I will be stronger after the remake

Zhou Canglan descended from the sky, exited his elemental form, and transformed into a dragon. He said to Tang Ping, "Can't you develop your spiritual power by converting demons? How about this dragon? Buddhism has a tradition of subduing celestial dragons, so it might even provide an extra boost."

"The dragon in Buddhism actually refers to the Naga. Of course, Buddhism has always had the habit of adapting to local customs and local conditions. If everyone thinks it is a real dragon, then it becomes a real dragon."

Tang Ping tried to recite the scriptures, but before he could finish a few lines, the other side swung its tail, bringing a foul wind that swept across like a giant pillar. However, he didn't care about physical attacks and easily retreated to avoid it.

"A defeated general dares to resist!"

Zhou Canglan snorted in dissatisfaction, seemingly feeling that the other party did not understand the situation. Under the influence of his will, the river water condensed into dozens of chains, binding the Qiantang Dragon King tightly.

"All Bodhisattvas should subdue their minds in this way, regarding all sentient beings, whether born from eggs, wombs, moisture, or transformation..."

Fortunately, after following Ling Chong to help the spider demon, Tang Ping had specifically memorized the Diamond Sutra. Otherwise, without the sutra in hand and without the ability to search online, she might not have been able to memorize it.

After he recited the scripture three times, he looked again and found that the scarlet vertical pupils were burning with overwhelming anger, like two inextinguishable karmic fires, revealing undisguised contempt and rage. Even though his body was bound, he still maintained his innate dignity and pride.

"Humph!"

The Dragon King of Qiantang let out a cold snort, his voice hoarse yet full of power: "You insignificant ant, how dare you presume to make me bow my head? This Qiantang River is my territory, and even if I die, it is none of your business to perform a ritual for me!"

As soon as it finished speaking, it forced itself to endure the pain and opened its blood-red maw full of sharp teeth, about to let out a dragon's roar, but a water-wave chain appeared out of thin air and bound its mouth, preventing it from making a sound.

"It seems that won't work."

Tang Ping pondered to himself, it seems that the reason he was able to successfully convert the spider demon last time was because the demon had not yet been born. Otherwise, a third-level demon would have been like the dragon in front of him, preferring death to submission.

Besides, the Dragon King of Qiantang was not defeated by him, so it's understandable that the other party is not convinced.

While real monsters might choose to temporarily submit to save their lives, the monsters in the Phantom Realm have an NPC-like side. When it comes to certain important choices, they will adhere to their principles and never back down.

"Since they're useless, let's kill them. Who among you wants to be a dragon-slaying hero?" Zhou Canglan asked the crowd.

He Fengsheng naturally disdained to make a move, and Feng Xiu and Lin Xi were also uninterested. Since slaying dragons wouldn't allow them to manifest their spiritual power, they hurriedly shook their heads in refusal.

Seeing this, Zhou Canglan was about to take action himself when Liu Lingling suddenly stopped him, saying, "Speaking of Buddhist virtues, isn't compassion a kind of interpretation? As the saying goes, saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda?"

Tang Ping paused for a moment, then pondered, "Saving lives can certainly have a demonic effect, but in the current situation, it's hard to say. After all, the other party is a monster, not a human. Moreover, although I didn't directly cause it to be in danger, President Zhou wouldn't have attacked it if it weren't for team building. There is a certain causal connection between them."

Previous generations have long proven that the method of forcing people into danger before rescuing them cannot be used to develop spiritual qualities. Zhou Canglan also reminded Tang Ping of this.

However, the Dragon King of Qiantang is currently in mortal danger and has no direct connection with Tang Ping. He did not expect this situation to occur before he came here, and it was not intentional.

If Liu Lingling hadn't spoken up, Zhou Canglan would have already slain the dragon.

Tang Ping was somewhat tempted, but since he hadn't captured the Dragon King, he naturally couldn't overstep his bounds and decide the other's life or death.

Zhou Canglan thought for a moment and then smiled, "It sounds like it has experimental value, so let's give it a chance to live."

