I died on my eighteenth birthday.
Not metaphorically. Not dramatically. I actually, genuinely died.
The moment came at midnight, in the Grand Hall of the Chen Clan compound, surrounded by laughter and celebration. Red lanterns swayed overhead, casting dancing shadows across the faces of Azure Peak City's elite. Music filled the air—the pleasant plucking of zithers, the rhythmic beating of drums. Everyone who mattered had come to celebrate the eldest son of the Chen Clan reaching adulthood.
My father, Chen Tianlong, stood at the head of the hall in his patriarch robes, pride evident in his stern features. My mother, Lin Yuhua, smiled warmly as she poured spiritual wine for the honored guests. Elder Chen praised my "dedication to cultivation" despite my mediocre talent. The Liu Clan representatives toasted my upcoming marriage to Liu Yue.
And Liu Yue herself sat beside me, beautiful in her silk robes of azure and white, her jade ornaments catching the lamplight. She smiled at me—that same gentle smile that had captured my heart three years ago. The smile I'd worked so hard to deserve.
"Chen Wei," she leaned close, her voice soft beneath the music, "I have a gift for you."
She pressed a small jade bottle into my hand. "Nascent Qi Elixir—my father acquired it at great expense. It should help you break through to Qi Gathering sixth layer."
My heart swelled with gratitude and love. I was only at the fifth layer after three years of cultivation—pathetically slow for someone of my age. Most talented cultivators reached Foundation Establishment by eighteen. But Liu Yue had never mocked my lack of talent. She'd stayed by my side, encouraged me, accepted my proposal despite my inadequacy.
"Yue'er, this is too precious," I protested.
"Nothing is too precious for my future husband," she said, her eyes bright. "Drink it now, in front of everyone. Let them see you begin your breakthrough tonight, on your birthday. It will be auspicious."
Across the table, Zhao Ming raised his cup in salute. My sworn brother—the friend I'd known since childhood, the brother I'd chosen when I had no blood siblings. He was everything I wasn't: talented, handsome, already at Foundation Establishment Peak at nineteen. Yet he'd never treated me with anything but respect and camaraderie.
"Brother Chen Wei," he called out loudly enough for the nearby tables to hear, "I've known you since we were children. You've always been the most determined person I know. Today, we celebrate not just your birthday, but your future rise! Drink that elixir and show Azure Peak City what perseverance can achieve!"
The crowd cheered. My father nodded approvingly. Even the skeptical elders smiled.
I should have known better. I should have questioned why they were all so eager for me to drink.
But I was eighteen, in love, and foolishly trusting.
I uncorked the jade bottle and drank the entire contents in one swallow.
The elixir tasted sweet, like honey and starlight. Power surged through my meridians immediately—far stronger than any medicine I'd ever consumed. My Qi roared to life, spinning through my dantian like a awakening dragon.
"It's working!" I gasped, excitement flooding through me. "I can feel it! I'm breaking through!"
Liu Yue smiled.
Zhao Ming smiled.
Everyone smiled.
Then the pain began.
It started in my dantian—a cold, creeping sensation, like ice crystals forming in my core. The surging Qi that had felt so powerful moments ago began to freeze, to crack, to shatter.
"What..." I looked down at my hands. Black veins were spreading beneath my skin like poison. "What's happening?"
"Oh, Chen Wei," Liu Yue's voice had changed. The warmth was gone, replaced by cold amusement. "Did you really think I'd waste a Nascent Qi Elixir on someone like you?"
The hall continued around us—music playing, people laughing, celebrating. They couldn't see what was happening at our table in the corner. Or perhaps they simply didn't care.
"That was Meridian Severing Poison," Zhao Ming said casually, still smiling his friendly smile. "Quite expensive actually. It destroys the dantian from the inside out, makes it look like a cultivation deviation. Very tragic. Very... accidental."
I tried to stand, to call for help, but my legs wouldn't move. The poison was spreading faster now, racing through my meridians like wildfire, destroying everything in its path.
"Why?" I choked out, looking at Liu Yue. "I loved you. I gave you everything—"
"You gave me nothing," she interrupted, her beautiful face twisting with contempt. "You're a waste, Chen Wei. Mortal Grade talent, barely at Qi Gathering fifth layer at eighteen. Do you know how humiliating it was to be engaged to you? To smile and nod while people whispered that the Liu Clan's daughter was marrying trash?"
"Brother Chen Wei," Zhao Ming leaned forward, his voice mockingly gentle, "you've always been so kind to me. Treating me like an equal despite my superior talent. Did you think I was grateful? I hated every moment of your condescending friendship. But you were useful—a perfect cover while I courted Liu Yue behind your back."
