146: Thirty-six changes of Tiangang and nine breaths of submission (combined chapters for monthly tickets)

Chapter 14: Nine Breaths Qi Cultivation (Combined Chapter for Monthly Pass)

“Have you heard? The Undead and Human races in Xingji Cave had a big fight a while ago.”

“A fight? Don't they fight every day in the Cave Heaven?”

“No, it wasn't like that. It was a real war! Our Human race directly pushed into their gathering point!”

“Holy crap, that fierce?”

“Yeah, do you know why they fought?”

“Because a genius from our Human race was targeted by the Undead, and our Human race got angry, so they just pushed straight through.”

“That awesome? Who was that genius?”

“I don't know.”

The flat-haired young man shook his head, speaking to a baby-faced young woman opposite him.

Jiang Yuan understood a bit after hearing this.

No wonder they encountered so many Undead that day; it turned out a war had broken out.

He just didn't know who that Human race genius was.

Jiang Yuan walked past the two with Shi Ji.

Today's studies were over; next, he would go home and continue making cards.

“But it's said that Human race genius died. After all, no one saw them from beginning to end.”

“Huh? Died?”

“Yes, that's why the Human race pushed straight through. It's said there was also a very beautiful girl who could enslave the Undead's spirits.”

“Is that so? What a pity.”

After Jiang Yuan left, the two continued chatting.

However, Jiang Yuan didn't pay attention, as he was currently preoccupied with the card-making issue.

“Why don't you go ask your teacher?”

Shi Ji couldn't help but want to laugh when she saw Jiang Yuan's troubled expression.

After returning from Undead Cave Heaven, Jiang Yuan started making cards.

For the recovery of Star Power.

At first, he chose a futon.

Of course, it wasn't some high-quality Wind-Fire Futon or Enlightenment Futon that couldn't be made at this stage.

He wanted to make a Star Power Futon.

But for some reason, Jiang Yuan's attempts kept failing.

The inscription was fine, but he always got stuck on material fusion.

Jiang Yuan tried many materials, but he never succeeded in making it.

Later, he had no choice; his small personal fund was depleted too much, forcing Jiang Yuan to make military cards first.

After all, there was still a final payment due.

However, the military's orders were too numerous, so Jiang Yuan thought about being lazy.

Or rather, having others make them.

Of course, due to the characteristics of the card world, Jiang Yuan's idea was certainly not feasible; only he could make them.

But among the Seventy-Two Transformations, there was the ability to create a Clone.

He could completely split off a Clone to make cards while the main body did other things.

The result was still a failure; he didn't successfully create a Clone Skill Card.

His small personal fund was almost entirely spent.

The materials purchased for making two cards had already left him broke.

The military's money was basically all used up; now, all that remained was the money from selling the Linglong Pagoda.

However, Jiang Yuan showed no sign of discouragement.

If the Seventy-Two Transformations failed, there was still the Thirty-Six Transformations.

Jiang Yuan suddenly remembered that among the Heavenly Dipper Thirty-Six Transformations, there was one called Nine Breaths Qi Cultivation.

As long as he breathed and exhaled nine times, he could convert his spiritual power into magical power.

In that case, could he make this card and convert Star Power into his own Star Power?

So Jiang Yuan began his final attempt.

After all, Jiang Yuan didn't have much money left.

Jiang Yuan chose to burn his bridges.

Not only did he truly burn his bridges, but he also didn't achieve his goal.

All attempts failed!

Jiang Yuan felt like he was experiencing bad luck recently.

All three card ideas had failed.

In this situation, Jiang Yuan couldn't help but feel a bit dejected.

It was Shi Ji who insisted on bringing him to the library these past two days that Jiang Yuan even came out.

“Alright, let's see if the teacher has any pointers.” Jiang Yuan nodded helplessly.

He had no money left now.

He had to go back to the days of selling cards to make money.

How sad.

He had only been rich for a short while.

Indeed, a gambler's mentality is not to be desired.

After shaking his head, Jiang Yuan led Shi Ji towards Li Yueying's office.

Li Yueying hadn't been teaching classes during this period either.

