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

In the arena, Zhang Fei was struck on the shoulder by another hammer blow. He groaned and knelt on one knee. He tried to stand up, supporting himself with his spear, but five copper-ringed guards surrounded him and trapped him in the middle.

"Let me go!" Zhang Fei roared, and the killing intent on his spear suddenly exploded, causing the copper-ringed guard to take a step back.

This attack completely exhausted Qin Muyao's mental energy. Zhang Fei's figure turned into a stream of light, reformed into a card, and fell back into her hand.

The moment Qin Muyao caught the card, her legs went weak, and she fell forward.

"Watch out!" Lin Fan quickly stepped forward and caught her.

Zhang Li raised his hand, and the five copper-ringed guards immediately put away their copper hammers and stood straight like guards.

He took a step forward and stood with his hands behind his back: "Miss Qin, whatever kind of card you want, I can make it for you, and I guarantee it will be better than the one you have."

"All you have to do is nod." He extended his hand, making an inviting gesture.

Qin Muyao leaned against Lin Fan, coldly looking at him: "You madman from the Myriad Spirits Society, I don't need you to make me cards!"

Zhang Li paused for a moment, then regained an eerie composure: "You've been discovered."

"Then you should know even more," he lowered his voice, "that only the All Souls Guild can make the cards you want. Those old fogies in the Card Makers Association only make cards from weird remains, cold and soulless."

Qin Muyao was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly smiled.

"Master Zhang, you say your card is active, but have any of your five bronze-ringed guards said a single word to you?"

Zhang Li's smile froze completely.

"My Zhang Fei can curse, get angry, complain that my mental strength isn't enough, and even if he gets beaten down, he'll get back up on his own." She paused, her gaze sweeping over the five expressionless guards with bronze rings. "And yours?"

Zhang Li's expression finally changed, and the composure on his face vanished.

Qin Muyao withdrew her gaze, leaning against Lin Fan, her voice tinged with weariness: "So, you should keep your things for yourself. I... don't need them!"

"Miss Qin, do you know that the last person who rejected me is still lying in the morgue?" Zhang Li's voice was no longer gentle, but rather sinister: "Since you're courting death, then don't blame me."

He raised his hand, and five bronze-ringed guards rushed towards Qin Muyao, their bronze hammers raised high, ready to fall at any moment.

"Five Thunder Dharma!"

Five bolts of lightning struck the five bronze-ringed guards with pinpoint accuracy, freezing them in place. Their bronze hammers hovered in mid-air, unable to strike.

Qin Muyao was stunned. She turned her head and saw a man in a yellow Taoist robe appear in her line of sight. He stood with his hands behind his back, his five fingers loosely holding a ball of surging lightning.

Lin Fan's [The Great Teacher Zhang Jiao]!

"Do you have any more mental recovery fluid? Where is it?" Lin Fan shouted to Qin Muyao. "My mental strength can't last much longer! I'll be counting on you later!"

"There's more in my bag!" Qin Muyao said weakly.

Lin Fan took her bag and quickly rummaged through it.

"Found it!"

He unscrewed the bottle cap and brought it to Qin Muyao's lips, letting her drink it down.

"Ugh... be gentle!" Qin Muyao choked a little from being forced to drink the cold liquid. As the liquid slid down her throat, her mental energy began to recover slowly. Although it wasn't much, it was enough for her to summon again.

"Zhang Fei!" He poured his spiritual power into the card, and Zhang Fei's figure solidified again.

"Zhang Yide of Yan is here! You all await your death!"

His eyes, as large as copper bells, blazed like two balls of fire. He had been beaten and suppressed by five guards with copper rings, and he was trembling with pent-up frustration. Now that he was free, the fire in his chest finally found an outlet.

He took a sudden step forward, his hand blazing with black light. The killing intent on his eighteen-foot spear solidified into a black streak of light, piercing straight towards the nearest copper-ringed guard.

【Soul-Slaying Serpent Spear】

The copper ring guard, restrained by the thunder magic, was unable to resist and was blasted away.

