"Bamboo Demon and Flower Demon, fine, but what in the world are Lantern Demon and Child Demon?"
Zero Egg asked earnestly, "How can a lantern be related to life? Isn’t that just an inanimate object made by humans?"
In the scant historical records of the Yunxia Empire, lanterns received few ntions. They seed to have been symbols of festivity, particularly during New Year celebrations of old.
Even if they did exist, Zero Egg didn’t understand how a lantern could transform into a little girl. What was even more preposterous was that it had actually succeeded.
In their understanding as Spirit Card Masters, shouldn’t this be a card of wild imagination?
Wen Jiang looked out the window. From her high-rise apartnt, she had a clear view of Imperial City’s towering skyscrapers piercing the clouds, a vista of urban beauty.
But compared to her own world, this one always seed to carry an added layer of gray, desolate haze, perhaps a consequence of the two worlds’ diverging developntal paths.
"In the past," Wen Jiang began softly, "Yunxia had many bizarre and fantastical legends. It was believed that everything possessed a spirit. Even lifeless objects, imbued with people’s various thoughts and feelings, could gradually beco sentient spirits. If fortune favored them, they could transform into demons."
"Take the Lantern Demon, for instance. It was originally a large red lantern. In old Yunxia, red lanterns were hung by every household during festivals and on ordinary days to signify celebration. With New Year being a ti for family reunions, lanterns carried a great deal of people’s emotions and hopes, so it wasn’t strange for them to beco spirits. Even a stone or a musical instrunt could potentially do the sa."
This Lantern Demon, of course, had its origins. It manifested in a small mountain village, where it even protected the inhabitants.
Zero Egg was very puzzled. "I haven’t found any such rumors in your country’s history. How do you know about this?"
How did she know? She ca from another world, so she naturally knew.
Zero Egg wasn’t foolish. After all, it was a technological System and could roughly guess what was happening. It quickly hesitated, not daring to pursue the topic directly, and simply asked, "What about the Child Demon then? Is it related to children?"
The Child Demon.
Wen Jiang’s mood grew heavy as she recalled her first encounter with this little monster.
The Child Demon was a vengeful spirit born from the resentful soul of a deceased infant girl. After the revival of Spiritual Energy in her world, the Child Demon’s resentful spirit morphed into a true demon, slaughtering many people in remote mountain villages.
In that era, many old mountain villages still harbored the outdated belief of preferring sons over daughters. Countless female infants died or were aborted. Over ti, their resentnt accumulated, growing so dense it couldn’t dissipate. When Spiritual Energy revived, these spirits naturally ford.
Later, due to the great harm it caused, it was Wen Jiang who personally eliminated it.
Its creation was a tragedy, but she couldn’t stand by and let it harm people.
In this era, such narrow-minded views no longer existed, so Wen Jiang didn’t explain much, simply stating, "If I made it, I had my reasons."
"Okay then," Zero Egg shifted the topic. "We’ve reached seven Points. I can only see that they’re from Spirit Card Masters associated with the Mount Flower Association. They must have seen the card deck you made and recognized the power of the cards, for all the emotional energy they contributed was of the ’excitent’ type."
Zero Egg said happily, "I didn’t expect our progress to be this fast."
According to its plan, if Wen Jiang had dutifully followed the main storyline and completed tasks designed to provoke other won’s jealousy, progress wouldn’t have been this swift. Moreover, the emotional value contributed by just one or two female supporting characters would have been minimal.
This also indirectly proved that accumulating Points was indeed challenging. No wonder it originally hadn’t believed Wen Jiang possessed other abilities.
Zero Egg was eager. "With 7 Points, we can do an R-Rank ten-pull! The first one only costs six Points! What a deal."
"You an those Beauty and Skincare Cards? Lotus Body Fragrance Cards?"
"...Hey, if you draw sothing useful, wouldn’t it help heal the scars on your face quicker? This is a ten-pull!"
It seed like a good deal.
Wen Jiang got up and walked over to the mirror, seeing the scars on her face that had almost completely vanished. She rolled her eyes. "Wait for your cards? That’s like saying there’s still hope for soone already in the Incineration Furnace!"
Zero Egg asked, "Isn’t there still a little bit left?"
Frankly, it was quite unsettling. Zero Egg hadn’t expected Wen Jiang to recover so quickly. It didn’t know that as Wen Jiang made cards, her Spiritual Energy circulated and automatically repaired her constitution.
That scar, if treated with this era’s dical technology, would be difficult to heal completely without a trace. Only by finding special Spirit Card Masters offering dical Spirit Cards could it possibly be healed, and the cost would be equally prohibitive.
Yet, Wen Jiang was recovering remarkably quickly, and Zero Egg also hadn’t seen her make any similar treatnt cards. Strange.
Moreover, she never seed to sleep. In these past few days, Zero Egg hadn’t seen her rest once, yet her ntal state was terrifyingly good. She was like a... monster.
This didn’t align at all with the data about this world in Zero Egg’s System. It sensed sothing was amiss but didn’t dare to ask.
Her face had now regained its forr fairness, and one could make out features resembling her old self. However, this body was still too young and gaunt, though she had managed to put on a little weight in the past few days.
Wen Jiang pinched her own cheeks, her reflection doing the sa. The phone beside her suddenly rang.
Zero Egg said, "It’s from your school."
After more than a week without any word, I guess that noble school can’t take it anymore, Wen Jiang thought. She sneered softly and answered the phone.
As expected, it was the form teacher’s annoyed voice from the original owner’s mories.
"Wen Jiang, you have been absent from class for a week now, seriously violating our school’s regulations! I’ll give you a deadline. Either show up at school to make a report and self-criticism by this afternoon, or co directly to sign a notice of withdrawal!"
Before Wen Jiang could speak, the form teacher’s voice spewed out like a machine gun: "Our school has a selective admission process with quotas; others can’t get in even if they wish. For soone with your background, getting into our school is an honor that brings glory to your ancestors! You truly don’t know how to cherish it. You get so dramatic over trivial matters! Did you cause that incident with the police? If you’re so ntally fragile, our school can’t accommodate a ’great Buddha’ like you!"
The previous Wen Jiang would have been driven to tears by this barrage of questions. The current Wen Jiang, however, still had a smile on her face after hearing them. But then, Zero Egg suddenly recalled her attitude towards Song Yingchen on that first day... Indeed.
"What’s your hurry? Are you that eager for to co to school to attend your funeral?"
She was fine when not provoking others, conducting herself with a confident, leisurely deanor. But once she opened her mouth, she could verbally assault their entire lineage. "The school is so noble? Then why did you let in in the first place? You took the money but don’t want to do the work—where’s the sense in that? You don’t dare to make a peep now because you can’t answer to your financial backer, right? Well, I’m your financial backer’s grandfather! So you, great-grandson, better watch your attitude with !"
The form teacher was flabbergasted. After a mont of stunned silence, he roared, "Have you lost your damn mind?!"
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