Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore

Chapter 766: Burning Incense and Praying for Blessings, Worshipping the God of Wealth

Actually, the story of “Dragon,” which they were preparing to shoot this time, was very simple.

If you boiled it down to a single sentence to summarize the entire plot, it would roughly tell the story of a barely mediocre Celestial Master who accidentally uncovers a conspiracy left behind by the Cherry Blossom Island nation in China decades ago, and ultimately decides to join forces with a few other companions to eradicate the threat and save the nation's destiny.

Just from this sentence alone, it naturally seemed like a very common story template, nothing particularly special among works of this kind. Similar supernatural films had long been churned out using the same formula years ago, with nothing novel about them.

If it hadn’t been for Zhuang Hongyi’s invitation, Sister Liu probably would have flat-out rejected a script like this on sight. But with Director Zhuang attached to the project, the story naturally wouldn’t end up being that boring after all.

Xiao He just hadn’t expected, however, that for such an “unremarkable” role, he would actually have to specialize in “Taoist methods.”

When it came to “knife techniques,” Xiao He knew a thing or two, but as for “Taoist methods,” his level of understanding might not even match that of a freshly graduated liberal arts student.

Seeing Xiao He staring at him with that helpless look, Zhuang Hongyi could only shrug somewhat helplessly, lowering his voice to say quietly, “Our production team is too big. The fact that we can even manage to shoot this in Hong Kong this time is already pushing the boundaries a bit. Otherwise, for this type of script, we’d probably have no choice but to go shoot in a country like neighboring White Elephant or something.”

Generally speaking, if it were a small production team just messing around privately or releasing on a limited scale, it usually wouldn’t attract much regulatory attention. But with a renowned director like Zhuang Hongyi, plus a major production team of their caliber, the authorities above were definitely keeping a tight watch.

The reason they’d gotten a bit more leeway this time was that the work itself carried patriotic, red-themed elements. The post-production was also deliberately exposing that bloody chapter of history from back then—the invasion that a certain country vehemently denied. From a certain angle, this aligned with the current official foreign policy stance, so after Director Zhuang put in some effort to work the angles, he managed to achieve this outcome. Although releasing on the mainland was still out of the question, at least they were filming in China, which made location scouting much more convenient.

Now that the official Association was overseeing them and setting requirements for the actors' qualifications, this was already an incredibly “lenient” treatment.

So what else could they do?

They could only sacrifice Xiao He and cremate him into a sarira relic—

—

This matter lingered on Xiao He’s face with some worry even as he walked out of the villa complex.

Liu Rulan glanced at him repeatedly, then couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh, offering a half-hearted consolation: “Director Zhuang also said the Association thinks very highly of you. Even if you can’t fully master this knowledge, just getting a bit of exposure to it will still be a decent experience.”

“And even though I don’t believe in all this, who knows—maybe these things really do exist in the world? After all, everyone says the end of science is metaphysics!”

Xiao He covered his face, rubbing his brow, and let out a resigned sigh: “Sister Liu, thank you, but that didn’t comfort me at all…”

Originally, Xiao He had still been hesitating.

But the pressure that had suddenly sprung up this time finally pushed Xiao He to make a decision—

Xiao He opened the System and double-checked his points again.

He’d used up some points during the previous lottery draws, but with the release of “Thief Catcher 2,” the impact of Shen Jue’s Bone-Cleaving Knife Technique had quickly helped Xiao He make up that gap.

Now, with the two million points he’d saved up in one go, it was finally time to put them to use…

Thinking about the “Imperial Enterprise” production team, and then the upcoming “Dragon,” Xiao He let out another long sigh and murmured under his breath: “I’ve already tried my best.”

If he tried any harder, he really would turn into a sarira relic!!

…

The next day, Xiao He managed to carve out some free time and, rare for him, got up bright and early, dragging along the rest of his team.

Their goal—to go to an ancient Taoist temple, burn incense, and pray for blessings!

At the same time, it was also a way to get a head start on absorbing the atmosphere and drawing some inspiration before joining the “Dragon” set.

