Chapter 93: The Seventh Senior Sister Descends the Mountain Once More

It took quite a while before Gu Xiangnan finally received a reply.

Are you Gu Xiangnan?

Yes, I’m Xiaonan.

Send me a photo.

Just after finishing her livestream, Zhang Baolian received a flood of private messages, many of them full of malice.

There were plenty of scam messages too; they only asked for a photo to verify identity.

Okay.

Gu Xiangnan immediately took a picture and sent it over.

After confirming that it was indeed her junior brother, Zhang Baolian added him on messaging.

Ping.

A notification chimed.

A new friend request popped up under the name Treasure-Lotus Celestial Lord.

Gu Xiangnan’s finger paused for a moment, but in the end he still tapped through and accepted it.

He could not wait to start a video call.

Zhang Baolian’s bright, lovely face appeared on the screen.

“Seventh Senior Sister!”

Gu Xiangnan exclaimed with delighted laughter.

“Xiaonan, let your Seventh Senior Sister have a good look at you. You’ve grown handsome. You’re no longer that little runt from before.”

Gu Xiangnan arched a brow and smiled. “You’re only two months older than me. Why do you sound like some old aunt?”

Zhang Baolian laughed and scolded him, “You brat, you have no manners.”

Then she asked with concern, “Xiaonan, are you getting used to living with Eldest Senior Sister?”

A faint doubt suddenly rose in Gu Xiangnan’s heart.

Earlier, Su Hanyan had told him that both Sixth Senior Sister and Seventh Senior Sister had been out of contact.

Then how did Seventh Senior Sister know he was staying with Eldest Senior Sister?

It seemed they were hiding something from him.

Keeping his expression normal, he replied, “Seventh Senior Sister, Eldest Senior Sister and I are both doing well. Come see me whenever you have time!”

At his words, Zhang Baolian’s expression suddenly changed. Her eyes darted away, and even her speech became hesitant.

“Well... um... Xiaonan, about me and Eldest Senior Sister... there’s been a bit of a misunderstanding, so we aren’t meeting for now.”

A question mark seemed to appear in Gu Xiangnan’s mind.

“Why? What exactly happened between you two?”

Zhang Baolian gave a bitter smile and said with some self-mockery, “It’s nothing serious, really. It’s just that Eldest Senior Sister thinks I spend all day fortune-telling and selling talismans now, like some kind of fraud.”

Gu Xiangnan recalled the scene he had seen in the livestream. It did look a bit that way.

“Seventh Sister, how did you end up becoming a Daoist nun?”

Back on the mountain, this Seventh Senior Sister had been the most mischievous of them all.

She had often taken Gu Xiangnan out to play everywhere.

That carefree little girl’s face was still vivid in his memory.

He had never expected that only a few years after coming down the mountain, Zhang Baolian would have become like this.

“It’s a long story.” Zhang Baolian lifted her cup and took a sip of water. “It all starts from the beginning.”

Zhang Baolian’s grandfather, Zhang Enguo, was a revered Celestial Master on Dragon-Tiger Mountain.

Her father, Zhang Yuntao, did not inherit his father’s mantle as a Celestial Master. Instead, he studied and tested into university as an ordinary student, and after graduation became an engineer in the city.

A few years later, he met her mother.

The two fell deeply in love and quickly entered marriage.

The night Zhang Baolian was born, wind howled and rain poured as nine bolts of thunder split the sky, shaking the entire city.

There was only one woman giving birth in the whole hospital, and that was her mother.

Zhang Enguo and Zhang Yuntao were waiting outside the delivery room. As the final thunderbolt struck, Zhang Baolian was born with a loud cry.

Yet her mother died of massive postpartum hemorrhage.

Losing her mother the moment she was born, she was given the name Baolian.

It meant: pitiful baby.

A granddaughter was born, but the daughter-in-law was gone.

This struck Zhang Enguo as deeply strange.

After handling his daughter-in-law’s funeral, he used Zhang Baolian’s birth chart to perform a careful divination.

The results made him draw in a sharp breath.

“This child is extraordinary. If she is guided properly in the future, she will surely become something great. However...”

Zhang Yuntao asked anxiously, “Father, however what?”

Zhang Enguo sighed and said slowly, “However, this child must never be raised in the ordinary way. Otherwise, she may not even live to adulthood.”

Zhang Yuntao’s heart tightened.

His beloved wife had just passed away, and his little daughter was his only emotional support.

How could he not be worried upon hearing such a prophecy?

“Father, what should we do? I cannot lose Baolian.”

