Master of Trading Star Card Game - Chapter 37-1

After leaving the Ghost Hell Club, Xie Mingzhe immediately returned to his individual space to make new cards. At that moment, Tang Muzhou sent a voice PM, “Uncle Chubby, any ideas about new IDE cards? Do you want me to come to help you?”

It was a very welcome opportunity for Xie Mingzhe to be instructed by Legend Tang, so he sent the invitation without hesitation.

Seconds later, Tang Muzhou’s smurf account appeared in the individual space.

The two people entered the study. Xie Mingzhe didn’t rush into making cards. Instead he first talked with Tang Muzhou about his thoughts on making cards, “Legend Tang, earlier you told me that it was weapon cards with the Metal attribute that were initiated by Legend Ling Jingtang of the Pantheon Club. According to the design, weapons don’t belong to creatures, which means they are not subject to the instant death effect, right?”

“Yes. In the game, what can be affected by the instant death effect are living things, such as plants, animals and human beings.”

“Is it viable to borrow the idea from the design of ‘Zhong Kui Hunting Ghosts’ and catch particular weapon cards? Even if it is not the instant death effect, I assume the two effects would be similar.”

“You’re right.” Tang Muzhou smiled, “This is just the difference in the skill description. In fact, the actual combat effect of the skill you just said is equivalent to the instant death effect. You can try to equip your characters with some special weapons and directly waste Ling Jingtang’s weapon cards.”

“Okay, I need more time to think about it!”

Cold weapons were usually made of metal which could be attracted by magnetic objects. Speaking of people who held the magic weapon with the “attracting weapons” skill, the first name that appeared in Xie Mingzhe’s mind was the character from Journey to the West——Taishang Laojun※.

According to the description in the original novel, Taishang Laojun had so many magic weapons, for example Seven Stars Sword, Purple Gold Red Gourd, Suet Jade Flask, as well as Jin Gang Bracelet※. Two boys who used to serve Taishang Laojun stole his Purple Gold Red Gourd and Suet Jade Flask and then escaped to the mortal realm. They became demons there and named themselves “Golden Horned King” and “Silver Horned King”※. The gourd and the flask that they stole were both powerful magic weapons which could suck people in. Afterwards, Tang Xuanzang and his apprentices passed by Flat Peak Mountain where the two horned kings lived. Sun Wukong managed to swap fake treasures for the genuine gourd and flask by deception. Then Taishang Laojun descended to the mortal realm to take his boys back and retrieved his treasures.

Xie Mingzhe could clearly remember this plot as Taishang Laojun was also one of his favourite characters when he was a kid.

Taishang Laojun’s magic weapon, Jin Gang Bracelet, completely fit in with his idea of “containing weapons”.

He remembered that the original novel once said that Jin Gang Bracelet was made of a special steel called “Kun”. Once the magic weapon was used, every treasure and every weapon in the world would be sucked into it——which was exactly what he needed to subdue Legend Ling Jingtang’s weapon cards.

In Xie Mingzhe’s memory, Taishang Laojun had long snowy hair, and his eyebrows and moustache were white too. People would say that he was certainly an immortal when they saw him with the Taoist priest’s robe. Xie Mingzhe rapidly decided how to design the character since it was not that difficult to paint the image.

The crucial part was the weapon. Taishang Laojun always appeared with a hossu※. However, since weapon cards with the Metal attribute were the target this time, it was a good idea to equip him with the magic weapon “Jin Gang Bracelet”——this was a round golden bracelet which could enlarge instantly and then entangle any weapon, no matter how strong the weapon was.

After thinking over all these details, Xie Mingzhe immediately connected his Inner Spirit to the card-making system.

Soon an elegant god image was created in his mind.

Painting the character, designing the skill, setting the data……

He was extremely familiar with the process of doing three things simultaneously. Plus Taishang Laojun’s weapon was much easier to draw than Wang Zhaojun’s Chinese lute. Consequently, it only took him five minutes to finish drawing the card [Taishang Laojun].

Xie Mingzhe connected to the database to examine the finished card. Then he showed it to Tang Muzhou——

Taishang Laojun (Metal)

Card Level: 1

Evolution Level: ★

Available Times of Use: 1/1

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

Additional Skill: Jin Gang Bracelet (Casts the bracelet held in hand and takes in the designated weapon cards. Deprives the weapon card of operational capability.)

Tang Muzhou complimented him, “Well done. The skill can take away the Metal card group’s weapon cards, which is equivalent to the skill of the instant death effect.”

Looking at the new card, Xie Mingzhe was joyful too.

He succeeded in making the card which could subdue Metal cards. In that case, would every legend’s hatred towards him become less intense? After all, all of the six big clubs were targeted and there was no mainstream card group that managed to slip through the net. Therefore, to some extent, he had made them achieve an equilibrium in the game again.

His IDE cards were put in 月半 Card Store for selling and everyone could buy them. You made my cards instant die. Meanwhile I could waste your cards. Thus the players’ thoughts would be vital to winning or losing the competition.

While he was thinking, Tang Muzhou continued to speak, “Actually, Pantheon has another card group which is extremely hard to target.”

Xie Mingzhe asked out of curiosity, “What is it?”

Tang Muzhou answered, “God Card.”

There were so many sub-classifications of cards in the Star Card World. However, there were only six broad categories——

Plant, Animal, Spirit of Creatures, Spirit of Non-Creatures, Human and God.

Tang Muzhou and the Fenghua Club’s players were extremely good at Plant cards. The Animal card group included the Adjudication Club’s beast card group as well as bird card group, Capital of Darkness’s insect and Gu insect card groups and so forth.

Plant and Animal were two of the most common card groups in the game. Since the virtual images that they created were pretty and they had the largest amount of cards, the two card groups were the most popular with players.

Translator’s Note:

1. Taishang Laojun (in Chinese:太上老君) means “The Grand Supreme Elderly Lord”. His other names include Daode Tianzun (in Chinese: 道德至尊) which means “The Universally Honoured Virtuous One”, Daojiao Zhizu (in Chinese: 道教之祖) which means the Taoist Ancestor. Laozi is regarded to be a manifestation of Daode Tianzun who authored the classic Tao Te Ching.

2. The picture of Jin Gang Bracelet

3. The Golden Horned King (in Chinese: 金角大王) and the Silver Horned King (in Chinese: 银角大王) were originally known as the Golden Boy and Silver Boy. They were two boys in charge of watching over Taishang Laojun’s furnaces, who escaped to the mortal realm, and based in Lotus Cave (in Chinese: 蓮花洞) on Flat Peak Mountain (in Chinese: 平頂山).

4. A hossu (in Chinese: 佛尘) is a short staff of wood or bamboo with bundled hair (of a cow, horse, or yak) wielded by a Zen Buddhist priest or a Taoist priest.