And Jiang Yuan had been busy making cards (losing money) and hadn't come to see his teacher.

“Oh, I thought you had forgotten you had a teacher like me.” Li Yueying smiled teasingly when she saw Jiang Yuan enter the door.

Jiang Yuan gave an awkward laugh: “Haha, I've just been busy making cards recently.”

“Making cards?”

Li Yueying hadn't had time to ask Jiang Yuan what kind of cards he had been making recently when she saw Shi Ji behind Jiang Yuan.

“This is? A little girlfriend?”

Li Yueying's face held an auntie-like smile, her eyes constantly scanning Jiang Yuan and Shi Ji.

“No, this is my Card Spirit.”

Jiang Yuan shook his head, and the smile that had just appeared at the corner of Shi Ji's mouth instantly vanished, returning to her expressionless state.

“Card Spirit?”

Li Yueying looked at Shi Ji with some surprise.

She had naturally seen the change in Shi Ji's expression just now.

But can Card Spirits also produce human emotions?

That just now was clearly joy.

And this now was clearly displeasure, right?

“Is this your second Summoning Card? Have you been making this card recently?”

“No, this is the third one.”

Jiang Yuan shook his head: “And she was made before the start of the semester.”

“Third one, before the semester?”

“Yes, the second one was the horse I rode during the freshman assessment, named Unicorn Dark Smoke Beast, and Shi Ji was made after the freshman assessment ended.”

“Shi Ji, a good name.”

A flicker of excitement flashed in Li Yueying's eyes.

Indeed, the Summoning Card wasn't something Jiang Yuan made by chance. In that case...

Li Yueying's eyes sparkled, while Shi Ji looked at Li Yueying and frowned slightly.

She always felt a bit strange?

“By the way, are you making Summoning Cards recently?” Li Yueying seemed to suddenly come back to her senses, looking up and asking Jiang Yuan.

“No, well, that's a long story.”

Jiang Yuan was a bit troubled, but Li Yueying motioned for Jiang Yuan to sit on the nearby sofa, not needing to stand and talk to her.

“Take your time, no rush.”

Li Yueying said, then got up and joined Jiang Yuan at the nearby tea area.

As Vice Principal, Li Yueying's office was quite large.

One side was the office area, and the other side had a sofa set and a complete tea set in the tea area.

Behind the tea area, there was also a bedroom where one could rest temporarily.

“Go on, we have plenty of time today.”

After pouring a cup of tea for both Jiang Yuan and Shi Ji, Li Yueying sat on the sofa opposite Jiang Yuan and smiled at him.

“Hmm, then let's start from the beginning.”

After a moment of silence, Jiang Yuan finally decided to start from the beginning.

“I initially wanted to make an equipment card called Star Power Futon. In my conception, it would be an equipment that continuously restores Star Power.”

“Later, the inscription was fine during production, but it failed during material synthesis.”

“What materials?”

“Star Tendril, Radiant Tendril, and Star-Attracting Rock.”

“Hmm, if you say so, these three materials are quite suitable.” Li Yueying nodded.

“Yes, but it still failed.”

Jiang Yuan's face was a bit bitter: “Later, I thought it might be a material problem, so I changed many materials, but it still didn't work.”

“The material composition was roughly a tendril as the main body, and then the other two for absorbing Star Power and converting Star Power.”

“And it ultimately failed, right?”

“Yes.”

Li Yueying nodded thoughtfully: “What then?”

“Then I gave up for a bit and started making another card, but this one was a Skill Card.”

“I have a set of seventy-two Skill Cards in mind, the general idea being various minor skills.”

“Mm-hmm, continue.” Li Yueying nodded.

“The Skill Card I wanted to make this time was a minor Clone skill.”

“Clone?”

Li Yueying looked up, gazing at Jiang Yuan with some disbelief.

“Blue quality card, Clone?”

“That's right.”

Jiang Yuan's face was firm: “I think a blue quality one can be made.”

“Do you know that a Skill Card capable of creating a Clone is at least a purple quality Skill Card? And even then, the Clone's combat power is very low?”

“I know.”

