good or Bad Luck

The dusk had passed, and the night grew deeper. More than ten li away from Chen Qianfan’s residence was an icy cave.

Lord Bai huddled in Su Si’s arms, feeling confused for the first time.

There must be some major problem with its ability, but it couldn’t figure out where it went wrong.

Was it when it left the Chigou Sect?

The Chigou Sect took exploring the world’s great tombs as its responsibility, and they especially revered matters related to fortune-telling. When they went to tombs, they even brought talismans to ward off evil spirits and caught special ability monsters to offer them as sacrifices.

Lord Bai was transferred from a side branch of the Chigou Sect to the main branch. It had a strong natural intuition and knew how to ward off evil spirits, making it worthy of the title “a living spirit artifact” in the Chigou Sect.

The main branch of the Chigou Sect was located in the northwest desert. Despite the dry environment, it had its own clean pond. Normally, it slept on the freshest and cleanest straw and ate the most tender grass and fish fry. Those minor noble tombs weren’t even worthy of inviting it to preside over the ritual.

Lord Bai thought it could comfortably spend the rest of its life there.

A few months ago, after it happily finished wringing the neck of one of the human subordinates, it suddenly had an uneasy premonition—the feeling was complex and dense, difficult to explain. It felt like it needed to leave this place, but it didn’t know where to go.

So it could only lie despondently in its nest, using its small brain to think hard about its life as a goose.

Who could have expected that on that evening, a pair of wicked hands would reach into the goose pen? Lord Bai was furious, about to turn back and wring the person’s neck, but its mouth was caught in a noose. The whole goose was stunned—it was a premeditated attack!

However, the premeditated attacker had a good appearance and was skilled in martial arts. He silently picked it up, holding a glistening blade close to its neck.

Lord Bai didn’t struggle, and one of its fleshy antennae tingled, sensing the man’s fortune.

Although Lord Bai always looked down on humans, its brain wasn’t as good as a human’s after all. At that moment, it opened its small, bean-like eyes and made a simple and straightforward judgment—there was something ominous here, but the man’s fortune was very auspicious. So, it followed him without hesitation. What else was there to hesitate about?

Following the wrong person, it would end up being grilled at some restaurant, while accompanying the right one would bring it a joyful life full of food and drink.

However, ever since its “new servant” joined the Kushan Sect, it hadn’t encountered anything good. The declining fortunes of these humans made it almost doubt its goose life. Fortunately, everything seemed to go smoothly for the time being, and the group of people didn’t encounter any major disasters. Su Si became increasingly lively and active, and its premonition wasn’t completely wrong.

Until now.

At this time and place, its “joyful life” was in terrible condition, and it was about to breathe its last breath.

Su Si was huddled in a corner of the cave, his lips turning purple, his face pale, and the blood on his clothes had frozen. A few steps away, a tragic corpse lay on the ground, the robe of the Mishan Sect torn and tattered.

Lord Bai was firmly held in Su Si’s arms, its bean-like eye, in a rare instance, showed not severity, but concern.

Su Si smiled and rubbed its head with his chin.

“You’re not very good at seeking good fortune and avoiding disasters… But you’ve already helped me a lot. Everyone has their own fate, and I’m afraid I can only support you until here.”

Anxiously, Lord Bai twisted its body, breaking free from Su Si’s somewhat cold embrace. While raising its head and making a low honk, it continued to think, trying to find the place where it went wrong and led them astray.

According to its intuition, both of them should survive.

Could today be different?

Early in the morning today, Lord Bai sensed an extremely strong ominous aura. So it nudged Su Si awake, intending to save its own servant.

As expected, Su Si put on his clothes and chased after it murderously.

Over the past few months, Lord Bai had learned about its servant—Su Si was always vigilant, and he never left his butcher knife behind. He was also good at survival and would definitely be able to walk out of the snowy plains alive.

The most convenient thing was that Su Si was quite calm and ruthless, never doing anything useless. Su Si had used other humans before, but he was better at withdrawing in time than anyone else.

What a stable and useful rice bowl.

