Chapter 66
Ke Xingzhou couldn’t figure out why mutual follows with their sect and using cheap 50-cent photo editing effects to apply for a corporate blue checkmark were being lumped together as reasons for Xiang Ting to suspect something was off with Jiulong Temple.
Who would’ve thought the two fake Taoists from Jiulong Temple were also extremely indignant.
The head of Jiulong Temple immediately reported, “Yes, my photo editing was wrong, but at least I edited a Taoist organization registration certificate! The Xiaoyao Sect’s submission was a business license! Why aren’t you saying anything about them?”
Everyone: “……”
A business license…
It was only after hearing this that Zhu Chu had a sudden realization — turns out you actually needed a Taoist organization registration certificate to run a temple.
But among all the stuff his master had handed over, there was only his master’s Taoist priest ID and ordination certificate, plus a graduation certificate from a Taoist academy or something. There was no such thing as a registration certificate!
For a moment, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy. No wonder those two heretical Taoists had the guts to put on such airs before, even looking down on their Xiaoyao Sect.
Turns out their documentation was even more unorthodox!
Zhu Chu suddenly felt dazed, and began to question whether everything he had done up until now — building up the sect by following the model of a standard talent agency to generate buzz and traffic — had been completely wrong.
Even Ke Xingzhou was momentarily lost in thought.
He had always left business matters entirely to his senior disciple, because he himself knew nothing about any of it. He rarely even used his phone and tried hard to maintain the lowest possible level of spending.
But hadn’t their corporate blue checkmark application already been approved? They were getting investigated for this too?
Ever since they got their business license, all incense donations from followers had been deposited into a public account, and the merit glow they settled daily through the official social media account was also quite substantial.
Would they have to return all that after the investigation?
Ke Xingzhou immediately became alert.
Although he hadn’t given much merit to that old lady ghost — just enough for her to get into the slightly faster “good person” line — it was still cutting the queue, and the toll Heaven charged was steep, almost half of what he had given her.
In this situation, if even more merit glow got deducted, wouldn’t all his recent efforts be for nothing?
Ke Xingzhou’s expression instantly grew much more tense. When the head of Jiulong Temple saw this, he was filled with smug satisfaction.
He knew it! There was no way this Xiaoyao Temple could be totally clean!
He’d checked their official account over the past two days — other than giveaways, it was all science explainers. The comments section was a mess, full of fan wars and trolls, or people fulfilling wishes.
What kind of temple has an official account like that?Their corporate blue checkmark was even applied for using a business license! Not as professional as us!
Even though Ke Xingzhou had just demonstrated abilities beyond his understanding, the Jiulong Temple head still believed this guy was some back-alley amateur and was determined to drag him down too.
“See! He’s guilty!” the Jiulong Temple head said excitedly, then jabbed the chubby guy beside him. “Why are you just standing there? Say something!”
Only then did the chubby guy react, nodding repeatedly, “Yes, yes, yes… Officer, we learned everything from them. It was people from the Xiaoyao Sect who told us to register official accounts online. Otherwise, how would we have dared to be so blatant! Without them, we’d still be in that rundown temple in the suburbs tricking old men and women!”
Everyone: “……”
Zhu Chu was stunned: “You guys were actually scamming elderly people?! And I even humbly asked you how to attract customers — so it was all just your scam tactics!”
Only then did the chubby guy realize how inappropriate his words had been. He shrank his neck back and fell silent.
The Jiulong Temple head, still unwilling to give up: “And you’re not a legitimate temple either! I ask you — where’s your Taoist organization registration certificate? You even dare to run an online store!”
Zhu Chu: “……”
He had just perked up a little, but now instantly deflated.
Right… they weren’t exactly legitimate either.
He snuck a glance at Xiang Ting. The last time Xiang Ting went to the filming base to look for Ke Xingzhou, Zhu Chu hadn’t been there, so he didn’t know Xiang Ting’s real identity. Like the Jiulong Temple head, he assumed the man was a police officer.
He thought this guy looked fierce — probably not someone who’d let them off easily. Would their sect’s business license be directly revoked?