Jiang Yuan nodded. Jiang Yuan also had some understanding of that purple quality Clone card.

To be precise, that shouldn't be called a Clone Card, but rather [Shadow Manifestation].

Separating one's shadow from oneself, as an independent entity.

A B-grade purple quality Skill Card.

There was also another purple quality Skill Card capable of creating Clones called [Mirror Image].

It can mirror out a copy of oneself, possessing about half of the original's combat power.

This is an A-grade purple quality Skill Card.

That's why Li Yueying was so surprised that Jiang Yuan wanted to create a blue quality Clone card.

But the problem was that Jiang Yuan truly felt that the Clone skill could be achieved on a blue quality Skill Card.

"What material cards are you using this time?"

Seeing Jiang Yuan like this, Li Yueying understood that he had an idea, so she asked.

"Twin-Heart Grass, Split Beans, and Two-Headed Beastmen."

"These?"

Li Yueying frowned: "Your clone is explained as a split, meaning the separated body has its own consciousness, right?"

"Yes."

Jiang Yuan nodded. Li Yueying was indeed the Vice Principal of the Card Crafting Department; just from Jiang Yuan's choice of materials, she could roughly deduce his card crafting principle.

After seeing Jiang Yuan nod, Li Yueying couldn't help but feel a headache.

The two purple quality Clone cards, one is [Shadow Incarnation], whose main material is [Broken Shadow Wood], a tree demon whose shadow and main body are not together.

This is about separating oneself and one's shadow.

The other, [Mirror Technique], uses mirrors as its main material, where the clone is another self in the mirror.

And what Jiang Yuan wanted was to split another self with its own consciousness from his own body?

And a blue quality one at that?

This was a bit too fantastical, wasn't it?

"Forget it, let's not talk about this. Are you only making these two cards?" Li Yueying waved her hand, indicating she didn't want to discuss the situation of this clone technique.

"Uh, why not talk about this?"

Jiang Yuan was a little surprised. Logically speaking, he had spent the most money on this card.

After all, imagine having another self constantly crafting cards for him in the future, creating wealth.

What a wonderful thing that would be!

But now the teacher said not to talk about it?

Why?

How could my wonderful life be dismissed just like that?

Jiang Yuan was puzzled, but Li Yueying just waved her hand: "So I know your talent in card crafting is very high, but crafting a card like a clone is too difficult. Let's talk about your first card instead."

"Alright, but I also have a third card to craft."

Seeing that his teacher really didn't want to talk about it, Jiang Yuan could only give up.

However, for his future wonderful life, this certainly couldn't be given up on.

"There's a third one? Tell me about it."

"The third card is actually similar to the first one; both can continuously restore Star Power, but this one is a Skill Card."

"Skill Card?"

"Yes, its name is Nine Breaths Qi Cultivation. It basically means you can restore Star Power with nine breaths."

"Interesting. What materials did you choose?"

"I chose many materials, but generally, it's still those three: Star Power storage, Star Power conversion, and Star Power release."

"None of them work?"

"No."

"Theoretically speaking, it shouldn't be like this."

After listening to Jiang Yuan, Li Yueying also began to ponder.

Logically, just as Jiang Yuan said, it shouldn't be impossible to craft.

The relationship between the synthesis of card materials and the final card is like this.

Just like a card that restores Star Power, the essential elements required for synthesis are Star Power storage, conversion, and release.

With these three materials, theoretically, there shouldn't be a situation where it fails.

Unless there is a certain conflict between the materials and the final finished card.

For example, if you want to make a fire-attribute sword, but you use a water-attribute material in it.

In this case, there is a high probability that card crafting will fail due to incompatible properties.

But the problem is, Jiang Yuan also just said that he tried more than one material.

In that case, it's not a single material issue.

"By the way, have you attended card crafting classes recently?"

Unable to figure it out, Li Yueying simply stopped thinking and asked Jiang Yuan.

"Yes, I learned a lot of fundamental issues." Jiang Yuan nodded.

Although he was busy with card crafting, he did go to class.

Before, when crafting cards, he would just have an idea, decide what card he wanted to make, and then go find the material cards for that card.

