One divination a day, a trainee celestial master

The main hall of Shouyi Temple was dimly lit.

The middle-aged couple followed Jiang Shou across the high wooden threshold and walked to the altar in front of the statues of the Three Pure Ones.

The two of them each took three sticks of incense from the incense tube, lit them on the ever-burning lamp next to them, knelt on the prayer mats, closed their eyes, and devoutly chanted incantations.

Jiang Shou stood to the side, seemingly indifferent to the world, but his ears were actually slightly perked up. With his current hearing, even if the two of them lowered their voices, not a single word escaped his ears.

"May the Three Pure Ones bless our Lin family with peace and safety..." The woman closed her eyes, her brows furrowed. "May the villa we bought in Jinshui Bay in the south of the city be cleaned up soon, and may all the filth inside be driven away. We really dare not go back to live there..."

"Jinshuiwan Villa?" Jiang Shou's heart skipped a beat.

He suddenly recalled the gossip the burly men at the next table had been sharing while bragging at the night market stalls on two previous occasions. They'd bought a haunted house for 800,000 yuan less than the market price, the blood in the bathtub, the female ghost singing in the second-floor hallway, and how it had scared away several groups of monks and Taoist priests…

"So it was this unlucky couple," Jiang Shou muttered to himself.

While the two were still kowtowing and praying, Jiang Shou took a deep breath, his mind focused, and silently mobilized the true energy in his dantian, drawing out a wisp and channeling it into his eyes.

"The Art of Qi Observation," activated!

The view changes.

A faint blue glint flashed in Jiang Shou's eyes as his gaze fell upon the kneeling Mr. and Mrs. Lin.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Shou's pupils contracted almost imperceptibly.

Good guy!

In Zhenyuan's vision, not only was the yang energy that originally belonged to the living people on this couple suppressed to a very dim state, but a thick, almost tangible, gray-black yin energy was also wrapped around their shoulders and backs!

"Such heavy Yin energy!" Jiang Shou was secretly shocked. When he looked at the Feng Shui of Wang Daqiang's house before, the evil energy caused by the plants and beams was just the energy field formed by inanimate objects.

However, the couple's aura exuded an extremely obvious "resentment" and "spiritual intelligence." This was definitely a genuine encounter with a ghost, and the ghost lingering in the Golden Bay villa was certainly quite powerful.

However… Jiang Shou also keenly noticed that this bluish-black yin energy did not contain the crimson resentment that represents a vengeful ghost seeking death and being bloodthirsty and brutal.

This suggests that the ghost that possessed them didn't actively drain their yang energy or try to kill them. The two of them simply fell ill because they were in the same space as that extremely yin entity, and were literally "corroded" by its cold magnetic field. No wonder the woman's eyes were dark and she looked like she was suffering from blood deficiency and mental exhaustion.

"Since you're here, I'll stay and watch you die. But..."

After Mr. and Mrs. Lin finished kowtowing, they put the incense sticks into the incense burner, stood up, and patted the dust off their knees.

Jiang Shou put away his Qi-gazing technique and watched as the two finished offering incense and stood up.

"Esteemed laymen," Jiang Shou said calmly, looking at them, "I see that your foreheads are dark and your brows are furrowed with a bluish tinge. Has your home been unsettled recently, perhaps disturbed by some malevolent spirit?"

Mr. and Mrs. Lin were taken aback. The woman glanced at Jiang Shou with some surprise, seemingly not expecting this excessively young Taoist priest to be able to discern anything. But Mr. Lin merely frowned slightly. In his view, even a blind fortune teller under a bridge could use such tactful language. The dark circles under their eyes and the exhaustion on their faces were impossible to conceal; anyone with a brain could tell that something had happened at home.

"Young master, you have a good eye." Boss Lin smiled politely, his tone somewhat perfunctory. "It's true, we just moved, and the feng shui and energy field are bad, which is causing poor sleep quality. We just happened to be passing by today and came to see Master Jiang, but since he's no longer here, we won't bother you any longer."

Clearly, Boss Lin didn't believe that this young man in his early twenties could solve the problem of their infamous haunted house, which even high monks and Taoist priests couldn't handle.

Jiang Shou could tell that the other party was being perfunctory, so he didn't try to sell himself.

"Please wait a moment, both of you." Jiang Shou nodded slightly. "Since we've met, it must be fate. Please sit for a moment, I'll be right back."

After saying that, Jiang Shou turned around and walked into the side room at the back of the main hall.

Looking at Jiang Shou's retreating figure, Boss Lin turned to exchange a helpless glance with his wife.

Back in the room, Jiang Shou went straight to the desk and spread out the fine yellow mounting paper he had bought earlier.

Since the seasonal edict has been advising people to "do good deeds," and the couple's Yin energy is indeed abnormally heavy, if it were to penetrate too deeply into their bodies one day, it could very well lead to their deaths.

He planned to draw a talisman to ward off evil spirits for them, as a good deed and to create a positive connection.

He unfolded a yellow talisman, picked up a wolf-hair brush, and dipped it into the cinnabar that had been mixed in the inkstone next to him.

Jiang Shou took a deep breath and focused his mind. With his memory, which had been cleansed countless times, he could recite the old man's basic talisman content by heart.

A wisp of true energy from the dantian in his hand flowed slowly and steadily into the tip of the pen along his arm.

The wrists moved swiftly, in one fluid motion.

In less than three minutes, a [talisman for exorcising evil spirits] with flowing strokes and vermilion patterns, faintly swirling with a trace of supreme true energy, appeared on the paper.

With the final stroke, the talisman is complete!

A talisman flashed with light, and true essence seemed to flow around the lines of the talisman before dimming.

Jiang Shou looked at it; the entire talisman exuded an ancient and tranquil aura. He picked up the talisman, folded it into a triangle, and walked back to the main hall.

Back in the main hall, Jiang Shou handed the folded talisman to Boss Lin.

"Mr. Lin, I see that you have an extremely strong aura of yin and coldness on you." Jiang Shou said in a calm tone, "It is fate that we met. Keep this [Exorcism Talisman] with you at all times. If you encounter any emergency or dangerous situation at home that you cannot handle, just light this talisman with fire. It can temporarily ward off evil spirits and protect you for a while."

Mr. Lin looked at the talisman handed to him, a hint of disdain flashing in his eyes.

In his view, these amulets that cost ten yuan for three on the street were just a common trick used by these Taoist temples to swindle money from incense offerings. The terrifying thing that had happened in his own home had even scared away those old, white-bearded Taoist priests, so how could a piece of paper casually drawn by this young man possibly work?

But he was a businessman after all, and he valued harmony, so he didn't expose him directly.

"Then thank you very much, Little Celestial Master."

The man gave a casual, perfunctory reply and stuffed the talisman into his pocket. Then, he pulled three hundred-yuan bills from his wallet, walked to the donation box, and put them in. His actions were so casual, as if he were buying an expensive tourist souvenir ticket at a scenic spot.

"This is just a small donation, nothing more. We have other things to attend to, so we won't bother you any longer."

Jiang Shou stood aside, watching the few hundred-yuan bills fall into the box, his expression calm and composed. He neither refused nor stopped them.

From a business perspective, it's only right to charge a little money for the life-saving talisman that I drew with my own true energy. I can't just take advantage of the ancestral master's efforts, can I?

"Please take care, gentlemen." Jiang Shou bowed slightly and saw them off.