All the evil beasts in the world, I feed on demons and monsters

Chapter 219 The Ghost of Jia Chen Boat Comes Ashore
From the very beginning of the treasure refining process, Ji Ran knew it was a bottomless pit.

It's an absolute money pit for equipment with multiple skills and high levels!

Even though the Zashiki-warashi kept releasing good fortune from the side, I still managed to rewind 6 times!
6 times!
Just the rewinding process consumed 15500 spirit essence!

There's still 5600 spirit essence needed for the treasure refining fee!
There's no probability explanation for refining treasures; it all depends on luck.

It's possible that nothing was refined, or it's possible that only one characteristic was refined.

What Ji Ran was pursuing was to cultivate three characteristics, which was naturally extremely difficult!
The Treasure Refining method is more suitable for ordinary items because it has only one characteristic: even if you fail to refine it, you will almost always get it after one or two rewinds.

The higher the level of the equipment, the more skills and characteristics it has, the more difficult it becomes to refine specific affixes!

You have obtained 3 "Refining Stones"

【Treasure Refining Stone - Magic Weapon】

Introduction: Treasure Refining Stones possess the characteristics of magical artifacts. After enchanting, they can imbue equipment with these characteristics and can be used by spirits and other entities.

Ji Ran considered getting a protective item for the Zashiki-warashi. This little ghost was powerful enough; she needed to provide some protection for this lucky ghost who had almost no ability to protect herself.

【Precious Refining Stone - Dry Fire】

Description: Skill - Blazing Inferno - Attacks ignite blazing flames at the wound, reducing the target's health by 1%. If the target is active, the health reduction continues for 81 seconds. The health reduction effect ends immediately when the target is stationary. (Cooldown: 49 hours)

There's not much to say about this skill.

Powerful offensive skills!
【Treasure Refining Stone - Yin and Yang energies】

Description: Adds 2 points to luck.

Ji Ran immediately began enchanting the Bloodscale Armor.

For the skill "Burning Fire," the Bloodscale Armor's "Scale Explosion" skill is easier to activate.

This time it went relatively smoothly. The Refining Stone is a stable material, and the success rate was 50% each time. With the help of the Zashiki-warashi, it was successful on the first try. The luck and the fiery aura were both added to the ring-shaped armor.

At this point, after selling the incense money and forging it, 44100 spiritual essences were consumed!

Compared to my own spiritual reserves, it's acceptable.

My kind of forging, which doesn't consider cost-effectiveness and only pursues results, probably requires a third-tier forging skill to dare to be so extravagant!

My next goal is to upgrade the Kunwu Jade-Cutting Blade and Bloodscale Armor to level 6 before the new year.

Ji Ran's figure appeared outside Jia Chen Zhou Lou.

At the same time, his cicada-like voice also received a message.

[Frosty Sky, please add your cicada sound.]

"agree."

[Frosty Sky: This is Lu Yushang. Your official employment has been processed. I've sent you the documents; please take a look.]

[Zhuoxian: Thank you, General.]

It was her, Ji Ran realized. This must have been the captain's doing, managing to get her promoted even when her own people weren't around.

Upon opening the file in the cicada's voice, Ji Ran immediately saw information related to Jia Chenzhou Tower.

Jia Chen Boat Tower was built in the second year of the Republic of China.

However, this wrecked ship contains carvings from the Warring States period and architecture from the Tang Dynasty. According to the Special Operations Department's speculation, this bronze giant ship was built during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, was transformed into a small city during the Tang Dynasty, and its production was interrupted at the end of the Tang Dynasty, before being revived during the Republic of China.

Ji Ran walked into the boat tower and indeed saw a large number of hip roofs and gable roofs.

Many of the buildings have gently sloping roofs, deep eaves, slightly upturned corners, and ridge ornaments at both ends, creating a light and graceful silhouette.

As Ji Ran continued reading, excitement gleamed in his eyes.

This place has been rented by many traveler factions to sell various items obtained from the heavens. Items for every profession are available, including those for chaotic professions like Nightmare Masters and Sorcerers.

