Chapter 857: Not a Single One Left

Having just broken through, Xue Baochai, who was consolidating her realm, inexplicably fell from the Grandmaster realm; then Zhuge Liang coughed loudly, even losing hair on the spot.

Put together, it's natural to wonder whether Zhuge Liang secretly did something.

Like a curse technique or something?

As a man full of cleverness bordering on demonic, he certainly knows a bit of everything, like Doraemon.

Guan Yu and a few people surrounded Zhuge Liang, involuntarily looking toward the man on the high platform.

He won't misunderstand, will he?

What if he does misunderstand?

Since Jia Rong burst onto the scene, he has actually been quite tolerant, even if the Liang Shan remnants come today with a "fish die, net not broken" attitude.

Jia Rong generously let them go.

This magnanimity, built upon great strength, comes from the tolerance and pity of those in power, but it does not mean the Jia family can be bullied.

Once Jia Rong truly puts on a stern face, it spells disaster.

Now, Jia Rong on the high platform hasn't shown anything yet, but everyone feels a heavy pressure welling up from deep within.

The atmosphere on the field instantly grew solemn.

"What's going on?" Fortunately, Tang Luo didn't suddenly turn hostile as everyone feared.

He looked at the furnace and asked.

"Qi fortune." Yang Jian inside the furnace said.

Everyone realized, there actually is someone inside the furnace?

"Qi fortune..." Tang Luo descended from the high platform, casually waved his hand, and everyone's injuries on the Jia family side instantly healed.

"What is this? Remote healing?" Everyone wondered.

Tang Luo walked up to Xue Baochai; her injuries from the realm drop had already healed.

But she felt a sense of weakness all over.

Like a fish just ashore or a turtle just into the water, she felt desolate, like Lin Mei crying in the middle of the night.

The kind Jia Baoyu likes most.

"How do you feel?" Tang Luo asked.

Xue Baochai furrowed her brow and softly said: "I don't feel well; there's a kind of…"

She paused: "It feels like the former Lin Mei."

Lin Daiyu beside her gave a soft hum and explained: "It's like depending on others' eaves, anxious and unsettled, with nothing to rely on, like duckweed."

"Is it that bad?" Tang Luo laughed without sympathy: "No wonder a bout of crying lasts half the night."

Lin Daiyu pursed her lips.

That was before; now she can make others remember, a bout of crying lasts half the night.

Tang Luo stepped forward and came to Zhuge Liang's side: "Zhuge Liang, how do you feel? Are you also like rootless duckweed?"

"That—Mysterious Venerable, my surname is Zhuge." Zhuge Liang said.

"Really?" Tang Luo asked: "Not 'Zhu' but the given name 'Ge Liang'?"

"No." This is a matter of principle; Zhuge Liang won't budge, he adjusted his hat and a few more hairs fell out.

The ultimate destination of smart people seems to be the peak.

Hmm…… not necessarily, Tang Luo glanced at Lü Bu.

Not understanding why Jia Rong suddenly looked at him, Lü Bu instinctively felt offended.

But he touched his bald head, deciding to pretend he didn't see it for now.

This temporary state might last a lifetime; thinking of this, Lü Bu inevitably felt a bit melancholy, raising his head at a forty‑five degree angle to gaze at the sky.

His bald head reflected a gleam of light.

"Don't worry about these details, Zhuge Liang; first tell me how you feel now," Tang Luo said, not standing on ceremony.

Zhuge Liang really wanted to say this isn't a detail, but… okay.

He said: "Such is heavenly will."

As an all‑strategist military advisor and chancellor.

Besides being skilled in poetry, strategy, winning battles from afar, summoning wind and rain, handicraft, and playing the zither on city walls, Zhuge Liang also knows a little medicine.

He was fully aware of his current condition: not illness or injury, but because his overworked body suddenly reached a critical point just now and collapsed completely.

Even his formidable martial arts couldn't save him.

Zhuge Liang didn't need to do finger‑counting divination; he also clearly knew his lifespan was probably less than a year.

No hidden wounds, no concealed ailments—this is heavenly will.

The "person in the furnace" just now said qi fortune; it can also be understood this way.

"It seems your qi fortune has suddenly vanished," Tang Luo said.

What is qi fortune? Put simply, it's a mysterious, mysterious force somewhat similar to faith and merit power, but more ethereal and illusory, and more obscure.

This special ethereal force truly exists and can, to a certain extent, be "used".

Those who bear great qi fortune generally can accomplish things; those who succeed also gain qi fortune's aid, growing braver in battle and forming a great trend.

Simply put, it's a kind of assistance and empowerment, not capable of decisive effect.

Qi fortune can influence a person's circumstances, but cannot be decreed.

In the Mountain Sea Realm, some cultivate the path of incense‑faith, worshipping minor deities like city gods and earth gods; others value merit greatly, and the Great Thunder Sound Temple emphasizes cultivating virtue—this 'de' is merit.

Those who wholeheartedly devote themselves to studying qi fortune are few and far between.

Perhaps back when the Investiture of the Gods took place, everyone tried to decree it, the results were poor, so they gradually abandoned it.

But some applications of it still remain.

The Investiture of the Gods List is a magic treasure related to fortune; those who make the list receive a certain fortune blessing.

With brush strokes, to 'eliminate' the gods on the list, the first step is to cut off the top three flowers, the gods' fortune, and 'knock down mortal dust'.

