Live Streaming: Fortune Telling (Taekook)

Chapter 5: Celestial Masters Dueling Online

Jungkook breathed a sigh of relief. "It's easy to make him leave; there's no need for a ritual. If you turn yourself in, he will naturally go."

【Jungkook: I advise you to turn yourself in.】

【Wow, another exciting development. Is it another major case?】

【With the police camping out in the livestream, won't their performance metrics skyrocket?】

【The Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain hasn't spoken yet. Does the Streamer actually have real skills?】

Taehyung glanced at the comments but remained silent. He still couldn't determine whether Jungkook was a fraud.

After all, not everyone possesses the Heavenly Eye, nor can it be opened at any time.

Furthermore, even with the Heavenly Eye, one cannot tell if someone is a fraud at a single glance.

A fraud isn't someone who knows nothing; on the contrary, real frauds usually know a little bit. It's this mixture of truth and lies that causes many people to be deceived.

Taehyung thought to himself that he wouldn't let any fraud or follower of the Heretical Path off the hook, but he also couldn't wrongly accuse a capable future Celestial Master. Therefore, he needed to observe this person a bit more.

Jungkook didn't care what Taehyung thought; he was still dealing with the woman who was trying to justify herself.

The woman insisted that she had never done anything that offended heaven and reason.

"They say you're a fraud, and you really are one, aren't you? You want to send me to prison just to gain followers, don't you?" The woman suddenly became hysterical.

Jungkook didn't even look at her; he just looked down at the comments, letting the woman rave and hurl insults.

Even Taehyung found it hard to listen to, but seeing Jungkook's indifferent expression as if he hadn't heard a thing, he couldn't help but say, "There's no need for a self-injury ruse, is there? If you really can't handle it, I can do it for you."

Jungkook looked up at him. "No, thank you. She's been suppressed for too long. Let her vent so I can persuade her to turn herself in."

Half an hour later, the woman finally grew tired of shouting. She wept silently and quieted down.

Jungkook spoke up. "The ghost coming to your house is your son who passed away last month, isn't it? A boy of about fifteen or sixteen."

The woman suddenly looked up, her eyes filled with terror and grief. "Is it really him? He's back? Why would he come for me? I'm his mother!"

"When you did it, did he struggle?"

Jungkook's voice was very soft, but to the woman's ears, it sounded like a heavy hammer striking her heart.

She froze on the spot, then suddenly covered her face and began to wail.

"An accomplice is still a criminal. Go turn yourself in. I'll make sure he leaves peacefully. After all, you were mother and son; you wouldn't want him to commit a sin and be unable to reincarnate, would you?"

【Holy shit, a mother killing her son? That's insane!】

【Looking at the woman's expression, she seems to have admitted it. The Streamer really has skills.】

【A mother killed her son, and the son came back for revenge. What is wrong with this world?】

The comments section was in an uproar. After a long time, the woman stood up, her face filled with despair. "A-Liang was a good boy. It's my fault; I wasn't a good mother. I'll go turn myself in now. I'll make sure his stepfather goes to prison with me. Please, Celestial Master, don't let A-Liang make a mistake. Let him leave peacefully and be reincarnated into a good family in his next life."

【Oh my god, the stepfather is involved too!】

【Didn't the Streamer say his mother was an accomplice? The stepfather is probably the main culprit.】

【The Celestial Master of Longhu Mountain has gone quiet. Hurry up and give a verdict! Is the Streamer a fraud or not?】

Taehyung was silent for a while. From what he could see, Jungkook indeed had some skill.

But it was a bit mixed and a bit unorthodox.

"That boy's ghost—how do you plan to send him off?"

Jungkook said casually, "Just persuade him to leave. If he doesn't want to go, it's not like I can force him into submission, right?"

"What do you mean? When a Celestial Master intervenes, all ghosts must obey. He must leave even if he doesn't want to. Those are the rules."

"Those are the rules of your Longhu Mountain. The rules of our Qingxu Mountain are to respect human rights and ghost rights. The Way of Heaven bears all; karma cycles. Let those with grievances voice them, and those with grudges take revenge."

After Jungkook finished speaking, he began to whisper toward the woman's small screen. He held a piece of yellow paper with a talisman drawn on it, and with a whoosh, it ignited into a ghostly blue flame.

