Master Of Trading Star Card Game

Translator: Star River from w.a.n.gmamaread

Proofreader: Rhith

In game, Xie Mingzhe started to make the new cards as soon as he returned to his individual s.p.a.ce.

Actually, ghost cards could be easily targeted. He already had the idea when Legend Tang suggested aiming at ghost cards earlier. But he had just finished [Lin Daiyu] and [Xue Baochai] at that time, then he made [Xi Shi] and [w.a.n.g Zhaojun] in order to maintain the continuity of beauty cards.

Imagine walking into the store and seeing the complete series of the Four Great Beauties cards in the display cabinet. That would be enchanting.

He already had the four beauty cards as the greatest treasure of the store, which means the new cards that he made next wouldn't be placed in the display cabinet. Accordingly, the consistent painting style could be eliminated from his consideration, and it was okay if the new cards' images were not that good looking.

According to Chinese mythology and the description in one of the Four Great Cla.s.sical Novels of Chinese literature, Journey to the West, people would become ghosts and go to "the underworld" after they die. Yanluo w.a.n.g※ oversaw the underworld realm and he had four subordinate judges who were in charge of four departments of the world respectively. They were the Four Judges in Chinese mythology, Wei Zheng of the "Rewarding Kindness Department", Zhong Kui of the "Punishing Vice Department", Lu Zhidao of the "Inspecting Department" as well as Cui Yu of the "Regulating Department".

Wei Zheng of the Rewarding Kindness Department was responsible for rewarding "good ghosts" who had done good stuff to people before they died. In other words, good people would get rewards when they came to the underworld and met Wei Zheng. And they would be reincarnated to families with good conditions.

Zhong Kui of the Punishing Vice Department, just as its t.i.tle, was responsible for punishing "evil ghosts" who did a lot of bad things when they were alive. According to these evil ghosts' sins, he sent different ghosts to different levels of Diyu※ which had eighteen levels in total, and there they would atone for their sins. They could be reincarnated after serving their sentences, but if the crime was extremely serious they would stay in Diyu and never be reborn.

As for the other two judges, Lu Zhidao of the Inspecting Department was responsible for vindicating ghosts, so he was literally a judge; Cui Yu of the Regulating Department was in charge of increasing or reducing the life span. If a ghost did good things when they were alive, he would live long in his next life; if not, he would die young.

Xie Mingzhe used to be interested in paranormal fiction, so he once inquired about the structure of the underworld realm when he was in college. He knew that all characters related to the underworld, such as Yanluo w.a.n.g, the Four Judges, the Heibai Wuchang※ and Meng Po※, could be made into cards.

However, he only needed to create one IDE card currently, so he didn't have to figure out all of the characters.

The elements could be provided by the Four Judges. And Zhong Kui of the Punishing Vice Department was the most appropriate one because he could punish evil ghosts.

Thinking of this, Xie Mingzhe started to conceive the image of Zhong Kui based on the materials in his mind.

In history there was the painting of "Zhong Kui Hunting Ghosts". And many people glued the painting to their gates because Zhong Kui would frighten the evil ghosts off and protect their families.

According to local folklore, Zhong Kui※ looked very fierce with an iron face, wildly curly beard, a tiny head and giant eyes. But he was a man with integrity. He was never afraid of evil ghosts and good at casting them out.

Zhong Kui's image was distinct from the Four Beauties. Thus those people who have been paying attention to 月半 Card Store would know that 月半 didn't only paint beauty cards.

After thinking it over, he connected his Inner Spirit to the card-making system in order to make the card, [Zhong Kui].

The large man with a scary head and thick hair wore bright red clothes. He looked very ferocious due to his angry eyes. Children would cry if they saw him. But the truth was that Zhong Kui was very kind and he was only against evil ghosts.

As for the skill, Xie Mingzhe tried to design the ghost instant death skill first. But the system screen showed "The attempt failed". Was this really because that ghosts were already dead, so it was impossible to make them die again?

Xie Mingzhe thought for a moment. Since the instant death effect was not working, Zhong Kui could send the ghost cards to h.e.l.l and ban all their skills, or he could just hold them in captivity, which was basically the same thing as "instant death". Using his idea, he rewrote the skill description and drew a giant bag for Zhong Kui to hold. Then the card was made rapidly——

Zhong Kui (Earth)

Card Level: 1

Evolution Level: ★

Available Times of Use: 1/1

Base Attributes: Health 200, Attack 0, Defense 100, Agility 30, Critical Strike Chance 0%

Additional Skill: Hunting Ghosts (Zhong Kui of the Punishing Vice Department of the Underworld. Has a 30% chance of catching ghost cards and putting them in the Qiankun Bag. Makes them unable to perform act.)

He couldn't apply the instant death effect, but he could hunt the ghosts and put them into the bag. In that case, the ghost cards' skills would be useless.

The Qiankun Bag※ was the weapon that Xie Mingzhe designed for Zhong Kui. The ghosts were not real and they were just souls, so in principle it made sense to put souls into the Qiankun Bag. The card's effect was similar to an IDE card. The only difference was in the process. The IDE cards would kill the opponent's cards instantly, while [Zhong Kui] just caught the ghosts and put them in the bag.

Xie Mingzhe looked at the new card with excitement.

The accomplishment of another idea made him more confident than before.

Next would be the demon cards.