Zhu Chu couldn’t help but worry.
They’d only been operating for half a month, hadn’t even submitted the final designs for the online store yet, and now the business license might be gone. How were they supposed to revitalize the sect after this?
After thinking it over for a long time, he hung his head in despair, thinking he really was the most useless disciple of his generation. He couldn’t even handle something this simple.
Boohoohoo…
He’d probably be the one to ruin the sect’s reputation. The founder would probably jump out of his coffin to beat him to death!
But just then, the junior brother who normally didn’t think much of him glanced at the Jiulong Temple head and said coldly — colder than when assigning him homework: “On social media platforms, the corporate blue check is applied for by uploading a business license. That’s their own rule. Legal, compliant, and valid. What’s wrong with that?”
Zhu Chu immediately had a lightbulb moment, his face full of realization: “Right! When we submitted the documents, there was no mention of submitting anything else! And since we submitted a business license, why can’t we make a bit of profit? The license says we’re the Xiaoyao Sect’s Legal Affairs and Circulation Office, not the main Xiaoyao Sect!”
Everyone: “……”
Honestly, after hearing the Jiulong Temple head’s speech just now, they had started to feel a bit suspicious of Ke Xingzhou. But now, they couldn’t help but start to waver.
Nie Chen and Zhu Chu… actually made a lot of sense…
Everyone’s eyes turned to Xiang Ting.
Xiang Ting: “……”
He was silent for a moment, then said, “Platform rules aren’t under my jurisdiction.”
The two from Jiulong Temple: “……”
Covering for them! This was blatant, shameless covering up!Unfortunately, Xiang Ting didn’t give him a chance to argue at all. He took out his phone and called the local police station, asking them to come pick up the two criminals.
The two from Jiulong Temple were quickly taken away, drowning in endless regret.
Right before leaving, the Jiulong Temple head gave Ke Xingzhou a bitter, unwilling glare—just in time to see him walk up to Xiang Ting, arguing about why mutual follows between their temples would raise suspicion.
The Jiulong Temple head’s eyes widened in sudden realization, and he began to struggle furiously: “Shameless brat! This was entrapment! I see it now—I see it all! This was a trap you all set up together!! I want to file a complaint!!!”
Before he could finish yelling, Xiang Ting frowned and glanced in his direction. A smack immediately landed on the back of the Jiulong Temple head’s head.
“What are you yelling for? Do you know what time it is? Your voice just exceeded 45 decibels—you’re disturbing the peace, you know that? Come with us to the station!”
Jiulong Temple head: “…………”
--
After watching the fake Taoist duo—one fat, one thin—get escorted into the car, Ke Xingzhou slowly came to: “What was that he said just now about entrapment and some kind of setup?”
“Who knows.” Zhu Chu gloomily tore apart the notebook that was now just scraps, still bitter about being tricked by Jiulong Temple. “He was probably exchanging coded signals with local accomplices. I say we launch a thorough investigation!”
Xiang Ting: “……”
Xiang Ting glanced at the master and disciple pair, as if about to say something, but decided he really didn’t want to bother.
Just then, Lan Xing—trembling and accompanied by Ke Chenyu—nervously walked over. He first snuck a glance at Xiang Ting, carefully avoiding his scarred left eye, then excitedly surrounded Ke Xingzhou.
“Master! Bro! So… is my problem solved now? I won’t see that old man in my dreams anymore, right?”
Ke Xingzhou was still worrying about his sect’s reputation with the Bureau of Special Incident Management, but paused when he heard that: “Generally speaking, no, you won’t.”
“‘Generally’?” The smile on Lan Xing’s face instantly froze. He looked like he was about to cry. “What about not generally?”
Ke Xingzhou: “What you dwell on by day, you’ll dream about by night. As long as you don’t keep thinking about him, you won’t dream of him.”
Lan Xing: “……”
Zhu Chu gave a couple of dry laughs, thinking, hahaha, wow, Master really made that sound ambiguous… What normal young guy would be thinking about some old man every day?
If someone said that out loud, no one would believe it!