At that time, he didn't understand the correlation of card crafting materials, their connection to the finished card, the factors for choosing material cards, and so on.

At that time, he just picked whatever he liked, as long as there was a connection.

And the lessons of the past two days basically systematized his thoughts.

Jiang Yuan indeed felt that he understood card crafting more clearly than before.

And precisely because of this, he was somewhat puzzled by his card crafting failures.

He clearly followed the steps, but the result was still failure?

Why?

As if seeing the doubt on Jiang Yuan's face, Li Yueying also began to speak.

"School just started these past two days, and the teachers indeed taught the basics, but just getting the basics right doesn't guarantee successful card crafting. There are many other factors involved."

"For example, let me ask you, how is the crafting difficulty of cards of the same quality ranked?"

"Equipment cards, Skill Cards, one-time Skill Cards."

Jiang Yuan answered subconsciously, but then he paused.

By the way, his [Nine Breaths Qi Cultivation] was crafted as a Skill Card, right?

It's a Heavenly Dipper Thirty-Six Transformations, a blue quality Skill Card, after all?

Would it be better if it were crafted as a one-time Skill Card?

And the Seventy-Two Transformations - Clone, what if it were crafted as a one-time Skill Card?

Jiang Yuan was a little tempted, but soon shook his head.

It's not just this one reason; there should be other reasons.

"Yes, that's one factor. What else is the core of a finished card?" Seeing that Jiang Yuan seemed to have thought of something, Li Yueying continued to speak.

"What is the core?"

Jiang Yuan murmured, pondering silently.

"The core of Nine Breaths Qi Cultivation is phased continuous recovery. The core of Star Power Futon is continuous, uninterrupted recovery."

Shi Ji looked at Jiang Yuan's expression and spoke indifferently.

During this time, because she had to learn how to craft her Undead skills, she almost went out with Jiang Yuan every day.

However, although she said 'went out,' it was only to the classroom and the library.

But even so, she also learned everything Jiang Yuan learned.

So, as soon as Li Yueying spoke, Shi Ji understood.

As for that Clone Skill Card, perhaps the core condition lies in the Star Power's structure.

If it were crafted in the same way as a Summoning Card, perhaps it could succeed?

However, this was just Shi Ji's idea, and she felt that this idea was most likely not going to succeed.

After all, the core of a Summoning Card is not Star Power structure.

That's why she didn't mention this clone just now.

"Not bad."

Li Yueying looked at Shi Ji with some surprise.

She didn't expect this Card Spirit to understand what she had just said.

Card Spirit, what a magical direction!

Li Yueying's fervent gaze made Shi Ji frown slightly.

However, she didn't say much, as this was Jiang Yuan's master after all.

"Yes, if that's the case, wouldn't it be possible to successfully craft the card?"

Jiang Yuan looked at Shi Ji with pleasant surprise and was about to start crafting the card.

However...

"What's wrong?"

Li Yueying looked at Jiang Yuan with interest. She was indeed quite interested in Jiang Yuan crafting cards on the spot.

Her office was quite quiet, and she would occasionally craft cards directly in her office when inspiration struck, so the environment was not an issue.

But seeing Jiang Yuan like this, had he encountered some problem?

"Uh, I'm out of materials."

Jiang Yuan shook his head awkwardly: "These three cards made me spend all my money."

"Let's just forget about it for now. We can talk about it in a couple of days."

Jiang Yuan had already decided to go find Bu Qiuyuan in the next two days.

He would have Bu Qiuyuan pay, and he would craft a weapon for her.

Then he would sell some one-time Skill Card versions of the Linglong Pagoda at the school.

He would craft them after he had money.

Hmm, and he could also take on some card crafting orders from Tong Yuchang.

As someone who could afford Beast Taming Cards, the people around him must also be very rich, right?

It would be unforgivable not to fleece them a bit.

"Tell me, what material cards do you need? As your teacher, I can still offer you some help."

After Jiang Yuan finished speaking, Li Yueying smiled, resting her chin on her hand as she spoke to Jiang Yuan.