Vast fertile lands, hundreds of servants, a grand mansion... Ryan Thompson transmigrated to become the eldest young master of a landlord’s family. Lacking any ambition, he originally planned to squander the family fortune, live as a playboy, flirt with beautiful maids, take many concubines, and enjoy a life of luxury and pleasure.

Until one day, he suddenly discovered that his family lived in Guobei County, and outside the county was a Lanruo Temple.

Even more fatal was that Ryan Thompson was born with a seven-orifice exquisite heart. To ghosts and monsters, a single drop of his heart’s blood could grant a hundred years of cultivation, eating a piece of his heart could turn one into a thousand-year-old demon, and if they swallowed him whole, they could immediately ascend to immortality.

Fortunately, not all ghosts and monsters were so ferocious. Occasionally, a few scheming seductive spirits or fox girls would come vying to become his wives or concubines.

Chapter One: The Sage Descends Upon Guobei County

In the Great Song Kingdom, north of Guobei City, there was a county called Guobei County.

The county was bustling and lively, filled with the sounds of people.

The The Thompson Family of Guobei County was the most famous wealthy merchant family in the county. Their fortune, accumulated over three generations, was so vast that no one knew its true extent. But anyone with a bit of curiosity could find out that more than half of the shops in the most prosperous areas of Guobei County belonged to the The Thompson Family, and the fertile land outside the county had surpassed ten thousand mu years ago, not even counting the mountains and lakes. To put it bluntly, from the county magistrate down to the beggars, there was no one in Guobei County who didn’t know the name of the The Thompson Family.

However, today, within the high walls and deep courtyards of the The Thompson Estate, the sound of commotion kept echoing, and the coming and going of servants and maids was hurried, as if something urgent was happening inside the residence.

Everyone in Guobei County knew that today was the day when Master Thompson, David Thompson’s concubine, was giving birth.

David Thompson, nearly thirty years old, had taken eighteen concubines, but to this day, not a single one had borne him a child. Now, as he approached thirty, if a few more years passed without an heir, the The Thompson Family might face extinction, and all their immense wealth would vanish without an inheritor.

Fortunately, heaven never seals all roads. When David Thompson was nearly thirty, his ninth concubine finally became pregnant. Now, after more than nine months, her due date had arrived. To ensure a smooth delivery, David Thompson had invited the three most experienced midwives in Guobei County to the residence half a year ago.

“How is it, what’s going on? Why hasn’t the child been born yet?”

Outside a small courtyard, David Thompson, dressed in brocade and slightly plump, paced anxiously. Hearing the cries of his concubine from inside, he hurriedly grabbed a maid coming out of the room to ask.

“Master, I—I didn’t go inside, so I don’t know how the young master is doing,” the maid replied timidly.

The child hadn’t been born yet, but David Thompson already assumed it was a son, so he had long instructed the maids, servants, and slaves to refer to the unborn child as “young master” for good luck.

But on the day of delivery, all they heard were the cries of the concubine inside, with no sign of a baby’s wailing. No one knew what was happening inside.

“Could it be a difficult labor…” David Thompson grew increasingly anxious.

But even if it was a difficult labor, he wasn’t worried. He had already instructed the midwives: if it came to a choice, save the child over the mother. The The Thompson Family fortune was worth tens of thousands; he had already taken eighteen concubines. If he could have a son, losing a concubine was nothing—just a matter of a few hundred taels of silver.

But while some were anxious, others were unconcerned.

In Guobei County, on Temple Street near the City God Temple, people came and went, burning incense and worshipping Buddha. At the entrance of a small alley sat a simple fortune-telling stall. A middle-aged blind man in a tattered Daoist robe stroked his beard, humming a tune and swaying his head, looking very relaxed. No one knew his real name, only that the locals called him Blind Preacher. He had come to Guobei County three years ago to make a living, setting up his fortune-telling stall on Temple Street every day. But because Blind Preacher wasn’t good at attracting customers, he didn’t earn much, living a poor life, barely making ends meet.

“Heh heh, interesting.” Suddenly, Blind Preacher grinned and slapped his thigh in delight.

“Blind Preacher, whose fortune were you reading just now? What’s so funny?” asked an old incense seller nearby with a smile.

Blind Preacher shook his head and said, “Just passing the time, I took a look at the fate of Guobei County’s richest man, David Thompson.”

“David Thompson? Master Thompson? Now that’s a big shot. I hear his family is worth a fortune, with mountains of gold and silver in his mansion. With such wealth, his fate must be good—why would he need you to read it?” the old incense seller said.

“Wealthy? Heh, I don’t think so. The The Thompson Family is rich only because their ancestors for five generations were all great benefactors, and their accumulated virtue after death has protected their descendants, granting them three generations of prosperity. But as the saying goes, fortune doesn’t last beyond three generations. After this year, the The Thompson Family’s luck will run out, and their family will begin to decline. In the end, David Thompson will be lucky to have a thin coffin to enjoy.” Blind Preacher chuckled.

“Hmm?”

Suddenly, he sensed something. Though blind, he still turned his face toward the eastern sky.

After decades of cultivation, his celestial eye had long since opened. Observing people’s auras was second nature; he usually used his celestial eye in place of his physical eyes, so he wasn’t truly blind. Otherwise, how could a real blind man survive in Guobei County?

“Hiss~!”