One divination a day, a trainee celestial master

"When a dwelling is afflicted by negative energy, it often originates from its shape and manifests in its location..."

Jiang Shou: "???"

At the old mahogany desk, Jiang Shou stared at the first line of the book "Simple Feng Shui Techniques: Form and Evil" with his head tilted and his eyes somewhat unfocused.

He bit his pen and forced himself to read on: "A beam pressing down from above is considered an inauspicious omen... When inauspicious energy strikes, the spirit is obstructed... When the spirit is obstructed, one's dreams are chaotic..."

After reading less than three lines, he felt his head starting to buzz.

"Holy crap, what is this?!" Jiang Shou grabbed his already messy hair in frustration. "Old man... when you wrote this, couldn't you have considered the reading experience for future generations? At least include some plain language translation and illustrations! It's all pure text, do you think this is code?!"

He sighed, suddenly remembering the line in the letter, "If you encounter difficulties, you can ask Fat Tiger for help." Jiang Shou subconsciously looked up at the window; the courtyard was empty.

"Ask for advice my ass! Who knows where that fat cat has been running off to these past few days!" Jiang Shou speculated maliciously. "Could it be that it's in heat and went up the mountain to find some female stray cat to romp with? Expecting a cat to teach me feng shui is less than hoping for the Three Pure Ones to appear in my dreams!"

Despite the complaints, I still have to go to the owner of Daqiang Building Materials' house tomorrow morning to "deliver the task." If this deal falls through, not only will I lose face for Jiang Banxian and Shouyi Temple, but more importantly, I'll lose a lot of hard-earned money!

Jiang Shou took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, took out a ballpoint pen and a notebook, and began to analyze this obscure ancient text word by word, just like when he was preparing for the college entrance examination reading comprehension test.

After analyzing for more than half an hour, Jiang Shou's eyes gradually brightened.

Although he didn't know how to cast spells, the more he read, the more he felt that the old man's classical Chinese writing was perfect for showing off!

He took a pen and quickly drew equal signs in his notebook, forcibly translating the classical Chinese into plain language that he could understand:

[A beam pressing down on the head] = an ominous sign (meaning there is a large horizontal beam above the head of the bed).

【逼煞】 = Discomfort or pressure on the top of the head

Darkening of the glabella (between the eyebrows) = oppressive, malevolent energy.

【Nightmare】 = Divine Court obstructed (too scared to sleep)

[Yellow eyes and dark circles] = Turbid energy rising (dark circles under the eyes caused by staying up late)

Important note: [The direction your bed faces is very important! Remember this!]

Looking at his meticulously compiled "pre-exam cramming notes," Jiang Shou became increasingly excited, slapping his thigh in frustration. "Holy crap! Isn't this exactly the set of words mentioned in the 'Suihanling' divination just now? It all matches up!"

"This logic is perfectly closed! Tomorrow I'll use this theory from the draft paper to fool him... no, explain it to him, and my prestige will be rock solid!"

He had already imagined the touching scene tomorrow when Wang Daqiang would bow down and present a large red envelope with both hands after hearing this profound feng shui theory.

But the next second, the smile on Jiang Shou's face suddenly froze.

"Wait a minute..." He swallowed hard, looking at the draft paper. "I have the diagnosis, I have the theory... but how do I break through this ridiculously specific problem?!" Just being able to diagnose but not prescribe medicine—isn't that just being a quack doctor who can only read PowerPoint presentations?!

Jiang Shou quickly moistened his fingers with saliva and turned the page. "Where is the method to break the evil...?"

Finally, at the end of the section on "Form and Sha" (形煞), he found two lines of small print: "Form and Sha can be countered; Positional Sha can be moved. For 'Forced Sha,' move the bed; for 'Direct Sha,' place a screen; for 'Turbid Sha,' ensure ventilation."

Jiang Shou stared at the three phrases of incantation for a full five seconds, then let out an extremely arrogant laugh.

"Move the bed! Set up a screen! Ventilate (open the windows for fresh air)!" Jiang Shou slammed his hand on the table. "This is way too down-to-earth! After all this fuss, this so-called 'warding off evil spirits' is just a 'physical method'! Moving furniture and opening windows? I thought we'd have to set up a magic array and ring bells! I can do this!"

Jiang Shou finally felt a huge weight lifted from his heart. But then he thought, if he went to the shop tomorrow and just directed the owner to move a bed or open a window, wouldn't that be asking for too little money? What if the owner thought it was too simple and refused to give him a "donation"?

"No, just talking won't show my skill. I need to add some special effects and props. I need to draw a talisman! Regardless of whether the talisman will work in the end, I need to maximize the sophistication and provide a great customer experience. At the very least, it will give them some psychological comfort."

Jiang Shou turned to the last part of the handwritten manuscript, the section on "Basic Talisman Techniques." "Nightmare... Since the divine court is obstructed, this 'Mind-Stabilizing Talisman' should be used to calm the mind."

