Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil in the Cultivation World Chapter 1: Life Chart and Great Blessings Equal to Heaven

Wei Kingdom, Yunze Prefecture, Tonghe County, Osmanthus Village.

In a rundown tile-roofed dwelling with faded outer walls made from mud bricks and capped by dull gray tiles, there were three rooms and two halls within.

It spanned more than a hundred square meters or so.

Such outdated tile-roofed homes dotted the landscape throughout Osmanthus Village.

Nevertheless, this abode had been constructed over multiple generations by the Jiang family of humble fishermen.

"Our home stands empty with nothing but walls."

Gazing upon the Jiang family's tile-roofed house, Jiang Fan noted that apart from the bed, table, and a few stools, scant furnishings existed, and the destitution remained as constant as before. He let out an involuntary sigh.

Just a few days prior, following a severe fever, memories from his past existence had resurfaced. At first, he found it hard to accept, doubting that he had truly crossed over from Earth into this unfamiliar realm.

However, after days of careful observation, he was forced to accept the reality that he had indeed arrived in an alien world.

Moreover, it happened via soul transmigration in the womb.

The veil of prenatal haze had only now lifted, allowing his recollections from the prior life to emerge fully.

In that earlier incarnation, Jiang Fan had been youthful and full of potential: he earned a bachelor's degree, pulled in an annual income of sixty thousand, labored in the education sector with grand aspirations and boundless opportunities ahead. To boost his earnings, he moonlighted as a DiDi driver after hours, sometimes taking on freelance rides, toiling relentlessly like an unyielding beast of burden.

Tragically, unexpected turmoil struck, wiping out the whole field and leaving him jobless immediately.

Even his superior pivoted to becoming a DiDi chauffeur.

To make matters graver, in his bid to root himself in a major metropolis, he had clenched his teeth to purchase property, only to discover it was one of Heng Tai's notorious stalled projects, and he had also sunk funds into a bank's fraudulent oil scheme, plunging him into total ruin.

The earnings he scraped together were meager, while the mounting debts would haunt him across lifetimes.

In the end, drowned in alcohol from despair, he passed out and awoke in a different world.

Truth be told, he now rued heeding that tycoon's advice that "Tsinghua and Peking University pale against the boldness of venturing forth."

In the aftermath, the tycoon amassed riches, whereas he tumbled into financial abyss.

"Yet this existence appears even more dire,"

Jiang Fan reflected on the myriad recollections swirling in his thoughts.

The land he now inhabited went by the name of Wei Kingdom, a realm governed by imperial rule.

Close by lay the vast eight-hundred-li expanse of Yunmeng Lake, sustaining countless fishing folk.

He himself counted among the numerous anglers of Yunmeng Lake.

Engaging in spring hauls, autumn nets, summer stocking, and winter clashes, this line of work didn't seem half bad on the surface.

Snagging a sizable catch could bring in a decent sum monthly.

However, essentials like fuel, rice, oil, and salt all demanded coin, and the levies on fishing outstripped those on farming.

On top of that, anglers endured a barrage of exploitative taxes and tolls, plus bullying from local thugs.

Owning a fishing vessel meant shelling out fees to berth at the docks.

Should illness befall, it spelled utter devastation.

Back in his former life, with society's progress and cutting-edge tech, even under debt's yoke, survival remained possible barring a desire for death.

Here in this realm, such assurances were absent.

He pondered how one might endure in this harsh domain.

"Brother Jiang."

Right then, a young maiden around fifteen or sixteen stepped in from beyond the threshold, her head wrapped in coarse linen, exuding an innocent yet captivating beauty. Her large eyes brimmed with expressiveness, gleaming brightly, her complexion smooth and pale like fine china.

She embodied a rare, effortless allure that captivated the heart.

Despite donning a bulky Ruqun garment, it failed to hide her shapely, ample form.

Though merely fifteen or sixteen, she radiated a subtle mature allure, her gaze infused with a seductive warmth like blooming spring.

With effort, she hauled a wooden pail brimming with water into the home.

This was Jiang Fan's betrothed from childhood, Su Weiwei.

