Northern Dipper Fate, Summoning Gods and Censuring Ghosts

In the office, Huang Bai buried his head in a pile of paperwork.

The welfare institute was already short-staffed. Either he had to handle many things himself, or they had to recruit volunteers from outside.

But volunteers came and went, and were ultimately unreliable. To truly keep things running, they still needed permanent staff.

Huang Bai rubbed the space between his brows. The more he looked, the bigger his headache became.

"There's too much miscellaneous work. Another day, I need to make a trip to the casino to stock up, get some money back first, and fill the staffing gap."

"Stock up..."

He muttered the words, then suddenly thought of something.

Getting to Macau would not be difficult, but the welfare institute did carry an official name. If a large donation truly came in, he would have to explain where it came from.

Besides, a casino was the kind of place where money came quickly and vanished just as fast. It was not a long-term solution.

Huang Bai thought it over, then his mind suddenly turned in another direction.

"I might as well talk to a few of the nearby public temples."

"They already have a need to perform charitable deeds. If I secure sponsorship here, even after I leave, someone can keep it going."

Changhua had a thriving temple procession culture.

Put simply, it referred to the religious activities that sprang up around temple fairs, welcoming gods, parading gods, and celebrations.

The Chief Generals of the Underworld, the Generals of Increase and Loss, the White Crane Youth, and the Eight Generals all belonged to this tradition.

Seeking sponsorship from temples could not only secure stable funding for the welfare institute, but also let him make connections and see whether he could find a way through them to destroy the Great Black Buddha Mother.

At noon, Huang Bai finished dealing with the institute's affairs and prepared to head out.

"Auntie Yu, please keep an eye on things. I'm taking Duo Duo out for a look."

Duo Duo was considered a special child at the welfare institute, and with her mother's history of mental illness, it was only reasonable for Huang Bai, the director, to personally take her out for treatment.

Huang Bai took Duo Duo by the hand and walked down the street.

Cars streamed past on the roadside, horns blaring without pause. The scent of oyster omelets and sausage wrapped in sticky rice drifted from the stalls at the street corner, while pearl milk tea and fried chicken stands lined the other side.

After walking for a while, Duo Duo secretly glanced at the milk tea shop beside them and asked softly, "Director Brother, can I drink that?"

Huang Bai lowered his head and looked at her.

There was obvious timidity in the little girl's voice. She did not even dare point openly, only furtively lifted her hand a little.

"You can."

Huang Bai softened his tone and bought her something to eat as well.

At an age when she should have been hiding in her parents' arms and acting spoiled, she had instead learned from childhood to watch people's expressions. Children who became sensible too early usually lived difficult lives when they grew up.

After buying the food, Huang Bai hailed a taxi.

"To Zhou Cang Temple."

In the original story, Zhou Cang Temple had a way to deal with this. Since that was the case, there was no harm in going over first to sound them out.

The car stopped in front of the temple.

Zhou Cang Temple had no shortage of incense offerings. People came and went before its gates, smoke curling through the air so thickly it stung the eyes shut.

Standing at the entrance, Huang Bai first looked at the statue of Zhou Cang inside.

The gods of this world mostly performed their arts through "spirit possession," what ordinary people called being possessed by a god.

There was a saying in the Heavenly Altar Jade Code: "An Orthodox God does not possess the body."

So Huang Bai could see it clearly. Whatever received incense offerings in Zhou Cang Temple was probably not Zhou Cang in the true sense.

Zhou Cang had originally been a fictional character. What this temple worshipped was most likely only a yin god borrowing Zhou Cang's name.

Once the worshippers had thinned out somewhat, Huang Bai led Duo Duo into the temple.

A guandao lay across the front of the statue. Its eyes were wide with fury, and its presence was immensely oppressive. The moment Duo Duo entered, her face turned several shades paler, and a sheen of cold sweat appeared on her forehead.

Nearby, the temple keeper A-Qing had his head lowered as he sorted through the incense offerings. Without even looking up, he casually said, "The hall closes at six-thirty. Incense is on the right, take it yourself. No charge."

Huang Bai did not speak immediately. He stepped forward, took three sticks of incense, and lit them from a candle flame.

"Lord Zhou Cang above, I have come today to ask for something..."

He had barely begun when the incense in his hand suddenly went out.

Huang Bai glanced at the sticks, thinking they had gotten damp, and lit them again.

But this time was even stranger.

The sandalwood incense had only just flared up when the entire row of incense and candles beside the offering table went out at the same time.

A-Qing froze mid-motion and finally looked up.

"Don't offer incense yet."

Frowning, he approached by several steps. His gaze swept from the offering table to Huang Bai, then settled on Duo Duo. His expression had already changed completely.

Huang Bai did not move. He merely stood to one side and watched him handle it.

A-Qing quickly brought over a basin of rice, tied a red cloth around his forehead, and grabbed a handful of burning incense. As he cast divination blocks, he muttered an incantation under his breath.