The betrayal cut deeper than the poison. These were the two people I'd trusted most in the world. Liu Yue, who I'd planned to marry in three months. Zhao Ming, who I'd sworn brotherhood with five years ago.
"Your death will be ruled a cultivation deviation," Liu Yue continued, examining her jade nails with boredom. "Tragic, but not unexpected for someone with your limited talent who pushed too hard. Zhao Ming will comfort your parents. I'll weep prettily at your funeral. And after a respectful period of mourning, we'll announce our engagement."
"The Chen Clan won't allow it," I gasped, black blood trickling from my lips. "My father—"
"Your father," Zhao Ming interrupted, "will be grateful that I'm willing to marry his son's former fiancée to preserve both families' honor. And once Liu Yue and I are married, the Liu and Zhao families' combined influence will far exceed the Chen Clan's. Your father will have no choice but to accept it."
My vision was fading. The poison had reached my heart, and each beat sent agony through my entire body. Around us, the celebration continued, oblivious. My parents laughed with guests on the other side of the hall, unaware their son was dying mere feet away.
"Any last words?" Liu Yue asked, her tone suggesting she didn't really care.
I wanted to curse them. To scream. To call for help.
But all I could manage was a whisper: "I'll come back. I swear it. I'll—"
"You'll die," Zhao Ming said pleasantly. "Like the trash you always were."
My heart stopped.
The world went black.
The music faded to silence.
I died on my eighteenth birthday, killed by the people I loved most, surrounded by celebration.
But death, as it turned out, was not the end.
In the infinite void between life and death, I floated. No body, no sensation, just consciousness drifting in absolute darkness.
Is this it? I thought. Is this what comes after?
NO.
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere, ancient and vast and utterly inhuman.
YOU WHO DIED AT ZERO, DO YOU WISH TO RISE TO GODHOOD?
"I'm dead," I said—or thought, since I had no mouth. "What does it matter what I wish?"
DEATH IS NOT FINAL FOR THOSE WHO REFUSE TO ACCEPT IT. YOU HAVE BEEN WRONGED. BETRAYED. MURDERED. BUT YOUR STORY NEED NOT END HERE.
"Who are you?" I demanded. "What are you?"
I AM THE HEAVENLY LUCK SYSTEM. I AM PROBABILITY MADE MANIFEST. I AM THE QUANTIFICATION OF FORTUNE ITSELF. AND I OFFER YOU A CHOICE.
ACCEPT DEATH AND MOVE TO YOUR NEXT REINCARNATION, YOUR MEMORIES ERASED, YOUR GRUDGES FORGOTTEN.
OR RETURN TO LIFE WITH THE POWER TO ACCUMULATE LUCK ITSELF—TO RISE FROM NOTHING TO EVERYTHING, FROM ZERO TO GODHOOD.
I didn't hesitate.
"I choose life."
UNDERSTAND: THE PATH I OFFER IS NOT MERCY. YOUR CULTIVATION WILL BE DESTROYED. YOUR MERIDIANS SHATTERED. YOUR BODY BROKEN. YOU WILL RETURN TO THE MOMENT AFTER YOUR DEATH AS A CRIPPLE, WITH NOTHING BUT THIS SYSTEM AND YOUR OWN DETERMINATION. MANY WOULD CONSIDER THIS A FATE WORSE THAN DEATH.
"I don't care," I said, fury burning through the void. "Send me back. I'll crawl if I have to. I'll start from nothing. I'll rebuild myself from dust. But I will make them pay."
REVENGE? IS THAT YOUR ONLY GOAL?
"No," I said, surprised by the clarity of my own thoughts. "Revenge is just the beginning. They called me trash. Worthless. They killed me because I was weak. I'll show them what happens when trash refuses to stay in the gutter. I'll climb so high they'll need to crane their necks to see me. And when I stand at the peak of this world, when I've become something beyond their comprehension, then—and only then—will I look down and remind them what they threw away."
Silence filled the void for a long moment.
Then, something that might have been approval rippled through the darkness.
VERY WELL. YOUR AMBITION MATCHES THE SYSTEM'S PURPOSE. FROM THIS MOMENT, YOU ARE BOUND TO THE HEAVENLY LUCK SYSTEM. LUCK POINTS WILL BECOME YOUR CURRENCY, YOUR POWER, YOUR PATH. ACCUMULATE THEM THROUGH MEDITATION, CULTIVATION, DEFYING FATE, AND IMPOSSIBLE ACHIEVEMENTS. SPEND THEM TO ENHANCE YOUR TALENT, ACQUIRE TECHNIQUES, AND MANIPULATE PROBABILITY ITSELF.
