Chapter 2: My Little Maid Exhibits the Bearing of an Emperor!
Inside the room, Li Wudao sat at the table.
“Ding! Initial gift pack—Haotian Divine Eye (Incomplete Version) has been issued. Please check.”
[Haotian Divine Eye (Incomplete): The Divine Eye of Heaven’s Dao, surveying heaven and earth, piercing through all illusions. Nothing can hide under the Haotian Eye. Currently, it only has reconnaissance capabilities.]
After a moment, Li Wudao felt a warmth in his eyes, a gentle current flowing through them.
He instinctively squinted, and after a while, whether it was a trick of the mind or not, his vision seemed clearer.
Just then, before his “Haotian Eye,” a translucent attribute panel floated into view, seemingly visible only to him.
[Name: Li Wudao]
[Age: 16]
[Talent: Yellow Grade Low (Poor)]
[Realm: None]
[Special Constitution: Haotian Eye (Acquired) (Incomplete)]
[Fortune: Chaos (Unknown)]
[System Evaluation: Original host’s aptitude is mediocre; born into wealth and comfort; destined to remain an ordinary mortal.]
[Recent Events: Transcended from another world; encountered this system; fate has shifted.]
Li Wudao stroked his chin.
The previous incarnation was indeed quite useless—handsome, and nothing more.
However, when it came to investment, he was well-versed, even worthy of being called a master.
In his past life, he was a top-tier investment elite on Blue Star, deeply knowledgeable in finance, self-made, and worth over a hundred million by the age of 25—a true prodigy.
But after a thorough investigation, he realized this system differed from the stocks, bonds, and commodities of his previous world—it only allowed investments in living beings.
Moreover, investing in oneself was forbidden.
This crushed some of Li Wudao’s more ambitious ideas.
Apparently, exploiting bugs was not so easy.
“Investment is best done early rather than late. With nothing else to do, I might as well go out and see if there are suitable investment targets…”
Li Wudao made a plan in his mind, ate a simple meal, changed his clothes, and stepped outside the courtyard.
The Xuantian Sect’s assessment was approaching.
If he wanted to make a stunning impression and thoroughly humiliate that scoundrel Sun Qian, he would have to rely on the system’s powers to overtake her around the bend.
...
The Prince’s Mansion was vast.
Li Wudao passed through several courtyards and arrived at the martial training ground.
Some Li family disciples were practicing martial arts, their sweat and shouts filling the air.
“Young Master.”
Seeing him, a few stopped and respectfully saluted.
“You may continue; no need to mind me.”
Li Wudao smiled faintly, secretly activating the Haotian Eye, scanning the younger generation of the Li family.
If he sought investment targets, the young generation of the Prince’s Mansion was undoubtedly the primary pool to sift through.
After a thorough assessment, he felt somewhat disappointed.
[Name: Li Chang]
[Age: 17]
[Talent: Yellow Grade Middle (Average)]
[Special Constitution: None]
[Realm: Late Body Refinement Stage]
[Fortune: Yellow Grade Middle (Common among the masses)]
[System Evaluation: Overall score too low; poor investment returns; investment not recommended.]
[Recent Events: Stuck at a bottleneck for two years, breakthrough seems distant; mood low and worried about the Xuantian Sect assessment.]
...
[Name: Li Xiaoyu]
[Age: 16]
[Talent: Yellow Grade Middle (Average)]
[…]
He scanned over seven or eight Li family disciples, all with rather average aptitude, not much stronger than himself.
The highest investment value among them was only Yellow Grade High talent, somewhat disappointing compared to his expectations.
Li Wudao looked at the chubby boy named Li Dabao and sighed silently.
It seemed the fortune of the Prince’s Mansion was steadily declining.
But even mosquitoes are meat; he must not waste any opportunity.
Through the Haotian Eye’s investigation and his own knowledge, Li Dabao had recently lost a few hundred taels of silver gambling and hadn’t repaid it yet.
If he helped clear the debt, might it trigger a rebate mechanism?
With this thought, Li Wudao went to the gambling den and settled Li Dabao’s debts.
Just as he returned to the mansion, a commotion arose within the courtyard.
Following the noise, he saw a crowd gathered and frowned as he approached.
Upon seeing him, the crowd quickly bowed.
“What’s the cause of the disturbance?”
