I Cheated While Cultivating

Chapter 206: Turning Paper Cutouts into Soldiers

What does it mean to be an international actor?

Zhou Heng felt that was exactly what he was now!

His acting skills were truly amazing.

Whether it was his facial expressions or the tone of his speech, there were no flaws whatsoever, absolutely perfect.

It was as if he truly had no idea what had happened to the Medicine God Sect last night.

“It’s true, Daoist Zhou,” Song Yingshu nodded earnestly, pointing in the direction of the city gate, “There are people who have returned from the Medicine God Sect, and their family members have already confirmed their identities.

“These people were all captured by the Medicine God Sect to serve as Medicine Men, and it’s all thanks to Sir Chen Xingjiang’s destruction of the Medicine God Sect that they were able to escape.

“By the way, I also heard that the grounds of the Medicine God Sect were covered with the bodies of guards, and one of them even had the three characters ‘Chen Xingjiang’ written on him.

“Moreover, according to descriptions by a few survivors who know martial arts, the Medicine God Sect was killed by Sir Chen’s unique martial arts skill, the ‘Falling Petals Sky Flying Palm.’

“Hahaha! The Medicine God Sect, this Evil Sect, was unbridled and caused harm to the local people. Now that it has been wiped out, Prefect Chen is truly a great good man!”

His two companions also nodded in agreement repeatedly, showing that they very much concurred with this statement.

“Hmm, indeed a great good man, a compassionate heart,” Zhou Heng said with a smile. He was carrying such a big pot on his back, how could he not be a good man? Truly a very good man.

“Daoist Zhou, we plan to go to the ruins of the Medicine God Sect to have a look. Would you like to join us?” Song Yingshu asked with some anticipation, “There are also a few friends from the martial arts community whom we’ve recently met.”

“I’ll pass on that, as I still have the Killing Orders from the four major Evil Sects on me,” Zhou Heng laughed, “Oh, and be careful when making friends. Don’t fall for someone else’s trick, you must stay vigilant.”

After their brief encounter yesterday, Zhou Heng had a good impression of these young disciples from the Nature Sect, so he took the liberty of giving them a few pointers.

“Thank you for the warning, Daoist. We understand,” the three Song Yingshu nodded repeatedly, and then they took their leave.

Once the three had walked away.

Zhou Heng’s gaze swept across the street corner not far away, and he spoke indifferently, “Since you’re already here, why hide in secret? Come out.”

“Hehe, the Daoist has good hearing,” a light laugh came from the alley corner. Soon afterward, a tall, middle-aged man dressed in black close-fitting armor stepped out and said, “Lin He from the County City Office, I’ve seen the Purple Lightning Thunder Blade.”

“Lin He, the unselfish official of Secret Six Rank and an Innate expert?” Zhou Heng bowed slightly with a smile, “I’ve long admired the great name of Official Lin. What brings you here today?”

In fact, the moment Lin He appeared, he already knew his purpose.

An official is a genuine authoritative position in the County City Office, the chief of the clerks, managing all kinds of affairs within the Prefecture. One could say he is the Prefectural Governor’s right-hand man.

To some extent, the official’s actions also represent the will of the Prefectural Governor.

Now that Lin He was here, it was clear that Chen Xingjiang couldn’t sit still anymore.

“Why does Daoist Zhou bother asking what you already know?” Lin He smiled, “The Prefectural Governor seeks an audience, please accompany me back to the County City Office.”

“What are you talking about, Official Lin? I don’t understand,” Zhou Heng feigned confusion, and then knitted his brows, appearing somewhat uneasy, “Moreover, I already visited the County City Office yesterday and had some unpleasantness with Sir Chen. I’d rather not go today.”

“…” Lin He was momentarily stunned upon hearing this, seemingly shocked that anyone would refuse an invitation from the Prefectural Governor. But knowing Zhou Heng’s identity, he took a deep breath and explained, “The Prefectural Governor sincerely wishes to see you, Daoist. There’s something he wishes to discuss.”

