Chapter 219: Rotten Luck

The next day, at eight in the morning, Zhang Yuanqing took a taxi toward International Tower.

Traffic was heavy, and the car crawled forward at a snail's pace. He sent Xiao Yuan a message telling her he'd swing by Wuhen Inn the next day. He'd reached out to her these last couple of days but gotten no reply. He couldn't read her at all, so he went to his life coach for guidance, and told him about the bet the two of them had made.

"Isn't it obvious? You've won the championship now, and she's scared you'll show up at her door demanding to claim your prize."

“So, she's shy?” said Zhang Yuanqing.

“She probably feels cornered," Ling Jun replied.

“That's something I know well. All women play hard to get, wavering back and forth.”

“I mean she's torn over whether to beat you to death when you show up at her door.”

I wasn't planning to sleep with her anyway, Zhang Yuanqing thought, sighing to himself. It was just a joke...

Since Xiao Yuan wasn't answering, Zhang Yuanqing figured he'd just tag along shopping with his little aunt that afternoon. He messaged her and arranged to meet at two o'clock at the usual spot.

He put the phone down, looking at the snaking river of cars outside the window, and started working out how to sell the Straw Doll for a good price.

It was one of Black Wuchang's items, and was of Saint-tier quality. It could corrupt both an opponent's items and their mind. Against an enemy, its effect was formidable but its cost was too outrageous and its target buyers too limited, which gave Mr. Bill grounds to knock the price down.

The figure in his head was ten to fifteen million, which he was willing to take in cash or in items of similar value. Under normal circumstances, an item like the Straw Doll would go for over twenty million. That was just how expensive Saint-tier items were, and even then, the market did not provide a fixed price.

Just then, the green light came on, and the driver stepped on the gas and shot forward.

Out of nowhere, a bus ran the red light and slammed hard into the side of the taxi, into the exact spot where Zhang Yuanqing was sitting.

Fuck! His pupils shrank as his adrenaline spiked. He threw himself aside at once, rolling from the left side to the right, and grabbed the interior handle.

Bang!

The bus, still traveling fast, hit the taxi. Glass and bumper shards sprayed everywhere as the taxi flipped about, landed on its side, and skidded over ten meters.

Inside, both the driver and Zhang Yuanqing were thrown about, tumbling. In that cramped space, Zhang Yuanqing, who had not been wearing his seatbelt, cracked his head against the roof and the windows several times, eliciting a hot, searing pain each time.

The accident further jammed up the roadway. Several cars edged slowly around and drove on, while others that were being driven by helpful individuals stopped, their drivers exiting and hurrying over to check on things. One after another, pedestrians along the roadside stopped to stare.

Clang!

Zhang Yuanqing kicked the door open and dashed to the driver's seat, dragging the unconscious cabbie out through the window.

His heartbeat is normal. No external wounds, no internal bleeding... A quick check told him the driver was just knocked out cold for the moment. He sighed in relief.

With one hand, he fished out his phone to call the traffic police, using the other to wave off a passerby who was dialing for an ambulance. At the same time, he walked over to the bus.

"What kind of driving is that?" he yelled, pounding furiously against the bus door. "Get down here! See if I don't beat you senseless!"

He was angry, enraged with the very specific anger of having his own safety threatened. Sure, given his constitution, a crash of this scale wasn't life-threatening, but that didn't mean he wasn't pissed. His own father had died in a car crash, and he had zero tolerance for drivers who didn't take their driving seriously.

The bus driver looked utterly lost, as if he couldn't believe he'd made such a rookie mistake.

By the time the traffic police and the ambulance arrived and the accident was sorted out, Zhang Yuanqing, who had just been in the first car crash of his life, finally reached International Tower at ten-thirty in the morning.

***

Mr. Bill welcomed Zhang Yuanqing into his lavish, Western-style office, and the young man took a seat.

"Yuanshi Tianzun himself, in the flesh. As you'd say in Chinese, your presence lights up my humble dwelling!" Mr. Bill said as he opened a cigar box. "Do accept this, a piece from my collection of many years."

