The Mysterious Card Maker: Starting with Zhang Jiao's Deification

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh"

Before Lin Fan could recover from this sudden turn of events, the Taiping Essentials were rapidly turning the pages. As if drawn by some force, the pages detached one by one and merged into the [Great Teacher Zhang Jiao].

"What...what exactly happened?" Lin Fan stared intently at the scene before him and murmured to himself.

All of this happened too suddenly and bizarrely. He looked at the still-turning pages, a resolute glint in his eyes. "Since it's come to this, then let's continue!"

Now that things have come to this, there's no turning back. Lin Fan took a deep breath, grabbed the "Taiping Yaoshu" (Essential Techniques of Great Peace), and slammed the entire book into the "Great Teacher Zhang Jiao" (The Great Teacher Zhang Jiao).

In an instant, the entire ancient book trembled violently.

On the originally yellowed pages, streaks of dark gold characters emerged, transforming into a sky full of golden characters that surged wildly toward Zhang Jiao's card face.

In an instant, the golden characters of the Taiping Essentials, the blue runes of the Digui Talisman, and the scarlet bloodline of the Ghost King's Mark collided together.

The three intertwined and merged, and the whole process went so smoothly that it was almost eerily smooth.

boom!

The card-making table suddenly exploded, and a terrifying aura instantly swept through the entire card-making room. In the place where the card-making table had been, a blurry figure slowly condensed.

A Taoist priest in a yellow robe with disheveled hair stood there, with countless lightning patterns running around his body.

Behind him, a jet-black beam of light shot into the sky! The defense cards in the card-making room shattered like pieces of paper.

The black light pierced through the defensive light barrier above the manor and soared into the sky. Fortunately, the light barrier had some repair function, and during those strange moments of confusion, it repaired the area torn apart by the black light.

At that moment, everyone in the manor was drawn to the black light.

Even the four enormous eyes that had been facing each other began to tremble upon seeing the black light shooting into the sky—not out of fear, but more like excitement.

"Found it...!"

"Found it."

A deep voice echoed throughout the manor, causing everyone to look up and try to find the source of the sound.

As soon as the sound fell, the eerie eyes that had been confronting each other in mid-air looked at each other and, with perfect understanding, slowly dissipated into their respective eerie mists.

Those strange creatures awaiting the King of Ghosts' command, as the Ghost Eye receded, seemed to be freed from some kind of restraint, and went berserk, attacking the manor's defensive light barrier.

"roar"

"hiss"

"..."

A sharp, piercing screech filled the manor, a sound that sent chills down the spines of those who heard it.

Outside the card-making room, Da Niu was peering out the third-floor window, observing the situation outside the light screen.

"Miss Su, the eerie eye in the sky has disappeared, and those monsters have started attacking again!" Da Niu turned his head and reported to Su Wanqing, who was guarding the door.

Upon hearing Da Niu's words, Su Wanqing bit her lower lip and clenched her right fist tightly. She placed her hand on the door, wanting to knock and ask, but she was afraid of disturbing Lin Fan's card-making process.

Suddenly, the entire manor began to shake violently, and a blinding light burst forth from the defensive light barrier outside the manor.

On the light screen, a network of cracks began to appear, with countless runes flowing within them, attempting to repair the damaged areas.

However, the repair speed was clearly not keeping up with the destruction speed, and the cracks on the light screen became more and more obvious.

"Click!"

"Snap!"

The dense cracks began to spread rapidly until they covered the entire light screen.

next moment

A crisp "bang" sound reached everyone's ears.

The outermost defensive light barrier shattered instantly, turning into countless points of light that fell from the sky.

Immediately afterwards, red lights flashed inside the manor, and a mechanical voice rang out, "Warning! Warning! First layer of defense has failed!"

"The first layer of defense has failed!"

"Miss Su, the outermost light barrier is broken!" Da Niu turned his head again to look at Su Wanqing, his face full of disbelief.

"I heard you!" Su Wanqing frowned deeply and quickly knocked on the door of the card-making room with her hand, which was leaning against the door, but there was still no response from inside.

"Big Ox, open the door!"

"Miss Su, what if we disturb Mr. Lin while he's making the card? Card makers hate being disturbed the most," Da Niu said as he walked up to Su Wanqing.

"Besides, there are several layers of defensive light barriers outside. Judging from their previous offensive, it will take them some time to get here. By then, Mr. Lin should have finished making the card."

Su Wanqing looked troubled. "The outermost layer is our best defensive card, but even that couldn't withstand it. It's only a matter of time before the defensive cards behind it are destroyed!"

Before he could finish speaking, the mechanical voice rang out again, "Warning! Warning! The second layer of defense has failed!"

"Don't just stand there, open the door!"

Hearing that the defensive card he had once boasted could withstand the monstrous tide was utterly ineffective against this wave, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

But he still obeyed Su Wanqing's words and headed straight for the door.

"Bang bang bang"

Da Niu slammed his head against the door repeatedly, and the sturdy door began to show signs of loosening.

"Da Niu, don't you have the key to this door?" Su Wanqing looked at the big man who was banging on the door with force in front of her with some shock.

"Uh, it's downstairs. I almost forgot. I'll go get it now!" Da Niu scratched his head a little embarrassed after Su Wanqing reminded him, and then went downstairs to get the key.

"No need." Su Wanqing glanced at the door, which was already crooked, and simply picked up the long knife.

"Clang!"

With a flash of light, the knife cleaved half the door and its frame in two, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

At this moment, Su Wanqing stopped in her tracks after seeing the scene inside the room, because the card-making room was currently shrouded in several bolts of lightning.

A figure dressed in a yellow robe floated in mid-air, and Lin Fan was standing next to him.

"Mr. Lin, what's wrong? Should we go in?" Da Niu looked at the flashing lightning in the card-making room, unsure of what to do.

"Let's wait here." Su Wanqing gave a wry smile and slowly said, "We can't get in even if we wanted to, so we can only hope that he can finish the card as soon as possible."

As soon as he finished speaking, the cold, mechanical notification sound rang out again in the manor.

"Warning, the third layer of defense has failed!"

Da Niu's expression changed instantly. He turned to look at Su Wanqing. "Miss Su, how many layers of defense do we have in our manor? The speed at which it broke down is too fast!"

"The fifth floor," Su Wanqing said in a deep voice, but her words had barely left her lips.

The cold, mechanical voice sounded again, "Warning, the fourth layer of defense has failed!"

"What! How long has it been!" He ran to the window in disbelief and looked outside.

The manor was unusually quiet at this moment. The servants and security personnel who used to walk around were now hiding in the houses, afraid to move.

On the last layer of the light screen outside the manor, however, was a completely different scene.

The eerie, dark mass piled up together, with no end in sight.

The last layer of defensive light barrier was now flickering violently, and its surface was covered with fine cracks.

"Bang"

With a loud bang, the last layer of defensive light barrier shattered completely!

Inside the manor, the cold, mechanical voice issued its final announcement: "All defense systems have failed. All personnel are advised to take shelter in their rooms!"