Chapter 272: Clues of the Gambling Game

Lu Yibei felt he might have a bit of a masochistic streak. Rarely did he have the chance to enjoy a moment of leisure, yet he found himself feeling somewhat uneasy.

It wasn’t that he had developed any special feelings for Gou Meng. It was just that, with the recent addition of a “person” at home, the place had been lively, and now it was suddenly quiet again, like when his eyes first regained sight upon returning home.

Alone at home, with nothing else to do, Lu Yibei decided to delve into the spoils of his journey in search of the ancient sword.

He emptied the contents of the guitar case onto the living room floor, arranging them neatly. Upon inventory, he realized he had taken over a dozen psychic artifacts from Li Tanghan’s collection room.

Each psychic artifact was poorly made and ineffective, far from the exaggerated claims made by Li Tanghan’s assistant. According to the evaluation standards from The Midnight Tome, they were all low-quality Class D Psychic Artifacts.

Only the half-pack of classic spicy strips had some use. They could satisfy cravings, but only that. The effect of refreshing one spicy strip every half hour, until returning to a half-pack state, shattered Lu Yibei’s dream of getting rich by selling spicy strips.

“Things given away casually are never any good!” Ransacking a second-hand furniture recycling station and hoping to find treasures was nothing but a pipe dream.

If only these psychic artifacts could be used to enhance and feed high-tier psychic artifacts, like those trash pay-to-win mobile games. Lu Yibei thought.

He had tried offering these psychic artifacts to the Myo-o Statue, just like he used to offer incense, but the statue showed no reaction. It was unclear whether he was using the wrong method or if the artifacts were too inferior for its taste.

As for the Pure Lotus Sword, Qing Ji occasionally called out from within, so before nightfall and haunting transformation, Lu Yibei dared not take out the Two-in-One Collection Enhanced Ancestral Kitchen Knife.

After inventorying the psychic artifacts, Lu Yibei found a woven bag, stuffed the artifacts inside like potatoes, and tossed it into a corner of the room. Only then did he begin to study the most valuable acquisition from last night-The Diagram of the Gentleman Sword of Taihe and the correct usage of familiars.

During his time with Gou Meng, Lu Yibei often heard her speak highly of her familiars in Taoyuan. Coupled with Du Sixian occasionally appearing in his dreams, practicing spell formations, he almost believed that the significance of haunting familiars was akin to the dictionary definition of “family, relatives, or spouses.”

But he was wrong.

According to the Familiar Usage Guide provided by the mysterious girl, it was a total trap. Beyond information storage through consciousness transfer, there were memory sharing, psychic energy sharing, short-term ability sharing, even life sharing, and body possession-all possible, greatly enhancing both parties’ strength.

However, although this sharing was mutual, the decision of when and how to use it lay in the hands of the haunting. Familiars were merely pawns. With a deceitful master, they’d be exploited to the bone.

Luckily, I’m not that deceitful, and Du Sixian doesn’t have to worry about me plotting against her. I’ll just use her as a mobile hard drive and data processor. Lu Yibei thought.

Having learned the correct usage of familiars, Lu Yibei had already devised a plan for the reasonable utilization of his sole familiar. Before officially implementing it, he needed to experiment, undergoing a wave of closed beta, internal testing, and technical testing.

He had to ensure his plan wouldn’t harm Du Sixian.

Thinking of this, Lu Yibei chuckled sinisterly to himself, “Sixian, next time you visit my dreams, be prepared for a storm!”

After studying the usage of familiars, Lu Yibei changed into sportswear and sneakers, left home, and headed to the rooftop alone. He planned to try practicing what he had learned from The Diagram of the Gentleman Sword of Taihe.

On the rooftop of Jingyi Apartment’s third phase, third building, under the warm sun and cool autumn breeze, Lu Yibei stood with feet shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, eyes closed, repeatedly recalling Qing Ji’s demonstrated moves.

After a while, he suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze sharp as lightning, his feet suddenly exerting force.

“Boom-!”

With a dull sound of breaking through the air, the soles of his sneakers deformed, and beneath the torn pants, muscles rippled like waves, transmitting pure and exquisite force to his feet.

In an instant, his figure darted from the center of the rooftop to the railing at the edge.

The next moment.

“Hiss-ah-! It hurts, it hurts!”

He cried out, clutching his calf, collapsing to the ground.

It was as if he had fast-forwarded from the confident state of a real couch potato going out for a jog, to the state of pulling a muscle after running for a minute.

The ancestors were right! Ordinary people really can’t handle this.

Even though I haven’t undergone haunting transformation, my body has been strengthened by psychic ability, and it’s still this painful, like my legs are being twisted into pretzels.

Looks like I’ll have to wait until haunting transformation to try again. If it doesn’t work, I’ll have to teach Du Sixian, let her master it, and then share it. Lu Yibei thought.

He had watched Qing Ji demonstrate The Diagram of the Gentleman Sword of Taihe at least ten times, memorizing Qing Ji’s spiritual patterns description of Primal Harmony of Taiji.

The sword technique was excellent, but he had no clue where to start learning it.

Firstly, there was a serious issue. He wasn’t a gentleman, which conflicted with the sword technique.

However, Lu Yibei wasn’t in a hurry to learn the sword technique, as he wasn’t particularly interested. There were other things to learn.

For instance, the body technique accompanying the sword technique, and the special method of using psychic energy to create a defensive wind and cloud effect.

These two things intrigued Lu Yibei, especially the former.

During the first demonstration by Qing Ji, he noticed the unique trajectory of movement in mid-air.

