Qu Nanzhu chatted with his viewers while carefully grinding the cinnabar, then said to the camera, "Same rules as always. Three readings, three thousand each."
He casually enabled the call-in feature.
The next second, a rapid series of call requests erupted in a barrage of beeps. The request list instantly filled the right side of the screen, with over a dozen popping up at once.
Qu Nanzhu raised an eyebrow, clearly a little surprised by the attention.
He could more or less guess it had to do with last night's stream. Powerful hands had suppressed the trending topics, and the platform had throttled his traffic, but how did that saying go? True gold feared no fire.
Last night alone, he had used the eight trigrams to determine a direction and crossed provincial borders in the middle of the night to resolve a romantic entanglement. That was enough to catch the attention of those interested in such things.
Naturally, they included officially certified, orthodox celestial masters.
In modern society, most people maintained a sort of "Schrödinger's trust" in the mystic arts, much like how the authorities preached against feudal superstition while also maintaining an official department for handling supernatural incidents.
They controlled the reach of the mystic arts, keeping the community small. When a divination prodigy suddenly appeared and even went viral online, it was hard for him not to draw particular attention.
Those crowding into his stream to keep watch were mainly there to test his abilities. If he was genuine, they would establish a favorable connection; if he was a fraud, they would hand him over to the authorities.
Qu Nanzhu was still deciding which username to choose when a PK invitation popped up in the middle of the screen. He rejected it without even looking.
The other person simply kept sending PK invitations.
[Who is this? Qu Bao already rejected them, and they're still sending invites. How annoying is that?]
[Extremely annoying, thanks. I'm here for fortune-telling, not PK matches. If I wanted PK matches, I've got my own picks.]
[I went over to investigate. It's a debunking streamer. He's exposed loads of fortune-telling streamers, including several officially certified celestial masters.]
[Isn't mysticism something that exists if you believe and doesn't if you don't? What the hell is he even debunking?]
[Seriously? He's got his sights on Little Bamboo, huh?]
[I'm so pissed. He keeps provoking him over there!!!]
Qu Nanzhu rejected over a dozen invitations before finally accepting out of sheer annoyance.
The other man's face appeared on the other half of the screen. He froze briefly at the sudden split-screen interface, then gave a crooked smirk he clearly thought looked handsome. "Heh. I thought you wouldn't dare accept."
Qu Nanzhu propped his cheek on one hand and twirled his brush with the other. "Can I help you?"
"Oh, let me introduce myself. I'm Pang Du, a debunking streamer."
Although Pang Du had "fat" in his name, he was actually very muscular and clearly worked out regularly. He had regular features, no acne, a ready smile, and an outgoing personality. The wraps he always wore around his hands were a distinctive touch. He had later gained wider attention by exposing mysticism streamers and had close to a million followers on a certain short-video platform.
At first, Qu Nanzhu hadn't understood what "debunking" meant. Only after reading the complaints in the comments did he realize this man was treating him as a stepping stone.
He wanted to see just what the man could do.
He copied the other man's manner. "Really? Well, hello to you too. My name is Qu Nanzhu, and I'm a fortune-telling streamer. Three thousand per reading, fair prices for young and old~"
At those words, both wore provocative smiles, and the comments in both streams flooded in wildly.
[Holy shit, an ult right to his face.]
[Holy shit shit shit shit, Qu Bao is so cocky. I love it!!!!]
[So satisfying! That taunt felt so good!!]
[Oh my god, I always thought Qu Nanzhu was the sweet, reasonable type. I didn't know he had this much personality!]
[Wifey is so spicy, I love him. Mwah mwah mwah mwah mwah!!!]
Meanwhile, the other stream's comments read:
[Niiice. First time I've seen a scammer this self-righteous.]
[What if he actually has real skills?]
[Did you manage to say that without laughing?]
[Enough talk. Du, when are you opening the betting? I'm going all in!]
[Are you not planning to eat tomorrow?]
Both audiences were worked up to a fever pitch. Pang Du didn't show it, but he was inwardly delighted. Several big-spending men and women were extremely unhappy with the other side's attitude and sent him several Huazi gifts, urging him to hurry up and slap him in the face.
Qu Nanzhu's side was no less lively. Huo Sili merely sent three rockets as a token gesture. He didn't doubt Qu Nanzhu's abilities in the slightest.
But the woman ranked second on the donor leaderboard splashed out on ten Huazi gifts and praised him enthusiastically-[Beautifully done! I've been sick of that greasy guy over there for ages. Hahahahaha, that felt amazing!]
