Chapter 1

There is an old saying: good fortune does not come in pairs, but misfortune never comes alone.

For the first half of this saying, Zhang Feng had never felt anything, but for the second half... As the saying goes, when you're down on your luck, even drinking cold water can get stuck in your teeth. Zhang Feng felt that just being alive was a stroke of luck. If he had to describe his life in one sentence, it could only be: "I've seen unlucky people, but never anyone as unlucky as me."

When he was born, due to a nurse's carelessness, he almost drowned in the bathtub. He was resuscitated in the emergency room for a full 24 hours before he finally pulled through...

At the age of five, while climbing a tree with his friends to pick elm seeds, the other kids were fine stepping on branches as thick as their arms, but the branch he stepped on, as thick as a thigh, broke, and he fell from a height of 10 meters, almost killing him. His legs were shattered, and it took him over a year to fully recover...

At the age of eight, while riding his bike to school in a neighboring village, he had to cross a dry riverbed. The bridge was at least three meters wide, but he somehow fell off. Even worse, the bicycle landed on him, and he didn't know how he ended up below. His ribs were broken in several places, and it took him more than half a year to recover...

At the age of sixteen, while eating barbecue with some high school classmates, two groups of people got into a fight. Unfortunately, he was once again caught in the middle, hit by several beer bottles from both sides, and his head was split open. It took over two months for the bandages to be removed...

In college, during a fight with students from another school, he was supposed to be the tough guy, but before the fight even started, he slipped and fell on the road, and was hit by a car. If his father hadn't run a hardware factory with an annual income of 200,000 to 300,000 yuan, he wouldn't have been able to afford the surgery...

Such unfortunate events were countless, and his life could be described as "miserable." Zhang Feng seriously suspected that he must have done something terrible in his past life, and this life was just to pay for it.

People in the countryside were superstitious and said he must have offended something, suggesting he burn incense to the gods and Buddhas. He usually dismissed such ideas, but his mother kept calling him about it, so he had no choice but to agree. Today, he came to the famous Sanqing Temple in Hu City to burn incense. But his miserable fate struck again. Just as he was about to buy incense to offer to the Three Pure Ones, he reached into his wallet and found it was gone!

"Who the hell stole my wallet! And in front of the Three Pure Ones, are you not afraid of being struck by lightning!"

Zhang Feng was almost driven mad with anger, pointing at the sky and cursing. He had climbed the mountain and waited in line for a long time to get here, and now his money was stolen. Wasn't this a waste of time?

But thinking about all the unfortunate things that had happened to him over the years, this was normal. The anger came quickly and left quickly, but his heart still felt bitter. He wondered if even the Three Pure Ones couldn't help him. This was their territory...

Seeing his distressed look, the old Taoist selling incense smiled and said, "Don't worry, there's an old saying: losing money can ward off disasters. This might not be a bad thing. After all, money is just an external thing, you can't take it with you when you die. You can earn it back later." He then took three sticks of incense from a wooden box and handed them to him.

"Master, I don't have any money to give you..."

"You don't need to. Everyone has their hard times. Consider this incense a gift from me."

"Thank you, Master..."

Zhang Feng felt a surge of warmth and bowed deeply, feeling deeply moved. Today might be the luckiest day of his life...

But at that moment, his bad luck struck again. As he took the incense, a loud thunderclap echoed, and the clear sky suddenly turned stormy, with dark clouds and lightning. A heavy rain was about to fall.

"Everyone, the weather is unpredictable, and lightning often strikes on the mountain. It's dangerous to burn incense today. Please go down the mountain quickly..." The old Taoist looked at the sky, shouted to the people waiting in line, and ran down the mountain with his wooden box.

The other tourists, seeing the storm, also ran down the mountain. Zhang Feng was stunned. "No way, really? I just got the incense..."

But looking at the lightning in the sky, he hesitated. Such weather was prone to lightning strikes, and he was afraid of being hit. He turned to leave, but then thought about the Sanqing Temple being so close and the incense in his hand. Was he going to give up?

No, even if I get struck by lightning, I will burn the incense today!

He ran to the Sanqing Temple, not out of deep devotion, but because he didn't want to climb the mountain again tomorrow.

"Three Pure Ones, I, Zhang Feng, have had a very unlucky life, always being tormented by fate... If you three are truly divine, please show mercy and change my luck. Don't let me be so miserable..."

