My cards can be infinitely combined.

Chapter 522: Time to start combining cards again.

Zhou Nan immediately abdicated the throne!

He wanted to do things as soon as possible and didn't want to procrastinate any longer.

Ten years gave him a glimmer of hope. If he couldn't ascend to immortality at the Ascension Conference or leave the world of fantasy, then he could only cultivate. Perhaps in ten years he could cultivate enough power to protect himself.

"Ding, succession confirmed, succession successful. Congratulations on becoming unemployed!"

"Ding! The unemployed person possesses the [Daydreaming] ability, but has no job panel, job talents, or job skills. They cannot learn general or special skills. Please explore on your own for details!"

"Ding! You have automatically become the former patriarch of the True Black Clan. Your clan member status is retained, and you are permitted to use the teleportation array to enter the True Black Clan's territory for a fee!"

"Ding! You retain management rights over the exclusive family territory opened for you, and your authority over the Zodiac Guardian Palace remains unchanged..."

"Ding! Your [Appraisal] skill has been removed, your [Card Synthesis] skill has been removed, your [Card Darts] skill has been removed..."

System notifications kept ringing, but Zhou Nan didn't have time to study them carefully. He quickly went forward to check on Wu Tian and Zhao Wuming.

Zhao Wuming is dead, without a doubt, but his body still exists and has not turned into light and disappeared.

Zhou Nan could understand this to some extent; Zhao Wuming's physical body was probably not something the core had conjured up, so it wouldn't be taken back.

However, Zhou Nan couldn't figure out anything about Zhao Wuming's body. After bowing respectfully, he properly placed him in Black Mountain City.

He will neither bury this body nor abandon it.

Because he knew that the cultivation technique Zhao Wuming practiced was called the "Nine Revolutions of Tribulation," which involved one revolution and one tribulation per lifetime. One had to go through nine lives, nine deaths, and nine tribulations to finally achieve complete perfection.

Zhao Wuming has already experienced eight cycles of tribulation. Perhaps his death in this tribulation is to live out his ninth life and perfect his cultivation technique.

It's unclear whether he will actually have a ninth incarnation, or how he will live it out, but it's likely to be related to the physical body he left behind.

After leaving Black Mountain City, Zhou Nan went to help Wu Tian up.

Wu Tianyuan was severely injured. He himself had said before that he was willing to burn three thousand years of his power to kill the Universe Emperor, and he did indeed kill the Universe Emperor. So according to his statement, he would probably lose three thousand years of power.

"Master Wu Tian is over seven thousand years old, or perhaps we could say he has over seven thousand years of internal energy. Now he has lost three thousand years, leaving him with only over four thousand years. In addition, he has lost his right arm, so his fighting power should be greatly reduced."

Zhou Nan pondered silently.

Wu Tian's face remained expressionless as he said to Zhou Nan, "That Holy Ancestor... he suppressed the Cosmic Emperor who was about to self-destruct; otherwise, I'm afraid we would all perish... I'll return to Wukong Mountain to recover my strength. I'll leave the trivial matters to you; don't let everyone lose their way!"

"Don't worry, teacher."

Zhou Nan nodded, thinking to himself that his teacher was a really kind person, still thinking of others at this time. The implication in his words was clearly that he should take care of the scattered Ape Warrior players, as well as Lu Mingxin, Zhang Zhi, and others.

Wu Tian gently closed his eyes, and the next moment, he touched his brow with his left index finger. Soon, his figure dissipated and disappeared.

Lan Yuping said from the side, "Holy Ancestor and Wu Tian are truly outstanding individuals. Without them, the outcome would be unimaginable! Human Black Card Emperor, let bygones be bygones on what I told you before, and return that key to me."

Without saying a word, Zhou Nan took out the small key and handed it to Lan Yuping.

At this moment, he didn't care what the key was. Ten years later, the Cosmic Emperor would descend again. Time should be cherished, and he didn't want to be distracted by other things.

Lan Yuping was blind, and this injury seemed irreversible. She then said to Zhou Nan, "The projection of the Cosmic Emperor was extinguished this time, and the core should have recorded relevant data. After analyzing this data, we might be able to find some ways to deal with her. If the projection descends again in ten years, it should be much easier to deal with."

"I hope so," Zhou Nan replied indifferently. He wasn't in high spirits and didn't seem to feel the joy of surviving a disaster.

"The council airship will pass through Kuimu City in about three days. I would appreciate it if you could take me there before then."

"Okay! I'll take you there in a bit."

Lan Yuping hesitated for a moment, then said, "No one can say for sure what will happen in ten years. Perhaps it won't even be that long. The Cosmic Emperor will descend ahead of schedule. You players can't expect anything! Forget it, protecting the core wasn't your mission to begin with... Go and call your family, friends, and loved ones, and tell them to attend the Ascension Ceremony. That's the best way to save your lives!"

Zhou Nan nodded. He didn't ask any more questions and then went to find Ma Chaoqian, Lu Mingxin, Zhang Zhi, and the others.

