Commercial Genius

The several outfits were all primarily white, with a few adjustments made at Tang Luo's request.

They were dashing and flowing without restricting his movements—very much in the style of "Wuhua, the Handsome Monk."

Of course, even after the alterations, they were still far more ornate than ordinary moon-white monk robes.

They gave off the air of a "master," rather than a handsome young monk.

That was exactly the effect Tang Luo wanted.

He put the other outfits away as backups, then laid out one of them.

The Merit Jade Lotus hovered above it, scattering specks of golden light.

Consecration: Deluxe Edition!

That was right. Tang Luo was consecrating the outfit, adding a BUFF to it.

Its durability and other attributes had all been greatly improved.

This included the shoes, to prevent them from getting damaged by the force of Tang Luo's attacks.

He had also added "cleaning" and "self-purifying" effects. The outfit wouldn't gather dust or get stained with blood, sparing him the awkwardness of having to do laundry in a mission world.

After trying it on, Tang Luo lay on the sofa and contemplated his future.

More precisely, he was thinking about how to acquire more merit.

Doing good and punishing evil in the God and Demon Game was one source.

But what about the real world?

He definitely couldn't neglect that, either.

"How about starting a 'Consecration: Demon-Subduing Society,' specializing in consecrating things, subduing demons, exorcising ghosts, and so on? I could even make money." Tang Luo's imagination ran wild.

Though the real world's spiritual energy was thin,

that didn't mean all ghosts and monsters had completely vanished.

If he expanded the scope, even God and Demon Walkers like Sun Ang would count as "ghosts and monsters" in Tang Luo's eyes.

They were beings he would need to subdue and exorcise.

Tang Luo didn't think he had Conan's grim-reaper-kid constitution, where people died wherever he went.

The Journey to the West was due to a combination of factors and didn't really count as a matter of constitution.

Constitution was only one part of it, at most.

Ultimately, it was a matter of the system.

The path he should take was more like Holmes's.

Whenever something happened somewhere, the people there would come to "Master Xuanzang" to resolve it.

The prerequisite for making that happen

was becoming widely known.

That would be quite difficult.

After all, consecrating things and subduing demons sounded thoroughly unreliable, like the scams of qigong masters.

"I could go online and find reckless paranormal enthusiasts, then join them on their explorations. If something happens, I can save people and earn merit, while building a name for myself."

After thinking it over, Tang Luo decided that he wouldn't be making money at the start.

He would have to rely on freebies and his looks.

Everyone liked free stuff. They'd think, "Might as well give it a try. There's nothing to lose."

That would help him get his "business" off the ground.

After that, Tang Luo could do whatever he wanted.

"I should get some business cards, so it's easier to introduce myself."

Tang Luo opened Hand Chopping Cat again, found a shop, and ordered custom business cards.

He could hand them out as a "greeting" whenever he met someone.

Once he got his name out there, he could sit at home and wait for customers to come to him.

He'd make money and earn merit.

Merit +999.

Money +999.

Plan set. Business genius. Success!

With his future mapped out, Tang Luo happily started looking for reckless daredevils.

Paranormal enthusiasts

were rare sights in everyday life, but a quick search online turned up plenty of them.

Some were even remarkably eager to take action.

Whenever they heard about an interesting incident somewhere, they couldn't resist going to investigate.

Tang Luo had never had anything to do with those circles before.

He wandered around the internet like a headless fly.

Whenever he spotted a paranormal exploration group, he joined without a second thought.

Some didn't respond at all, while others required approval.

A few let Tang Luo in without a word.

Then, without a word, they welcomed the new member and started throwing out piles of links.

Online shops, all kinds of random outdoor equipment—

one by one, they privately messaged Tang Luo, like sharks smelling blood.

Tang Luo could only leave those groups.

Was it really that hard to run an online shop these days?

After several hours of effort, Tang Luo finally figured out what he needed.

He was looking for enthusiasts who were willing to take action.

Groups that only chatted online could still provide him with "information."

Whether it was true or not, he could note it down and get a general impression.

It might come in handy someday.

As for the people who joined for other reasons—selling videos, begging for likes, asking for votes, promoting things, selling tea, or struggling writers looking for material—he could ignore them all.

The real target customers were enthusiasts who actually took action.

They either had money or free time.

Ideally, they'd have both.

Finding people with money, or circles where people had both money and time, wasn't something he could easily do by searching online.

But people with free time were easier to find.

That's right—college students!

"Shu Da Supernatural Society, Pear Blossom Ghost Stories Association, Pear Blossom Supernatural Ghost Stories Association, Dong Da Unscientific Phenomena Research Society... You can tell at a glance these aren't respectable clubs. Perfect. These are the ones."

Tang Luo zeroed in on the unserious clubs formed by bored students in the surrounding area and applied to join.

It was already late at night, almost midnight.

But college students weren't going to bed that early.

They quickly responded.

Several groups rejected Tang Luo's request outright, saying they were respectable clubs that only accepted students from their own schools.

As if everyone from outside the school were disreputable.

But two clubs did respond. One accepted Tang Luo right away.

The other told him to join a separate screening group and wait for approval before he could enter.

The group that accepted him was called Pear Blossom Supernatural Ghost Stories Association.

It had twenty-three members.

