After returning to the teahouse, Jiang Ming, utterly exhausted, had dinner and went straight to his room to rest. Uncle Fu, however, still had various tasks to handle, such as accounting and inspecting the storage rooms.
Just as Jiang Ming lay down, the Investiture of the Gods book by his pillow began flipping its pages by itself.
Jiang Ming stared intently and saw a name glowing brightly.
"Is this... Could it be that I can draw another card?" he wondered.
But when he saw the name, he hesitated. It was Fei Zhong.
"What's the use of drawing this treacherous minister? I'm not even an official."
It wasn't that Jiang Ming looked down on Fei Zhong, but rather, the man was of no use to him at the moment.
Fortunately, the ancient book didn't stop flipping, as if it knew Jiang Ming wasn't satisfied. Soon, another name began to glow—You Hun.
Jiang Ming's face twitched in embarrassment. "So it's all about these traitors, huh?"
Moreover, there was a key issue. How had he summoned Daji last time? He'd been too terrified by that corpse demon to remember the details clearly.
He took out the Daji card from his pocket and flicked it lightly. Immediately, a mist of enchantment blew out, and Daji's figure appeared.
"The long night stretches on. Could it be, my lord, that you cannot sleep and have summoned me for some fun?" she teased.
Thanks to Daji's charm spell, Jiang Ming had developed some resistance to her allure and was no longer so easily captivated by the fox demon.
He frowned immediately and said, "Daji, what was the incantation you taught me last night? Do you think I really wouldn't dare to kill you again?"
A trace of killing intent flashed in Jiang Ming's eyes. If she couldn't be controlled or posed any risk of backlash, he wouldn't keep her around—unless he had enough power to protect himself.
Daji, being quite perceptive, immediately sensed Jiang Ming's anger and withdrew some of her playful thoughts.
"My lord, forgive me. That incantation is one used by the royal family of the Shang Dynasty, rumored to have been passed down from the Yellow Emperor. It is said to have the benefit of increasing vitality and replenishing energy, with no harmful effects."
Jiang Ming was suddenly enlightened. "No wonder King Zhou could engage in such debauchery every day without falling apart—he had this divine technique!"
However, he kept a straight face and said, "Hmph, I am a righteous man. Why would I need such a method? Don't let it happen again."
Daji's lips curled into a sly smile, her laughter filled with boundless charm.
After that, Jiang Ming shifted to the main topic.
"My lord," Daji said, "after spending a day here, I've observed something. Every moment, I can sense a kind of power flowing from the heavens and earth. Though it's scattered and fragmented, I can use it to manifest myself, and even slowly recover some of my magic power."
She paused for a moment and then continued, "I once heard that in the West, two great sages gathered the power of people's wishes to create an unparalleled sacred realm, filled with all kinds of miracles. Perhaps this is something similar."
"The power of people's wishes?"
Suddenly, Jiang Ming felt as if he had seen the light.
People, whether in their daydreams or thoughts, always have desires. And someone like Daji, a femme fatale, would certainly attract more attention than any ordinary man, right?
Still, he hadn't expected Fei Zhong and You Hun to be so strongly desired by the masses as well.
Fortunately, thanks to several days of storytelling accumulating enough of this "wish power," another name soon began to glow, and seeing it filled Jiang Ming with joy.
Chong Heihu!
Chong Heihu, the younger brother of North Marquis Chong Houhu, held the title of Marquis of Caozhou. Disgusted by his brother's collaboration with King Zhou's tyranny, he captured him and delivered him to King Wen of Zhou, joining the Zhou forces and earning many merits in battle.
Skilled in sorcery, Chong Heihu carried a large red gourd on his back, inside which were thousands of iron-beaked divine eagles. He once used this technique to defeat Gao Jineng's centipede bag but was later killed at Mianchi by Zhang Kui, the Seven-Kill Star. After his death, he was canonized as the Emperor of Heaven for Mount Heng in the Southern Yue region.
As the first formidable general skilled in magic to appear, Chong Heihu was naturally quite eye-catching.
Jiang Ming wanted to manifest him, but for a moment, he couldn't figure out how. Growing anxious, he said to himself, "No, I need to calm down and recall the details from last night. There must be something I missed."
At that moment, Jiang Ming suddenly looked at the wound on his palm, and an idea flashed in his mind. Could it be...
Without hesitation, he tore off the scab, and a drop of blood oozed out. Jiang Ming placed his palm over the glowing name "Chong Heihu" on the page of the ancient book.
