"This is just a clown who cheats and drinks, gets his legs broken when discovered, gains power, seeks revenge, and then gets beaten up in the end…"

 

Ji Nian thought to himself as he put away the material.

 

Based on the information from the map software and the feedback from this material card, he roughly understood what was going on:

 

This "Yellow Goat Temple" was originally the residence of this limping old Taoist.

 

It's just that a few years ago, a Peach Source card master named "Liu Dan" stumbled in by accident.

 

Knowing its own limitations, the highly intelligent Taoist didn't even have time to take the "Emerald Nine-Section Bone Bamboo" and promptly ran to the depths of the secret realm.

 

Fortunately, although this Taoist temple was a bit broken, it still had some style with its blue bricks, red tiles, stone statues, and bronze furnaces.

 

Coincidentally, Liu Dan was a bit lazy and thought the Taoist temple was nice, so he casually set an anchor point without making any changes, and thus did not find the treasure hidden by secret methods.

 

It wasn't until recently that he and the owner of the "Ci Nian Mountain Nunnery," Zhao Wenya, died together in a secret realm cleansing operation.

 

Without the concealment of platinum-level spiritual power, the old Taoist ghost hiding and practicing in the mountains instantly sensed the aura of the "Emerald Nine-Section Bone Bamboo."

 

So, dragging his broken leg, he returned, walking for several days, and finally managed to retrieve it half an hour ago.

 

And then… there was no "and then."

 

"The Emerald Nine-Section Bone Bamboo… quite interesting."

 

Ji Nian thought to himself, looking at the dark-bordered card.

 

This was actually a special material item similar to the "Studious Girl," which could become a new card with the addition of a story. The only regret was that this card was of purple quality, beyond the control of his bronze-level card mastery.

 

Of course, in any case, it was a good thing to have high-quality materials.

 

"Anyway, it won't be long before I can break through, and then I can make changes."

 

If the progress of refining from bronze to silver-level spiritual power was compared to an experience bar with a full value of 100, then he was currently at around seventy to eighty.

 

In the past, he could only increase by a fraction of a point to a couple of points a day through his own practice. Occasionally making a card or advancing could push him forward by one or two points.

 

At this rate, entering the silver level within three months would be quite good.

 

After all, no matter how he studied in class, the school didn't have as many suitable materials for him as the unified training with all the resources in the city.

 

Naturally, this progress was pulled down.

 

But there was a good line in a poem: "The mountains are high and the waters are deep, and there seems to be no way out, but suddenly a village appears in the distance."

 

This trip to the secret realm, apart from the "Nine Songs: Mountain Ghost" card and several other high-potential materials, he also successfully bound to the anchor point at the "Du Ruo Mountain Ghost Temple."

 

With a steady stream of feedback, he would be able to break through in at most a month and a half.

 

"Not bad."

 

Ji Nian nodded in satisfaction and looked at the newly obtained material information:

 

"Emerald Nine-Section Bone Bamboo"

 

Quality: Purple

 

Category: Divine/Ghost/Spirit

 

Card Type: Equipment

 

Skills:

 

"Ghost Service": The card master can keep ghosts in the bamboo staff, nurturing them with spiritual power or yang energy on a daily basis. In battle, there will be no additional consumption.

 

"Symbol Water": Consumes a small amount of spiritual power to create "Green Jade Symbol Water." It can help any type of unit slowly recover from injuries and physical strength, and can suppress the outbreak of negative states in a short period of time.

 

"Yin Thunder": Consumes a certain amount of spiritual power to gather yin thunder, which can ignore the physical defense of units of blue quality or below, and has a certain probability of causing the enemy to fall into negative states such as "Soul Paralysis" and "Yin Energy Penetration."

 

"Creating Ghosts": Consumes a large amount of spiritual power to rationally structure and, according to one's own will, create ghost or monster units with a certain spirituality. The combat power and endurance depend on the card master's spiritual power.

 

Entries:

 

"Body Strengthening": Holding the bamboo staff can activate the "Spiritual Energy Infusion" effect, and the body's quality and spiritual power reserve will slowly increase.

 

"Inheritance": Units holding the staff can imprint a skill onto the bamboo staff, and can decide whether to open it to the next owner of the bamboo staff according to their own will.

 

"Storage": The bamboo staff contains a storage space of ten cubic meters. At a critical moment, it can release hidden weapons and poisons stored inside without consuming any spiritual power.

 

"Soul Binding": Can be bound to the bamboo staff with blood as a guide. After the first death, if the soul still has spirituality, it can forcibly recall the bamboo staff through "Mental Communication" or "Silent Invocation" and other methods. This feature then disappears.

 

Introduction: "How can the immortal green bamboo staff be refused by all the ghosts?"

 

Advancement: "Green Bamboo Nine-Segment Ascension Staff" (Orange) → "Dragon-Patterned Nine-Segment Servant God Staff" (Red)

 

It had to be said, this was a very good equipment card.

