Chapter 179: 172 Base

As the sun set in the west, the world turned dim and yellow; the bizarre and grotesque buildings in Maze City were stretched into long, eerily distorted shadows by the slanting sunlight.

"It seems... my bone crow won't be coming back. The performance was a failure."

"Young Master—that is because the dojo is too far away, and you were unable to attend to it in time..."

"It doesn't matter." The pale-faced youth said with a sinister tone: "The bone crow is all show and no substance; its combat power is truly mediocre, so it is no surprise it was destroyed. It is just a pity that I didn't collect any new fear."

The bone crow was his Talisman Puppet, and also a tool for collecting fear. Once fear is expressed, it will not only be absorbed but also branded, never to escape from his palm again.

Because everyone's fear is different, just like the scent on a person's body, it is very easy for a hunting dog to track them down.

"Did they feel no fear at all upon seeing my masterpiece and the bone crow? Is it a firm will, or are they just foolishly bold?" The youth stroked his chin: "Although it is not a necessity, my interest has been piqued. Zhui—"

"Present."

"Find this person. Bring them to me."

"Yes, Young Master."

"Ahhh—"

A scream came from outside the window. The sound was close at hand, seemingly from the house opposite, and it was filled with terror.

The youth raised an eyebrow and leaned against the window with interest, taking a deep breath: "Ah, wonderful fear; it is the fear of a woman full of youth. Someone has been frightened by my work; listen to how melodious this sound is? This is how it should be. Such a lovely voice must belong to a little beauty worth painting."

The sun had already sunk below the horizon, leaving only the last trace of afterglow; the dark night was about to arrive.

"Zhui, it is our time again; let us begin the hunt. I want the beautiful bones of a young girl."

In the end, Tang Zhao did not choose this blood-stained building.

A gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall; who knew what hidden traps remained in this "haunted house"? Even if there were no traps, staying here was unpleasant.

As for that miserable corpse, Tang Zhao did not move it. For this departed person, what was important was not being buried as soon as possible, but finding the murderer and avenging the grievance.

Just now, filled with indignation, Tang Zhao had shot the bone crow, but he had also lost the clues he could have tracked, leaving only broken bones all over the ground. He temporarily lacked the time and conditions to avenge the victim, so leaving the corpse behind without disturbing the scene would ensure that those who wanted to uphold justice for them would not be left without a lead.

Those who should uphold justice and maintain order were Longyuan; they had been provoked time and time again, and as long as they still had the spirit to run the grand assembly well, they should investigate to the end. But if they had lost that spirit and intended to cover up the truth, turning big problems into small ones and small ones into nothing, then the victim might never be able to rest in peace. After all, the government could not manage the Talisman Assembly.

If that were the case, then avenging the grievance could only rely on this murderer committing crimes repeatedly until they kicked an irresistible iron plate and were killed in return.

Not to mention others, if these villains came looking for Tang Zhao, Tang Zhao would not mind avenging this poor person.

Until evening, Tang Zhao deliberated repeatedly and found a new house. This was a Wooden House, but it was made of Iron Wood, hard as metal and not lacking in toughness.

This time there were no surprises; the house was brand new.

The room was very clean, the furniture was all pure wood, and the floors were all raw timber, spotless. Upstairs and downstairs, the bedrooms, living room, and kitchen were all fully equipped; if it were not in the bizarre Maze City, this would truly be a great house ready for move-in.

The most important room was at the top of the house, similar to an attic. Not only did it have the best view, with large glazed windows overlooking the surroundings, but it was also the hub of the entire house.

In the center of the room was a huge compass, along with a device similar to a ship's wheel.

The compass was divided into nine sections, each corresponding to different parts of the house, and one could add Rune Formulas to them at will. For example, making the walls sturdier, the floors more slippery, or even making the house grow fists to hit people. This compass modularized the house's modifications, allowing a Talisman Sword Master to turn the entire house into an Art Tool armed to the teeth with the simplest operations.

