Immediately, the old man revealed everything that had happened.

According to him, half a month ago, an Alchemist had suddenly appeared in the city, claiming to have one of the Marvels for the fated to behold.

The Alchemist said this Marvel was like a flower in a mirror or the moon on the water—it couldn’t be touched by anyone who wasn’t fated to do so.

Many of the city’s commoners went to try, but none of them could touch it.

He was passing by the market and, out of curiosity, gave it a try. To his surprise, he actually managed to pick up the Card, which was emitting a blue light. He also heard a mysterious voice. Overjoyed, he took the Card home.

But that very night, a group of people stormed his home and began a massacre. He managed to escape by a stroke of luck with the help of another mysterious group. According to his rescuers, the ones who had attacked his home were secret agents from the Imperial City Department, under the direct command of the current Emperor. Ever since the founding of the dynasty, the Royal Family had been hunting down descendants of a certain mysterious bloodline across the land. The defining trait of this bloodline was the ability to touch these objects, known as Celestial Destiny Cards.

The greatest characteristic of these Celestial Destiny Cards is that when you hold one, you can hear the voice of the heavens.

Celestial Destiny Cards...

"Do you know what this is?" Qin Ziwen asked.

"I do. It’s a Celestial Destiny Card, but it’s also an Advanced Building Card. When I picked it up, a voice appeared in my mind telling me that this is the Advanced Building Card: Blood Sand Beast Fighting Arena."

Hearing this, Qin Ziwen was about thirty percent convinced.

At the same time, a thought surfaced in his mind. ’Du Yu was able to touch this Card. Could he also be from this mysterious bloodline?’

’What exactly is this mysterious bloodline, and why is the Great Yong Royal Family secretly hunting them down?’

’Could it be... that a Home once descended upon their world?’

’Are Du Yu and the others descendants of those Home members?’

Qin Ziwen speculated internally.

Seeing the old man still kneeling on the ground, Qin Ziwen said, "You can get up."

The old man struggled to his feet, and Qin Ziwen gave him a hand.

"Have a seat."

As they were talking, the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside the door.

Two soldiers clad in Iron Armor and holding Long Spears threw aside the door curtain. Their eyes lit up when they saw the old man, and they roared, "We found him!"

"Harboring a fugitive! Kill them!"

The two soldiers moved swiftly, raising their spears to strike.

"How dare you!" Du Yu shouted. He stepped forward and to the side, grabbed a spear shaft with one hand, then pulled and pushed. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

He sent the two soldiers crashing into each other, breaking their attack.

With another leap, he closed the distance, his palm forming a fist that struck one soldier in the throat.

He swung his left arm to block the other’s grab, then sent him flying to the ground with a swift kick.

Hooking a fallen Long Spear with the tip of his foot, he kicked it up and skewered one of the men.

The other man clutched his throat and tried to retreat, but Qin Ziwen grabbed him by the collar and slammed him to the ground.

He might not be their match in skill, but when it came to strength, it was an easy win.

Du Yu chuckled. "My lord, we were just in need of armor, and they delivered two sets right to our door."

Qin Ziwen looked at the old man behind him. "If you have nowhere else to go, you can stay here. I’m in need of a chef, a Shopkeeper, and a waiter. What can you do?"

The old man’s eyes brightened. He heard the voice of invitation in his mind. After a moment’s thought, he decided that being a chef in the back kitchen would be safer than being a waiter out in the open. "I’m willing to be a chef."

[You have successfully recruited a member]

[Please assign them a position]

The small ball of light floated out, and a selection frame appeared before his eyes.

Level 2 Tavern: [Shopkeeper (0/1) Waiter (1/2) Chef (0/2)]

Qin Ziwen assigned him to a chef position.

Then, he used Insight on him.

[Ordinary Human (Jia Liangcai): ☆]

Qin Ziwen said, "As for revenge, I can’t give you any guarantees. But you can stay here from now on. Feeding one more mouth is no problem."

Jia Liangcai bowed deeply. "Thank you, my benefactor."

He kept him partly because of their fated three encounters at the tavern, and partly because Jia Liangcai seemed to have good fortune. Last time, he’d received five taels of Gold, and this time, the man had brought him an Advanced Building Card.

What made Qin Ziwen most curious was that Cards actually existed in Great Yong.

When asked, both Jia Liangcai and Du Yu shook their heads, saying they had never heard of Cards before this.

Qin Ziwen guessed that the upper echelons of the Great Yong Court were likely deliberately suppressing this information.

Afterward, Du Yu picked up the two bodies, stripped off their Zha Armor, and collected the Long Spears.

Zha Armor is made by piercing iron plates and lacing them together into armored strips with cord.