Lord Bai’s premonition came just in time. As soon as Su Si found the goose demon and was about to run after it, they saw a large group of monsters.

Seeing fresh human flesh, a few small monsters broke away from the group and pounced towards them. Su Si lowered his eyes, and the blade of his butcher knife flashed, splattering blood all over the ground.

So far, this was normal. However, what happened next was that the usually calm human seemed to make a wrong decision—

Faced with danger, Su Si didn’t escape. Instead, he kicked away the corpses of the monsters near his feet and was attracted by the broken runes on the monsters’ skins.

As the young Patriarch of the Chigou Sect, Su Si didn’t need to learn spellcasting and formations. However, he had to learn the basic formations often used by enemies and the sinister arts commonly used in tombs.

“Before, I only found these ghostly talismans annoying, but now I have to thank that old hag.”

Su Si picked up the inconspicuous pale piece of paper and carefully examined it in his palm.

“You called me out for this? …It’s just a simple formation-breaking technique. But someone deliberately tore the symbols into snow and spread them among the monsters, concealing the spell within the monster’s qi.”

“Did they want to weaken the protection formation without anyone noticing? Hmm, San Zi, Sect Master Shi, and Senior Yin should be fine…”

Lord Bai blinked its eyes, eagerly waiting for Su Si to take it away—the goose demon didn’t understand any spell or formation, and it was annoyed by the ominous aura of this place.

If it were before, Su Si would have run away already. But this time, he stood still, muttering incomprehensible words like “chasing the culprit” and “breaking the formation”.

It didn’t come to save him and be idle!

Lord Bai was furious, and it bit Su Si’s leg with one bite. Unfortunately, it was freezing cold, and Su Si’s clothes weren’t thin enough. Its bite was in vain, and it could only flap its wings anxiously.

“I know, we need to find the person who cast the spell quickly.” Su Si glanced at Lord Bai. “I don’t understand the spell, and Chen Qianfan’s protection formation won’t hold up for too long.”

“Honk!!!” What do you know? What does it matter what they’re doing!

However, Su Si only tightened his clothes, wrapping Lord Bai inside his robes, and continued forward following the horde of monsters.

…Fine, it didn’t care anymore. Anyway, it didn’t sense any ominous signs of trouble. As long as it and its servant weren’t going to die, it didn’t mind dawdling a bit longer.

Lord Bai felt somewhat disgruntled.

Of the three people from the Kushan Sect, except for the one with red eyes who was somewhat still human, the other two were much stranger. Su Si didn’t have fresh grass and fish fry, nor did it have its own clear pool. It couldn’t understand why Su Si was so attached to the Kushan Sect.

Half a day later, Su Si successfully found the remote spellcaster. However, the person was more cautious than they imagined and stronger than they anticipated.

The two fought for a full three hours while Lord Bai trembled behind a giant rock in the cave the entire time—it could only predict fortune and misfortune and had no knowledge of any spells. Any random spell that came their way could instantly send it to its demise.

Moreover, the spells that exploded in front of them were more than anything it had seen in its entire life.

Its servant exhausted all his strength before finally ending his opponent’s life. But when the enemy fell, Su Si was also covered in injuries, and he could barely stand steadily.

Under normal circumstances, these injuries wouldn’t be enough to take his life in one go. But here was the desolate and uninhabited northern region, where even someone in good health could easily freeze to death.

Lord Bai was almost frightened by Su Si’s situation.

His servant’s death was imminent, and it would be left alone in the icy and snowy wilderness, uncertain about its own fate.

Yet, it still couldn’t sense any ominous aura. Did its fleshy antennae get frostbite? Or was it too cold here, and it was weakened due to hunger and lack of vitality?

“Honk! Honk!” Lord Bai stumbled and ran towards the corpse, hopping and yelling on the body.

According to Su Si’s character, he should have gone to gnaw on the corpse. If he ate something, he might have more strength to support himself.

But Su Si just shook his head wearily.

“They will definitely come looking for me. Unfortunately, the horde of monsters won’t disperse for a while, and this place is well hidden. They probably won’t arrive until after sunrise… Even if I eat the corpse, I won’t survive until then. I don’t want them… to see me in that disgusting state.”