FROM ZERO TO GODHOOD—THIS IS NOW YOUR FATE TO FULFILL.
PREPARE YOURSELF. YOUR RETURN WILL NOT BE PLEASANT.
"Wait—" I started to say.
But the void was already collapsing around me, golden light exploding across my consciousness, numbers cascading like rain made of starlight:
[HEAVENLY LUCK SYSTEM INITIALIZED]
[HOST: CHEN WEI]
[STATUS: DECEASED]
[INITIATING RESURRECTION PROTOCOL...]
Pain.
Unimaginable, indescribable, reality-shattering pain.
My heart, which had stopped, lurched back into motion. My lungs, which had ceased drawing breath, suddenly inflated. Every nerve in my body screamed in protest as life was forcibly pumped back into a corpse.
But something was wrong. I could feel it—the poison had done its work too well. My meridians were destroyed, burned away by the Meridian Severing Poison. My dantian was shattered, collapsed in on itself like a dying star.
[WARNING: HOST'S CULTIVATION FOUNDATION DESTROYED]
[WARNING: MERIDIANS 97% DAMAGED]
[WARNING: DANTIAN SHATTERED]
[HOST CONDITION: CRIPPLED]
[INSUFFICIENT LUCK POINTS FOR REPAIR]
[CURRENT LUCK POINTS: 0]
[BEGINNER'S GIFT: 1000 LP AWARDED]
[SPENDING 1000 LP TO STABILIZE HOST AND FAKE DEATH]
The pain didn't stop, but it became manageable. I felt the System's energy wrapping around me like invisible threads, puppeting my body, keeping my heart rate imperceptible, stopping my breathing, lowering my body temperature.
To everyone around me, I would appear completely dead.
And that, I realized, was exactly what I needed.
[RESURRECTION COMPLETE]
[HOST STATUS: ALIVE (APPEARING DECEASED)]
[CULTIVATION: NONE]
[TALENT: UNMEASURABLE]
[CURRENT LUCK POINTS: 0]
[QUEST RECEIVED: SURVIVE THE NIGHT]
[REWARD: 100 LP]
[FAILURE: ACTUAL DEATH]
Through barely-open eyelids, I watched Liu Yue and Zhao Ming's faces. They were smiling, satisfied with their work, already turning back to the celebration as if they hadn't just committed murder.
My father's voice suddenly rang out across the hall: "Chen Wei! It's time for your speech!"
Liu Yue's expression flickered with something—annoyance, perhaps—before she schooled it into false concern. "Patriarch Chen! Something's wrong! Chen Wei collapsed!"
The music stopped.
The celebration died.
Chaos erupted around me.
My mother's scream cut through the hall as she rushed toward me. My father was beside her in an instant, his cultivation allowing him to cross the distance in a heartbeat.
"Wei'er!" My mother's hands trembled as she checked my pulse. As a cultivator at Dao Seeking Realm, she could sense life force better than any physician. "No... no, this can't be..."
"He's dead," my father said, his voice hollow with shock. His face had gone completely white. "His heart has stopped. His meridians are... destroyed. What happened?"
"Cultivation deviation!" Liu Yue's voice was perfectly calibrated—shocked, grieving, devastated. "He... he drank the Nascent Qi Elixir I gave him and tried to break through immediately. I told him to wait, to prepare properly, but he was so excited..."
She even managed tears. Impressive.
"He pushed too hard," Zhao Ming added, his expression appropriately sorrowful. "Brother Chen Wei was always so determined to improve despite his limited talent. He must have forced the breakthrough and... and..."
"Someone fetch Physician Qin!" one of the elders shouted. "Perhaps there's still time—"
"There's no time," my father said quietly, his hand resting on my cold chest. "My son is gone."
My mother collapsed against him, sobbing. The sound of her grief was a knife through my heart, but I couldn't move, couldn't speak, couldn't comfort her. The System held me frozen in death's embrace.
[QUEST UPDATE: MAINTAIN FALSE DEATH FOR 6 MORE HOURS]
[LUCK POINTS FOR PERFECT DECEPTION: +50 BONUS]
The next hours were torture of a different kind.
They carried my "corpse" to my chambers. Physicians examined me and confirmed what everyone already knew—the young master of the Chen Clan had died from cultivation deviation brought on by consuming medicine above his level and attempting a forced breakthrough.
A tragic accident.
No one's fault, really.
