A heretical cultivator in Bureau 749, I'm the fiercest at pulling out tendons and skinning peop

Ji Zuodao had anticipated this, and the others were even more used to it.

Jinghai 749 has this style: simple, direct, efficient, and pragmatic.

The three lucky ones who finally found red dots in the goji berry jar were Ji Zuodao, Liu Ming, and a guy wearing a mask who had been hiding in a corner and hadn't said much.

"Alright! Then it's decided that Ji Zuodao, Liu Ming, and Li Shuwen will be the team."

"Huh? Who? Holy crap! Li Shuwen?"

Ji Zuodao only turned his head sharply when he heard the name, staring wide-eyed at the guy next to him who was wearing a mask and trying to make himself less noticeable.

He was so engrossed in watching the commotion that he didn't recognize the other person at first, especially since the person was so well covered up.

Wasn't this guy supposed to be drawing erotic pictures? How did he suddenly become a 749 investigator? When did my cunning strategist get a stable job?

Liu Ming grinned and leaned closer, hooking his arm around Ji Zuodao's neck, his voice full of schadenfreude:

"Scared, aren't you? There's more to come—look at Old Li's cultivation level now!"

Ji Zuodao subconsciously released his divine sense to scan—

"Holy shit!"

He almost jumped up on the spot.

"The Realm of Dharma Appearance?!"

"Holy crap! Weren't you only at the ninth level of the Spirit Sea Realm before the Lunar New Year? How did you spend the year? Did you swallow that huge Spirit Palace Realm level whole like dumplings?!"

"Damn it, their cultivation methods are even more bizarre than mine, which are based on unorthodox cultivation!"

Ji Zuodao looked Li Shuwen up and down, his eyes like searchlights, full of suspicion.

"You kid, you didn't get your powers transferred to you, did you? You can't trust that stuff! It could just be some old monster possessing your body! Come on, let me, your old Taoist priest, extract your soul to check. Don't worry, I'm skilled, I promise it won't hurt..."

As he spoke, he actually reached out to pat Li Shuwen's head.

"No, no, no! Brother Ji! Master Ji! You're a living ancestor!"

Li Shuwen was so frightened that her mask almost fell off. She scrambled behind Liu Ming to hide, her voice trembling with tears.

The living devil is still the same living devil! He comes in and immediately tries to extract the soul! Is this a kind of examination method that a human being could think of?!

"Hahahahaha!"

Liu Ming was laughing so hard he was slapping his thigh, tears almost streaming down his face.

"Don't worry, don't worry, it's really not possession. It's just that my old Li Wendao's accumulation of knowledge has increased dramatically, and his cultivation level has risen accordingly, so it's a natural breakthrough."

"A sudden surge in literary and moral accumulation?"

Ji Zuodao paused, his eyebrows furrowing into a knot.

He vaguely remembered that Li Shuwen had mentioned something like "literature carries the way" and "the wider the circulation of a work, the stronger the feedback, and the greater the benefit to cultivation"—something mysterious theory.

But here's the problem—

That kid Li Shuwen draws those hentai pamphlets and erotic pictures that can't pass censorship every day.

Each sale was like a clandestine meeting, done secretly and in a small circle, with the audience basically limited to certain unspoken circles in Jinghai.

Is this what you call "widely circulated"?

It can even make one's cultivation level jump from the spiritual sea to the dharma form like a rocket?

"What kind of shady stuff did you draw that could increase your cultivation level so ridiculously? How many did you sell? By weight?"

"this……"

Li Shuwen's eyes darted around, and he subconsciously tightened his mask, stammering.

Liu Ming, always eager for drama, rushed to spill the beans, his smile so wicked it was practically bubbling with malice:

"It's *The Plum in the Vase*!"

"Jin Ping Mei?"

Ji Zuodao was taken aback. "Isn't that thing an ancient relic? No matter how widely it's circulated, what does it have to do with your cultivation level?"

"It's not *Jin Ping Mei*! It's *Ji Ping Mei*, oh dear!"

Before Liu Ming could finish speaking, Li Shuwen, whose face was flushed, covered his mouth.

It was too late; the words had already come out.

"Hime... Pingmei?"

Ji Zuodao repeated the three words to himself, his heart skipped a beat, and an extremely ominous premonition, like ice water in the twelfth lunar month, "whooshed" up his spine.

He remembered.

Li Shuwen had created "artworks" featuring Ji Zuodao as the main character, and he had tacitly approved of, and even supported, such works.