Taehyung's brow furrowed deeply. Seeing this, he immediately pressed two fingers together, brought them to his lips, and began to chant a mantra.

The blue fire on Jungkook's end suddenly went out, and the talisman paper stopped burning halfway.

He looked up at Taehyung in annoyance. "Are you sick? I'm sending him off. Why are you stopping me?"

Meanwhile, on the trending search list of a certain social media site, the hashtag "Celestial Masters Dueling Online" was rapidly climbing to the top spot.

The number of viewers in the livestream instantly surged to 200,000. Tips poured in one after another, and the comments were filled with 【Fight! Fight!】

Taehyung replied crossly, "You call that sending him off? You ignited a blue flame—Nether Fire—and spoke the Ghost Tongue. You are clearly enabling his revenge."

Jungkook was speechless. "Once he's had his revenge and his wish is fulfilled, won't he just leave? Is there a problem?"

"This is not what a Celestial Master should do. This is a deviant path." As the leader of the Daoist Sects, Longhu Mountain had the duty to monitor all schools and eliminate the Heretical Path. Since the techniques Jungkook used were mostly unorthodox, Taehyung assumed he was part of the Heretical Path and couldn't help but rebuke him sternly.

"Just tell me, did he leave or not?" Jungkook said dismissively.

The Fat Daoist Priest to the man's left said, "Jungkook, is it? Just you wait. We will lodge a complaint against you with the Metaphysics Association. We advise you to return to the righteous path soon and not continue down this dark road."

"Farewell."

Jungkook hurriedly stopped them. "Hey, don't leave yet! The patrons in the livestream are still waiting for your conclusion. You barged in for no reason and smeared my reputation—you think you can just leave? You're not going anywhere until this is settled."

Taehyung's face darkened, and his tone was stiff. "You do have some ability; you're not a mere amateur. But as for whether you follow a deviant path, we need to go back and deliberate."

"Patrons, did you hear that? I'm a legitimate Celestial Master, not a fraud. If you have any needs, feel free to keep coming to me. As for the 'deviant path' talk, it's purely their imagination. What's righteous and what's evil—people can judge for themselves. It's not up to Longhu Mountain to decide what's right or wrong."

【I'm siding with Jungkook on this one. I really like what he said about respecting ghost rights and seeking revenge for grudges.】

【+1. Black cat or white cat, as long as it catches mice, it's a good cat.】

【The Streamer is awesome! This was a total slap in the face for Longhu Mountain. Watch out for retaliation!】

Jungkook smiled slightly. "Thank you for your concern. I believe the descendants of the Longhu Mountain Celestial Masters Residence wouldn't resort to underhanded tactics. How can one be a Celestial Master without a bit of magnanimity?"

With a dark face, Taehyung said "until we meet again" and cut the connection.

After finishing the ritual he had started, Jungkook said, "Next, we'll continue drawing lots. Who will be the next patron?"

"'Rising Vigor Again'—dear patron, would you like to connect?"

Appearing on the other side of the screen was a man filled with grief. On the desk behind him were the funeral portraits of his two daughters.

Someone in the comments section immediately recognized him.

【He's the father of those two children who fell from the twenty-sixth floor last week.】

【It's said the children's mother is divorced and doesn't care about them.】

【The children are so pitiful. The father must be heartbroken.】

【My condolences.】

Jungkook glanced at the man and then lowered his eyes again. "patron, what is your request?"

The man turned his grief-stricken face to look at the photos of the two children. "How could anyone be so heartless as to kill their own children? My children died in an accident, and I can't even see them once in my dreams."

As he spoke, the man began to sob. "I want so much to see them one more time and tell them, 'Daddy was too late, I'm sorry.' "

...****************...

Author's Corner

What do you guys think of this case --- a dad's sorrow or mysterious twist? ᕙ⁠(⁠ ͡⁠◉⁠ ͜⁠ ⁠ʖ⁠ ͡⁠◉⁠)⁠ᕗ

let’s play another small game! (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

Guess the Word:

I hide the truth but reveal the crime.

Without me, no mystery can be solved.

What am I?

I follow every step but leave no sound.

Detectives look for me on the ground.

What am I?