Chapter 192 A Specific Shortcut

Aside from the Dao Seed, killing monsters doesn't actually provide any direct benefit to a psychic.

Regardless of their rank, demons do not possess demon cores, and their corpses cannot be used to refine magical artifacts. The powerful physique of demons largely depends on spiritual energy. Once they die, their spiritual energy dissipates, and their physical attributes will fall to the level of normal carbon-based organisms.

Of course, some monsters have unique body structures, which might be helpful for bionics and biomaterials if studied, but they are really not attractive to psionicists.

This is why the local armed forces department chooses to ignore a powerful monster if it is found to be non-aggressive.

There's no other reason than that the benefits are too few.

If you want a Dao Seed, a second-stage monster is a better choice. Even though the probability of getting a Dao Seed from a second-stage monster is unstable, and sometimes you may get nothing, it is safer.

In the game world, players pursue cost-effectiveness and prefer to choose high-risk, high-reward elite monsters rather than ordinary monsters. However, in reality, life safety is always the top priority in the cost-effectiveness evaluation. The official team would rather spend more time than increase unnecessary risks.

It should be known that psychic energy is incredibly diverse, and even if you are completely incompatible with your opponent, you can't guarantee that you won't be caught off guard and lose.

Zhou Canglan had no obsession with killing the Qiantang Dragon King. His spiritual essence was not like Nezha's, and slaying the dragon could not help him develop his spiritual essence. The scale-type Dao seed that was revealed was of no benefit to him, and in fact, no one in the entire team had a scale-type Dao seed.

Even so, Tang Ping had no choice but to accept the favor and sincerely praise, "The boss is so generous!"

It's one thing if something is useless to the other party, but quite another if it's useful to oneself.

There are countless bosses in the world who would not pluck a single hair to benefit the world, even if they are worth hundreds of millions.

Liu Lingling reminded her, "We still need to go through the required procedures."

Zhou Canglan understood, and a water blade, gleaming with a cold, eerie light, condensed in his palm, swiftly piercing towards the throat of the Qiantang Dragon King.

"Wait a minute!"

Tang Ping quickly stepped in front of the Dragon King, his clothes fluttering in the river wind. He clasped his hands together, his expression one of compassion, and said, "Heaven has a benevolent heart. This dragon has never committed any evil deeds. Why not spare its life?"

As long as the psionicist's spiritual manifestation is done carelessly, the level of acting skills does not affect the final result. Therefore, Zhou Canglan was too lazy to argue, and withdrew the water blade, saying, "I'll give you face."

Then, he removed the water chains that were binding the dragon's body and said to the Qiantang Dragon King, "Get out of here. Remember, I only spared your life because my subordinates pleaded for you."

After resting for a while and regaining some strength, the Dragon King of Qiantang got up and flew into the air. He looked at him with hatred and said, "Humans, I know your plans. Don't expect me to thank you."

After saying this, seemingly afraid that the other party would go back on their word, he quickly rode the wind and fled. He didn't even dare to enter the river again, fearing that "Gonggong" would control the water flow and catch him. He just skimmed along the river surface, and even shrunk his body to the size of a python halfway through the journey. He then disappeared into the reeds.

It is truly said that "a dragon can be large or small, can rise or hide; when large, it stirs up clouds and mists, when small, it hides its form; when rising, it soars through the universe, when hiding, it lurks within the waves."

No one paid attention to the defeated general; all eyes were on Tang Ping, eager to know the outcome. Even if the same method couldn't be applied to them, humanity's exploration of the spirit realm was still too shallow, with unknown areas everywhere, so they were full of curiosity. Besides, the intelligence itself had excellent value.

After a moment, Tang Ping said, "It's improved."

Zhou Canglan raised an eyebrow: "It's good that there's been an improvement. At least the effort wasn't wasted. How much exactly?"

"About 8%."

There are no precise measuring instruments for this, so Tangping can only give a rough estimate.

Feng Xiu exclaimed in astonishment, "If we follow this standard, wouldn't it be enough to perform a perfect thirteen-capture and thirteen-release routine?"