If it weren't for my lungs, I wouldn't mind smoking one. Still, in the spirit of a man doing business, Zhang Yuanqing didn't refuse the cigar Mr. Bill held out.

"Let me help you!" offered Annie, who was standing beside him.

She took the cigar, cut the cap off with a V-shaped cutter, and lit it. Annie was dressed to dazzle. She had spared no expense with her makeup and lipstick, and her hair was freshly done. She wore a skirt suit over a white shirt with the top two buttons undone, now and then revealing a creamy hint of cleavage.

Zhang Yuanqing glanced up at her and met a pair of eyes as blue as the sea. Annie's eyes narrowed into crescents as she smiled, her expression full of charm.

After Yuanshi Tianzun and Mr. Bill had set up their meeting the day before, Annie had spent the whole night scheming. First, she'd paid a Scout to run a personality profile on him. Following that Scout's advice, she'd dropped her usual smoldering, coy style for a poised, professional look, changing up her makeup to lean toward the simple but refined appearance of an elite woman. She had dropped the careless flashing of the eyes for a more corporate-goddess aesthetic instead.

The Scout in question was a Scout of Kangyang District's Spirit Realm Walker Squad Two by the name of Guan Ya, a woman who knew Yuanshi Tianzun very well.

This woman... Zhang Yuanqing took the cigar from her and drew on it nonchalantly, with just one thought in his head. A boy really has to protect himself out in the world.

In Annie's eyes, he saw the same thing he'd seen in Zhu Rong's eyes the day before. Hunger.

He quietly put his guard up. Love and Desire Walkers love investing in Nocturnal Specters, Demon Lord being the prime example. I'm a Nocturnal Specter too, and my showing at the tournament not only made my name overnight, but I put on display the kind of ability and talent any organization would take seriously. Of course she wants to seduce me.

He had no intention of stepping in the same hole as Demon Lord, unless Fu Qingyang lent him that Knight-class item.

Annie smiled. "What would you like to drink, Mr. Yuanshi?"

"Black tea," Zhang Yuanqing replied.

Annie nodded and flashed a demure smile. She opened the lower section of the liquor cabinet, took out a box of black tea, and set some water to boil.

Bill glanced at his assistant who was bent over her work and cut straight to the point, unable to wait any longer. "So, what is it you want to sell?"

"An item. A Saint-tier item," Zhang Yuanqing said.

"Saint-tier?!" Mr. Bill perked up, and his gaze turned eager. "May I see its stats?"

"Of course."

Zhang Yuanqing pulled the Straw Doll out of the guild warehouse and quickly set it down. Mr. Bill, who had just reached out to take it, paused, but didn't think much of it. He looked the Straw Doll over first, and with his Merchant's eye, he quickly judged it to be a Hex Master's item.

His eyes lit up at once. Hex Masters were an Evil class, rarer than the Lawful classes, and powerfully strong. A Saint-tier item belonging to an Evil class was worth more than that of a Lawful class.

This is a quality deal, Mr. Bill thought as he picked up the Straw Doll.

He held it and waited a few seconds until the item description and stats surfaced. He couldn't wait to read them.

A few seconds later he flung the Straw Doll away as if he'd touched a live wire.

"What's wrong, Mr. Bill?" Annie, who was preparing tea, asked with concern.

Watching Mr. Bill's reaction, laughter crept into Zhang Yuanqing's eyes. It's nothing. He just doesn't want to become infatuated with pigs' tails...

Mr. Bill sucked in a breath. "This is an extremely powerful item without question. However, it has a fatal flaw. Mr. Yuanshi, I can offer you ten million, and I'm not lowballing you. You should know that a normal human being would never accept a price like that. They would rather do without its capability."

Zhang Yuanqing shook his head. Ten million? High-grade Transcendent-tier items go for that. You crook...

"Mr. Bill, you think that way because you belong to a Lawful class," he said, adopting a serious tone. "You have a fairly high moral floor. But Evil classes have no such floor at all, and I trust a man with your connections can find the right buyers for it."

