Chapter 10 "Card Domain Return Security Protection Regulations"

"Da-da-da, da-da-da."

Behind Zhang Fei, a gray vortex suddenly appeared. The crisp sound of horse hooves treading on the ground seemed to beat against their hearts.

In the next instant, the others saw a stallion, snow-white all over with ink-black hooves, leap out from the vortex and land steadily beside Zhang Fei. It nuzzled him affectionately, and Zhang Fei raised his hand to stroke its mane. Then, he flipped onto the Dark Cloud Treading Snow · Black Steed. Man and horse became one; his aura surged several times over, his combat power increased, he gained innate armor penetration, and his momentum was as magnificent as a rainbow.

At this moment, Zhang Fei's strength was infinitely close to the edge of a true Blue Card. Yan Shuangling compared Zhang Fei with her Elegant Blade in her mind and shook her head—it was a forty-sixty split.

"Elegant Blade."

Hearing her voice, Elegant Blade held the blade in one hand, pointed the tip of the Tang blade at his own heart, and stabbed down fiercely under the astonished gazes of the crowd.

"Is he self-mutilating to apologize because he feels like he can't win?" Chu Ling murmured, a relit cigar dangling from his mouth.

Trait [Black and White Twin Blades] activated!

Clumps of black gas emerged from Elegant Blade's wound, gradually enveloping him. "Clang!" A brilliant blade light sliced through the black gas, and a brand-new Elegant Blade appeared before their eyes.

He held a long blade in each hand; the left blade burned with eerie black flames, while the right blade emitted a bone-chilling cold. His clothing had also transformed into a black-and-white interlaced combat suit, and his temperament grew increasingly cold and sharp.

"How come all of you have such cool transformations? What am I supposed to do then?"

Ye Suxuan, however, didn't show much change. Gu Ye wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but her greatsword seemed to have grown a bit longer.

The changes in Zhang Fei and Elegant Blade happened in the blink of an eye. The [Gluttonous Ghoul] stared with eyes protruding from its gaunt face, wondering when they had changed their outfits. It shook its head, deciding not to bother with such things as it was too mentally taxing. The corners of its mouth curled up as it crooked a finger provocatively, as if saying:

"Come on, you weaklings."

Seeing this, Chu Ling couldn't stand it anymore. He steadied the Gatling gun with both hands, aimed the barrel at the [Gluttonous Ghoul], and roared in fury: "Let's get him!"

[Six-Barreled Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra]

"Watch your Grandpa Chu deliver you to the afterlife."

The barrels of Chu Ling's Gatling gun erupted with blinding white light, and strings of Buddhist mantra bullets accompanied by Sanskrit sounds rained down upon it incessantly.

Simultaneously, Zhang Fei and Elegant Blade attacked in sync. The peerless Zhang Fei thrust his eighteen-foot serpent spear straight at the vital points, while Elegant Blade swung both blades together, sending out blade glows of interlaced ice and fire that tore through the air.

The [Gluttonous Ghoul] was no match for the two in their current state. Combined with the special attack damage from Chu Ling's bullets, it was in excruciating pain.

As a Buddhist-based attack method, the [Six-Barreled Six-Syllable Great Brightness Mantra] dealt multiplied damage to ghost-type monsters.

"Roar~"

Feeling the pain in its body, the [Gluttonous Ghoul] struggled to counterattack, but it was consistently suppressed by Zhang Fei and Elegant Blade.

Suddenly, the [Gluttonous Ghoul]'s shadow detached from behind it and attacked Zhang Fei, lunging at him with a whistling punch! Zhang Fei's pupils constricted. The Black Steed beneath him understood his intent and leaped up fiercely, narrowly dodging the shadow's sneak attack.

The [Gluttonous Ghoul] took the opportunity to knock back Elegant Blade, and a raspy voice escaped its mouth:

"Humans, you forced me to do this."

"Ah~"

In the middle of its shadow's belly, a pitch-black vortex suddenly appeared, spitting out the corpses of [Blood Bat Mecha] one by one.