Zhang Fei, gripping his spear, was about to charge at the second one when he suddenly froze. The remaining four bronze-ringed guards were still standing in place, motionless, like four statues.

Zhang Fei turned his head and glanced at the old Taoist priest in yellow robes beside him. He saw that the old man was standing with his hands behind his back, lightning flashing between his fingers.

"Old Taoist, did you do this?" Zhang Fei asked Zhang Jiao.

"Stop dawdling." Zhang Jiao didn't even lift his eyelids.

Zhang Fei chuckled: "Alright!"

Zhang Fei charged forward with his spear, the killing intent at the tip of the spear solidifying into a tangible form, striking down one enemy with each thrust.

He stopped in front of the last guard with the bronze ring, tilted his head, and looked him up and down: "Weren't you all pretty tough just now? Five against one of me, why are you all so quiet now?"

The copper-ringed guard stared at him expressionlessly, his dark red light flickering desperately under the lightning lock, yet he was unable to move.

"Want to talk?" Zhang Fei pierced its chest with his spear. "Too late!"

"I'm exhausted, finally it's over." Zhang Fei planted his spear in the ground, placed one foot on the body of the copper-ringed guard, and looked relaxed.

Zhang Jiao's figure swayed, then transformed into a card and fell back into Lin Fan's hand. Lin Fan, whose mental energy was exhausted, sat down heavily on the ground, panting heavily.

"Is it... over?" Qin Muyao asked.

"Should..." Before Lin Fan could finish speaking, Zhang Li's body suddenly trembled violently, and his body began to swell, as if something was about to burst out from inside.

"It's...not...finished..." Zhang Li's voice sounded inhuman.

"This isn't over yet?" Zhang Fei held his eighteen-foot spear horizontally in front of him, blocking Qin Muyao's path. His copper-bell-like eyes were fixed on Zhang Li. "I think you just need to be taught a lesson!"

Zhang Li's body began to swell, his clothes were torn, and his exposed skin was covered with a layer of bronze armor, making him look similar to the copper-ringed guards.

Zhang Fei gripped his spear tightly, turned to Qin Muyao and said, "Girl, step back."

Qin Muyao pulled Lin Fan back two steps.

"Take another step back." Qin Muyao pulled Lin Fan back three steps.

Zhang Fei nodded in satisfaction, slung the spear over his shoulder, stared at the still-transforming thing, and grinned: "Come on, let grandpa see what other weird shapes you can turn into."

Zhang Li's transformation stopped. At this moment, he was a larger version of the Copper Ring Guard, except that half of his face was his own, while the other half was replaced by a rotting face.

"You piece of trash, what did you do with my men?" the rotting face said.

"Sergeant...it was them who did it, they killed your men!" Zhang Li forced out a fawning expression.

"Shut up, you damn thing! You've allowed me to breed so many useless things, causing me to lose so much strength."

Indeed, this thing's aura is pitifully weak.

"That's it?" Zhang Fei looked it up and down, then sneered, "I thought it could conjure up something amazing."

Zhang Fei, carrying his spear, slowly walked over. He raised the spear and pressed the tip against the creature's chest.

Zhang Fei flicked his wrist, sending the spear forward.

"Click."

The copper-ringed guard sergeant's face dissipated into fragments amidst the sound of his armor shattering, revealing Zhang Li's pale, terrified face.

"No...it's impossible..." Zhang Li's voice returned, choked with sobs, "I...my symbiosis..."

"Symbiosis my ass." Zhang Fei kicked him in the chest.

Zhang Li's body flew out, crashed into the wall, slid to the ground, and lay motionless.

The testing area quieted down. Zhang Fei sheathed his spear, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and turned to walk back to Qin Muyao's side.

"Is it all done?" Qin Muyao asked.

"It's done." Zhang Fei nodded, glancing at the withered corpse on the ground, which, like the cards, turned into specks of light and dissipated into the air. "This thing was barely clinging to life; it just stubbornly changed its form to fool people."

"Bang!"

The door to the testing area was pushed open from the outside.