Besides the Heavenly Court, which due to historical reasons still has some connection to fortune.

In the Mountain and Sea Realm, before it was shattered, the notion of fortune had basically disappeared.

Everyone who cultivates the Dao seeks to 'defy heaven and change fate'; why are you now talking about imperial appointment with me?

"What fortune? I don't believe in those." Zhang Fei said beside Zhuge Liang.

"I'll take a look with my heavenly eye."

The Eight Trigrams Furnace where Yang Jian was trembled slightly, and everyone felt as if a gaze had fallen upon them, flashing by.

"Heh, interesting. This place is thick with fortune; it's certainly not an ordinary world." Yang Jian said, "No wonder the Jia family woman practicing your Breaking Fist improves so quickly."

"Hey, what is Breaking Fist? When you're better, want to try my Breaking Fist?" Sun Wukong completely missed the point.

"So you're saying Xue Baochai and Zhuge Liang's fortune suddenly disappeared?" Tang Luo asked, he having zero research on fortune.

"Well, Zhuge Liang has none at all." Yang Jian said, "He's gone from being the protagonist in the book to a nameless extra who could die at any moment."

"What about Xue Baochai?" Tang Luo asked.

"The situation is much better." Yang Jian said, "But breaking through to the Grand Master realm is difficult."

"Indeed, this world has serious problems!" Ao Yulie said.

Bright Mountain is where the 108 demonic stars were destined to descend, and Dream of the Red Chamber was begun by the Vast Great Scholar and the Vast Vast True Person.

On the other hand, Romance of the Three Kingdoms is just about 'the trend of the world...', lacking much of that destined flavor.

"The First Consort's visit home is over; the Jia family is at its peak, after which it will decline to utter ruin." Zhu Bajie stroked his chin and thought, "In the end, ending up in a vast white emptiness, truly clean—is that due to the disappearance of fortune?"

"In this world, one can say that is indeed the case." Yang Jian affirmed.

The problems of this world have already shown signs; the course of history (fortune) is many times more important than individual struggle.

For someone as cunning as Zhuge Liang, fortune says cut and it's cut—one second he's fine, the next he has less than a year left to live.

"Nobody will be watching us from above, right?"

Sun Wukong raised his head, his hands itching, wanting to deal a blow.

"Whether it's a person, a ghost, or the Heavenly Dao, first take a blow from this old monkey, then we'll talk."

"I don't know." Yang Jian didn't open his heavenly eye again, after all he's injured.

Sun Wukong has only the strength of one blow, he also only has the power of one eye; the two are evenly matched.

"I'll go check!"

Sun Wukong leapt up and vanished in an instant.

"... He flew."

"No problem, just flying—it's completely normal."

Everyone is no longer surprised; whatever outrageous things Jia Rong and these few people do, now everyone can accept them calmly.

"Bright, can you use the Seven Star Lamp to defy heaven and change fate?" Tang Luo looked at Zhuge Liang and said.

Zhuge Liang's heart startled; how could such a secret matter be known to Jia Rong?

"Indeed, I have some ideas." After pondering, Zhuge Liang did not conceal them.

"Tell me what materials you need." Tang Luo said with a smile.

"Is the Mysterious Venerable trying to help me?" Zhuge Liang asked.

"Not entirely." Tang Luo said, "You might not believe it, but when you just coughed, the fortune you possessed began to fall out like hair, and now there's none left."

"I suspect this isn't a normal phenomenon, but rather some entity or thing meddling from behind."

"So, try defying heaven and changing fate; I want to see if it will trigger any special changes."

"Go on, you're the chosen one—Zhuge Liang bait!"

"The Mysterious Venerable sees... indeed, it's different from ours." Zhuge Liang gave a bitter laugh.

We're still in the first layer, thinking you're in the second, but you've actually reached the fifth layer.

"Will it work?"

"Good." Zhuge Liang nodded in agreement.

"Master, I'm going back to the Jia family to see if anything's happened." Ao Yulie said.

"Finding the mastermind is more fun than completing the task; putting the task aside and settling other matters first is the basic operation of the Tang Luo squad."

Moreover, the sudden disappearance of fortune is obviously not an isolated incident.

Xue Baochai's fortune has been cut down a great deal; Lin Daiyu, what about her? And the others?

By then, no one knows what further changes will occur.

"Go." Tang Luo nodded.

Then, Jia Huan also flew, and everyone calmly said it was fine, it's just flying.

Before long, it will likely become standard for Jia family members; those who can't fly won't be fit to be Jia family.

This "Chess Warrior Showdown" ends here.

With the crushing defeat of Liang Shan's remnants and the final sudden change as the ending.

The latter was temporarily concealed.

The former was spread abroad, and the Jia family once again proved its strength to the world.

The various delegations then took residence in the lord's manor, began discussing and began formulating new rules and a new order for world domination.

Meanwhile, they waited for Zhuge Liang to begin his heaven-defying fate alteration.

"Master, the Jia family indeed has changed." Soon, Ao Yulie's side first sent back word: "Jia mother, while cultivating normally, inexplicably encountered an accident, suffering serious injury; if it were her previous condition, she could probably only last another year."

If Jia mother dies, the Jia family's decline will be inevitable.

Besides, Jia Baoyu's jade has shattered, and the Jia household is now in a state of panic.

That jade, which had never been broken before, is now broken.