Only when Pang Du felt the warm-up had gone far enough did he drawl, "You're pretty brave. You know I'm a debunking streamer, yet you're still brazenly promoting your scammer persona."
Qu Nanzhu rolled his eyes inwardly and ignored him.
Pang Du wasn't angry. Instead, he pretended to compromise. "Since you say you can tell fortunes, why don't you tell me when I'll strike it rich? That should be easy enough, right?"
[Tsk, that face is kind of awkward up close. What's a man wearing makeup for?]
[I'm not against men wearing makeup. I agree with the comment above, though. The problem isn't that a muscular guy is wearing makeup, it's that he's done such an ugly job.]
[It's caking. Tell us the brand so we can avoid it.]
[Wait, I've watched his streams before. He didn't wear makeup back then.]
[Even his own viewers don't know why he's wearing makeup. Apparently today's the first time.]
[Could it be because he's targeting Qu Nanzhu today and doesn't want to get completely crushed in the looks department...]
[Uh, why does that actually sound plausible?]
Reading those comments, Qu Nanzhu arrived at an answer.
He responded to Pang Du's earlier question with one of his own. "Why are you curious about that?"
Pang Du smiled. He thought Qu Nanzhu couldn't do the reading and was trying to talk his way around it. "Anyone would be curious about when they'll make big money. If you didn't want to make money, would you be doing this? Right?"
Qu Nanzhu let out an "Ah." "I thought you'd be more concerned about how much longer you have to live."
That was an interesting remark. At first, it sounded harmless, but on second thought, wasn't he cursing someone to die young?
The other side's comments erupted in anger.
[Wow, not even pretending anymore. Just straight-up cursing him to die?]
[Being a scammer wasn't enough, now he's saying people won't live long. Is this how a people's hero behaves?]
[Report him, everyone. It's confirmed. He's a fraud.]
[Du has such a good temper. He's not even angry at this.]
Meanwhile, on Qu Nanzhu's side, viewers returning from their undercover visit reported-[Didn't they say they didn't believe? Why are they getting so worked up?]
Pang Du really wasn't angry. In his line of work, plenty of people had cursed him to his face. The more Qu Nanzhu insulted him, the more people would feel sorry for him, and the more gifts they would send.
Thinking of the three rockets a big-spending woman had just sent to comfort him, he felt even his physical discomfort ease.
Pang Du said, "There's no need to insult me just because you can't do the reading."
Qu Nanzhu said, "I haven't even started. What's your hurry?"
Pang Du gave a helpless smile, as if to say, fine, keep making excuses.
"Then may I ask when you're going to start?"
"Have you paid the divination fee? You want a reading without paying? Didn't you hear what I just said?"
Pang Du hadn't expected that to be the reason. He recalled that Qu Nanzhu had indeed said something about a three-thousand divination fee.
Naturally, he had no intention of paying. After all, he was certain Qu Nanzhu couldn't divine anything.
He spread his hands. "No need for that, buddy. Three thousand for one reading? Of all the streamers I've exposed, the most any of them dared charge was three hundred. You've multiplied that by ten, and I don't even know if you're accurate. How about this? Give me a free reading. If you're right, consider it free publicity from me. How's that?"
He deliberately didn't say what would happen if the reading was wrong. Everyone understood how these things worked.
Qu Nanzhu closed his eyes and clenched his fist. Unable to hold back, he said, his little face serious, "You turn on a livestream and go on and on about debunking this, debunking that, and after all that, you don't even know what a divination fee is. Get a reading or get lost."
With that, he exited the PK screen, stood up, and left the room to find scissors.
He left the viewers on both sides utterly bewildered.
[Wow, Qu Bao really tore into him.]
[That streamer looks so pissed. Those words really hit a nerve.]
[Exactly. If he's a debunking streamer, he should at least know the basics. Not even knowing what a divination fee is? That's ridiculous.]
[So, person above, what is a divination fee?]
[Don't tell me people still think paying a celestial master for a reading is just an ordinary transaction? Ever heard of heavenly secrets must not be revealed? They go against heaven's will by revealing those secrets, so they have to bear the karma. If the client doesn't pay the divination fee, they'll have to bear life-related karma. That's why you can owe anyone money except a fortune-teller.]
[When you put it that way, that guy really is a joke. Opening his mouth and demanding a free reading. He's rushing to take on karma.]
[Wait a second! Did Qu Baobao get so angry he left?]
[Ah, he's back. Huh? Why does he have scissors? What is he going to do!!?]