“But I really don’t want to go to the County City Office.” Zhou Heng still shook his head, saying, “Why don’t you have Sir Chen come over by himself? I’ll be waiting for him in the Emperor Zi Jia Yi Suite at Yuxing Inn.”

“You?!” Lin He was left speechless, visibly shaken and trembling with indignation.

The Prefecture official took a moment to lower his head and take deep breaths, steadying his nerves before he could speak, but by that time, Zhou Heng had already turned around and returned to the inn, showing no intention of continuing the conversation.

Lin He felt darkness encroaching, ready to faint.

Just at that moment.

Zhou Heng suddenly reemerged from the inn. This gave Lin He a slight relief, and he thought, “It seems this young man does have some awe of power after all. Now things might be easier…”

“Oh right, I haven’t had breakfast yet. Tell Sir Chen to bring me something to eat,” Zhou Heng’s next words nearly caused Lin He to spit blood, “I want a serving of Douhua, three fried dough sticks, and a marinated egg. Oh, and the Douhua should be savory.”

Without waiting for Lin He to respond, he casually returned to the inn, disappearing after a short while.

“This, this… what?!”

Lin He felt dizzy, his head spinning. The Secret Six Rank Innate expert had been utterly baffled by Zhou Heng’s few words.

It was quite a remarkable skill, indeed.

But now that Zhou Heng had gone back inside the inn, and given Zhou Heng’s status, Lin He couldn’t barge in directly and had no choice but to begrudgingly return to the County City Office.

Then, he relayed Zhou Heng’s message word for word to a very grim-looking Chen Xingjiang, including the part about Zhou Heng asking Chen to bring breakfast, perfectly preserved.

Bang!

Chen Xingjiang crushed the teacup in his hand but still nodded, his face dark as he said, “Good, good, good! Very good! If he wants Purple Lightning Thunder Blade, then I’ll go in person.”

…

While waiting for Chen Xingjiang to come over, Zhou Heng was not idle.

He planned to open some of the Fortune Bags he had accumulated over the past few days.

Who knows? He might get something useful, right?

He had nearly twenty Copper Fortune Bags and three Silver Fortune Bags.

“`

“Open ten Copper Fortune Bags and two Silver Fortune Bags.”

“`

“`

…

“`

“Congratulations! You obtained spiritual medicine: Grain Avoidance Pills*3.”

“Congratulations! You obtained the martial arts technique ‘Six Meridian Divine Sword’ [Seventh Grade].”

“Congratulations! You’ve hit the jackpot! You obtained a special skill card: Soar Earth Golden Light Method [Copper].”

“Congratulations! You obtained special spiritual materials: Heavenly Thunder Iron [Secret Six Rank].”

“Congratulations! You’ve hit the jackpot! You obtained a special skill card: Shapeshift Card.”

“Congratulations! You obtained a special item: Red Bellyband*1.”

…

…

“Congratulations! You attained a basic attribute: Agility +1.”

“Congratulations! You obtained the Taoist formula ‘Paper Soldiers from Cutting’ [Secret Six Rank].”

…

Zhou Heng was quite satisfied with his haul from opening the Fortune Bags this time around. Besides the Silver Fortune Bags still not granting him a jackpot, the other rewards seemed pretty decent.

“Other than when I’m in ‘Lucky’ status, I’ve never hit the jackpot with Silver Fortune Bags. They must be doing this on purpose!” he couldn’t help but grumble to himself, then began to carefully examine a few of the more special rewards he received.

“Grain Avoidance Pill: Contains a large amount and highly refined essence of nutrients. When consumed by a Seventh Rank Warrior, one can go without food for a month, an Eighth Rank Warrior for half a year, and a Ninth Rank Warrior would burst on the spot.”

