Chapter 33: Tallying The Gains
Jiang Ce lay on the bed, reminiscing about the events that had happened to him these past few days, still feeling like it was all a dream.
It had been some time since leaving the Gatekeeper outpost. Considering that Jiang Ce still had to work during the day, Jie Tan and the others asked some basic information about him and let him return first, planning to formally report in after work in the evening and learn more about the Gatekeepers and even the Cultivation World.
In Jie Tan’s words, the greatest concealment is in the bustling city; most Gatekeeper members do not abandon their original lives and spend most of their time playing the role of ordinary people, so daily life generally does not need to be given up.
For cultivators who have joined the Gatekeepers, they only need to act in response when needed, and the rules are relatively not so strict, but what they get from the Gatekeeper organization is protection and cultivation resources—strictly speaking, it is already quite humane blessing.
Tonight’s gains could only be described as skyrocketing on the spot.
Not only did he join the Gatekeepers, but counting the initial Soul Soothing Technique, he had obtained six sorceries, all premium ones brought out by Heaven-Reaching Dharma Masters, with only the Soul Soothing Technique, which ordinary people could also use, being slightly inferior.
And it was unknown whether it was good luck or intentional from those big shots.
After Jiang Ce roughly browsed the six sorceries he obtained, he found they were all extremely powerful sorceries in different fields.
Soul Soothing Technique, a trap-type sorcery for large-area AOE extermination strikes against ghosts and monsters.
White Tiger Secret Teachings, targeting what cultivators call Spiritual Energy, that is, Power from Merit Conversion, for refining and purifying it, an auxiliary sorcery that allows gradual invincibility at the same rank or even challenging higher ranks just by hanging in there.
Golden Liquid Divine Elixir Compendium, nourishes spirit and qi, cultivates Mental Energy, and can produce unpredictable mental attacks, a mental-type sorcery.
Leopard Martial Essentials, mainly cultivates various physical abilities and killing methods, a body-refining sorcery that allows running like lightning and striking like thunder after successful cultivation.
Golden Bell Shield, no need for further explanation, directly transforms into Left Anti-Armor, Right Randuin’s Omen, Ice Heart in the middle, cloth armor boots on the feet, Jiaxiu on the head and Daybreak on the back, a max-level Armored Turtle Dragon with full W points.
Object Manipulation Technique, cultivates the power of the five elements, manipulates swords, blades, hidden weapons; theoretically can manipulate all things in heaven and earth, even control a world, a control-type sorcery.
And most coincidentally, Jiang Ce even discovered linkages among them, such as Soul Soothing Technique plus Object Manipulation Technique, turning the trap directly into a mobile turret; Leopard Martial Essentials plus Golden Bell Shield, directly turning into a dump truck, create and done.
White Tiger Secret Teachings plus Golden Liquid Divine Elixir Compendium is even more heavyweight, directly achieving the perfect cultivation loop: Golden Liquid Divine Elixir Compendium strengthens Mental Energy and reduces Visualization cooldown, speeding up cultivation, while White Tiger Secret Teachings condenses essence, solidifies foundation, compensates for deficiencies from too-fast cultivation, provides no worries while feeding back to Golden Liquid Divine Elixir Compendium, accelerating Mental Energy cultivation.
Two words—perfect!
Of course, the power of these sorceries still originates from the cultivator’s own realm.
For example, a Heaven-Reaching Dharma Master who has cultivated Leopard Martial Essentials can punch through a mountain, while a Ninth-Rank Jianghu Sorcerer might only punch through a stone slab.
So Jiang Ce, who did not have the energy to pursue multiple paths at once, decided to first study Golden Bell Shield, max out defense first, maximize safety guarantee to cope with any accidents, while also working on White Tiger Secret Teachings and Golden Liquid Divine Elixir Compendium to quickly cultivate and elevate realm, then focus on the offensive Leopard Martial Essentials, and finally the showy but useful Object Manipulation Technique.
