Chapter 73

A little trick?

Peng Jingshan, upon hearing this, subconsciously glanced at Ke Xingzhou and then at the proud Taoists over there. He couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy inside.

Had this been earlier, if someone had confidently made such a statement, he would have been overjoyed and would have immediately pulled out money to ask them for help.

However, after experiencing the two frauds at Jiulong Temple, he was no longer happy when faced with such situations.

Were these people another bunch of frauds who only knew how to swindle money?

Seeing their fully equipped appearance, Peng Jingshan felt a sense of panic rising in his chest. Turning to look at Ke Xingzhou and his group, who were dressed in modern attire, he felt that they were the true masters—

They handled things calmly and casually, without fuss, never using flashy tools. Whatever talismans they needed, they would simply pull them out from their pockets. They exuded a refined, high-level aura!

Unlike those who relied on appearances and had no real skills, these people were on a completely different level!

When Peng Jingshan took the talisman bundle from Ke Xingzhou and stored it close to him, he felt a peace settle in his heart, which had been anxious all night. He felt completely calm now.

Peng Jingshan was moved, as if he had been redeemed, while the Taoists from Jiangcheng frowned.

The Taoists brought by Xiang Ting were from old, established temples that had been passed down for generations. They had seen countless believers. Though some first-time clients acted somewhat exaggerated, after their patient guidance, they could view metaphysics more rationally.

But Peng Jingshan was different. He seemed like a naive and gullible person, easily swindled.

The old Taoist with the goat beard was displeased that Peng Jingshan ignored him and couldn’t help but raise his voice. “Mr. Peng! I’m asking you something!”

Peng Jingshan carefully put away the talisman and then looked somewhat dissatisfied at the old Taoist, thinking, “Why are you in such a hurry? Master Ke hasn’t spoken yet.”

He originally only intended to have a few people from the Xieyao Temple come to help, never considering asking anyone else. It was only out of respect for Master Ke that he allowed these overly eager metaphysical old men in. Otherwise, who would have paid attention to them?

Peng Jingshan wasn’t very keen on dealing with the old Taoist with the goat beard, but he had to answer Master Ke’s question.

He touched the pocket where the talisman bundle was stored and felt the faint warmth. The unprecedented sense of security made his mind much clearer. “Master Ke, here’s the thing. I went downstairs to eat tonight and happened to run into Ban Wen…”

After learning the truth, Peng Jingshan was so angry that even looking at Ban Wen made him furious. At first, he hadn’t planned to pay attention to him at all.

Who would have thought that Ban Wen was sitting across from the director of "Fragrance"?

Although Peng Jingshan had won the Golden Three Awards for Best Actor, he was still just an ordinary person without power or influence, so he had to be polite in front of such a famous director. As a result, he had to sit and chat with Ban Wen, as per his insistence.

What angered him was that at that time, Peng Jingshan was still in the process of having his face swapped. If Ban Wen hadn’t called him over, even Director Zheng wouldn’t have recognized who he was.

Once he sat down, Director Zheng, who had previously shown great interest in him over the phone, completely ignored him and instead began talking with Ban Wen about the male lead character of "Fragrance." He repeatedly hinted that the role would be perfect for someone as calm and reserved as Ban Wen.Even when he stood up to leave, Director Zheng didn’t spare him much of a glance and casually sent him off.

When he returned to his room, not long after, Ban Wen came up to his door, boasting that Director Zheng had already decided to cancel the male lead’s audition.

“…Later, my agent did indeed receive news that the male lead for ‘Fragrance’ had been decided to be Ban Wen. Moreover, the company has decided to have my agent mentor Ban Wen and use my previous resources to support him!” Peng Jingshan slammed his hand on the table, infuriated.

He had always thought of himself and Ban Wen as brothers in hardship, always thinking of each other when something good came up. After signing with the agency, he even sacrificed some of his own benefits to have them sign Ban Wen as well. He even paid for Ban Wen’s breach of contract penalty when he left his previous company!

Yet now he realized, Ban Wen had never been grateful for him, and even had been thinking of replacing him all along!

