128: Chapter 127 Liu Jianren Returns, Li Tianze's Exorbitantly Priced Package!!

Chapter 127: Liu Jianren's Return, Li Tiance's Astronomical Package!! (6k words begging for auto-sub and monthly votes)

"Hello! Brother Po!! You finally picked up!!

That big dome outside Gaoping City is messing things up so nothing can get in, and phone calls couldn't get through either!

I'm back, at the dock! Li Tiance even entrusted me to bring you some things!!"

Liu Jianren's flamboyant voice rang out, and his mood involuntarily relaxed.

The calamity of [Huzhang] over the past few days had greatly eased, and the official blockade on Gaoping City had also relaxed a bit.

Card Makers like Liu Jianren who possessed secret realm entry qualifications could already travel freely.

Holding his phone, Liu Jianren looked at the mighty general riding a giant tiger in golden armor and red robes not far from the dock, and asked, "Alright, Brother Po, where are you? What is that giant emitting purple light? What major event happened in our Gaoping City?"

"I am on the roof of the Municipal Broadcasting Building. Come over and I will tell you then!"

With that, he hung up the phone.

Sun Po sat on the roof of the Municipal Broadcasting Building, quietly watching [Zhong Kui] devouring [Huzhang] on the opposite dock.

At this moment, he was conversing with [Zhong Kui], who had newly appeared on the back of the [Huang Chao] card. Sun Po always felt strange about this character forced in by the [Power of Merit], so he kept wanting to ask more to see if he could extract any valid information.

"Judge Zhong, how much do you still remember?"

"My Lord, this subject was merely a fragment of an ignorant true name in the River of Destiny. Attracted by a familiar power, I surged upstream, leaped up, and then felt my spiritual intelligence rapidly recover, transforming into my current appearance."

Hearing this, Sun Po pondered in his heart: '[Huang Chao] was also an ignorant true name fragment in the River of Destiny at first, but [Wuzhiqi] could determine the locations of [Huang Chao]'s remaining true name fragments through the sounds of destiny generated during the card-making process, thereby guiding me to the [Shanjun Temple] secret realm. I originally thought this was already a sufficiently overpowered ability, but this [Power of Merit] is even heavier-duty—it can even directly complete [Zhong]'s true name fragments and materialize them into a complete true name?'

'And didn't shaping a tiger body for Lu Shan also come from nothing? This power actually has quite a few similarities with my [mod loading system].'

However, Sun Po still felt as if he were in a fog, completely unable to see through this [Power of Merit], only feeling that his [mod loading system] must be related in some way.

But there was one more thing Sun Po could not figure out. He asked again in his heart: "Judge Zhong, previously General Huang might not have been familiar with your Yin deity power, so it was inconvenient for me to ask too much. But now that you, the principal, are right before me, I want to ask: Is how you exterminated ghosts before always by swallowing them alive bite by bite like this?"

Hearing this, [Zhong Kui] laughed heartily and said, "Does the Lord feel that such extermination efficiency is too low?"

Sun Po nodded and said, "You and General Huang both currently have incomplete divine positions, and you can only reluctantly use this ascended deity posture by relying on the [Tigers Courage] left behind by the first-generation Shanjun. It's just that this form also requires consuming ghosts to accumulate courage value to maintain. Eating them one by one like this makes it feel like we can't accumulate too much courage value."

[Zhong Kui] instead said, "My Lord, while courage value is certainly precious, consuming these ghosts raw is still the best approach.

Does the Lord know why these [Huzhang] revealed their original forms, kowtowed and bowed the moment they saw General Huang and me, and why their limbs would go weak and they'd become at our mercy if we got closer?"

Sun Po replied, "I do not know. Could this have something to do with devouring ghosts?"

[Zhong Kui]'s voice rang out: "That is naturally the case. Every Yin deity's Yin deity power is different, and their cultivation methods also vary. The Lord also has ancient deities like [Wuzhiqi] under your command who master the [Ren Water Divine Power], so you should know that what I speak is not false."

Sun Po thought to himself that it was indeed true. [Wuzhiqi]'s divine power was obtained because he was adept at using the aura of floods before ascending to deityhood, which, combined with the comprehended [Dao Fruit of Water], yielded the higher-level divine power, [Ren Water Divine Power]. However, Sun Po still didn't quite understand knowledge regarding the grading of divine powers.