Speaking of demons, it was hard to ignore the Chinese novel, Journey to the West※. The novel had various demons and they all tried to impede Tang Sanzang's journey to retrieve Buddhist sutras. Many of them even attempted to deceive Tang Sanzang in human forms, but they were all unmasked by Sun Wukong's sharp eyes.

It was easy to use Sun Wukong to make demon IDE cards because his eyes could see through the disguise and his Ruyi Jingu Bang※ was so powerful that it could kill demons easily.

But Xie Mingzhe didn't want to waste the Monkey King on an IDE card since the authorities stipulated that an IDE card could only have one skill. As for the second apprentice fellow, Zhu Bajie couldn't be related to the instant death effect. What about Sha Wujing……

Then it suddenly came to Xie Mingzhe——Sha Wujing's weapon, the Ogre-quelling Staff!

The Ogre-quelling Staff was also known as "Suoluo Staff". It was made from the Moon Palace's Suoluo fairy wood. It looked like a dark rolling pin and weighed over 5,000 jin. When Sha Wujing was the Curtain-lifting General, the Jade Emperor bestowed the Ogre-quelling Staff on him as a weapon. Later Sha Wujing violated the heaven's rules and was banished to the Flowing-sand river and killed so many people.

Then Tang Sanzang pa.s.sed by the Flowing-sand river and accepted Sha Wujing as his disciple. With the help of Guanyin, he was enlightened and named "Sha Wujing". Then he followed his Shifu on the journey to the west and he still carried that staff.

The weapon must be very useful to beat demons!

Xie Mingzhe's eyes shone with excitement. That's it! He was going to use Sha Wujing to make the demon IDE cards.

He had watched Journey to the West so many times when he was a child. He remembered that Sha Wujing was an innocent bald monk with a thick full beard. He wore a necklace of big black beads. So he just painted the card according to the image in his memory. Then the conception of Sha Wujing was completed quickly.

As for the skill, Xie Mingzhe had already thought of that too. The skill would be the demon instant death effect——

Sha Wujing (Earth)

Card Level: 1

Evolution Level: ★

Available Times of Use: 1/1

Base Attributes: Health 200, Attack 0, Defense 100, Agility 30, Critical Strike Chance 0%

Additional Skill: Staff Quelling Demons (Waves the staff held in hand and causes huge damage to demon cards. Has a 30% chance of triggering the instant death effect.)

After finishing making the cards, Xie Mingzhe excitedly picked up the two cards and sent a voice PM to Tang Muzhou, "Legend Tang, I have made two more IDE cards. Do you want to come and check them out?"

Tang Muzhou answered immediately, "Sure, invite me to your individual s.p.a.ce."

Xie Mingzhe sent the invitation, and then pa.s.sed the two new cards to Tang Muzhou.

Tang Muzhou, "…………"

Hunting Ghosts, Quelling Demons. It seems like the Earth cards of the Ghost h.e.l.l Club would have a hard time together!

Tang Muzhou wanted to laugh but he thought it was not appropriate behaviour, so he strived to hide his amus.e.m.e.nt and seriously said to Xie Mingzhe, "Here is another piece of advice. Since you have already aimed at ghost cards and demon cards, why don't you aim at the biggest boss of the Earth card group?"

Xie Mingzhe asked with interest, "What is the biggest boss of the Earth cards?"

Tang Muzhou said, "Lao Zheng's elephant cards. They are a hard nut to crack. You should consider how to kill his elephants."

Xie Mingzhe, "…………"

Every Legend, please don't hate me. This was not my own fault since it was always Legend Tang that gave me ideas for making cards.

Tang Muzhou was the root of all the troubles!

Translator's Note:

1. Yanluo w.a.n.g (Chinese:阎罗王) is a Chinese deity and the ruler of the underworld Diyu. Sometimes known as the King of h.e.l.l, King Yan, Yanluo or Yama.

2. Diyu (Chinese: 地狱) is the realm of the dead or “h.e.l.l” in Chinese mythology. Chinese legends speak of the “Eighteen Levels of h.e.l.l”. Each court deals with a different aspect of atonement and different punishments; most legends claim that sinners are subjected to gruesome tortures until their “deaths”, after which they are restored to their original state for the torture to be repeated.

3. The Heibai Wuchang (Chinese:黑白无常), literally “Black and White Impermanence”, are two deities in Chinese folk religion in charge of escorting the spirits of the dead to the Underworld. As their names suggest, they are dressed in black and white respectively. They are the subordinates of Yanluo w.a.n.g, the ruler of the Underworld in Chinese mythology.

4. Meng Po (Chinese: 孟婆) is the Lady of Forgetfulness in Chinese mythology. She serves in Diyu. It is her task to ensure that souls who are ready to be reincarnated do not remember their previous life or their time in h.e.l.l.

5. The painting of Zhong Kui

6. The Qiankun bag (Chinese: 乾坤袋) is a bag which can hold more than it should be able to carry. It is used by cultivators to carry around large amounts of items.

7. Journey to the West (Chinese: 西游记) is one of the Four Great Cla.s.sical Novels of Chinese literature. The novel is an extended account of the legendary pilgrimage of the Tang dynasty Buddhist monk Xuanzang who traveled to the “Western Regions” to obtain Buddhist Sutras and returned after many trials and much suffering. The four protagonists are Sun Wukong, Tang Sanzang, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing.

8. Ruyi Jingu Bang (Chinese: 如意金箍棒) is the poetic name of a magical staff wielded by the immortal monkey Sun Wukong.

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