These players were scattered into the chaotic void by the explosion caused by Lan Yuping. Apart from Xiao Kugong and Ma Chaoqian, most of them died more than once. It took Zhou Nan two hours to find them all and half a day to settle them all in.

These people's mindsets have changed to varying degrees; some are worried, some are silent with furrowed brows, some are irritable and easily angered, some want to party, and some want to sleep...

At this moment, the Flaming Pirate Ship was anchored outside Kuimu City. Zhou Nan sat alone at the bow of the ship, and began to seriously study his information panel.

After becoming unemployed, Zhou Nan lost all his skills. Not only did he lose his professional skills such as [Overlord], [Conquer], [Power], [Imperial Gift], and [Death], but he also lost common skills such as [Card Darts], [Card Charge], and [Advanced Experience]. Even skills that everyone had, such as [Appraisal], [Return to Town], and [Card Synthesis], were gone.

Only the divine power of "brilliance" was retained, and an additional ability called "daydreaming" was added.

【Daydreaming】is not a skill. It occupies the original position of the class talent in the attribute panel, but there is no explanation information. The icon is grayed out, and Zhou Nan does not know how to use it.

"Unemployed people only daydream? This daydreaming must be related to card creation, right?"

Zhou Nan pondered silently. He knew that becoming unemployed was the first step towards reality. What he should study next was how to use the core computing power to create cards himself.

Card creation is not card making. The latter is a professional skill that requires collecting materials according to a specific recipe and then making cards. The former depends entirely on the individual and does not require any materials. You can create cards with a single thought!

Just like how the cosmic being Zhen Dejun created cards like [Divine Sword - River Cliff Overlapping Waves] and [Demon Spear - Dark Flame Tu Li] out of thin air.

In this regard, Zhou Nan felt he could consult with Wu Tian, ​​the Deep Sea Demon God, Emperor Pig, and others.

However, he was more concerned about how to protect himself ten years from now.

According to his previous thinking, there were two methods.

The first step is to leave the fantastical world of cards and break free from the core's control. If you can do that, you won't have to worry about the Cosmic Emperor making a comeback in ten years.

The easiest way to leave the core-dominated card world is probably to go to the Twenty-Eight Chaos Cities to participate in the Ascension Conference. If you are noticed by the True Immortal of the Cloud Sea, you can be guided away and receive the protection of the Dragon Slaying Empire. Naturally, you will not have to worry about the invasion of any Cosmic Emperor.

Alternatively, one could seek refuge with the powerful cosmic figure Zhen Dejun, or someone similar, and might even gain the protection of the Dragon Slaying Empire, though that would likely depend on luck.

As for leaving the fantasy world dominated by the core on his own, Zhou Nan did not consider it. Even Wu Tian could not do it, and he would not expect to be able to do it.

The second method is to become stronger, strong enough to protect oneself when Unicron descends.

It's difficult, but it's not entirely hopeless.

"My current cards pose no threat whatsoever to the Cosmic Emperor, but I still have the Vast Sun Technique and the Supreme Emperor Technique. I'll spend ten years cultivating them..."

Zhou Nan silently made plans. After a moment, he released the letter butterfly and began writing a letter.

The first letter was written to Yuebaiting.

"Suddenly I don't know how to address you anymore, so I'll just call you Master. Master, I've abdicated. I'm no longer the emperor. From today onwards, I'll be an unemployed person. I'm a person with aspirations, a pure person, someone who has transcended base desires. I'm going to practice my martial arts. The martial arts I'm practicing is called the Supreme Emperor's Martial Arts. You need to cultivate an aura of dominance to break through. Practicing this martial arts is outrageous. It requires twenty-three years of silent meditation, twenty-six years of closed-eye meditation, and sixty years of mind-to-mind meditation. To put it bluntly, it means twenty-three years without speaking, twenty-six years without opening your eyes, and sixty years of sitting still... I should be practicing in my private room in the Council of Gods and Demons. That way, I might achieve something in four and a half years! What I'm about to tell you, although it's a bit outrageous, is all true. You must take it seriously..."

This letter, which was over two thousand words long, contained many details about the core and the Cosmic Emperor, and asked Yue Baiting to attend the Ascension Conference and do his best to obtain the opportunity to ascend to immortality.

Of course, there were also many sweet words in the letter. Although Zhou Nan decided to practice his skills seriously, he would not go into seclusion. He would still have fun when he needed to, see his girlfriend when he needed to, and level up when he needed to.

Zhou Nan then wrote a second letter.

The second letter was to his son, Red Boy!

"My son, you have the potential to be an emperor. Your old man will always be your support! From now on, I will work twice as hard, and you must work twice as hard too. Otherwise, when the Emperor of the Universe descends, neither of us will even be cannon fodder..."

In his letter to Red Boy, Zhou Nan wrote only two paragraphs, about a hundred words long.

Later, Zhou Nan sent a letter to Li Dapu, Dream Builder Xiao Mei, Valkyrie Lin Yun, and others, with the exact same content. He sent one to each person to make it seem more formal.