[Zhong Kui] continued, "My Yin deity power's coercion and deterrence over ghosts far surpass those of ordinary Yin deity power. The reason is that when this subject exterminates ghosts, I skin and swallow them alive. The more this subject consumes raw, the stronger the coercion against these ghosts becomes.

This is also why, even though General Huang is the incarnation of the [seven killings star] and his murderous aura far exceeds this subject's, his coercion over these [Huzhang] is inferior to mine."

Upon hearing this, Sun Po felt he had learned another lesson.

Such implicit information—that the more ghosts are eaten, the stronger the Yin deity power's coercion over ghosts becomes—would be very difficult for [Huang Chao], who had recently mastered the usage of Yin deity power, and Sun Po, as a Card Maker, to know if [Zhong Kui] hadn't spoken up. Such information was not displayed on the cards; only the original owner of such Yin deity power as [Zhong Kui] could clearly know its secretive characteristics. If not for [Zhong Kui], he might miss many opportunities in the future to increase the coercion of Yin deity power.

Sun Po also secretly thought to himself: "There is a specialty in every trade. Since [Zhong Kui] has such research on Yin deity power, might [Huang Chao] also have some understanding of the [Seven Killings Star Power] under the heavenly star form? I must ask when given the chance."

At the same time, he also decided that whenever he encountered ghosts in the future, he would try his best to summon [Zhong Kui] to solve it; after all, people were professionals in this aspect.

Of course, when encountering human cards, [Huang Chao] would have to step up; in this aspect, [Huang Chao]'s professionalism was not bad either.

Just as he was lost in thought, Liu Jianren's voice suddenly came from behind: "Brother Po!! What happened in Gaoping City? Everything outside is made to look so secretive."

Liu Jianren sat down unceremoniously beside Sun Po, a small satchel still slung around his waist.

Sun Po then recounted the events of the Lu Family over the past few days, but omitted the details involving Lu Shan and the [Shanjun Temple] secret realm. After hearing it, Liu Jianren also sighed and said, "Good thing you have this Yin deity in your hands, Brother Po, otherwise wouldn't at least half the people in the entire Gaoping City have died?

You relieved such a huge siege for the authorities, didn't the authorities mention giving you any awards?"

Sun Po calmly said, "The matter hasn't been completely resolved yet, so let's not rush to talk about that. How are you doing in [Jinyang City]?"

Liu Jianren said, "Guan Zhen and I went down into a newly released secret realm. There were some oddities inside, but in the end we gained something, though we didn't explore it completely. Next time we go to [Jinyang City], we can go together."

Sun Po calmly agreed. Liu Jianren then slapped his forehead and said, "I was just chatting aimlessly and forgot. Look at my memory."

Saying this, he unstrapped the small satchel from his body and handed it to Sun Po, saying, "Here, Brother Po, this is what [Li Tiance] entrusted me to bring to you."

Sun Po opened the satchel to take a look, and inside, the satchel surprisingly had a space of around 800 square meters. Inside, more than a dozen large and small golden boxes were neatly and orderly stacked, with different fonts and patterns engraved on them.

At the same time, Sun Po only felt a familiar power suddenly pour into his heart. This feeling was precisely [Li Tiance]'s arrow of the mind.

[Li Tiance]'s familiar voice rang out: "Brother Sun, the value of the [secret realm core fragment] is immeasurable. The things Brother Sun requested are really not considered rare items in my Li Family. Tiance felt that giving only low-grade card-making sequences would put Brother Sun at too much of a disadvantage, so I had my subordinates collect the corresponding card-making materials together and package them as a gift for Brother Sun.

I hope it can be of some help to Brother Sun."

Looking at these dazzling golden boxes of all sizes, and then looking at this seemingly ordinary small satchel, Sun Po couldn't help but sigh in his heart: "The fact that this [Li Tiance] could suppress Li Jiancheng, who was about ten years older than him, with the identity of a high school student to become the successor of the Li Family is not only due to his natural talent, but his conduct and handling of affairs are also top-notch and upright. He truly has the demeanor of a great clan."

Leaving aside everything else, just the golden boxes holding these materials and this small satchel were already a huge fortune.

These boxes came in various sizes; the large ones were about one meter square, and the small ones were about the size of a vanity box. However, the value of these boxes alone probably easily exceeded fifty million.