All his years of effort felt like they had been wasted. Peng Jingshan was both angry and resentful, unable to control his temper. He immediately sought out Ban Wen with the news his agent had sent him.

Who would have thought that Ban Wen seemed to have foreseen everything, as he was live-streaming in his room.

When Peng Jingshan burst in, he realized something was wrong, but by then it was too late. His ugly scene of barging into someone’s room and questioning them was fully captured by the viewers in the live stream. By now, the recordings were probably all over the internet.

It was after leaving Ban Wen’s room that he realized he seemed to be forgotten even more seriously.

Peng Jingshan pointed to the chair by the door and sadly said, “I was so upset that I went downstairs to buy a few bottles of beer. But just as I lay down, the door was brushed open. I thought a thief had come in! So I threw a can of beer at the person. But the person screamed louder than I did, and the hotel manager came over to check.”

“After asking, I found out that the person had checked in according to the proper process. When the front desk called my room, I wasn’t there, and they mistakenly thought I had checked out and gave my room card to someone else, even charging me a 200 yuan card fee!”

Peng Jingshan was both angry and aggrieved.

The two new guests and the hotel manager were also stunned. They never expected such a mix-up to happen.

The hotel manager was very courteous, immediately waiving the room fees for both parties and offering a free room upgrade, along with meal vouchers.

However, after calming down, Peng Jingshan began to realize that the front desk might not be at fault. Such an unusual incident was likely due to the effects of the face-swapping curse intensifying.

The feeling at that moment was hard to describe, like the whole world was gradually forgetting about him, and in the end, even if he were still alive, it felt like he might as well be dead—no one would acknowledge his existence.

As an actor, used to being surrounded by the gaze of others, just imagining that scenario was suffocating for Peng Jingshan.

He rubbed his face and, after a moment of choking up, continued, “After that, I didn’t dare to go out again, but later, similar situations happened several more times. Once, the cleaning staff thought the room was empty. Even though I told them I was inside, they almost came in with a new room card.”

Peng Jingshan had gone through a lot today and had planned to catch up on sleep before Ke Xingzhou and the others arrived, but now he didn’t dare to sleep, forcing himself to stay awake. His mental state was close to breaking down.

So his reaction when he received the talisman was not exaggerated; he truly felt like he had been saved.

Peng Jingshan sniffled long and tearfully asked Ke Xingzhou, “Master Ke, how did he do it? I’ve been so careful, I didn’t interact with him at all, didn’t accept anything he handed to me. How did I still fall for it?”

Before Ke Xingzhou could respond, the local Taoists from Jiangcheng had already taken out their tools.

The old Taoist with the goat beard, who was likely quite well-known locally, gave Ke Xingzhou a dismissive glance, then said indifferently, “Let me investigate, and I’ll know soon enough.”

To be fair, since they were brought here by Xiang Ting, these Taoists, though proud, were still quite skilled in their work. They each held their tools and circled the room with an imposing presence.

However, they found nothing out of the ordinary.

When Peng Jingshan saw them walking around with their tools, his face froze, and he didn’t display the joy he had shown when Ke Xingzhou gave him the talisman earlier.

After ten minutes passed, the Taoists’ expressions grew increasingly confused, but they still hadn’t figured anything out. Peng Jingshan wore a look of “I knew it.”

As expected, it still depended on Master Ke!He secretly shook his head, completely bewildered as to why the scarred man, who claimed to be from the Special Incident Handling Bureau, insisted on bringing these flashy figures over. They were older than him, and yet, Master Ke alone would have been more useful.

Peng Jingshan turned to Ke Xingzhou again: “Master Ke, what do you think…”

Ke Xingzhou watched the Taoist priests begin scattering glutinous rice in the corners of the room, but he didn’t quite understand what they were making such a big fuss over.

After thinking for a moment, he asked, “Aside from him, have you encountered anyone else today?”

Peng Jingshan froze for a moment.

The old Taoist with the goat beard reacted first: “Yes, this kind of evil art sounds like a substitution curse, but it doesn’t necessarily require the person to perform it themselves. He might have used another medium to absorb your fortune.”

