American variety show world begins with subduing Jason

The sword energy and the black snake represent opposites: good and evil! Logically speaking, the sharp sword energy, which originated from the pure Taoist profound arts, should have been overwhelming and unstoppable when it encountered such an evil entity.

But the situation is now clearly the opposite! The pure white sword energy was actually shattered inch by inch by the counterattack of the black snake!

Fortunately, as the sword energy dissipated, it also continuously depleted the opponent's strength. When the three-foot sword energy completely dissipated, the dark snake shrank into a ball of dark light the size of a ping-pong ball.

The dark light pierced through Zhu Mingyao's protective spell and flew towards his face with undiminished force, leaving him no way to avoid it!

At this critical moment, the dark serpent seemed to have crashed into some invisible barrier, twisting violently before reluctantly dissipating into a large expanse of yin energy and disappearing.

Slaying the corrupted evil spirit Hugh Corinn will reward you with 300 Karma Points.

Saving the innocent Anna, reward...

Break the evil spirit's ascension ritual, rewards...

A series of system alerts came through.

Whew! Zhu Mingyao took a deep breath, still shaken, and reached for the hidden pocket at his waist.

Fortunately, he was careful and never parted with the [Hundred Weapons Talisman] given to him by Lai Henry, otherwise his handsome face would probably have been injured and disfigured.

Is this guy on some kind of aphrodisiac? How come he's suddenly so vigorous?

This dying blow was powerful, venomous, and ruthless. Although it wasn't as imposing as the previous feigned death and self-destruction, its destructive force was no less. It was only because he had no shortage of magical artifacts and supernatural abilities that a superhuman of the same level might not have been able to escape unscathed today.

Recalling the evil spirit's strange behavior before its death, Zhu Mingyao felt a vague unease. Even with the system's reward information as proof, he still focused his attention, using his Qi Observation Technique to widen his eyes and carefully search every inch.

It wasn't until much later, as the eerie aura surrounding the entire mansion gradually dissipated, that he realized the other party had truly perished.

Even so, Zhu Mingyao did not dare to let his guard down. He went up and down the entire house, searching every room and corridor, before finally confirming that there were no more hidden dangers.

He returned to the restaurant, poured himself a glass of water, wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, and began to examine the extra finds he had just made during his search.

When Hugh Coryne's evil spirit pretended to beg for mercy, he said that he had a collection of artworks in a secret room in his study. This was not a lie. There was a similar scene in the original plot of the movie. Zhu Mingyao sent out his ghostly soldiers to circle around the study and found the entrance behind the large bookshelf without much trouble.

However, the mechanism to open the secret room had been deliberately damaged. The boy guessed that it was mostly the work of an evil spirit. In any case, as a spirit, passing through walls and houses was commonplace for him, and leaving an entrance would only make it easier for others to discover it.

After studying it for a long time without being able to open the door, Zhu Mingyao simply made a small hole in the mechanism, shot a wisp of sword energy into it, and smashed the lock and latch to pieces. Then he had the ghost soldiers crawl into the small hole and pull out the broken copper and scrap iron. Finally, he gripped the gap with both hands and used all his strength to pry open the door of the secret chamber bit by bit.

Perhaps because it was well sealed, the inside wasn't too dirty. Zhu Mingyao used his magic to create a gentle breeze, blowing away the remaining dust to a corner and creating some light as he examined the several portrait oil paintings on the wall.

Upon seeing it, the boy couldn't help but click his tongue in delight:

"Hey Xing, Baoyou! No wonder this locked room was so tight, turns out even a pervert like you is afraid of getting into trouble!"

After being completely rewritten, Chapter 55 has finally been released! (ˊωˋ*)

Chapter 75 The Gaze in the Shadows

Inside the secret room, several large and small oil paintings of figures hung on the walls. They all depicted beautiful women in various poses, with exquisite drawings and delicate, lifelike depictions. Even a complete novice would recognize them as rare works of art.

The only difference is that these women wear nothing more than a light veil, or even something completely natural!

If it were just this, it wouldn't be so bad. Nude women have always been a recurring theme in Western painting. Throughout history, many minor painters have used this skill and their handsome faces to secure a sweet life with wealthy women, such as a certain male passenger from the Titanic who wished to remain anonymous.

The problem is that the poses of the people in these paintings are really... bizarre, and the strange objects they are holding are even more suspicious.

Good heavens, let alone now, this fetish was a very shameful thing even in the 19th century. Although the so-called high society might have done even more outrageous and dirty things in private, it was still taboo in public. If it were exposed, one would definitely be in deep trouble.

Although these items are considered antiques, their subject matter makes them difficult to sell, and they could easily attract FBI warnings. They are likely only collected by art historians and museums.

Zhu Mingyao hesitated for a moment, then decided to put it away first and drove hundreds of kilometers to get here.

What? You're saying you didn't get the reward points?

That's a joke! Anyone who's played an RPG knows that experience points are what you get from killing monsters. Looting an NPC's house and finding all the loot is what you call spoils of war!

Looking around, the room was not furnished. Apart from the bookshelves containing the illegal ledgers from the old Corin factory, there were a few rotten cloth sofas and a dressing table with a mirror.