And this small satchel was likewise priceless. This kind of material satchel was the very satchel carried on the back of the little paper crane when the material market distributed purchased materials to customers.

This small satchel was a type of spatial equipment. Strictly speaking, it was one of the official monopolistic resources. The [Five Surnames and Seven Clans] each had their unique resources, but the raw materials and methods for making this magical small satchel were exclusively owned by the authorities. It was said that they controlled a monster named Taotie, and its stomach naturally possessed spatial attributes.

The stomach pouch of this monster would secrete a kind of mucous membrane, and this spatial-attributed mucous membrane was the raw material for making the small satchels of the official material market.

Card-making material hunters would always rent such a small satchel from the [Card Association] before entering a secret realm. Older models like the mountaineering backpacks that Sun Po and the others carried previously when entering the [Wujiang Secret Realm] were the property of [No. 2 Municipal High School]. The quality of the stomach membrane they used was inferior to this small satchel before his eyes, and the space was estimated to be only half the size of this one, making it far less lightweight to carry.

Such a small satchel had a market price of around five million. Generally, only large-scale material hunter teams would purchase such high-quality satchels.

On the other hand, those low-quality, un-systematized off-white card-making sequences were actually not as valuable as these golden boxes and this material small satchel. After all, merchant families like [Liu Li]'s back then could grit their teeth and get [Liu Li] a Green 4-Star [Rabbit Girl]. Un-systematized off-white tier card-making sequences were probably worth around five to six million.

The total combined value of the items in this satchel was already approaching 200 million, with the golden boxes and the material small satchel accounting for a quite large share of it.

However, just as [Li Tiance] had said, Sun Po's previous asking price was too low. After all, the value of something like a [secret realm core fragment] could not be measured by conventional standards. Although 200 million was not a small amount, at auctions at the level of the [Five Surnames and Seven Clans], real-world currency was actually of little use anymore.

If he were to say at such an auction that he wanted to trade a [secret realm core fragment] using ordinary currency, bidding it up to 200 million was not an impossible thing.

Civilians like Sun Po actually still lacked a clear understanding of treasures of this level, which was why they could propose such an outrageous transaction. But [Li Tiance] also harbored thoughts of future cooperation and did not intentionally take advantage of this.

Sun Po remembered this kindness and continued to look at the words and patterns engraved on these golden boxes.

"'[Wild Fox of the Mountains]'? Isn't this a basic card of the [Hu Family]?"

It was precisely the advancement chain of Hu Xue's white fox from the municipal competition back then, yet Sun Po never expected that Li Tiance would actually send over such a systematic low-tier card-making sequence as well.

Although the highest advancement of the Hu Family's [Mountain Wild Fox] sequence, the [Six-Tailed Demon Fox], was only of orange quality, for many commoners, this was already a dream initial card.

Moreover, speaking of the Hu Family, during this [Huzhang] incident, they were exceptionally quiet, practically doing nothing at all, though it was unknown what the reason was.

Of course, these things were not important to Sun Po; naturally, he didn't need to consider how the Hu Family was, nor did he need to consider the quality of this [Mountain Wild Fox] card. What he needed to consider more was what kind of mods might be suitable for loading onto a card like the [Mountain Wild Fox].

However, it was hard to come to a conclusion just by thinking about it on the spot, so Sun Po decided to put it aside for now.

It was impossible for him to craft all these gray-white quality sequence cards right away.

What he needed was to have enough selectable card-making sequences in his hands; when suitable materials arrived, he could shoot with a target in view and swiftly form effective combat power.

Therefore, he could just hold these cards in his hands and study them slowly, without being in any rush. Especially after [Changyou] ascended to divinity as [Wuzhiqi], Sun Po felt that it was already very hard for him to lose among his peers.

Not to mention that he now also had the dual-sided single card [Huang Chao / Zhong Kui]. He could truly say he didn't know how abnormal the contestants from other provinces had to become to be able to fight him as he was now.

In the time that followed, Sun Po asked Liu Jianren about the secret realm he had descended into. It was fine if he didn't ask, but once he did, Sun Po was startled into a daze: "What did you say that secret realm was called?"

"[Jinshan Temple], ah! It's just that that secret realm is a bit strange. The old monk inside always says there is a terrifying snake demon. Guan Zhen and I searched for a long time but couldn't find any snake demon. In the end, we killed some minor demons in the mountain, gathered some materials, and came out."