"Why handle such a strenuous task without summoning me?"

Witnessing the sight, Jiang Fan extended his hand to seize the pail and set it down softly on the floor.

He regarded the young woman with eyes brimming with fondness.

Throughout his ailment, her devoted tending had been his sole support.

Without her vigilance, he might not have pulled through.

"It's no trouble; Brother Jiang, you've only just mended from a grave affliction. I can manage something this trivial."

"Moreover, now it's merely us two remaining in the household."

Su Weiwei dabbed the perspiration from her brow, her gaze upon Jiang Fan soft with warmth and deep sentiment, a trace of bliss and closeness blooming on her features.

From birth, she had been pledged as a child bride to the Jiang household, bartered away by her own parents in her youth.

She and Jiang Fan had matured side by side as inseparable companions from childhood.

Fortunately, the Jiang family never abused her; they cherished her as one of their blood.

Hence, days in the Jiang fold had been filled with contentment.

Regrettably, mere months back, Father Jiang and Mother Jiang had succumbed successively to illnesses born of overwork.

At present, only Jiang Fan and Su Weiwei leaned on one another.

Thus, despite her tender age of sixteen, she had begun bearing the weight of household duties.

She managed the laundry, meals, and tidying of the abode.

Yet she never deemed it burdensome; to her, perpetuating this simple routine felt quite satisfying.

Alas, in the current era, for even a commoner to cling to a mundane existence, mere survival could prove as arduous as ascending to the heavens.

"Do we have any rice remaining in the stores?"

With hunger gnawing at his belly, Jiang Fan felt ravenous and posed the question without restraint.

For ages, he hadn't savored the sensation of a filled stomach.

"Indeed, a scant amount of rice lingers at home; it'll suffice for three days."

"Yet I've caught wind that the Dragon King Gang plans to hike the protection fee by another thirty percent."

"Grumbles echo through the village."

"Should we fork over this protection fee, we'll plunge into true destitution."

Su Weiwei balled her delicate hands into fists, her reluctance evident.

She harbored no desire to remit the protection fee.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Fan's expression darkened. The Dragon King Gang formed the dominant syndicate in the locale, a shadowy power lording over more than a dozen nearby fishing hamlets and their nets.

To cast lines in Yunmeng Lake, one was compelled to tender the protection fee to them.

In many ways, they functioned as the de facto authority.

None possessed the audacity to challenge their decrees.

The protection fee had long been an onerous load on the fishing community.

This fresh thirty percent surge rendered existence untenable.

He speculated how many anglers would weather this coming winter.

"No choice exists. Remitting it buys us temporary respite."

"Refusing could spell immediate ruin."

Jiang Fan uttered with resignation. He too wished to evade the protection fee.

But he grasped the dread ferocity of the Dragon King Gang; they scorned lives as cheap and outnumbered any opposition.

Provoking them guaranteed a swift demise.

Lacking means to fight back, compliance was his only path.

"Hmm?!"

In that instant, Jiang Fan's eyes settled on the wooden pail. The pristine water mirrored his visage.

Ripples danced across the liquid's surface.

Abruptly, a golden gleam flashed amid his eyebrows, and a torrent of knowledge plunged straight into the core of his mind.

[Life Chart—Great Blessings Equal to Heaven]

[Attribute: Endure monumental disasters, and boundless fortune shall follow]

"Life Chart?!"

Jiang Fan froze in astonishment. He understood that every soul bore a fate, and at times, the life chart dictated one's entire path—whether to opulent nobility, middling normalcy, or a beggar's end in the gutters.

Varied individuals possessed distinct life charts.

His own appeared exceptional, standing at the pinnacle even among the elite of such charts.

The puzzle lay in his string of misfortunes across two lives, devoid of any stroke of fortune.

They proclaimed Great Blessings Equal to Heaven, yet he resembled one cursed with eternal ill luck.

Might this life chart herald a turning point in his destiny?

Before Jiang Fan could delve deeper into the implications of this life chart, urgent footfalls and profane shouts erupted from outside the dwelling.