[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-i-must-immediately-strike-it-lucky":3,"chapter-i-must-immediately-strike-it-lucky-i-must-immediately-strike-it-lucky-chapter-19":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","I Must Immediately Strike It Lucky",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2293791,4487,"Chapter 19: Killing Lifespan Requires Technique","i-must-immediately-strike-it-lucky-chapter-19",19,"\u003Cp>The white dot floating in Feng Xue’s consciousness glowed faintly, and in an instant, it transformed from a fleeting illusion like a visual afterimage into a solid, tangible sphere of light.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Qi flowed in, the light on the dot gradually saturated and spilled outward—not blinding, not scorching, but thin as moonlight gauze, slowly enveloping and drifting, gently illuminating the void of his consciousness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Somewhat faintly, Feng Xue seemed to sense a tactile sensation, as if the light in her consciousness had acquired a warmth—but it was so subtle, almost imperceptible, like water just barely close to body temperature, seemingly different yet indistinguishable in terms of hot or cold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he continued drawing in Qi, a fierce hunger surged through his heart, shattering his meditative state; Feng Xue’s consciousness was abruptly ejected from his consciousness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One moment he was lost in the new sensation, the next he felt dizzy and disoriented—a bad premonition rose instantly—and the over-the-shoulder view reappeared, revealing once more the number above his head—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>3282.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Shit!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feng Xue was acutely sensitive to the number above his head; he immediately noticed the missing two days. Even accounting for the imprecise time difference between worlds, it was past midnight now—he should still have 3283 days left, not 3282.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Again with the lifespan reduction!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A mournful cry rose in Feng Xue’s heart. He no longer cared about the quick results from locking [Refining Essence into Qi]; he relocked his lifespan, and only then did he feel somewhat reassured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Cultivating as a Xuan cultivator really does just eat away your lifespan! No wonder that senior brother had only twenty years left at such a young age!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though muttering under his breath, Feng Xue could clearly sense something new in his mind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was minimal, and hard to control—like walking on stilts; though technically an extension of the body, it wasn’t fully obedient.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Is this… magical power?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Curious about this power gained by burning two days of lifespan, Feng Xue couldn’t set up a ritual altar in the inn, so he closed his eyes again and resumed refining Qi.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet deep down, he still harbored unease—he wasn’t sure whether this lifespan-consuming cultivation method would succeed without reducing lifespan, or whether the inability to reduce lifespan meant he simply couldn’t cultivate at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the former, Feng Xue had gained a massive cheat. If the latter, no matter how potent it seemed, he’d have to abandon Xuan cultivation in this world and try the Wu Xiu path instead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, if Wu Xiu was equally hard to master, he could always just reincarnate again—he’d already asked the inn boy; this world had trains, though the nearest station was over a hundred li from Pingan County.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hmm, at least trains didn’t require worrying whether they weighed enough to hit a hundred tons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carrying these thoughts, Feng Xue ate two energy bars and re-entered stillness. His restless mind made it hard to settle, but as the faint spiritual light in his consciousness drifted outward, he finally began another round of [Refining Essence into Qi].\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thin streams of Qi emerged from his limbs and organs, converging and spreading toward his consciousness—but when he examined it closely, he sensed something odd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If earlier Qi cultivation felt like adjusting a faucet—smoothly controlling flow—now it felt broken: either dripping like a leaky tap, drop by drop, or surging in bursts, entirely lacking continuous smoothness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This conflict jolted Feng Xue out of his state again, but he didn’t immediately try again; instead, he thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“The gaps mean there’s a segment that’s ‘unusable.’ But why is it unusable?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feng Xue took out paper and pen, sketched a progress bar, and began analyzing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Refining Essence into Qi—literally transforming matter into energy. The earlier hunger was caused by this. Lifespan reduction occurs when stored energy is exhausted, forcing the body to consume cells—fat, muscle. Hmm, it feels like ‘cannibalizing’ oneself. At this point, even if rescued, the body’s damage is irreparable—lifespan reduction is only natural.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Muttering, Feng Xue divided the progress bar into three segments—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So the slow trickle is the part where food energy is converted into Qi—no lifespan involved, harmless. The large bursts, however, forcibly extract massive energy, overloading and killing countless cells. Because of the lock, the mechanism causing lifespan reduction is blocked—so cells don’t die, but the instantly extracted Qi can’t be reabsorbed. The middle segment? The extraction is continuous, slowly damaging cells. The first damage is blocked, so subsequent Qi simply can’t emerge.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feng Xue found this easy to grasp—he’d already tested the lifespan lock extensively.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example, buy a rooster, lock its lifespan, then bleed it—when does it stop?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The answer depends on how you bleed it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If you sever its head in one cut, the wound causes no harm. But if you make a shallow incision, the rooster bleeds—until it reaches the point where the control rooster, without the lock, would begin lifespan reduction, then it stops abruptly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s why Feng Xue said the golden finger protected life but not injury.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So my cultivation approach differs fundamentally from other cultivators’. Normal cultivators focus on making the process as gentle and smooth as possible, minimizing single-instance damage to let cells heal. I, however, must focus on maximizing the instantaneous extractable Qi.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To use a crude analogy: normal cultivators dig a small canal by the river to let water trickle out slowly. Feng Xue uses a large bucket, hauling water out bucket by bucket.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though it demands far more effort, unlike cultivators who must guard against disrupting river flow, Feng Xue can recklessly enlarge his bucket until it matches the flow rate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Having devised a viable plan, Feng Xue closed his eyes again and re-entered stillness. Meanwhile, the white snake waiting by the window, still awaiting the full descent of night, grew restless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before moonlight could spill in, the room was already rippling with Qi surges—though only the excess Qi his soul couldn’t fully absorb, the frequency was relentless: nearly every one or two seconds, a new wave erupted before the last had faded.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feeling the Qi surge thickening to the point of interfering with her lunar essence perception, the white snake sighed and growled:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Drain, drain, drain! Just drain yourself to death already!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regarding the priority between the golden finger’s lifespan lock and lifespan consumption—questions like “Does a lifespan-burning spell activate without consuming lifespan, or not activate at all?”—including using lifespan to cast skills, cultivate, or even suffer injury—can be explained using the K-language concepts of effect and cost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, the protagonist’s lifespan lock can be understood as an effect: “Lifespan cannot change, and any effect that alters lifespan is nullified.” Note: it nullifies the effect, not prevents activation—it activates, but has no result, not blocked from activation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now consider lifespan reduction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example, decapitation: a classic case where decapitation causes death, because successful decapitation inevitably reduces lifespan to zero (excluding anomalous types). Thus, activation is nullified—the entire effect is exempted, like an ant ignoring fire: cut, but no harm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now consider self-consumption of lifespan, which splits into two cases: lifespan as cost, outcome as effect; or outcome as cost, lifespan reduction as effect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lifespan as cost: “Spend lifespan to activate XXX.” Because lifespan cannot decrease, cost payment fails, activation condition unmet, entire effect fails. For example, cursing a target at the cost of one’s life—lifespan doesn’t drop, and the curse doesn’t activate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Effect as cost: “Activate XXX, then lifespan decreases.” For example, after using the Eight Gates, lifespan drops to zero. Here, the Eight Gates activate, but lifespan doesn’t drop (though disability may remain).\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1263,"2026-06-20T04:32:49.208Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","111a81e31b933d366c7162e1ccbaba4f49cd854dc99f9430cd9d9d4974676825","i-must-immediately-strike-it-lucky-chapter-20","i-must-immediately-strike-it-lucky-chapter-18",365,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fi-must-immediately-strike-it-lucky-cover.jpg"]