“This time counts as lucky. Although I don’t know when I obtained the four Blessings, from their meaning, without these Blessings, I couldn’t have contacted sorceries of various Great Daos at this stage, achieving this one-plus-one-greater-than-two effect.
Unless my realm is very high, I could master them as easily as the Soul Soothing Technique, but by then, I probably wouldn’t need these and would pursue more efficient sorceries.”
Jiang Ce muttered to himself delightedly:
“Could it be that those four Sages fancy my taste, liking my rebellious and untamed personality? That’s really spot on! Nianianianiania!”
He did not know that these four Blessings were snatched by him from four statues, almost squeezing the statues dry.
But if he knew, he might feel even more proud and arrogant.
As for Aatrox, Jiang Ce had not forgotten it either; as soon as he got home, he absorbed all the Power of Lack of Merit converted from the ghosts and monsters in Red Terrace Manor, which could also be called his exclusive Spiritual Energy.
However, to his slight disappointment, he had underestimated how exaggerated the exponentially increasing Spiritual Energy required for each rank promotion was; even the male ketone ghost that Ye Lu Feng said was close to Fierce Ghost strength, after being devoured by Aatrox, due to Aatrox being too wasteful or some other loss, the converted Spiritual Energy was only a bit more than that from all other ghosts combined.
Barely enough to make Jiang Ce feel his Spiritual Energy was abundant but not saturated, that is, growing from early Seventh Rank to mid Seventh Rank.
Cherishing aspirations for a beautiful future, Jiang Ce fell into a light sleep.
Tonight really had too many events; even though Physical Energy had fully increased after starting cultivation, fatigue still appeared.
When Jiang Ce opened his eyes again, it was already six in the morning, and the sky had been bright for a long time.
Although this sleep was only two hours, it was enough for Jiang Ce to dispel fatigue and become full of Physical Energy.
After taking a shower, he felt refreshed all over.
“Work during the day, report to the Clubhouse in the evening, cultivate Golden Bell Shield after returning home—life is really fulfilling.”
In a great mood, Jiang Ce ordered a bowl of noodles downstairs and luxuriously added two eggs, but just as he finished paying, he froze, and the smile on his face stiffened.
“Holy crap! How come I have no money this month? How to take a cab?”
But a few seconds later, Jiang Ce couldn’t help but chuckle self-mockingly.
What was his identity now?
Full-time Employee of the Funeral Home, ghosts and monsters terminator, Gatekeeper trendsetter who could chat familiarly with big shots even without formal status, genius cultivator favored by four Sages!
It was truly laughable that such an excellent self would worry about not having money for a cab.
His mentality had not shifted yet.
Can’t take a cab? Can’t I walk?
But it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, hard to go from luxury to frugality; after experiencing cab rides to and from work yesterday, walking now always felt uncomfortable all over, like ants crawling on his body.
By the time he arrived at the Funeral Home, he felt utterly exhausted.
Not physical exhaustion, but mental exhaustion.
Jiang Ce shook himself up, secretly resolving that from now on he must not slack off, must work hard, and soon achieve cab freedom.
Seeing Jiang Ce arrive, Chen Mian, still dwelling on the misunderstanding caused by Ye Lu Feng last night, came up to explain to him.
But the latter had long forgotten this sesame-seed-sized matter, greeted Chen Mian, and began working earnestly.
Chen Mian looked at the greatly changed Jiang Ce and felt that compared to a day ago, he not only had more drive, but also suddenly gained a mysterious temperament.
This temperament made Jiang Ce seem to have washed away the dust, blending into nature, in the mundane yet not vulgar, extremely profound, but just as Chen Mian wanted to sense it more carefully, this temperament suddenly disappeared.
“Uncle Chen, doesn’t this corpse look like the Michelin Tire Man?”
Jiang Ce lifted the corpse cover and pointed excitedly at a body already showing giant view phenomenon, asking.