Just the sad fate of someone with insufficient talent who dreamed too high.
Through it all, I lay motionless, listening to my mother weep, my father's silent grief, the whispered condolences of clan members and guests.
Liu Yue and Zhao Ming played their parts perfectly. They grieved publicly, comforted my parents, promised to help investigate how such a tragedy could occur. Liu Yue even placed her engagement jade pendant in my cold hands, a symbol of "eternal love" that made me want to vomit.
As dawn approached and the household finally fell into exhausted silence, the System pulsed:
[QUEST COMPLETE: SURVIVE THE NIGHT]
[REWARDS: 100 LP + 50 LP (BONUS FOR PERFECT DECEPTION)]
[CURRENT LUCK POINTS: 150]
[NEW QUEST AVAILABLE: ESCAPE BEFORE CREMATION]
[TIME LIMIT: 18 HOURS]
[REWARD: 200 LP]
[FAILURE: ACTUAL DEATH BY FIRE]
Right. In Azure Peak City, the dead were cremated at sunset following their death. Which meant I had less than a day to somehow escape my own funeral preparations.
As the first light of dawn crept through the window, I heard footsteps approaching my chamber. The door creaked open.
"Young Master?" a small, hesitant voice whispered.
I recognized it immediately—Xiao Lan, one of the younger servant girls. She'd been assigned to prepare my body for the funeral.
She approached slowly, and I heard her stifle a sob. "I'm so sorry, Young Master. You were always kind to me. When my brother was sick and no one else cared, you paid for his medicine. I... I'll make sure you're prepared beautifully for your final journey."
Loyalty. Genuine grief. This girl had no reason to help me beyond a simple act of kindness I'd almost forgotten about.
But if I was going to escape this nightmare, I needed an ally.
Taking an enormous risk, I opened my eyes.
Xiao Lan gasped, stumbling backward, her hand flying to her mouth to prevent a scream.
"Don't," I whispered, my voice barely audible. "Please. Don't scream."
"You... you're alive?" Her eyes were wide with shock and terror. "But the physicians said—"
"I'm alive," I confirmed. "And I need your help. Please, Xiao Lan. I need you to help me escape before sunset."
She stared at me for a long moment, clearly struggling with whether to believe her eyes or run screaming for help.
Finally, she whispered: "What happened to you, Young Master? Why are you pretending to be dead?"
So I told her. Everything. The poison, the betrayal, the System's offer, the impossible choice I'd made.
When I finished, tears were streaming down her face.
"They killed you," she said, fury and grief warring in her expression. "Young Master Zhao and Miss Liu... they murdered you."
"They tried," I corrected. "But I'm harder to kill than they thought."
[HIDDEN QUEST COMPLETED: TRUSTED ALLY ACQUIRED]
[LUCK POINTS: +100]
[LOYALTY OF XIAO LAN: UNLOCKED]
"What do you need me to do?" she asked, her voice steady despite the tears.
"I need you to help me leave the compound without anyone noticing. And then..." I paused, considering my options. "Then I need to disappear for a while. Let everyone think I'm dead. Give me time to rebuild myself."
"But where will you go? You're crippled now, Young Master. Your cultivation is destroyed. How will you survive?"
I smiled grimly. "That's exactly what everyone will think. Which is why no one will suspect what I'm about to become."
[QUEST UPDATED: ESCAPE BEFORE CREMATION]
[ALLY ACQUIRED: DIFFICULTY REDUCED]
[TIME LIMIT EXTENDED: 24 HOURS]
[REWARD INCREASED: 300 LP]
"Can you bring me food, water, and dark clothes?" I asked. "I'll need to regain some strength before I can move."
Xiao Lan nodded firmly. "The servants are preparing for your funeral rites. Everyone will be distracted. I can bring you what you need."
After she left, I lay in the quiet of my death chamber and assessed my situation with brutal honesty.
I was crippled. Powerless. Supposedly dead. Hunted by people who wanted to ensure I stayed that way.
But I was alive.
I had a mysterious System that could turn luck itself into power.
And I had something more dangerous than any cultivation technique or magical treasure.
I had nothing left to lose.
The Chen Wei who died on his eighteenth birthday was gone—the naive boy who trusted too easily, who loved too blindly, who believed the world was fair.
In his place was someone new. Someone forged in betrayal and reborn in death.
Someone who would climb from zero to godhood, one Luck Point at a time.
And when I finally stood at the peak of this world, when Liu Yue and Zhao Ming looked up at the monster they'd created, they would understand the most important lesson of all:
Some people, when you push them into the abyss, don't die.
They learn to fly.