Chapter 1: A Wretched Life of Transmigration

At dawn, the glow of the sun broke through the clouds, illuminating the Yue Mountain Great Temple in the South City, adding a touch of ethereal atmosphere to the mortal world.

With the economic downturn in recent years, people no longer prayed for raises, only to avoid being fired. The once-popular Marriage Hall was abandoned by tourists, who turned instead to worshipping the God of Wealth.

Under this cultural trend, the Yue Mountain Great Temple happened to become an "internet-famous temple."

The reason was simple: the deity in the main hall was the "True Lord of Enlightenment and Spreading the Dao," with the Daoist name "Haichanzi," a quasi-God of Wealth who distributed money to aid the poor.

Distribute, money, aid, poor.

Everyone who heard this had to give a thumbs up and praise: "How fair!"

Among the crowd of tourists who had arrived early to "grab the first incense," a young girl sat on a small wooden stool, dressed in a black hoodie printed with a cartoon cat, paired with long black trousers, and wearing a black hat and black mask, wrapping herself up tightly.

She thought this would keep her from attracting attention, but she didn't realize that in the eyes of the tourists, she stood out like a crane in a flock of chickens.

Stop.

The real reason she was eye-catching was: this girl in all black was the first in line!

Jin Li endured the scorching gazes from behind, shifted her feet, and remained as steady as a mountain. Even though she was wearing too many clothes and had broken into a light sweat on her forehead, she didn't take off her hat to wipe it.

Whispers drifted from the aunts behind her.

"What time did you come to line up?"

The second aunt said proudly: "My child has an interview at a big company these days, so I specifically got up early and arrived at the mountain at three in the morning."

The third aunt asked curiously: "Then why aren't you first?"

The second aunt choked on her words and said with great regret: "In the end, I don't have the stamina of a young person!"

She pointed to Jin Li in front: "Do you know when she started lining up?"

Without waiting for everyone to answer, the aunt couldn't wait to announce the answer: "I asked the cleaning aunt, and she told me this girl started lining up when the temple closed yesterday!"

"Wow!" Everyone looked over in astonishment.

Even in this era where everyone is competitive, this girl's spirit was worth a comment: "Truly hardcore!"

"Dong—" The melodious bell rang, and the Yue Mountain Great Temple opened its doors!

Jin Li grabbed her small wooden stool and dashed into the temple. She had long since prepared three sticks of incense. The aunts behind her were also racing, everyone fighting against time, thinking of stealing a peach.

It wasn't until Jin Li sat down on the first—and only—prayer mat that this war without gunpowder finally ended.

Jin Li's mind did not relax. She adjusted her posture and called out the True Lord's name in her heart, hoping for a response.

She was originally a carp who had been lucky enough to cultivate into a spirit years ago.

Then, lucky again, she accidentally consumed a fairy herb, attained the Dao, and became an inconspicuous Koi Immortal Official in the Heavenly Realm.

Finally, lucky once more, she had the fortune to take the Supreme Old Lord as her Master, becoming a boy under his seat.

But success comes from luck, and failure comes from luck.

One day, her Master told her that her cultivation journey had been too smooth; although she was ranked among the immortals, her Dao heart was not complete, and she still needed to experience the hardships of the human world.

So, he kicked her into the mortal world, transmigrating her into a girl with the same name, surname, and even the same appearance.

That would have been fine.

Jin Li had been in the human world for seven days, dreaming every night, and discovered that this body was actually a background character who died early in a book, mentioned only once as a teammate of the book's female lead.

She had been dizzy and palpitating these past few days, gasping for breath after walking a few steps. After flipping through all the medical records in the house, she realized this body had a congenital illness; no wonder she died so young.

So, as soon as she found the most popular Daoist temple nearby, she rushed over to ask for help from the various Daoist Lords.

Jin Li didn't want to take any shortcuts, but if she didn't do something, this body's death date was approaching.

Hardening herself against the knife-like gazes from behind, she bowed and prayed on the prayer mat for a full ten minutes. Only when she couldn't get any response did she have to get up and leave.

Walking out of the main hall, Jin Li suddenly felt a sense of relief in her body, as if some power was being infused into her. This power was...

Divine power?

She turned her head abruptly to look at the True Lord's statue. The statue was majestic and solemn, built entirely of gold, exuding an aura of wealth.

An ethereal voice sounded in her mind, clear like shards of ice hitting the ground, asking her what she sought.

Jin Li silently recited in her heart: "I want my body to get better."

That voice did not respond.

Jin Li added: "I'm a bit poor, can the God of Wealth give me some money?"

The ethereal voice sounded again. The words "Granted" echoed in Jin Li's ears. She couldn't tell for a moment if it meant granting some money, or if both requests were granted.

Thinking about it, just as she walked out of the temple, a piece of demonic, brainwashing music drifted over—

"You love me, I love you, scratch-offs are sweet~"

"You love me, I love you, scratch-offs are so sweet~"

Her footsteps turned, and she walked into the lottery station involuntarily.

The lottery station was exquisitely decorated, with a huge screen hanging on the middle wall, playing the latest current events news.

[Lottery draw hits six sixes, where is justice in the human world?]

[Ordering fifty thousand tickets in a single bet, emptying the two-hundred-million prize pool, why the tax evasion?]

[Scratch-offs solemnly promise here:

You may not believe in the lottery, but you can definitely believe in scratch-offs!

No one knows the amount on each scratch-off when it leaves the factory. The winning cards are all mixed and distributed, with the top prize reaching five million!

Scratch-offs have reported to the "Lottery Anti-Fraud" insurance. Anyone found to be colluding internally or privately leaking information will pay one hundred million in compensation to public utilities!]

Thinking of the "Granted" the True Lord had just said, Jin Li resolutely decided to take out the remaining five thousand yuan in her bank card and bought one hundred scratch cards of different amounts.

In this day and age, who hasn't had a beautiful dream of "taking a gamble to turn a bicycle into a motorcycle," not to mention that she was originally a koi, carrying "peerless good luck" with her.

Of course, the real confidence supporting her in doing this was that she would have a new base salary coming in tomorrow, so she wouldn't be penniless.

Jin Li bought the scratch cards, thought for a while, then took a detour and walked back to the Yue Mountain Great Temple.

She lined up the scratch-offs one by one at the entrance of the main hall, intending to borrow some of the God of Wealth's luck to scratch them one by one.

This scene aroused the curiosity of passersby, who took out their phones to film and watch.

Some aunts and grandpas who had already finished burning incense gathered around, happily calling out the numbers for her.

"Oh my, bad luck, thanks for your patronage."

"Okay, okay, this 10-yuan one turned into 30!"

"Won 50!"

"Won 100!"

"Didn't win!"

The sweat on Jin Li's forehead flowed down, her small face flushed from the heat, but her eyes were bright and brilliant.

With people helping to call out the numbers, she didn't even need to look; she just kept scratching.

After the last scratch card was finished, Jin Li breathed a sigh of relief, finally able to rest. A loud clamor came to her ears:

"Holy crap, this one won 200,000!"