He then noticed the old man ghost had suddenly stopped trembling at those words. His expression was strange as he stared at Lan Xing with a mix of anger and humiliation: “I’m dead, not bent! You can’t insult a ghost like that!”
Lan Xing: “………………”
Xiang Ting: “……”
Forget not having a proper Taoist temple in this place—how is it that even the followers and ghosts are so ridiculous?
--
After learning that Ke Xingzhou’s Xiaoyao Sect was actually a legitimate temple, Lan Xing practically wanted to frame him and hang him on the wall.
But for some reason, Ke Xingzhou just didn’t seem interested in dealing with him.He thought Ke Chenyu had already told Ke Xingzhou everything he said earlier, and he couldn’t help feeling anxious, regretting how he had spoken about Ke Xingzhou before.
How was this some mystical, babbling little brat? Ke Xingzhou was clearly a life-saving immortal!
It had to be said—there was some truth to Lan Xing’s so-called “fortunate fate.” Even though he wasn’t very sharp and often got bullied by his subordinates, when faced with opportunity, he could react immediately.
Just like now—he might not fully understand how powerful Ke Xingzhou was, but the moment he sensed Ke Xingzhou’s cold attitude, he instantly realized he needed to find a way to keep him around.
He hesitated for a while, then suddenly blurted out as if inspired: “Does your Xiaoyao Sect have premium membership cards? Maybe I could sign up for one?”
Ke Xingzhou’s expression really did soften a little, and he looked over: “Premium membership?”
“Like, VIP, SVIP or something… and then you can offer better, higher-quality services…” The more Lan Xing spoke, the quieter his voice got—he practically wished he could take it back.
What was he saying, “services”?!
Master Ke had literally saved his life—how could he call that a service?
To his surprise, Ke Xingzhou didn’t seem offended at all—on the contrary, he looked inspired. He waved over his senior disciple: “Zhu Chu! Zhu Chu!! Did you hear what he said? He wants to sign up for an SVIP membership!”
At the mention of a familiar term, Zhu Chu immediately perked up and strode over to Lan Xing: “Mr. Lan, we’ve got them. Whatever you need, we’ve got it! Just let us know what you think is a fair price for SVIP—we’ll go with yours!”
Lan Xing: “……???”
He was supposed to name the price?
Lan Xing hesitated: “Uh… what would be appropriate?”
Nie Chen spoke up blandly from the side: “VIP membership card, 200,000. SVIP, 2 million. Card or transfer?”
Lan Xing: “……”
That… that expensive?!
His family did have some money—they were newly rich—but not to the point of casually dropping several million in a day.
He stammered, then backed down: “Let’s… let’s just do VIP for now. I don’t have enough liquid cash…”
As he said that, he carefully glanced at Ke Xingzhou’s expression, and sure enough saw disappointment on his face. A strange impulse suddenly surged within him—he almost wanted to just fork over the full 2 million on the spot.
Thankfully, when he opened his banking app, the remaining balance brought him back to his senses.
Lan Xing didn’t dare look Ke Xingzhou in the eye anymore and asked in a small voice: “Can the 2,000 I paid earlier count toward this?”
Nie Chen: “No.”
Lan Xing: “…O-okay.”
He gave Ke Xingzhou a complicated look, thinking to himself that the Xiaoyao Sect sure made money easily—even the previous membership card was instantly rendered void.
But Ke Xingzhou had just saved his life. Right now, he was terrified of upsetting him and losing his protection, so he didn’t dare haggle. He braced himself and made the payment.
Lan Xing guiltily transferred 200,000 to Xiaoyao Sect’s account. After a moment of hesitation, he still asked, “So… what’s the difference between VIP, SVIP, and regular membership?”
That one question completely stumped both Ke Xingzhou and Zhu Chu.The two of them hadn’t thought at all about setting up these VIP tiers before—how would they have considered any differences?
This kind of thing clearly required a professional. Both of them turned their eyes to the sect’s only capitalist—Nie Chen.
Nie Chen: “……”
Nie Chen paused for a moment, then replied without much hesitation, “VIP is renewed yearly. If you don’t renew when it expires, it gets canceled. SVIP is a lifetime membership—you can use it until you die. As for the difference from regular members, maybe we’ll just charge 10% of the on-site service fee.”