Several major factions and powerful squads even monopolized individual professional buildings!
The Joyful Official's Pavilion, the Luan Guest's Pavilion, the Nightmare Master's Pavilion, and more! They're filled with items that your profession frequently needs!

Even cults dare to appear here, unafraid of being recognized. Jia Chen District is like a traveler's "Peace Hotel," where fighting is prohibited.

There are also various weapon materials for sale, including elemental stones, spirits, forging materials, special flesh and blood, and more – a dazzling array!

Of course, the most important of all are the four districts that are directly controlled by the Special Operations Department and monitored by the True Lord Temple.

[Information Exchange Center], [Martial Arts Arena], [All-Heavens Trading Platform], [Outer Heavens Cultivation Tower]!
The Information Exchange Center is the hub for various intelligence exchanges. Official members can directly exchange merit points, while non-official members can sell intelligence in exchange for spiritual essence.

Tickets can also be rented here, allowing travelers to travel to specific worlds. Bounties will also be available.

The training ground is a virtual battleground where training can be conducted publicly or privately. Opponents can be randomly selected, and combat can be purely physical without consuming any spiritual energy. However, it can only be between practitioners, and requires the consumption of "Qi"—first-tier ordinary Qi or second-tier rare treasure Qi.

One Qi, one life.

Of course, there are also experts here who openly charge a price for each guidance session, specifying how much spiritual energy they will receive. There are also gambling and other similar activities.

What shocked Ji Ran the most was that this place allowed beings from other worlds to connect and enter!
The All-Heavens Trading Platform integrates an auction house, a black market, and an official online store. Individuals can set up stalls within it to sell items and trade freely. However, compared to shops outside, these stalls lack any sense of security.

It's worth mentioning that people from other worlds occasionally appear here.

The connection between the present world and the heavens is far closer than I imagined! Those worlds I experienced were not simple copies, but real worlds.

Only now did Ji Ran realize that a completely new world was unfolding!

The Outer Heavens Cultivation Tower is a cultivation ground built by the Special Operations Department using fragments of a certain world. It contains many special cultivation areas, requiring a significant amount of spiritual energy to even begin cultivation. Official members can claim free time each month based on their merit points!

A-level merit can be earned for 5 days!
Ji Ran's eyes lit up. Why didn't you say this sooner!
Ji Ran looked up and glanced at the surrounding shops. Jia Chen District wasn't very lively yet, mainly because everyone was currently drawn to the Thirteenth Earth God Temple.

This was the very first day the Earth God Temple was discovered, and it was at its peak popularity!
"Sparring partner! Sparring partner!"

"Free Level 4 sparring partners at the training ground!"

"Peak Level 3 here!"

As Ji Ran was walking, he suddenly saw a young man wearing a red hoodie and washed jeans. He had a nunchaku tucked into his waistband and was standing in front of the martial arts arena, shouting orders.

Ji Ran thought about the rules of the martial arts arena. As long as one ordinary Qi is consumed, an avatar that is exactly the same as himself can be condensed!
If you are skilled enough, you will never lose, and you can use your Qi until you are old!
In sparring matches, the game usually ends in a draw.

"Level 4 sparring partner?"

Suddenly, Ji Ran strode towards the hoodie-clad man.

"Oh?"

The man's hazy face glanced at Ji Ran, then his head immediately turned to the wind beast and the zashiki-warashi on his shoulder!

"Luan Ke?" "Yes."

"Hey, I'm currently at level 4, early stage."

"Come and try?"

"can."

Ji Ran nodded. At his current level, dealing with a level 3 opponent would be unfair. Only a level 4 opponent could provide real training.

"friend!"

Suddenly, a traveler beside him glanced at the spirit pet on Ji Ran's shoulder and said, "I advise you not to go."

The hoodie-clad man was taken aback, but shrugged indifferently.

The traveler said, "Level 4 players get free training with Level 3 players, no payment required. Heh, there's definitely a trap here."

"Oh?"

Ji Ran was a little curious.

