Psychic Whip

[Box Phonograph: One of the relics left behind by the daughter of Viscount Jansen of the Kingdom of Migallon. It witnessed the Blood Moon Dark Painting Ritual and contains a degree of hallucinatory properties. After being devoured, it can generate related entries.]

"This trait is really useful. Shame Taotie only works on special items."

Jiang Jingnian watched the phonograph vanish in an instant, leaving behind not the slightest trace, and clicked his tongue in wonder.

When he had first crossed into this world, he had experimented with this trait on ordinary objects, as well as living things like chickens and ducks. Yet it had produced no effect at all.

The Taotie trait only reacted to special items that possessed entries.

And special items were highly random; they were not judged by an item's inherent value. Some cheap goods could possess entries too. For instance, a pair of bowls and chopsticks Jiang Jingnian had bought at the market before had actually been special items.

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"Blood Moon Dark Painting Ritual? What is that? Some secret content from those Western church groups?"

"But it doesn't matter. As long as it can be devoured."

A trace of confusion surfaced in Jiang Jingnian's eyes, but he soon cast those doubts to the back of his mind.

With a flicker in his gaze, he focused on his own status panel.

From Jiang Jingnian's perspective—

After the area behind the trait column twisted for a moment, an abyssal maw radiating endless greed suddenly appeared. Then, in some unseen realm, it swallowed the shadow of a blood-colored crescent moon.

Though the scene resembled a hazy illusion—

It felt utterly real to Jiang Jingnian.

He could even hear some unknown whispering and roaring by his ears.

That icy, venomous resentment made him feel as if he had been thrown into an ice cellar in the height of summer.

Only after several seconds did Jiang Jingnian recover from his daze, and the trait column before his eyes returned to normal.

He subconsciously touched his arm. His skin was not cold at all. What he had felt just now seemed to have been nothing more than an illusion.

[Name: Jiang Jingnian]

[Traits: Taotie, Psychic Whip (Incomplete)]

[Martial Art: Taiji Vajra Art (Beginner)]

[Archetype: Martial Master (Blood Tempering 7%)]

"What was that scene just now? Nothing like this ever happened when I devoured special items before."

Jiang Jingnian revealed a thoughtful expression, realizing that this process had differed from the previous ones. "Could it be that some monster's trace remained within the phonograph, and when my Taotie trait devoured it just now, there was some kind of struggle?"

Based on certain artistic works he had seen in his previous life, he made a bold guess about what had just occurred.

But after pondering it for a while, he still found no clues. The phonograph had not merely turned to ash—it had vanished without leaving even a trace of its existence.

It had been utterly eaten clean by the Taotie trait.

And the reward after devouring it was a new trait entry added to his panel.

[Psychic Whip (Incomplete): Twice per day, you may wield psychic power to whip the target's mind. The specific effect depends on the difference between the two sides' mental willpower.]

Jiang Jingnian reined in his emotions and turned his attention back to this new trait.

"This Psychic Whip feels a little like the magic or witchcraft skills from online games in my previous life."

"Aren't I supposed to be practicing martial arts? Why did I suddenly gain a magic skill? The styles don't quite match, do they?"

Even Jiang Jingnian was left somewhat dumbfounded when he saw this trait that resembled a magical skill.

Where exactly had this sent him?

Wasn't this supposed to be a hot-blooded clash between young men in a modern ancient-style setting, with fists pounding flesh?

When he saw the hallucinatory property written beside the phonograph, he had thought it might generate some ancient-style entry like "Lost Tracks," "Illusory Mist," or "Yin and Yang Reversed"!

The description of Psychic Whip—

Had completely thrown him for a loop.

And this was only an incomplete entry. He had no idea what it might evolve into if it were ever completed.

Psychic Plague?

Or Spirit Weaving?

"But this is good too. One more means of dealing with enemies means one more layer to my trump cards."