Zhang Enguo stroked his beard and said in a low voice, “This child’s life is destined to face three great trials. Each one will be more dangerous than the last. If she cannot pass through them safely, there may be a risk of an early death. Yet if she does succeed, her life will undergo a major turning point.”

“Father, can you tell when these trials will occur?”

“At birth, the first one should have already come. When the heavenly thunder struck, she was not killed. That counts as surviving one ordeal.”

Just as Zhang Yuntao was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he heard Zhang Enguo continue:

“But I cannot accurately calculate the time of the next trial.”

“Still, in my younger years I once met a remarkable woman. She lives in seclusion deep in the mountains and possesses profound mastery of the Dao.”

“Perhaps we could send Baolian to her, so she can look after the child and help her avoid the coming calamity. Once Baolian grows up, we can bring her back.”

When Zhang Yuntao heard this, his feelings were in turmoil.

He truly could not bear to send away his daughter while she was still in swaddling clothes.

After much discussion, Zhang Yuntao and Zhang Enguo decided to wait until Baolian was old enough to understand before sending her into the mountains.

Who would have thought that when Zhang Baolian was only three years old, the second trial arrived already.

Zhang Yuntao was driving with Baolian when they unexpectedly got into a car accident.

He spared no effort to protect his daughter, and in the end, he lost his own life.

Zhang Enguo, who had to bury his son before his own time, was heartbroken beyond words.

Knowing that his granddaughter was once again facing a life-and-death tribulation, he immediately sent her to the retreat of that great expert.

And there she stayed, through fifteen winters and summers.

Finally, in the year Zhang Baolian turned eighteen, Zhang Enguo brought her down the mountain.

By then, Zhang Enguo was already old and frail, and he knew his remaining years were limited.

So in the time he had left, he resolved to pass on everything he had learned in his lifetime to his granddaughter.

After leaving that mountain, Zhang Baolian went to Dragon-Tiger Mountain.

She lived with her grandfather in the Daoist temple and studied diligently every day.

Only a few months ago did Zhang Enguo calculate that the most severe trial of Zhang Baolian’s life would descend this year.

To help her pass through this difficult threshold, Zhang Enguo decided to let her descend the mountain to train herself, form good ties, and build up a following.

He set a special rule: Zhang Baolian had to divine for at least three people every day.

When Zhang Baolian first entered the mortal world, she thought of setting up a fortune-telling stall on the street.

Instead, someone reported her for promoting feudal superstition, and she nearly got arrested.

The blow left her feeling dispirited.

If things went on like this, not only would she fail to complete her grandfather’s task, she might not even be able to feed herself.

While wandering the streets, she saw beautiful girls dancing on the street in front of a phone.

Curious, she went over to ask.

Only then did she learn that this was the livestreaming trend of the moment.

The girl also told her that gifts sent during a stream and goods sold there could both make money.

That gave her an idea. She could make money by livestreaming too.

She immediately applied for an account and began her career as a streamer.

But a newcomer had no traffic at all.

Occasionally a few viewers would enter, but they would usually just glance at her and swipe away.

What was she supposed to do? Her stomach was already growling with hunger.

Then she could only go and borrow traffic by challenging streamers with fan bases in PK matches.

That was barely enough for her to scrape by.

Recently, Eldest Senior Sister Su Hanyan had gotten back in touch with her.

After learning that she was livestreaming, Su Hanyan specially came to her room to support her.

But after watching for a while, she mistakenly thought Zhang Baolian had gone astray.

She believed Zhang Baolian was pretending to be mystical for money, cheating and deceiving people.

She tried over and over, in earnest and with great patience, to persuade Zhang Baolian to find a proper job.

When repeated persuasion failed, Su Hanyan felt Zhang Baolian was beyond saving, and little by little, she cut off contact.

Only then did Gu Xiangnan finally understand. Back when he had mentioned Seventh Senior Sister to Su Hanyan, the expression that had seemed so hesitant was hiding this very meaning.

“Seventh Senior Sister, if I didn’t still have to work, I’d already come see you! Come to my place. I’ll take care of you.”

“Really?”

Zhang Baolian’s eyes lit up. “Fine! Xiaonan, you’re amazing!”

Gu Xiangnan immediately booked her a plane ticket.

People’s Hospital.

“What are we supposed to do now? We only have this snuff bottle. There’s no other clue left.”

Lying in her hospital bed, Zhang Hongmei sighed repeatedly.

Huang Ying came back after getting lunch. While unfolding the small tray table beside the bed, she said, “I do have an idea.”