He looked at the talisman pattern in the book, which looked like a jumbled mess of strokes and had extremely complex lines, and his lips began to twitch again.

"Holy crap, these dense lines and circles look even more complicated than a QR code. Couldn't they just make a high-resolution digital version and print it directly on A4 paper? Why do they have to hand-draw it?"

Despite his complaints, Jiang Shou still diligently cut up the fine yellow paper he had bought in the county town at noon, dissolved the cinnabar in water in a small dish, and picked up the brand-new wolf-hair brush.

"It's just copying, isn't it? I've gotten excellent grades in art class since I was little." Jiang Shou took a deep breath, dipped his brush in bright red cinnabar, held his breath, and put pen to paper.

Five minutes later. "Damn it, I drew it crooked on the very first stroke." Jiang Shou crumpled up a piece of yellow paper and threw it on the ground.

Half an hour later. "Holy crap, why is the ink spreading? Is the paper too thin or is there too much water?" Several more bright red wads of paper appeared on the ground.

Three hours later, Jiang Shou's face and hands were covered in red cinnabar marks, making him look like a criminal who had just escaped from a crime scene.

His eyes were bloodshot, his wrists ached so much they felt like they were about to break, and he was on the verge of collapse as he looked at the useless talisman on the table that looked like a plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

Finally, after five extremely painful hours...

As the clock struck ten o'clock at night, Jiang Shou held his last breath, his wrist jerked suddenly, and he completed the final stroke.

He let out a long sigh and slumped back in his chair.

On the table, a calming talisman with a smooth design, vibrant cinnabar red, and a subtle, mysterious charm was finally drawn, looking quite presentable!

"I'm exhausted..." Jiang Shou felt not only his head was throbbing, but his eyes were also about to go blind.

Is this even a job for a human being? Drawing a beginner's talisman is such a chore!

"Master, please just keep giving me treasure hunting quests next time. This is really inhuman work." Jiang Shou looked at his trembling hands, on the verge of tears. "If that boss Wang Daqiang doesn't take it easy tomorrow and doesn't give me a generous donation, then all my five hours of hard work will have been for nothing!"

But then I thought, after all, I inherited this Taoist temple and still owe 250,000 yuan in debt. Since I'll be making a living from this skill in the future, I have to practice these hard-earned basic skills sooner or later.

"It wasn't all for nothing." Jiang Shou shook his aching wrist, recalling the last hour. He found that his hand holding the pen was indeed becoming more and more steady, and when he was drawing the last talisman, the restlessness in his heart completely disappeared, replaced by an extremely focused tranquility.

Is this what the letter meant by "to guard the One, one must first guard the heart"?

Jiang Shou carefully dried the "limited edition calming talisman" that had taken him five hours of painstaking work, and then carefully placed it in a hardcover book as if it were an ancestral object.

With the core items sorted out, the next step is the "skin".

Jiang Shou walked to the old solid wood wardrobe and took out the high-quality blue Taoist robe left by the old man.

The fabric of this robe is of excellent quality, smooth to the touch, with fine stitches. The cuffs and collar are also embroidered with Tai Chi cloud patterns in a hidden thread, making it look very expensive.

Jiang Shou took off his T-shirt, tried on the Taoist robe, and tied the belt. He walked to the dressing mirror and looked at himself.

"Huh?" Jiang Shou raised an eyebrow in surprise. The robe fit him surprisingly well, the length and fit were just right, making his already handsome features look even more otherworldly.

"This must have been secretly sewn by the old man according to my size before he passed away." Jiang Shou touched the neat stitching on the cuff, a warm feeling flowing through his heart.

Although the old man never said it, he had always been waiting for me to come back.

"I'm still missing a suitable magical artifact." Jiang Shou spun around in front of the mirror twice, feeling that his empty hands were missing something.

He turned and rummaged through the drawer of his desk, and under a pile of clutter and a tattered, lint-covered whisk, he pulled out a disc-shaped object.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a compass. However, the compass was in rather pitiful condition. The wooden base had developed a patina, and there were even a few scratches on the edges; the brass dial on top was severely oxidized, and some of the characters were almost illegible; the compass needle in the center could still turn, but there was a noticeable crack in the glass cover.

"This piece of junk is so bad, even the junk collectors would complain about how it takes up too much space if you threw it in the trash," Jiang Shou muttered.

But he still wiped the compass clean with his sleeve, then, wearing his flowing blue Taoist robe, he stood in front of the mirror again, holding the compass in his left hand and his right hand behind his back.

Jiang Shou slightly raised his chin, his eyes becoming deep and unfathomable.

In the mirror was a tall, slender, and composed Taoist successor holding a compass.

"Hmm... Immeasurable Heavenly Venerable!" Jiang Shou nodded in satisfaction at the mirror. "Although the compass is a bit worn, it still looks quite classy when held in this outfit, giving off the sense of a reclusive master's vicissitudes."

Everything is ready, except for the decoration tomorrow morning... oops, that's it!