Chapter 50: "Astonishing Genius!" The Little Elf

A shadow dashed through the gate of Vajra Temple, shattering it, and sprinted wildly into the night-shrouded residential area. With several agile twists, it vanished gracefully into the pitch-black alley, leaving behind only a slowly fading trail of dark golden light.

At this moment, the Tiger Demon was running with abandon, exhilarated. No fierce headwind could quell the joy and restlessness pounding within its heart.

“We’ve struck it rich! We’ve made it big! Jackpot! Boss, from now on, we’re rich people too!” The snake tail hanging from the tiger’s rear wagged excitedly, shaking its head rapidly in a frenzy.

Infected by Yuan Zhu’s euphoric spirit, the little sprite was equally ecstatic, its mind clouded by joy, laughing foolishly and mindlessly. It urged its master onward, running against the wind, cheering with glee.

Just minutes ago, the Tiger Demon had successfully scouted every corner of Vajra Temple.

Every Buddha statue inside and out was smashed and broken. The places that once housed bodhisattvas and Buddhas were now occupied by corpse demons, transformed into their lairs.

Finally, Yuan Zhu and the little sprite discovered in a remote corner an abandoned pure gold bodhisattva statue, fully 50 centimeters tall!

It remained intact due to its solid construction, only the head was tilted and the arms askew, yet it still retained traces of its former grandeur. This bodhisattva bore two heads and eight arms; one face was a fierce, blue-faced, fanged expression of anger, while the other head was replaced by a palm, likely the origin of the ‘Buddha’s hand melon.’

Muscular and robust, every arm bulged with veins and was shaped into different species’ forms. Yuan Zhu could identify tiger claws, dragon talons, ape palms, and even mantis blade legs among them.

Regrettably, the exquisite and fierce design had suffered from external impact; the arms were fractured and fallen, the features distorted with eyes askew and mouth crooked, the neck twisted to its limit—its artistic value plummeted, but its gold content remained undiminished.

When lifted, the statue was surprisingly heavy, weighing at least 100 kilograms—solid gold without a doubt! Yuan Zhu went wild with joy on the spot, causing the Tiger Demon to unleash boundless enthusiasm and strength.

Its tail whipped and coiled tightly around the crooked, furious eight-armed bodhisattva, then broke into a mad dash, caring little whether the shadow pre-made dishes would hatch successfully, whether they could compete with the corpse-hand plants for the power of the underworld, or if they could pollute the ghost spring pond.

Yuan Zhu’s mind held only one thought: get out of the city! He must rush to save this precious Buddhist relic and prevent it from being defiled by those foul corpse demons!

He had to regroup with the captain at “King Mao’s Happy Home” outside the city and bring the golden bodhisattva back to Runing immediately. Breaking off its limbs to sell at the gold shop, from then on, he would rise above all others!

Only by becoming a person of status and influence could he push for social legislation to better protect precious cultural relics.

After dashing thousands of meters and gradually feeling the underworld pollution of Vajra Temple fade behind him, the Tiger Demon sprinted into the shadow realm, free from the ‘Underworld Buddha Aura’ pollution and expansion, finally breathing a sigh of relief.

“This is truly hitting the jackpot!” The Tiger Demon raised a paw and, like Elder Jinchi stroking a brocade kasaya, lovingly rubbed its claws against the golden bodhisattva, leaving scratch marks on its surface but never seeming to get enough of it.

Suddenly, a voice called from the horizon, “Do you love your wife or the gold?”

“Of course I love the gold! Hm? What’s wrong?” Yuan Zhu, interrupted from his greed by the sprite’s naive question, suddenly realized something was amiss and calmed himself down. “I got too excited and let greed cloud my judgment. Sudden wealth really tests one’s mindset. My heart is still racing, can’t slow down—it’s too exhilarating!”

The little sprite replied, “It really feels great! I never expected such a tiny bubble world could yield such a fortune. ‘King Mao’s Happy Home’ has a bright future. Boss, you absolutely cannot quit now.”

“Phew…” Yuan Zhu exhaled deeply, calming down enough to think clearly. “We need to find a way to hide this golden bodhisattva. Showing off our wealth won’t benefit team cohesion. What do you think… could we hide it in the ‘World Within the Belly’?”

He recalled the snake tail’s earlier ruminations on the ‘Corpse Demon Pre-made Dish,’ a portable space that could both store and release items.

