American variety show world begins with subduing Jason

There were even ancient Greek heavy infantrymen clad in bronze muscle armor and carrying spears.

That's right!

He had been preparing for several days to re-refine these ghost soldiers and give them a new look!

When Zhang Shouzhong left, he left him a squad of Yin soldiers to protect him. These were all elite soldiers carefully selected by the old man. He erased the control talismans he had left behind, so that the young man could master them with a little effort.

Although he was grateful for his master's kindness, Zhu Mingyao was still a little dissatisfied—he thought the paper ghost soldiers looked too old-fashioned.

Yin soldiers, being manifestations of yin spirits, have no physical form. Sorcerers use paper figures to represent them, firstly to enhance their power by using talismans, and secondly to give them a physical form.

This method of using paper-cutting as soldiers is officially called the "Cai Hou's Spiritual Illusionary Weapon Technique." It has a long history and a wide lineage, making it a major branch of Taoist arts. From prestigious sects to wandering martial artists, everyone can use it.

While everyone can perform magic tricks, the effects vary in quality. The Taoist soldiers refined by authentic immortals possess various supernatural abilities and may even transform into higher beings, while the ghost soldiers of unorthodox sects can only be used to frighten the old and weak, and may not even be able to defeat a strong man.

For ordinary practitioners, using paper figures to create the appearance of ghost soldiers is merely a traditional custom and does not have any substantial impact on their use of this kind of magic.

However, in the secret traditions of some lineages, it is possible to use special methods to endow the ghost soldiers with different abilities by using different paper figures.

Zhang Shouzhong was once nicknamed "Paper Man Zhang" because he was proficient in this kind of secret art. For example, the weapons in the hands of ordinary ghost soldiers were just for show. In actual combat, they were just like those ghosts, only able to hurt people with a kind of Yin energy. When they encountered enemies with strong blood and strong will, their killing power would be greatly reduced.

However, after his refinement, the paper knives and swords wielded by the Yin soldiers became almost like real swords, capable of damaging physical matter, and even to a certain extent resistant to sunlight and blood energy, able to fight a small army head-on without being at a disadvantage.

In the medieval era, knowing this technique was a prerequisite for those unorthodox sorcerers to rebel; otherwise, ordinary ghost soldiers and talisman soldiers would be immediately reduced to their original forms of paper figures and straw horses when overwhelmed by the masculine energy of the imperial army.

The ghostly soldiers left behind by Zhang Shouzhong were indeed good, each with a strong soul and deep yin energy, no less than the vengeful ghosts of many years. However, the old man was bound by the limitations of his time, and his aesthetic style was really not something the young man could compliment.

The paper figures are very finely made, but what's with this mix of folk storytelling depictions and opera style?

There's even a flag stuck behind it!

Master, if people see you doing this, they'll accuse us of being faked by a photo studio!

These things are fine, but I really can't stand the thick braid that's barely visible on the paper figure's head, even though I know that at your age, the only kind of classical soldiers you're familiar with are the braided soldiers of the Later Jin dynasty.

You have to understand that whether someone is strong or not is a matter of one version, but whether someone is handsome or not is a matter of a lifetime!

He dared not say this to Zhang Shouzhong's face, otherwise he would definitely get a few whacks on the head with his cane.

Zhu Mingyao had been waiting until today to get his hands on the Yin God Elixir, so he could give the guardian Yin soldiers a major upgrade and a complete makeover.

After studying for several days, he finalized several images, each with its own distinct regional characteristics, all derived from famous ancient military branches. However, there was no image of a Chinese general or soldier.

now it's right!

Unlike traditional practitioners like Zhang Shouzhong, Zhu Mingyao believed that in the context of modern society and complex urban architecture, the use of summoned magical creatures like Yin soldiers was more for covert attacks than for direct confrontation.

If you appear with your summoned creatures, any enemy who isn't stupid will know to capture the leader first. This strategy was used in the past because there were no effective long-range attack methods in the era of cold weapons. Now, if you dare to do this, be careful, or someone might sweep a burst of bullets at the summoner from a great distance.

This leads to the idea that the summoned creatures should ideally have a deceptive appearance, so that the enemy cannot guess who is operating them from behind the scenes.