She pulled open the drawers of the dressing table one by one, looking at a small leather whip with a pearl-encrusted handle, an unidentified X-shaped object carved from ivory, a silver clip with fine serrations, a long needle, and several crystal bottles containing a mysterious liquid that had dried up.

The boy's lips twitched. He really didn't want to touch it, so he used his cane to push the things aside, picked out a notebook with a black leather cover, and glanced at it briefly.

Sure enough, what was recorded inside were all the experiences this guy had when he used these small parts on his young and beautiful wife. The intensity of these experiences was so great that even Zhu Mingyao, who had experienced the internet age, couldn't help but gasp.

Although he had a girlfriend in his past life, he was still a virgin in this life. He felt that his pure and young heart had been greatly shocked. Seeing the real thing on that website was a completely different experience!

Brother Corin, you deserve this label! Even the professional teams in Fernando Valley would probably find it hard to accept this!

This is almost crippling him. Your wife only cheated on you, instead of stabbing you a dozen times; she's already showing a lot of conscience.

He went to the storage room, rummaged through some tattered tablecloths, put the carefully crafted oil paintings inside, packed them into a large package, struggled briefly in his mind, and then decisively decided to temporarily abandon his integrity and pack the "small parts" into a package as well.

Carefully closing the secret room door, restoring the bookshelves to their original state, and cleaning up the scene, Zhu Mingyao, carrying two packages, stealthily left the Corinne Manor.

After fussing around for most of the night, it was almost dawn. He needed to find a suitable place to hide the things first, and then contact Bai Ziyuan to ask Hualian to send two cars to pick them up.

Otherwise, if the officials of that desperately poor town found out, they probably wouldn't accept the idea of ​​using these things to offset the cost of the exorcism.

……

With the guests gone, Corinne Manor returned to its tranquil state.

Suddenly a night wind blew, and the floating clouds surged, completely obscuring the moonlight, leaving only endless darkness.

But a voice suddenly rang out from the thick darkness.

"I thought you would keep that young man, after all, he disrupted your plans."

The voice was old and decaying, exuding an aura of impending death.

"It's just a chess piece placed casually, or more accurately, a fruit tree planted; it's not really a plan."

A strange voice, sounding both like a woman and a child, answered calmly.

"You are truly... magnanimous and forgiving. That was a demonic spirit that was about to successfully transform." The aged voice clicked its tongue in admiration.

"In order to nurture it, you not only bestowed upon it a wisp of the magic of the 'Snake' realm, but also brought in the descendant of its enemy, preparing to condescend to personally preside over an ascension ceremony. The stage was already set up, but it was all messed up by this unreasonable and annoying brat. If it were me, I would definitely stuff him into my funeral home and turn him into a collectible!"

"It is indeed a little regrettable." The strange voice also revealed a slight dissatisfaction. "I designed a near-perfect script. The descendant of his wife's illegitimate child should have been in the illusion, sacrificing himself for those false children.

Such a selfless and virtuous spirit, being a descendant of those whom Hugh Corin himself hated, was the perfect sacrifice for its transformation ritual.

"Once the transformation is successful, the bestowed power seed will immediately transform it into my avatar projection, just like a fruit tree bearing sweet and juicy fruit. After absorbing it, I can also consume a little bit of the power of Saint Andre's blood."

As the voice's owner's emotions fluctuated slightly, a dark mass deep within the manor writhed, outlining a figure. The figure was indistinct, with only a few golden-red lights flashing on its face, occasionally bursting forth with arcs of electricity carrying a sacred and solemn meaning.

The figure reached out, touching the few specks of light on its face, ignoring the black smoke rising from its palm from the splashes of holy fire and electricity, and whispered in an elegiac tone:

"It's almost here, almost here... Since we've already waited half a century, there's no need to rush. This nation beneath our feet was built on endless bloodshed and sin. I've cultivated many fruits like Hugh Corinne. As long as some of them can successfully ripen, I can completely heal the damage caused by Saint Andrew's blood and restore its former glory."

"So we're back to the initial question: why did you let that little guy go? Even if I had turned him into an undead puppet, it would have added a little bit of power to our future plans..."

Seemingly realizing that the question was not very respectful, the aged voice quickly tried to make amends with a humble tone:

"Your Highness, please forgive my offense. I was just a little curious."

"I saw something in that little guy," the strange voice said calmly.

"The transformation of the body into an undead body does indeed damage memories; I almost forgot you possessed the realm of true knowledge." The aged voice chuckled self-deprecatingly. "What did you see in him?"

“He bears the runic marks of a high-ranking individual, at least the mark left by a legendary Eastern sorcerer. This is a declaration in a mystical sense—he is mine!”

The dark figure held a point of emerald green light in his palm, which was facing upwards. If Zhu Mingyao were here, he would recognize it at a glance. The light was the Azure Lotus Jade Talisman that Lin Xuansheng used to communicate with him remotely and impart his knowledge!

"Over the years, the Church's hounds have been relentlessly pursuing us. At this critical juncture, there's no need to provoke other powerful figures."

