Chapter 112: Does Jiang Cheng Have a Girlfriend?
“The Sea Tribe’s declaration of war” eventually dissipated quietly following Ao Lian’s return home and the mediation of the Tongtian Sect.
The main reason this incident was resolved peacefully was that none of the three parties actually wanted to go to war.
The Sea Tribe was outwardly strong but internally weak, with neglected military preparations, fearing their bluff would be called if a real fight broke out. Moreover, with Ao Lian returning, they had no reason to fight.
The treasury of the Great Liang Court was empty and could not support a large-scale war.
The Tongtian Sect’s foundation in the Liang Kingdom faced challenges from the Taixu Sect and the Linlan Sect. Should they go to war with the Sea Tribe, they would be very vulnerable to the remaining Immortal Sects exploiting the situation to act against them, ending up in a thankless predicament.
After much ado about the declaration of war, the biggest loser was actually Tongtian Sect’s Wuyue City branch.
Because of Jiang Cheng’s “Animal Encouragement Talisman,” the Sea Tribe pinned the blame of “enticing the Dragon Clan Commandery Princess” on him. Although using a first level talisman to “entice” a Commandery Princess of Foundation Establishment seemed far-fetched, “prohibiting the encouragement talisman” was the Sea Tribe’s primary condition for ceasing war, which the main branch of Tongtian Sect in the Liang Kingdom accepted after assessment.
As the instigator behind the “fishing for the Dragon Clan Commandery Princess” incident, Jiang Cheng should have borne most of the responsibility for the debacle.
Unfortunately for them, first, Jiang Cheng did not violate any of the Liang Kingdom’s laws, leaving the court powerless; second, Jiang Cheng was not a disciple of the Tongtian Sect, so their sect rules did not apply to him.
In the end, Lu Wang, the president of the Tongtian Sect’s Wuyue Talisman Master Association, took the fall for “not rigorously certifying talismans,” shouldering the blame for Jiang Cheng.
However, this misfortune turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Lu Wang.
Because he was stripped of his presidency and reassigned to the Tongtian Sect as a talisman lecturer.
Though it seemed like a demotion from president to lecturer, a decrease in authority, in reality, it was a move from the local to the central, a disguised promotion. If Lu Wang could make use of the sect’s resources to achieve Foundation Establishment Great Perfection or Core Formation, he might even qualify to challenge for the rank of fourth-level Talisman Master.
So this “demotion” was actually the Tongtian Sect’s way of compensating Lu Wang for being the scapegoat.
As for the Fishing Talismans still in circulation on the market, all modified versions were recalled and confiscated, and the regular versions were restricted from being transferred, only to be used by the owners or sold back to Tongtian Sect at the original price.
Overall, with the Sea Tribe pressuring the Human Race on the pretext of “enticing the Commandery Princess,” and the tacit cooperation of the Liang State Court and Tongtian Sect, the Fishing Talisman incident was reduced to an insignificant note in the history files of the Tongtian Sect Archive Department.
Jiang Cheng now has no time to worry about the Animal Encouragement Talisman.
Compared to Spirit Stones, what he is currently short on is time.
The time he had already been cutting close for talisman development was completely insufficient after Ao Lian’s meddling.
Besides, the development of the Smart Puppet Talisman faced a very thorny issue.
That is “how to conveniently implant preset actions.”
Drawing a Smart Puppet Talisman wasn’t difficult; similar puppet talisman textbooks were easily obtainable from the library. If all else failed, Jiang Cheng could also directly ask Yue Linger.
After all, she was a second-level Talisman Master and definitely had that capability.
But the problem was that Jiang Cheng required not an ordinary Puppet Talisman but a Smart Puppet Talisman capable of “Highly Efficient Sharkman” performance within the Illusion Realm.
The “preset actions” that come with a typical Puppet Talisman are slow, clumsy, and full of flaws because they target the rigid puppets made of wood and iron, not humans with flexible muscles and joints.
Using only “built-in presets,” Jiang Cheng, with a Smart Puppet Talisman, couldn’t achieve “Highly Efficient Sharkman” in the Illusion Realm. Instead, he might end up being led around like a dog.
Jiang Cheng wanted to quickly write excellent martial arts like “Killing Sword Skills,” “One-Hit Kill,” and “Sneak Attack Victory” into his Intelligent Puppet Talisman.
With the traditional implantation method, just the content of “Killing Sword Skills” alone would take half a year to implant.
This efficiency was too low for Jiang Cheng to accept.
Jiang Cheng needed a “Translation Talisman” that could instantly translate his movements in reality into the Intelligent Puppet Talisman.
