107: Chapter 106 An Unexpected Gain from the Market!!

Zhong Kui is a folk deity of Taoism.

He has many identities in folklore, such as the Sacred Lord of House Protection, the Judge of the Underworld, the Ghost-Eating Fierce General, and so on.

Legend has it that Zhong Kui was a native of Zhongnan Mountain during his lifetime, with a leopard-like head, round eyes, and iron sideburns, but he was proficient in both literature and martial arts, and full of talent and learning.

Later, Zhong Kui went to the capital to take the imperial examination and came top of the list, but on the Golden Throne Palace,

he was disqualified from being the Zhuangyuan by the Emperor Xuanzong of Tang at that time on the grounds of his ugly appearance.

Zhong Kui had a fiery temper and could not bear the humiliation, so he immediately dashed his head against the main hall and died.

Later, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang contracted a spleen disease by chance in Lintong Lishan, which could not be cured for a long time.

One night, he dreamed of a big man with an extraordinary and magnificent appearance, catching an imp, gouging out its eyeballs, and eating it.

The big man claimed to be "Zhong Kui, who failed the palace examination", and when the emperor woke up from the dream, he recovered immediately.

Therefore, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang felt grateful for his kindness and ordered Wu Daozi to paint a picture of Zhong Kui catching ghosts in the dream, hanging it in the palace to ward off evil spirits and suppress demons.

After thousands of years of spread, Zhong Kui later acquired many identities and appeared on many occasions.

Pasted on the doors, he is the Door Gods that suppresses ghosts and evils; hanging in the main hall, he is the deity that dispels disasters and charms; appearing in rituals, he is the fierce general who commands ghosts and slays demons.

But there is no doubt that Zhong Kui was originally a scholar who topped the imperial examination, but because of his ugly appearance, he was disqualified as the Zhuangyuan by the emperor and died on the spot by crashing into a pillar. His origin and background highly match the [Wrongfully Deceased Scholar].

Therefore, when Sun Po saw that the panel of the [Zhong Kui's Ghost-Slaying Sword] also showed "No compatible cards available to load",

he immediately thought of the most expensive card among the "Three Imperial Families".

The dean of students that Sun Po beat up in the internal selection competition of No. 2 Municipal High School used this card.

Along the way in the Gaokao, Sun Po had also beaten a few [Wrongfully Deceased Scholar]s, which could be said to be old punching bags.

As the most expensive one among the Three Imperial Families, the [Wrongfully Deceased Scholar],

its advantage lies in that as long as it continuously absorbs household aura, it can easily reach the purple quality. This is why the [Wrongfully Deceased Scholar] is the most expensive among the Three Imperial Families. Although its combat power is relatively weak compared to the same tier,

but the [Wrongfully Deceased Scholar]'s combat power is weak, what does that have to do with me, Zhong Kui?

The card-making material market of Jinyang City is much larger than Gaoping City, and the types of materials sold are also much more,

but currently the most sold materials on the market are still those of the [Deep One].

"Ah, [Deep One Eyeball]!! An [Deep One Eyeball] brimming with spirituality!!"

"[Greater Deep One Skull]!! A complete [Greater Deep One Skull]!! First come, first served!!"

"[Deep One's Tongue]!! An indispensable essential ingredient for making the spirit meal [Stir-Fried Fish Tongue]!!"

Hearing about this spirit meal [Stir-Fried Fish Tongue], Sun Po was a bit curious, after all, he had never heard of any spirit meal in Gaoping City.

The vendor setting up the stall was an honest-looking middle-aged man, with fish scales still stained on his raincoat and rainboots.

His whole body reeked of fishy smell, obviously just coming up from the water. Seeing that Sun Po was interested, he quickly came over and said warmly:

"At first glance, the customer is discerning. This thing is not easy to find, and now Wangfeng Tower under the Li family is collecting them!"

"If I weren't in a rush to go back into the water, I wouldn't let this benefit go."

Watching the boss pull out fish tongues one by one from the human-head-sized fish head, Sun Po felt a wave of discomfort in his heart.