After reciting for a long time, Zhang Feng respectfully placed the incense in the incense burner, knelt on the mat, and bowed three times. As he got up to run down the mountain, his bad luck struck again. A loud crack of thunder, and a bolt of lightning struck the roof of the Sanqing Temple, hitting the central statue of the Daoist ancestor. Zhang Feng turned around and saw the statue bathed in lightning, with electric sparks flying. Then, a white light shot out from the lightning and directly hit his right eye.

With a scream, Zhang Feng fell to the ground and passed out.

"Damn, do I have to be this unlucky..." This was his last thought before he lost consciousness.

"Little pilgrim, wake up, wake up, why are you sleeping here..."

When Zhang Feng regained consciousness, he heard an anxious voice. He slowly opened his eyes and felt a burning pain in his right eye, and his vision was blurry. He was worried that his eye might have been blinded...

He shook his heavy head and blinked his painful right eye, then closed his left eye and slowly opened it. He was surprised to see that his eye wasn't blind, but the scene was strange.

In his right eye's vision, he saw the old Taoist who gave him the incense looking at him anxiously, but his body was surrounded by a faint yellow halo, like tree rings, with 64 layers.

He thought he might have seen it wrong, so he rubbed his eyes and blinked again. The scene returned to normal, and he felt relieved. Then he looked behind the old Taoist and saw that the statue of the Daoist ancestor, which had been struck by lightning, was unharmed, not even a speck of gold paint missing. It seemed like what he saw yesterday was just an illusion, a dream. But as he focused, his right eye suddenly felt hot, and he saw the golden statue surrounded by a dense halo, with 300 layers.

"Wow!" He widened his eyes, as if he had seen a ghost.

"Little pilgrim, what's wrong?" The old Taoist asked, seeing his unusual behavior.

"Nothing, nothing. I just finished burning incense yesterday, and the rain started, so I stayed here for the night. I just woke up and am still a bit groggy." Zhang Feng quickly replied. As he relaxed his focus, the scene in his right eye returned to normal. He wondered if the white light that hit his eye yesterday had caused some kind of change.

"That's good, that's good."

The old Taoist stood up and saw a large hole in the roof of the Sanqing Temple, shaking his head and smiling. "Speaking of which, this Sanqing Temple is not in a good location. The interior of Mount Hemei contains iron ore, so lightning often strikes, and the temple has been hit many times. Fortunately, there are grounding devices under the three golden statues, or they would have been destroyed long ago..."

Hmm?

Wait, these three statues are over 300 years old?

The old Taoist's words made Zhang Feng pause. He focused his right eye on the three statues, and the halos appeared again. He counted 373 layers of golden halos.

Could it be... that these 373 layers of halos represent the age of the statues?

So he asked, "Master, how long have you been here at the Sanqing Temple? You must have seen many thunderstorms like yesterday."

"I grew up in this Sanqing Temple. I started cleaning and repairing it when I was six years old. I have been here for 58 years." The old Taoist's eyes were filled with nostalgia.

"So... you are 64 years old? Wow, you don't look that old, I thought you were only in your fifties..."

Zhang Feng laughed, but his heart was pounding. When he looked at the old Taoist, he saw 64 layers of halos. My goodness, my eye really did change... But... what is this? A superpower?

"Hehe, not that young, I'm 64, almost in the ground."

The old Taoist laughed and, remembering that Zhang Feng's wallet was stolen, said, "You said your wallet was stolen yesterday. You should go down the mountain quickly. There's a police station at the foot of the mountain. You should report it to the police. If you wait too long, they won't be able to help you."

"Okay, thank you, Master. I'll go down the mountain now..."

After saying goodbye to the old Taoist, Zhang Feng went down the mountain and found the police station. He cooperated with the police to file a report and then left the commercial area of Mount Hemei. Fortunately, the police gave him 10 yuan, or he wouldn't have had money to take the bus back. The only good thing was that he always kept his ID and bank card separate from his wallet, or he would have been in even more trouble.

Back at his place, he went to the bank with his bank card and saw the balance on the ATM. Zhang Feng shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Sigh, there's only 1,000 yuan left in my account. If I don't find a job soon, I won't even have money to buy steamed buns..."

"Do I really have to go back to my father and admit defeat?"

He had just graduated two months ago. His father wanted him to return to the countryside to take over the family hardware factory, but he had no interest and insisted on trying to make it on his own. This led to a falling out, and his father stopped giving him living expenses. Fortunately, he had saved some money during his college years, or he wouldn't have been able to eat.

But now, with only 1,000 yuan left in his bank account, how long could he last?

"Sigh..."

Zhang Feng sighed, withdrew 500 yuan, and walked back to his place.