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

Su Wanqing slowly closed the box, not pursuing the matter any further.

He looked at the silent Lin Fan, sighed, and handed the card in his hand to Lin Fan.

"If it weren't for you, these demon kings wouldn't have died so easily. This card should rightfully belong to you."

Lin Fan looked down at the faintly glowing card in Su Wanqing's hand, but did not reach out to take it.

After a moment, he spoke, "Leave it to the Foundation. After all, this strange tide was ultimately caused by the mark of the Ghost King on my body."

"So many people have died, so many places have been destroyed, and now you want to take these things..." Lin Fan gently shook his head, "I can't accept it."

She didn't continue to stuff cards into Lin Fan's hands, but slowly said, "The mark of the Ghost King is on you, it's not like you chose it yourself, and you didn't intentionally bring this ghost tide."

She paused, then continued, "Besides, if it weren't for you resolving this strange tide, not only the Foundation, but the entire Jiang City might have been affected."

"You should know better than I what the simultaneous appearance of the four Ghost Kings means. If we let them storm into the city, even more people will die."

Lin Fan didn't speak. He knew Su Wanqing was trying to comfort him, but what she said was indeed true.

Lin Fan said with a hint of self-deprecation, "You all say that I dealt with the Ghost King, but to be honest, I don't even know what happened afterward, let alone how I saved anyone."

Su Wanqing's view from within the domain wasn't very clear at the time; she didn't see how Lin Fan fainted. She simply recounted how she killed the Gray Queen.

From the moment Zhang Jiao appeared, to the moment the sky was filled with lightning that completely covered Red King Barton, and then to the moment Zhang Jiao walked into the sea of ​​lightning.

"After the sea of ​​thunder dissipated, the red demon king disappeared, leaving only Zhang Jiao standing there. No one saw what happened in the sea of ​​thunder."

Lin Fan frowned slightly. "Just like that, it vanished?"

"Hmm! These are the material cards dropped by the other three Ghost Kings after they died, but we haven't found the Red King's one yet."

Su Wanqing handed the card in her hand to Lin Fan for inspection again.

Lin Fan glanced at the cards and saw that the three Ghost Kings were indeed dead, which was why they had dropped their cards. However, the cards dropped by Red King Barton, who had fought against Zhang Jiao, could not be found.

"What if... Old Zhang just blasted it to pieces?" His voice weakened as he spoke, clearly unable to convince himself otherwise.

He quickly took out the card from his pocket. The original blue card had disappeared, replaced by a card that glowed with purple light and had gold patterns on the edge.

"Nine Stars of the Purple Realm!" Su Wanqing, standing next to Lin Fan, exclaimed in surprise when she saw him take out the [Great Teacher Zhang Jiao].

"Perhaps... it really was Zhang Jiao who shattered that Red Demon King!"

Lin Fan shook his head. "It shouldn't be. What level of power would be needed to blast the Ghost King so badly that not even a single material card was left?"

"At least... Zhang Jiao can't do it right now." Lin Fan looked at the Zhang Jiao card, his eyes momentarily blank.

Card Name: [Zhang Jiao, the Great Teacher of Wisdom (Deception)]

Type: Summoning Card

Quality: Purple Domain 9 Star

Feature: Absorb (absorbs the user's mental energy stored in the card)

Skill: [Five Thunder Orthodox Method] draws upon the five thunders of heaven and earth, gathering them into a sea of ​​thunder and dispersing them into a thunder prison.

【Huang Tian Dang Li】Using talismans as a guide and yellow earth as a form, a Taiping general clad in armor and imbued with the will of Huang Tian is formed.

【Symbolic Rain and Soul-Tethering】Symbolic talismans rained down from the sky, with scarlet threads seeping from their backs. Controlled by Zhang Jiao, they became talisman puppets, which retained some of their original eerie characteristics.

His gaze fell on the slightly eerie character "诡" (wei), as he didn't seem to have incorporated anything eerie during the fusion process...