The blue smoke in the temple soon gathered into strands, shooting upward like threads of silk.

Standing to the side, Huang Bai secretly sensed the surroundings.

Before long, he detected a faint power descending from somewhere beyond perception. Its nature was unusual. It was not yin energy, nor did it resemble a curse.

"It's exactly the opposite of something like the Great Black Buddha Mother. Not a curse—more like Incense and Fire Prayer Power, or... the power of blessings."

Evil gods and Orthodox Gods should have been two sides of the same coin.

A-Qing used the incense to draw several complex patterns in the rice. After a while, he let out a long breath and withdrew from that spirit-medium state.

But when he raised his eyes again, his expression had utterly changed.

He first looked at the offering table, then at Huang Bai, as if confirming whether he had seen wrongly just now. Only after several breaths did he speak.

"May I ask how to address this honored guest?"

"Huang Bai, director of Changhua Welfare Institute."

"Mr. Huang..." A-Qing repeated, his gaze still fixed on him. "May I presumptuously ask whether Mr. Huang has studied a ritual lineage before?"

"My family has been Taoist priests for generations," Huang Bai answered unhurriedly. "But we do not worship gods."

Huang Bai truly did not believe in gods—not that he disbelieved in the existence of immortals and deities, but he had no religious faith.

After hearing that, A-Qing's eyes changed again.

At first, he had merely been startled and suspicious. Now, a degree of solemn respect entered his expression, and he even unconsciously straightened his back.

"So that's how it is."

"No wonder... no wonder..."

It was as if he had found an explanation for the divinatory sign he had just seen.

After all, he had spent so many years at Zhou Cang Temple and seen more high-ranking politicians than he could count, yet he had never seen someone whose incense offering could suppress all the incense on the offering table and extinguish it.

Much less had he seen a god use a divinatory sign to explicitly instruct him to treat someone as an equal.

This was no ordinary worshipper.

A-Qing paused, cupped his hands toward Huang Bai, and spoke more politely.

"I was discourteous just now. Please do not take offense, Mr. Huang."

Seeing him like this, Huang Bai grew curious instead.

"What exactly did you see?"

A-Qing steadied himself before answering, "The divination just now was: 'Northern Dipper Fate, summoning gods and censuring ghosts.'"

He had heard of such a divinatory sign before, but this was the first time it had truly appeared on a living person before his eyes.

"It means that Mr. Huang is someone capable of commanding ghosts and gods, of putting yin spirits to work. Thus the god has indicated that you need not follow the rules for ordinary worshippers, nor need you receive the rites of incense here."

"So... there is no need to offer incense."

By the end, A-Qing could not help looking at Huang Bai again.

There was actually another thought in his heart that he did not dare voice. Could this man before him be one of the ghosts and gods?

After hearing this, Huang Bai did not fully understand it either.

A-Qing clearly knew some things, but not everything. Huang Bai could not be bothered to dwell on it, so he simply returned to the main issue.

"Let's not talk about that for now. I came here because of her."

He raised a hand and pointed at Duo Duo.

Only then did A-Qing truly turn his attention to the little girl.

After only a few looks, his expression grew grave.

"This child has a curse on her."

"Can it be lifted?"

A-Qing fell silent for a moment before saying, "There is a method, but the risk is great."

"Tell me."

"Seven days without food or water."

A-Qing continued explaining, "It is also called Stealing Heaven's Secret. Put plainly, it means forcing someone to the edge of life and death, deceiving the gods' curse into thinking she is already dead. Then that thing will naturally stop watching her."

Huang Bai lowered his head and looked at Duo Duo.

If she truly went seven days without food or water, she might not endure it.

"Can this method lift the curse, or can it destroy that thing along with it?"

"It can only lift the curse." A-Qing shook his head. "As for how to eliminate that evil god, I could not get an answer here. The god did not send down any instructions."

Between spirit mediums and yin gods, it had never been a matter of asking whatever you wanted and receiving an answer. Most of the time, if you asked ten questions and received even half a vague hint, that was already considered good.

Huang Bai did not state his position immediately.

"I'll think it over."

After saying that, he seemed to remember something. He took out a business card from his pocket and handed it over.

"Oh, right. Would Zhou Cang Temple be interested in sponsoring the welfare institute?"

"If the temple has the heart to do this good deed, you are welcome to visit anytime."

A-Qing accepted the card and glanced down at it. Then he smiled.

"Since Mr. Huang is someone valued by the gods, the temple must give you this courtesy."

"I will help with the sponsorship within my capabilities. Mr. Huang may also come by and sit awhile whenever you like."

The two talked for a few more moments, then Huang Bai rose to take Duo Duo and leave.

Just before they went out, A-Qing seemed to recall something and suddenly called after him.

"Oh, right."

"There will be a god-parading assembly in three days."

"At that time, the Chief Generals of the Underworld, the White Crane Youth, and the Generals of Increase and Loss from Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva Temple will all come out to patrol the streets. If you want to ask about destroying an evil god, they may know..."