In the roaring wind, the force hidden within Qing Ji’s limbs exploded, and Lu Yibei heard a series of crackling sounds.

But what puzzled Lu Yibei was that Qing Ji didn’t display the state of being covered in spiritual patterns.

And in the knowledge he deciphered from the Great Serpent God, the few scenes of psychic combat he saw involved being covered in spiritual patterns to achieve similar effects.

In other words, this might be the first time the Great Serpent God “witnessed” someone relying purely on muscle strength and exquisite psychic energy application to achieve near-miraculous spiritual pattern effects.

The human body has over 600 muscles. If Qing Ji’s ability could be applied to every key muscle, and combined according to the situation, it could create different variations for attack, evasion, probing, defense, and breakthrough.

However, even though it seemed like a foot movement, it actually involved coordination of the entire muscle group and dozens of different psychic energy applications, making it difficult to learn.

According to Qing Ji, when he learned from his Shifu, he almost experienced ligament strains daily and muscle tears every three days.

Lu Yibei wasn’t like Qing Ji in his youth, a stubborn student who practiced as instructed. He was timid and afraid of pain, having only watched Qing Ji demonstrate a few times, and what he figured out was merely superficial.

Some superficial defense, evasion, and defense techniques.

It seemed he had an uncanny talent for learning survival skills.

If this continues, will I become a tank character? Taking the hardest hits with the toughest armor.

Sweating profusely from the pain, Lu Yibei sat up, rubbing his seemingly strained calf while pondering.

Soon, he ended his hasty start and hasty end to the body technique practice, huddled in the corner of the rooftop, sipping chilled cola while studying the last item he acquired last night.

The exquisitely crafted, oddly shaped chip.

The wind blew through Lu Yibei’s hair, sweat evaporated, cooling him, but the chip in his fingers felt even colder.

In Country Z, except for certain special administrative regions, casinos were illegal. Even if there were underground casinos, they wouldn’t be large-scale.

Those underground casinos were clandestine, unlikely to invest in custom-made chips with unique designs and recognizability.

And a chip marked “10” was typically the smallest denomination available in a casino.

Even many top casinos used resin materials for their small denomination chips.

Lu Yibei searched the chip designs of major casinos worldwide on his phone and found none resembling this chip.

“So the clue is only the pattern on the back?” Lu Yibei muttered, examining the pattern on the chip’s back.

It was a Seven-Pointed Star pattern, with lines engraved with tiny text difficult to see with the naked eye. Six of the star’s points had chaotic line shapes, disorderly yet possessing an eerie beauty, while one point was blank.

“A Seven-Pointed Star…”

Lu Yibei murmured, searching for information on Seven-Pointed Stars on his phone.

After skimming through online information, he frowned.

Regarding the “Seven-Pointed Star,” opinions varied. Some claimed those who drew a perfect Seven-Pointed Star saw the archangel Michael, others saw the demon lord Lucifer, and some saw the Tree of Life in heaven, the Golden City beneath the sea, or even the apocalypse.

“Angels, demons, Golden City… aren’t they all hauntings?”

“Qin Dalin must be out of his mind, gambling with hauntings. There must be more tricks than online gambling; how could he possibly win?” Lu Yibei muttered.

The more he delved into the world of hauntings and psychics, the less he believed in the existence of gods and demons.

Of course, disbelief aside, he still feared what needed to be feared…

“This thing feels ominous. I shouldn’t have picked it up. Should I…”

Lu Yibei thought of Mr. Rabbit, the culprit behind his recent misfortunes, and looked at the chip in his hand, suddenly feeling the urge to slap himself.

“No, no, Mr. Rabbit’s flyers can return even if thrown away or burned. This, compared to the flyer, is a more costly creation; it shouldn’t be easy to discard.”

“I should send it to The Midnight Watchers Society for handling.”

He was quite adept at reporting.

Lu Yibei said, taking a photo of the chip with his phone and sending it to Jiang Li’s official account.

Lu Yibei: “Boss, I found a little trinket while wandering around campus today. It has a faint psychic energy fluctuation. Should I bring it over for you to check? [Image][Image]”

After a pause, he added another message.

Lu Yibei: “You should be in the office, right?”

Lu Yibei hadn’t returned to Xingfu Community yet. Jiang Li sat alone on a bench near the main road of the community, observing passing residents, trying to find some clues about the area’s anomalies.

Today’s weather was beautiful, sunny and bright, with a blue sky. In such weather, even enemies would temporarily set aside their hatred.

Residents passing by were as friendly as ever, greeting each other warmly. Couples walking together seemed loving, mothers holding children appeared warm, and even solitary office workers returning home seemed optimistic about life.

If only this scene wasn’t influenced by hauntings. Jiang Li thought.

She had experienced hellish pain but didn’t resent the world. On the contrary, one of her favorite things was watching others be happy.

As she enjoyed this false and fleeting happiness, her phone suddenly vibrated gently. She took a look-it was a message from Lu Yibei.

Why is this guy suddenly using this number to message me? Tired of pretending to be Wang Buliuxing, ready for a change?

Jiang Li thought, opening the message for a glance, her expression changing dramatically, her slender hand clenching tightly, knuckles turning white from the force.

The world before her seemed to be tinted with blood, her heart pounding uncontrollably.

After a while, she slowly released her grip, sending a reply to Lu Yibei.

Jiang Li: “Not in the office. Meet me at the water bar near your place in half an hour.”

After replying, Jiang Li put away her phone, her face dark as she walked out of Xingfu Community, seemingly exuding a terrifying aura, even residents passing by dared not greet her.

She had searched for so long, and finally, the clue to the gambling game had appeared…