The little sprite shook its head, “I don’t think so. The ‘World Within the Belly’ is indeed a mysterious space, but its essence is to digest, corrode, and decompose. If we put the bodhisattva in there, I’m afraid it would dissolve before we even take it out.”

“The ‘World Within the Belly’ is that powerful? I don’t buy it. How could it not even process a corpse demon?”

“This bodhisattva is an ordinary object, but those monsters are polluted entities; they’re not comparable. The ‘World Within the Belly’ is very strong at breaking down food—Tiger Demon can eat one meal and hibernate for a month.”

Yuan Zhu said, “Tigers don’t hibernate.”

“But snakes do.”

“Then what do we do? Just carry it through the open roads? Fine. After making such a haul, giving my teammates a bodhisattva arm each wouldn’t be too bad. Having the bodhisattva’s body alone is enough for me to live comfortably.”

Now sober, Yuan Zhu looked over the golden bodhisattva again, realizing that once the gold reaches 100 kilograms, even giving away a few kilos wouldn’t sting so much. Instead, it gave a sense of glory before others.

After all, this treasure wasn’t earned through hardship. Since it came easily, spending would be lavish. No wonder the captain casually gave out gold to build connections.

The little sprite asked, “Boss, should we leave the city now, or try a few more jobs before we go?”

The Tiger Demon rubbed its claws lovingly on the bodhisattva’s back, scattering golden dust in the shadow realm.

“No more. The night is long and full of dreams. Let’s leave now. I don’t think that Leaf Buddha Country has anything more valuable than this. Besides, the bodhisattva is heavy enough. Carrying more would be a hassle. Damn, no spatial gear!”

Suddenly, the little sprite brightened, “Boss, I have a bold idea. Should I tell you?”

“Go ahead.”

“If we leave the city, we have to drop the Tiger Demon form, which will weaken your human form and make carrying the bodhisattva harder. So… why not feed the King Mao uniform with Shadow Power? That way, you can become stronger through the uniform and indirectly wield shadow power in your human body.”

“What?” Yuan Zhu was startled, then stunned. After careful thought, he realized it could work. “Wow! You’re clever! I never thought of this!”

By feeding the uniform with ‘shadow pollution,’ he could condense a power seed and regain control of his own strength in human form. Compared to handling other unknown, risky pollution powers, the shadow uniform had zero hidden dangers and further reduced exposure risk of the Tiger Demon.

If future missions forced him to use the ‘Boss Template’ and left traces, the ‘Shadow Uniform’ could cover it up. “I hereby name you the strongest navigation sprite; I underestimated you.”

The little sprite laughed arrogantly, overjoyed by the praise. This feeling of recognition was unprecedented and far more satisfying than the boss finding gold.

Confident in its newfound ‘world-shaking wisdom,’ the little tail suggested further: “Boss, what if we go one step further? Turn the shadow-polluted uniform into a power seed and fully cleanse the power system under human form? Then, with infinite investment in the Tiger Demon, you could unleash your full potential…”

“No! Absolutely unnecessary.” Yuan Zhu shook his head firmly. “Even if I inherit the shadow system as a human, I don’t need King Mao interfering. I have plenty of safe and harmless ‘shadow power seeds.’”

“Besides, during the brief battle with the corpse demons in Vajra Temple, I realized the shadow’s pollution is somewhat weak, not a powerful corrupting force. It often takes two or three doses to dissolve a single portion of the underworld Buddha aura on an ordinary corpse demon. So my human form must adopt a strong native power system for control experiments.”

Hearing Yuan Zhu’s doubts, the little sprite also recorded detailed data on various pollution energies in the bubble world and launched intelligent analysis.

“Boss, I have a hypothesis. The ‘Great Wilderness Immortal Classic’ might have chosen to cleanse itself with the weak ‘shadow pollution’ deliberately. At only 17.6% pollution, it bit off and completely refined the core part from some shadow evil god, making your ‘Boss Template’ possess demonic god traits. If it were a top-quality super polluter, even the old sage sacrificing himself couldn’t fully refine and claim it.”

Yuan Zhu agreed.

Now, in Tiger Demon form, merely standing in the shadows without any effort, he absorbed endless streams of polluting spiritual energy that nourished his ‘spiritual root’ to grow stronger.

This passive buff of gaining spiritual energy from thin air was extraordinary, touching on certain rules and concepts.

