SWDnovel Chapter 10: Mysterious Creatures Divided into 5 Levels, First Hearing of Cultivation Methods
Chapter 10: Mysterious Creatures Divided into 5 Levels, First Hearing of Cultivation Methods
At the park management office, the stench had dissipated, but the human skin lanterns had not returned.
Jiang Jun knocked on the door and led Zhao Chen and the other two in.
Although the vomit had been cleaned up, the pungent smell still made the three of them gag.
Cai Liang quickly rummaged through his pockets, took out a deformed woven willow twig, and hung it on the window.
A faint, refreshing scent wafted by, making the smell less unpleasant.
"Ah! It's a police officer from the Department of the Supernatural!" The middle-aged woman who works in the community was pleasantly surprised.
Despite Jiang Jun's protection, ordinary people still feel safer with the supernatural police officers.
Zhao Chen looked around the room, then respectfully asked Jiang Jun, "These people, were they all protected by you?"
Jiang Jun nodded slightly, the twelve tassels on his forehead trembling slightly: "Most of them are. A small portion were strayed in earlier."
Inside the small room, Zhou Xia, upon hearing that someone from the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs had arrived, shakily leaned against the wall and came out.
"A folk demon tamer?" Zhao Chen's expression changed drastically. He rushed over to support the man. "Just how much of your life essence did you expend?"
As he spoke, he pulled out a strip of pills, reluctantly prying off the last one: "Take this quickly, it's for replenishing blood."
Jiang Jun raised an eyebrow: "Is drug use really this up-to-date with the times?"
Zhou Xia thanked her in a trembling voice and swallowed the pills dry.
Soon, her pale face regained its color, and her voice became stronger.
With the arrival of the officers from the Department of the Supernatural, everyone felt reassured and began to open up, sharing their experiences.
The middle-aged woman's name is Tao Li, and she works in Jiangning Community, Minghe District.
The young man's name is Liu Qing, and he is a village cadre in Xiaoliu Village, Cangyun District.
The girl who initially called Jiang Jun "Your Majesty" was a student at Qingjiang University named Sun Yijing.
Like the others Jiang Jun rescued, they were all swept into the Mirror Realm by the gray fog while sweeping the graves at Cemetery No. 3.
The child Zhao Chen was with was named Liu Rui, and he was the child of one of his colleagues.
Zhao Chen said angrily, "The Ghost Cult deserves to die! In order to restrain the experts of the Division, they deliberately created chaos at various sealing points, which has implicated you."
Upon learning that Zhou Xia was a party involved in the missing persons case, he breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the maggots in the petri dish: "How did you obtain this complete-level monster artifact, the [Yin Maggot Gu]?"
Zhou Xia said with lingering fear, "Six days ago, I was eating at home when I inexplicably ended up here and was rescued by an old man."
"He led me to hide here and there, until we finally encountered a swarm of red-eyed, white-haired flies."
"After he burned the fly to death with a torch, he suddenly said that his time was up. He took a fly egg from the ashes and gave it to me to water with his blood, saying that it could protect me."
"Not long after, he disappeared from my sight like a phantom."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Chen nodded slightly: "Without the traces of divine artifacts or the suppression of lord-level monsters, ordinary monster tamers cannot stay in the monster realm for long."
"This period is usually around seven days. If it is overdue, the ghost will be automatically sent back by the ghost realm. Some folk ghost tamers jokingly call it the seventh day after death when the soul returns to the body."
He glanced at the maggots in the petri dish: "Now that you've become a master of monsters, if I'm not mistaken, you can go back on your own tomorrow."
Zhou Xia's face lit up with joy: "Really? That's wonderful!"
Others nearby also pressed, "Officer, what about us? How long until we can get back?"
Zhao Chen shook his head: "If an ordinary person accidentally enters, unless they are lucky enough to find the rift between the two worlds, they must form a contract with a strange creature in order to get out of the Mirror Realm."
Everyone was as if they had lost their parents.
The old woman blocking the door couldn't hold back any longer and burst into tears.
Zhao Chen hurriedly said, "However, the Department of Supernatural Affairs will conduct regular patrols, and those who have strayed will be repatriated."
Tao Li hurriedly asked, "Officer Zhao, can you take us back now?"
Zhao Chen shook his head with difficulty: "My strength is limited, I can only leave by myself, I can't take anyone with me."
Otherwise, he would have taken Cai Liang and Liu Rui back to the real world long ago.
The others suddenly remembered that there was a master beside them, and quickly looked at Jiang Jun with hopeful eyes.
Jiang Jun thought to himself, "I can't even go back myself."
But to maintain his superior image, he pretended to be indifferent: "I have important business to attend to and will not be leaving for the time being."
Everyone was disappointed again, but dared not complain, after all, Jiang Jun's strength was obvious to all.
With nothing else to do, Zhou Xia quickly asked Zhao Chen for information about strange objects.
