Volume One, Chapter Six: The Stone Statue That Consumed Offerings
His formation had been broken.
The middle-aged woman who had been watching expectantly was startled, and with growing anxiety, she asked, “Master, what happened? Did that Lu family brat die?”
The middle-aged man’s expression was awkward. “I have failed.”
“Failed?” The woman’s voice shot up several octaves. She grabbed the man’s suit jacket with a crazed desperation. “What do you mean, failed? I gave you everything I had! You promised to save my son! If you failed, what will happen to him?”
The man pushed her away. “I told you before, any random soul would have sufficed for the exchange, but you insisted on targeting the Lu family. The Lu family is protected by the Purple Star—how could you just take what you wanted?”
If she hadn’t paid him so much at the beginning, he never would have agreed. Now, not only had the exchange failed, but he suffered a backlash as well. Who knew how many years of his life he’d just lost? Fortunately, he still had that object…
Focused on gathering his ritual implements from the table, the man didn’t notice something flying rapidly toward him. With a sharp “whoosh,” a coin sailed in from the window and struck him squarely in the center of his forehead.
His eyes widened in terror and disbelief as he collapsed instantly.
The crazed woman—wherever she’d found it—now brandished a knife, her head tilted at an eerie angle, grinning grotesquely as she stabbed the man again and again.
Only when the hot blood had grown cold did she finally crawl, like a demon risen from hell, into the next room.
On the large bed, a boy, emaciated to the bone.
He saw his mother covered in blood, but a look of relief bloomed on his face.
He had long since had enough of such days.
That smile forever frozen on the boy’s face.
Meanwhile, the woman’s heart-wrenching wails echoed endlessly in the room.
On the table, amidst the swirling incense smoke, a pale gray stone statue flickered faintly.
—
Inside a rented apartment.
Qin Yu was taking a shower. Sensing something, his hand paused as he scrubbed his back, but he resumed. Ever since he started down this degenerate path, doing despicable deeds, he should have expected he’d end up like this.
After his shower, the little shadowy figure Mu Ling led in a three-year-old boy, completely blackened from head to toe.
Looking closely, the boy’s face was bruised and swollen—he’d clearly been beaten often.
A tiny black ball, dragging along a boy dozens of times his size—the sight was strangely comical.
“Get over there.”
The black figure kicked the boy’s rear; he fell flat on his stomach at Qin Yu’s feet, yet he was far from well-behaved, baring his teeth and making faces at Qin Yu—a true little rascal.
Qin Yu smiled gently, a look that sent chills down Mu Ling’s spine.
Mu Ling thought: Whenever Qin Yu smiles, a ghost is sure to suffer.
Still smiling, Qin Yu moved his hands, and the spiritual energy around him obediently gathered at his fingertips.
The boy stared in terror at the pure spiritual energy, wanting to scream but finding himself voiceless.
After several minutes, the blackness faded from the boy, revealing a tender, clean face, his large eyes blinking—exceedingly adorable.
Qin Yu extracted the pure ghostly energy, then casually shaped it into an ice cream cone and tossed it to Mu Ling.
Mu Ling caught it in one gulp, smacking his lips with relish.
—
Sated and content, Mu Ling swayed as he looked at the adorable child sprawled on the floor. “Could this be that girl fetus?”
Qin Yu nodded, rubbing his forehead helplessly.
The girl fetus was too eager to repay kindness; if left alone, she would have returned to that family regardless. The three-year promise she’d made was merely an excuse to rest and recover.
Qin Yu drew a sleep talisman, and the girl drifted off peacefully.
Then she tossed the girl to Mu Ling. “Find her a place. I’m going to sleep.”
With that, Qin Yu collapsed into bed.
Mu Ling, now burdened with a girl many times his own size, protested, “I refuse to be exploited!”
“Refusal denied.”
Halfway through sleeping, Qin Yu suddenly remembered something and checked her phone.
