Merit-based card draws, quickly become a Heavenly Emperor

【Life and death are intertwined】The contract is between the master and the servant, with Fang Zheng as the master and Liu Qingyu as the servant.

The two sides complement each other's strengths and enhance each other's cultivation.

Now that Liu Qingyu's resentment has completely dissipated, she no longer needs to exert herself to maintain her rationality and can unleash the full power of an eighth-rank cursed ghost at any time.

To Fang Zheng, Liu Qingyu's cultivation level was far superior to his, making her a natural cultivation accelerator.

After forming a pact with Fang Zheng, Liu Qingyu can also use his identity as a Yin official to freely travel between the Yin and Yang realms, which is extremely beneficial to her cultivation in the ghost path.

Liu Qingyu flew to Fang Zheng's shoulder and sat down, swinging her legs, her expression showing an unprecedented ease.

Fang Zheng sat down at his desk, spread out paper and pen, and wrote a short letter, stating that Liu Qingyu had regained her senses and asking her to take it to the Gates of Hell for Li Yuanshan to see.

With Li Yuanshan, a seventh-rank underworld official, protecting her, Liu Qingyu wouldn't encounter any problems while traveling in the underworld.

Moreover, with the contract in place, he can summon her back with a mere thought.

With a heavy heart, Liu Qingyu bid farewell to Fang Zheng, transforming into a wisp of red smoke, carrying the letter, and disappearing into the night.

Fang Zheng reopened the system panel. He still had more than 20 strands of merit left, enough for two more 10-pulls.

After a moment's thought, he decided to donate all his merits to the "Painting Journey" card pool.

With Liu Qingyu around, the "Ghost Gate Tour" card pool isn't that high in priority; personal cultivation is the most important thing.

After two 10-pulls, Fang Zheng drew another useful gray card.

【Accumulated Ink Forms Peaks】(Treasure·Ninth Grade Gray·Benevolence): Talent Card. Each time a painting is completed, the artist's skill will improve.

Fang Zheng was delighted. This talent seemed unremarkable, but its advantage lay in its permanent effect, accumulating little by little.

Over time, this has a significant effect on both Fang Zheng's spiritual painting cultivation and his combat power.

He used all the newly acquired cards and focused his attention on the attribute panel.

Ren (5): Spiritual Eyes, Accumulated Ink Forms Peaks

Yi (3): Tiger Painting Secret Technique (Soul Burning Fire, Yin Qi Shield)

Etiquette (4): Masterful Painting

Wisdom (2): Splashing Ink to Form Soldiers

Faith (2): Life and death are intertwined

Fang Zheng leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh.

Compared to when he was penniless when he first awakened his innate wisdom, he has now finally established a foothold in Yongqing County.

.......

The Cao family residence in the south of the city, nestled deep within its courtyard.

Steward Cao, bowing and gritting his teeth, said, "Master, Fang Zheng has not only become a ninth-rank underworld official, but also a tiger-slaying hero."

Now his name is being spread far and wide among the peasants in the county.

We need to think of a way to subdue him.

Cao Jingde slumped in the armchair, his fat face jiggling.

"This kid somehow got involved with some underworld connection and became a ghost official; even the county magistrate can't control him."

Let him run wild for a few days first.

Steward Cao was still a little unwilling to give up, and with a quick glance, he stepped forward again: "Master, I also heard that Fang Zheng is getting very close to Guan Tieyi, the supervisor."

That guy surnamed Guan is no pushover either; these two together are bound to cause trouble sooner or later.

Cao Jingde looked up and saw the bruises on Steward Cao's face that hadn't subsided, and the more he looked, the more annoyed he became.

He kicked out, hitting Butler Cao squarely in the chest, sending him sprawling into the air.

"All you do all day is spout nonsense. Get out of here and come up with a solution!"

Butler Cao scrambled out of the room, shouting "Yes, yes, yes," and disappeared in a flash.

........

The next few days were very fulfilling for Fang Zheng. He spent his days reading and practicing martial arts, and his nights meditating and catching ghosts.

The area around Yongqing County is not peaceful; wandering ghosts and spirits appear every now and then.

Fang Zheng didn't stand on ceremony; he took them all and sent them to the underworld.