It offers excellent protection against slashes and direct thrusts.

He took the Card.

As he held the Card, he automatically received its information.

[Advanced Building Card] Level 1 Blood Sand Beast Fighting Arena.

Construction Requirement: 80x80 meters.

Qin Ziwen then arranged lodging for Jia Liangcai, having him share the secondary bedroom with Li Tieshan. He also asked Li Tieshan to explain the current situation to Jia Liangcai so he could understand his new environment.

Seeing Jia Liangcai’s advanced age, Li Tieshan simply gave him the bed, letting Jia Liangcai sleep on it while he himself made a pallet on the floor.

Jia Liangcai was deeply moved by this gesture.

...

When he woke the next day, he checked the settlement report as usual.

"You have successfully survived in the wilderness for thirty-two days, obtaining three Cards. You successfully hunted the Giant Hyena King... Comprehensive Score: 265 points."

"Rewards obtained: [Breakthrough Card] Extreme Breakthrough Card x1, [Building Card] Level 1 Farmland x1, [Enhancement Card] Animal Constitution Enhancement Card (One Star) x1."

Qin Ziwen took out the green Enhancement Card he had obtained from hunting the Giant Hyena King the day before.

The reason he hadn’t used it yesterday was because this Card was special—it wasn’t for use on people or animals.

[Enhancement Card] Ordinary Building Enhancement Card x1

Its effect was quite potent: it could unconditionally increase the Level of any ordinary building below Level 5 by +1.

This did not include Level 5; the highest it could be used on was a Level 4 building.

This Card would be most cost-effective when used on a Level 4 building, so he decided to save it for now.

Next was the Medium Grassland Expansion Card.

It could expand the Home’s terrain, creating a 50x50 square meter area of grassland.

The Home’s current total area was 2698㎡. The added grassland area alone was almost as large as the Home’s entire current area.

It would nearly double the size of the Home!

Qin Ziwen went to the edge of the open space and used the Grassland Expansion Card first.

The gray mist at the border continuously receded as a large area was expanded, revealing a vast, lush grassland.

The once somewhat crowded Home instantly felt spacious.

Qin Ziwen considered that he now had three major Cards he hadn’t used.

Two Advanced Buildings, the Martial Arts Arena and the Blood Sand Beast Fighting Arena, as well as a Nan Bamboo Forest Card.

The Advanced Buildings had potent effects, but the Nan Bamboo Forest provided a scarce resource he currently lacked—especially for arrows.

He could only guess the purpose of the two buildings from their names.

With a bamboo forest, he could produce arrows in large quantities.

Seeing the worried look on Qin Ziwen’s face, Jia Liangcai took a step forward. "My lord, what troubles you?"

After a moment’s hesitation, Qin Ziwen explained his dilemma.

Jia Liangcai pondered for a moment. "If I may ask, my lord, how many bows and crossbows do you currently possess? And what is the number of your soldiers?"

Qin Ziwen rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We don’t really do the whole stuffy, formal thing here."

"Understood." Jia Liangcai cupped his hands in a fist-and-palm salute.

Qin Ziwen paused, then shook his head. "I have two Compound Bows, but they can only use special arrows. Using bamboo arrows with them could cause the shafts to shatter. The rest of the bows are still being made. As for soldiers... you can think of it as about ten core fighters. But if we just need to make a show of force, I can pull together a few dozen, even a hundred people, no problem."

Jia Liangcai understood, then continued to ask, "In that case, my lord, is the morale of your men high? Are they all brave and skilled warriors?"

Qin Ziwen thought of the members of the core Hunting Team. Including himself, there were about three whose physical fitness had reached its peak. But as for whether they were elite warriors, Du Yu probably counted. He and Cao Biansheng still had room to grow.

"And there you have it." Jia Liangcai nodded slightly. "My lord, you see clearly. The advantage of the bamboo forest lies in equipment. But even Divine Weapons and Sharp Weapons require fierce warriors to wield them to defeat the enemy. Therefore, in your subordinate’s humble opinion, we must first solidify the foundation before concerning ourselves with the branches!"

"Wait, hold on." Qin Ziwen was suspicious and studied Jia Liangcai closely.

Compared to the disheveled state he was in when they first met yesterday, after washing up and tidying his hair today, the old fellow actually had a certain air about him.

"Before all that happened, what position did you hold?"

Jia Liangcai said with some shame, "Replying to my lord, I was merely a county’s Chief Scribe. It’s not worth mentioning."

’A Chief Scribe?’

’Someone who could reach that position... having him temporarily act as the Home’s steward and manage a few dozen people shouldn’t be too difficult, right?’

...

...