Chapter 21 Part 1: Qianyang – A Professional Menace

The reaction of Master Qingsi was seen by all viewers in the stream.

 

Comments in Master Qingsi’s stream—

 

– Oh man!

Master Qingsi’s reaction… Is she telling the truth?!

– So, if one can move in, their luck will improve?

– Please, please, please!

Master Qianyang, is there any backlash?

Will there be retribution?

Or will it consume the fortune of future generations?

– Can luck really be changed?

– Master, can others imitate this?

 

Comments in Qianyang’s stream—

 

– Dying of laughter.

– Even through the screen, I can feel that Qingsi’s fans’ eyes have become pure.

– Seems like it’s the opposite.

It’s not that the Blade Building brings good luck to others, but that others’ good luck enhances it, so the people in the Blade Building are even luckier.

– AHHH!!!

Qianyang is awesome!

– A certain master seems dumbfounded.

 

Watching the scrolling comments in both streams, Qianyang answered, “There will be no backlash, because this method does not steal others’ fortune.

It merely gathers people with extremely good luck and compatible birth charts together, forming a node of fortune.”

 

“As for imitating it?

This method requires the right time, place, and people—none can be lacking.

It is probably a once-in-centuries occurrence.

The master behind the Blade Building does have some skill.”

 

It seemed the occult world had not yet fallen to an irreparable state.

 

Qianyang glanced at Master Qingsi’s stiff body on the screen and smiled.

“Master Qingsi, does this count as me answering your question?”

 

Master Qingsi drew a sharp breath and remained silent for a long time.

 

– Speak!

Are you mute?

– You were quite eloquent when you were ridiculing her as heretical.

– Qianyang has achieved so much at such a young age.

I can understand your jealousy, but at least admit defeat gracefully?

– There is always someone better.

Is it really that hard to admit someone is better than you?

– Where’s your magnanimity?

– Playing dead?

– Admit defeat gracefully?

What bet did Master Qingsi make with her?

– Hasn’t he already paid for the answer?

The transaction is complete.

Why does Master Qingsi need to say anything?

– Qianyang’s fans talk about there always being someone better?

What are you so arrogant about?

– Unbelievable.

No respect for a senior.

 

Qianyang sneered.

“Senior?

In the occult world, anyone who could call themselves my senior has already been laid to rest.”

 

“Master Qingsi, since you spoke so confidently—claiming there’s a ‘high person’ behind me, claiming I’m not orthodox—then let me ask you: is what I say and do considered orthodox or not?

Does it harm others’ fortune?”

 

Master Qingsi did not show his face in the stream, only half of his body exposed to the camera.

At this moment, his posture seemed extremely stiff.

His chest showed no rise and fall, as if he had stopped breathing.

 

The comments were in an uproar.

After a long while, Master Qingsi finally moved.

He shifted his body and said with a dry throat, “Master Qianyang, please forgive my ignorance of the true essence of the occult.

I have offended you.

Please forgive me.”

 

– Master Qingsi…

– Oh my god, how can Master Qingsi apologize to someone like her?

– Even if she can explain the origin of the Blade Building, that doesn’t mean she is orthodox.

– Unbelievable.

Don’t say anymore.

Master Qingsi surely doesn’t want this to blow up, so he’s bearing the humiliation for the sake of peace.

– Right.

We should just keep it to ourselves.

 

Bearing humiliation for the sake of peace?

Qianyang let out a scornful laugh.

 

Who provoked whom first?

If he hadn’t jumped out himself, she had never intended to pursue the matter of the platform colluding with him to suppress her.

 

How did it end up with her as the villain and Qingsi bearing humiliation?

 

– Shameless.

– Qingsi’s fans have huge faces.

– Dying of laughter.

No evidence—he’s the one who said it.

Now he’s the one bearing humiliation?

– He’s a big streamer with hundreds of thousands of fans.

Doesn’t he know how influential his words are?

Doesn’t he know how terrifying online opinion and rumors can be?

– People who watch occult streams more or less believe in luck.

What he said was completely trying to ruin Qianyang’s livelihood and future.

His intentions were extremely vile!

– They’re so good at twisting right and wrong!

Disgusting.

 

Seeing the escalating arguments in the comments, Master Qingsi had to step in.

“Everyone, calm down.

Perhaps I misunderstood Master Qianyang.

I am willing to apologize for my words.

I’m sorry.”

 

Qianyang lowered her gaze, a half-smile playing on her lips.

