Immortal Dao Fruits, Cards to Help Me

Chapter 22 If you're cultivating immortality, you'll need a few spirit servants to serve you, right?
Chen Xiuxian, holding a willow whip, lashed out with a sharp crack, almost making the gambler bounce off the ground!

The gambler's screams could scare even ghosts!
It was a scream tinged with sobs, filled with extreme grief and pain, beyond words.
At this time, the sky was beginning to lighten, and in the distance, the watchman banged his gong and shouted, "It's the fifth watch!"

The gambler immediately chickened out—this guy came prepared!
"Sir, sir, have mercy! I'll never do it again! Please have mercy on me, if I didn't have those dice, I'd be annihilated the moment dawn. I'll give you all your money back!"

Perhaps the whipping was too painful, because the gambler, a grown man, actually started to cry.

Chen Xiuxian raised his willow whip and shouted, "Stop with your worthless cat pee! Hold it back!"

The gambler, like a wronged wife, bit his lip tightly, afraid to cry out.

"Of course I know that if you don't return to these dice, you'll be annihilated by dawn. I'm here specifically to deal with you! How dare you cause trouble in Wadang Fortress!"

"Sir, I promise I won't do it again! Please forgive me for a while! I promise I won't do it again!"

"Hmph! I might spare you, but you'll be spared the death penalty, though you won't escape punishment. I ask you, are you willing to atone for your sins by doing some good deeds under my command?"

Chen Xiuxian flicked the willow whip in his hand, making a cracking sound.

Looking at the horizon again, it was already dawn, and roosters were already crowing in the city.

"I...I'm willing to serve you, sir!"

Chen Xiuxian smiled and said, "Then come in!" He then loosened the red rope with a flick of his wrist.

The gambler transformed into a gust of wind and directly entered the bone dice in Chen Xiuxian's hand.

"Ding~ You have subdued an 8th-level gambler and gained 166 experience points."

In the morning, I treated the old cow, who had been waiting all night, to breakfast, and he ate seven or eight bowls of wontons.

Having agreed to meet in the afternoon, Chen Xiuxian went to the Ministry of Personnel to report.

"Ding~ You have completed the quest card [Gambler (Green)] and have gained 250 experience points."

That adds up to over 400 experience points! Awesome!
"Good, good! I didn't expect you to solve this gambling addict in just one night. You've really done a great service to the community." Zhao Ying, the clerk, recorded Chen Xiuxian's merits while giving him some silver.

Chen Xiuxian lost more than twenty taels last night, but now that even the gambling ghost is his, he has naturally earned back all of his losses with interest.

Even some of the seven or eight unlucky guys from before had more than ten taels of silver!

Gambling truly ruins a life; only by completely abstaining from gambling can one reap benefits.
Chen Xiuxian: I'm so awesome~ Hahahaha!

……

The gambler's name was Ma Si'er (a common Liaodong accent), and he was 36 years old and a bachelor.

His family originally had some money, but after his parents died, he got into gambling with some bad friends and gradually squandered it.

Believe it or not, Chen Xiuxian inquired about Ma Si'er's situation and discovered that this gambler actually had some luck.

He started gambling at 19 and managed to survive the ups and downs until his thirties without suffering much.

According to him, two years before his death, he started to have a run of bad luck, losing so much that he was destitute and couldn't even afford underwear.

But why did he die?

He said that a few months ago, he was so poor that he had lost all contact with his relatives and friends after gambling for more than ten years, and he couldn't even beg for food.

He was starving, too lazy to work, and had a serious gambling addiction, so he hatched a wicked plan to dig something up from the mass grave...

Those mass graves are filled with unclaimed corpses, wanderers who died far from home, or impoverished people who had no descendants... What could you possibly find there?

Okay, Ma Si'er actually went to steal the offerings.

Every year on the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month, people in Wadangbao would invite some Taoist priests and monks to perform rituals to appease wandering ghosts and offer some sacrifices.

He thought to himself, if all else fails, can't I just eat some whole grain steamed buns?
Surprisingly, this trip actually yielded some results.

He heard faint voices in the mass grave. The two "people" who were speaking claimed that they had been dead for more than ten years and were on their way to gamble with other ghosts.

