Few Days Later
Xie Yue and the others had been staying in this place for more than six days. It was already time for them to leave since Ning Fengzhi had only allowed them to stay outside for ten days. Calculating the travel time, the ten-day limit was nearing its end.
During these days, Xie Yue was able to see Dugu Yan, but only once. Even then, he was unable to have a conversation with her, as the circumstances didn't allow him to approach her.
After that, he didn't get another chance. So today, Xie Yue decided to leave and head toward his sect.
Inside a Hotel Room
"Little Rongrong, Nana... get ready, we have to leave today," Xie Yue reminded them about their departure.
"Ummm... Big Brother, can't we play here a little longer? Home is so boring," Rongrong said, hanging her head low, looking pitiful.
"Haha, we've played enough this time. We'll play again next time. Now we have to go home; Father and Grandpa will miss us," Xie Yue said as he picked her up from the bed. He carried her outside as Hu Liena followed him.
He also wanted to stay outside longer—it would have helped him a lot. But he couldn't ignore Ning Fengzhi's words. If he stayed out for more than ten days, Ning Fengzhi might get angry. At that point, crying wouldn't help him regain his freedom.
Soon, they stepped outside the hotel. Xie Yue and the others got into their luxury carriage, which was already waiting for them, and headed toward the STGT sect.
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The inside of the carriage was luxurious and spacious. Xie Yue lay his head on Hu Liena's lap and closed his eyes. Hu Liena started massaging his head while chatting with Ning Rongrong, who was playing with her newly bought toys.
Although soul masters didn't need massages to relax, Xie Yue still enjoyed the feeling of being served, so he had taught Hu Liena how to massage him. Being massaged by her soft hands always brought him peace.
As he enjoyed her gentle touch, Xie Yue thought about the gains from this trip.
"It seems I didn't gain much. Although I was able to interact with some important people and make some plans, I still didn't accomplish my main goal. I failed to get closer to Dugu Yan and only saw her from afar."
Xie Yue lamented his bad luck. The so-called coincidence hadn't worked in his favor. Even though he had spent time playing with Ning Rongrong near Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, he had only seen Dugu Yan once. And that was from afar—before he could plan an encounter, she had already left.
'Sigh... I can only blame my bad luck for this'.
'But it doesn't matter. After all, I only wanted to try my luck with Dugu Yan. If I had managed to capture her heart at first sight with my handsomeness, that would have been great. But since it didn't work out this time, I'll just go with my second plan. I can't keep waiting for her and hoping for luck to favor me'
Although he had considered many ways to get close to Dugu Bo, his best plan had always been through Dugu Yan. The other plans had too many loopholes that could backfire. So he didn't mind wasting some time trying this unreliable method—stalking the Snake Woman—even though he knew the success rate was very low.
Winning Dugu Yan's heart would help him immensely. After all, once he captured her heart and body, even if Dugu Bo was dissatisfied, he wouldn't go so far as to harm him.
And Dugu Yan's value wouldn't stop there. Once Xie Yue got his hands on the immortal grasses, even if Dugu Bo discovered their value, he wouldn't kill him. After all, he was just as much of a doting grandfather as Qian Daoliu and wouldn't hurt his granddaughter's feelings.
But now, without Dugu Yan's protection, even if Xie Yue somehow met Dugu Bo and fooled him, he wasn't sure Dugu Bo wouldn't kill him if he became suspicious or get to know the true value of those immortal grasses. Xie Yue's background wouldn't protect him in that case.
A Title Douluo had many incredible ways to erase someone from this world without leaving a trace...
But these concerns would only arise if Dugu Bo discovered the value of the immortal grasses. That wouldn't happen anytime soon. Unless Xie Yue, Tang San, Yang Wudi, or Yue Guan revealed their worth, Dugu Bo wouldn't know their significance.
'Now, without Dugu Yan, I have to be careful in my actions... Sigh... What a hassle,' Xie Yue thought, furrowing his brows subconsciously.