Sun Po asked: "Was that monk you mentioned named Fahai?"

Liu Jianren's eyes instantly widened in astonishment: "Brother Po!! That's miraculous, how did you know? It's a new secret realm!!"

Sun Po thought to himself, "Nonsense, how could I not know?"

He even knew that he could tell at a glance whether a monster was human or not, and could walk around flying with a golden alms bowl.

Meanwhile, in some unknown space.

A white-bearded elder and a young scholar were seated before a square table, black and white pieces intersecting on the chessboard.

The elder spoke up: "Why bother going to such lengths for a mere demon?"

Opposite him, the jade-faced scholar radiated a translucent glow as he sat cross-legged, gazing intently at the chessboard. Without even raising his head, he replied: "It is only natural that I am powerless to alter the Red Emperor's mandate of heaven, but I still wish to do my utmost to protect her true name from perishing."

The elder sighed: "You and I were originally born from the transformation of true name fragments within the River of Destiny. We are already living a second life, so why bother taking on the karma of our original bodies?"

The scholar said: "Karma, hehe—"

In the evening, Master Sun, who had been busy all day, returned home and was surprised to see Yang Xinyue bustling about in the kitchen for a change: "Sister Xinyue? You actually didn't order takeout today?"

As the words fell, an exquisite face with a wheat-colored complexion suddenly poked out from the kitchen.

"Junior! Take me as your disciple!!"

Sun Po was startled. Looking closely, wasn't this the dark-skinned girl he had saved from [Huzhang] at the Lu Family ancestral residence that day? It seemed her name was Xiaoya or something? How did she manage to track him all the way to his home?

The girl called Xiaoya was about to pounce over when she was suddenly dragged back by a hand from inside the kitchen.

——

"Get over here and serve the dishes, stop acting all hormonal!!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, such a handsome guy, Team Leader eats really well, no wonder she wanted to resign. If it were me, I'd resign too."

"You dead girl!! Hurry up and get lost after you finish eating!"

Listening to the commotion and bickering inside the kitchen, Sun Po couldn't help but shake his head and hurriedly returned to his room.

What kind of wild and unbridled remarks were these people making?

By dinnertime, Xiaoya had finally become much more proper, but she still pestered Sun Po to teach her that saber strike from the Lu Family ancestral residence that day.

Hearing this request, Sun Po fell silent.

After all, that saber strike didn't actually have any requirements for saber technique; it only required a set of [Black Rhino Armor].

After pestering him for a long time and learning it was a card effect, Xiaoya didn't stubbornly force the issue either. She was a martial arts fanatic, particularly obsessed with saber techniques.

Although powerful cards were also very tempting, this sort of thing obviously couldn't be taught casually.

However, this young girl was indeed a social butterfly extremely capable of livening up the atmosphere. Although Sun Po wasn't very familiar with her at the dining table, the three of them didn't feel any sense of a cold atmosphere or awkwardness at all. In terms of social skills, she felt only slightly inferior to Liu Jianren.

Of course, besides coming over for a free meal, Xiaoya was also bringing a message to Sun Po along with some items.

First of all, President Chen Wang was extremely grateful for him stepping in to save the lives of the people of Gaoping City. This not only preserved the lives of the Gaoping City populace, but more importantly, it preserved President Chen Wang's official career.

However, because President Chen Wang was still busy with scheduling and aftermath work—running off his feet every day—he truly had no time to visit in person to express his gratitude.

Sun Po understood, and then Xiaoya pulled out a familiar object.

Xiaoya laughed and said: "Oh, President Chen asked me to bring this. He said you two can be considered to have done business together, and this time it counts as his personal token of appreciation. If you have any business in the future, definitely call him first!"

Sun Po looked at the familiar small material crossbody bag and thought to himself: "Did he get hooked on material pouches lately?"

But this material crossbody bag was obviously not as lavish as Li Tiance's; Xiaoya simply pulled out a palm-sized golden box from inside it.

Afterwards, she took out the item inside, and put away the box and the crossbody bag.

Needless to say, these two items for holding materials were still too expensive; even a municipal Card Association president couldn't easily afford to give them away.

Sun Po looked at the strange object on the table.

It looked like a shattered silver-gray fragment. One side of its exterior resembled the corner of a cube, with faint mechanical patterns on its surface, and tiny blue sparks flickering across it.