After saying that, he exchanged glances with the other Taoist priests and then looked at Ke Xingzhou, thinking that this internet-famous Taoist priest must have some skill to know this much.

Generally, substitution curses require direct contact between the two individuals whose fates are being swapped. Even money dropped on the ground and picked up by someone else must be left by the caster to form a “voluntary transaction” condition.

But this method was too simple and crude, and it was easy to trace back to its origin. Thus, some evil sects had devised a way to replace fate in stages—first, the target’s fortune would be transferred to an intermediary, and then the person in question would exchange their own fortune with that of the intermediary.

This method would inevitably cause some loss, but the person who hired the evil sect clearly wasn’t just looking to exchange Peng Jingshan’s life. There seemed to be an intention to harm him, and they might not have cared about the loss at all.

Their analysis was detailed, and unintentionally, they showed off their profound knowledge.

They thought this would make Peng Jingshan realize who was truly trustworthy. But to their surprise, he just smiled politely at them and immediately turned to Ke Xingzhou, asking, “Master, is this true?”

The Taoist priests: “…”

Seeing Ke Xingzhou nod, Peng Jingshan recalled his experiences over the past few hours: “After those two people barged into my room, I’ve stayed in here without going out. If I’ve had any contact with anyone, it would be with the restaurant staff and a young cashier at the convenience store... Oh, right, on my way back, I ran into a fan who asked for my autograph and gave me a badge.”

At a time like this, a fan still supported him—Peng Jingshan was so moved!

Ke Xingzhou: “…”

Nie Chen: “…”

When they fell silent, Peng Jingshan’s heart sank. “Wh-What’s wrong?”

Zhu Chu, who had now stepped halfway into the realm of the Taoist arts, immediately retorted, “Have you forgotten what kind of curse you were under?”

As soon as these words were spoken, Peng Jingshan fell silent.

This naive, middle-aged man trembled all over, his face turning pale as he asked, “So... so she wasn’t my die-hard fan? She didn’t recognize me because she liked me so much?”

Zhu Chu looked at him with a trace of pity in his eyes.

Nie Chen coldly spoke, “Your existence is being erased. Do you really think a random fan who happened to pass by could recognize you?”

Peng Jingshan wanted to argue that die-hard fans were different—they could even spot his cameo from when he played a minor role years ago in someone else’s film, so what’s wrong with them recognizing him now?

But when he met Nie Chen’s calm gray-green eyes, all his self-deception fell apart.

His throat tightened, and he covered his mouth before bursting into tears.

Everyone: “…”Ke Xingzhou, lacking empathy, asked, “Where did you put the badge the person gave you?”

At the mention of it, Peng Jingshan cried even harder.

He shakily reached into the pocket where he had just stored the talisman, pulling out everything in it, revealing both the talisman bundle Ke Xingzhou had just given him and a badge.

The badge prominently displayed a symbol of nine caterpillars... no, nine dragons, looking both sinister and eerie.

Zhu Chu glanced at the badge and immediately felt a chill run down his spine. He looked up, exasperated, “Don’t you find this thing strange?”

Peng Jingshan weakly answered, “I do. But nowadays, young people like to show off unique things. I thought it was a character from some anime…”

Zhu Chu: “…”

Wow.

He almost wanted to applaud Peng Jingshan. To dare stuff such evil items into his pocket, especially a pocket so close to his body—he really wasn’t afraid of death!

When Peng Jingshan realized that this item was the culprit behind his near “account cancellation,” he regretted it bitterly—no wonder he felt so invisible tonight, and his “transparency” seemed to be accelerating!

He tossed the badge onto the table and quickly put the talisman away, nervously asking Ke Xingzhou, “M-Master, do you think this can be saved?”

Ke Xingzhou's face turned serious as he glanced at him and actually shook his head.

Seeing this, Peng Jingshan felt his heart drop. Terrified, he thought, “Is this really how my life ends? Everything taken away by a small badge, while the person who planned my downfall rises to greatness?”

He felt completely undone, and then saw Ke Xingzhou slowly open his mouth—

“Your talisman is no longer effective. You’ll need to buy a new one.”

Peng Jingshan: “…”

Ah, so it’s beyond saving.