ctnovel Chapter 40 The Shield of Flow
Chapter 40 The Shield of Flow
"...I'm available anytime, please have that person deliver it now."
Jiang Yong's expression had become somewhat serious, but his tone remained calm and composed: "If there's nothing else, I'll hang up now?"
"Uh, wait a minute, there's something else."
Professor Xu's voice was hesitant, and after a long pause, he cautiously said, "Um... the person who delivered the things asked me to tell you that they might need your help with some things later. So, your business with me might have to be temporarily suspended, you see..."
"Oh, this."
Jiang Yong understood: "Alright then. This was a collaboration that I initiated with you before, and now it's ending after just one deal. What a pity."
"I'm glad you don't blame me." Professor Xu on the other end of the call nodded repeatedly.
Originally, Jiang Yong proposed cooperating with Professor Xu to accumulate money, connections, and experience points. So, after meeting An Li, instantly gaining 300 points of black market faction reputation, and deciding to accelerate his progress on the second main questline of Carlo Star, Jiang Yong had already planned to find an opportunity to cancel the cooperation he had previously agreed upon with Professor Xu. Unexpectedly, An Li had prompted Professor Xu to bring it up first. Judging from his cautious yet not pained tone, he had probably received decent compensation, saving Jiang Yong a lot of trouble.
After chatting for a few more minutes, Jiang Yong hung up the call and began to ponder An Li's somewhat unusual efficiency.
While the Master-level portion of "The Shield of Flow" wasn't exceptionally valuable to that tycoon, it wasn't something he could easily grant away. He had expected to be observed for a while and then entrusted with a few tasks before receiving it.
In fact, this process was even more important to him than "The Shield of Flow" itself. Anyway, he was unlikely to reach the master level in the short term, so the technique wouldn't be of much use to him. But participating in these things meant that the big boss behind the scenes was directly paying attention to him, which was directly related to whether he could get the second main storyline and carry out his behind-the-scenes manipulation.
He deliberately dropped the bombshell that "the smuggling of elite races is fabricated" in an attempt to increase his visibility, but he didn't expect it to be so effective.
"Could there be some off-field factors I haven't noticed?"
Jiang Yong pondered for a long time without any clue, so he simply put the idea aside for the time being, straightened his clothes, and waited after merging with the spirit pupa again.
Not long after, there was a knock on his door.
"They're here."
Jiang Yong got up and opened the door. A burly man dressed like a bodyguard stood outside, carrying a large suitcase. "Are you Mr. Jiang Yong?"
"Yes."
Jiang Yong nodded, secretly observing whether this person was a puppet controlled by An Li, while stepping aside to gesture for the other party to come in.
However, the other party waved his hand, put the briefcase on the ground, gave a slight bow, and was about to turn and leave. Jiang Yong had no choice but to take the initiative and ask, "What does the black market want me to do?"
"...We'll have to wait a few more days, it's related to the information you provided earlier."
Jiang Yong narrowed his eyes slightly; it seemed that this was the puppet that An Li was controlling behind the scenes.
—In Yunqi City, there exists a small, special group of people. Their backgrounds are diverse, but most are impoverished individuals who have faced hardship. After signing a contract, besides fulfilling their daily duties, their sole responsibility is to tidy themselves up after receiving advance instructions, wait for themselves to suddenly fall asleep, and then receive a large sum of money upon waking. These are the targets controlled by the Anli Society, and in the eyes of others, they are the messengers of the black market's management.
After thinking about it, he decided to speak directly and test the waters a little.
"...The cultivation technique arrived faster than I expected."
He casually mentioned it, partly to prevent himself from misjudging that the person in front of him was not An Li's puppet; and partly because he believed that An Li, in her internet-addicted, reclusive state, would definitely understand what he meant.
Sure enough, the man paused as he was about to leave, then turned back with a strange smile on his face.
"This is the compensation we deserve."
He then stopped talking and turned to leave.
"The compensation you deserve..."
Jiang Yong watched his figure gradually disappear, lost in thought, before picking up his suitcase and returning inside.
"They've jumped to conclusions... It seems they've completely confirmed the accuracy and value of the intelligence I provided? Do they have other channels to corroborate each other? But I remember that Tiandu City kept things very secret at this stage, leaving almost no evidence of their intention to start a war..."
As he pondered this, a sense of unease gradually rose within him.
This real world may differ from the ghostly replica of the previous life, and some experiences can no longer be fully relied upon.
After silently reminding himself, Jiang Yong opened the briefcase that An Li had sent—it was filled with paper books, roughly dozens of them.
You have obtained the "Shield of Flow" (incomplete)!
[Do you wish to spend 8000 experience points to learn this?]
Indeed, the vast majority of these books are that half of "The Shield of Flow"—the content of a cultivation technique is usually extremely large. In addition, the technology level of Carlo Star is not advanced. Some knowledge that can be easily described with videos must be explained in a tedious way with a large number of pictures and texts. The learning cost is enough to make many experts with low mental attributes give up.
If many advanced techniques in the universe were written down, they would fill several libraries. Even if someone with insufficient strength could afford them, they wouldn't dare to easily implant them into their minds, as they simply couldn't withstand the pressure without sufficient basic attributes.
"Emmm... never mind, let's just start studying."
Jiang Yong hesitated for a moment. He still had a little over 10,000 experience points left. He hadn't originally planned to spend them on this cultivation technique, which offered limited improvement to him. However, An Li was likely to entrust him with something important soon, and these books would just be taking up space in his belt. He might as well use them to slightly improve his strength.
With 8,000 experience points spent, Jiang Yong's experience bar was almost empty. A large amount of profound and complex knowledge began to flood his mind, causing a slight tingling sensation in his brain. Fortunately, his more than 40 points of mental attribute were enough to support this level of infusion.
[...You have mastered the "Shield of Flow" (Incomplete) lv1!]
[Detected that you have mastered: Vacuum Induction Method lv3, your Shield of Flow (incomplete) has gained 5000 experience points!]
Those who have already mastered certain techniques can integrate their past cultivation experience when learning new ones. Therefore, the more techniques they have mastered and the higher their level, the more base experience points they can directly gain after learning a new technique.
【"The Shield of Flow" (Fragment) lv2: All attributes +10, HP +30, Stamina and Constitution +5. When actively switching spirits, the spirits on the field receive 20% less damage in the current turn.】