The Secrets of Daoist Magic

The Secrets of Daoist Magic

Huh? My natural aptitude isn't good enough?

Dong Keyan was quite unhappy with that answer. Don't underestimate me.

She protested, "I don't believe that. Back in the day, I was a top student too."

"Is that so? Here, repeat after me in German: 'Wang ba dan!'"

Li Bai laid the trap with a straight face. As it happened, psychologists specialized in dealing with stubborn people.

The sudden change in tone caught Goddess Yan off guard. She gritted her teeth, suddenly finding this guy detestable. She wanted nothing more than to shove her microphone into his mouth. If he'd just stop bringing up that joke, they could still be friends.

The livestream fell eerily silent for a moment, making many people think the server had crashed. But the very next second, it erupted like a volcano.

"O.G.A: Even Goddess Yan, who's always so sweet, has her day. She finally met her match."

"Liang Liang: Doctor Li must be a Goddess Yan fan too, or how would he know that joke?"

"This Old Man's Maiden Heart: 666, calling her out to her face!"

"Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade Leader: What's the joke? Why are you all laughing so hard?"

"Love Lolis: New here? Let me explain what 'Wang ba dan' is all about..."

Someone explained where the "Wang ba dan" joke came from, and the 666s flooded in even faster.

Soon, "Goddess, don't cry! Get back up and keep going!" began flooding the screen!

Before, her fans had either been confused or secretly laughed without saying anything. Now that it was finally out in the open, there was no holding back.

"Stop joking around. I refuse to believe I can't learn it."

Dong Keyan bit her lip and regained her usual composure. She was a professional beauty anchor who made a hundred thousand yuan a month. How could she let someone else steer the conversation so easily? She had to stay in control.

"All right! Let's do a little test. What's this?"

Li Bai sighed and held up one finger. It looked like she wouldn't give up until she hit a wall.

"One!"

Goddess Yan rolled her eyes adorably, looking at him as if to say, Don't try to fool me.

"Wrong! It's an index finger!"

Li Bai held up his index finger and waggled it smugly.

"Y-you're being unreasonable!"

Dong Keyan stamped her foot in anger. This guy really had no sense of fairness.

"Let's try again, then. What's this?"

Li Bai repeated his trick, once again holding up an index finger.

"This is..."

Dong Keyan was about to say it was an index finger, but the words caught in her throat.

"An index finger or the number one!"

As expected of a former top student, Goddess Yan had finally caught on.

"Both wrong!"

Li Bai shook his head again. This wasn't a multiple-choice question.

Dong Keyan and the livestream viewers all grew furious. What was that supposed to mean? Was there another trick?

"The answer isn't in the finger at all. It's in your heart. You hesitated, and that means there's a weakness in your mind. If you already have a weakness yourself, how could you break through someone else's defenses? Besides, this is the most basic of basics. You haven't even qualified to take the first step, so how could you learn hypnosis?"

Li Bai had revealed the secret. Holding up his finger had only been a test. The answer wasn't important; the process was.

Like everyone else, Dong Keyan had fixated on what she saw right in front of her. In fact, she had already been manipulated without even realizing it.

The mentor who had first guided Li Bai in learning hypnosis had used this very method to determine who was capable of getting started.

Before he had inexplicably found himself in another world, Li Bai's hypnosis skills hadn't been nearly as impressive as they were now. Perhaps spending so much time with the Demoness, who excelled at eye techniques, had made him better through proximity. Add to that his cultivation of the Maha Bolan Sutra, which had greatly strengthened his Spiritual Power, and his hypnosis skills had advanced by leaps and bounds. He was now every bit the equal of a master who could manipulate people's minds with ease.

"Th-this is how it works?"

Dong Keyan stared at her hand in disbelief, looking completely bewildered.

Many viewers watching the livestream tried Li Bai's method on one another and were horrified to discover that ninety-nine percent of them failed to meet the standards for learning hypnosis.

"This is a matter of philosophy."

Li Bai had known all along that this little trick would fool plenty of people.

One of philosophy's defining features was ambiguity. The key lay in one's own insight and understanding, and everyone could arrive at a different answer.