Before Tang Ping could retort, Zhou Canglan said speechlessly, "Do you think Rank 3 Great Demons are like cabbages in the ground? With such a vast territory as China, it's hard to say whether we can even gather thirteen Rank 3 Great Demons that are known on the surface."

Not all great demons cause trouble, nor do all great demons treat a great river as their territory like the Dragon King of Qiantang. If a great demon treats a mountain in the wilderness as its territory, it is normal for it to go undetected for twenty years.

After all, the number of psionicists is small, and it takes a lot of effort just to take care of densely populated areas. As long as there is no major disturbance in other places, they are generally left to their own devices.

Of course, if any foolish monster were to try to become king and rule the world, it would be immediately crushed by a fourth-level psychic.

Great monsters like the Qiantang Dragon King, who have been discovered but not dealt with, are indeed few in number. Zhou Canglan believed that there couldn't be thirteen of them, and he wasn't just making things up.

Without hesitation, Feng Xiu said, "No need to look for other monsters, just keep an eye on this Qiantang Dragon King. When he captured Meng Huo seven times, weren't they all capturing the same person?"

Tang Ping said, "I don't think it will work. Wouldn't that be like 'persecuting others first and then offering help'? This kind of self-produced and self-consumed approach cannot pass the judgment. In fact, I still don't understand why releasing the Dragon King of Qiantang can actually improve the drama. I didn't say it before, but I actually thought it wouldn't have any effect."

Liu Lingling pondered, "Because you didn't think of using this method to interpret the spirit before you came, it doesn't count as self-production and self-consumption."

Tang Ping questioned, "Isn't the principle of Lingoes deduction to judge actions, not intentions?"

"Hmm... I don't want to understand this either."

Liu Lingling shook her head; she didn't really understand either.

He Fengsheng, who had always played the role of a cold and ruthless expert, spoke up: "Because this is about judging actions without considering intentions, it's not the kind of judgment you're thinking of. Otherwise, even self-production and self-consumption should have an effect, because judging from the results, you did indeed save the other party, so there should be a feedback."

Tang Ping sensed that the other party had something to say, so he immediately adopted the posture of a good student asking a teacher for advice and respectfully asked, "I've been wondering about this for a long time. Could you please tell me what's going on?"

He Fengsheng was satisfied with the other party's attitude and explained, "According to the New Territories Alliance's experimental investigation, this 'trace' does not refer to the result alone, but rather to the overall perspective that includes the cause, process, and result. If it is self-generated and self-consumed, the other party's crisis is caused by you. Without your actions, the target would not have been in danger in the first place. Therefore, from the overall perspective, you have made a 'trace' that has no impact on the entropy value of fate, and therefore you will not receive any feedback."

Tang Ping became increasingly puzzled: "Although I didn't do it, this team building event was started because of me. Logically speaking, the entropy value of fate you mentioned shouldn't have changed at all. Could it be that you only calculate the direct impact and not the indirect impact?"

He Fengsheng snorted, a hint of mockery in his voice, "Do you really think the team building activity was started because of you?"

Zhou Canglan chuckled and explained to Tang Ping, "Actually, our team holds a team-building activity every year at the end of the year."

Tang Ping suddenly realized that even without his participation, the other party was going to have a team-building activity anyway. As for his mistaken belief that the team-building activity was caused by him, it was just a rhetoric used by Zhou Canglan as a leader to win people's hearts and make his subordinates feel valued.

Upon careful recollection of his previous remarks, Zhou Canglan indeed did not say that he would organize a team-building event for him.

Over-reliance on the "Three-Eyed Radiant" ability to detect lies will subconsciously lead one to believe the hints hidden in language, making one more easily deceived by the truth.

Feng Xiu let out a breath and said easily, "It seems that there is no loophole for quickly increasing the Spirit Rank Derivation Point."

He Fengsheng said, "This is not a loophole, but a shortcut. The Spirit Rank system is a power system that encourages you to take shortcuts. It depends on whether you can find shortcuts. For example, the Armed Forces Department has the responsibility of sweeping up monster settlements. If Tang Ping finds out about the other party's actions and goes to ask them to let go of these monsters, wouldn't he be able to quickly max out his performance score?"