He exhaled a breath of cold air and even revealed a trace of a weak smile.

“Besides, even if I want to eat something, I should eat you first.”

“Honk!” What the hell! This is completely outrageous!

“Lord Bai, come over here.” Su Si’s voice suddenly became steadier.

Lord Bai stomped the ground, trying to appear majestic, and walked over. It hadn’t even stabilized its posture when something warm was added to its body. It lowered its head and saw a piece of warm red jade.

“I found it on that bastard’s body. It’s probably a little gadget they used to warm their fingers when casting spells. You wear this and go far away… You can go anywhere.”

“Honk?”

When something was unusual, there must be something demonic behind it. It was freezing cold here; how could this person bear to give away such a treasure?

“You’re small in size, so you can use this to protect yourself. In my current condition, just warming a finger won’t help… I don’t want to struggle to survive for a short time. It’s not worth it.”

Su Si seemed to have figured something out and smiled even more brightly.

“Doesn’t this line sound quite ‘heroic’?”

What a mess! Lord Bai, with the warm red jade on its chest, went to twist Su Si’s hand again.

However, Su Si didn’t respond anymore. He half-closed his eyes, not knowing if he was resting or already unconscious. Lord Bai nudged the palm of his hand with its head, feeling the icy coldness of Su Si’s palm.

‘Things shouldn’t be like this,’ it thought sluggishly.

Maybe it should wait here for a while. It couldn’t say for sure that it wasn’t mistaken, and perhaps there would be a turning point. It had lived for so long by warning about fortune and misfortune and leaving everything to fate. As long as it found a suitable human servant to attach to, it wouldn’t need to think or do anything.

Its ability had never been wrong.

Considering this, Lord Bai tried to twist Su Si again. Su Si still didn’t respond. It drooped its head and sat there dumbfounded.

Su Si’s life force was feeble; he was really about to die.

Maybe it should listen to him and leave this place, find the next person with good luck and live comfortably. Even if its predictions were half wrong, at least it wouldn’t have to worry about its own life.

But Lord Bai still felt somewhat displeased; the warm jade on its chest was making it uncomfortable.

Su Si probably came all the way here alone, relying on it to remain silent, right? The extent of its abilities…

Forget it.

Lord Bai straightened its neck, raised its head high, and let out a loud honk. Its fleshy antennae drooped completely.

It didn’t want to think about the existence or absence of abilities or the good or bad outcome of the situation. Those things were too complicated, and it gave it a headache. Being just a goose was fine. If it received benefits, it would return the favor. Even as a goose, it had to uphold principles.

Lord Bai flapped its wings for a moment, then rushed out of the cave. Its body was pure white, and as soon as it stepped on the snow, only its orange-red beak and feet were visible. The wind and snow subsided, and there was silence all around. Lord Bai ruffled its feathers, ran to the most open space, and lifted its head to keep honking.

It honked until it was thirsty, then it lowered its head and took a bite of the snow. It didn’t know how long Su Si could hold on or if there were any people nearby. It just kept honking like cursing, getting more and more exhausted, but also feeling more and more relieved.

It didn’t want to die, so it would shout until it had just enough energy to survive. That way, it could leave the northern region with its head held high.

If it owed its servant a favor, wouldn’t it be so humiliating?

Lord Bai couldn’t remember how long it had been honking. It was making so much noise that it started to feel dizzy. It only remembered that when the dark clouds dispersed and the stars appeared, a pair of feet stopped in front of it.

It lifted its head and saw a young woman. The woman wore a dark red cloak, with delicate makeup and radiant eyes.

“I was wondering what it was. It turns out to be a little goose demon.”

She said with a playful smile while caressing the small silver whistle hanging around her neck.

On her shoulder, three chubby sparrows crowded together, curiously tilting their heads.

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The author has something to say:

Actually, it’s like this: At the beginning of this chapter, I was writing from Su Si’s perspective, but halfway through, I felt that something was off _(:з」∠)

I thought everyone probably wouldn’t want to read a one-man show and another fight scene, so I rewrote it.

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