Seeing these corpses, Gu Ye frowned in confusion. "Aren't these the corpses of the monsters we killed outside?"

A magical scene unfolded. The [Gluttonous Ghoul] opened its large mouth and began devouring the corpses; its body swelled visibly to the naked eye.

Yan Shuangling, whose expression rarely changed, shouted urgently, "Stop it, quickly!"

Zhang Fei and Elegant Blade immediately moved to stop it, but how could the shadow that had finished spitting out corpses let them succeed? It appeared in front of them to intercept them.

"Don't forget about me!"

Ye Suxuan leaped high into the air and slashed her greatsword down hard onto the [Gluttonous Ghoul]'s shoulder. With a squelch, the blade bit deep into bone and flesh.

Its devouring was interrupted. The heavily injured [Gluttonous Ghoul] retreated a few steps, and before everyone's eyes, its injuries healed within seconds.

Even Chu Ling was a bit tongue-tied; this recovery speed was faster than him entering Sage Mode. The current [Gluttonous Ghoul] was no longer the skin-and-bones figure from before; it had transformed into a very strong physique with tight, elastic muscles.

Gu Ye shouted at this moment, "Create an opportunity for Zhang Fei!"

Zhang Fei didn't give the shadow any room to stall. He launched a fierce attack on the [Gluttonous Ghoul], veins bulging on the hand gripping the eighteen-foot serpent spear, as he successively activated the skills [Roar I], [Roar II], and [Roar III].

With his traits also taking effect, his combat power instantly soared to its peak, even causing the surrounding air to vibrate with a slight heat.

On the other side, Elegant Blade wasn't idle either. Crimson flames suddenly erupted around him as the [Flame Body] skill activated. His body transformed into flames, allowing him to pass directly through the shadow's obstruction and charge straight for the [Gluttonous Ghoul].

Ye Suxuan focused her mind to circulate her spiritual energy, pouring spiritual light from her fingertips into the greatsword. The blade became entwined with blue-purple lightning, with crackling currents constantly exploding outward.

She gripped the hilt with both hands. The propulsion devices on her back armor suddenly spat out scorching flames. Using this thrust, she charged toward the [Gluttonous Ghoul] like an arrow leaving a bow, her lightning greatsword trailing a long streak of electric light.

The [Gluttonous Ghoul] looked at the two charging ahead. It was too late to recall its shadow for help. It let out a piercing screech from its throat and suddenly spat out a cloud of thick green mist, which drifted toward the two like a living thing.

The two couldn't dodge in time and passed directly through the green gas. Yan Shuangling watched the battle closely; seeing they were fine, she was about to breathe a sigh of relief when her heart tightened again in suspense.

The [Gluttonous Ghoul] actually dodged both of their attacks. Its speed was far beyond their expectations, and Chu Ling's bullets couldn't keep up with it at all.

Just as they were preparing to continue the attack, they suddenly felt weak all over and collapsed to the ground with two thuds.

"Oh no!" Just as Yan Shuangling's cry of alarm fell, the [Gluttonous Ghoul] had already turned around, heading back with a hideous grin, clearly intending to finish off the two fallen people first.

At the critical moment, an invisible force of imprisonment manifested around it. Lacking any dodge skills, it was helpless against Zhang Fei's ability and was instantly frozen in place.

Zhang Fei teleported in front of it. The pressure of his peak combat power made the [Gluttonous Ghoul] tremble uncontrollably.

Under the shadow's dull gaze, Zhang Fei raised his hand. The power of blood and qi on the eighteen-foot serpent spear condensed without dissipating. With a simple and swift strike, he completely destroyed it, and the shadow vanished along with it.

"Ding!"

A metal token fell to the ground with a crisp sound. Gu Ye stepped forward and picked it up. Finding nothing unusual about it, he threw it to the approaching Yan Shuangling, whose eyes flashed with a hint of joy.