Even though there was little chance of Dugu Bo discovering the truth, he still didn't want to bet on that possibility. After all, what he was stealing was Tang San's opportunity—one that the Plane Spirit had set up. As the current child of luck in this world, taking Tang San's chances could sometimes backfire.
Although the chances of that happening were small, the Plane Consciousness was currently in slumber.
(AN: Read CH 13 if you want to know how things work in the Douluo World.)
But being careful was never a bad thing. The Real Luck had always been a mystery, and Xie Yue didn't want to be careless.
Tang San's opportunities could be stolen by Xie Yue since he was an anomaly in this world. On the Douluo Planet, luck referred to the opportunities and growth routes that the Plane Spirit had set up beforehand. So, luck could be stolen by someone outside the "box." Here, luck wasn't that mysterious.
But...
After living in this world for more than ten years, with his current knowledge, Xie Yue was starting to see things more clearly.
Although the child of luck was someone chosen by the Plane Consciousness, why was it Tang San? It could be justified that the Plane Consciousness had only recently awakened and picked the one with the most potential, but why not Qian Renxue or Bibi Dong? Their potential was equal to or even greater than Tang San's.
And in Douluo Dalu 2, was Huo Yuhao truly more talented than others?
There could be many reasons for this. Maybe Huo Yuhao was chosen after evaluating his life experiences and qualities needed by the imprisoned Plane Consciousness, which wanted someone to oppose Tang San. Or maybe it was purely random.
So, didn't being chosen by the Plane Consciousness depend on some mysterious luck in the first place? Wasn't random also luck? Why was it Tang San who was chosen and not someone else?
It seemed like this luck was a universal law higher than planetary luck—one that could even influence the Plane Spirit.
When thinking about these things, Xie Yue felt a headache. He couldn't understand this mystery at the moment, so he set it aside for later. However, he did realize something when connecting it to his past-life knowledge. This luck wasn't like the so-called fate people spoke of in his previous world. This mysterious, universal luck felt utterly random, without any consciousness.
But Xie Yue also understood that random was the outcome of this mysterious luck. Here, random played a crucial role—a very, very unpredictable role.
Maybe he himself was also a result of random. If not, he wouldn't believe he could have transmigrated into Xie Yue's body.
"Random works in mysterious ways... Random is the outcome of luck, and everything is the outcome of random." This was Xie Yue's current understanding of the matter.
Still, the fact that he couldn't fully grasp this mysterious luck meant there was always a chance of unexpected events going against him.
Why did so many people die in accidents on Earth? Wasn't it because they couldn't grasp these coincidences? If someone could predict them, would they still die?
That is what Xie Yue fears.
He wasn't sure if Tang San or someone else would meet Dugu Bo through some random coincidence and let Dugu Bo know about immortal grasses. So, he had to be careful until he fully absorbed those grasses.
But that would take decades, as he couldn't absorb another immortal grass until he had fully refined the previous one. That duration was more than enough for an unfortunate coincidence to occur. He needed a foolproof plan to ensure Dugu Bo wouldn't act against him.
'I should adjust my second plan a bit... Losing Dugu Yan won't do me any good,' Xie Yue thought, relaxing his brows.
Seeing his furrowing and relaxing brows, Hu Liena felt a little worried.
'It seems my brother is in a bad mood. Sigh... I want to help him, but he won't say anything to me and keeps all his hardships to himself,' Hu Liena thought sadly, watching Xie Yue face everything alone.
Hu Liena had always been this way. Although furrowing his brows seemed like a small matter, she didn't see it that way. She wanted her brother to live worry-free.
He had always protected her when she was a child. Now that she had grown up, she thought it was her duty to safeguard him. So, she always thought of many ways to ease his worries.
But Xie Yue wouldn't share anything with her that would allow her to help him effectively, so now she could only do...
'I can only help my brother ease his stress by letting him ravage my mouth,' Hu Liena thought, her charming face blushing.
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AN: "Random" will be explained later if needed. In simple terms, there are two types of luck: one is random, which can be called coincidence, while the other is the result of someone else's arrangements. Both can influence each other.