The shadowy figure clenched its large hand, obliterating the light and shadow in its palm.

"Be cautious, be extremely cautious. The era of elemental tides has returned, and this world will once again become a bountiful pasture..."

This time, there weren't so many annoying hunting dogs and shepherds, so we could feast and enjoy ourselves to our hearts' content..."

Chapter 76 Going to the market

There are really a lot of people here today.

Zhu Mingyao looked at the bustling crowd and waited patiently for a while before finding a parking space. He parked his second-hand pickup truck, paid the entrance fee, and walked into the Rose Bowl with great interest.

The Rose Bowl isn't actually a bowl; it's the main stadium from the 80s Los Angeles Olympics, and now it's the most famous flea market in Los Angeles and even the entire Golden State area.

On the first and third Tuesdays of each month, this place will cease hosting sporting events, at which time more than 2,500 stalls and tens of thousands of customers will gather here from all directions.

Such a large market is a first-class market in the sparsely populated United States, and its reputation has grown in recent years, with people from neighboring states driving hundreds of kilometers to join in the fun.

In the Federation, where secondhand trading is very common, residents of Los Angeles will visit Rose Bowl at least once in their lifetime, and Zhu Mingyao is no exception. After all, Zhang Shouzhong, who adopted him, runs an antique shop, and even if it's just for show, he has to occasionally find some items to put in the shop to fill the space.

After following the old man a few times, Zhu Mingyao quickly grew to love the feeling of wandering through a folk museum, seeing the dazzling array of goods from all over the country. Browsing the market naturally became one of his favorite pastimes after his transmigration.

As for whether he has had the discerning eye to find any truly valuable or even extraordinary treasures over the years, Zhu Mingyao could only chuckle helplessly.

He had managed to snag two bargains with the former, reselling them for a little pocket money. As for extraordinary items, the only one he'd ever seen Zhang Shouzhong find in recent years was a string of bodhi wood prayer beads.

This is not hard to understand. As one of the wealthiest places in the country, there are quite a few extraordinary individuals active in the Golden State area. What you can think of, others can also think of. If you can find bargains in the second-hand market, others can too.

You're not the only smart person in the world!

Aside from those unorthodox practitioners who only know one trick, skills like spiritual vision, clairvoyance, and aura observation are not too unattainable for those extraordinary individuals with legitimate lineages. With some effort, they can learn one or two of them; the only difference lies in the degree of effectiveness.

Even major organizations like the official Special Investigation Bureau, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, and the Holy Church have assigned personnel to monitor various markets. They will immediately acquire any good items they find, since no one would complain about having too many extraordinary items and materials in their reserves.

With too many monks and too little porridge, the competition is fierce, and there are very few opportunities to actually snag a bargain.

However, Zhu Mingyao didn't care too much about this. With the system's cheat code, he wasn't too obsessed with finding bargains. Visiting the market was just a way to relax and broaden his horizons.

At this time, more than half a month had passed since the boy returned from Corinne Manor. Even though Zhu Mingyao repeatedly assured that the evil spirit had indeed been eliminated, Professor Marlow was still somewhat apprehensive. The psychological experiment, which was originally scheduled for seven days, ended hastily and half-heartedly after only three days.

Seeing Professor Maro's distressed expression at failing to obtain research results, and considering that Professor Maro had compensated him for the damaged decorations during the battle with the evil spirit, Zhu Mingyao felt embarrassed to accept the payment this time.

The town officials originally wanted to negotiate the compensation amount further, but Zhu Mingyao directly pulled out a pile of child laborers' remains from the fireplace compartment in front of them, which shocked everyone and they dared not pursue the matter any further.

The old mayor was so frightened that his legs went weak, and he came over to beg Professor Marlow and his group not to spread the news.

It's important to understand that a haunted house where people have supposedly died and a haunted house where a large number of children have been confirmed to have died are two different things. The locals were hoping that once they gradually built up the reputation of the manor, a wealthy person would come and take it over one day. But if the bad reputation is really confirmed, no decent rich person would be willing to be a sucker!

Do they really think foreigners aren't superstitious?

After finishing up the initial and final matters and saying goodbye to the experimental group, Zhu Mingyao returned to Los Angeles with Professor Maro and the others. As for the spoils of war, Bai Ziyuan had already sent someone to bring them back. They didn't even put them at home; he directly asked Bai Ziyuan to find someone to sell them.

With some free time, Zhu Mingyao resumed his intensive training. Hard work pays off, and after mastering the [Lung God Canopy], he also fully grasped the abilities of the [Heart God Elixir] chapter in the Shangqing Huangting Scripture, which he could freely and flexibly apply in battle.

As the old saying goes, "The heart dies when it sees iron." Even for most superhumans, the heart is one of the most fatal weaknesses.

However, as a superior immortal technique of the orthodox Taoist sect of another world, the Shangqing Huangting Jing, even though the Xinshen Danyuan chapter is only one of its parts, has infinite mysteries. After mastering it, one not only gains the supernatural power of the Heart Fire, which can ignite the delusions in the hearts of sentient beings, but also strengthens the heart organ to a degree that is almost inexplicable by modern medicine.