Lan Xing: “…………”
If he remembered correctly, that 10% was already the original on-site service fee Nie Chen had proposed earlier.
In a daze, Lan Xing became Xiaoyao Sect’s first-ever VIP member. When he received the membership card drawn on a yellow talisman paper, he couldn’t help but question life:
Two hundred thousand for this?
His heart pounded uneasily. But when he saw the disappointed look on Ke Xingzhou’s face, he suddenly felt guilty and couldn’t help but promise, “I—I really do want to get the SVIP, it’s just I don’t have enough money this time. I’ll top up next time when I have the funds, seriously—if I’m lying, I’m a dog!”
Ke Xingzhou nodded, looking thoroughly unimpressed: “Oh.”
There’s no point in talking about money that hasn’t landed. It’s all just empty promises—this is textbook scumbag behavior.
Trusting a single word of that would bring misfortune.
He turned away with a sigh and happened to notice the old ghost, who had now been cleansed of resentment and turned into a benevolent spirit, sitting quietly in the corner. A thought struck him.
“You’ve been dead for a while now—found a job yet?”
Old ghost: “?”
--
Xiang Ting had watched the entire farce unfold. When he saw Ke Xingzhou start trying to recruit the old ghost for a job, his silence became deafening.
He really couldn’t stand to watch anymore. Just as he was about to say goodbye and leave, he caught a glimpse of Ke Xingzhou from the corner of his eye—and suddenly froze.
His brows twitched. He spun around abruptly and stared hard at Ke Xingzhou: “What did you do?”
Ke Xingzhou blinked, then glanced down at the freshly printed employment contract: “…Recruitment?”
“…” Xiang Ting went quiet for a moment, then spoke with difficulty, “Not that. What did you do before today? Did you run into anyone or anything unusual?”
Ke Xingzhou was completely confused. He had no idea what Xiang Ting was talking about.
Nie Chen’s expression also darkened slightly. Without making a scene, he quietly stepped closer to Ke Xingzhou’s side: “Mr. Xiang, please watch your behavior.”
Xiang Ting frowned as well: “Step aside. I have something important to ask him.”
Nie Chen didn’t budge, his gaze turning cold: “If it’s important, you can say it to me.”
The tension in the air soared as his aura flared up and collided violently with Xiang Ting’s stern presence. The atmosphere turned razor-sharp in an instant.
Zhu Chu, stuck in the middle, was so scared he nearly jumped.What’s going on now? What happened?!
They were just talking normally—how did it suddenly look like a fight was about to break out?
With his billion-dollar brain, Zhu Chu simply couldn’t figure out why these two had suddenly turned hostile. But when his gaze swept over to his shixiong, who was standing prettily behind his junior like he was being shielded, an inappropriate thought suddenly flashed through his mind—
His shixiong really looked like a little omega being fought over by two alphas...
The second this thought appeared, Zhu Chu instantly shoved it down.
He slapped his own forehead, muttering inwardly how ridiculous he was. How could he think of his shixiong like that?
Just earlier, when shixiong was catching that ghost, he was full of flair and charisma—even his pheromone’s scent was practically slapping Zhu Chu in the face! He was clearly a pure alpha!
...Though, now that he thought about it, two alphas fighting over one alpha wasn’t impossible either...
He was off on a wild tangent when his shixiong interrupted him.
Ke Xingzhou looked at Xiang Ting, and suddenly a rush of blurry images flashed through his mind, none of which he could clearly grasp—only a strange sense of familiarity remained. “...Do we know each other?”
The moment he said this, the aura between Nie Chen and Xiang Ting froze for a beat—then grew even more tense and hostile.
Indeed.
Nie Chen suddenly realized: whether it was their first meeting at the filming site, or this time, Xiang Ting’s demeanor had been overly familiar.
Even though Xiang Ting had clearly tried to keep a distance, the familiarity in his words couldn’t be faked.
What was more alarming was that Ke Xingzhou actually felt the same kind of familiarity.