Feng Xiu asked in astonishment, "Why should the Armed Forces Section give Tang Ping face and let the monster go? This is dereliction of duty. What if someone reports us?"

He Fengsheng scoffed: "That's none of my business. Anyway, the method has been given, and it's theoretically feasible. As for not being able to do it because of a lack of face, that's the problem of the person who will carry it out."

Tang Ping ignored the sarcasm in those words and analyzed along the lines of thought: "Sweeping away monster settlements is the routine work of the Armed Forces Department. They would do it whether I was there or not, so the deduction works."

"If we follow this template, we can arrange for a master to sweep away the three-stage monsters in advance, and then leak the schedule. After that, we can see who has the face to save the monster from the master. As long as we don't tell the master in advance, and don't leak the information to any specific person, the performance will work."

"Even if it weren't for helping certain people develop their spiritual power, sending experts to wipe out powerful demons would have been a normal decision. This was just something I did on the side."

Zhou Canglan said, "Theoretically, that's correct, but how can a great demon be dealt with so easily? I was able to capture the Qiantang Dragon King alive because of the elemental advantage. If I encounter a third-level demon with no elemental advantage, it's easy to defeat, difficult to kill, and even more difficult to capture alive. To safely sweep away third-level demons, one needs to be a fourth-level spiritualist. If someone has such great influence that even a fourth-level spiritualist has to give way, I don't think anyone would object to that."

In short, this is a shortcut for specific individuals and has no value for widespread adoption.

He Fengsheng looked somewhat embarrassed, but he didn't refute it. It wasn't his way of performing, so whether it could be popularized was none of his business. If he really found a feasible shortcut, he would only use it secretly by himself and wouldn't publicize it to the whole world.

Zhou Canglan thought for a while and said to Tang Ping, "I don't think it will be effective to focus on the Qiantang Dragon King's seven captures and releases to boost the performance rating. However, the matter of Lingge is too mysterious, and no one can guarantee anything. Anyway, I am not in any danger in dealing with this dragon, so it doesn't matter if I try. If I fail, there will be no loss. If I succeed, we will have one more third-level spiritual energy user."

"...I don't know what to say. Boss, your vision is so broad it could encompass the entire Milky Way. Even if I were an undercover agent, I have to admire you now." Tang Ping gave a thumbs up.

"Ha, treating people with sincerity is precisely Zhou's way of life."

(Author's note: I've been a little busy these past few days, so I've cut back on updates a bit. I'll resume normal updates starting tomorrow.)

Chapter 193 Visiting Relatives

Lin Xi was completely bewildered, not understanding what the group was chattering about, using all sorts of incomprehensible and impressive-sounding terms, like the scribbles her high school math teacher made on the blackboard. She only focused on one thing.

"Wait a minute, what about the Dragon Palace? We agreed to plunder the Dragon Palace after we slayed the dragon. I was hoping to find some big pearls inside so I could string them into a necklace and wear it."

Zhou Canglan poured cold water on the idea, saying, "I just used my spiritual energy to search the bottom of the river, but I didn't find any trace of the Dragon Palace. Perhaps this dragon was just born recently and hasn't had time to build its palace yet."

"Why is this happening!"

Lin Xi let out a wail, indignantly saying, "Looking like a dragon but actually a dog, it's just a poor wretch. How dare it call itself the Dragon King? Even bandits and monsters who rule the mountains are more respectable than it!"

Feng Xiu joked, "Since it was only recently born, even if it has a Dragon Palace, it's probably just an empty shell. Let's give it more time to accumulate wealth. Even if we want to harvest the leeks, we have to let the leeks grow first."

Lin Xi took it seriously, and after thinking for a moment, nodded and said, "Let's deal with this Qiantang Dragon King during next year's team building event, and then see if its dragon palace is finished."