Merit points were accumulated little by little, and before you knew it, you had enough for another ten-pull.

As usual, he put his card into the "Painting Journey" card pool.

This time he didn't draw a gray card, but his cultivation progress jumped a lot, and the Yuan energy in his ancestral aperture between his eyebrows became even thicker.

On this day, Guan Tieyi sent someone to say that the tiger bone ointment was ready.

Fang Zheng was overjoyed and immediately went to Tongfu Restaurant to book a private room and asked someone to invite Guan Tieyi to the banquet.

Tongfu was owned by Du Kang, the wine connoisseur. When Du Kang saw Fang Zheng come to support him, he greeted him generously and even waived 20% of the wine cost when Fang Zheng left.

Guan Tieyi arrived as promised. After the two sat down and drank a few rounds of wine, he took out a porcelain jar from his pocket and slammed it on the table.

"Brother Fang, you've boiled all the tiger's heart, tiger's courage, and tiger's bones into this. I've given it a name: Bone Tempering Ointment."

Apply it to the joints and acupoints morning and night, then practice your boxing; it will make your efforts twice as effective.

Fang Zheng took the porcelain jar, opened the lid, and a strong medicinal aroma wafted out.

He bowed in thanks and then took the opportunity to ask about the basics of body tempering.

Guan Tieyi didn't hold back either, explaining everything in detail and thoroughly, from training the skin to training the bones, from breathing to generating power.

Although he suffered considerable injuries after hunting the tiger, he made great progress in his martial arts training and has now broken through to the eighth-grade Meridian Opening Stage.

They are more than capable of teaching Fangzheng properly.

As the drinks flowed freely, they began to talk incessantly.

Guan Tieyi slammed down his wine glass, his eyes reddening, and his voice roughening.

"Back when Lord Chu was in power, he led us in fighting corruption."

Those bastards who preyed on the villagers were arrested, killed, or driven away.

Even the Xu family's five wicked members, who were once rampant, were destroyed in one fell swoop by us.

Look at the officials in the county now, every single one of them is a useless coward who holds a position but does nothing.

Local bullies run rampant; who's going to do anything about it?

Fang Zheng remained calm and replied, "Brother Guan, isn't this what your supervisors are specifically in charge of?"

Guan Tieyi sneered and took a swig of wine: "Ever since Lord Chu died tragically, the supervisor has been suppressed by the county magistrate and has been unable to raise his head at all."

It's laughable, but instead of being rewarded for my meritorious service in killing the tiger, the county magistrate found a pretext to kick me out of the supervisory office and send me to patrol the streets.

"They're stretching their reach so far, they've completely lost face."

Fang Zheng offered a few words of comfort, then tentatively asked, "Wasn't it said that Lord Chu died suddenly from an illness?"

Guan Tieyi roared, "He was clearly murdered!"

He picked up his wine glass and took a big gulp, then hesitated before saying in a gruff voice, "Brother Fang, you're not a county official. There are some things you should know as little as possible. Don't get yourself into trouble."

After saying that, he just drank alone. Fang Zheng tried to probe a few more times, but Guan Tieyi didn't respond and just sighed.

"I heard that the prefectural government is also furious about Lord Chu's death and will soon send two teams to the county to investigate the case, one from the prefectural supervisory office and the other from the prefectural military governor's office."

Hopefully, this time, we can finally clear up this mess in Yongqing County.

……

After the wine was finished and everyone had left, Fang Zheng led Guan Tieyi back to the courtyard.

Night had fallen, and the courtyard was quiet and cold.

Fang Zheng took off his shirt and applied the bone-strengthening ointment all over his joints and acupoints.

The moment the ointment touched the skin, it immediately burned bright red, and a surge of heat seemed to seep into the bones.

Guan Tieyi stood aside and said in a deep voice, "Practice the Tiger-Taming Heaven-Reaching Fist once and feel its effect."

Fang Zheng got into a fighting stance and started throwing punches.

Ever since he used the Subduing Tiger Heaven-Reaching Fist to kill that eighth-rank tiger demon, Fang Zheng had become thoroughly familiar with this body-tempering fist technique.

With the aid of the ointment, they fought with even greater ferocity.

When the final move was executed, a sharp crack suddenly rang out from the muscles and bones, as if something had been broken through.