Lu Hualing, after a harrowing night, had just contacted the Clear Breeze Temple to remove the bodies when her phone rang.
Bamboo Autumn: “Settle the fee. One hundred and twenty thousand.”
Lu Hualing was straightforward and transferred the money immediately.
RealCoolGrandpa: “Master, I know this is presumptuous, but may I ask—do you take on other cases?”
By then, Qin Yu was already fast asleep.
The next day, upon waking, Qin Yu found her inbox flooded with messages from Lu Hualing.
Ignoring the lengthy pleas, Qin Yu climbed up the message chain and collected the payment.
With money in hand, Qin Yu bought herself several new outfits. After some thought, she ordered more talisman paper and cinnabar online, but only a small amount, wary of poor quality.
Although she could draw talismans directly with spiritual power, it was too exhausting—her current abilities were limited, so she needed to conserve energy. Besides, she could sell the talismans online for extra income.
Checking the time, she saw there was still a while before her livestream.
After making herself something to eat, Qin Yu started her broadcast!
Today’s livestream topic: Three Divinations!
“Waaah, Bamboo Autumn Fairy, you’re a minute late!”
“You’re here, finally! I’ve been glued to my phone waiting!”
“Did everyone see? Today Master Bamboo Autumn will do three readings!”
“Yes! Our chances are better today!”
“Am I the only one worried about Pink Sister? I want to know what happened next!”
“She’s in the process of getting a divorce.”
Three minutes into the stream, Qin Yu spoke for the first time.
“Good! I can rest easy hearing that.”
“Couples quarrel, but make up soon enough. This was all her mother-in-law’s fault—was divorce really necessary?”
“No way her husband didn’t know what his mother was doing.”
“Exactly! I don’t believe it either.”
“All men are the same. When my mother-in-law bullied me, my husband just turned a blind eye.”
“Big hugs to you, sister upstairs.”
“I’m about to send out a lucky packet—get ready, everyone!”
As the chat grew increasingly off-topic, Qin Yu spoke to steer things back.
“Who’s got such fast internet? I hadn’t even loaded it before it was snatched!”
Beautiful Life sent a True Love Forever gift.
Qin Yu invited her to join the call.
After a long moment, the video connected.
On screen appeared a somewhat chubby face, a man in his forties wearing a white undershirt, exhaustion etched between his brows. “Master Bamboo Autumn, sorry, I’m not very good with this.”
“No worries. What do you want to ask?”
“Master Bamboo Autumn, please, save my daughter!” The man, well into his forties, teared up at the mention.
“What happened?”
“About half a month ago, my daughter brought home a stone statue she found outside. At first, I thought nothing of it, just a toy she’d picked up. But one day, I noticed she’d set it up as an altar, offering incense and food daily. After that, she seemed to change completely.”
“What’s going on?”
“Maybe she’s just stressed and looking for an excuse to slack off?”
“You can’t just worship anything. If it’s something bad, the whole family will suffer.”
“I’m worried too—that’s why I asked Master Bamboo Autumn for help.”
“What does the statue look like?”
“My daughter won’t let me touch it. So I haven’t seen it clearly, but I can promise it’s not any deity or Buddha.”
“Saving your daughter isn’t something a single True Love Forever gift can pay for.”
A thousand was her base fee for a divination.
“How much do you want, Master?”
Qin Yu eyed the man’s dark, weathered face and held up three fingers. “Thirty thousand.”
The man blanched—thirty thousand was all he had.
But for his daughter’s sake, he gritted his teeth and agreed. “Alright! If you can save my daughter, thirty thousand it is!”
“Send me your address in the backend.”
Qin Yu glanced at the address—it was in a neighboring city.
“I’ll come to your house tomorrow.”
“Not today?”
“It’s a bit far—a round trip isn’t convenient.”
Of course, that was just an excuse. The real reason was that after yesterday’s spiritual exhaustion, she was still recovering and wanted to rest for a day.