He was hinting, obliquely, that Bill could sell the item to an Evil-class Walker.

Under the rules of the Five Elements Alliance and the Taiyi Sect, dealing with Evil-class Walkers was a grave crime. But abroad, in countries where capitalism rules supreme, profit came first. The Lawful and Evil factions were enemies, yes, but the line between them wasn't drawn as strictly. The odd bit of business between them was extremely common.

Bill fell silent.

"And sometimes, this item's cost isn't necessarily a drawback," Zhang Yuanqing went on. "In my own experience, the price the Straw Doll exacts has carried me through plenty of tight spots."

That got Mr. Bill interested. "Such as?"

Such as your assistant, who can forget about ever seducing me, Zhang Yuanqing thought.

"It can shield me from all forms of beauty," he said aloud instead. "I trust that over on your side of the world, it'll find quite a market."

There were plenty of Love and Desire Walkers abroad, and while not every Spirit Realm Walker was a pervert, not all of them could contend with their own biology. That was exactly where the Straw Doll came into its own.

It dawned on Mr. Bill all at once, and he finally understood how Yuanshi Tianzun had shrugged off Annie's temptations time and time again.

He took a moment to mull it over.

"There's sense in what you say," he finally said, "but not everyone has a use for this price, and I believe more people would choose to drown in desire than pay the Straw Doll's price."

"No, Mr. Bill, I think you've got one thing wrong," Zhang Yuanqing said, and his voice grew quiet. "I don't have to sell it to you. If you can't give me a price I'm happy with, why wouldn't I just hand it over to the organization? Given my merit and standing, I trust the Five Elements Alliance would pay a premium for it."

That was the truth. If Mr. Bill wanted to drive the price down to the floor, there was no reason for Zhang Yuanqing to deal with him at all. It would be no different from selling it to the Five Elements Alliance.

When Mr. Bill said nothing, he added, "Of course, if you truly think the Straw Doll is worth too little, feel free to pass. It's business. If there's something to talk about, we can talk. If not, we can drop it."

Bill thought for a long while, then asked, "What's your ideal price?"

Annie had finished preparing the tea. With smooth, slender hands she carefully cradled the scalding cup and held it out to Zhang Yuanqing. "Mr. Yuanshi, your black tea."

The words had barely left her mouth when her fingers seemed to accidentally touch the surface of the cup. Both her hands jerked, and the scalding tea splashed toward Zhang Yuanqing's crotch.

What the hell!?

In that instant, Zhang Yuanqing showed an agility that made even a Merchant marvel. One hand shot up to block the steaming tea, and his body bent forward and his hips lifted away. Some of the hot liquid landed on the leather sofa with a muffled splash, while the rest of it hit the back of his hand. His face twitched with the pain.

"Sorry, sorry..." Annie apologized over and over, pulling out some tissues to dab at the back of his hand, her face full of guilt and concern.

Zhang Yuanqing frowned. This woman did that on purpose, didn't she! But throwing boiling water at my crotch, isn't that a little too vicious...?

Still, the deal wasn't done yet, so he swallowed his displeasure.

"Eight million cash, plus one item," he offered.

Mr. Bill nodded. "Fine, but it can only be a Transcendent-tier item."

"I want the Perfect Skin," Zhang Yuanqing said at once.

Mr. Bill paused, then said hesitantly, "No problem. But I have to warn you, the last owner and the one before him both met miserable ends."

I know. One got hacked to death, while the other turned into a call girl and was passed around and assaulted in turns, Zhang Yuanqing remembered.

"I know," he said calmly.

The item was bizarre, but its capacity to bear karma was simply too strong. Used well, it would be a divine artifact, capable of effects no one saw coming.

The reason he'd chosen it, mainly, was that he could put it on a yin corpse and then take the corpse over with his consciousness. That way, it wouldn't matter even if the yin corpse was mounted by a whole crowd of big, burly men. The one being violated would be Corpse No. 1. What did that have to do with him, Yuanshi Tianzun?

