Fate Trading System – Chapter 250

Plan A

Furnace¹ 1

14:57.

【You should know, I don’t have this obligation.】

Please, just this once.

【Alright, just this once.】

Time rewound.

Su Xin² opened her eyes on the bed. When she got out of bed, her body suddenly paused.

Strange, why did she feel like she had done this exact motion before?

It was probably just an illusion. Su Xin shook her head and walked into the bathroom.

14:47.

Qiu Qingqing³ lay on the bed, looking at the time that had returned to its starting point.

Everything that had just happened was as if it had never occurred. The entire world had regressed by ten minutes, and only Qiu Qingqing and Fourteen knew what had transpired in those ten minutes.

【This lowly one believes your actions are incorrect.】

Fourteen’s voice echoed in Qiu Qingqing’s mind.

Thank you for your help. You should leave now.

【…Farewell.】

Qiu Qingqing breathed a sigh of relief.

She had truly been rash just now and had to cut her losses in time, returning to the starting point.

Qiu Qingqing was a cautious person. She didn’t like to gamble, only liking a hundred percent certainty of victory. Anything that exceeded her expectations had to be forced back on track.

She understood Su Xin, and precisely because she understood, she was even more careful.

Because although Su Xin appeared very direct, with an air of not caring about anything, as if nothing mattered, her personality was actually incredibly fierce, extremely stubborn, prone to getting bogged down in trivialities⁴, and even more prone to overthinking.

In her world, every person was like one radish, one hole⁵—they only had one fixed position. Although that position might change, what wouldn’t change was that the position could never occupy another position.

Simply put, one person could not have more than one intimate relationship with her beyond a certain limit.

This worldview was truly exasperating. Fortunately, Qiu Qingqing was a very patient person.

Actually, if Qiu Qingqing didn’t like Su Xin and liked someone else instead, things wouldn’t be so troublesome. Perhaps they would have already had a happy ending and been together blissfully.

But that was impossible.

Qiu Qingqing thought that she might be stuck on this heartless woman for her entire life. Su Xin could repay her with the same kindness, but it wasn’t the kind of affection she desired.

Qiu Qingqing walked out of the room and saw Su Xin squinting at her, revealing a big smile.

“Qingqing, you’re awake.”

“En.”

What could she do? The moment she saw her, she lost all control.

During the repetitive month, Su Xin was someone who could endure loneliness and didn’t find it dull or tasteless, continuing to train that group of children.

She hoped that each of the children she had trained would be special, just like how her master had taught them.

From the first day they stepped in here, some things could never be washed away from their lives. Once their hands were stained with blood, their souls could never be clean again.

Su Xin sat in a cool, shady spot in the room, legs crossed, an iced drink by her hand. The students were in the distance, undergoing repetitive physical training.

Outside, the sun was bright, the sea was azure, and the sky was blue.

Qiu Qingqing stood under the sunlight, her profile looking very beautiful.

Su Xin bit her straw, her thoughts straying a little.

Over the years, her friends and companions had, one after another, found partners. After risking their lives enough for the organization, some found people outside their circle, liking that kind of sunshine and untainted purity that could let them lay down the darkness and pressure in their hearts, living happily ever after.

Su Xin didn’t yearn for the light, because her heart wasn’t burdened.

She didn’t think there was anything wrong with herself, nor did she feel that having taken lives was something that should cause much psychological pressure. She had started training since she was young and merely saw it as a job.

Darkness, she had seen a lot of it. She detested it but wouldn’t chase after the light.

She hated the completely ignorant, the purely good and innocent; she wouldn’t even touch them.

Other companions had found partners internally, either colleagues or from the same organization, because they spent their days and nights together, had tacit understanding, and feelings developed over time⁶. Moreover, they didn’t need to hide themselves, as they were very familiar with each other.

Some others didn’t find partners, continuing to indulge in hunting, needing only guns and fine wine, not love or companionship.

Su Xin didn’t know which kind she yearned for.

Did she have a goal? No.

A one-way street, just keep walking down it. Whatever comes next, let it be.

She didn’t need to toil for a living, nor did she have any particular aspirations or desires, but she was definitely not wasting her time.

Su Xin cherished her life very much. Precisely because she knew how hard it was to survive, she had to cherish it even more.

Don’t dwell on the past, don’t ponder the future, take it one step at a time. Who knows what tomorrow will be like?

“Qingqing, why does this dish taste weird today? Is it a bit too salty?”

Su Xin pointed to a plate of Mapo Tofu⁷. Qiu Qingqing had really messed up this time; it was truly salty.

“Maybe I wasn’t paying attention and added a bit too much. Don’t eat this plate, just have some of the other dishes.”

Qiu Qingqing tasted her own tofu and said so.

“This is a truly rare mistake.”

Su Xin picked at the other dishes, wondering what Qingqing was thinking about while cooking to actually have a moment of distraction.

Qiu Qingqing had always been a very considerate person, or rather, she had always been someone who thought a lot for Su Xin.

Actually, when Su Xin rejected her, dark thoughts had crossed her mind, but she had forcibly suppressed them. After the time rewind, those feelings had also transformed into something else.