Li Wudao looked at the two people at the center, somewhat helpless.
One was a portly middle-aged man, the steward of this inner courtyard; the other was a beautiful young maid of marriageable age.
“She shortchanged me by one tael of silver as wages.”
The maid spoke first, her voice calm and dignified.
Though dressed in coarse linen, her graceful figure could not be concealed; even at such a young age, she was a beauty in the making.
“Your Highness, this girl is arrogant, thinking she can get away with not washing clothes for two days just because she is your personal maid. I was only trying to teach her a lesson.”
Seeing Li Wudao’s gaze, the steward hurried to defend himself.
“Enough, this is a trivial matter. One tael of silver is nothing. Go to the treasury and collect it; put it on my account.”
Li Wudao said, then glanced silently at the girl.
Jiang Churan.
A girl of unknown origin.
This girl had been found two years ago when he was wandering the streets, dirty and curled up in a corner. Feeling pity, he had brought her back to the mansion.
The original host was easygoing, and though they were master and servant, he had never really ordered the girl around, essentially neglecting her, letting her live or die as she pleased.
However, Jiang Churan looked down on the original host’s sycophantic behavior with disdain and bore no fondness for him.
Thus, their relationship was strange—not master and servant, not siblings, nor friends.
Li Wudao looked at the girl’s flawless face and nodded silently.
Though a maid, her beauty and aura were exceptional, incomparable to someone like Sun Qian.
He couldn’t understand what was wrong with the original host to be so infatuated with Sun Qian, ignoring such a beautiful maid and courting misery.
“Well, it is a bit little, but it should improve in two years…”
Li Wudao glanced down; it was unremarkable, but suddenly everything became clear.
At that moment, a system prompt sounded in his mind.
[Name: Jiang Churan]
[Age: 15]
[Talent: Heavenly Grade Low (Prodigy)]
[Realm: Peak Body Refinement Stage]
[Special Constitution: Ancient Azure Phoenix Bloodline (Unawakened)]
[Fortune: Emperor Grade (Daughter of Destiny)]
[System Evaluation: Bearer of the divine beast Azure Phoenix bloodline, innate child of fortune, imperial stature; extremely high investment value.]
[Recent Events: Suffering injustice, inner resentment, cultivation bottleneck, financial hardship, eager to participate in the Xuantian Sect assessment...]
Staring at the attribute panel, Li Wudao was stunned and could hardly believe it.
His little maid not only carried the bloodline of a divine beast but also had astonishing fortune.
Even her lowest talent was Heavenly Grade Low.
Li Wudao vaguely recalled that when he first met Jiang Churan, the girl had no cultivation at all—she was a complete little beggar.
To make matters worse, maids were only allowed to practice the lowest-level cultivation techniques in the mansion.
Yet, in just two short years, Jiang Churan had already reached the late stage of Body Refinement.
This was only the baseline effect of her Heavenly Grade talent; if she awakened the Ancient Azure Phoenix bloodline later, wouldn’t her cultivation speed soar to miraculous heights?
Li Wudao’s mind raced: truly a daughter of destiny!
What he didn’t know was that Jiang Churan was the reincarnation of a female emperor and had only recently resumed cultivation; otherwise, he would have been even more shocked.
...
“Wait, why is my fortune listed as Chaos and Unknown? Could it be because I’m a transmigrator, outside the rules of this world?”
Li Wudao suddenly noticed that only his fortune bar was unknown, with no grade.
He tried querying the system but received no clear answer.
However, he learned the classification of talent and fortune: Yellow Grade, Mysterious Grade, Earth Grade, Heavenly Grade, King Grade, Saint Grade, Emperor Grade...
Among them, Yellow Grade corresponds to mortals, ordinary people; Mysterious Grade marks a minor prodigy.
When either talent or fortune reaches a certain grade, there is a probability of further advancement.
For example, Jiang Churan’s talent was only Heavenly Grade, but her fortune had reached Emperor Grade. With effort, she could become an emperor.
Combined with the Azure Phoenix bloodline, this potential was magnified infinitely. If she didn’t die young, she would almost certainly become an emperor one day.
“Damn, does that mean the young female emperor stands right before me?”
Li Wudao’s eyes subtly changed.
An emperor was the strongest existence on the Primordial Continent.
Haha, who would have thought my little maid possessed the stature of an emperor!