Startled, Zheng Xiu snapped his eyes open and returned to reality.
A beam of moonlight filtered in, casting a grim, cold light on the touch of green from the golden silk vine.
Zheng Xiu gasped for air in his cell.
Dice, tabletop games, the Ghostly Realm, black water, a gateway, a rotten sparrow.
It was all so inconceivable.
The sudden sensation of falling, the icy touch of the black water, the deep-sea terror brought on by the endless darkness, and finally, the sharp pain of that rotten bird piercing his chest.
Zheng Xiu struggled to understand what he was going through. The excitement he'd felt when his Incarnation's [Taunt] skill reached the "Entry" level in the Ghostly Realm had been quickly dispelled by the bizarre events that followed.
A strange itch suddenly bloomed on his chest, right where the "Caged Sparrow" had pierced him.
Zheng Xiu's heart skipped a beat. He pulled open his robe, and his pupils contracted violently.
Looking down, he saw faint red veins bulging on his chest, connected in the shape of a ferocious bird's claw.
Boss Zheng couldn't resist reaching out to touch it.
It didn't itch. It didn't hurt.
In fact, scratching it felt rather good.
Zheng Xiu stopped touching it and thought back on his experience in the Ghostly Realm.
It seemed that every time he received the [Deep Path] prompt, it was at a critical juncture.
The first time was when he completed the first act of "Baili Village."
The second time was when his Incarnation, Zheng Shan's, Taunt skill was upgraded to "Entry."
'Right, the Projection,' he thought.
Zheng Xiu closed his eyes, practicedly entering the Heart Prison.
Inside the Consciousness Space, the cage was still shrouded in gray mist.
With a thought, a yellowed Paper Scroll floated out from the gray mist and came before him.
As he stroked the Paper Scroll, its skin-like texture felt strange to him.
The Paper Scroll recorded Zheng Xiu's information.
[Host]: [Zheng Xiu]
[Path]: [Prisoner]
[Derivation]: [Observing the Sky from Prison (Initial Path)], [Divine Travel (Initial Path)], [Projection (Initial Path)]
[Talent]: [No merchant is honest (Initial Path)]
[Experience]: [White Carp's Initial Search for Secrets, Tumultuous Times Shock Waves (Newcomer to the Martial World)]
Zheng Xiu pressed his fingertip onto [Projection].
[Projection (Initial Path)]: Trapped in your cell like a Caged Sparrow yearning for freedom, you, who long to break free and soar, can briefly project your Incarnation onto yourself to glimpse the great and strange secrets of the world.
Reading the text, Zheng Xiu instantly understood how to use [Projection].
...
In the darkness, when Zheng Xiu opened his eyes again, the bright moonlight instantly dimmed.
Although his facial features hadn't changed, if anyone else had been there, they would have been astonished to see a hazy glow enveloping Zheng Xiu, even in the humble prison cell.
"CRACK, CRACK, CRACK..."
The moment Zheng Xiu stood up, a series of crisp cracks echoed from his bones. He suddenly felt his clothes, which should have been loose, become tight.
Looking down, Zheng Xiu saw that his trouser legs were now several inches shorter.
"I've… gotten taller."
Zheng Xiu rolled up his sleeves and his breath hitched.
These days, the world was at peace, the country prosperous, and its people content.
Sword-wielding Knights, the men and women of the Jianghu, and wielders of Miracle Techniques and Alchemists had long since become obsolete. They had hung up their swords and settled down, some becoming street vendors, others farmers and weavers, raising families.
As the Richest Person in the land, Zheng Xiu naturally hadn't become an ordinary Martial Artist. His build was usually what one would call well-proportioned, but certainly not robust.
But now, Zheng Xiu stared, slightly dumbfounded, at his own biceps, which had swelled up as if inflated.
There was nothing here for him to smash or lift to test his strength. But the power hidden within those developed muscles was plain to see.
Under the effect of [Projection], all the abilities of his Incarnation had been transferred to Zheng Xiu's body.
Zheng Xiu's mood at this moment wasn't one of wild ups and downs, but it was certainly a mix of surprise and delight.
When he looked up, a faint hourglass appeared in his vision.
Inside the hourglass, fine strands of gray sand were trickling down.
Zheng Xiu reached out to grab it, his hand whistling through the air, but his fingers passed right through the "hourglass."
"A brief Projection… I suppose this represents its duration."
'Right.' Zheng Xiu touched his forehead, and a twenty-sided die materialized from between his eyebrows, growing from small to large.
The die was like a Magical Treasure from a novel—it could grow or shrink at will, appearing and disappearing as he pleased.
"Scouting."
[...]
He tossed the die, but it didn't even spin, just fell limply to the ground.
No reaction.
"Medical Principles."
He tossed the die again. Still no reaction.
Zheng Xiu was puzzled, but he had a vague sense of what the key was. He looked over at Jiang Gaoyi, who was snoring soundly in the opposite cell. 'My apologies,' he thought, and threw a [Taunt].
This time, the die spun rapidly in the Void.
CLACK. It spun and stopped in the span of a breath.
[Eleven.]
[Result is greater than ten.]
[Taunt successful.]
A [Taunt] at the "Entry" level was in a completely different league from one at "Slightly Knowledgeable."
