Be the Hardest Working Demon Cultivator!

Upon hearing this, Tan Shuchang was even more perplexed—who had he formed a partnership with?

After some thought, he didn't care if the other party had sent it to the wrong person; he accepted it straightforwardly.

After all, now that it had reached his hands, it naturally became his property.

Tan Shuchang thanked the young master of the sword and was about to ask for his help in conveying a subtle message to the little girl, but to his surprise, the young master spoke first, "Daoist Tan, recent events in Jingzhou seem to be related to you."

"What events?"

"The Utmost Supreme Emperor Yi has, for some unknown reason, suddenly had recruitment notices posted everywhere. Although this has happened before, this time it seems rather special. In addition to that, Emperor Yi dispatched two individuals: one to Tu Jian Mountain and the other took his wife to the Jianxia Sect.

I have a premonition that the Fairy of Poetry will be sending out several more invitations," the young master of the sword said.

Upon hearing this, Tan Shuchang pondered for a moment and understood the intention behind the sudden change in topic by the young master—it was a warning for him to be cautious since Emperor Yi's sudden grand actions were very likely targeting him.

"Thank you, fellow daoist."

Tan Shuchang expressed his gratitude and then did not bring up having the young master tactfully persuade the little girl, because the long-awaited sinister game invite had finally arrived.

Ever since he had consumed that Sword Spirit, he hadn't been seated on the Lotus Platform for quite a while, which made Tan Shuchang miss it tremendously.

Fortunately, the sinister game seemed to understand his longing.

Thus, Tan Shuchang returned to his current dwelling place. This was within the domain of the Heavenly Sword Mansion, and originally Tan Shuchang had no intention of following, but after the young master had insisted, he could only agree to stay for a few days.

Moments later, Tan Shuchang was already inside the sinister game.

As for entering the sinister game with such a simple pretense within the territory of the Heavenly Sword Mansion, would he be discovered by the people of the Mansion? That was within the scope of the sinister game's work, and he was just a weak, pitiable, helpless player being toiled with by the game.

Moreover, Tan Shuchang felt he had politely greeted the two covert century-old cultivators of the Heavenly Sword Mansion as soon as he entered.

He assumed they would understand the need to observe the proprieties.

Shortly after, in only the span of two or three breaths, Tan Shuchang returned from the sinister game. As soon as he had transferred over, he had detected the presence of ghostly beings.

And not just one or two, but six gathered together.

Concerned that the arrival of another might call forth a sort of Gourd Little King Kong, Tan Shuchang immediately took action and captured all six fierce ghosts.

With the fierce ghosts gone, the instance in the game naturally ended prematurely.

"I wonder if the usual increase of four ghosts for the ghostly procession is still in effect after having consumed a Sword Spirit," he mused to himself.

With an increased number of ghosts in hand, this question inevitably came to Tan Shuchang's mind.

Before he consumed the Sword Spirit, the number required for the ghostly procession had risen to twenty. Without consuming the Sword Spirit, it would normally require twenty-four ghosts.

That is to say, under a normal increase pattern, Tan Shuchang would need twenty-eight ghosts for the procession at this time.

However, if the case with the Sword Spirit was an exception, then he would only need twenty-four.

"Forget it, it's only a surplus of four more ghosts, after all. In the worst case, just a few more captures. With the sinister game at hand, I can afford to be generous," he said.

The difference of four ghosts no longer concerned him.

His newfound affluence was at full display, considering he had previously agonized over just one ghost.

At that moment, the ambiguous, indifferent voice appeared at Tan Shuchang's ear again: "A mysterious fierce ghost has abducted five ghost messengers. If any player has information, please provide clues as soon as possible. Regardless of whether the clues are valid, a Cultivation Technique created by the Lang Shou Ghost Master will be awarded."

Tan Shuchang: "..."

If he remembered correctly, he was still the City Lord of the Lang Shou Ghost City!

Apparently, the sinister game still remembered him as such an important City Lord!

After pondering for a while, Tan Shuchang realized that this was probably the sinister game taking the opportunity to warn him. But on second thought, Tan Shuchang felt it might not be a mere warning.

If it were a warning, this eerie game seems to be too good-tempered.

