bookandnovel Chapter 70 The Bright Daylight, He Shou Wu Blood Vine
Chapter 70 The Bright Daylight, He Shou Wu Blood Vine
Chapter 70 The World Under Bright Light, He Shou Wu and Blood Vine (Seeking First Subscription)
That evening, Jiang Jun learned online that the ghost realm that had descended upon the real world was not limited to Qingjiang.
Within China alone, there are five locations: Xuanyang City in the Northeast, Huyang County in the Northwest, Huiming City in the Southwest, Changming Island in the Southeast, and Qingjiang City.
Fortunately, the Department of the Supernatural responded appropriately. Although the losses were still huge, they managed to protect the territory and the casualties were under control.
The situation is different abroad. Although there are also departments managing strange affairs, they are either limited in strength or only concerned with capital.
The privileged access to services led to unprecedented and devastating casualties.
In the following days, more and more news came in.
In an island nation to the east, two counties have been completely occupied, and there is currently no hope of their recapture.
On the other side of the ocean, in the Star River Federation, cultists took the opportunity to organize a sacrifice, completely merging the capital of a state with the Mirror Realm.
There are many similar cases.
From then on, the "Night Parade of a Hundred Ghosts" went from legend to reality.
The strange creatures that were known to everyone but whom most people had never seen in person, as well as the monster tamers hidden among the people, have now been completely exposed to the world.
Jiang Jun's posts about "suppressing evil spirits" once again topped the trending searches.
Numerous beneficiaries have come forward to testify, exaggerating the miraculous effects of the talisman. Even the official body of the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs has endorsed it.
In an instant, the prices of willow twigs, jujube thorns, garlic, yellow paper, realgar, cinnabar, gourds, and other items skyrocketed to an extremely exaggerated level.
Ordinary people may not come into contact with strange or supernatural objects, but making a talisman is something they can easily do.
Fortunately, the Department of Divine Recreation, in conjunction with relevant departments, intervened in time to crack down on hoarding and market disruption, which prevented ordinary people from going to extremes because of the "garlic price surge".
However, the Department of Divine Supernatural Affairs can only control the domestic situation, not the international one. The garlic commodity futures market experienced a direct collapse, triggering a small-scale economic turmoil.
Jiang Jun spent several days busy at home and finally managed to temporarily suppress the toad, which gave him time to look for the two little ones who had run away from home.
On this day, the Mirror Realm was reset.
He happened to sense through the lotus seeds that they were with Cai Liang, so he took the initiative to draw in the aura of the Ghost Realm and descended into the Ghost Realm.
It's still that same cat cafe.
Jiang Jun, dressed in black robes and a crown, appeared beside the bar.
Four loud thuds echoed from the side as the car crashed to the ground.
"Hmm? Four layers?" Jiang Jun turned around and saw that besides Cai Liang, Jiang Huang, and Jiang Zhi, there was also a boy of about thirteen or fourteen years old.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be someone I was somewhat acquainted with.
"Teacher!" Cai Liang dusted himself off, got up from the ground, and was still holding turmeric and ginger juice in his arms.
The boy also stood up. He had dark skin, thick eyebrows, and big eyes. He was Zhao Jing from Fulu Village.
At this moment, Zhao Jing's heart was pounding.
Because of the arrival of the Ghost Cult in Fulu Village, he was invited to the Department of Mysteries to find out what was going on.
During this time, he met Cai Liang and learned through various channels that Cai Liang had become an apprentice of the person who published the "suppressing object".
Now, hearing Cai Liang call him "teacher," and recalling the example illustration of the "Swallowing the Ghost Gourd," and the gourd he himself had given away as a bonus—
He was now certain that the mysterious and powerful figure before him was the very person who had bought the gourd from him and sent out those notices about warding off evil spirits.
He took a deep breath, bowed respectfully to Jiang Jun, and then raised his head: "Greetings, senior. My name is Zhao Jing. Last time at the antique street, you bought my 'Grass Gold' and reminded me to close up shop early—"
Jiang Jun nodded slightly, his gaze falling on Zhao Jing's waist, where a "Gourd of Devouring Monsters" was hanging.
He could clearly sense that there was a wisp of suppressing power inside the gourd!
He originally thought that the power to suppress objects could only be transformed through the golden light of merit. Cai Liang was able to enter the gate precisely because he had revealed a trace of the golden light at that time.
