Chapter Twenty: Zhou De Nuo's Treasure

  The jade box was tightly packed with row upon row of Shui Ling stones.

  At a glance, it's unknown how many, the flashing black light casts an uncertain shadow on Shi Dong's face.

  He opened his mouth wide, his eyes staring straight ahead, and after a while, he raised his hand to take a big bite.

  "Ah yo! Pain! Ahh! Not a dream!" He shouted loudly, excitedly laughing and doing several backflips.

  Wait until he falls to the ground, his face flushed red, his two small eyes radiating excitement, suddenly stretching out ten fingers inserted into the jade box, and grasping a handful of spiritual stones, feeling the weight in his hand, plump and almost unable to grasp.

  Then he relaxed his fingers, letting the Ling Stone roll off the table with a beautiful and intoxicating sound! It was like a sparkling gem that dazzled people's eyes!

  Absolutely genuine, all of them are real deal Shui Ling stones!

  That thick yin energy made Shi Dong shiver all over, and he had to quickly mobilize his Xuan Tian Qi to barely defend against it.

  "One, two, three..." Taking a deep breath and calming down, Shi Dong started counting.

  After a cup of tea.

  "... ninety-nine, one hundred!" Shi Dong stopped moving, his chest heaving violently, his face red and swollen as if about to bleed, seemingly unable to believe it was real. "Again... count again! One, two, three..."

  After checking three times, there were exactly 100 pieces of Shā Líng Shí, almost filling the table.

  Looking at these spirit stones, Shi Dong's heart was excited and he calculated: "This... can buy 200 bottles of nourishing blood pills, or 200 bottles of practicing Qi pills! No... no... still 100 bottles of nourishing blood pills, plus 100 bottles of practicing Qi pills! Breaking through the first layer of the refining Qi period is simply not a problem, the second and third layers are also not an issue... Haha! Lei Huang you little rooster, wait for me to kick your butt! No way, no way, he has a spirit ghost, I must get one too. Then... 50 spirit stones to buy pills, 50 spirit stones to buy a powerful ghost, heh heh..."

  After going through so many twists and turns, exhausting countless mind games, I finally cracked Zhou De Nuo's treasure map, got these spirit stones, and was so excited that I almost went crazy!

  Suddenly a wave of sadness surged up in her heart, and she couldn't help but bury her head on the table and sob.

  His feelings at this moment were not entirely due to excitement from getting the treasure, but rather seeing a glimmer of hope for turning his life around, finally being able to survive, and finally having hope to return home to see his mother and little sister!

  After crying for a while, the yin energy emitted by the Shouleng Stone made him shiver, and he quickly wiped away his tears. He first put the Shouleng Stone into the storage waistband around his waist, and instantly the yin energy dissipated, making him feel much more at ease.

  Thinking that from now on, he would also be a small local tyrant with a hundred spiritual stones around his waist, he was overjoyed and picked up the jade box, but hesitated for a moment, feeling that the weight of the box was not light, as if there was something inside.

  His heart skipped a beat as he carefully examined it in front of his eyes, only to find that after the Ling Stone was hollowed out, the jade box had only emptied about half of its contents, and there seemed to be another layer at the bottom.

  Hold your breath, use your little fingernail to gently pry it open, a layer of inlaid board flips up, and inside, rows of jade bottles are neatly arranged.

  Shi Dong's heart suddenly started racing, and he hastily examined it carefully. After a moment, he let out a strange cry: "Zhou De Nuo, you old madman! These... these are all elixirs for cultivation. If we don't eat them, what's the point of keeping them?"

  Those jade bottles were actually Qi-training pills and Blood-nourishing pills, totaling one hundred bottles. The medicinal flavor was rich and they were all 100% genuine products. Even if Shi Dong took two Qi-training pills and two Blood-nourishing pills every month, it would be enough for two years of use.

  But at this time, Shi Dong was not happy at all, but rather felt a hint of fear, just like a soldier suddenly opening the warehouse and seeing countless shining knives, guns, swords and halberds. The next moment, he feared that a general would pop out, stretch out his hand and wave: "You, take these weapons and go charge into battle for me!"

  "Hahaha..." The sound of Zhou Deyan's sinister laughter seemed to echo in his ears, and Shi Dong couldn't help but shiver. The jade box slipped from his grasp and fell onto the table.

  Those medicine bottles all rolled out, and another compartment opened, revealing a thin little booklet.

  He stretched out his hand and picked it up, only to see three big characters on it - "Gambling Ghost Scripture".

