Using the excuse of needing to review his lessons to send the persistent Xiao Qian away, Qin Gu turned and went to his master's room.

His master, Xu Ziduan, is the current abbot of Xuanqing Temple. On the surface, he is an ordinary Taoist priest, but in reality, he is a leading figure in the Celestial Masters sect. However, in recent years, he has rarely taken action, instead focusing on cultivating himself and teaching disciples at Xuanqing Temple.

Qin Gu knocked on the door, and his second senior uncle, Zhou Ziyi, opened it.

To be honest, having the character "Zi" in one's generation doesn't really give one an advantage. For example, when his second senior uncle was named, his parents certainly didn't expect him to enter the Taoist sect. Adding the Taoist ranking name, it doesn't sound very auspicious at first glance.

However, Zhou Ziyi is a broad-minded and easygoing person who never cares about such things. He is also a big man, and over the years he has had to specially order the largest size of his Taoist robes.

"Oh, Xiao Wu is here. What do you need your master for?" Zhou Ziyi opened the door and let Qin Gu in.

Qin Gu belongs to the Ning generation, and his proper name in the temple should be Qin Ninggu. He finds it too awkward to pronounce, but only his peers would call him that. His close elders and fellow disciples in the temple call him Xiao Wu because he is Xu Ziduan's fifth disciple.

However, Qin Gu only has two surviving senior brothers left; his second and third senior brothers both died young.

For various reasons, people in the Xuanmen sect are naturally short-lived, especially those in the Celestial Master lineage, who are constantly dealing with ghosts, monsters, and evil spirits, and can easily lose their lives if they are not careful.

Leaving aside other sects, let's just talk about their Xuanqing Temple. Going back one generation, I heard that Master had a senior brother with exceptional talent, namely Master Qin Gu, but he died young.

Second Master Uncle's talent for cultivation was average, but he was proficient in general affairs, so Xuanqing Temple was passed down to Qin Gu's master.

After Qin Gu went inside, he saw several sheets of paper spread out on the table in front of his master. He glanced at them casually and they seemed to be the expenditure report for this metaphysical exchange meeting.

Qin Gu didn't pay much attention. Their Xuanqing Temple wasn't poor. In addition to the incense money from their own revenue, the state also provided subsidies. They would also receive extra compensation when there were tasks that required their services.

Zhou Ziyi walked over, gathered up the reports, and without saying he was leaving, sat down to the side. The stool made a slight creaking sound, and then bravely withstood the enormous pressure.

Knowing that he wanted to stay and watch the excitement, Xu Ziduan glanced at him but didn't send him away.

He beckoned his disciple to sit down, then fetched a wooden box and placed it in front of Qin Gu: "I asked Master Zhuang to examine it. He said that your jade was broken like this because it had blocked a great calamity, and it definitely can't be repaired. Think carefully about what exactly happened that day, and whether there was anything strange about it."

Qin Gu frowned and opened the wooden box. Inside was a jade pendant that had almost shattered into pieces. It was a magical artifact that his grandfather had specially obtained for him when he was a child, to ward off evil spirits.

He had worn it close to his body for over a decade, and the jade pendant, which was no ordinary item to begin with, was almost transformed into a magical treasure.

The extraordinary spiritual sense that troubled him in his childhood is now under Qin Gu's control and has become his own power, so the jade pendant is no longer a necessity for him.

However, magical artifacts are precious in themselves. In addition to suppressing the soul, they also have other minor effects such as calming the mind and spirit. They are equally valuable to cultivators, and even ordinary people will benefit greatly from wearing them.

He originally planned to give the jade to Xiao Bei as a birthday gift after he had rested it for a while.

However, half a month ago, on his way to the third competition venue, the jade pendant suddenly broke.

Without warning, it shattered into several pieces, and when he squeezed it with his hand, it immediately broke into even finer pieces.

If his jade hadn't always been with him, one might have even suspected that someone had switched it with his own.

Recalling what happened that day, Qin Gu felt uneasy. He had been thinking about it repeatedly and told his driver with certainty, "I'm sure that when I got off the bus, the nearest passerby was more than five meters away. No one touched me, and I didn't encounter any danger."

He thought for a moment and added, "I didn't sense anyone casting any spells either."

With his spiritual awareness, it's impossible for him not to feel anything if someone were to cast a spell on him.

"This is strange..." Xu Ziduan was very troubled. Could it be related to the tribulation his junior brother mentioned earlier? But other people's tribulations don't seem to affect his disciple!

However, they had seen many inexplicable things in their line of work. Since they couldn't figure it out and there seemed to be no adverse consequences, they could only let it go. It was just a pity about Qin Gu's jade.

"Master, may I go back now?" Qin Gu was in a bad mood. The coming-of-age ceremony he had prepared for Xiao Bei was gone, and there was this persistent troublemaker here. He wanted to go home; he missed his little friend.

Xu Ziduan was both amused and exasperated: "You always rush back after only a few days. Is there a tiger biting you?"

He knew his apprentice's heart wasn't in this line of work. If it were ten years ago, he would have definitely scolded him for wasting his talent.

But he lost two apprentices in a row, both of whom he had raised from infancy, treating them no differently than his own children. The pain of losing his sons deeply affected Xu Ziduan, and he became more accepting of many things. He decided that if he didn't want to be a celestial master, he wouldn't be; going to an ordinary university and living an ordinary life wasn't so bad.