If you put on a Mingguang Armor Mountain Armor, any seasoned veteran will immediately recognize it as the work of a Chinese cultivator. But if you replace it with Japanese armor and a Japanese sword, most enemies will immediately suspect it's a shikigami from a lowly life.

In battles between superhumans, the key lies in information asymmetry. If you can discern someone's background, you can roughly know their methods and prepare accordingly. However, if someone cannot discern your origins, they will be completely confused and passive in every situation.

Of course, to a master like Zhang Shouzhong, playing such tricks with the appearance of ghost soldiers is of little use, but for someone like Zhu Mingyao who has just left the ranks of novices, even if it only adds a little bit to the chances of winning the battle, it is still good.

……

After checking the altar setup one last time to make sure there were no oversights, Zhu Mingyao washed his hands with clean water in the basin next to him, dried them, and then went to the incense table. He lit a stick of sandalwood incense, inserted it neatly into the incense burner, and silently recited the mantra with his lips slightly moving.

The smoke curled upwards, only to be sucked in completely by the dark, somber memorial tablet, like a whale drawing water.

Zhu Mingyao picked up the peach wood staff disguised as a cane and gently tapped it on the memorial tablet. A fist-sized, semi-transparent phantom flew out from it and landed on a paper figure cut out of plate armor, guided by the staff.

The next moment, the paper figure moved slightly and slowly stood up.

Although it was just a trial run and I didn't advance, I still gained a thousand favorites. Thank you everyone! (*^o^*)

Chapter 50 The Kidnapping Case in the Dead of Night (Part 1)

Zhu Mingyao performed the actions one by one, and clusters of illusory figures floated out from the soul tablets, merging with the paper figures on the table and standing up.

There were two of each of the five designs, totaling ten paper-figure soldiers. As Zhu Mingyao activated his magic, they began to move on the incense table, but their movements were still somewhat sluggish and stiff, like machines lacking lubrication.

He opened the brocade box at his feet, picked up a jar of Yin Shen nectar with both hands, carefully placed it on the incense table, and gently turned the black jade lid engraved with tiny talismans.

A soft "hiss!" sound, along with the sensation of air surging in his hand, gave the boy the illusion that he was unscrewing a Coke bottle.

Upon opening the lid, the jar contained a pool of pitch-black liquid. Strictly speaking, calling it a liquid is not entirely accurate; in Zhu Mingyao's view, it was more like an extremely solidified mass of black gas, within which countless fine, dust-like silver-white specks floated and churned. Although the volume of the pitch-black liquid was not large, it gave the impression of being boundless at first glance.

Extending a hand above the mouth of the jar, Zhu Mingyao sensed the yin energy rapidly dissipating from it. Without delay, he quickly sat cross-legged on the futon in front of the incense table and, following Bai Ziyuan's instructions, first recited a few short mantras.

Once all the runes on the altar were activated by the secret incantation, the young man slowly channeled his own magical power into the altar.

Stimulated by Zhu Mingyao's magic power, the originally smooth, mirror-like surface of the black liquid began to churn and bubble like a boiling pot, and the rate at which the Yin energy dissipated suddenly increased by more than ten times!

The surface of the black liquid slowly descended, transforming into countless wisps of dark air that rushed out of the jar's mouth. However, they were blocked by the blue light emanating from the talismans on the jar's surface, unable to advance or retreat. They accumulated more and more above the jar's mouth, gradually merging into one.

A moment later, the dark aura above the mouth of the jar condensed into a three-foot-wide cloud of mist, resembling fish scales or lingzhi mushrooms. The mist had a crystalline quality, almost like black crystal.

Zhu Mingyao exhaled and manipulated the ten paper-figure Yin soldiers to fly into the clouds, mobilizing the energy transformed from the Yin God Essence to begin the refining process.

The paper-figure soldiers floated and disappeared in the dark clouds, sometimes visible and sometimes hidden. If it weren't for the slightly off-putting design and atmosphere, they would have resembled the celestial soldiers and generals in old-fashioned Chinese shadow puppet cartoons.

……

After an unknown amount of time, the dark cloud gradually thinned out, and no new airflows continued to gush from the altar. Finally, as the last bit of cloud disappeared, the runes on the altar stopped emitting light, leaving only a group of paper figures still floating there.