Gu Ye was still more interested in the [Gluttonous Ghoul]'s corpse, wondering what special card-making materials it would yield. He searched the corpse for a while and took out two card-making materials. Seeing their effects, Gu Ye nodded in satisfaction.

Chu Ling walked forward supporting Ye Suxuan and said with lingering fear, "We almost bit the dust there. This Hidden Boss is really hard to kill."

"But the rewards are rich." Gu Ye handed over the two card-making materials.

Upon seeing the two card-making materials, the three of them showed surprised expressions. Yan Shuangling said as if it were only natural, "The intensity of this Hidden Boss was too high; it's inevitable that the card-making materials would have such good effects."

Ye Suxuan also sighed at this time, "The [Gluttonous Ghoul] should have had other skills. If not for Zhang Fei's imprisonment, the battle might not have been so easy."

The four of them had basically suffered no injuries, though Ye Suxuan was still feeling a bit of muscle weakness. She said with some anticipation:

"Let's go! Off to the Treasure Room."

Having only recently become Card Masters and visiting a Treasure Room for the first time, they could hardly hide their curiosity and anticipation.

The group arrived outside the Safe House castle. From what Gu Ye had learned, he knew that every Card Domain's Safe House had a different design. He saw Yan Shuangling take out a Domain Token and inject it with spiritual energy. The Domain Token vanished into the void, and a light gate appeared before them.

The four looked at each other and stepped into the light gate together. When they opened their eyes again, they were in a void, surrounded by ten floating, sparkling 'stars'. Having their own backgrounds, the three with Yan Shuangling knew that these stars were the manifestations of the treasures within the Treasure Room.

Gu Ye didn't have much of an opinion on these treasures; as long as he had money, his [Refinement] talent could provide him with countless treasures.

After each of the four picked their favorite treasure, they headed toward the Card Domain's exit together. The journey was smooth, and they soon walked out of the Card Domain. Upon exiting, they consciously lined up behind the queue in front. Gu Ye also spotted Yang Haochen, Li Jie, and others who had already recovered.

By the high-tech gate at the Card Domain entrance stood several Card Masters in black uniforms. They held strange-looking instruments and stood guard with serious expressions.

At this moment, a middle-aged man stepped forward and said:

"We belong to the Prevention and Control Department under the Domain Suppression Department. According to the 'Card Domain Return Safety Protection Regulations', we now need to perform mandatory physical examinations on you."

"Please cooperate with us." Once he finished speaking, the Card Masters behind him began the testing.

Although it was the first time for Gu Ye and the others, they were able to cooperate very skillfully. The students passed through the detection gate one by one, and a series of 'passed' sounds echoed outside the Card Domain gate.

"corruption value 20, pass."

"corruption value 17, pass."

"corruption value 25, pass."

...

Students who did not pass were taken away on the spot by the Domain Suppression Department Card Masters.

"Captain, being a Card Master is a truly dangerous profession!"

The middle-aged man acting as the captain also sighed with emotion:

"Yes, in the thousands of years since the domain river descended, Corruption Factors have always existed, and the major federations have had no way to solve it.

Whether a Card Master enters a Card Domain, gets injured, or even just breathes, the Corruption Factors in their body will increase."

"Captain, Card Makers are still the most likely to get Corruption Disease. The Corruption Factors contained in card-making materials are really numerous. This month alone, two Card Makers turned into monsters because they forced a card creation."

The middle-aged man shook his head and said slowly, "Both were commoner Card Makers; they did it all for survival."

Testing the corruption value was a first for Gu Ye. This time, Gu Ye's corruption value was 21. If the corruption value is higher than 30, a Card Master risks turning into a monster that is neither human nor ghost. It can only be said that the higher the corruption value, the easier it is to fall into corruption.

After the testing ended, the students dispersed. Capital continued to take over the Card Domain. As the Card Masters returned, the high-tech gate transformed back into a barrier shrouding the several Card Domains, performing rough checks on the Card Masters entering and exiting. The [Blood Fiend Mechanical Forest] Card Domain returned to its usual liveliness.