"The training ground consumes one unit of Qi. If you win and disperse your opponent's Qi, you will receive a replenishment, allowing your Qi to circulate continuously."

"But if the Qi is not replenished after several draws, it will also dissipate."

The traveler pointed at the red-robed traveler and said incisively, "This guy is trying to hook a rich guy. If you go in, he will directly unleash his power to defeat you, shattering your Qi, which is equivalent to replenishing his own Qi."

"That's it, thank you."

Ji Ran cupped his hands in a respectful gesture and said, "I'd like to give it a try."

"Whatever you want."

The traveler was taken aback, shook his head, and left. He only spoke up to remind Ji Ran because he was a wandering spirit, but good advice was useless against that damned fool.

Just remind yourself; if you still want to get beaten up, then go ahead and do it.

"Are you still planning to come?"

The traveler, now a bachelor, said, "My thoughts are the same as those of the hanged man."

"If you don't want to, then hurry up and leave. I'll wait for the next one."

There are quite a few people in Jiachen District. I go there a few times a month and I always run into some idiots.

Why didn't you come?

Ji Ran said with a smile, but his words made the traveler's face turn ugly.

"If you don't even have the confidence to replenish your Qi by winning against opponents of the same level, it means you're just a noob even among those of the same level."

Ji Ran said earnestly, "I think I can win."

"Good good!"

The traveler laughed in anger and said, "Looks like you don't know the matchmaking mechanism of this dog-like martial arts competition. Fine, let's go!"

"Add the cicada's voice to your contacts, and I'll pull you in when we go in!"

"it is good."

[Double Flower Red Stick, requesting your cicada sound.]

"what?"

This name sounds familiar.

Ji Ran didn't think of anything for a moment, so she followed them to the nearby martial arts arena.

It was a huge wooden pavilion, cylindrical in shape, with carved beams and painted rafters, exquisite and elegant.

……

Green City.

A small pier adjacent to the Yellow Sea is brightly lit in the dead of night!

Police cars flashed red and blue lights, and under the huge searchlight of the command vehicle, they illuminated an unmanned fishing boat.

The fishing boat was covered in blood, and the entire cabin was filled with countless teeth marks. The tide pounded against the hull with a dull thud, like the heartbeat of a monster.

The entire dock was filled with a strong stench, not the usual fishy smell, but more like the smell of rotting meat that had been rotting in the drainage ditch of a slaughterhouse for half a month.

Sheriffs in protective suits moved swiftly between the ship's cabins and the dock, carrying pieces of severed limbs: ribs riddled with honeycomb-like holes, vertebrae with nerve endings still attached, severed hands with ingrown nails...

"report!"

A sheriff covered in blood ran to the command vehicle and said, "They've been pieced together; there were six bodies in total!"

"Among them, four bodies were reduced to only their heads and ankles. Based on the bones and bits of flesh found at the scene, it is speculated that they were eaten by something."

"In addition, Xiao Liu just observed the body and said that, judging from the degree of decomposition, the person should have been dead for about half a month. However, this fishing boat only went out to sea 7 days ago."

"call--"

The middle-aged security guard stared intently at the gruesome bite marks on the fishing boat and said, "Contact Captain Lin of the Special Operations Department immediately."

"This case is not one we can follow up on."

"it is good."

"what--"

Suddenly, a scream came from the stinking deck!
A security guard was inspecting the cabin when suddenly something grabbed his head and yanked him violently toward the porthole!
boom!
The security guard looked terrified as his head was forcibly pulled through the round porthole, which was no bigger than a small pumpkin!

Click!

The sound of his skull cracking caused his head to cave in, and the blood that spilled out was swallowed by the porthole.

In the darkness, the damp sea breeze shimmered with the lamplight, and on the lonely fishing boat, a headless corpse twitched on the deck.

When the searchlight turned, all that could be seen was the dark porthole, from which suddenly the security guard's twisted and deformed head emerged!
A chilling smile appeared on his blood-soaked face.

Time: 3:01 AM.

(End of this chapter)