Heaven's Shadow - Chapter 83: Background Backer

She woke up from her sleep to the divorce papers that the original owner’s husband tossed at her.

Shu Yan picked up the document and took a look. She gets the house and the savings, but not the car.

Oh! And her son and daughter.

She had been a single woman in her 30’s in her previous life, and now she’s a mother?

How exciting is that?

She searched her memories. Two million dollars in savings. How much is two million dollars in the 90s?

What’s a husband? The other woman can have him. I’m taking the monies and my instant son and daughter to go and enjoy ourselves!

- Description from Novelupdates

Meet Gu Yu—a college dropout and a talented incense maker, and at the same time, the rather stoic protagonist of this story. Despite his somewhat introverted manner, he has a tendency to make sarcastic remarks in his thoughts. One day, after saving a squirrel, a windfall (metaphorically and literally) dropped into his lap. Stumbling into the cultivation world with little help, he was not turned into Superman overnight (as he would like). Apparently, becoming a cultivator would not make your life easier, at least in the beginning.

Guns suppress all divine demons and evil spirits, flesh and blood forge the multi-dimensional Great Wall!In the second year of Ming Country, Tianmen City was in need of recovery after the war. Chaos thrived, and evil spirits roamed freely.The children of the poor take charge early, and garrison soldiers need to learn to earn their own money.My name is Wang Yunxiao, an external field agent for the Special Service Bureau, specialized in dealing with various demon and evil spirit emergencies locally.Let me introduce my wife Li Mumu—she is gentle, virtuous, cute, and empathetic, and she is an evil spirit.Who writes a diary in all seriousness! Can what’s written even be considered true inner thoughts? Despicable!(The female protagonist’s solo storyline begins later, starting from chapter 87)

What if being the protagonist was actually the WORST possible choice?Li Hanfeng thought he'd gotten the short end of the reincarnation stick—transmigrated into a cultivation world with “only” Upper Grade spiritual roots. Sure, he joined the prestigious Shushan Sect, but compared to those Heavenly Grade chosen ones? He was clearly destined to be a background character.Then his golden finger awakened.The Karma Detection System.Suddenly, Li Hanfeng could see the true cost of every “opportunity” before him. That mysterious cave everyone's excited about?[Great Karma: Ancient Tomb][Death Rate: 97%].The beautiful junior sister asking him on a “simple” mission?[Path of Destiny][Triggers: Sect Destruction, Heavenly Tribulation, Outer Domain Demons].Wait... being the protagonist means a 90% chance of horrible death?!NOPE.While other disciples fight over “destiny” and “fortune,” Li Hanfeng discovers something incredible: his system doesn't just detect karma—it “rewards him for avoiding it”. Refuse a death flag mission? Get premium cultivation pills! Skip the mysterious inheritance? Unlock rare techniques! Dodge the protagonist route entirely?His cultivation speed actually INCREASES.“Junior Sister, I'm busy that day.”“Senior Brother, that treasure isn't for me.”“Sorry everyone, I'll pass on saving the world.”[Karma Severed Successfully! Reward: Immortal-Grade Technique]But there's a problem: the more protagonist flags he dodges, the stronger he becomes. And the stronger he becomes, the more the world tries to drag him into main character scenarios.Ancient masters want him as a disciple. Mysterious beauties keep appearing. Evil sects mark him as a threat. Even his own karma system seems shocked by how overpowered his “background character” route is becoming.Li Hanfeng just wanted to cultivate peacefully and avoid death flags.Instead, he accidentally became the most terrifying existence in the cultivation world.The kind of person who's so strong that destiny itself has given up trying to make him the protagonist.