The other side looked like uneven, jagged damage, inside which it was dusty gray.

Sun Po reached out and took it in his hand, intending to appraise it, but the result that appeared caught Sun Po completely off guard:

[Card-Making Material Analysis]

[%#& Source]

Quality: [* * * &#]

Introduction: [& * * % —— — — ¥ #& —— — — ¥ —— — — — — % —— & *]

This material cannot be loaded as a mod.

This was the first time Sun Po had seen the analysis of a card-making material turn out to be a bunch of garbled code. It felt just like the mod loading system had caught a virus.

Sun Po couldn't help thinking inwardly: "How come my system feels more and more garbage? It's fine if the [Power of Merit] couldn't be analyzed, but even some casually discarded broken iron piece can't be analyzed either?"

But at this moment, [Wuzhiqi]'s voice rang out: "Master, this thing is a bit interesting; you might as well accept it."

Yang Xinyue also spoke up from the side: "Accept it. Opportunities to fleece a landlord don't come often."

Sun Po thus accepted it. After all, something even the system couldn't analyze truly counted as a rare item.

Afterwards, Xiaoya continued with an envious tone: "President Chen also said that the headquarters attaches great importance to this matter of yours. They believe that your action this time was of extraordinary significance and have decided to award you the [Yanhuang Third-Class Merit Medal]. The award ceremony will be held in Dajing City, and the time is ——."

"……"

Sun Po didn't quite understand what tier the [Yanhuang Third-Class Merit Medal] roughly was, but he had previously heard that one of the hard requirements to become a municipal Card Association president was precisely holding a [Yanhuang Third-Class Merit Medal].

Moreover, he keenly grasped the main point.

Dajing City!! Where the Card Association headquarters was located.

The award ceremony time happened to be the day of reporting for the national Gaokao competition.

Sun Po didn't know whether there was any profound meaning behind this, but thinking about it, it also carried the official intentions of protection and winning him over.

However, it was still early before the national competition, and his interest was focused much more on that piece of material newly sent by President Chen Wang.

"[Wuzhiqi], could this thing's authority also be above the River of Destiny?"

[Wuzhiqi]'s voice rang out: "That's not quite it, but I seem to feel that it's not something from within the River of Destiny."

Sun Po asked curiously: "What do you mean?"

[Wuzhiqi] replied: "Master, I've only ever encountered this kind of situation with one person—you, Master."

Sun Po was filled with confusion; did this mean this thing was of the same type as him?

Furthermore, previously Li Tiance had been unable to find any traces of Sun Po in the River of Destiny, and [Wuzhiqi] had also once said that Sun Po's destiny was a complete blank. So where was Sun Po special?

The most special aspect was naturally his identity as a transmigrator.

"Could this broken piece also have transmigrated here?!"

Sun Po was greatly astonished inwardly: "If a person transmigrated, that would be one thing, but what transmigrated here clearly looks like some kind of machinery, and it has even been processed into a material!"

"Moreover, did it really transmigrate here as well?"

After thinking about it and failing to figure it out, Sun Po simply stopped thinking about it. Rather than worrying about these illusory mysteries, it was better to honestly check what kind of card-making sequences Li Tiance had dug up for him.

Soon, having eaten and drunk their fill, everyone returned to their respective rooms.

Sun Po pulled out the small crossbody bag and began to inspect these gray-white quality card-making sequences one by one.

"[Sweeping Novice Monk]?? This is quite rare. S Province has never seen this kind of card before."

On the golden box was the image of a young novice monk holding a broom and sweeping with closed eyes, looking peaceful in expression.

Although there were many mighty figures in Buddhism, Sun Po didn't have any suitable materials on hand right away to load for him.

"[Bow-Wielding Hunter]?? This should have many compatible mods; I can keep an eye on it."

"What is this? [Giant Bear]?? Isn't this the public card sequence from the Northern Ice Bear Kingdom?"

"This feels pretty useless; its compatibility with the card-making materials produced by the Yanhuang Ancient Country must be very low."

Sun Po looked around listlessly for a long time. The items were all sorts of strange things, but Sun Po didn't have many materials on hand right now, making it hard to determine what cards to craft.

Suddenly, Sun Po's eyes lit up. That was a not-too-large golden box, engraved upon which was the image of a burly, thick-waisted figure holding two kitchen knives.