The two signed the agreement then and there and swapped items. Annie noted down the bank account number Zhang Yuanqing gave and went out to have the finance department transfer the money. Yuanshi Tianzun's identity was public now, so there was no need to have the transaction in cash.

Zhang Yuanqing cradled the thin sheet of skin in both hands, and after a few seconds, the item's information surfaced in his mind.

【Name: Perfect Skin】

【Type: Special Item】

【Function: Disguise】

【Description: A certain unspeakable being fell in love with a woman he could not love. To win the girl he'd longed for, he forged this item, disguised himself as the woman's husband, and successfully took her. When the woman learned the truth, she was in unbearable agony, and laid down a curse: anyone who uses this item will suffer an ignoble end.】

【Note 1: That being's intimate encounter with the woman lasted 60 minutes. Whatever you use it for, please do not exceed that time.】

【Note 2: No one can detect your disguise, unless they are a god.】

So, there's a story behind this item. And it's a cursed item. No wonder every previous owner met a terrible end.

Zhang Yuanqing put the skin away, feeling rather satisfied. He'd originally meant to pick the Scavenger's Cap, but that item's treasure-hunting function overlapped with Little Goofball's, and its concealment ability didn't do much against Saints. He was about to enter the slaughter dungeon and advance to the Saint tier himself, and the Scavenger's Cap couldn't quite keep pace with him.

Zhang Yuanqing rose to take his leave. "A pleasure doing business with you. I hope we'll have another chance in the future."

Annie showed him out, reluctant to part with her "sweetheart," then hurried back into the office on her high heels.

"Mr. Bill, did you hear what he said earlier? Yuanshi Tianzun just said that item was the reason he could resist my temptation. Now that he's sold it to you, do I have a shot?"

Bill thought about it, then said earnestly, "If you stick a pig's tail on your backside, I believe Yuanshi Tianzun would be yours for the taking."

***

It was five in the afternoon when Zhang Yuanqing returned home. Wearily, with a tiredness that seemed to seep into his bones, he lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

His brows knit together in thought. Was I unusually unlucky today?

After leaving Mr. Bill's office that morning, the elevator in International Tower had malfunctioned. The car had dropped dozens of meters straight down, drawing a cacophony of screams within the interior. Everything turned out fine in the end, but it had scared the wits out of him.

Then, when out shopping with his aunt, he'd nearly been hit by a car. After that, a middle-aged man in a short-sleeved shirt with angel's wings had picked a fight with them, saying his aunt was too beautiful. His phone had also slipped into the toilet bowl.

To top it all off, there was the car crash and the scalding water incident from earlier in the day.

This isn't right. This definitely isn't right. His brows drew tightly together, and a theory flashed through his head. A curse!

"But that doesn't add up either," he muttered. "If it were a curse, I'd be dead by now. Where's the sense in a curse this gentle? Maybe it's just plain bad luck?"

He thought it over, then sent Aunt Xiao Yuan a message.

Yuanshi Tianzun: I think I've been cursed. I've had rotten luck all day, but it also could just be ordinary bad luck. Can I go over to Wuhen Inn?

Breaking a curse was simple. The Demon-subduing Awl would do it. But he wanted to ask a professional about it first, to be sure he'd really been cursed.

Magic Aunt Xiao Yuan: If you've been cursed with rotten luck, better to stay where you are than move about. Send me your address.

Zhang Yuanqing sent over his neighborhood's address at once.

Forty minutes later, he received Magic Aunt Xiao Yuan's message: I'm here.

Zhang Yuanqing left his room, walked out past the entry hall into the stairwell, and looked down through the stairwell window. Sure enough, a white sedan was parked below.

He sent Xiao Yuan a reply: Coming right down.

He took the elevator to the ground floor and pushed open the security door.

The window of the white sedan slowly rolled down. Aunt Xiao Yuan sat in the driver's seat, mature and sultry, striking and poised.

Zhang Yuanqing broke into a smile and walked over quickly. Then, all at once, Xiao Yuan's expression shifted.

"Look out!" she cried.