This was a setup very convenient for a Talisman Sword Master to utilize. After all, the competition in Maze City was between Talisman Sword Masters, not a group of wandering Martial Artists. The contest could not just look at the level of martial power; it had to allow those with high attainments in Rune Formulas to have full room to perform. Maze City was a stage specifically prepared for Talisman Sword Masters.

"In that case, as long as the house owner's Rune Formula attainments are not bad, the home-field advantage is huge. How could someone be raided and slaughtered in their own home?"

According to Tang Zhao's view, the design philosophy of this Maze City was not just to let people break into others' traps, but to encourage everyone to build bases, and finally have both sides drive two houses to fight each other.

But Art Tools are dead, while people are alive. The so-called decapitation tactic works everywhere. The house may be a fortress of bronze and iron, but the person is still flesh and blood, right? If they are attacked and lose their ability to act, let alone die, who will operate the Art Tools in the house? This was only because young Talisman Sword Masters focused mostly on Rune Formula cultivation and were not outstanding in martial power, with few even cultivating Gang Qi. If a few more Sword Students came along, this design would be nothing but paper.

Although he could not guarantee complete safety, having something was better than nothing. Tang Zhao first checked his house to confirm there were no prying eyes, then began to install Rune Formulas onto the compass platform.

The first step for the house was defense, followed by reconnaissance, offense, and support. Tang Zhao carefully considered the combinations and took out his own Art Tools to arrange them. After all, he was someone who could finish the test paper himself, so he did not really need to go out and steal answers; naturally, he considered focusing on preventing others from coming in.

Finally, he found a hidden compartment in the middle of the compass platform, inside which was a Scroll.

Unrolling the Scroll, Tang Zhao saw a... test paper.

Gui Ye came up at the right moment to explain: "This is the final answer sheet for the Thousand Questions. Every question must be transcribed onto the long Scroll to be considered valid."

Tang Zhao checked the Scroll and found that it was also an Art Tool, with a very ingenious structure. One thousand questions in one thousand positions, each position capable of automatic sensing. After the answer was written on the answer sheet, plagiarism became simple; one just had to long-press the answer with their hand and then move it to another Scroll. After the move, the answer box for the question on the original Scroll would disappear, making it impossible to answer again, effectively rendering the question void.

This was a Scroll specifically designed to facilitate plagiarism.

In other words, to complete plagiarism, one had to bring the two long Scrolls close together and operate them side-by-side.

"So that means, one must transfer the answer; just peeking doesn't count as plagiarism?"

"It counts too." Gui Ye explained: "This is a specially made Art Tool Scroll from Longyuan, which is particularly sensitive. Once it is attacked by a Talisman Art, such as Peeping Art or Bubble Art, it will judge that plagiarism has occurred. The questions are easily rendered void. So I suggest it is best to add a layer of protective Talisman on the outside to first neutralize external arts; otherwise, whether others successfully plagiarized or not is one thing, but your test paper might be judged void first."

It seems this is a Scroll that would rather kill a thousand by mistake than let one go. It continues Longyuan's design philosophy of "Who told you to let others copy you? If you copy others, nothing would happen."

Tang Zhao asked again: "What about those who grab it, open the test paper, and copy directly?"

Gui Ye said: "That depends on the judgment of the guiding Spirit Envoy. We Spirit Envoys can directly judge plagiarism and being plagiarized, and then manually void the test paper."

Tang Zhao said thoughtfully: "So... once the Spirit Envoy cooperates, there is room for operation?"

Gui Ye rolled its eyes and said: "Except for our Yuangui Clan, other Spirit Envoys are Talisman Puppets that were manufactured; they have no humanity at all and only know how to follow the rules, so how could they operate? If they operate recklessly and break the Talisman Puppet, then it is directly voided. Moreover, one also loses a protective Talisman and cannot be directly moved to Jianzhou. As for the Yuangui, anyway, Gui Ye will not help you cheat; let alone that you don't need it, even if you did, Gui Ye is impartial and incorruptible."

