One divination a day, a trainee celestial master

The night breeze rustled through the windowpane, making a soft "shush" sound.

Jiang Shou struggled through a bizarre nightmare, faintly hearing lines from a melodramatic CEO short drama.

"Woman, you're playing with fire..."

As this cheesy line came to mind, Jiang Shou blinked hard twice in a daze, and his vision finally began to focus.

What came into view was the familiar, somewhat blackened wooden ceiling of the side room.

"hiss……"

Jiang Shou tried to sit up, but the slightest movement aggravated the crisscrossing wounds on his back and arms, causing him to gasp in pain.

He turned his head and saw the bedside.

Shen Xu was hanging upside down in mid-air in an extremely unladylike posture. She held Jiang Shou's phone in her hand, the screen's light illuminating her pale, ghostly face. She was intently watching a newly updated short drama about the love and hate between a domineering CEO and his sweet little wife, occasionally letting out a couple of eerie low laughs.

Seemingly sensing the movement on the bed, Shen Xu turned her head while hanging upside down.

Seeing Jiang Shou open his eyes, her eyes lit up, and she immediately flipped over in mid-air and floated down: "Taoist brother, you're awake! How are you feeling?"

Jiang Shou grinned and forced an ugly smile: "I'm fine, I'm still breathing, I won't die."

"It's good that you're alright." Shen Xu patted her flat chest. "Last night, not long after you were brought back to the temple unconscious, that pretty policewoman came with a large group of police officers and special police. When they saw how many injuries you had and how much blood you had lost, they were going to take you down the mountain to the hospital for emergency treatment on a stretcher."

"But Sister Fat Tiger refused. She said you were exhausted and that it was better for you to stay at the temple to recover than to go to the hospital. She even chased all the policemen out of the gate."

Jiang Shougang was about to force himself to sit up when he heard these words and his movements suddenly froze.

"Wait a minute!?"

Jiang Shou stared at the female ghost in mid-air, his mind momentarily blank: "Fat...Tiger...Sister??"

How did these two words end up together in such a bizarre way?

In that moment of utter astonishment, it was as if a switch had been flipped in his brain. Fragments of memories from the few seconds before he completely lost consciousness last night flooded his mind like a tidal wave.

That terrifying giant claw wreathed in orange flames. And after the claw dissipated, the warm, soft, and even breathtakingly voluptuous back where I had fallen.

Oh, and... there was that faint floral scent, the orange-yellow traditional Chinese dress, and that "idiot" that carried a hint of arrogance and a touch of disdain...

!!!

Jiang Shou's eyes widened instantly, becoming as big as copper bells.

"Holy crap!!"

"That fat cat that's always squatting on the doorstep, freeloading and acting all gluttonous and arrogant... it's actually that hot, voluptuous girl from last night?!"

All the sense of incongruity was perfectly resolved at that moment.

No wonder! No wonder every time I tried to reach out and pet its fat belly, it either leaped onto the roof beam or created an invisible wall that sent me flying. And I actually had the audacity to try and hug it—that's practically indecent assault!

Embarrassing as it was, Jiang Shou shook his head, forcing himself to refocus on the important matter at hand.

"I wonder how that ghost in the wedding dress is doing. It seems like she was slapped away by Fatty Tiger earlier. I wonder if she's dead."

Jiang Shou gritted his teeth, enduring the excruciating pain that felt like his muscles were being torn apart, and struggled to sit up cross-legged, supporting himself on the bed frame.

With a focused mind, one's intention reaches the dantian (lower abdomen).

Within his dantian, the pale golden [Guardian of Oneness - Dao Seed] continued to slowly and tirelessly rotate.

However, the two vibrant "tree buds" that had previously condensed above the Dao Seed had been completely squeezed out during last night's frantic, desperate escape. At this moment, only a tiny, newly sprouting bud remained at the top of the Dao Seed.

Jiang Shou couldn't wait for it to continue sprouting step by step.

With a thought, he directly guided the tiny bud. The bud instantly transformed into a condensed stream of Supreme True Essence, which began to slowly circulate throughout his body along his damaged meridians.

Wherever the true energy passed, the burning pain caused by muscle overload was immediately greatly relieved.

Jiang Shou looked down at himself.

The black suit had long since turned into a pile of shredded cloth. But to his surprise, the dozen or so deep, bone-revealing claw wounds that the female ghost had left on his right arm and back had completely stopped bleeding, and a layer of dark red scabs had even formed on the surface of the wounds.

"These repeated cleansing and marrow-refining treatments during the cold season have not only enhanced my strength and eyesight, but also made my body's self-healing and recovery abilities so incredible," Jiang Shou thought to himself, clicking his tongue in amazement.

Nourished by the true essence, it circulated through a complete microcosmic orbit.

Jiang Shou finally felt his body regain its mobility. From the pile of tattered clothing linings, he groped out the dark, black Suihan Token.

