136: Chapter 135 Unknowingly Becoming a Numerical Monster!! (4k)

Chapter 135: Accidentally Becoming a Numerical Monster!! (4k)

Li Tiance's accumulated power of destiny from the [Saints Heart Formula] was now only enough to fire a single arrow of destiny, so he naturally wouldn't waste it on such a trivial matter as spying on Sun Po's strength.

In just over a dozen days since they last parted ways, Sun Po's strength had unexpectedly made such a massive breakthrough again; at this moment, he genuinely couldn't quite figure out Sun Po's true power anymore.

Sun Po pondered and said, "My strength is hard to describe. My current Card Maker level is beginner-grade, but my spiritual energy reserves might be a bit higher due to [Tianhe Budu]. The states of the cards in my hands are also quite special, making it hard for me to explain."

Indeed, don't ask; if you ask, he's just a beginner Card Maker. As for how these golden [Ancient Deity], [Yin Deity], and [Heavenly Star] came to be, don't worry about it—being a beginner covers everything.

Hearing Sun Po finish, Li Tiance hesitated for a moment, waved his hand to dismiss the servants, and closed the door.

Immediately after, a ball of something familiar to Sun Po appeared in his palm.

This thing was a tiny ball of light with five-colored hues, emitting an aura that felt just like the scorching, blazing sensation of the great sun radiating from Li Tiance at that moment.

Sun Po had only come into contact with this power not long ago—correct, it was precisely the [Power of Merit].

Li Tiance felt that the [Yin Deity] and that [Ancient Deity] were both strengths displayed openly, making them very transparent.

The real variable in Sun Po's strength right now lay in that newly acquired [Power of Merit]; one could roughly guess by seeing where the [Power of Merit] was applied.

Sun Po was no longer a complete novice completely clueless about the [Power of Merit]; he had learned from Yin Tianzheng just how precious this thing was.

"Brother Tiance, what is this?"

Li Tiance's slender phoenix eyes carried a hint of cunning amusement:

"Brother Sun, the biggest changes in our gains recently should be in this [Power of Merit]. Its effects vary for everyone. Fortunately, I also acquired some [Power of Merit] during the last [fish-ization disease] incident. My [Power of Merit] was applied to my field card [Xuanwu Gate]. I wonder where your [Power of Merit] is applied?"

Sun Po was silent for a long time before saying, "Exclusive talent."

A surge of envy arose in Li Tiance's heart. The effects of this [Power of Merit] differed for everyone, and the Five Surnames and Seven Clans's research on this thing was definitely among the very forefront of the world. Since childhood, he had been extremely curious about this kind of power.

Over so many years, he knew that some people had obtained [Power of Merit] acting upon certain organs of the body, some upon the spiritual space, some upon a certain card, and even some upon a weapon in their hands.

It was completely impossible to figure out the nature of this mysterious power; it seemed to be changing at all times. In particular, Li Tiance's [Heavenly Khagan] could attach various powers onto arrows, but it uniquely failed to attach this [Power of Merit] onto arrows.

This was the first time in Li Tiance's life that he had obtained [Power of Merit]. Deep down, he hoped that this [Power of Merit] could act upon his [Heavenly Khagan] exclusive talent, so that his strength would surely achieve a tremendous leap.

But heaven does not always grant what humans desire. In the end, this [Power of Merit] was applied to [Xuanwu Gate]. Although it was considered a pretty good result, its potential was certainly inferior compared to being applied to an exclusive talent.

Although Sun Po understood a little, he was still unclear about the pros and cons of the effects of this [Power of Merit], so he asked, "What's wrong, Brother Tiance?"

Li Tiance said, "It's nothing, just lamenting Brother Sun's good fortune."

Hearing these three words, Sun Po glanced at Liu Jianren beside him. Li Tiance laughed and said,

"The energy level of this power, [Power of Merit], is not yet known, but according to current research, its energy level is above the [Power of Destiny]. Although Brother Liu's [Mandate Dragon and Snake] possesses peerless fortune, it probably won't gain any advantage in front of the [Power of Merit]."

This greatly exceeded Sun Po's expectations. Extremely curious about this magical [Power of Merit], he continued to ask, "Then why do you say I have good fortune?"

Li Tiance raised his cup from afar. After the three of them drained their cups in one gulp, Li Tiance said, "Brother Sun, I have always paid quite a bit of attention to this [Power of Merit]. Favored by my family's elders in my childhood, I often sneaked into related family laboratories to observe it and would also check its information in the family library.

Although this power is rare, by collecting it on a global scale, one can find some instances to study. Judging from currently known examples, having [Power of Merit] act upon an [exclusive talent] is the best, with the strongest potential and the greatest returns.

Next is the spiritual space, followed by various body organs; cards are below that, and weapons are at the very bottom.

