Su Cheng felt much more relaxed when he saw that Li Qiuyue’s expression had improved a lot after he coaxed her.
But then, thinking that he was possessed, goose bumps appeared on his arms. He turned his head to look at An Rugu, “… Did she cast a spell on me?”
He immediately thought of the evil magic portrayed in movies and TV dramas that could change a person’s personality drastically.
An Rugu lowered her gaze, her long eyelashes casting shadows on her cheeks, and her sharp eyes swept over the yao qi lingering around the person in front of her like smoke.
At the same time, she—who had a very sensitive sense of smell—noticed the faint odor of a fox lingering in the air.
“It’s not evil magic. You are ensnared by a yaoguai—a fox spirit.”
The fox’s specialty was charm. The stronger the fox’s power, the better the charm. The worse the character of the person being charmed, the easier it was to fall into the trap.
This person has a fickle mind; no wonder he was easily bewitched by the vixen who was good at seduction.
Su Cheng seemed to be listening attentively, but he was actually half-believing and half-doubting.
He has never seen gods or ghosts, and his materialistic1 worldview was deeply rooted. In his eyes, Zhou Yu’er just had a good temperament, and while she seemed somewhat similar to a vixen, she was not a fox.
Could it be that this master heard from his girlfriend that the person who seduced him was a vixen2, so she deliberately followed her words and made up a story, planning to cheat them out of their money?
He used his accomplishments as an actor, smiled appropriately, and said in a casual tone, “Then what should I do?”
As for the next step, this master would probably take out a valuable potion and tell him that after drinking it, he would not be harassed by the vixen anymore.
However, An Rugu stood beside Qiuyue and stretched out her hand, “Show me the photo.”
Qiuyue immediately handed her the now crumpled photo in her hand.
“From one thing comes two…”
An Rugu recited a spell to communicate with the dead, took the photo, and drew two fingers like swords across her brow.
When she opened her eyes again, the fair-skinned and beautiful woman in the photo suddenly looked completely different.
“It is indeed an illusion caused by a fox spirit!”
As the name suggested, the art of communicating with the dead can help one communicate with the Underworld and dispel illusions.
Liang Jing saw her expression change slightly and immediately came over and asked curiously, “What’s wrong?”
She lowered her head to glance at the photo in her hand, and immediately screamed, “Ah! How come she suddenly became a different person!”
Qiuyue also came over. After seeing the person in the photo, she was shocked and looked doubtful, “How could this happen?”
Could it be that the yaoguai has revealed its true form?
She turned around and saw that An Rugu looked as calm and at peace as before. She admired her so much in her heart, the master was so spiritual!
Su Cheng saw the two women looking frightened one after another. He asked, confused and puzzled, “What’s wrong? Did you see a ghost?”
Liang Jing and Qiuyue looked at each other, their faces pale, “Almost.”
“It’s scarier than seeing a ghost.”
Su Cheng didn’t believe it at all. The person in the photo was the beautiful Zhou Yu’er. How could there be any ghost?
He guessed that these two women were just envious and jealous.
He immediately came over; his eyes fell on the person in the photo, and a scream also broke out from his throat, louder than the two of them just now, “Aughhhhhhh!!!”
He quickly took two steps back, unable to believe what he had just seen, muttering to himself, “How, how could this happen?”
He had just looked at the photo for a long time and knew better than them what it originally looked like. The woman in the photo was initially very beautiful, but now her face was rugged, her eye sockets were sunken, and her skin was covered with acne.
It was as if the beauty filter was manually removed, but it was even more terrifying than simply removing a beauty filter. At first glance, it could not be said to be the same person at all.
In the blink of an eye, he was converted.
It turned out that Zhou Yu’er was really a fox spirit. He was really haunted by a yaoguai!
Thinking of the fox spirits in TV dramas that absorb yang qi and dig out people’s hearts, the beautiful face in his mind suddenly turned into a green-faced, fang-toothed evil ghost, and the ambiguous feelings in his heart disappeared immediately.
He hurriedly begged An Rugu for help, his attitude completely different from before, full of fierce desire to survive, “Master, you must help me, I don’t want my heart to be dug out!”
“I can do it,” An Rugu said.
Her eyes changed slightly, and she felt that this matter was not that simple. Zhou Yu’er was a real person. As such, An Rugu could figure out her fate. She was not a fox spirit.
But the one who stood behind her and was helping her—that was probably a yaoguai.
In order to avoid alerting the enemy, she thought for a moment and came up with an idea. She looked at Su Cheng and asked, “Can you ask her out?”
Su Cheng thought about it and nodded quickly, “She is participating in the talent show right now, but the supervision is not strict. She can use her mobile phone in private and occasionally come out for some fresh air. I will ask her out tonight.”
“Good.”
… … translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com
The semi-finals of the talent show ended perfectly. Zhou Yu’er ranked first in number of votes, leaving the second place far behind. The venue was filled with cheers and applause from fans.
“Love you, Yu’er!”
“You must debut as the center, baby!”
“Practice the final piece well!”
I Livestream Divination to the World translated by Maela @ whitemoonlighttranslations.com
T/N: Moving forwards, I am keeping the yaoguai in pinyin. Yaoguai are strange beings with supernatural powers— shape-shifting, casting illusions, mind control, etc.. They dwell in remote areas and cause unexplainable, unnatural phenomena.
The fox in this story and the weasel in the last one are both yaoguai.
I don’t want to call them ‘demons’ or ‘monsters’ because those are loaded terms in English. Yaoguai are not evil—although they can have predatory or vicious tendencies making them dangerous and frightening to humans. But the same can be said for a lion or grizzly bear, right?
Fun fact: Yaoguai is the root for the word youkai in Japanese. If you’re into shounen anime/manga that’s not sports or pirates (haha) you probably encountered this word at some point.
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 57.4 — Fox
Chapter 58.1 — Lady of Mount Tai
Chapter 58.2 — Lady of Mount Tai
Chapter 58.3 — Lady of Mount Tai
Chapter 58.4 — Lady of Mount Tai

FOOTNOTE:
- Materialistic here doesn’t refer to favoring possessions and physical comfort over spiritual matters; it means to only believe in what is material (can be seen and touched), as opposed to metaphysical (everything that An Rugu does hahaha). ↩︎
- ‘Vixen’ as in slut or scheming seductress—not the animal. ↩︎


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