Zhou Ziyi interjected with a smile, "Maybe there's a pretty young lady waiting for him at home. With Xiao Wu's looks and charm, he could easily bewitch any girl."

Why is he obsessed with young girls? He doesn't even like young girls.

Qin Gu didn't respond; his second senior uncle just liked to tease the younger generation.

Xu Ziduan laughed and scolded, "You old geezer, don't corrupt my apprentice."

Then, straightening his expression, he said to Qin Gu, "Wait two more days. I've made an appointment with Master Ming to have him read your fortune."

Master Ming is a senior figure in the lineage of physiognomists. He is Qin Gu's maternal grandfather's uncle. The old man has not practiced physiognomy for a long time. If it weren't for this connection, Xu Ziduan would not have been able to invite him.

"Elder Ming? Forget it, the jade is broken, let it be broken, don't bother him."

The lineage of physiognomists, who discern the secrets of heaven and the appearance of people, may not have as many deaths as the lineage of celestial masters, but most of them suffer from a miserable old age, lacking five deficiencies and three lacks. This is no joke; the more talented a physiognomist is, the more miserable they may be.

Just like his maternal grandfather, who lost his wife in his prime, his daughter in middle age, and was plagued by illnesses in his old age, passing away with ailments.

Old Master Ming is so old, without children, and lives alone in the mountains.

If someone reads his fortune, it's fine if they don't see anything, but if they do, will they help him or not? If the old man is willing to read his fortune, he won't stand idly by.

Changing his fate would shorten his lifespan even further, a responsibility he cannot bear.

Xu Ziduan sighed and said, "I didn't want to tell you this, but when your uncle came back before, he saw you and told me in private that he saw a calamity in your face, as if you were implicated by someone close to you. Later, your jade broke while trying to avert the calamity, so I wanted to ask Elder Ming to take a look at you and see if this calamity had come true."

A fortune teller would never mention minor calamities. Avoiding those minor misfortunes is sometimes not a good thing, as even a small change might lead to a bigger calamity.

A close friend or relative?

Qin Gu was startled. It was difficult for a fortune teller to predict one's own fate, and the closer the person was to him, the less he could see through them. The person his uncle was referring to as a close friend was definitely not someone from their sect.

Then it can only be... Xiao Bei?

Qin Gu was terrified and couldn't wait for Elder Ming any longer. He asked urgently, "Could you please take a look at me first, Uncle?"

The fact that he was implicated meant that Xiao Bei was in serious trouble, and Qin Guguang couldn't accept it after thinking about it.

Xu Ziduan said helplessly, "You know perfectly well that your uncle is a jack-of-all-trades. His fortune-telling and divination are sometimes accurate and sometimes not. If I didn't know he wouldn't joke about you, I wouldn't believe him."

Indeed, he dared not gamble, so he could only stay and wait for Elder Ming.

After thinking it over, Qin Gu was still worried. He told his master and senior brother, then ran back to his room to change his phone in preparation for calling Ruan Bei.

He kept it a secret from Ruan Bei, only telling him that he was practicing martial arts. On the one hand, he didn't plan to make a living as a Taoist priest and didn't want Ruan Bei, an ordinary person, to get involved.

On the other hand, I dare not say it.

Initially, it was because his maternal grandfather wanted to help him live a normal life, so they moved to a place where no one knew them.

The Ruan couple were very kind-hearted people. Seeing that the elderly couple was frail and had a very young, sickly grandson, they would lend a hand with everything and would also share some of the delicious food they cooked with them.

Other neighbors, seeing that he looked listless and unwell, wouldn't let their children play with him.

The Ruan family didn't care about that, and even told their children to take care of him and not to bully him.

Ruan Xi has a very strong personality since childhood. She has a quiet and delicate face, but she is particularly restless. Ruan Bei is too young for her to play with.

They put the two little boys together and let them play.

Ruan Bei has always had a gentle personality and is very good-looking. She loves to smile, especially when she sees someone she is close to or likes. Her eyes crinkle and she smiles, revealing her tiny teeth, making her look adorably cute.

Qin Gu was prone to getting distracted and often fell into a deep sleep. Ruan Bei was so young, but he didn't bother him. He just lay down next to him, hugged him with his little arms, and gently patted his back to lull him to sleep, just like an adult.

Although I could only pat her a couple of times before she fell asleep.

Later, his maternal grandfather discovered that his talent was too great to be suppressed and feared that his soul might leave one day and never return, so he had no choice but to send him to Xuanqing Temple to cultivate.

These things are not easy to talk about, especially for ordinary people, as they can easily be reported as feudal superstition.

So, on the surface, the explanation given to the neighbors was that they were sent to the mountains to learn martial arts and improve their physical fitness.

Later, he didn't deliberately hide it from Ruan Bei. Others might not know, but how could Qin Gu not know that Ruan Bei was afraid of ghosts?

If he says he's a ghost hunter, wouldn't that indirectly prove that ghosts really exist? What if that scares Xiao Bei?

For various reasons, Qin Gu kept his identity a complete secret.

He has two cell phones. One is for his annual visits to Xuanqing Temple, where he has to compete and travel to various places, where the signal is often interfered with or blocked, and sometimes his electronic devices break down. So he didn't bring his usual cell phone.

Qin Gu returned to his room, calculated the time, and realized that Xiao Bei should be out of school by now, so he made a call without worry.