Zhao Chen didn't shy away from the topic, speaking freely and openly in front of everyone.
Jiang Jun thought of his ability to cause amnesia, and knew that most people would have their water meters checked afterward, so there was no need to keep it a secret.
According to Zhao Chen, this Mirror World is a transitional zone formed after the collision of another world called "Ghost Abyss" with the real world.
The Mirror Realm reflects the real world's landscape while also following the rules of the Abyss of Ghosts, and is home to all sorts of strange and bizarre creatures.
The monsters are divided into four levels: skirmishers, vagrants, elites, and lords, as well as the legendary "Great Monster".
Monsters like human-skin lanterns and ghosts are considered to be of the scattered, weak type, but they usually appear in groups.
When a monster is killed, there is a chance that it will leave behind a "monster creature". Humans can use their blood essence to form a contract and borrow its power.
The strange objects and monsters are classified into different levels: incomplete, complete, elite, lord, and the legendary "legendary". Each one comes at a price.
Only monsters with a complete contract level or higher can become "Monster Tamers".
Besides the strange objects, the Mirror Realm also gives birth to "divine objects," which are said to be projections of the rules of the real world.
Mystical objects have a strong restraining effect on monsters and strange creatures. Normal use is free from consequences, but overuse can lead to "destruction" of the object.
Since the arrival of the Abyss of Ghosts 40 years ago, the Ghost Masters have developed various kinds of strange creatures, gradually opening up three universal realms: the Spirit Realm, the Fusion Realm, and the Refinement Realm.
Zhao Chen himself is a Demon Tamer at the Fusion Realm.
These three realms do not correspond one-to-one with the first three levels of monsters. The strength of one's power depends mainly on the strength of the monster one controls.
If one advances to the Refinement Realm by relying on an elite-level monster, the power level of the monster tamer will be comparable to that of the elite-level monster, but the combat power will be slightly superior.
If a Lord-level monster advances to the Refinement Realm, it can sweep away Elite-level monsters and briefly contend with Lord-level monsters.
However, to truly confront a Lord-level monster, one must advance to the Transcendent Realm.
After reaching the pinnacle of the Refining Realm, various countries and major powers relied on different divine artifacts to create their own unique extraordinary systems.
Among them, the "Three Souls and Seven Spirits Method" of the Huaxia Kingdom is the strongest system in the world, not only having the largest number of top experts, but also having the brightest development prospects.
Jiang Jun secretly compared the items and found that the eerie fire candle and the eerie laughing human skin were both incomplete eerie items, while the gray crystal was not even an eerie item, but just a consumable.
"Oh, right." Zhao Chen remembered something, "There's another kind of strange object called a real-world strange object. It's not a remnant of a monster, but a projection of the real world, formed by the collision of rules."
"There are rumors that the strange objects in reality are actually divine objects that failed to transform. If they are given the right opportunity, they may be able to turn from evil to good and become another divine object."
Jiang Jun was taken aback, thinking of the stack of "grave paper": "Could it be that my parents are really watching over me from heaven, sending me this treasure?"
Zhao Chen's explanation was so vivid that everyone was captivated by his description, and their worries lessened for a moment.
Suddenly, Sun Yijing looked up at the window, her face turning deathly pale: "Something...something strange!"
Jiang Jun peered out through the gaps in the wooden planks sealing the window.
A female ghost in white was seen aimlessly searching for something.
"My lord, where are you...? Stop hiding! This is such an auspicious day, the perfect time for our wedding!"
Jiang Jun felt the female ghost looked familiar: "Is it from that meme video? How did it get here?"
Then Cai Liang cursed, "They're like a persistent ghost! What kind of auspicious day is Qingming Festival?"
He turned to Zhao Chen: "Brother Zhao, wasn't it said that Xi Niang was using karmic manipulation to harm people? How come everyone can see it?"
Zhao Chen shook his head: "In the real world, humans and demons are on different paths, so there are limits to how they can harm people. But in this Mirror World of Demons, everyone is tainted by Yin energy, so naturally we can see her."
"As I told you before, the plan to get rid of it was to lure it into the realm of ghosts. It's a wandering-class ghost, and with some preparation, I can still eliminate it."
Jiang Jun realized that the dark-skinned, round-faced, big-eyed, and short young man in front of him was the netizen who left him the message "May good people have a peaceful life".
"Isn't it too much of a coincidence?" Jiang Jun pondered.
Zhao Chen, however, was already skillfully reassuring the crowd: "Don't worry. With this 'Guibulu' protecting us, the monsters will have to detour and won't be able to find us."
Sun Yijing asked curiously, "Is this also a ghost?"
Cai Liang perked up and enthusiastically promoted it, "No, no, no, this is a talisman called 'Guardian of Ghosts,' a powerful tool for warding off evil spirits and protecting your home that even ordinary people can make!"