T/N: Please don’t be confused, but I changed ‘Li Wen’ to ‘Chu Wen’ because that’s the name I originally used for him in ‘Funeral for the Living’. 

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Damn it! Chu Wen cursed. Has everything he has done been discovered?

Suddenly, Chu Wen understood everything. 

This Wu De was very sharp, and Xu Han from last time was also not bad. It seemed that that man had kept his eyes on him since that failed witchcraft!

The person who told Xu Han about him… 

It was probably that woman. She was the one who discovered he was holding a funeral for the living. After all, that last time when they saw each other, she looked at him with a very penetrating look, as if he could hide nothing from her.

Chu Wen gritted his teeth. He was completely defeated.

… …

On the other side, An Rugu was signing a contract.

She previously solved the metaphysics problem of Chairman Xu Han—the richest man in Nancheng—and received a reward of 50 million. And from the recent livestreams, she has also received several million here and there.

Even after deducting the taxes due, there was still more than 40 million left, so she decided to donate most of it.

“Thank you, Miss An, for your donation to Charity Primary Schools.” The staff member sitting across from her was extremely moved. “Do you really want to donate so much? It’s still not too late to regret it now.”

The price of building a fully equipped charity primary school was around 2 million. Miss An donated 30 million which could build a total of 15 charity primary schools.

If you look at the list of the top ten philanthropists in the country, the average donation amount was only tens of millions. This amount donated by An Rugu could be said to be very large.

“I’ve already decided.”

An Rugu signed her name with sharp, fierce calligraphy, as if written by the heavens itself.

“Thank you, Miss An, for supporting Charity Primary School!”

After the donation, after many layers of discussion, An Rugu was awarded the title of ‘Nancheng Philanthropist’, as issued by the government.

There were supposed to be many commendation meetings and ceremonies after that, but An Rugu thought about it and refused them all. The purpose of these commendation ceremonies was to increase the reputation of the entrepreneur who made the donation. She was already famous enough and did not need this boost to her fame.

… … advance chapters available @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

After returning to Cloud Rise Temple, two acquaintances suddenly paid her a visit.

Su Lai updated An Rugu on some matters and couldn’t help but share his surprise. “We investigated Chu Wen’s background and found that he has always been very introverted, had shown no previous talent for metaphysics, and has never studied it with others.

“A few months ago, his neighbor suddenly noticed that he seemed to be tinkering with something in the house, making a lot of noise. The neighbor went over to remind him to keep it down but was only scolded for being nosy.

“When the landlord asked him to pay the rent quickly, Chu Wen argued with him and said that he should not bully young people just because they are poor especially since that shabby house was not even worth living in.

“It’s really strange for a timid person to become so arrogant now.”

Lin Weiyu took out a special box from her bag. She put it in front of An Rugu and said in a voice full of curiosity and expectation, “Miss An, this ring was taken from that person’s hand, and we couldn’t destroy it matter how hard we tried. Take a look, isn’t this a little weird?”

An Rugu raised her hand and opened the box. There was an iron ring lying inside the box. The ring was made of thin iron with a cheap-looking green gem set in the middle. It exuded a ghostly aura and was full of ominous energy.

She observed it carefully for a while and said thoughtfully, “It’s obviously an iron ring, but it hasn’t rusted at all. It is indeed strange.”

Lin Weiyu blinked, and her eyes widened, “… could it be that this ring allowed Chu Wen to master evil magic?”

“We can’t rule out this possibility.” An Rugu lowered her gaze and thought for a moment before making a decision. “It’s definitely not a good thing. I think… I should just destroy it.”

Lin Weiyu nodded, “Sorry to trouble you.”

She asked Lin Weiyu what methods they had used to try and destroy the ring. Since they already got unsatisfactory results, then she could now eliminate these methods and avoid unnecessary trouble.

A spell to exorcise evil suddenly flashed in her mind: the Nine Phoenix Destroying Evil technique. Astral steps¹, talisman forms, hand techniques, and incantations—all could be used to perform the Nine Phoenix Destroying Evil technique.

The latter three methods were used in exorcising evil spirits, while the first method was intended to directly destroy evil spirits. The astral steps method has great power and wide range, making it the strongest.

After setting up the altar, Gou An closed her eyes. Before performing the ritual, she warned the passing ghosts and gods to leave, and then placed the box containing the ring in the center of the altar.

She started walking in a particular step-to-step sequence, using the tail star of the Big Dipper to demarcate the range.

After the delineation was successfully done, wind and earth suddenly began swirling in the area, forming a small whirlpool beginning from the bottom, growing all the way to the top!

Lin Weiyu was very nervous. She has seen this spell before, but she has never seen such a huge response to power…

She looked at Su Lai next to her and the two of them came to a silent consensus. Miss An’s magic power seemed to be… bottomless.

When the formation was formed, the iron ring in the center seemed to sense something was wrong, and started to move with a clang.

However, An Rugu ignored these timid actions and recited the mantra directly, “Nine phoenix soaring, destroying evil from the ten directions, a golden boy to guide them, a jade maiden to serve them, worshiping His Majesty the Emperor, paying homage to the Jade Emperor, cutting off all evils and removing the bad luck…“

An Rugu continued to chant again and again. At some point, before everyone’s horrified eyes, the wind and earth that originally whirled upward gradually coalesced to form… a nine-headed bird.

Jiufeng or the nine-headed bird first appeared in the Classic of Mountains and Seas as the sacred bird of the Chu people. 

This nine-headed bird before them that had been formed by the wind and earth was huge.

It flapped its illusory wings and looked straight down, staring intently at the iron ring in the center of the altar, looking poised to take action.

As if it was just waiting until the incantation was finished, then it would rush down and destroy the iron ring.

Facing the looming pressure like a torrent, the iron ring shook, and a hoarse and magnetic male voice came from the iron ring: “Stop chanting, stop chanting, I—, I can help you!”

I Livestream Divination to the World translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com

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T/N: I haven’t posted for a while. I had to take a break for health reasons (but feel free to imagine I was off in a beach somewhere ☀️🏖️🤗). Thank you for your patience 🙏

As for the story, reminder that ‘phoenix’ in this context is not the rising-from-the-ashes phoenix that is known in the West. This is actually the fenghuang, a mythical, sacred bird of the East. To complicate matters for this chapter, the jiufeng or nine-headed bird is a ‘precursor’ of sorts to the fenghuang (which only has one head). The nine-headed bird was worshiped in ancient times by the people who lived in the Hubei Province. So the ‘nine-headed bird’ is often interchangeably called the ‘Nine Fenghuang/Phoenix’. If you read ancient era c-novels, the empress usually wears a nine phoenix headdress.  

The Nine-Headed Bird

The phoenix/fenghuang

Daoist Altar

Hand Techniques

If you’re enjoying my translations, do consider buying me ko-fi and get access to advance chapters as reward. Thank you for your support! ☺️
Chapter 52 — EASTER EGG (only for ko-fi supporters)
Chapter 53.5 — What A Messed Up Family
Chapter 53.6 — What A Messed Up Family
Chapter 54.1 — Run Away with the Ball || 10th Livestream
Chapter 54.2 — Run Away with the Ball || 10th Livestream
Chapter 54.3 — Run Away with the Ball || 10th Livestream
Chapter 54.4 — Run Away with the Ball || 10th Livestream
Chapter 54.5 — Run Away with the Ball || 10th Livestream

FOOTNOTES:

1. This specifically refers to the stars of the Big Dipper. I didn’t delve into it too much but it had a grid, some step sequence, and a formation. ↩︎