On the way, Lao Qi was following the navigation, while Xiao Chen let out a lazy yawn. Glancing at the destination on the GPS, he asked with some confusion: “Brother Xiao, why aren’t we going to Yonghe Temple? I went there to pray once last time, and it felt pretty effective.”

Back when “Imperial Enterprise” was shut down and Xiao He’s group was stuck in Beijing, Xiao Chen had made a special trip to go pray there. And who would have thought—not long after, the “Imperial Enterprise” production team really did resurrect and resume work!

Xiao Chen had been overjoyed at the time and was even planning to make time later to go back and fulfill his vow!

Xiao He and Liu Rulan exchanged a glance, while Lao Qi, driving up front, let out a chuckle first: “Yonghe Temple certainly has a big reputation, and it’s the largest Buddhist monastery in Beijing—but that place is Buddhism!”

And Xiao He’s upcoming Celestial Master role was a purely Taoist disciple. Wouldn’t it be a bit too strange for him to go burn incense at a Buddhist temple?

If this got dug up by someone, he’d probably be mocked for being ignorant.

“Ah—”

Xiao Chen’s face instantly flushed red: “S-sorry, I almost forgot about that.”

In reality, most young people these days who go out to temples for blessings and check-in spots had long stopped distinguishing between Buddhist temples and Taoist temples.

People only knew that this place had thriving incense and wishes came true, so they came to pray for wealth and smooth sailing, lumping it all together as “burning incense and praying for blessings,” without delving into whether it was a Buddhist monastery or a Taoist sanctuary. They just sought peace of mind and good fortune.

Even Xiao Chen had gone purely for the reputation and the incense, grabbing a check-in memento on the side…

So when Lao Qi pointed this out, Xiao Chen suddenly remembered that the two sides were actually very different.

“Haha, honestly, it doesn’t really matter much these days.” Lao Qi laughed again, silently diffusing Xiao Chen’s embarrassment. “Nowadays, even the temples for love have kept up with the times and turned into check-in spots for wealth, right? Really, this whole thing is mostly about seeking a positive psychological effect—no need to be too particular about it.”

What Lao Qi said did have some truth to it.

But that was only for ordinary people like them. For a public figure like Xiao He, he couldn’t afford to be so casual.

—

Soon enough, they arrived at their destination.

The Taoist temple here was situated on the flat ground of Beijing, with vehicles able to pull right up to the gate without needing to hike up any mountain paths.

From a distance, Xiao He could see green bricks and grey tiles forming scattered halls nestled among ancient, gnarled trees. A pair of stone lions crouched on either side of the memorial archway, their stone bodies already polished to a dark sheen by the passage of time.

There were more people here than he had imagined, but it wasn’t noisy—instead, it carried a sense of serenity and peace.

Xiao He put on his hat and mask, waiting in the car for a moment until the current flow of people outside thinned out a bit, before following the others out of the vehicle.

Fortunately, the crowd here was mostly middle-aged and elderly, and since it wasn’t quite the peak tourist season, there were very few young people inside.

That made things a lot easier for Xiao He’s next moves.

First, following the advice from the guide, he carefully touched every stone wall and statue said to carry good fortune. Then, following the instructions on the explanatory boards, he diligently learned the Taoist bowing ritual and incense-offering ceremony. He paid his respects to every God of Wealth in each hall dedicated to wealth, and finally, he stood in front of Xiao Chen, bowing to him with great piety.

Xiao Chen: ?

Huh?

Wasn’t there something off about this entire sequence just now?

“Hey?”

Xiao Chen nearly jumped up.

Brother Xiao had gone through this whole ritual sequence, so why did he end up bowing to me in the end?

Huh?

Why was that?

But Xiao Chen would never understand.

At this moment, Xiao He felt that while the Gods of Wealth were all around him, the God of Luck was standing right in front of him. This time, his lottery draw was definitely going to bring good fortune!

“A big mansion in Beijing, a courtyard house in Beijing, a standalone villa in Beijing…”

Xiao He muttered incessantly under his breath, then watched as two familiar beams of light flashed across his screen—