Suddenly, Lin Fan seemed to remember something, and a glint of light appeared in his eyes. Zhang Jiao was only at the Blue Domain Nine Stars before, but he only integrated one book, the [Taiping Essentials], and Zhang Jiao reached the Purple Domain Nine Stars. This was obviously a bit unreasonable.

Unless, unless, during the fusion, Zhang Jiao added something himself, such as... the [Purifying Talisman] that was forcibly absorbed, and the Demon King's Mark.

But why would Lao Zhang do that? That's something he couldn't understand.

But when he tried to summon Zhang Jiao again, Zhang Jiao did not appear, just as before, as if... out of control.

What's going on? What's wrong with Old Zhang?

At this moment, Lin Fan couldn't help but recall Zhang Jiao's half-distorted face, and the scene of his body with the blue aura and crimson blood aura intertwined.

The cyan aura of the [Purifying Talisman] seemed to be resisting the mark of the Ghost King. If the [Purifying Talisman] really works, one is not enough. What if we have more? Could it purify the Ghost Transformation Value?

Su Wanqing seemed to notice the change in Lin Fan's mood and couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"

Lin Fan's expression changed slightly. "Wang Bo is dead. Where is his body?"

He remembered that Wang Bo still had a [Cleansing Talisman] on him. If he could get his hands on it, Zhang Jiao might be able to return to normal.

Su Wanqing was visibly taken aback, seemingly not expecting Lin Fan to suddenly ask about this. "The body? It was taken away by the Card Association."

"The Card Association took it away? When did they start handling the body? Shouldn't this be the responsibility of the hospital or the aftermath department?"

The words had barely left his mouth when Lin Fan suddenly stopped, as if something had instantly connected in his mind.

He immediately got up, went to the window, and looked down at the corpses scattered all over the ground, but no one from the Card Association came to deal with them.

The bodies of Wang Bo and the others were taken away, but the dead people outside the manor, as well as the mutilated corpses, were completely ignored.

Why Wang Bo and his group of all people? Because of their identities!

First, the Card Association already knows the identities of Wang Bo and his fellow members of the All Souls Society, so they want to take the body back for investigation to see if they can find any clues about the All Souls Society.

But Lin Fan rejected the idea as soon as it came to mind.

If the Card Association had truly discovered that Wang Bo and his group belonged to the All Souls Society, the New World Foundation, as a branch, would not be as quiet as it is now; the Card Association would have already taken the Foundation's members away.

That leaves only the second possibility.

Lin Fan slowly raised his head, looking at Su Wanqing in front of him, "Is there any connection between the Card Association and the All-Spirits Society?"

Su Wanqing's body stiffened slightly. She clearly hadn't expected that Lin Fan would push her to this point with just the phrase "the body was taken away."

After a moment, she nodded slightly.

"Yes, to be precise, there have always been members of the All Souls Society within the Card Association, and they hold relatively high positions."

"What about the [Purification Talismans] on them?"

Su Wanqing was silent for a few seconds, then slowly said, "They took it too."

If the body was taken away merely to cover something up, then taking the [Purifying Talisman] was probably the real purpose.

"Where is Mr. Zhao? Does he still have any [Cleansing Talisman]?" Lin Fan asked anxiously.

"My uncle's... [Purification Talisman] is gone. He didn't even have time to hide it before the people from the Card Association took it away."

Upon hearing this, Lin Fan's heart sank to the bottom. He had been clinging to a sliver of hope that as long as there was one [Cleansing Talisman] left, Old Zhang might recover.

But now, even that last glimmer of hope has been extinguished.

Nine stars in the Purple Realm—that's the strength to confront the Ghost King head-on. A card spirit of this level would be the envy of anyone, no matter where it is.

But once the transformation gets out of control, the card becomes meaningless, and its next appearance might bring disaster.

Seeing Lin Fan's disappointed look, Su Wanqing pondered for a moment and then said:

"If you really need it, I'll ask my uncle; he knows which secret realm this [Purification Talisman] came from."

Lin Fan's previously dimmed eyes instantly brightened.

"Go now!"