She was a country bumpkin who had just come down the mountain, but she was no fool.

 

“Master Qingsi admits he is unskilled and ignorant.

Your viewers must have learned something from you as well.

Since that’s the case, as a fellow practitioner, I would also like to offer a kind reminder.”

Qianyang’s eyes curved, her expression sincere.

“Occult arts are profound.

An unskilled occultist like Master Qingsi, with one misstep, can easily go astray.

Even more so, if people place their faith in him, he will likely mislead them, forming negative karma.”

 

Master Qingsi’s breath hitched, then his chest began to heave rapidly.

His emotions were clearly in turmoil.

The expression on his face at that moment must have been quite something.

 

– For those who don’t know, what are the consequences of forming negative karma?

– Oh my god!

I used to trust him completely!

– Please no!

I knew you couldn’t trust this stuff.

– Sob sob, so scared!

– Qianyang baby, let’s talk about this privately.

Master Qingsi’s fans definitely don’t want to hear it.

– Yes, yes.

They surely believe in Master Qingsi.

Let’s not meddle.

– Sigh, let’s go back to our own turf.

– Master Qingsi, don’t lurk!

 

The comments in Master Qingsi’s stream fell silent for a moment—

– …

– So what?

– Even if you say it, I won’t believe it.

– Negative karma?

Just nonsense.

– Exactly!

 

Seeing this, Master Qingsi visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

 

Qianyang sighed.

“Fine then.

You’re on your own.

I trust Master Qingsi will not deliberately harm you.”

 

“Master Qingsi, I accept your apology.

Goodbye.”

 

With that, Qianyang signaled Yang Mao to exit Master Qingsi’s stream.

 

– Master, master, tell us quickly: what happens when negative karma forms?

– Wait a moment.

Let me check if Qingsi is lurking!

– He’s lurking for nothing.

He can’t wait to get out of Qianyang’s stream.

Afraid his fans might believe her.

 

Qianyang said leisurely, “Don’t rush.

Not everyone is here yet.”

 

– Huh?!!

– Pfft haha!

Dying of laughter!

– Hahaha, Master Qingsi’s stream just lost two thousand viewers!

Guess why they all left at the same time?

– I’m going crazy.

His stream is losing nearly five thousand viewers a minute!

– Guess where those viewers went?

Seeing the rapidly rising viewership in her own stream, Qianyang smiled knowingly.

 

She was merely giving him a taste of his own medicine.

 

– “I don’t care”

– “I don’t believe”

– So this is the legendary “the mouth says no, but the body says yes”?

– Just thinking about how eagerly they came to listen makes me laugh.

 

Having vented her frustration, Qianyang stopped being cryptic.

“The impact of negative karma is not huge.

But when it comes to matters of luck, you’ll always fall just one step short.”

 

– Holy shit… I’ve followed Qingsi for two years.

For two consecutive years, I missed the cutoff for a top university by one point!

The year I retook the exam, my score improved, but I was still one point short!

– Master, how can we reverse or avoid it?

 

Qianyang said, “Just cut your losses in time.”

 

– Thank you, Master!

– The words of the one true god of the occult streaming zone must carry real weight, right?

– I just remembered I haven’t unfollowed Qingsi yet.

I’ll do that now.

– I’m really curious how many followers Master Qingsi will lose because of these words.

– I’ll screenshot his follower count right now.

– Master, if believing in Qingsi might create negative karma, then wouldn’t smaller occult streamers who are even less skilled than him be even worse…

 

When this comment appeared, all the small occult streamers lurking felt cold sweat run down their backs.

 

With Qianyang’s current influence, if she so much as nodded, every streamer in the entire occult streaming circle would lose a huge chunk of followers.

 

Qianyang’s expression remained normal.

She shook her head.

“Of course not.

If Master Qingsi had no intention to harm others, how could he have gone astray?”

 

– Oh…

– That makes sense!

At least other occult streamers openly ride on coattails.

They don’t do sneaky things behind the scenes.

– Master Qingsi even tried to take credit for Qianyang’s work.

– So that means the little streamer on Xiaoyueliang who tried to sabotage things can’t be trusted either.

– No one really believed that kind of small streamer anyway.

 

The streaming time was almost up.

Qianyang planned to go offline and rest.

 

– Good news!!!

– Master Qingsi lost twenty thousand followers in half an hour!!

– Holy shit?

That dramatic?

He’s lost quite a few followers lately, hasn’t he?