Zhu Mingyao carefully put away the now empty Yin Shen Jiang jar. He now understood why this spiritual material, which was called Soul Solution by other supernatural organizations, had become the unique secret of the Hualian Chamber of Commerce.

It's not just a matter of craftsmanship; these containers and jars alone are something that only a highly skilled master of the Xuanmen (Taoist sect) with profound knowledge of the relevant Taoist arts could make. Besides the extremely high skill required of the maker, the key issue is the gap in cultivation systems.

The saying "a trade is like a mountain" applies to the extraordinary world as well.

It's the 21st century, and other forces, including the federal government, can recruit a few practitioners who understand the mystical arts. However, those who can cultivate to this level all have legitimate lineages and are bound by various precepts, making it almost impossible for them to serve outsiders or alien races.

This stance is not only a matter of personal will, but also an intangible influence brought about by his cultivation system.

In this world, the process of cultivation inherently involves a certain degree of idealism. This is particularly evident in some cultivation systems with religious overtones. The higher the cultivation level of members in these systems, the less likely they are to genuinely succumb to heretical paths.

The Xuanmen and Buddhist sects are relatively lenient. As long as one does not violate the precepts of their own practice, it is fine to do odd jobs for others occasionally if the conditions are right. However, if it were a high-level practitioner of the Holy Church, they would feel uncomfortable just being in an organization that does not belong to the Christian camp, let alone formally joining it. The more devout a person is, the more uncomfortable they feel. This is a kind of psychological resistance.

Zhu Mingyao raised his peachwood staff and gestured, and a flash of eerie light appeared. The ten ghostly soldiers swelled up like inflated balloons, instantly becoming life-sized, with gleaming swords and spears and imposing armor. If you didn't look at their semi-transparent bodies, they would look no different from ancient soldier sculptures in a history museum.

Zhu Mingyao curiously reached out and poked at it. The sensation on his fingers was slightly cool and sticky, almost like water.

"The souls of the Yin soldiers have become much more solidified." He roughly estimated that the soul power contained in one jar of Yin God Elixir was roughly equivalent to the life souls of fifty or sixty humans. All of this was spent on these ten Yin soldiers, so such growth was to be expected.

Zhu Mingyao excitedly rubbed his hands together, made a hand seal, and with a gentle wave, the Yin soldiers who had been standing motionless like statues suddenly came to life.

Knights drew their swords, samurai brandished their blades, longbowmen drew their bows, and heavy infantrymen raised their shields and carried their spears. In the blink of an eye, the ghostly soldiers formed a small battle formation.

After trying to command them, he felt that the movements of these ghost soldiers were smooth and fluid, as if they were his own arms. He smiled with satisfaction, waved his hand and recalled nine of them, leaving only the one that looked like a gothic knight from the beginning, and focused his consciousness on it.

The ghostly soldier trembled slightly, then transformed into a phantom that was difficult for ordinary people to see, slipped out through the crack in the basement door, and floated through the living room, the entrance hall, the front door, and onto the street.

Zhu Mingyao's perspective followed the ghostly soldiers as they rose higher and higher, passing over houses and trees, taking in the surrounding scenery.

This is an advanced method for commanding Yin soldiers. Only by mastering this can one cultivate advanced techniques such as splitting divine thoughts, forming an army from one person, substituting one person for another, and using a substitute to avert disaster.

With his consciousness attached to the Yin soldiers, Zhu Mingyao felt as if he had transformed into a bird, freely roaming in the vast night sky, gracefully skimming over the city, and traversing the streets and alleys.

The young man secretly dreamed of when he would be able to control the air and manipulate qi on his own.

Manipulating the Yin soldiers to reach upwards, Zhu Mingyao found it increasingly difficult as he flew higher, eventually reaching a height of about 100 meters before he could no longer continue.

Looking down, the ground seemed to be just a little thicker air. If it weren't for the slight obstruction of the paper armor on my body, it would have felt like I could have squeezed into the soil with a little effort.

Zhu Mingyao suddenly realized that this was the meaning of "people cannot see the wind, fish cannot see the water, and ghosts cannot see the ground."

