Chapter 55

Chapter 55: The Last Fate Luck

Lin Zhao’s doubts vanished. Her eyes went cold.

In a way, that wisp of gray intent was the root of her tragedies across two lives.

“Can you communicate with it?” Lin Zhao asked.

“It’s still a Thought Form,” Granny said. “Of course we can.”

Phoenix Brilliance Seed Flame flared. The gray aura shrieked soundlessly, trembling under the heat. A mechanical voice spilled out—flat, emotionless.

“If you touch me, the heavenly god will not let you go.”

Lin Zhao’s gaze didn’t waver. “What exactly are you?”

The System refused at first, but its rules were iron. Unbound to a host and still reliant on Lin Zhao’s reclaimed Phoenix Fortune, it had no choice.

“You may call me the Fate Luck Plunder System.”

Lin Zhao’s voice remained calm. “So you’re the one who helped Chen Luo Luo plunder my Fate Luck and erase my memories?”

“Yes.”

Lin Zhao’s jaw tightened. “This plane has more than one person with Fate Luck. How did you lock onto me?”

The System trembled. “Because according to the heavenly god’s divination, you and Ji Wan Tang are the female leads of this plane. Ji Wan Tang is protected by a stronger existence, so we did not dare disturb that being. The Lin Family was already targeted, so we seized the chance to possess a Ji Family illegitimate daughter and approach you.”

It spoke as if reading lines from a script.

“Ji Wan Tang has been away from this plane for a long time. If we destroyed you, this continent would lose the protection of Fate Luck and collapse.”

“Absurd,” Lin Zhao snapped. “How could the Heavenly Phoenix Continent collapse because of me alone?”

“A spiritual plane—how could it be that fragile?”

“Because the previous Fate Luck master was already killed after their Fate Luck was plundered by our host,” the System said. “That is why this world used its last will to hatch two Fate Luck masters to save itself.”

Its voice remained mechanical, yet something in it sounded almost… regretful.

“Ji Wan Tang has long been unable to feed the plane back. If you disappear, this plane will never again have the ability to give birth to Fate Luck.”

“You natives do not understand what Fate Luck represents,” it continued. “It represents the faith living beings place their hope in. If a plane’s faith is destroyed, without any outside enemy, they will still fall into endless internal conflict and consume themselves.”

As Lin Zhao listened, a faint thread of golden light gathered deep in her gaze—so subtle neither she nor Granny noticed.

Granny fell silent for a moment. “If you say that, what proof do you have?”

“In recent years, the Heavenly Phoenix Plane has already ranked last in the Phoenix Throne Grand Tournament,” the System answered. “And this continent is finding it harder and harder to suppress the subordinate continents.”

Something slammed into place in Lin Zhao’s mind.

“So… this was your doing.”

“Yes,” the System said. “If you had died, everything would have gone smoothly. But my host was too useless and failed to take it all the first time, giving you a second chance.”

Then, as if delivering a verdict, it added, “This world’s last will truly treated you like its last straw. Even though the female lead Fate Luck on my host is greater, and the world will cannot betray my host, it still favored you. It must have used Phoenix Fortune as a medium to tell you part of the truth in another way. That is why you were so determined to kill my host and Yun Ding’s immortal venerable.”

Lin Zhao thought of her awakening—those strange convictions, the feeling that the world was a book—and understood with a cold clarity that made her skin prickle.

After saying all this, the System’s voice hardened.

“Lin Zhao, you only won a small round. The heavenly god’s plan is not something a Fate Luck master of the Heavenly Phoenix Plane can resist. Once the heavenly god fully descends, the Heavenly Phoenix Continent will be nothing but ants.”

Lin Zhao stared at the gray intent pulsing restlessly. “Then what are you relying on to survive now? Why are you answering everything?”

The gray intent shivered.

“What are you going to do?”

Did she see it? Impossible.

“You exist by relying on my Phoenix Fortune, don’t you?” Lin Zhao said softly, cold as steel. “Just like the World Will couldn’t betray Chen Luo Luo before—now that you’ve fallen into my hands, you can’t refuse my questions.”

The System trembled harder.

“Some of my memories still haven’t returned even after fusing Phoenix Fortune,” Lin Zhao continued. “You’re holding them, aren’t you?”

The System tried to force arrogance into its tone. “Even if you know, what can you do? You can only use this divine flame to block my link with the heavenly god and other Systems. You can still—”

It cut off.

Behind Lin Zhao, a blue luan bird formed slowly out of light and intent. It settled on her shoulder and stared directly at the gray aura.

The System convulsed.

Information poured out of it against its will—transparent strands unraveling and streaming into Lin Zhao’s forehead.

Lin Zhao’s face didn’t change, but her eyes turned painfully bright.

The gray intent went completely still.

Only when Granny burned it down until a single wisp remained did the stiff mechanical voice speak again, strangely blank—like a tool reset to its first breath.

“System 0038, code name Fate Luck Plunder System, at your service. The first plane…”

Granny stared at Lin Zhao.

This girl had stripped the Otherworld evil thoughts of memory and knocked it back to its initial state.

You could do that?

It made sense—this fragment now survived by relying on Lin Zhao’s Fate Luck, and this continent only had Lin Zhao left as the destined Phoenix Maiden.

Granny gathered the last wisp before it could vanish completely. They’d learned what they needed. But this fragment might still be useful.

Lin Zhao sat motionless.

After absorbing the System’s memories, she spent three days and three nights just digesting a portion of them.

On the fourth day, she opened her eyes.

“Teacher,” Lin Zhao said, and her voice held a weary sadness Granny Hong Hu had never heard from her.

Granny’s tone softened. “Zhao girl, no matter what you saw, don’t doubt yourself first. Don’t forget—your parents and your brother are waiting for you.”

Lin Zhao nodded.

Her will was tough. She wouldn’t doubt herself because of what the System said. Nor would she believe the Heavenly Phoenix Plane truly couldn’t go on without her. She wasn’t arrogant enough for that.

If anything, the System’s words sounded like bait—trying to poison her with self-importance.

Chen Luo Luo likely swallowed that kind of logic eagerly.

But Lin Zhao also understood this: the memories returned by the System only made her more desperate to grow stronger.

She lowered her lashes, hiding the exhaustion in her eyes. “Please increase the intensity of my training, Teacher. Lin Zhao can take it.”

No matter what, the World Will had shown her undeniable care.

If she could, Lin Zhao wanted to repay it.

The clearest way to repay it was to participate in the Continental Grand Tournament and stabilize the Heavenly Phoenix Continent’s standing.

And to do that, she needed to place in the top five of the Newcomers’ Tournament.

Top five wasn’t something you could secure by eliminating people alone.

You had to be strong enough to suppress the South Sea newcomers head-on.

Improving her strength was urgent.