Among these, [field card]s are considered a special case. A [field card] is integrated with the spiritual space, but is far stronger than an ordinary spiritual space.

Therefore, my application to [Xuanwu Gate] can be seen as acting upon the spiritual space and cards simultaneously, which counts as the second tier of all [Power of Merit] applications. Although it's not bad, it's still a notch weaker than Brother Sun's application to an [exclusive talent]."

Sun Po thought about it and still didn't tell Li Tiance that this [Power of Merit] actually not only acted upon his own [exclusive talent] but also on his cards, and even his card's mount body was condensed using the [Power of Merit].

However, the total amount of [Power of Merit] Li Tiance obtained far surpassed Sun Po's, so they each had their own wins.

Liu Jianren on the side could no longer understand and had started wildly eating the [spirit meal] on the table. The kid hadn't even eaten enough of his own, and seeing Li Tiance and Sun Po chatting animatedly, he asked, "Second Young Master Li, are you still going to eat this steamed slime egg? It really tastes great."

Li Tiance smiled and said, "If Brother Liu loves it, I'll just have the servants fetch some more from Wangfeng Tower."

Sun Po held his forehead, unable to bear looking. Liu Jianren was just like this kid; whenever he was out, he always took advantage whenever he could—whoever didn't take advantage was a bastard. Eating this steamed slime egg could slightly increase spiritual energy, with one plate equivalent to three or four days of bitter cultivation, so naturally Liu Jianren wanted as much as possible.

Sun Po suddenly remembered his own [spirit meal]. Because this kind of thing was too high-end, it had always been hard for Sun Po in Gaoping City to figure out the exact value or tier of the [spirit meal] in his hands. Now that an heir of one of the Five Surnames and Seven Clans was right in front of him, he surely had this kind of insight. He might as well ask thoroughly today:

"Brother Tiance, speaking of this [spirit meal], I also have two [spirit meal]s in my hands. Please taste and evaluate them."

As he spoke, a gorgeously patterned food box with wave motifs appeared out of thin air in his hand.

The food box had three layers, and the handle of the basket was shaped like a curved crescent moon spirally surrounded by flowing water. The surface of the food box was dark-colored with gold-dotted lacquer. Its overall shape was archaic and clumsy yet had graceful lines, looking pleasing to the eye.

The kitchenware of the Tianhe Water Mansion Kitchen was fully equipped, and these food boxes were exclusive to it, capable of keeping delicacies fresh as new for seven days, though their quantity was not very large. The [shadow beef slices] Sun Po made last time were placed in this food box. Taking it out now was like pulling out a cluster of red crystals, casting a red glow all over the room, and the entire room was instantly surrounded by a strange fragrance.

Liu Jianren's eyes went straight: "Brother Po? Your cooking skills are this good?! Holy shit! No wonder Teacher Yang is so fierce yet got taken down by you. Brother Po, if I were a woman, I wouldn't be able to hold out either!! How was this made? Why is it so fragrant?"

Seeing Liu Jianren looking like drool was about to pour out, Sun Po didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and said, "I didn't make this. Teacher Yang and I are in a teacher-student relationship, stop spreading nonsense. This dish was made by my card, come and taste it?"

How could Liu Jianren hold back any longer? He immediately bounced up from his seat and rushed toward that plate of fragrant meat slices. From the moment he saw the food box, Li Tiance's eyes had lit up, and when Sun Po pulled out that dish of meat slices resembling condensed red crystals, his gaze was firmly captured.

Seeing this food box earlier, he knew it wasn't ordinary goods. This time, his [Xuanwu Gate] had also received the enhancement of the [Power of Merit], and its quality had been raised to golden. Many scene items within it also possessed such respective functions and were even more refined.

Many details among these could only be clearly understood by someone who possessed a golden field card.

But this [spirit meal] genuinely startled Li Tiance: "A purple-quality [spirit meal]?!"

It was no wonder Li Tiance was shocked. Even for a major restaurant like the Li family's Wangfeng Tower which spread across the country, its signature [spirit meal] [Phoenix Fish Sashimi] was merely a purple dish. This was still because its main ingredient, the Phoenix Fish, inherently belonged to purple monsters and had a sufficiently high quality. Now, Sun Po—who obviously hadn't eaten any [spirit meal] a dozen days ago—had unexpectedly pulled out a plate of food looking no inferior to the [Phoenix Fish Sashimi]. The biggest possibility was the [Double-Blade Chef] sequence he had gifted Sun Po.

But wasn't [Double-Blade Chef] of white quality? Its dish skill should be [Spicy Beef] right? There was no way it could possibly have such an appearance.

Could this plate of meat slices resembling red crystals be made using beast meat of orange or even golden quality? Was he crazy?

At this time, the servants had all been cleared out just now, and Li Tiance didn't put on any airs either. He held silver chopsticks himself, came to Sun Po's table, and ate together with Liu Jianren.