That way, as soon as he had practiced “Killing Sword Skills” once, the Intelligent Puppet Talisman could remember it. It was convenient, simple, and quick.
Most importantly, with a “Translation Talisman,” modifying the preset actions of a “Smart Puppet Talisman” would become very easy. Even users who are not Talisman Masters could easily make changes to the Intelligent Puppet Talisman themselves.
Enabling the Intelligent Puppet Talisman to execute specific actions required by the user.
While the “Intelligent Puppet Talisman” wasn’t difficult, the “Translation Talisman,” which involved “speaking” with talismans, posed a significant challenge.
Although Jiang Cheng had many innovative ideas, he had not formally studied talisman knowledge systematically. Therefore, the task of developing the specialized Translation Talisman was handed over to Yue Linger by Jiang Cheng.
Yue Linger had nothing to do after losing her job drawing Fishing Talismans.
Jiang Cheng gave her a development task, the kind that would pay, so of course, she had no reason to refuse.
With Jiang Cheng’s guidance, she quickly understood the focus of her work.
She needed to convert the video data captured by the Memory Talisman into the talismanic language that the Intelligent Puppet Talisman could understand and remember.
Once the design concept was resolved, all she had to do was to research the material and then implement the technology.
Although it sounds simple, actually doing it is not easy, but Yue Linger had no choice but to join the army of Talisman Masters in their internal struggle to prove her worth to Jiang Cheng.
Other people’s summer vacation: Love, play, and moonlit flowers.
Yue Linger’s summer vacation: Fishing, Jiang Cheng, developing Talismans.
It’s simply suffocating, excessively fulfilling!
At Wuyue Residence, Jiang Cheng prepared lunch early for Liu Qing.
“My parents just got back from out of town this morning, and we’re having a family lunch at noon. I made lunch for you, so you can eat by yourself today.”
“Together?” Liu Qing asked.
“Um… this is a family gathering, it’s not good to bring friends along,” Jiang Cheng explained.
“Family?”
“Yes, me, my parents, my aunt and uncle, and their son, my cousin Sun Yuan.”
Liu Qing blinked, she seemed to understand what Jiang Cheng meant.
They were just friends, not yet family.
Thinking of family, Liu Qing’s beautiful eyes slightly drooped.
She had lived for two thousand years, and her last family member was long gone.
She had no family now, only friends.
“It’s just a meal, I’ll be back in the afternoon. I’ve left the food here for you, there’s more in the pot if it’s not enough.”
Jiang Cheng made sure Liu Qing’s lunch was ready before he left with peace of mind to attend the family gathering.
Making sure Liu Qing ate was always one of Jiang Cheng’s top priorities.
Because as everyone knows, carnivores significantly reduce their aggressiveness and become more affectionate and gentle once they are full.
The location Jiang Cheng’s family chose for this gathering was the buffet restaurant they had visited last time with Liu Qing and Cao Wang.
As the best buffet in Wuyue, it naturally came with six-person tables as standard.
Jiang Lei, Jiang Cheng, and Zhou Wenqi’s family sat on one side, while Sun Qing, Sun Yuan, and Zhou Wen Yue’s family sat on the other, not more not less, perfectly even.
When a big family eats together, discussing the children is inevitable.
But in front of Jiang Cheng, Sun Yuan was utterly crushed, without even a single advantage to be found.
Finally, it was Jiang Lei, with his high emotional intelligence, who said, “Haha, our Sun Family’s eldest son has grown a lot taller, hasn’t he?”
Sun Yuan was already taking a Zen approach.
After all, even his goddess Lin Yao liked Jiang Cheng, what else could he do? Surely he couldn’t say the goddess had poor taste, right?
While eating at the table, Jiang Cheng’s communication Talisman rang.
When Jiang Cheng saw it was “Yue Linger,” he got up to answer.
The name “Yue Linger,” which obviously belonged to a female cultivator, immediately caught the attention of Jiang Cheng’s mother, Zhou Wenqi.
Taking advantage of Jiang Cheng’s departure, she specifically asked Sun Yuan, “Is your brother in a relationship?”
Once the topic of gossip was brought up, the whole family suddenly became interested.
Only Sun Qing, who had “seen the big world,” was a bit at a loss. Jiang Cheng should be in a relationship, just not sure how many at the same time.
Sun Yuan sighed and said, “He should be.”
“Who is his girlfriend?”
“Lin Yao, I guess,” said Sun Yuan.
Lin Yao?
Wasn’t it Yue Linger?
Zhou Wenqi was stunned.