– Wow, at this rate, he might lose all his active followers.

– By the way, didn’t the streamer promise a ten-thousand-follower benefit?

A free fortune reading for one fan?

– Right!

She’s almost at three hundred thousand now.

 

Qianyang nodded.

“No problem.

Today’s streaming hours are up.

Going offline.

See you tomorrow.”

 

Qianyang was like a clock puncher.

She didn’t give the viewers a chance to react.

She “clicked” and turned off the stream.

 

She turned her head and saw Yang Mao curled up on the sofa, clutching his phone, grinning from ear to ear.

 

“What are you smiling about?”

Qianyang asked curiously.

 

Yang Mao looked up, his face full of smug satisfaction.

“I’m browsing Weibo.

So many people are roasting Qingsi.”

 

Qianyang pursed her lips.

For her, venting her anger meant closing the book on this matter.

 

“By the way, Master, I’ll set up a Weibo account for you, okay?”

“Sure.

You handle it.”

 

Qianyang had already decided.

She wouldn’t handle other matters.

She would leave everything except streaming to Yang Mao.

She would focus solely on the mission given by the ancestors.

 

“Tonight, buy two villas and burn them for the ancestors.”

Qianyang paused and reminded him, “Remember, they must be duplexes.”

 

“Got it, Master!”

 

That night, Yang Mao bought two duplex villas and burned them for the ancestors.

 

After washing up, Qianyang played on her phone in bed for a while.

 

The fifty-seven million signing fee would be paid in three installments.

The first installment of five million had already arrived.

 

Qianyang planned to first move her apprentice to a new place.

He had been sleeping on the sofa for so long—it was too unfair.

 

Qianyang looked at a few four-bedroom, two-living-room apartments online.

The monthly rent was twenty-three thousand yuan.

 

She forwarded the ones she liked to Yang Mao.

 

“Master!!!”

Yang Mao exclaimed from the living room.

“Why are you renting such an expensive place?!”

 

Qianyang said, “We have money now.”

 

Yang Mao said helplessly, “Even if we have money, we shouldn’t waste it!

And including my sister, there are only three of us.

Why rent a four-bedroom place?”

 

Qianyang explained, “Your younger apprentice needs a room too.”

 

Yang Mao was stunned.

“Younger apprentice?

She’s a ghost.

Does she need her own room?”

 

Qianyang nodded.

“Of course.”

 

“Oh…” Yang Mao nodded, but still thought the price was too high.

“Master, I know some places that are cheaper.

Let me look around first, okay?”

 

Qianyang yawned.

“Sure, you handle it.

Your master is going to rest.”

 

“Got it, Master!”

 

Qianyang fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The light switch was by the door, but she was too lazy to get up.

She said to the air, “Shuyi, turn off the light.”

 

A soft “click” sounded in the quiet room.

The lights went out, plunging it into darkness.

 

The world revered the idea that all things have spirits.

This was not mere fantasy.

Or rather, it was not that all things have spirits, but that all things can become spirits.

 

A black cat could cultivate into a spiritual creature, cultivating in mountains and rivers after death.

A century-old tree could cultivate into a spiritual creature—every day of its existence was cultivation.

 

If living and non-living things could cultivate into spirits, then Qin Shuyi, who had become a wandering soul, could naturally also cultivate into a spirit.

 

However, examples of wandering souls cultivating into spirits were rare in the world.

By themselves, they could never achieve it.

Only if they encountered an occultist willing to help them could they be led onto the path of cultivation.

 

As it happened, Qianyang was that occultist willing to help Qin Shuyi.

 

This was the second apprentice Qianyang had taken since coming down the mountain—her ghost apprentice.

 

***

 

A night passed.

Qianyang went as usual to the bottom of the bridge to teach those elderly folks exercises.

 

At eight-thirty, she bought breakfast and went home.

At nine, she started the stream.

 

– Here, here.

– Good morning, streamer.

– Ten-thousand-follower benefit!

– AHHH pick me, pick me!

– I want to see if the streamer can really tell everything!

 

The comments were very lively early in the morning.

 

Qianyang glanced at the viewership.

Within a minute of going live, it had already exceeded five digits.

 

Qianyang took a bite of her fragrant giant grab-and-go pancake.

“Wait a moment.

Let the audience grow a bit more, then I’ll draw two people.”

 

Her follower count had already surpassed two hundred and fifty thousand, and they were very enthusiastic, often tipping gifts.

