Gacha games can't save this bizarre world.

Uncle Tie next to me was so angry! He looked at me like I was watching two gorillas fight!

Suddenly, a mournful crow cawed in mid-air. The plump orange cat spread its limbs and tail in the air, leaping from the treetop like a flying squirrel, flying more than five meters away, and swooping down on a large crow!

This thing was the same bird Zhao Hao had spotted in mid-air earlier; it was probably one of the bear-man's spies. Like the two dogs that had already been killed, it had been trained using some extraordinary methods and was imbued with psionic energy!

That large raven was probably a local giant, with a wingspan of nearly a meter. But it was no match for the Orange Crow's massive size. Before it even landed, its head had already twisted 720 degrees.

The extraordinary monkey with red claws had already been pierced through the heart by one of Uncle Tie's Yellow Turban Warriors with a spear while it was attacking Uncle Tie, and was now hanging on the spear tip.

The tragic deaths of the two dogs, the monkey, and the crow seemed to have awakened the bear-man who had fallen into a frenzy.

It was obvious that he was no match for the old man and the child in front of him. Even the animals he had trained with a lot of effort and resources had been lost! Especially the fire claw monkey that he had spent a lot of money to tame in the other world. It had made great contributions and killed many powerful enemies, but it was also killed with a single shot!

run!

That bear-man was truly no pushover; he took Zhao Hao's punch head-on, staggered from the blow, and seized the opportunity to turn and run!

Despite its bulky build, it was surprisingly fast, covering more than ten meters in just a few big strides!

Zhao Hao reached out, instinctively wanting to use a barrier spell, but hesitated and gave up.

The "Hand of the Mage" is relatively easy to explain; I can just say it's something I've developed myself. After all, Uncle Tie said that many cultivators can acquire one or two skills after awakening their Qi. Since I've already awakened the Qi Observation Technique, having the "Hand of the Mage" isn't a big deal.

After all, it's just the most basic method of psychic shaping.

However, this barrier technique is extremely complex and intricate, a very profound thing. It's definitely not something you can just comprehend overnight, and even self-study is highly unlikely.

If I were to use this, how would I explain it?

Anyway, there's no deep-seated hatred between us, and the other party doesn't even know who I am, so let's just leave it at that!

Uncle Tie probably had a similar mindset; he didn't intend to kill them all, and he didn't make a move even as he watched the bear-man twist his butt and run away.

However, Old Man Orange wasn't someone to be trifled with. The bear-man, while running, suddenly screamed and collapsed to the ground. He clutched his groin, stumbled to his feet, and disappeared into the darkness on all fours…

In the end, it was actually Orange who launched a sneak attack from behind, giving Bearman a powerful blow!

What malicious intent could a woman with the orange sign possibly have?

An orange cat steals peaches!

It's just a cat eyeing someone's crotch!

Uncle Tie grinned as he watched: What kind of person raises what kind of cat!

Finally, in a battle that lasted less than ten minutes from start to finish, our side captured two dogs, one extraordinary monkey, one large crow, one small bird... Oh, and Orange was carrying a white-furred, big-tailed rat in its beak!

Zhao Hao asked, "Why did you catch a squirrel? Oh, it's still alive! Don't eat anything you shouldn't!"

Orange: Who said it was a squirrel? That thing runs incredibly fast! If it weren't for me, it would have gotten away!

This white-furred rat looked like a skinny Totoro; it really wasn't a squirrel. It was even a supernatural creature, though Zhao Hao didn't recognize it.

Uncle Tie, however, had an idea while looking at this big rat.

"If I'm not mistaken, this thing should be a treasure-hunting rat..."

These kinds of creatures are called treasure-hunting rats in the Song Dynasty, but I don't know what they're called here. They're quite rare, so much so that even Uncle Tie had only heard of them but had never seen one.

The reason this bear-like creature appeared in the manor in the middle of the night was because this treasure-hunting rat had discovered treasure within. It ended up bumping into Zhao Hao and Uncle Tie, and even chose to strike first – what a stroke of bad luck!

This treasure-hunting mouse is really unlucky to have fallen into Orange's hands. It can't run away, and it won't eat you. Oh well, I'm just playing around!

In the end, I just lay down and pretended to be dead, whatever you want!