  At this point, Shi Dong couldn't care less about being afraid. Even if Zhou De Nuo had some sinister plot, these things had already fallen into his own hands and he was already on the pirate ship, so he could only grit his teeth and move forward.

  He then opened the book with a trembling hand, and his eyes fell on a line of crimson small characters: "This book was written by the ancient demon lord, and those who practice it will have unpredictable fortunes, beware."

  His heart was racing with a sudden thud, the red characters in his eyes seemed to turn into fresh blood, and his ears were filled with countless mournful cries.

  "Hey! This book must have been written in blood, with countless lives lost to create it!"

  Shaking his head, he swept away some ominous fantasies and slowly turned to the first page. After finishing reading it, he couldn't help but exclaim "hmm" and quickly flipped through the rest.

  A rustling sound of turning pages, and the small booklet of over a dozen pages was quickly finished.

  He gazed up at the sky, let out a long sigh and muttered to himself: "This book... only has the first volume! If I could get my hands on the second volume, that gambler would really be unbeatable! His strength would even turn the world upside down..."

  The book was originally divided into two volumes, the first volume explained the properties and causes of spirits and ghosts, as well as the secret techniques for raising them, while the second volume discussed how to identify and break ghost fetuses, also known as the secret techniques for exorcising ghosts.

  Ghosts are transformed from the yin energy of heaven and earth, while spirits refer to ghosts that have opened up a thread of spiritual intelligence. In other words, they are living beings of yin energy, so they also have their own growth laws.

  For example, in what environment will the ghost evolve into a ghost fetus; how does the ghost fetus absorb the essence of heaven and earth to evolve into a spirit ghost; how to raise the spirit ghost to make it more ferocious and powerful; what are the differences between the five elements, ghostly magic, powerful spirit ghost, and auxiliary spirit ghost, and how can they be better matched for combat; if the spirit ghost is sick, how to treat it; as well as various secret techniques for driving the spirit ghost.

  As for the ghostly technique, the book's catalog mentions a kind of detection technique called "Wang Qi Technique".

  Originally, any ghost fetus would emit a faint and imperceptible aura, and only by practicing the art of perceiving aura could one clearly see the changes in the aura, and then select the ghost fetus that could produce a spiritual ghost based on the characteristics recorded in the book.

  Unfortunately, how to cultivate this technique of gazing at the air is recorded in the next volume, and Shi Dong can't wait to see it.

  But in the last few pages of the booklet, a secret technique for assisting in spirit exploration is mentioned, called "Ghost Insect Identification Method".

  It is said that there is a strange insect called Gui Xi Shuai, which is naturally sensitive to ghost energy. If you catch the Gui Xi Shuai and cultivate it with secret techniques, you can temporarily drive it to perform "Wang Qi Shu" (a technique for detecting spirits), and thus be able to detect the presence of ghosts.

  Things in the world are born and accompanied by each other, and many ghost crickets live in places where ghosts gather. To catch them, one must go to the yin energy gathering place of Guixiao Mountain, which makes Shi Dong shake his head, and it's clear that there's no chance for now.

  "Hmph, whatever! This Gambler's Scripture seems to be quite useful after all. I'll put it away for now and when I have the power, I'll come out of seclusion and catch a Ghost Cricket, then I'll make another bet with that Ling Gui!" Shi Dong thought to himself.

  He took another close look at this "Gambling Ghost Classic" and noticed that the ink marks were relatively new, indicating that it was a later copy rather than an original from the ancient Demon Sovereign.

  This made him wonder if it was Zhou De's copy. The content had signs of deletion and modification, most of which introduced the principles and concepts, while the real secret technique was only this "Ghost Insect Appraisal Method", which really made people itch with curiosity, apparently the copier did it on purpose.

  Shi Dong quietly reminded himself that from now on, he must be more careful when using it, lest he fall into the trap of that crazy old man.

  He carefully put the Gambler's Ghost into the storage belt, and also stored the hundred bottles of elixir. He then picked up the jade box again to examine it carefully, and suddenly found that there was still a yellow talisman paper at the very bottom.

  Pick it up with your hand and take a look, and on it is actually painted crimson cinnabar, with strange flower patterns.

  Suddenly, the yellow paper flashed with a bright light and began to tremble. A voice immediately followed.

  "Haha, you little kid, you're quite lucky! You've actually found my Zhou De Nuo's treasure..."

  Shi Dong was so startled that he trembled and the yellow paper slipped from his hand and fell to the ground, and the sound also stopped abruptly.