Jiang Jingnian's expression turned solemn.

Though his fist techniques were still crude and he was diligently practicing them, his defensive ability was astonishing. He should be stronger than martial artists of the same level.

Paired with this Psychic Whip, which resembled mental magic—

If he used Psychic Whip to launch a surprise attack during a battle, it would surely produce miraculous results. It might even swiftly decide life and death.

Early morning.

Escort agency training ground.

Quite a few runners were practicing in the grounds.

Some practiced fist and leg techniques around wooden dummies; some sparred with each other to verify their skills; others stood in stances, honing and refining their own qi and blood, hoping that one day they could break through the Blood Tempering Aperture and become Martial Masters.

Jiang Jingnian, meanwhile, stayed in a corner, practicing his fist techniques against a sturdy wooden dummy.

They were the fist techniques from the Taiji Vajra Art.

Compared to the original Twenty-Four Forms of Tai Chi Fist, it had another twenty-four forms, making forty-eight in total. It lacked the original's self-cultivating and health-nurturing effects, instead pursuing ferocity and aggression. It had tiger forms and crane shapes, making it an unusual variant of the Tai Chi Fist from his previous life.

Take the most famous "White Crane Spreads Its Wings" from his previous life.

In Jiang Jingnian's hands, he stepped into an empty stance and parted his hands. As his arms crossed, he struck the upper part of the wooden dummy three times in rapid succession—bang! bang! bang! Two strikes targeted the positions of the human temples, while the third targeted the bridge of the nose.

His reaching hand and hooking hand were swift as lightning, like a white crane pecking out eyes—vicious and dangerous to the extreme.

Even the wooden dummy made from special lumber swayed violently from the blows. It was difficult to imagine what would happen if those strikes landed on a human body of flesh and blood.

The nearest few apprentices watched in secret.

They were also rather curious about this newly arrived escort master.

The moment he passed the entry assessment, he had become an official escort master of the agency. Naturally, this had made Jiang Jingnian the center of no small amount of attention throughout the Tongda Escort Agency.

The ordinary laborers were one thing. The gap was too vast for them to feel it deeply; most merely envied and admired him, hoping that they too might one day receive such an opportunity for promotion.

But the children of wealthy families who had entered alongside him—

Had mixed attitudes. Several of them had privately discussed the matter and expressed dissatisfaction.

Especially the Qian Household, whose interests were involved. They had specifically investigated Jiang Jingnian's background and discovered that he was merely a poor relative from a prominent family, one who had come from elsewhere to seek refuge.

Before joining the escort agency, he had even pulled a rickshaw in the concessions for several months.

He was nothing but a bottom-rung laborer.

The only unusual thing about him was that he had a slight connection to the Qu Household, but that was all.

If he had truly been valued by others, he would not have needed to rely on pulling a rickshaw to make a living.

Yet this rickshaw-pulling laborer had won Captain Duan's favor the moment he arrived at the escort agency. He had even skipped the runner stage entirely and become an official escort master.

"Why?"

"It was clearly agreed that I would be promoted to escort master this month."

"I have worked hard for the escort agency for two years and three months already."

"They kept making me wait, and now they let a newcomer climb straight over my head."

"Month after month, I've already waited for several months."

"Why do I still have to keep waiting?"

Qian Shiqi, dressed in fitted martial attire, frowned as he squatted in a corner, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on Jiang Jingnian.

He could not understand it at all.

Why had Captain Duan done this?

And though he, as a runner, had worked so hard and given it his all, the escort agency had kept dangling empty promises before him. First, they said he had not become a Martial Master; second, they said his seniority was insufficient; third, they said promotion slots and resources required waiting in line.

In any case, every time he raised the matter with the escort agency, they always found all manner of excuses to refuse him.

Why?

Why did they trample on his efforts so casually?

And why did they let a poor relative who had come from elsewhere ride directly over his head?

Naturally, resentment filled his heart.