Uncle Tie didn't have any particular thoughts on it; for him, most of the so-called treasures no longer held much value.

He said to Zhao Hao, "Keep this thing; it might come in handy. That bear-man might be some kind of superhuman beast tamer, which is why he's tamed so many animals. I never expected he'd fall into your hands."

"By the way, this treasure-hunting rat is delicate. If you find something good, remember to leave some for it. If it doesn't get anything back for a long time, it will feel that its life has lost its meaning."

Finally, Zhao Hao pried the treasure-hunting mouse out of the orange cat's mouth, at the cost of two 10-kilogram bags of cat food, some canned cat food, and catnip.

Orange: You even steal mice, are you even human?

Zhao Hao named the treasure-hunting mouse Laibao.

Hmm, Rat's Treasure~

Uncle Tie said that if he were to get a new pet, he should name it Lotus Fall.

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Chapter 47 Scattering Beans to Create Soldiers

Zhao Hao's Qi-gazing ability could only pinpoint the treasure's approximate location within the villa, but the Treasure-Hunting Rat could pinpoint its exact location. This saved Zhao Hao and his companion from searching for most of the night.

Zhao Hao rewarded it with a one-cent coin for this!

Rat Treasure: Do you think you're so generous? Do you think I don't know money?

Orange: Huh? Who are you talking to? (Snatches the one-cent coin)

Under an inconspicuous staircase in this villa, beneath the floor of a floor-to-ceiling wardrobe, lies a jewelry box, hidden by someone at some unknown time.

Inside were more than a dozen pieces of valuable jewelry, conservatively estimated to be worth tens of thousands of dollars!

The most valuable of them all, and the one that the spirit manifested in the little girl and was seen by the manor owner's family, was a pearl the size of an eyeball! It was perfectly round and lustrous!

Uncle Tie said this might be a pearl produced by a high-quality deep-sea clam.

When the box was discovered, a little girl in a dress appeared on the stairs not far away, as if trying to entice Zhao Hao and the others to chase after her.

This must be the spiritual energy form that the pearl has formed. It doesn't yet have any independent consciousness; these actions are merely instincts for self-preservation. Unfortunately, Zhao Hao and Uncle Tie completely ignored it.

Uncle Tie, being the master, naturally takes the lion's share. The money is split equally, with the pearls going to Uncle Tie.

However, the pearl didn't have much use. After studying it for a short time, Uncle Tie learned about its specific effects.

Keep this pearl in clean water, and infuse it with a small amount of spiritual energy or other spiritual materials every day. A small pearl will appear in the water within three days at most. The longer the time interval, the better the quality of the pearl.

If this thing were sold to ordinary or wealthy people, it would definitely be worth a lot of money, since it's very rare! But it's not very useful for superhumans.

None of them can compare to the "Qingming Festival Tomb Sweeping Picture" that Zhao Hao found at the flea market before!

Uncle Tie recently ventured inside once, and it's said that there are truly demons and monsters inside, selling all sorts of things!

The most impressive time was when Uncle Tie traded a string of coins for the heart of a silver-armored corpse! If a corpse-refining sorcerer got his hands on that, he'd be ecstatic! He could even use it to create a silver-armored corpse!

However, that painting was, after all, a ghost story, and there was always a risk involved. Uncle Tie never went back inside!

The "Qingming Festival Picture" is much safer, as it contains some of the specialties of the Song Dynasty that Amei cannot buy, but they are all in the painting!

……

Back at the shop, Zhao Hao decided not to go home. It was already past midnight, so he figured he'd just make do for the night.

But he had no desire to sleep; today's battle had far exceeded his expectations.

That's a bear-man who can transform!

Zhao Hao couldn't help but be surprised on the way, but Uncle Tie remained calm.

"Bear people are a type of demi-human. However, bear people are indeed relatively rare in the outer world. The demi-humans that were more common in the outer world before were mostly rat people, pig people, and the like. Perhaps it's because of the increased activity of psionic energy that many demi-humans and extraordinary races that are rare in the outer world have begun to emerge from the inner world..."

Bear-man? One of the sub-human races?

Isn't that a bit too easy for you to say?!