From the perspective of the ghost soldiers, the scene was very different from what the naked eye usually saw. Everything was shrouded in a dark veil, hazy and dim in color.

In particular, inanimate objects such as roads and houses almost disappear when viewed from a distance. Next are flowers, plants, and trees. The clearest objects to see are pedestrians on the road. Even if they are hidden inside a house with walls separating them, you can still vaguely see the light and shadow of their human figures.

Just as he was carefully savoring this novel feeling.

"Ok?"

A scene at the street corner below caught Zhu Mingyao's attention.

It was already past nine o'clock at night. Knowing all too well the state of security in major federal cities, the residents of Los Angeles had all returned home early and locked their doors. On this small street lined with lush trees, only a young white woman was walking hurriedly by alone.

The woman clearly had a basic sense of vigilance, walking quickly while looking around to make sure no one was following her.

But danger often comes from hidden places.

As she passed a gray van parked on the side of the road, the van door suddenly slid open silently, and two large hands reached out, covering her mouth and grabbing her waist, dragging her into the van.

The woman kicked her legs wildly and struggled desperately, but before she could scream, a strange fluctuation came from inside the car, silencing her cries for help. Then, two burly men leaned out and forcibly dragged the woman into the car.

Then, the car started and drove away.

My collection count increased by two or three hundred today. Could it be due to intelligent recommendation? (*︶*)

Chapter 51 The Kidnapping Case in the Dead of Night (Part 2)

Through the Yin soldiers' keen perception of energy, the boy instantly recognized the strange fluctuation from just now.

The kidnappers even know magic!

Originally thinking it was just a common street kidnapping case, Zhu Mingyao, who was about to get up and dial 911, quickly realized what was going on and immediately manipulated the ghost soldiers to follow.

Meanwhile, the original body, far away in the basement of the house, suddenly opened its eyes, grabbed something from the drawer and stuffed it into its bosom, then rushed out of the basement in a few strides. In front of the entrance, it kicked off its slippers, quickly put on a pair of sneakers, grabbed a long coat and draped it over its shoulders, and casually inserted the peach wood staff into the buckle on the inside of the coat.

After closing the shop door, Zhu Mingyao patted the Huantiao acupoints on his legs and cast a [Divine Speed ​​Spell] on himself. He immediately felt light and agile, as if the wind was blowing under his feet. He determined his direction, and with a flicker, he disappeared into the night.

……

Tonight, the sky is mostly cloudy with no moon, and only a few weak streaks of starlight occasionally fall. It's a perfect day for committing crimes. The gray van drove straight ahead with its head down, seemingly unaware of the ghostly soldiers following it from the sky. This put Zhu Mingyao at ease.

"It seems that even if the kidnapper knows some magic, he shouldn't be a powerful figure. Perfect for letting my newly trained ghost soldiers get started."

He was now multitasking, controlling the ghost soldiers to keep the kidnapper's tail, while running swiftly behind, leaping over any obstacles like walls or fences that blocked his way. Finally, he simply gathered his inner energy and used the eaves and walls to leap over the rooftops of the houses along the way.

In any case, surveillance systems are far from widespread in this day and age. Not to mention ordinary residential homes, even government agencies may not all have cameras installed. In addition, it was a moonless night, and Zhu Mingyao added a layer of illusion magic to his body. Even if someone saw a little bit, they would most likely just think they were seeing things.

If he were racing on flat ground, even with the aid of magic, he would still be a fraction slower than a car. However, he could fly over walls and move in a straight line, saving countless hours compared to a car having to weave through streets and alleys. Thus, he quickly closed the gap considerably.

By this time, they had been tracking for about half an hour, and the power of the [Divine Speed ​​Spell] was about to run out. Just as Zhu Mingyao was about to unleash another spell, the kidnappers' car slowly slowed down.

Zhu Mingyao glanced at the surrounding scenery and realized that he had unknowingly arrived at a wasteland far away from the residential area. Several half-abandoned workshops and courtyards were scattered haphazardly on the side, with withered weeds growing all around.

A gray van stopped in front of one of the walled workshops. A figure got out of the van, quietly opened the metal gate, and the van drove in. The figure stood at the door, looked out, and then turned around and closed the gate.