Chapter 12: Breaking the Curse of Misfortune

Ruan Xingwen's tone carried a shocking question, "You're the card [Yun Jing] from 'Godslayer'?!" No wonder he found the name somewhat familiar; when he saw Yun Jing, he felt a sense of familiarity — he thought it was just his imagination! "Yes, yes. At that time, I was sealed in the card and could only rely on entering the players' divine sense to leave the card, so..." No need to say anymore, he already knew what came next. But he was still puzzled, why was it always him?! Seeing his confusion, Yun Jing blushed a bit, not only because of the experiences Ruan Xingwen had over the past two years, but because... "Oh, because you're the best-looking among that group of players!" Yun Jing blurted out the reason in a resigned manner. Ruan Xingwen had fair skin, and apart from the charming brown mole on his nose, which drew attention, his eyes were the most attractive feature. His almond-shaped eyes, with naturally slightly drooping corners, looked innocent and clear as he gazed at people. Not to mention his youthful innocence from two years ago. When Yun Jing first saw Ruan Xingwen, he was a bit stunned; he had never seen anyone more "pure" than him. He had tried to enter other people's divine sense, but those senses were too mixed, not pure enough. Upon first seeing Ruan Xingwen, he could feel his purity through his eyes. He attempted to enter Ruan Xingwen's divine sense, and it was indeed as he perceived — so pure, dangerously clean, and dangerously weak. He immediately decided that this was his host. The moment he entered the host's divine sense, the two had already established a spiritual connection, but Ruan Xingwen's divine sense was inexplicably frail. This led to Ruan Xingwen being unable to perceive his presence, and their spiritual connection had some negative effects — terrible luck. And he needed a chance to exit his divine sense, to enter a new host, to break this curse-like bond. More than three years later, the opportunity finally arrived, and it was the Little Qilin. Yun Jing didn't know the reason for Little Qilin's appearance. The Mountain and Sea Realm was desolate, with Divine Beasts and Fierce Beasts nearly extinct; those that survived were heavily injured. And how this Little Qilin appeared in the real world, he knew nothing. But its arrival provided the opportunity for him to leave Ruan Xingwen's divine sense; Ruan Xingwen could break the curse brought by this connection. Ruan Xingwen realized that from the start, he had felt that ever since touching this game, his luck worsened. Turns out it was related, but not the game's fault — it was because of Yun Jing. "Is the curse broken now? I feel like since the first task started, I've lifted bad luck and actually become lucky?" "The curse is lifted, but the reason you're now lucky isn't this — it's because of this little thing beside you." Both looked at the Little Qilin playing on the couch with a pillow, thinking in unison: Why does this Qilin resemble a dog... The Little Qilin immediately paused its playful movements, looking at them nonchalantly, blinking its big round eyes as if asking, "Do you have a problem?" "I remember now; Qilin is an auspicious beast. It can bring good luck to people, right?" Ruan Xingwen clapped his hands in sudden realization. "It indeed is; perhaps it doesn't even know, and it needs to control its ability. Everything has a limit; you all know the theory of extremes. Clearly, right now, it can't fully control its own abilities." Yun Jing, showing signs of spiritual energy depletion from being manifested for too long, started speaking faster as his soul form became more ephemeral. "The card drawing from two days ago was completed relying on its ability. Because of the spiritual connection previously established with me, your luck was reduced, maintaining balance, so this time there wasn't any negative impact. But it's uncertain for the future. The top priority now is to have it control its abilities well, avoiding affecting you too much." Finally finished speaking, Yun Jing became even more ethereal, as if about to vanish, and rapidly retracted back into the Little Qilin's divine sense. Watching his almost disappearing soul form, Ruan Xingwen felt a vague sense of heartache, but he still had some unresolved questions, "Hey, but you haven't said how to train it; what should we do?" The only response was a line of text from the void before him. [If the host has any questions, you may provide feedback to the system.] You even have punctuation; why can't you directly answer my question? And what's up with Yun Jing, what needs to be done to help him? The system responded again. [Excessive spiritual energy consumption, no major issues. Should the host wish to help, simply issue a command within the divine sense; use your spiritual energy to assist in recovery.] Without hesitation, he issued the command in his divine sense and attempted to call out, "Yun Jing? How are you?" But Yun Jing gave no reaction. "What's the reason for this? Why is there no effect?" [Please be patient; spiritual energy recovery requires time. It will be restored after tonight.] Ruan Xingwen sighed in relief, that's good. He turned his head to see the Little Qilin curled up in the corner of the couch. He reached out to hug it, but unexpectedly, the Little Qilin dodged his hand. He quietly watched the Little Qilin, confusion in his gaze. The Little Qilin sounded aggrieved, with a tone carrying a hint of remorse, "I can't be too close to you; I can't control my abilities and might hurt you." "It's okay, I just want to hug you now; nothing will happen. Come here, I'm so tired," Ruan Xingwen said half-jokingly, half-seriously. He was genuinely exhausted; today had been filled with several stressful events, and he had just depleted his spiritual energy to support Yun Jing. Though he couldn't feel the disappearance of the spiritual energy, he could sense his body suddenly becoming very tired in that instant. He urged, "Come here for a hug, then let's sleep. No bath today, we'll see when we have time." The Little Qilin finally hesitated and came over, "Sorry~" It lifted its paw to embrace Ruan Xingwen's neck, though its paw was not long enough. "It's okay, meeting you makes me happy; it's my luck too." Rubbing the Little Qilin's head, he stood and went into the bathroom. Drying his hair, just as he lifted the quilt to lie in bed, the phone rang; he picked up the phone on the bedside cabinet and glanced at it — it was Li Li, not wanting to answer. After a dozen seconds, ready to reluctantly pick up, the ring stopped. Before he could breathe a sigh of relief, a WeChat notification sounded again. [Li Li: Xing Wen, sleep early tonight; don't forget tomorrow's gathering. I'll pick you up at five in the evening.] Rarely, Ruan Xingwen didn't reply immediately; his feelings towards Li Li were complicated now — gratitude for her kindness back then, but disapproval of her recent actions. Everyone acts for themselves; he didn't have the right to persuade her to change. Exhausted, he lay on the bed. Sigh, hoping tomorrow is just a simple gathering; otherwise, he'd have to let Li Li down. He had his principles too.