Chapter 43: Defying Heaven’s Golden Bell Shield
After returning home, Jiang Ce first took stock of tonight’s spoils. Lu Yun was very loyal and split half the loot with him, which was fifteen thousand, plus the duel winnings, totaling twenty-six thousand.
By normal living standards, excluding rent, this money was enough for him to live comfortably for a year.
Including rent, if he kept owing, it could last him comfortably for a year and a half.
“If there were good fortune like this every day, who the hell would bother going to work.” Jiang Ce couldn’t help feeling a bit regretful.
Although burning corpses was fun, everything else was quite boring.
After paying off all sorts of debts, Jiang Ce finally felt completely relaxed.
He checked the time; it wasn’t even midnight yet, and he still felt full of physical energy, so he took out the Golden Bell Shield, ready to formally begin sorcery cultivation.
When facing Liang Zhi Zhou, he had realized his current shortcomings: after stunning the opponent, there was no follow-up.
He did want to rush up and punch the chest lightly, but that was too undignified; not only did it lack lethality, it was also utterly devoid of style.
Although Jiang Ce rated Liang Zhi Zhou’s sorcery as flashy nonsense, he was actually extremely envious deep down; it was useless, sure, but it was really cool.
“Using Buddhist Charm as the carrier for spiritual energy, with spiritual energy covering the body in the form of a golden bell, impervious to water, fire, lightning, and electricity.”
Jiang Ce rubbed his chin: “When not activated, it can also serve as a slightly weaker passive skill, which seems pretty good; that way, I won’t have to worry about being caught off guard by a sneak attack.”
What slightly concerned Jiang Ce, however, was that upon closer inspection, he discovered this thing required a heart devoted to Buddha.
The effects of the Golden Bell Shield were tied not only to realm and cultivation but also seemed related to the user’s faith.
In theory, if the faith was strong enough, a Sixth Rank would be powerless against him, though before mastering other sorcery, he couldn’t fight back either.
Jiang Ce silently looked toward the Kou Liu Buddha on the shrine in the corner, then regretfully slapped himself.
“Fuck, I actually doubted my heart devoted to Buddha; I’m way too damn pious! After returning to secular life, I still persisted in worshipping Buddha; only a natural living Buddha like me could do that!”
Then, full of confidence, Jiang Ce began practicing the Golden Bell Shield according to the method recorded in the classic.
“Hmm, closing all forty-nine vital gates leads to mastery. Hmm, that should be right.”
“Oh, got it, got it, just like this first.”
“One is already done.”
“Eh? Wait a minute… This doesn’t seem to be a vital gate; there’s no sensation of ventilation.”
“I knew keeping it clenched felt weird; I got it wrong.”
“Oh, this one huh.”
He tinkered until late into the night, finally fully closing the seven basic vital gates of his body, refining half of the first layer, which could be considered taking initial shape.
“Next is injecting Buddhist Charm and spiritual energy into the vital gates, letting it spread throughout the body. Very close.”
“To make it powerful, the Buddhist Charm must be sufficiently resilient; the spiritual energy should be enough, though.”
“Chanting sutras definitely won’t cut it; I need some strong medicine to stimulate my latent merit, letting merit and Buddhist Charm together become the carrier; that should be even more badass than pure Buddhist Charm.”
At this thought, Jiang Ce took a notebook out of the drawer, his face solemn; these were the materials he had accumulated over the years, capable of maximally stimulating merit.
“Who first proposed the concept of the value of life? The farm owner!”
“What can Jesus do that an ordinary person can’t? Whistle using his palm!”
“What does Stick Country have that China doesn’t? American soldiers!”
“Which country first proposed washing hands after using the toilet? India!”
“Why does a priest from Little Japan want to run away upon seeing a little boy? Because it brings back bad memories!”
“What item personified doesn’t feel out of place? Soap!”
Jiang Ce quickly read through the contents of the notebook, his voice growing louder, his speech speeding up, and his emotions becoming more agitated.
In the room, a strange atmosphere enveloped him.
Withered and dim merit scattered from his body grain by grain.
It wasn’t that the medicine wasn’t strong enough; it was just that Jiang Ce’s merit reserves were truly too meager.
These were what he earned at six years old by saving a near-death pigeon, preserved all the way to today.
This was priceless black account merit that even Heaven and Earth Bank hadn’t discovered!
Finally, at some moment, Jiang Ce stopped.
He tilted his head back, not letting tears flow easily.
“Damn… Every time I read it, it feels so damn moving!”
Wiping away his tears, Jiang Ce looked to his side.
“Although not much, it should be enough, right? After all, this is probably my… last merit!”
He slightly closed his eyes and circulated the Golden Bell Shield’s energy circulation method.
With the dim black account merit fused into the Buddhist Charm, it immediately became solid, like adding lao gan ma to a plain steamed bun—transcending like an emperor among buns; Jiang Ce’s Buddhist Charm was now invincible among ordinary Buddhist Charms!
“Give me one chance… I don’t want to be an evil cultivator anymore; bring some positive energy!”
With Jiang Ce’s roar, the Buddhist Charm laced with black account merit fully blended with the spiritual energy like milk and water, merging into one, covering Jiang Ce entirely like nano armor.
Jiang Ce slowly opened his eyes, a flash of black light in their depths.
He nervously looked toward the mirror in front of him, then the next moment covered his face, unable to look straight.
“What the hell did I cultivate this time?!”
A dark purple Great Cauldron manifested outside Jiang Ce’s body, with spiritual energy boiling within, just like the big pot in the oil pot hell.
Merit was correct, Buddhist Charm was correct, spiritual energy was correct, heart devoted to Buddha was correct.
The result was wrong!
Is this reasonable?
Jiang Ce tremblingly stood up, grabbed a fruit knife, and directly stabbed his arm.
According to the effects recorded in the Golden Bell Shield, completing the first layer meant copper skin and iron bones: sharp objects leave no mark, blunt strikes cause no injury.
And by Jiang Ce’s imagination, his Golden Bell Shield should at least dent the fruit knife to match the merit he squeezed out.
But the result was Jiang Ce silently staring at the knife handle and the molten iron on the floor.
“Whatever, whatever; it worked anyway, so it’ll do.”
Jiang Ce finally understood that from the moment he visualized the tentacled monster, he had fallen to evil, with no way back.
Neither the Soul Soothing Technique nor the Golden Bell Shield had turned out normal for him.
Definitely not a coincidence!
Jiang Ce retracted the Great Cauldron phantom, switched the Golden Bell Shield to passive mode, and tested it with a kitchen knife from the kitchen.
Bang!
This time, the kitchen knife didn’t turn to molten iron; it simply shattered cleanly.
“This is much more normal.”
Jiang Ce sighed in resignation: “Better not activate it casually; I’ve only finished the first layer, and the passive effect is already like counter armor, similar to the described third layer. I don’t even dare imagine what the seventh layer would be like.”
A ridiculous scene suddenly appeared in his mind.
True God descends, tries to stomp him to death with one foot; he activates mastery Golden Bell Shield, then True God cries as he lifts his foot: “This is too hot for my little feet.”
Defying the heavens!
Sorry everyone, I thought I was better yesterday and took a bath, but today I’m in pain all over again; my mind was scattered while typing, and two thousand words took nearly two hours… Couldn’t fix typos or other issues for now… No clue on the second chapter; I’ll update after waking up in the morning. Anyway, take me as a warning: protect yourselves well during this special period!