In the letter, Zhou Nan mentioned that the Cosmic Emperor would invade in ten years, urging them not to waste their time and to try their best to participate in the Ascension Conference to seek the opportunity to ascend.

After sending these letters, Zhou Nan jumped off the Blazing Pirate Ship, stepped onto the Divine Sword River Cliff Waves, and began his Void Walk.

He had made his decision. Three days later, he would enter the Parliament Airship with Lan Yuping. He would then go into seclusion in his personal room on the Parliament Airship to practice his skills. However, before that, he wanted to build another regional metropolis and complete all the palaces of the twelve zodiac guardian deities.

This could be considered an obsessive-compulsive disorder flare-up. He's not comfortable until the last of the twelve zodiac guardian palaces, the Pig Palace, is built.

Fortunately, establishing a large regional city is not difficult for Zhou Nanlai. He has many exclusive city-building orders, and he only needs to find a suitable location to build the city.

Half a day later, Zhou Nan built a [Thunder Sound City] on Thunder Sound Mountain in the Ape Martial World, and built the [Pig Palace] in it.

The special products of Thunder Sound City are Thunder Bagua and Buddhist scriptures. These are two materials that can be used as magical artifacts. The former can gather lightning and can be used to set traps or as a grenade. The latter is a longsword engraved with Buddhist scriptures. Using it to attack wild monsters will generate less aggro.

Zhou Nan built the city in the Ape Martial World to facilitate his entry and exit from the world.

With this, the twelve zodiac signs are now complete.

The Rat Palace is located in the Snow City of the Great Snow Mountain in the human card world, while the Ox Palace is located in the Peach Blossom City of the Deep Sea world.

The Palaces of Tiger (寅), Rabbit (卯), Snake (巳), Horse (午), Sheep (未), Rooster (酉), and Dog (戌) are respectively located in the following cities in the chaotic void: Chaos City, Moon Palace, Good Fortune City, God Emperor City, Universe City, Radiant City, and Long Live City!

The [Chenlong Palace] is located in the Hundred Joy City of the Radiant World, while the [Shenhou Palace] is located in the Star Devouring City of the Demon Lizard World.

In addition to the [Hai Pig Palace] in [Thunder Sound City] of the Ape Martial World, Zhou Nan used these twelve palaces to connect the chaotic void with the four small worlds of humans, demon lizards, ape martial arts, and light radiation.

"My obsessive-compulsive disorder has eased a bit. I still have some exclusive city-building tokens, so I'm not in a hurry to build a city!"

Zhou Nan rummaged through his storage backpack again and pulled out two Divine Doctor cards.

"My Divine Healer Band isn't finished yet. Oh well, I'll leave it to my son. Anyway, I've already given him the Demoness and the Dragon. At worst, I'll teach him how to combine cards later! So, from now on, shall I practice [Silent Meditation]?"

To practice silent meditation, one must not speak, but silently recite the King and Hegemon True Scripture.

Whether Zhou Nanjue recites the "True Scripture of Kings and Hegemons" or not is irrelevant; all that's needed is to remain silent. The difficulty lies in not speaking for twenty-three years. If one cannot help but speak during this time, then this Zen practice is no longer effective, and one must start over and restart the timer.

Therefore, this "silent meditation" is entirely about cultivating the mind.

"Let's practice then. The Holy Ancestor probably wouldn't lie. Maybe if we can hold back for twenty-three years, we can really cultivate that so-called aura of dominance?"

Zhou Nan made a solemn decision and immediately stopped speaking.

Over the next two days, he collected a lot of Yuan Qi Pearls in the Ape Martial World and hunted Starry Sky Beasts in the Chaotic Void.

On this day, outside Kuimu City, the council's airship slowly approached, its lights shimmering.

Lan Yuping was already waiting on the road she was bound to take. Her eyes had not been restored, and a white ribbon was tied across her head to cover her eyes.

Zhou Nan slowly approached on the Void Sky Sword, intending to enter the council airship as well.

The twenty-three-year silent meditation must be practiced in a private room in the Council of Gods and Demons; otherwise, before you've even finished half of it, the Cosmic Emperor will descend, and then it will be meaningless.

Lan Yuping led Zhou Nan into the council airship. From then on, Zhou Nan would not be bound by time in the God and Demon Council and could stay as long as he wanted.

Soon, Zhou Nan entered his private room. He took out a Yuan Qi Bead, sat cross-legged on the ground, and thought that since he was going to waste time anyway, he might as well cultivate the Hao Yang Gong.

But as soon as he closed his eyes and began to circulate his cultivation technique, Zhou Nan noticed that the icon for the [Daydreaming] ability in his attribute panel lit up.

"What's going on? Daydreaming is working now?"

Zhou Nan pondered silently, then noticed a written description for the [Imagination] ability: "Detected that you possess the ability to create cards. Activating Imagination allows you to create unique material cards. After creation, these material cards can undergo unlimited enhancement and synthesis. Please explore on your own!"

"Hmm... Infinite enhancement? Infinite synthesis? What does that mean?" Zhou Nan's mind raced. "Am I going to start playing with card combining again?"

(End of this chapter)