His slaughter in Vajra Temple was due to this passive effect, allowing him to lavishly use shadow power and freely combine various divine arts.

Meanwhile, the corpse demons, though on their home turf in Vajra Temple, rapidly lost their pollution power during battle with no way to replenish it.

After finalizing their plan through discussion, the Tiger Demon lay resting in the shadow dimension, greedily absorbing the surging shadow power, while the little sprite swallowed the ‘King Mao Uniform’ whole, refining and corrupting it within the ‘World Within the Belly,’ continuously infusing it with shadow pollution.

“Do you think King Mao might analyze the pollution power through the uniform and indirectly discover the secret of the ‘Boss Template’?”

“Don’t worry! She can’t! The uniform’s purity is very low, just like those ‘half-finished corpse demons’ you threw out. Their ‘shadow power’ is only basic pollution with no value. Even if devoured by other monsters, they won’t discover any secrets of the Immortal Classic. King Mao’s uniform works on the same principle. She won’t put much effort into the uniform. I even think I can use the ‘World Within the Belly’ to fully corrupt and refine it.”

The little sprite analyzed seriously: “I think King Mao’s final move is a counter-law pact. Once that’s established, this wild, uncontrollable uniform will reconnect with the pollution source (the counter-law), uploading new data again.”

Yuan Zhu nodded in approval. “You really are a fine little sprite!”

“Right? Right? So, boss, can you give me a name? I don’t want to be called ‘little sprite’ anymore. It’s too mundane and ordinary, unworthy of my excellence! Only by being more outstanding can I better highlight your greatness.”

The Tiger Demon looked up, admiring its own eerie yet jade-like skeletal snake tail—a magnificent work of art!

“How about… ‘Skeleton Little Spicy Stick’?”

Before crossing worlds, on Earth, snakes had begun to be nicknamed spicy sticks.

Overjoyed, the little sprite fawned, “Thank you for the name, boss! In ancient times, An Qi rode the Saurian to the Jade Capital; your literary talent is illustrious, well-versed in history and eager for the Way. From now on, my Taoist name is Jade Capital Child! I will never disappoint your expectations!”

“Wait! Your name is Skeleton Little Spicy Stick!”

Even more ecstatic, the little sprite nodded vigorously, “Ah! ‘Snake Snake’ is fine too! It’s all your loving care, boss. My Taoist name is Jade Capital Child; my nickname will be Snake Snake.”

The Tiger Demon squinted, wondering if it was deliberately ignoring him.

Jade Capital Child said, “Boss, your coat has been successfully refined. Want to leave the shadow world and try it on? Also, I have a bold and radical idea, if you don’t mind…”

The Tiger Demon sighed, “Sigh… go ahead.”

“When I infused shadow pollution into the uniform via the ‘World Within the Belly,’ I suddenly realized the uniform is a container that can collect and assimilate various external ‘pollutions’ to forge strange garments. So we might not need to be overly conservative by only infusing 100% controllable ‘shadow pollution.’ Doing so maximizes safety but ties the potential to shadow power…”

Yuan Zhu understood her idea. “So you think we can spice up the uniform a bit? Reduce some controllable ‘shadow pollution,’ add some more exciting elements, and make the uniform’s potential exceed the safe version of the ‘Shadow Uniform.’”

“Exactly!”

“What do you want to add? This bubble world only has: corrupted bone monsters, starry Buddha eggplants, underworld corpse demons, and underworld kasaya ghosts… even the somewhat legitimate ‘pure Buddha cocoons’ have been polluted.”

Little Spicy Stick advised, “Then choose the ‘Buddha eggplant’! Avoid the ‘Corrupted Bone Bloody’ mistake and the underworld connections related to Tiger Demon. That leaves the completely unfamiliar ‘Starry Buddha Eggplant.’ To enhance controllability and let ‘shadow’ dominate the future uniform, we can capture some wild civilian Buddha eggplants and attempt to refine a batch of new half-finished corpse demons. Then insert one into the uniform.”

“Feasible!”

Yuan Zhu grasped the idea: capture civilian Buddha eggplants, refine them into corpse demon pre-made dishes, then feed them to the uniform as nourishment, birthing a shadow uniform with ‘Buddha eggplant attributes.’

Sounds fun and worth trying. Worst case, it fails and he asks the captain for a new uniform.

End of page three.