Tang Zhao was slightly shocked and said: "By the way, you Spirit Envoys can directly move Talisman Sword Masters, which is the final Life-Saving Talisman. But I just saw a corpse and didn't see a Spirit Envoy. So... if one wants to kill someone, do they kill the Spirit Envoy first?"

Gui Ye froze for a moment, then suddenly retracted its four limbs, shrinking into a turtle shell, spinning around in place.

After a while, it stretched its head out and shouted: "I knew it, human hearts are the dirtiest! Spirit Envoys are harmless to humans and animals, why kill a Spirit Envoy? You... you must protect Gui Ye well. Gui Ye can turn a blind eye to your plagiarism."

Tang Zhao thought to himself: Well, no wonder Longyuan uses Talisman Puppets even though they have Yuangui; if they used Yuangui for everything, wouldn't there be room for operation?

He laughed: "Relax, plagiarism is unnecessary, and I have no use for it. I will naturally protect you well. Protecting you is protecting myself." He casually inserted the answer sheet back into the hollow, then immediately felt something was wrong and hid the test paper close to his body.

If this were left in the house and destroyed by someone, wouldn't he completely lose his qualification?

Gui Ye explained: "You can leave the answer sheet there when you are at home. Inserting the test paper into the compass will give a bonus to the house's Rune Formulas based on the number of questions you have completed. The more questions you have answered, the greater the power bonus for the Rune Formulas."

Tang Zhao wondered: "The power increases just by completing more questions? Without considering the accuracy rate?"

Gui Ye said: "Yes, actually there is no way to consider it. Because many of these questions require people to grade them and deliberate on the points, how can the correctness be confirmed in advance? However, if you just answer blindly to increase the power of the Rune Formulas, it will be a loss that outweighs the gain. Because the questions on the answer sheet can only be written once, and corrections are invalid. Once voided, they are gone."

Tang Zhao nodded; he did not have that problem. Now he could directly activate the full bonus.

Gui Ye reminded: "Don't fill it in too much at the beginning. If you use this bonus, the Lamp on top of the house will light up, especially at night, which is very conspicuous. The more questions you answer, the more dazzling the light. If you fill the test paper and insert it, there will be a very beautiful special effect. It guarantees you will become famous in front of everyone."

Tang Zhao nodded; when he came up along the way, he didn't see any house roofs lighting up. It seems everyone was very restrained and did not use the test paper bonus. It was also to hide their own level.

But in the later stages, everyone will use the test paper bonus, and if you don't, you will be at a great disadvantage. It is said that a test paper with eight hundred questions can already provide a large bonus, and after eight hundred questions, every ten questions, the bonus takes a leap. A thousand-question completion is not only a display of power in front of others but also a multi-fold bonus, crushing one's peers. Finally, when the battle reaches its peak, everyone will probably fill in some parts blindly to seek powerful protection, and then the competition will become intense.

It is currently still a dormant period; everyone is like a beast crouching in the forest, not revealing their forms, only observing other animals, waiting for the opponent to reveal a flaw before striking for a one-hit kill.

If no flaw can be found, then wait until nightfall, for that is the moment for the hunt.

After a day of tossing and turning, Tang Zhao was just planning to rest for a moment when he heard the doorbell ring.

He came to the window and looked down, seeing a young girl in purple standing at the entrance.

The girl had a round face, and her appearance was both pretty and innocent, making one feel close to her at first sight; Tang Zhao spoke through the window, "Miss, who are you..."

The girl's voice was clear and bright as she called out, "You are the new Talisman Sword Master, right? I am your neighbor, and I came to remind you to be careful. There is a terrifying murderer in this vicinity!"

---Author's Note---

There is a ten-thousand-word update today; I'll give myself a round of applause, ha.

Thank you all for your support, and Happy Dragon Boat Festival!