Although Tan Shuchang felt that this eerie game did not seem to be alive after the previous encounter, such a cross-dimensional existence should, after all, have its own supreme authority!

How could it tolerate such provocation from a mere ant like himself?

"So, this is because when they reset my player level to its original state last time, they discovered that they couldn't strip the power belonging to the eerie game from me, and since I had already cleared several instances in a row, they concluded that the reason for my strength was the Cultivation Technique I spread in the Lang Shou Ghost City?"

Tan Shuchang thought of the word "self-created" in that voice.

And so everything began to make sense to him.

However, he still needed to verify a bit more.

Therefore, Tan Shuchang tried to look up that so-called Cultivation Technique.

Yet, as soon as he accessed the only official website of the eerie game, he immediately found information on that Cultivation Technique.

"Lang Shou Ghost Lord Technique": Created by the Master of the Lang Shou Ghost City, who observed the abilities of fierce ghosts and ingeniously devised it, it is divided into seven realms.

Once the first realm, the True Body of Lang Shou Ghost Master, is cultivated, one can summon the blessing of the Master of the Lang Shou Ghost City onto oneself, becoming impervious to all poisons, immune to knives and spears, and resistant to water and fire. Ordinary fierce ghosts would need multiple attacks to break through. The second realm...

Tan Shuchang didn't read any further, as he was already more than familiar with this Cultivation Technique; he even had several copies of the "Sevenfold Demonic Body Scripture" prepared for giving away on his person.

Moreover, these handwritten copies of the technique all included personal cultivation experiences he had intentionally left behind.

Therefore, seeing such a blatant copycat scene, the corners of Tan Shuchang's mouth twitched involuntarily.

He had changed the "Shadow Retaining Immortal Secret Tome" to the "Cross Calamity Immortal Scripture", firstly because it had been recognized by others, and secondly because what he had cultivated was already completely different from what cultivators of the "Shadow Retaining Immortal Secret Tome" throughout history had achieved.

Given time, it could well become the genuine "Cross Calamity Immortal Scripture"!

But this eerie game had not only done this without his permission, the power granted upon successful cultivation had not even changed a bit.

This was downright like selling counterfeit goods but also forging them!

As Tan Shuchang was inwardly scoffing, he noticed that his Impermanence Order had changed color at some unknown time; it was now completely golden, looking very pleasant to the eye.

Thus, Tan Shuchang logged out from the only official website of the eerie game and took a closer look at the Impermanence Order.

Then he saw, almost as usual, the "Accumulate Merits for Kingship" on his Impermanence Order had, at some point, become "Lang Shou King Candidate".

"Did they take the 'Sevenfold Demonic Body Scripture' and then tally it into my merits?"

"The so-called Accumulate Merits for Kingship is indeed to accumulate merits for kingship..."

Tan Shuchang was somewhat surprised because in his view, this merit was a bit too much, and he couldn't help but think of the various protective measures the eerie game had for flesh-and-blood players.

In the beginning, there was an adaptation period, and this period was not merely a few short days.

And once the adaptation period was over, there was another opportunity for resurrection to be gained.

The ghost cities for players of ranks A, B, C, and D, the ghost cities for ranks C and D still inclined towards the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest. But as for the ghost cities corresponding to rank B players, they were more nurturing than a nanny, nearly as caring as one's own mother.

The survival rate of almost 90% for rank B players has been in place for so long without anyone asking for changes, most likely because it had been tacitly accepted.

Now, combining this with the Cultivation Technique that met the standards for kingship, although it was still only as a candidate, was enough to illustrate one thing—that the eerie game's original intention was to empower players.

Without a suitable training path, players had to learn from and get closer to fierce ghosts.

But as living beings, players holding the power of fierce ghosts was bound to cause problems eventually.

Therefore, upon discovering the marvelous thing known as a Cultivation Technique, the eerie game had such a reaction.

After all, the phrase "whether the clue is effective or not" really leaves too much room to maneuver.

In matters of life and death, even honest people will start playing their cards close to their chest, let alone the inherently sly eerie game players. So, no matter how you look at it, it seems like the eerie game is seizing the opportunity to bestow benefits on flesh-and-blood players!