6 The Butterfly Effect Sounds the Alarm, Lacking Fortune to Seize Opportunities

Where there are people, there are complex relationships.

Without the strength to adapt to a new and unfamiliar environment, one will inevitably suffer bullying and exclusion. The merchant caravan is similarly full of oppression and unspoken rules.

However, with Qi Tian's skills, dealing with a few low-level Gu Masters was an easy task. After just a few days of revealing part of his power and subtly using his methods, Qi Tian quickly established his authority among the lower-level Gu Masters.

He also learned about the origins of this merchant caravan.

The leader of this caravan was Jia Fu, the young master of the Jia family. Within this caravan, there was even a Gu house, something only large merchant groups would have.

It seemed that this was an effect brought about by Fang Yuan's reincarnation.

Calculating the time, Fang Yuan must have killed Jia Jinsheng last year.

Under Fang Yuan's manipulation, Jia Fu mistakenly believed that Jia Jinsheng's death was part of a conspiracy orchestrated by his competitor, Jia Gui.

After returning to his family, Jia Fu took a series of radical measures, which intensified the competition between him and his brothers.

In order to gain better results for the caravan, several of the Jia family's brothers set out before the snow had completely melted this year, each leading a caravan to engage in trade from various directions.

This caravan was precisely the one led by Jia Fu.

No wonder this year's caravan arrived earlier than usual and was much larger in scale.

At the same time, Qi Tian quietly sounded the alarm in his heart.

The "butterfly effect" brought by Fang Yuan had already begun to affect him. What kind of impact would the "butterfly effect" caused by his own actions have?

In fact, in his previous life, Qi Tian's appearance had already caused significant deviations in the original plot.

But whether it was because Qi Tian's power was too weak to affect the grand trend or because of an invisible hand controlling the fate of all beings, the overall trend of the times had not changed.

This made Qi Tian think of a saying often heard in the prehistoric stories of his past life: "The grand trend does not change, but the forces can shift."

In the prehistoric world, the grand trend of the heavens and earth was merely a contest between sages. Below the sages, all were ants. And above the sages, there was the Heavenly Dao, which made even the sages seem like ants in its presence.

In this world, was the current trend the result of the planning of the Nine-turn Elders? And what lay beyond the Nine-turns?

Countless questions lingered in Qi Tian's mind.

But one thing was certain—only strength was the foundation of everything.

In his past life, although Qi Tian reached the seventh turn in battle power, he was still just a six-turn Gu Immortal. Before the Nine-turns, he was nothing more than a slightly larger ant.

Thinking about those Nine-turn Elders, each one was a powerhouse in their era, unrivaled, and invincible.

The Starry Sky Immortal Venerable's layout, which after death, plotted against three of the same-turn Gu Immortals, ensuring the Heavenly Court's prosperity for the next three hundred thousand years.

The Giant Sun Immortal Venerable's layout allowed his bloodline's golden tribe to hold the control of the entire Northern Plains for hundreds of thousands of years.

…

In his past life, Qi Tian had hidden within Fang Yuan's mind for two hundred years, trying to avoid affecting Fang Yuan's path, fearing that his existence would cause Fang Yuan to deviate from his original trajectory and ruin his own plans.

Fortunately, Fang Yuan, like in the original story, was reincarnated. Was this a coincidence or fate? Qi Tian was unsure, but Fang Yuan's ability to refine the Spring and Autumn Cicada and his ability to reverse fate in this life, changing many people's destinies, made it clear that Fang Yuan was extraordinary.

Fang Yuan might be the key to immortality, which was also the reason why Qi Tian had no intention of eliminating him prematurely.

Fang Yuan had the memories of the past five hundred years, and Qi Tian was no different, knowing Fang Yuan's future path. As long as his strength was sufficient, keeping Fang Yuan alive would be more beneficial than harmful.

Moreover, even if Qi Tian wanted to kill Fang Yuan, it wouldn't necessarily succeed. Just like Ma Hongyun, despite being weak, had his fortune protecting him—Fang Yuan, even as a six-turn, couldn't kill Ma Hongyun. No matter how bad his luck or circumstances, Fang Yuan had never died. In fact, he had turned misfortune into fortune, and even the will of Giant Sun had been defeated by him.

As the saying goes, strength determines everything! Until Qi Tian's power was strong enough to disregard the rules of this world, he had to carefully plan and make use of external forces.

The caravan's destination was not the merchant city, but rather heading east.

Qi Tian had already planned for this. The merchant city's trade was prosperous, and replenishing Gu worms was relatively easy.

Though he planned to eventually go to the merchant city, he wasn't in a hurry.

In the past year, Qi Tian noticed that his fortune was not as good as it had been in his previous life. While his luck in the past life wasn't as great as figures like Ye Fan, Hong Yi, or Han Li, it was still considered significant. Now, despite lacking the Luck Gu, Qi Tian had a vague feeling that his fortune had decreased compared to before.

This wasn't hard to understand. The Spring and Autumn Cicada reduced the luck of its user, and even though Qi Tian had crossed over, the effect was still the same. After all, those who go against the heavens will have their luck diminished, with Dongfang Changfan as an example.

This life, Qi Tian lacked great fortune, but he had gained the experience of his past life. Since he had reincarnated, he would make full use of the advantages of his rebirth to seize opportunities.

The multiple Gu treasures Qi Tian had obtained earlier were huge gains, but they were opportunities from his past life, relying on his previous luck. This life, he merely inherited them thanks to his past experiences.

Going directly to the merchant city was a safe route, but it didn't offer many opportunities for Qi Tian. On the other hand, traveling eastward offered several good opportunities and would also take him past Qingmao Mountain.

---

A month later.

Purple Mist Mountain had already been left far behind by the caravan.

Along the way, the caravan often encountered beast packs attacking, but most of them were small packs. Large packs of beasts only appeared once every few days.

Qi Tian also gained a lot from battling the beasts. After a night of closed-door cultivation, he successfully "broke through" to the second turn the next morning.

Afterward, Qi Tian used the Black Pig Gu and some materials obtained from the battle with the beast packs to trade for a mount Gu, a Mountain Spider, and a batch of goods within the caravan.

The Black Pig Gu was a very valuable first-turn Gu that could be combined with the Green Silk Gu to form the second-turn Black Mane Gu. Further advancement would result in the famous third-turn Steel Mane Gu. However, this was not suitable for Qi Tian. Due to his ice body, the Black Mane Gu would not work well for him, and he had no need for it.

The Mountain Spider was a common second-turn mount Gu. It was large, furry, and suited for traveling on mountain roads, though it wasn't very fast. If combined with the Wolf Power Gu, it would turn into a Mountain Wolf Spider, maintaining the same size but with much greater speed.

Sitting atop the Mountain Spider, laden with goods, Qi Tian blended into his current identity as the caravan advanced eastward.

Having been in merchant caravans in his past life, and combining his commercial experience from Earth, Qi Tian was able to spot business opportunities along the way with his sharp eyes. Knowing the specialties of various famous mountains and the needs of different families, Qi Tian frequently profited at every turn.

This caught the attention of Jia Fu, the leader of the caravan.

As expected, Jia Fu was very interested in Qi Tian's business talent and actively recruited him.