After all, they get a share of the money, and the painting... well, it does have a certain charm.

In his mind, those things were only spread in a small local area of ​​Jinghai, providing some "spiritual food" to certain colleagues with special needs, and incidentally earning some pocket money.

Ji Zuodao's reputation in Jinghai was already as bad as a rock in a latrine, so he didn't care about having another romantic entanglement.

But look at the current situation...

What could have propelled Li Shuwen's cultivation to leapfrog through the Spirit Palace and directly into the Dharma Form realm?

This is going to be incredibly popular, isn't it?

No, this has probably become incredibly popular beyond measure.

Liu Ming finally managed to break free from Li Shuwen's "gag trap," panting, yet still recklessly adding insult to injury, his tone full of admiration:

"Brother Dao, you have no idea, Old Li's 'Ji Ping Mei' series is exquisitely illustrated, with a captivating plot and lifelike characters... especially your old man's wicked, roguish, and somewhat broken spirit, he captured it perfectly!"

"Now, not only in Jinghai, but also in Caiyun, Jiangnan, Liaodong, Lingnan... almost every young investigator in every major branch has a collector's edition! They're fetching astronomical prices on the black market!"

"It's said that even in the rare book section of the General Administration Library, someone secretly slipped in several sets of hardcover bound volumes, labeled 'A True Record of the Outstanding Youth of 749'..."

"Literature carries the Way and spreads far and wide! Old Li's success this time is either a stroke of luck or a testament to his talent!"

Ji Zuodao's face turned green upon hearing this.

He could almost see himself standing on the stage at the grand martial arts competition not long afterward—

The other players from the opposing team weren't looking at him with awe or wariness, but rather...

A complex gaze, a mixture of fervor, curiosity, and a certain indescribable interest.

It's even possible that in the middle of a fight, someone might suddenly blush and whisper:

"Senior Brother Ji... could... could you please sign your name? Just on the title page of the third volume of 'Ji Ping Mei'..."

"Li, Shu, Wen—"

Ji Zuodao squeezed out these three words through gritted teeth, his eyes dangerous enough to kill.

"You son of a bitch..."

"Master Daoist! Master Daoist, please calm your anger!"

Seeing that he was about to finish, Li Shuwen quickly pulled out a bulging storage bag from his pocket, presented it with both hands, and spoke rapidly:

"This is the profit sharing! Five times more than last time! No, ten times! Please calm down! We... we're doing cultural export! Yes, cultural export! Enhancing the soft power and reputation of our Jinghai 749 Bureau!"

Ji Zuodao stared at the storage bag, then at Li Shuwen's cowardly expression that said, "I have money, but I can't take your life," and his chest heaved violently a few times.

Finally, he grabbed the storage bag and scanned it with his divine sense.

The murderous aura on his face slowly dissipated at a visible speed.

It turned into an extremely complex mix of shame and indignation, a blend of "damn, we've embarrassed ourselves in front of the whole country" and pragmatism, "but we really have a lot of money," which eventually settled into a numb acceptance of fate.

"Fine... Li Shuwen, you're something else..."

He pointed at Li Shuwen, then at Liu Ming who was trembling from trying not to laugh, and finally waved his hand weakly.

"We'll settle this matter after the martial arts competition."

"Now, let's talk about your Dharma Aspect Realm, which you reached by drawing erotic books... When you're fighting, you won't suddenly pull out a copy of 'The Plum in the Vase' as a magic weapon, will you?"

Upon hearing this, Li Shuwen's face, hidden behind his mask, seemed to flush slightly, but his eyes suddenly lit up with a peculiar brilliance that comes from a creator discussing their work.

"Brother Dao, you're really unfamiliar with this."

"The power of literature resides in the heart. Where the pen and ink reach, that becomes the territory; where the plot unfolds, that becomes the law."

"When the time really comes..."

He took a deep breath, and the somewhat weak aura of the Dharma Aspect Realm around him suddenly became solid and profound, with mysterious illusory characters flowing around him, radiating an indescribable power that directly touched people's hearts.

"My original manuscript of 'Ji Ping Mei' is not entirely about romance."

"Nation and family, love and hate, the wickedness of the human heart, the cycle of heaven... everything that should be there is there."

"To be honest, I'm probably not very good at fighting."

"But it causes mental confusion, bewilderment, and instability of one's resolve..."

Li Shuwen pushed up his glasses, which had slipped down to the bridge of his nose, and a strange light flashed across the lenses:

"My major is relevant to this field."