In the memories of these common people, they only remembered that there was a kind of fish-ization disease, but they did not know the relationship between the [Deep One] and the fish-ization disease.

In their eyes, the [Deep One] was just a monster in the secret realm that would produce materials.

But Sun Po knew that these [Deep One]s were once living people.

And such a disaster had happened more than once?

Looking at the bustling market, Sun Po couldn't help but feel a sense of absurdity in his heart.

He had no intention of buying the fish tongue, but just asked the boss about spirit meals before leaving.

According to the boss, spirit meals couldn't be made by just any restaurant.

Making spirit meals also required corresponding cards or exclusive talents.

Sun Po thought of his own [Tianhe Water Mansion Kitchen].

"No wonder I previously asked [Changyou] and those soldiers to study the kitchen, but they couldn't make anything out.

Only the previous dish, [Soul-Replenishing Pill], was recognized by the kitchen. Come to think of it, should it also be considered a kind of spirit meal?

The dishes eaten yesterday at Prince Qins Mansion, such as egg-steamed slime and stir-fried earth dragon heart, should also belong to the category of spirit meals.

It is indeed of great benefit to increasing spirituality, so I need to pay attention to such cards or materials."

Thinking this, Sun Po stepped into a material shop.

"Boss, give me a set of card-making materials for the [Wrongfully Deceased Scholar]."

The shop owner looked like he was tallying newly arrived goods and materials, holding a notebook in the counter writing and drawing. Seeing business arriving, the boss quickly put down the work in his hands.

"Alright, customer, I'll go to the warehouse and get a copy for you right away."

Looking at the not-so-large storefront and the busy owner, Sun Po thought of the days when he worked part-time in a small shop in Gaoping City.

"I wonder how Sister Xinyue is doing? I wonder if the timeline change in Jinyang City will affect other places?"

While thinking, he looked at the goods tallied by the boss.

Among them, an inconspicuous object caught Sun Po's attention.

It was a bronze fragment, and the spiritual fluctuation it exuded was extremely weak.

The reason it caught Sun Po's attention was because the patterns on its surface turned out to be the meander patterns of the Shang and Zhou dynasties, looking quite ancient and charming.

Out of curiosity, Sun Po put his hand on it and summoned the system in his heart to analyze it.

Unexpectedly, this fragment, whose spiritual fluctuations seemed to have almost disappeared, really had a background.

[Card-Making Material Analysis]

[fragment of yi yins soup cauldron]

Quality: [Blue 7-Star]

Description: [A large tripod used for boiling soup by a Shang Dynasty chef named Yi Yin, which shattered due to unknown reasons, greatly reducing its spirituality]

No compatible cards available to load

Good grief!

Chef God Yi Yin?!

Sun Po was secretly delighted, not expecting to have an unexpected harvest?

He was just thinking about studying the relationship between the [Tianhe Water Mansion Kitchen] and spirit meals, and now he found materials related to the Chef God Yi Yin?

For a moment, Sun Po felt that everything went so smoothly as if he had been set up, finding it hard to believe.

The two big, glaring characters "Yi Yin" on the system wouldn't lie.

But it was a pity that there was still no suitable card to load it with for now, so he could only wait for news from Li Tiance's side.

Sun Po looked at his mobile phone balance and felt fortunate in his heart:

"Fortunately, there is the money Liu Jianren won during the duel at Renjian Mound, otherwise it really wouldn't be enough."

In the end, Sun Po spent one million to win the complete set of [Wrongfully Deceased Scholar] plus the [fragment of yi yins soup cauldron].

When he returned to his residence at Prince Qins Mansion, it was noon. Sun Po didn't even care to eat lunch, so he double-locked the room door and plunged into the room.

"[Blood Coral] ×1, [Medicine Boy's Backbasket] ×1, [Palace Maid's Blood-Stained Handkerchief] ×1—"

Unsurprisingly, these materials still showed no relation to the [Wrongfully Deceased Scholar] at all.

But none of that mattered. Sun Po took out the gleaming [Zhong Kui's Ghost-Slaying Sword], rubbed his hands, and checked the time required for the card-making ritual.

"Alright! The noon hour has arrived, start making cards!!"