Upon closer inspection, the back of the wooden plaque still displayed the inscription: "A sign of great misfortune... A red-clad figure will be formed, and a vengeful ghost will claim a life," without any change.

"As expected." Jiang Shou sighed. "The divination hasn't changed, which means that the ghost in the wedding dress hasn't been completely dealt with yet, and this karmic debt hasn't been settled."

After placing the wooden sign, Jiang Shou reached out and snatched his phone from Shen Xu's hand.

"Hey! What are you doing, Taoist priest? I'm having a climax right now, and the male lead is about to tear the white lotus apart!" Shen Xu protested in mid-air, dissatisfied.

Jiang Shou ignored her complaints and glanced down at the time on his phone screen.

It's already past 11 p.m. I've actually slept soundly for the entire day.

He opened his contacts, looked at Xia Qiu's number, hesitated for a moment, and then pressed the dial button.

"beep……"

The phone was answered almost instantly after just one ring.

"Hey? Jiang Shou, you're awake? Are you alright? Are you badly injured?" On the other end of the phone, Xia Qiu's voice was filled with obvious excitement, as well as a hint of undisguised worry.

"Yeah, I'm fine now, I won't die," Jiang Shou replied calmly. "How's the situation on your end? What about that sorcerer and the female ghost?"

Xia Qiu took a deep breath on the other end of the phone, seemingly to calm herself, and then reported to her supervisor in a clear and organized manner:

"Master Li from the Longhushan Office in western Jiangxi arrived with his men at noon today."

"They took over the scene. The situation in the basement has been cleared. After a ritual was performed to break the curse on the two missing girls, their families were notified this afternoon to take them home for burial."

At this point, Xia Qiu's tone became somewhat strange, as if recalling some extremely nauseating scene: "As for that sorcerer Bai Gu Sheng... when Master Li went in, he had already completely turned into a dried corpse, with only skin and bones remaining. Master Li sealed his remains with talisman paper and sent them, along with the body of Secretary Zhao's son, to the crematorium for direct incineration."

Jiang Shou nodded; this was exactly what he had expected.

"But..." Xia Qiu's voice turned serious, "that ghost in the wedding dress has vanished without a trace."

"This afternoon, Master Li, carrying the Yin-finding compass, followed the dense, chilling trail of evil energy she left behind when she fled, all the way to the depths of the Cuiwei Mountain forest in your western suburbs. But near a cliff halfway up the mountain, the trail completely disappeared, and he couldn't find her anywhere."

Xia Qiu continued, "Jiang Shou, last night, that red-clothed ghost chased you all the way into Cuiwei Mountain. What exactly happened in the end? How did you escape?"

Jiang Shou opened his mouth, the image of that giant orange claw flashing through his mind.

He couldn't explain this at all. He couldn't very well tell the criminal police captain that the female ghost was slapped into a ravine by one of the fat orange cats he kept in his Taoist temple, could he?

"Master Li speculated that there is some kind of extremely powerful protective barrier set up by the patriarchs of past generations around your Shouyi Temple." Seeing that he didn't speak, Xia Qiu told him the speculation from Longhu Mountain. "He said that the newly born vengeful ghost was blocked by the barrier and dared not force its way into the temple, which is why you were able to escape with your life."

"...Yes, yes, yes! Master Li is absolutely right! It is the mountain-protecting restriction!" Jiang Shou quickly followed suit, giving Master Li, whom he had never met, a thumbs up in his heart.

"Furthermore," Xia Qiu added, "Master Li is very curious about your ability to provide early warnings in this case and your knowledge of using orthodox talismans. They'd like to take some time tomorrow to visit you at Shouyi Temple. Would that be convenient for you?"

The Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain has come to visit?

Jiang Shou was stunned for a moment. Since receiving the Suihan Decree, apart from seeing himself in a Taoist robe in the mirror, he had never met any other fellow practitioners in reality who truly had a lineage and Taoist methods.

"Alright, come on over, I'll be waiting for you anytime," Jiang Shou agreed.

hang up the phone.

Jiang Shou pushed open the wooden door of the side room and walked out of the main hall.

The night sky was exceptionally clear tonight, with the bright moon hanging high above Cuiwei Mountain. The moonlight, like water, poured down, illuminating the ancient bluestone courtyard of Shouyi Temple with a cool and clear glow.

A gentle breeze rustled softly through the withered ivy on the courtyard wall.

Everything seemed so peaceful and serene, with no indication of the life-or-death moment that had occurred on the mountain path the previous night.

Jiang Shou looked around the courtyard, but he couldn't find that familiar orange figure on the threshold of the main hall or under the old locust tree.

He tiptoed around the main hall and went into the backyard.

After searching for a long time, I finally found it in the corner of the slightly dilapidated pavilion in the backyard.

Jiang Shou saw the fat tiger curled up on the long bench, its head buried in its paws, quietly dozing off.