With one bite down, gently chewing and swallowing it into his belly, Li Tiance was actually stunned for a moment.

The taste and texture were good as expected, needless to say. As the heir of a top-tier noble family, he had eaten plenty of mountain delicacies and sea treasures since childhood. Although the flavor was excellent, it was still a bit short of stunning him. The most peculiar thing was that after swallowing it, a fiery, strange power surged within his body.

Li Tiance's cultivation technique was the [Saints Heart Formula], which could generate various powers during cultivation. Li Tiance was naturally not unfamiliar with divine power, and his [Xuanwu Gate] also stored divine power.

But with this single bite, he felt that the divine power stored within his body changed from an originally ordinary little flame into explosive magma.

Sun Po felt that Li Tiance's expression right now was especially like a judge in some old-school cooking anime, while Liu Jianren on the side wasn't enjoying it nearly as much.

His face turned flushed red, and a crimson gas mass suddenly appeared between his palms. The surface of that gas mass continuously twisted, collapsed, bulged, and looked extremely unstable.

Suddenly, he let out a loud roar: "I can't hold it anymore!!"

Immediately after, Liu Jianren slammed his palms fiercely onto the ground, and boundless sword Qi gushed out.

"Boom!!"

A huge explosion rang out.

Hearing this huge noise, smoke, dust, and firelight, the guards of Prince Qins Mansion looked at the direction—it was precisely where the Prince's banquet hall was located—and rushed in frightened.

"Second Young Master!!"

As the smoke and dust cleared, everyone only saw that the food from the banquet had been blown all over the floor, the table had been overturned, and while the ground was quite sturdy, it had only been left with scorched black marks.

Liu Jianren was sitting on the ground with an awkward expression, his hair blown straight and curled, his face completely charred black, and thin smoke still rising between his palms.

As for Li Tiance, he was completely safe and sound, standing in front of a scorched black stone wall.

The next second, the stone wall collapsed with a crash, and the gravel and dust on the ground all vanished, leaving only a broken arrow.

Meanwhile, sitting at the table opposite the two of them was a figure clad in dark black armor. The rhinoceros pattern on the chest of the armor emitted a bright yellow light, and light flickered slightly in the crystal-like eye shields of the eye area, while a layer of translucent black ice shield emerged on its body surface.

That plate of sparkling red meat slices was held in the hands of this person wearing the [Black Rhino Armor].

Li Tiance waved his hand: "Withdraw, nothing is wrong."

Hearing this, the guards showed no hesitation: "Yes!"

Liu Jianren looked at Li Tiance and laughed: "Sorry about that, Second Young Master Li. After I ate those meat slices, for some reason, I felt the power of the [Chixiao Sword Pill] inside my body surge wildly, completely out of my control."

Yet Li Tiance gazed silently for a long time at Sun Po, who had deactivated the [Black Rhino Armor]. While Liu Jianren's inability to control his power just now was indeed a sudden incident, on the battlefield, such sudden incidents would not be rare and could even be said to happen at any time.

And when facing such unexpected accidents, it best tested a Card Maker's survival ability on the battlefield.

Clearly, Liu Jianren was not qualified; he was directly made disheveled by his own explosion, basically lacking any precautions or self-protection methods.

Second was Li Tiance; his [Saints Heart Formula] combined with [Heavenly Khagan] was still far too comprehensive. At such a close distance, Li Tiance was able to quickly pull arrows from his sleeve, attach elemental power to them, and condense a stone wall.

All of this took place within just two or three seconds, which demonstrated how strong Li Tiance's combat reaction and combat awareness were.

And the strongest was Sun Po. Sun Po didn't even stand up and yet perfectly withstood this explosion; the table, food box, and dishes in front of him were all completely safe and sound under the protection of that black ice shield.

To say that Sun Po's combat awareness and combat reaction were stronger than Li Tiance's—who had trained in the Li family's secret realm since childhood—that was naturally impossible.

What Sun Po had more of was simply this set of [Black Rhino Armor] with a quality as high as orange grade. With just a thought, the armor would automatically integrate.

The strength after integration could even hard-resist attacks from divine monsters. This was Sun Po's current power, the kind that maximized survival rates even on the battlefield.

Sun Po might feel that integrating his armor and summoning the [Cold Jade Black Ice Shield] within three seconds was a top-tier operation, but at this moment, even an heir of a noble family from the Five Surnames and Seven Clans like Li Tiance wanted to curse him as a numerical monster.

No choice, he was a high school senior.

Gray-white spiritual consumption, cards of at least orange quality all over his body, and even a golden field card.

Even his self-protection methods were extremely strong orange mods, and they were mind-controlled—this was numerical power.

Li Tiance sighed with emotion. This numerical monster was already this terrifying, and now he even had an extra card capable of making high-quality [spirit meal]s?