At that moment, Xiang Ting looked over, his gaze lingering briefly on Ke Xingzhou, almost exactly like how Ke Xingzhou had stared at the golden glow of merit on him when they first met. Nie Chen felt his heart jolt.
Xiang Ting’s brows creased ever so slightly, as if puzzled: “You don’t remember either?”
“I’m supposed to remember you?” Nie Chen said with a cold sneer.
But his mind was screaming with alarms as he stared at Xiang Ting warily.
He quickly replayed the data Assistant Liu had compiled. There had never been anyone named Xiang Ting in Ke Xingzhou’s life.
As for himself, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say he had an almost photographic memory. And Xiang Ting’s distinctive features—if he’d seen this man before, he would never have forgotten him.
Ke Xingzhou had spent the first decade-plus of his life with Nie Chen by his side. Even in the three years they were apart, Ke Xingzhou had stayed in the countryside, reportedly without any other friends.
—Except for that ghost messenger.
So then, when exactly had this Xiang Ting crossed paths with Ke Xingzhou—or with him?
Nie Chen’s eyes darkened. Ke Xingzhou also looked thoroughly confused.
But then Xiang Ting directly ignored Nie Chen, turned back to Ke Xingzhou, and said something that made both their faces change dramatically—
“Your merit glow has weakened—why?”
Nie Chen’s whole body stiffened. He whipped around to look at Ke Xingzhou behind him.However, right now he was just an ordinary person. Aside from the merit glow having some strange effects on his body, he himself was a completely talentless mortal in terms of metaphysics.
In his eyes, Ke Xingzhou didn’t seem all that different from before—at most, he looked a little worn out from having run around all day.
No... that’s not right.
Nie Chen suddenly realized—Ke Xingzhou shouldn’t look worn out.
When Ke Xingzhou was learning the basics of metaphysics, Nie Chen had stubbornly studied alongside him and read in the textbooks about changes in facial appearance.
Fate and fortune—fate is fixed, but fortune rises and falls.
A physiognomist can observe a person’s luck to determine their future fortune. If an ordinary person wants to see it, they must rely on more detailed observation.
A person about to experience great fortune—no matter how ragged or dirty—will still have a bright and vigorous aura, showing no signs of gloom or weakness. On the other hand, someone about to suffer misfortune—no matter how well-dressed—will have an innate sense of disorder and instability that seeps from their bones.
The reason Nie Chen thought Ke Xingzhou looked a bit worn out… was because Ke Xingzhou’s fortune had declined, making his overall spirit and energy seem less vibrant than usual.
Merit and fortune are closely tied. So Nie Chen didn’t doubt what Xiang Ting said, but stared at Ke Xingzhou, filled with alarm and confusion.
Ke Xingzhou had previously told him a little about his own situation—not in great detail, but Nie Chen had been able to guess some of it from what he knew. He understood that merit was directly connected to Ke Xingzhou’s life and quality of living.
It had taken so much effort for Ke Xingzhou to finally return to his side. It was obvious just how hard-won all that merit must have been.
Nie Chen fixed his gaze on Ke Xingzhou, silently asking with his eyes: What happened?
Ke Xingzhou, on the other hand, was somewhat surprised—Xiang Ting was actually able to perceive the changes in his merit glow.
Though a trained Taoist could see the glow once their third eye was opened, maintaining that state consumed a lot of energy. Even if Xiang Ting had entered with his eye already open—or had been born with it—under normal circumstances, he shouldn’t be able to detect such minor fluctuations in the glow.
Right now, Ke Xingzhou was no longer that pitiful guy who struggled just to survive. The level of his merit glow was no longer on the same scale as before. The merit he earned from helping the old lady ghost was just a tiny portion of the whole.
—Could it be that this guy also had some kind of “merit ATM”?
Ke Xingzhou had barely entertained that thought when Xiang Ting once again said something shocking: “Who did you give your merit to this time?”
“...” Ke Xingzhou’s eyes narrowed slightly, and his expression grew serious.
This time?
Had he given his merit to someone before... without even knowing it himself?