Qianyang decided that from now on, for every one hundred thousand new followers, she would draw one viewer for a free fortune reading.

 

– Ooh, good!

– Master, you really love this grab-and-go pancake.

– Looks so delicious, packed with ingredients.

– Hungry.

– The steamed bun in my hand suddenly tastes bad.

 

Qianyang’s cheeks were puffed out.

She mumbled, “Because it’s really delicious.

With all the ingredients, it’s only twenty-five yuan.”

 

– By the way, occult Taoists are different from ordinary Taoists, right?

Can you eat meat?

– The streamer doesn’t seem to have any taboos.

 

Qianyang sat cross-legged on the balcony sofa.

“Yes, I can eat meat.

Taboos?

As long as it doesn’t affect my spiritual heart, I have no taboos.”

 

“The law of nature is the strong eating the weak.

For some livestock that have not yet developed spiritual intelligence, being eaten by humans is actually a blessing for them, beneficial for their cultivation in the next life.”

 

“However, for livestock that have already developed spiritual intelligence, I suggest you treat them gently.

Before slaughtering them, let them have a full meal.

If they know their end is near, they won’t hold resentment.”

 

– I see!

– In short, as long as you follow natural rules, there are no taboos, right?

– Wow!

So the little pigs, chicks, and ducks I ate can cultivate like the little black cat in their next lives?

– It’s probably not that simple.

Cultivation requires a lot of karmic opportunity.

– Sob sob, this reminds me of the old yellow ox back home.

Every time I got lost as a child, it would lead me home.

My grandfather stayed with it until it died of old age.

– It’s said that yellow oxen are very spiritual animals.

– So, can you Taoists date and get married?

– Curious.

– Shh!

Don’t ask.

Let me ask.

– If so (twiddling fingers), what kind of person do you like?

 

Qianyang nodded.

“Yes, it doesn’t interfere.”

 

– Streamer, you’re twenty-one.

Have you ever been in a relationship?

– Hehehe.

– (Twiddling fingers) Is the streamer’s sexual orientation strict?

– I can’t even imagine dating the streamer (drooling).

– I love this gossip time!

 

Qianyang raised an eyebrow.

“No, I haven’t.

On Little Qian Mountain, I didn’t even have a ghost.”

 

– Baby, baby, look at me!

– I can, I can!

– Mommy, Mommy, I can.

– Baby, I don’t mind being the side piece (winks).

– Ugh!

All you men in the comments, have some self-awareness, okay?

 

Qianyang seemed to think about it seriously.

“Is he good-looking?

I don’t like ugly people.”

 

– Pfft haha.

– Trust me, streamer.

The louder they yell, the uglier they are.

– Clowns jumping up and down.

– Exactly!

If I can’t date such a good-looking Taoist sister, no one else can either!

– Streamer, what counts as ugly?

What counts as good-looking?

– No creepy men (tall guy, 185 cm, abs, looks 7/10, four apartments in Beijing, clean).

– The person above, shut up (tall girl, 176 cm, has a toned waist, looks 8/10, only child from Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Shanghai, open-minded parents, dated once, never kissed).

– Damn… you guys up there, would you consider me?

 

After finishing breakfast, Qianyang looked at Yang Mao, who was crouched on a chair eating a bun.

“If they’re better looking than my apprentice, that’s good-looking.”

 

“He’s a bit ugly.”

 

Yang Mao: “…”

Yang Mao muttered indignantly, “People say I could make good money as a male model.”

 

– ???

– Huh???

Senior Disciple Brother is ugly?!!

– What???

– Senior Disciple Brother is a good-looking young man.

If that’s considered ugly, what does that make my husband?

A digital figure?

Are you saying I’ve been sleeping next to a digital figure all this time?!

– Pfft haha!

The sister above, are you trying to kill me with laughter?

– Streamer, trust me.

Senior Disciple Brother’s looks are already very rare among ordinary people.

– Darn it, the streamer relies on her good looks to bully others.

If anyone else said that, I would curse them out!

– Curious.

What kind of person looks good to the streamer?

Any specific examples?

– Why?

Are you going to get plastic surgery according to that example?

 

Seeing the question in the comments, Qianyang paused.

An elegant figure suddenly flashed through her mind.

 

Qianyang nodded without hesitation.

“Yes.”

 

– Who?

– Give us an ear.

– Let me see what kind of looks can catch the streamer’s eye.

 

Qianyang explained, “My boss’s cousin.

He’s probably the best-looking person I’ve ever seen.”

---