However, Zhao Jing's gourd, which was clearly a clone of himself that suppressed evil spirits, also generated a wisp of suppressing evil spirits.
"You little gourd—" Jiang Jun pointed at Zhao Jing's waist, "Have you had any special experiences?"
Zhao Jing's eyes lit up, and he quickly took the gourd down, holding it out with both hands. He then recounted what had happened: "Ever since then, it's become like this, hanging in the main room. It's more effective than any other gourd. It saved my grandfather's and my lives twice—"
Jiang Jun took the gourd, sensed it carefully for a moment, and nodded thoughtfully.
Such an opportunity is rare and hard to come by. It is mostly because during the process of sealing the ghost, the evil energy collided with the power of the talisman, accidentally giving birth to the power of the talisman.
"It's a pity, it's an isolated case—" Jiang Jun returned the gourd to Zhao Jing, "but it still has some reference value."
Zhao Jing carefully put away the gourd, then suddenly knelt down, his knees bent: "Senior, I wish to become your disciple, please accept me as your apprentice!"
Jiang Jun's eyebrows twitched slightly: "Oh?"
Zhao Jing raised his head, his eyes filled with earnestness: "The talisman saved my grandfather's life, and it saved mine too. I also want to cultivate the Way of Talismans, to make more talismans, to protect more people—"
Jiang Jun was silent for a moment, then asked, "Does your grandfather know about this idea?"
"I know." Zhao Jing nodded. "Grandpa said that when you meet a benefactor, you should seize the opportunity, but no matter whether you succeed or not, you must not forget your duty."
Jiang Jun nodded slightly, thinking that whether he was herding one sheep or two, it wouldn't hurt to take on another apprentice.
He raised his hand and pressed it against Zhao Jing's crown, guiding a wisp of divine thought to slowly flow the suppressing power within the gourd into Zhao Jing's sea of consciousness.
Zhao Jing felt a cool stream flowing into his forehead, and his whole body felt as if he were soaking in a clear spring, which was indescribably comfortable.
A moment later, he opened his eyes, a glint of light flashing in them.
"I have already guided the first elemental power of suppression into your sea of consciousness." Jiang Jun withdrew his hand. "Go back to the Department of Divine Mysteries and ask for a sunflower spirit plant, then you can begin your cultivation."
He pointed at Cai Liang: "This is your senior brother, Cai Liang. You will learn from him for your future cultivation. If you don't understand anything, come and ask me. Just like him, you can call me teacher."
Zhao Jing was overjoyed. He first kowtowed to Jiang Jun, saying, "Greetings, Master!" Then he stood up, clasped his hands in greeting to Cai Liang, and said, "Greetings, Senior Brother!"
Cai Liang scratched his head and awkwardly returned the greeting with a fist and palm salute: "Well, hello junior brother too."
Jiang Jun watched this scene, his lips twitching slightly, but he didn't say anything.
While the three of them were exchanging words, Jiang Huang, who had been left out in the cold, could no longer contain himself.
It jumped down from Cai Liang's arms, ran to Jiang Jun's feet with a "da da da" sound, looked up at him, and called out "ah bei ah bei" with its little face full of flattery.
Ginger juice also came over, rubbed its head against his calf, and snorted.
The two little ones knew he was angry, but since they couldn't apologize or admit their mistakes in human language, they could only resort to acting cute.
Jiang Jun looked down at them, his face stern and silent.
Turmeric's eyes immediately reddened, her little mouth trembled, and she looked like she was about to cry. Ginger Juice also lowered her head, her ears drooping, looking pitiful.
Jiang Jun sighed, squatted down, and hugged them to his chest, one in each hand: "Don't let this happen again."
Turmeric immediately stopped crying and started laughing, hugging his neck and meowing "Ah-bee, ah-bee." Ginger Juice also snorted happily and wagged its tail back and forth.
Cai Liang and Zhao Jing couldn't help but laugh out loud at the sight.
"Oh, right," Jiang Jun suddenly remembered something, "I named them before. This is turmeric, and this is ginger juice."
Cai Liang was taken aback: "Turmeric? Ginger juice?"
Zhao Jing was also stunned for a moment, then quickly suppressed his laughter, his shoulders shaking.
Jiang Jun remained expressionless: "What, you don't like it?"