After joining, Tang Luo greeted everyone. A few people welcomed the new member, then the group went quiet.

Tang Luo remembered that Pear Blossom University had once only admitted women, and had only started accepting male students a few years ago.

The ratio of men to women was extremely lopsided.

He opened the member list to take a look—and something was off. Why were there fifteen men and only eight girls?

What happened to the promise that nine out of ten were women, with the last one being a sister?

Could Pear Blossom Supernatural Ghost Stories Association be a branch of Pear Blossom Ghost Stories Association, something like a "men's division"?

He left that question aside for the moment.

Tang Luo went to join the screening group for the Dong Da Unscientific Phenomena Research Society.

The moment he got in, Tang Luo shuddered.

There was something about this group.

Then he remembered that Dong Da was a medical university!

A bunch of medical students would be bold, and their idea of reckless stunts would go further than most people's.

They'd definitely be the type to push things to the limit.

You're the ones, then—my "mobile merit providers"!

Then Tang Luo failed the screening and was mercilessly rejected.

Here's what happened:

There were five people in the screening group: one group owner and four admins.

Four men and one woman.

Not long after Tang Luo joined, the female admin asked whether the profile picture and photos were really of him.

Tang Luo used the account for work.

Naturally, he had to make it look professional.

He'd taken a professional-looking photo of himself in a suit as his profile picture, and uploaded a few more to the photo wall.

Although he looked more like he was cosplaying,

that didn't matter. If he looked like he was cosplaying, so be it. As long as he was handsome enough, he could rely on his looks and free services to get the business started.

Tang Luo's thinking was crystal clear.

So he replied, "Yes."

He could reveal that he was a monk after they'd gotten to know each other better.

"Good!"

Tang Luo saw the female admin type one word and an exclamation mark.

The next second, he was kicked out.

???

What had just happened?

Tang Luo joined another screening group, only to be rejected again almost immediately.

The reason was as follows:

Bro, our whole group only has eight girls, and now you, a cosplayer, want to come in and steal them too? Not cool. Don't let me see you again!

You little punks, so you know how to guard your territory?

The problem was, was Master Xuanzang really there to steal girls?

Master Xuanzang was there to save your lives!

You had no idea what you'd just missed out on.

"Ding, ding, ding."

A message notification sounded. Someone in the small group of twenty-three that Tang Luo had just joined had posted.

He opened it and saw that someone called Platelet is the Best had sent a picture captioned, "Newbie, run! Everyone here is gay." Dog.JPG.

Then—

Otaku Disgusting: "Newbie, wanna pick up soap? No, I mean, post a photo?"

Staying Up Late Is Bad for You; You Might as Well Stay Up All Night: "Newbie, do you like Sadako or Kayako?"

Sadako is My Wife: "Heh. How could Kayako compare to my wife?"

The atmosphere suddenly came alive.

As expected of paranormal enthusiasts—they liked things a lot more hardcore than ordinary people did.

By comparison, that Platelet guy seemed pretty weak.

He gave off a wimpy vibe.

He was probably someone the others in the group didn't dare mess with.

"Is that your real profile picture? Are those photos really of you?" someone suddenly asked.

"Yes."

Tang Luo thought about it and answered honestly.

They'd meet in person sooner or later, so there was no point hiding it.

"!!!"

"Cosplayers, maybe don't join?"

"Yeah, this is a group for paranormal enthusiasts. Besides, you don't seem to be a student at our school."

"Agreed. @Platelet is the Best, kick him out. He doesn't seem like a good person."

"Kick him, kick him."

That Platelet guy was an admin.

Group member XXX was muted by the group owner, I Am Cute, for 23 hours and 59 minutes.

Group member...

Group member...

With a flash of the blade, the room fell utterly silent.

"Heh, someone trying to rebel?" I Am Cute radiated queenly confidence.

"@Xuanzang, is that really you?"

"@Xuanzang, are you cosplaying a monk from JX3?"

"It's really me, not a cosplay. I guess you could say I'm a lay disciple." Tang Luo gave them an identity that was somewhere in between.

"Master!"

"Little monk!"

"Wuhua!"

I Am Cute: "It's the middle of the night. Quit getting frisky. Are you local? @Xuanzang"

"Yeah. I'm really into paranormal explorations. If you guys have any outings planned, you can invite me along."

"Sure, sure," I Am Cute replied.

After that, the conversation went off track.

They chatted about everything under the sun. Honestly, apart from the group's name, you'd never guess it was a paranormal group.

Tang Luo watched for a while, then muted the notifications.

Cast a wide net.

Keep walking down dark roads, and sooner or later, you'll run into a ghost.

Actually, even if they didn't run into ghosts, the expeditions themselves carried some risks.

If there's money to be made, make it.

Over the next while, Tang Luo spent his time hanging around online.

He joined groups made up of the more active members of various paranormal enthusiast communities.

At least he'd become a familiar face, so they'd invite him along when something came up.

Aside from occasionally being mistaken for someone who sold talismans, nothing much happened.

As for the first group, he'd become even more familiar there.

Unfortunately, no one had put together a team to go tempt fate just yet.

He already had the contact card. All that remained was for business to officially open.

Tang Luo's Merit Jade Lotus was already ravenous!