Before, it needed a roll greater than sixteen to trigger the [Taunt] effect. Now, it only required a ten.
"Lord Jiang, is your family doing well?"
Master Zheng greeted the man opposite him amicably.
WHOOSH!
The next second, Jiang Gaoyi, as if possessed, shot his eyes open in the dark. He lunged at the bars, pointing at Zheng Xiu while screaming and cursing, looking like he wanted to murder Zheng Xiu's entire family. His expression was like that of an Evil Ghost, causing even Boss Zheng, the instigator of it all, to be secretly taken aback.
Jiang Gaoyi's commotion quickly attracted the night Prison Guard. Seeing the old man's midnight fit, the guard cursed angrily and prepared to drag him out for a few lashes. After all, who told him to offend Master Zheng?
He'd taken the man's money, so he had to be proactive. He couldn't always wait for Master Zheng to remind him.
Zheng Xiu had been observing Jiang Gaoyi's reaction, feeling a pang of guilt. A few minutes later, just as the Prison Guard opened the cell door, Jiang Gaoyi seemed to snap out of it, standing dumbfounded and at a loss.
The Prison Guard was muttering curses as he sprinkled salt on his whip and took a swig of strong white liquor, clearly intending to whip Lord Jiang back to his senses on the spot. But Master Zheng gently interjected:
"Forget it. He and I have no quarrel, so why would he curse me for no reason? Lord Jiang was probably just having a nightmare. Let's just let it go this time." Master Zheng waved his hand. "Do it for me."
When Zheng Xiu said "Do it for me," the Prison Guard turned to look at him and felt his heart pound, silently praying to his mother for protection. Bathed in a beam of moonlight, Master Zheng's otherworldly handsome face, so transcendent and elegant, made the guard freeze, thinking he was hallucinating.
'Damn, I must have accidentally rolled my [Appearance] stat way too high!'
Seeing the guard's reaction, Zheng Xiu cursed inwardly and canceled the [Projection], returning to normal.
The Prison Guard immediately snapped back to his senses, breaking out in a cold sweat. He hastily locked the cell door and walked away in a daze, not daring to speak another word.
Jiang Gaoyi sat dejectedly in his cell, still reeling from his earlier outburst. Before he had lost control, it felt as if an invisible rod had been forcibly shoved into his skull, filling him with an uncontrollable, inescapable Anger.
"Marquis Zheng, I… I…"
"Lord Jiang, say no more," Zheng Xiu said magnanimously from across the way. "Our meeting here is fate. I understand the misery of prison life all too well. Humans are not saints; who in this world is without fault?"
Jiang Gaoyi timidly retreated into the darkness, apparently still feeling ashamed, and said no more.
'Sorry, Lord Jiang.'
Zheng Xiu thought to himself, quickly putting the little incident caused by "testing his abilities" to the back of his mind.
Because Wang Cangyun's blade had been too fast in the second act of the Ghostly Realm, Master Zheng had rushed to raise his [Taunt] to the Entry level. Now, judging by the moonlight, it was just past midnight; there was still time.
For the rest of the night, Zheng Xiu didn't re-enter the Ghostly Realm. Even laborers need to rest, let alone Master Zheng.
Instead, he secretly experimented with his [Projection] ability.
By the time the cock crowed, Master Zheng let out a yawn.
After testing it for half the night, Master Zheng had a preliminary understanding of the [Projection] ability.
To put it simply:
Zheng Xiu could use [Projection] once every hour, and at the "Initial Path" level, it would last for about ten minutes.
If he exceeded ten minutes, or tried to force another [Projection] right after using it, he would feel a stabbing pain between his eyebrows, accompanied by dizziness.
During [Projection], Zheng Xiu's body and attributes mirrored those of his Incarnation, [Zheng Shan].
However, one point stood out to him: only his [Taunt] skill, which had reached the "Entry" level, could be used. [Medical Principles], [Scouting], and [Intuition] could not be projected into reality. Perhaps, he mused, "Entry" was the key.
Having gained a basic understanding of the [Projection] ability, Master Zheng had dark circles under his eyes, yet he didn't feel tired. The more he thought about it, the more excited he became.
In Zheng Xiu's view, this was the first true intersection between the Ghostly Realm and reality, between his Incarnation and himself.
If he continued to grind in the Ghostly Realm, his Incarnation would grow stronger, and in turn, he would be stronger whenever he used [Projection].
The longer he sat in prison, the stronger he would become!
Before dawn, Zheng Xiu decided to take a short nap to recover his energy.
Lying on his soft bedding, Zheng Xiu closed his eyes, his experiences of the past two days and nights in the Ghostly Realm feeling like a dream.
'If Old Wei really can't make it and Daqian falls into civil war again,' Zheng Xiu thought, 'now that I have a Superpower, I wouldn't be afraid even if I lost my entire fortune.'
'Both money and abilities are just tools to make one's way in the world.'
'Of course, if he had a choice, Master Zheng would rather be both rich and powerful.'
As his thoughts drifted, exhaustion finally caught up with him, and Master Zheng fell asleep.
「Daybreak.」
Early this morning, Zheng Erniang came to visit him alone.
She brought him a piece of news that was both surprising, yet not entirely unexpected.
The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Shi Wentong.
Was truly dead.