However, Uncle Tie said that these demi-humans and extraordinary races are not uncommon in the inner world, and can even be seen occasionally in the outer world during periods of psychic dormancy.

In the Song Dynasty, they were collectively called monsters, but they were actually different from those extraordinary creatures.

Since they are called demi-humans, they are naturally considered a subspecies of humans. They can switch between beast and human forms, easily awaken psionic abilities, and generally possess some special abilities.

For example, the bear-like man I encountered today had incredibly thick skin and immense strength. He was a top-tier human strongman without any training, the kind who could haul a truck! His muscles were incredibly strong, and his bone density was also extremely high. A small-caliber pistol, unless aimed at a vital spot, wouldn't be very effective; he was incredibly resilient!

That's why this bear-man was able to fight Zhao Hao tonight thanks to his physical strength. Zhao Hao used his Tailed Beast Cloak technique, landing countless punches on the bear-man; if it were an ordinary person, several would probably have been killed by now!

Besides bear-men, there are also demi-humans such as werewolves, cat-men, rabbit-men, and rat-men, who generally live in settlements in the inner world. Many of them have also integrated into the society of ordinary people in the outer world.

If they don't disguise themselves, you basically can't tell them apart. Of course, there are ways to do it, but if they don't commit any crimes, there's no need to specifically target them.

Uncle Tie and Zhao Hao aren't witchers or monster hunters or anything like that.

Today's encounter was rushed, just a fleeting, confused battle. Zhao Hao still didn't have much of a direct understanding of it, so he had to put it aside and deal with it later.

However, he still pestered Uncle Tie with all sorts of questions about the eight Yellow Turban Warriors from before.

That's the real MVP tonight!

They're practically like legendary celestial warriors! In a word, amazing!

"Uncle Tie, you always say all I can do is swing my fists, like a blacksmith. I don't want to be like this! I don't know any magic either! I only have a rudimentary psionic hand, which is just for assisting in swinging my fists. Why don't you teach me a few moves? I think this Yellow Turban Warrior would be quite good~"

Uncle Tie glared at him. "Your psionic hand technique, though crude, has no flaws. The fact that you've grasped this method is quite impressive. As for turning beans into soldiers, teaching you that is no problem..."

Just as Zhao Hao was overjoyed, he stroked his chin and said, "However, the refining of these Divine Weapon Beans requires a lot of special materials. I was lucky enough to collect eight in three years. Then you also need to cultivate their spirituality and refine them into your own soldiers, otherwise they will be of little use."

"This is nothing. Ordinary methods of creating soldiers from beans can't be used to create Yellow Turban Warriors... I've been refining this thing for 20 years!"

Zhao Hao's expression froze, and a picture flashed in his mind: This punch has the skill of twenty years, can you block it?

Uncle Tie patted him on the shoulder: "Besides, this can only be considered a protective spell. You need to know that mental cultivation and spiritual energy are the foundation! Starting tomorrow, let's learn talismans and paper figures and horses from each other!"

In tonight's operation, Zhao Hao probably gained three dabbles, a treasure-hunting rat, and also received a promise from Uncle Tie to teach him something new.

Furthermore, the Destiny Card system also yielded rewards: "Completed the mission: Black-on-Black, +55 Destiny Points."

The next morning, Zhao Hao began learning talismans and paper figures and horses from Uncle Tie.

The talismans are all common folk talismans; there's nothing special about them except for practice.

Many folk shamans and sorcerers can draw this, but it's useless without infusing it with spiritual energy.

Uncle Tie said that many prestigious sects have their own exclusive talismans, but those are their secret traditions. Even if you secretly learn how to draw them, it won't be of any use. Because many talismans require the use of seals!

In sects like the Celestial Masters, you need to be ordained and have your name registered with their patriarch before your talismans can be used to command divine powers.

Some powerful talismans can only be made on a special auspicious day that occurs only once every few years, requiring a huge sacrifice and a grand ritual.

The same applies to those who are inheritors of folk magic teachings; if a talisman borrows the power of its ancestor, it must be recognized by that person.

They either train their own troops and set up altars.

In short, talismans must have a foundation.

Those cultivators who primarily use talismans are at least from families with a long tradition of cultivation, often belonging to prestigious sects. There are virtually no self-taught practitioners who achieve anything significant.