Chapter 177: 177 Just scold your grandpa then_1
Jiao Zhongwei naturally agreed without any hesitation.
After signing a confidentiality agreement, which stipulated she couldn’t tell anyone about the stories in the book, she cradled the freshly printed volume in her hands and casually flipped through the pages. Inside, she discovered not only stories but also illustrations representing the characters, all drawn with ink brushes. With a few simple strokes, the characters’ charisma was captured, but that alone wasn’t enough to create Card Spirits.
She roughly skimmed through and found that the several folk tales were all very interesting and animated, covering aspects she had never understood before. Ghosts, demons?!
She was familiar with ghosts; stories about them still circulated in everyday life, mainly frightening tales of fierce spirits passed down through generations. However, these incredible legends of female ghosts in *Liao Zhai Zhi Yi* were rarely heard by her, and they undoubtedly opened up a new world for her.
Demons refreshed her worldview even more. The thought of demons suddenly reminded her of the Dual-Change Card Set Demon Cards from Mount Flower, which had also been very popular recently.
Her heart raced with excitement. No one knew how big of a boost these stories, with their own worldviews and comprehensive backgrounds, could give to a Card Maker—just thinking about it brought a ceaseless flow of inspiration! Her guess was correct; Mount Flower really had struck it lucky—there must be a powerful Card Maker supporting them. Even such stories were being released for the Spirit Card Masters below to draw inspiration from!
She was itching to go home and devour the book completely but knew she couldn’t rush it. Moreover, since Shao Lanxiang had given her this opportunity, she naturally planned to buy some gifts as a way of saying thanks.
In fact, this book had been sent down by Wen Jiang.
When she was working on the Emperor Card Set, she had already thought about the next steps. *Liao Zhai Zhi Yi*, with its supernatural enhancements, is just perfect for the Card Makers below to practice with, and I don’t want to hold on to it and waste my own time.
She translated the original classical stories into vernacular language. Of course, her memory wasn’t that good. The original *Liao Zhai Zhi Yi* had about four hundred stories, and despite all her effort, she could only remember the two hundred or so she had heard. But that doesn’t matter—the stories are just there to provide inspiration; what’s important is the framework of the worldview.
Once the Spirit Card Masters had a framework for a fantastical worldview involving gods and ghosts, making those cards would be much easier for them. They might even be able to imagine and create some cards on their own.
One should never underestimate the imagination of the people of this world. They’re simply trapped by the disappearance of civilization and can’t imagine, but I never doubt the talent of the Yunxia People. *Liao Zhai Zhi Yi* will also eventually be contributed, but for now, I’ll let my Card Factory reap the benefits first. Even the kindest have to prioritize making money for their own people first.
She had been handling these related matters since completing its preparation. Now that the *Liao Zhai Zhi Yi* project was finished, it was time to deal with what she had promised Yan Moling. What was more incredible was that she had to write while also participating in competitions.
Zero Egg was now certain—Wen Jiang definitely came from another world, a very peculiar one at that, just like... just like the stories she wrote herself. It was like another Yunxia; many marvelous methods were things Zero Egg had never seen in the System’s world. Wen Jiang’s stories also enriched Zero Egg’s database to some extent. No wonder she knew so much about the ancient knowledge of Yunxia; perhaps her world was an existence like that. But how did she come to this world? Zero Egg always felt it didn’t understand Wen Jiang enough. Wen Jiang seemed indifferent to everything and showed no altruistic spirit. From her devious actions, it was clear she had nothing to do with kindness. Yet, she could make such contributions to Yunxia, which genuinely baffled Zero Egg.
After the first competition ended, the next match list for Mount Flower came out. A week later, they would be up against the Chongshen Association from Nasu Country of North Continent. This association was ranked in the top three in Nasu Country and was definitely stronger than the Crying Angels from the Sanctuary. Originally, they had wondered if the International Association would target them, but the group list turned out to be normal.
"The list is distributed by the System; it’s not necessarily something that can be manipulated," Tang Qian said, letting out a sigh of relief. "The cards from the Chongshen Association are Divine System Card Sets popular in North Continent, but I actually think they are easier to deal with than the Crying Angels."
As long as they’re standard cards without any surprises, they pose no real threat to Mount Flower now.
In this competition, playing three games and winning two would secure them a spot in the top 30. Mount Flower’s best previous world ranking in the A-Rank Group was sixth; they had never made it into the top five. If they leaped directly to the championship this time, it would certainly cause a massive stir.
Tang Qian still had to analyze the threats and strengths of the Chongshen Association for the other team members, but she also gave Wen Jiang a warning, "Recently, a lot of people have been paying attention to you."
Wen Jiang’s public confrontation with the International Card Association had attracted a lot of attention to Mount Flower, especially hostility from Country Beiwu. Their leader had been forced to resign this time, and the Sanctuary Empire had lost an ally in the Association, which could lead to people from the Sanctuary targeting Wen Jiang.
Although she’s an A-Level Spirit Card Master, her ability to attract animosity is top-notch.
Wen Jiang didn’t care at all. Her mind was filled with information about the Divine Beasts, and she could even lift an eyelid to scoff, "So they’re paying attention to me? What about it? Are they going to give me some likes?"
Tang Qian was speechless.
Thinking about her ancestor’s way of doing things, Tang Qian realized that if Wen Jiang were afraid, she wouldn’t have openly clashed with the International Card Association. In the past, Mount Flower might have cared about its image, but now that Mount Flower belonged to Wen Jiang, none of those below would dare question the boss’s decisions.
What Tang Qian really meant was not that. She continued, "Country Beiwu has always been petty. Later on, some people might make snide and insinuating comments about you. I know you can’t stand that, but we don’t need to bother with such insignificant individuals. Do you understand?"
She was worried that if someone deliberately provoked Wen Jiang, Wen Jiang might do something irrational.
After thinking it over, Wen Jiang nodded and said, "I’ll try my best."
Tang Qian was speechless again.
She was somewhat worried, fearing that someone would deliberately exploit Wen Jiang’s temper to stir up trouble and then saddle her with a serious accusation.
Unexpectedly, a few days later, Tang Qian’s concerns became a reality.
「On the eve of the match with the Chongshen Association」
A retired former S Rank professional Spirit Card Master from Country Beiwu publicly insinuated that certain juniors "lacked sense," blowing trivial matters out of proportion to the point of becoming an international joke. He claimed they brought shame upon their own country while still being smug about it, and questioned whether future collaborations with Yunxia wouldn’t be fraught with concerns about information leaks due to such indiscretion.
Throughout his speech, he insinuated that he was referring to Wen Jiang.
In such conflicts among Spirit Card Masters, other Masters couldn’t easily comment, but the common folk of Yunxia were not to be trifled with. The top-rated comment online hit him right where it hurt:
> *What’s the matter? Your leader, who got promoted by riding someone’s coattails, was kicked out for taking the fall for his ’daddy,’ and now you’re too scared to say anything? You’re furious but don’t dare scold your ’daddy,’ so instead, you lash out at your ’grandpa’ thousands of miles away, who got dragged into this for no reason?*