One of them claimed to have a foolproof method for winning at gambling, which he kept at a certain place.

Ma Si'er was initially terrified, but upon hearing that he was guaranteed to win every bet, his spirits immediately lifted. After things calmed down, he boldly headed towards that certain place.

He didn't even consider how he ended up encountering such a good thing.
What a coincidence that this is a surefire way to win at gambling, and you even revealed it and where you're hiding it?

Of course, people are different. Especially Ma Si'er, a gambling addict, who was already in dire straits and would cling to any straw he could find.

So he found a box in an empty grave where a fox or some other animal had dug a large hole. Inside the box was a piece of leather...

Chen Xiuxian found out the location and located the hide in an abandoned thatched hut outside the city.

It's not a zombie skin, it's a ghost skin!
That's right, after a person dies and becomes a ghost, their ghost skin is peeled off.

【Ghost Skin Scroll - Ghost Bone Dice Refining Method (Green)】

Tier 2 Evil Item

Made from the skin peeled off a ghost, it records a method for crafting special dice from human bones.

Comment: Even being a ghost is unlucky! Dying isn't the end of the world either~
Chen Xiuxian had never even heard of this thing before!
Looks like I'll have to check the forums tonight. If that doesn't work, I'll post a question. If that still doesn't work, I'll start a fight! The big shots will eventually get involved, and then they'll know what this thing is.

Ma Si'er was overjoyed to have obtained this item.

However, the inscription on the ghost skin clearly states that if dice are made from the bones of the deceased, the deceased will become a gambling ghost and haunt the holder, causing other harm.

Ma Si'er is also a clever little devil, a unique genius~
He suddenly had a "bright idea"—since human bones would work, what if he used his own bones?

So he chopped off his left big toe... What a ruthless killer!

And then he happily—became a gambling addict!
See, what they say in their training manual is absolutely right!

Oh, by the way! That zombie skin from before was called:

[Zombie Skin Codex: Corpse Demon Resurrection Technique - Fake (Green)]

Tier 2 Evil Item

The wicked techniques recorded on the skin of a ripped zombie can create special corpse demons. The techniques are disguised to give the impression of resurrection, but in reality, they only transform the user into a corpse demon.

Comment: This is not only evil magic, but you're also lying to people! That's really despicable!
These two things don't seem to have much in common; at most, they're both just evil practices.

But the question is, how is it such a coincidence that they all appear in the form of leather at this time, and then incite people to do evil things?

If it weren't for me, all the hundred or so households in Dongzhigou would have died out!
As for this gambling addict Ma Si'er, if it weren't for me... there shouldn't be much of a problem. After all, he was causing trouble in Wadang Fort, and if things got out of hand, someone would naturally take him in.

In addition, Chen Xiuxian knew from the forum that the "zombie resurrection incident" in the game was not an isolated case. There were three such incidents in the villages under the jurisdiction of Wadangbao alone, resulting in the deaths of many people.

There were also incidents of corpses coming back to life in other fortresses, totaling seven or eight, and more than two or three hundred people died.
This looks like something someone did on purpose.

Thinking about this, Chen Xiuxian felt he still had to do something.

At least share your guesses with reliable people; maybe it will save some lives.

He found Cao Bianjiao.

This guy is tall and strong, and he also has an uncle who can shoulder heavy responsibilities.

"Brother Cao, I think this is the perfect job for you!" Chen Xiuxian immediately flattered him!
That's how it is, and so on.

Chen Xiuxian recounted both incidents, saying, "In such turbulent times, if it's just a coincidence, then I'm just being paranoid. But if there really are evil sorcerers deliberately spreading evil magic and creating chaos, then the consequences would be unimaginable."

"Brother Cao is powerful and has a wide network of connections, so please keep a close eye on him."

As a military officer, Cao Bianjiao didn't mince words. He patted his chest and said, "Brother Chen's concerns are very reasonable. Leave this to me. I'll have people do their research! Better safe than sorry!"

After that, Chen Xiuxian put the matter aside for the time being.

Instead, he went to find Old Niu.

(End of this chapter)