What stood between her and Su Xin wasn’t gender, but familiarity.

It was precisely because they were familiar that there was an obstacle.

But without this familiarity, she wouldn’t be able to get close.

Qiu Qingqing summarized her experiences in past worlds. Su Xin hadn’t treated those worlds as real, so she cared even less, lacking much attachment or sense of responsibility.

Unless there was someone who could make her stay, be it for love or friendship.

Su Xin was very passive in accepting affection. Although she wasn’t afraid to take the initiative to express her feelings, there was nothing that could make her feel anything, not to mention her mind was still full of missions.

Qiu Qingqing sighed. Let it grind on; after all, there was still a very, very long time between them.

A month passed.

【Host, a request from a cultivation plane⁸ has been received. Accept?】

Accept.

It was a young girl who looked very beautiful, clearly someone who had been doted on and pampered while growing up. She should have been high-spirited, but now her brow was filled only with resentment and despair.

Most of the clients Su Xin met were like this.

Whatever could make them willing to offer their souls must be something that had plunged them into desperate straits, mired in a swamp. Because they couldn’t escape, they sought external help.

“My name is Wei Shuangling⁹.”

“I want revenge, to kill the man who ruined me. I also want to regain my cultivation base¹⁰ and become a top figure in the cultivation world, to make my parents regret it.”

The young girl’s eyes were listless, yet her words were like cries of blood¹¹.

“There are many things I am ashamed to speak of. After you use my body, you will know.”

Wei Shuangling never knew that such a secret technique, one that could swap souls, actually existed in this world.

“You shouldn’t be seen through, right? The higher a person’s cultivation, the more formidable they are, able to detect if there’s a soul separation ailment¹², or if one has been possessed¹³.”

“I won’t.”

Lord Fourteen, I won’t be discovered, right?

【Absolutely not. The soul will perfectly merge with the body, without revealing any discrepancies.】

“I’m counting on you.”

Wei Shuangling nodded.

Her consciousness kept sinking, sinking, as if submerged in the sea.

Su Xin opened her eyes and found that it was very difficult for this body to even make a simple gesture like lifting a hand.

This was a place called the Lingwu Continent¹⁴.

People were divided into two types: ordinary people and cultivation practitioners¹⁵.

Cultivators were ranked by level: Qi Refining stage¹⁶ → Foundation Establishment stage¹⁷ → Golden Core stage¹⁸ → Nascent Soul stage¹⁹ → Divine Transformation stage²⁰ → Void Refining stage²¹ → Body Integration stage²² → Great Accomplishment stage²³.

The Great Accomplishment stage was the ultimate culmination for all cultivators. After breaking through this Great Accomplishment stage, one could ascend and attain the Dao²⁴, joining the ranks of immortals.

Wei Shuangling was the daughter of an Elder²⁵ from the Wei cultivation family. She was currently twenty-three years old, at the seventh layer of Qi Refining, not exactly a cultivation genius, but still very outstanding.

Due to her beautiful appearance and figure, she was known as one of the Twin Beauties of the cultivation world.

According to her original path, she should have had smooth sailing all the way, but a mishap occurred this year.

There were black market merchants in the cultivation world. These merchants were elusive, selling all sorts of priceless medicinal herbs and scrolls. As long as you wanted something and could afford what they desired, they would give you many things.

A black market merchant took a fancy to Wei Shuangling and came to her father, Elder Wei, to exchange a medicinal pill for her. That pill could allow someone to directly advance one level, and Elder Wei had been stuck at the mid-Golden Core stage for a long time.

Although it was said that cultivation practitioners found it difficult to have offspring because they were acting against the heavens, it was still possible to bear children. Elder Wei had more than just Wei Shuangling as a daughter; he also had a son.

Although Elder Wei doted on his daughter, he was not a very emotional person. If he could use his daughter to advance his cultivation by one level, Elder Wei was naturally willing.

That way, he could enter the late-Golden Core stage, and Nascent Soul wouldn’t be far off. What a tempting offer.

Wei Shuangling was sold just like that. Amidst torture and pain, her entire cultivation base was crippled, and all her meridians²⁶ were destroyed.

What made her despair even more was that not only was her cultivation base abolished and her foundation ruined, making it impossible for her to ever cultivate again, but even her constitution had been altered.

She had been refined into a furnace.

This was something the proud Wei Shuangling could not accept.

Wei Shuangling actually had a special constitution, but because her cultivation aptitude was outstanding and not mediocre, far better than a furnace by a hundredfold, no one had suspected it. However, the black market merchant had discovered it.

Wei Shuangling’s transformation was rather particular. At the beginning, middle, and end of each month, she had to be used for caibu²⁷; otherwise, the yin-cold qi²⁸ in her body would cause a backlash, making her already fragile meridians even more painful.

Wei Shuangling couldn’t bear it and groveled before the merchant. After regaining clarity, she hated herself immensely, hated her father even more, her mother who didn’t plead for her, and hated this merchant.

She had once lived so freely, able to cultivate, able to pursue the person she liked, but now she had become like this.

At this moment, Su Xin had only one thought in her mind: This is so kengdie²⁹!

---

---