 

The "Ghost Service" skill, to put it bluntly, was "raising an army for a thousand days to use it for an hour."

 

Nurturing a group of fighters on a daily basis and then effortlessly releasing them at a critical moment to catch the opponent off guard.

 

"Symbol Water" was a weakened version of the Mountain Ghost's "Revival" skill, but correspondingly, it consumed less and was suitable for simple and urgent large-scale treatment.

 

As for "Yin Thunder" and "Creating Ghosts," they were simple spell attacks and a rather redundant summoning skill, nothing much to say about them.

 

The entries were interesting.

 

"Body Strengthening" could be seen as a reduced version of the anchor point, a cheating tool for refining, which could be said to be quite good.

 

"Storage" was an indispensable skill for when the moon was dark and the wind was high, for killing and looting.

 

"Soul Binding," if he guessed correctly, was probably the reason why the old Taoist died at the hands of the "Second Young Master of the Zhou Family" and still retained the bamboo staff.

 

The only regret was that this feature would be completely disabled once triggered.

 

Otherwise, the old Taoist could recall it with a single thought, so why would he run back with a broken leg?

 

And this last feature, "Inheritance," was relatively disappointing. With his conditions, only someone with a donkey's kick to the head would imprint their own skills on it and leave it to someone else.

 

"And, the fact that the 'Soul Binding' feature can only be triggered by death is actually quite ominous… I hope it won't be triggered in the future."

 

Ji Nian said, scratching his head.

 

The only thing he couldn't understand about this card was how the Yellow Goat old Taoist, who was only a blue-quality four-star, was able to drive it."Is it because of the world's natural and geographical advantages in the Great Scenery World?"

 

Chronicle pondered for a moment and felt that this should be the truth.

 

After all, the rules of this world are really powerful when it comes to blessing the local ghosts.

 

Take the example of the Flesh Mountain Ghost. If it appeared in this secret realm, he probably wouldn't have been a match for it at the time.

 

Even if Seven Brothers could fight, if the opponent played guerrilla warfare with their spiritual wisdom, it would take more than ten minutes to wear him down.

 

Of course, there are no "ifs" in this world.

 

Using this example is just to say that the already powerful supernatural beings in the secret realm are indeed much stronger than ordinary units of the same quality.

 

This is the home advantage.

 

"Can't compare to the Domain Card."

 

Chronicle thought to himself as he carefully collected the two materials named "Lone-Legged Yellow Goat Old Dao" and "Emerald Nine-Section Bone Bamboo" respectively.

 

"Yellow-robed Old Dao, Nine-Segment Bamboo Staff…"

 

If he still couldn't see the strong sense of déjà vu, then there's no need for him to be a Card Craftsman.

 

"The sky is dead, the yellow sky shall rise, the year of Jiazi, great fortune to the world!"

 

This slogan suddenly flashed through his mind.

 

Zhang Jiao, the founder of the Taiping Tao during the Eastern Han Dynasty and the leader of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

 

With almost his own strength, he opened the historical curtain of the shining era of the Huaxia constellation.

 

His fame is well-known throughout the land of Jiuzhou, and he is also known as the "beginning of chaos."

 

In history, he initially operated with his two brothers in a place of great disaster.

 

Once they had a certain foundation, they mainly used the "Taiping Jing" as their main classic and worshipped "Zhonghuang Taiyi" as the supreme god, establishing the "Taiping Tao."

 

They took it upon themselves to overthrow the decaying Eastern Han Dynasty and establish a peaceful world, spreading slogans and speeches such as "The sky is dead, the yellow sky shall rise, the year of Jiazi, great fortune to the world" everywhere.

 

Zhang Jiao, the leader, also used passages from the "Taiping Jing" as the basis and gave himself the title of "Great Wise Teacher."

 

He often carried a nine-segment staff and, based on his accumulated medical skills, used the pretext of talismans and spells to help people heal.

 

Under this guise, he traveled far and wide, widely spreading his thoughts and gaining the support of the common people in many states.

 

In this way, little by little, over more than ten years, his disciples and students numbered in the tens of thousands.

 

But in the end, they were a mob, and faced with the "centipede that dies but does not stiffen" of the Eastern Han Dynasty, they had almost no power to fight back.

 

Before long, they were submerged in the river of history, becoming an insignificant wave.

 

According to some legendary tales, Zhang Jiao once obtained three volumes of a book called "The Essentials of Taiping" from a master who was aloof in appearance and temperament, calling himself "Nanhua Old Immortal."

 

After obtaining this book, he studied it day and night and, not long after, was able to control the wind and rain, create soldiers from scattered beans, and even use talismans to heal the sick.

 

It is also said that he could summon strange winds and thunder, and control paper people and grass horses.

 

In short, he was such a formidable figure, almost like a god or a demon.

 

Full of magical powers, but was defeated by the Three Brothers Liu, Guan, and Zhang, who had just left the newbie village, using impure substances like black dog blood.