Plop!
The drop of blood fell gently on the book and disappeared without a trace. The name "Chong Heihu" grew even brighter, and suddenly, a golden light shot out and landed on the ground.
In an instant, a towering figure appeared!
Clad in a red robe, with a white jade belt at his waist, his face as dark as the bottom of a pot, a red beard under his chin, two white eyebrows, and eyes that gleamed like gold—it was none other than Chong Heihu.
Jiang Ming was overjoyed. "So this is how it works! It seems that as long as I accumulate enough 'wish power,' I can summon the Investiture of the Gods characters I want, rather than relying on a random roulette draw."
Off to the side, Su Daji was startled—Chong Heihu's murderous aura was simply too intense.
"Who summoned me here? Hmm? It's you, you demoness!" Chong Heihu roared, his eyes blazing as he raised his fist to strike.
Daji immediately turned into a puff of black smoke and reverted back to a card, falling into Jiang Ming's hand.
"General, please wait! I humbly greet you," Jiang Ming quickly cupped his hands in respect.
Chong Heihu, seeing Jiang Ming put Daji away, growled, "Who are you? Are you in league with that demoness?"
Jiang Ming quickly explained the situation, though he didn't mention that Chong Heihu was a character from a book, instead referring to the ancient text as a record of strange happenings.
Upon hearing this, Chong Heihu was deeply shocked. He asked many questions about the current time, the disciples of Yu Xu, and the gods.
"Do you remember what happened after the Investiture of the Gods?" Jiang Ming asked.
Chong Heihu fell into deep thought. "After the Investiture... I became the Emperor of Heaven for Mount Heng in the Southern Yue region, and I—"
He suddenly realized he couldn't recall anything else!
"What... How can this be?"
Chong Heihu became confused, and seeing this, Jiang Ming waved his hand, and Chong Heihu transformed into a beam of golden light, which fell into Jiang Ming's hand.
On the card, Chong Heihu stood with a large red gourd on his back, holding two golden axes, riding a beast with eyes of fire—truly a mighty sight.
"Card collected: +1!"
At the same time, a piece of information appeared in Jiang Ming's mind—Chong Heihu's magical technique, the Iron-Beaked Divine Eagle Technique.
"Just as I expected!" The method to cultivate the gourd and gather the divine eagles was detailed.
Although Jiang Ming currently had no magic power, it seemed that cultivating this technique didn't require magic—just specific steps and methods.
Perfect!
Jiang Ming was so thrilled that he almost wanted to laugh out loud, but remembering it was late, he refrained from disturbing anyone's sleep.
He flipped back to the names of Fei Zhong and You Hun, thinking he might as well summon them. Even if they were minor characters, they must have some skills—after all, they were trusted ministers of King Zhou, not random nobodies.
But when he flipped back, he found that their names had dimmed, likely meaning they could no longer be summoned.
"Could it be that summoning Chong Heihu consumed all my accumulated 'wish power'?" Jiang Ming pondered.
Both love and hate could count as "wish power." After telling six chapters of his story, many characters had already appeared. Daji's allure, Fei Zhong and You Hun's cunning, and Chong Heihu's magical prowess were all distinct enough to leave impressions.
That must be why he could use this power to bring them back to life.
But there was another character who stood out—Zheng Lun.
Given that Zheng Lun had captured Chong Heihu, he should have left a strong impression on the listeners, no less than Chong Heihu. Yet, there were no signs of his manifestation.
Perhaps the conditions weren't met yet—maybe the "wish power" wasn't sufficient.
It seemed that the stronger the character, the more "wish power" was needed to summon them!
Jiang Ming thought further: since this power came from the wishes of people, and he could only collect it through storytelling, it wasn't an infinite resource. It depended entirely on his audience.
"If I were to print Investiture of the Gods and distribute it across the world, could I soar to new heights, maybe even easily draw some SSR golden cards?" he mused.
But people's wishes, whether heard or read, are ultimately intangible. Ever since Jiang Ming started storytelling, he had set the rules: this "wish power" could only be collected through his storytelling, nothing else.
Of course, Jiang Ming didn't yet realize this. He still needed to experiment a few more times to fully understand the mystery.
At that moment, Uncle Fu finished managing the teahouse's affairs and came to Jiang Ming's room to rest, allowing Jiang Ming to relax and fall asleep as well.
Muttering under his breath, he recited the incantation Daji had taught him—the "Unyielding Golden Spear Technique."
Despite his words, Jiang Ming couldn't deny its usefulness.