Liu Lingling laughed and said, "If you want pearls, you can buy them in the real world. There's no need to steal them from others. Don't believe the nonsense that natural pearls are better than cultured pearls. In terms of appearance, cultured pearls are far superior to natural pearls. Even if some natural pearls can sell for sky-high prices at auctions, their value lies in their scarcity, not in their quality."

Lin Xi said, "Even among artificial pearls, only small pearls are cheap; large pearls are still quite expensive."

“With your income, you shouldn’t be unable to afford even the most expensive things,” Liu Lingling glanced at Zhou Canglan. “Could it be that some unscrupulous capitalist is withholding your wages?”

Before Zhou Canglan could defend himself, Lin Xi preemptively said, "President Zhou is very good to me, but I send most of my salary home."

“I know about your family situation. This can’t go on like this. Maybe we should just…”

Liu Lingling hesitated, knowing that even an upright official can't settle family disputes, so she changed her words and said, "Why don't you ask Canglan to give you a raise? Don't tell your family, keep it for yourself."

Lin Xi shook her head like a rattle drum and said, "No way! I'm already very grateful that President Zhou gives me eight thousand a month. The key is that I don't have much work to do. I just pour tea, clean, and organize documents. It's all the work of an ordinary clerk. I have a low level of education and don't know much. President Zhou has already taken good care of me. I can't ask for more."

These words impressed Tang Ping. His first impression of her was that she was a punk rocker or a crazy young woman, but she turned out to be surprisingly principled.

Zhou Canglan sighed and said, "I'm not really giving you a monthly salary of eight thousand, but because I value your status as a psychic. The office clerk position is just a cover. After all, there is no such position as a psychic in the real world. According to the current market, eight thousand a month is actually low for a first-level psychic. I'm the one who got the better deal."

"Is that so?" Lin Xi's eyes widened. "Then I demand a raise."

"I already said I'd give you a raise."

Zhou Canglan felt quite helpless. If the other party hadn't been a bit dim-witted, he wouldn't have offered a mere eight thousand a month in the first place.

……

The following day, Zhou Canglan and Tang Ping returned to the Qiantang River in the Illusionary Realm to find the Dragon King and prepare to verify their conjecture, since practice is the only criterion for testing truth.

However, Zhou Canglan used his spiritual energy to spread his senses and searched for a long time, but he still couldn't find any trace of the other party.

"Could it be that after it fled yesterday, it encountered some passing armed personnel and was easily dealt with?"

To maximize his sensing range, Zhou Canglan entered a state of spiritual resonance. Dark golden patterns appeared beneath his skin, each pattern resembling a swimming serpent. His hair danced without wind, and his face became angular, exuding a wild and untamed aura, as if an ancient war god had descended.

Tang Ping arrived at the shore where yesterday's battle took place, picked up a broken dragon scale, activated his spiritual power "Insight into Karma," and analyzed: "The opponent is still alive, but has hidden himself."

"It is the Dragon King of Qiantang River, and it is impossible for it to be separated from the Qiantang River."

Tang Ping wasn't very familiar with this psychic ability. After a long discussion, she slowly said, "It's hidden in a dark and narrow place without water. It seems to have learned from yesterday's lesson and knows that you, President Zhou, have the ability to search with water as your eyes, so you're taking special precautions."

Zhou Canglan slapped his forehead, annoyed, and said, "I made a silly mistake. Everyone says that the monsters in the Illusionary Realm are NPCs. After hearing it so much, I got a stereotype and started to treat them as NPCs. They just can't go against their own settings. In other aspects, they also have intelligence and flexible adaptability. Can you find its current location?"

"We are still searching. It is quite difficult to perform divination beyond one's level, as it is subject to spiritual interference. The only fortunate thing is that the other party is completely ignorant of this kind of knowledge and has not taken any precautions."

Tang Ping frowned, and in order to enhance his abilities, he also entered a state of spiritual resonance, with a faint golden light emanating from his body.

After a moment, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and pointed, saying, "Eight thousand seven hundred meters to the northwest, and a radius of three hundred meters around that point. That's the level of accuracy I can get right now."