 

"However, he left his mark in the shining era of the Three Kingdoms, and he is an unavoidable 1.0 version of the original boss."

 

"If I could create him, I think it would be a good card."

 

"By the way…"

 

Chronicle suddenly thought of something and couldn't help but look around:

 

"The Great Scenery World wants me to expand my influence in order to increase 'trust' and feedback, right?"

 

"Can I learn from Zhang Jiao's 'success' and leave a name for myself in this world where humans, ghosts, and demons roam?"

 

"He only had some magical skills, but I have actual gods standing by my side…"

 

Upon careful consideration, it seems like it's possible…

 

"If there are still ordinary people in this world."

 

Chronicle thought to himself and shook his head, preparing to ask Wei Ya and Su Wen when he returned.

 

"It's time to go."

 

Seeing the sun hanging in the sky, he patted the dust off his body and took a different path back to the direction of the Land of Peach Ghost Temple.

 

Along the way, when encountering mountain spirits and evil spirits, he let Seven Brothers fight and gain experience.

 

But for some reason, whether it was because the evil spirits outside the secret realm were too weak or for some other reason, Seven Brothers did not gain much from the journey.

 

"Little angels like the Yellow Goat Old Dao who not only give experience but also give treasures are too few."

 

He thought to himself as he sat on the back of the fierce tiger with a white forehead, slowly moving towards the small hill in the dim red sunlight.

 

Thinking that he would be leaving tomorrow, he carefully checked his "territory" again and set up several defensive lines.

 

"Thank you, 'Plants vs. Zombies,' for giving me so much inspiration."

 

Chronicle waved his hand, expressing his gratitude to the game producer in the other world.

 

"Peashooters, Wall-nuts, Puff-shrooms, Cabbage-pults… I have everything I need."

 

"Add to that the birds and beasts all over the mountains, the lingering mist, the group of cunning and diverse ghosts, and the traps I designed myself…"

 

"And with the mountain spirits guarding, there shouldn't be any problems."

 

"After returning this time, I can focus on making cards and practicing."

 

"I'll strive to reach the Silver rank before entering the top four, and with so many mythological cards in hand, it would be embarrassing not to win the championship."

 

He thought to himself as he crawled into his sleeping bag, and before falling asleep, he glanced at the side.

 

He saw Zongzi Brother sleeping soundly as always.

 

They say that lazy people have good luck, and at the current rate of progress and experience bar, it's very likely that he will break through to four stars before Seven Brothers.

 

Meanwhile, Yingtai was sitting next to him, playing a single-player game with a power bank and her fingers flying.

 

The little mountain spirit was on the side, roasting the birds that Yingtai had caught, but they were burnt because she didn't get the timing right.

 

Yingtai was teaching her with a look of disdain.

 

Seeing this scene, "Father" Chronicle felt very pleased, zipped up his sleeping bag, and fell into a deep sleep.

 

And so, the night passed.

 

The next morning, he woke up early and saw the orange sun hanging in the sky.

 

It was already late, so he didn't go to explore other places further away.

 

Instead, he packed up his things and, under the protection of the mountain spirit and Yingtai, rode a sedan chair through the peach forest back to the entrance.At this moment, the young warriors of the Zhenyuan Army had already assembled.

 

Zhao Tianyang, who was sitting on the hood of the car, saw Chronicle's relaxed expression and couldn't help but smile, "Did you have a good haul?"

 

"Not bad," Chronicle replied with a smile.

 

Hearing this, Zhao Tianyang encouraged him, "Coming from an ordinary family, just starting senior year of high school, and already possessing late-stage bronze spiritual power along with a bunch of blue cards. Even with the help of unified training, your talent is truly not to be underestimated. Push hard in this final year and aim to bring home the title of top scholar."

 

"Then I'll take that as a good omen from Brother Zhao," Chronicle said with a laugh.

 

"But before that, you still need to secure the championship of the Qing Mountain Cup."

 

As Zhao Tianyang spoke, he stretched lazily and, using his psychic power to transmit his voice, said to Chronicle, "From what I understand, the combined rewards for the other competitors in this contest don't even compare in value to the champion's prize."

 

"Millions in prize money, a house in the center of any city in Qing Mountain Province, a guaranteed university admission or bonus points for the college entrance exam, and even a fragment of divinity… with a concentration of five percent."

 

"And that's not even the most important part."

 

Zhao Tianyang teased a little before leaping off the hood and coming up to Chronicle's ear to continue, "The provincial association has really splurged this time, offering up a piece of 【Template Material】."

 

"As a card master, who wouldn't want to create a template card based on the hero's tale in their heart, to personally experience that godlike, demonic power?"

 

"True, you need to reach the silver level to craft a blue-quality template card, and before reaching the pinnacle, your strength will always be a bit behind your main battle card."

 

"But that is, after all, your own power."

 

"The difference between external force and internal strength… you understand, right?"