Bursting on the spot is a bit much, isn’t it? Don’t Ninth Rank Warriors have any dignity?

“Soar Earth Golden Light Method [Copper]: The golden light soars through the earth covering a million miles instantly, allowing oneself or other objects to be instantly teleported within three million kilometers.”

Teleportation!

This is a nice item for saving one’s life.

“Shapeshift Card: Allows one to transform into any creature that doesn’t exceed one’s comprehension and whose mass is no more than ten times one’s own. The transformation can last up to three days; if reverted before that time, the card becomes invalid.”

Seems like something that requires some skill to use.

“Paper Soldiers from Cutting [Secret Six Rank]: Cut out paper figures according to Taoist requirements and inscribe specific runes to enable the paper figures to become Taoist Soldiers with fifty percent of the original’s strength. If the paper figures are undamaged, they can be reused.”

This could be used as a weapon during group fights. Toss out hundreds of paper soldiers at the flick of a wrist, have them charge forward — much easier than dealing with things personally.

And even if not used for combat, cutting a few paper soldiers to serve tea, pass water, and massage shoulders doesn’t sound too bad either.

Zhou Heng imagined happily to himself and nodded in satisfaction.

He decided to first try out and see the effects of this Taoist formula.

Thanks to the basic attribute of Spiritual Root +3 and various bonuses from martial arts techniques, along with some experience in practicing high-ranked Taoist formulas, Zhou Heng quickly mastered the basics.

“Congratulations! Your proficiency in the Taoist formula ‘Paper Soldiers from Cutting’ [Secret Six Rank] has reached 1, officially mastering this technique. Due to your exceptional Spiritual Root and the bonuses from high-grade Taoist formulas, you gain +3000 proficiency.”

‘Paper Soldiers from Cutting’ [Secret Six Rank]: Third Layer (1/3000)

Zhou Heng casually took out a piece of white paper from his Qiankun pouch, shaped his finger into a sword, let a bit of Inner Qi seep through, forming a golden light, and in a blink of an eye, cut out a palm-sized paper figure.

Then, he used a cinnabar brush to draw runes on it and tossed the paper figure into the air; it shook slightly and turned into a figure over a meter tall, resembling a grown person.

This paper figure, swaying on the ground, was just a thin slice, with a faint golden light shimmering on its surface. If one saw it at night, it would be quite spooky.

Clearly, it couldn’t be used in combat; it looked like the proficiency is still too low, and for now, it could only serve tea and water.

Bang bang!

Just then, there was a knock on the door from outside the room.

“Daoist Zhou, I’ve come at your invitation. May I come in?” It was Chen Xingjiang, the Prefectural Governor of Fangzhou.

“Please come in,” Zhou Heng said with a smile, and with a thought, he directed the paper figure to open the door.

Chen Xingjiang walked in and the first thing he saw was a paper figure, faintly shimmering with a golden light, wobbly and floating, with no facial features and completely pale, except for the cinnabar runes drawn on it.

Even though he was a peak expert of his time, he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows at this sight.

After all, in this era, human Taoist formulas were rare, and even a Great Grandmaster of the Fourth Rank might not have seen many Taoist techniques.

“Daoist Zhou truly lives up to his reputation as a true heir of the Taoist Immortal Sect, to possess such a Taoist formula at merely the Seventh Rank is enviable,” Chen Xingjiang said with a smile as he walked in, making himself quite at home and sitting down.

The paper figure then closed the door and stood at attention beside it.

“What brings Prefectural Governor Chen here today?” Zhou Heng did not rise, remaining seated on the bedstead and asked with a smile.

“Daoist Zhou, are you aware that you are about to face a huge disaster?” Chen Xingjiang said startlingly.

“Where’s my breakfast?” Zhou Heng simply smiled in response. “Prefectural Governor Chen wouldn’t have forgotten it, would you?”

“You!!” Chen Xingjiang was on the verge of slamming the table and rising.

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