The Dao of philosophy meant choosing the path that suited you from among the Three Thousand Great Daos. There was no question of right or wrong. Though it was only a finger, it pointed straight to the deepest part of the heart—to the true self.

The livestream was once again filled with baffled amazement. Many people couldn't imagine what one of the thirteen branches of traditional Chinese medicine, Zhu You Shu, had to do with philosophy.

If everyone could learn hypnosis, wouldn't the world descend into chaos? Such a high barrier to entry was essential.

The farcical battle of magic finally came to an end.

The police found a stockpile of dangerous materials inside the temple, including detonators, white phosphorus, metallic sodium, TNT, other flammable and explosive substances, and highly concentrated strong acids. They also found a number of illegally possessed psychotropic and anesthetic drugs, including several doses of Dolantin. The offense was practically equivalent to possessing drugs.

These discoveries meant that Qingliang Temple was in serious trouble.

The powerful figures who had once been on friendly terms with the three Daoist Masters would not only refuse to help now, but would likely rush to distance themselves from them to avoid getting burned.

As the police searched every inch of Qingliang Temple for evidence of criminal activity, the secrets the three Daoist Masters had hidden there began to emerge one by one.

Thanks to Li Bai, Dong Keyan was allowed to stay at the scene and continue livestreaming. Together with her camera operator and the viewers watching online, she witnessed these unbelievable secrets firsthand.

The temple wasn't large, but it was full of hidden mechanisms.

No one had expected Goddess Yan to be an engineering and science whiz who had made it from a 211 university to a 985 one. Even years after graduating, her expertise was still impressive. With a mix of educated guesses and deductions, she pointed out the secrets behind each mechanism.

Expensive, high-fidelity speakers had been installed in every nook and cranny. They had also been carefully calibrated by professionals to reproduce sound as realistically as possible.

Dozens of transparent wires hung above the plaza in front of the Three Pure Ones Hall, supporting a lighting system that could display the Tai Chi Yin Yang Bagua pattern. Together with the three-meter-tall bronze incense burner, it could also form a special, irregular Tesla coil. That was where the dazzling electric light came from.

The crackling arcs looked frightening, but although the voltage was high, the current was low, so they weren't very dangerous. Even if one accidentally struck someone, it would only make their hair stand on end.

Air ducts had also been installed in the windows of the surrounding side buildings. Once the noise-reduced, high-speed airflow poured out, it could create whirlwinds in the plaza. The phosphorous fire the Great Daoist Master had waved from his sleeve had relied on those air currents to swirl around Li Bai as if it were alive.

The area beneath the plaza concealed an even bigger secret. Under the concrete layer beneath the flagstones was a two-meter-high hollow space. Three layers of enormous coils, their purpose unknown, had been laid along its ceiling, close to the ground.

According to the Daoists at Qingliang Temple, the coil Magic Array had been built by the Second and Third Daoist Masters. They had probably intended to use it with special floating props and props equipped with sound, light, and electrical effects. The idea had come from wireless floating chargers found online, and the project had cost more than ten million yuan.

Qingliang Temple had certainly gone all out to fool the rich. With magic tricks and Black Technology, they could make at least seventy million yuan a year. Spending forty or fifty million to carefully build this ritual site had been well worth it.

One could imagine that if the underground coil Magic Array were completed and worked as intended, the Daoist Masters of Qingliang Temple might be able to conjure flying swords and magical treasures. Now that would truly be astonishing.

As Scholar Goddess Dong Keyan struggled to recall what she'd learned and explained her deductions, the livestream viewers and the police gathering evidence at the scene all saw the light.

Once the so-called Daoist magic had been exposed, there were no secrets left. It was all a scam.

Without anyone noticing, the number of viewers in the livestream crept up another notch.

The other anchors, who'd lost viewers to her, could only grumble silently. She had a pretty face to make a living with, yet she insisted on relying on her brains. Wasn't she leaving everyone else with no way to survive?

"The takeout's here! Is anyone home?"

A moment later, a Takeout Rider stood outside apartment 1901, staring blankly at his empty hands.

"Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing?"