"It sounds wonderful!" Cai Liang nodded quickly, then lied and said, "Teacher, the name you chose is so fitting!"
Zhao Jing quickly chimed in, "Yes, yes, it's really easy to remember!"
Jiang Jun, too lazy to listen to their flattery, gestured to Cai Liang: "Go to the Department of Supernatural Affairs and invite Director Su and Director Liu over. Tell them I have something to discuss with them."
Cai Liang accepted the order and turned to leave the cat cafe.
Zhao Jing stood aside, helping Jiang Jun prepare tea for the guests.
Turmeric, carrying ginger juice, explores the cat café, trying out each of the toys that cat café owners provide for their cats in the real world.
Before long, Su Tie and Liu Yan followed Cai Liang in.
"Greetings, senior!" the two said in unison.
Jiang Jun nodded slightly, poured a cup of tea for the two of them, chatted for a few minutes about their recent situations, and then took out a batch of spiritual plants from his sleeve and lined them up on the bar.
A subtle, ethereal atmosphere then permeated the cat café.
"These are the results from last time, you can take them back," Jiang Jun said, pointing to the spiritual plants.
Liu Yan quickly thanked her and took out several carefully sealed wooden boxes from her storage bag.
"Senior, these are the elite-level mutated plants we've collected over this period of time." She opened them one by one.
"They are five Solomon's Seal Monsters, two Ganoderma lucidum plants, and two Polygonum multiflorum plants."
Jiang Jun was satisfied and first looked at the five Yellow Spirit Ghost Children.
They were curled up in the wooden box, looking similar to the turmeric from before, but their aura was noticeably less powerful.
He sensed that although these Huangjing ghost children were not weak in spirit, their potential seemed to be a step behind that of Jianghuang.
"Looks like I'm pretty lucky." Jiang Jun shook his head slightly. "I met this promising little guy, Jiang Huang, on my first try."
"Even if these few can retain their virginity after purification, their aptitude is likely to be quite ordinary."
Liu Yan nodded, indicating her understanding.
Jiang Jun then turned his gaze to the two strangely shaped Ganoderma lucidum.
One of them is shaped like a reclining calf, grayish-white all over, with the texture of Ganoderma lucidum faintly visible.
The other plant looks like a lying puppy, with its limbs curled up and its head drooping.
Although they were elite-level monsters, Jiang Jun sensed that their spirituality was far less active than Jiang Zhi had been at the time.
"These two are much less spiritually potent. Perhaps the Ganoderma lucidum, judging from its appearance, is indeed better than the Ganoderma lucidum that resembles the six domestic animals."
Jiang Jun bluntly stated, "These two plants, after purification, will most likely be ordinary spiritual plants, not living beings. You should be prepared."
Su Tie and Liu Yan exchanged a glance and sighed, "What a pity. This is the only known set of carriages and horses in the entire land of China. And yet, its carriages and horses have been destroyed."
Jiang Jun shook his head helplessly: "Perhaps it was the jealousy of the heavens that caused this calamity, preventing us from achieving our goal."
He finally looked at the two strangely shaped He Shou Wu plants.
Their tubers are large and twisted, resembling human figures.
Its trunk is covered with fine roots, like blood vessels. Its limbs are long and thin like vines, extending very far, with nodule-like growths at the joints.
The head has only a vague outline, no facial features, only two sunken pits, like eye sockets.
The strangest thing is that the tips of its roots are slightly reddish, as if they have been soaked in blood.
"What's the story behind this He Shou Wu?" Jiang Jun asked.
Liu Yan explained, "This is a specialty of the southwestern ghost realm; its humanoid form after transformation is particularly noticeable. Officially, it's called the He Shou Wu Blood Vine." Unlike the Huang Jing Boy, which forms stable groups and is more difficult to find, these creatures...
"Our Department of Mystic Arts only obtained three in total. The first one was purified by a mystical object and used to refine a secret elixir, which helped a colleague break through to the Transcendent Realm. The remaining two are here."
After sensing for a moment, Jiang Jun discovered that the two "Polygonum multiflorum blood vines" were indeed very spiritual, even more active than the turmeric before.
If the purification is successful, there is a high chance of transforming into a virgin.
"This is worth a try." He put the Polygonum multiflorum and blood vine into his sleeve. "I'll let you know when I have the results."
Su Tie and Liu Yan thanked them in unison, a hint of joy appearing in their eyes.