Omamori, Creation and Regeneration

"It's you again."

Chen Guan pressed his lips together behind the mask. That line should have been his.

"He Chenguan." Guan Jinyue called out his name, her voice as cold and clear as ever, seemingly without any hostility.

"Your memory's really good."

"Give me the box."

Guan Jinyue's words were short, her meaning clear.

"This is my job."

"The Jiaoshen demon core shouldn't be in the hands of these people."

Guan Jinyue tried to communicate patiently.

"It doesn't matter to me whose hands it's in. I just deliver it to the destination, get the money, and leave."

Guan Jinyue looked down at him, her silver hair hanging down from the edge of the train carriage.

"Do you know where this demon core came from?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to know."

Chen Guan refused one verbal persuasion attempt, but Guan Jinyue went on anyway: "It was extracted alive from an underage Jiaoshen."

Chen Guan didn't answer.

Guan Jinyue didn't continue either. She wasn't someone who liked to explain, and saying this much was already giving face.

"You have three seconds."

Chen Guan stared at her for two seconds.

On the third second, he stood up, shoving the iron box into the inner pocket of his jacket.

"If you insist on taking it, you'll have to take it from me."

Guan Jinyue's brow twitched slightly.

"You can't beat me."

"I know." Chen Guan's tone sounded a bit helpless. "But I need the ninety thousand from this job."

"I can give it to you."

"You should know our industry rules, Miss Centennial Bounty."

Guan Jinyue didn't speak.

She really couldn't solve his follow-up problems.

"Last time. Give me the box."

Chen Guan made a quick judgment in his mind.

He couldn't use the scythe, couldn't use Baal's power, couldn't expose any fighting style linked to Chen Guan, but he also couldn't just hand the thing over directly.

Use Resentment? Chen Guan wasn't planning on opening that Pandora's box yet.

So, He Chenguan couldn't win against Guan Jinyue.

Fight a battle he was destined to lose, but he had to fight it the way He Chenguan should.

Chen Guan scrolled through his popularity points balance in his mind.

Then he found something in the system panel.

Enhancement type, Jade Shield.

His former white moonlight. Its basic effect could make him immune to blades and bullets, impervious to water and fire.

Mana bar intact, health bar not empty.

Exchange price: two hundred thousand popularity points.

He'd saved up for so long, spending two hundred thousand in one go. Wasn't his heart aching.

But this wasn't the time to feel bad about money.

[Jade Shield ability exchanged. 200,000 popularity points consumed.]

[Exchange successful. Chain reaction triggered. Life-type ability, Tenacity, has been upgraded to Life-type ability, Creative Regeneration, grade gold.]

Chen Guan skimmed the effects. Well then, who said there was no perpetual motion in the world.

The basic effect of Creative Regeneration was restoring health and mana. Jade Shield consumed mana to lock health. No wonder they chain-upgraded.

Add his health-lock hack and the second phase...

Now he was really an overpowered freak.

With this thought, Chen Guan's right hand held something new.

Not his old partner, the scythe, but a hammer so simple it was almost shabby.

The hammerhead was forged from common iron, pure black, no patterns, no inscriptions. The surface even had rough edges left unsmoothed from casting. The handle was wrapped in a layer of coarse anti-slip leather.

It really was. He had bought it to repair the dormitory. Never thought it would come in handy. A decoration hammer was playing in a high-stakes game.

Guan Jinyue's eyes fell on the iron hammer. She paused.

"You're going to hit me with that?"

She wasn't sure. Guan Jinyue had seen too many legendary weapons. She was somewhat surprised by the utterly ordinary hammer in front of her.

She hadn't seen such a shabby weapon even in elementary school.

"I'm poor." Chen Guan weighed the iron hammer in his hand, sounding unapologetically righteous. "Can't afford good weapons. Making do."

Guan Jinyue didn't reply. She jumped down from the edge of the carriage.

Now, the distance between them was less than four meters.

Baobao's growling resumed. Its limbs bent, its whole body pressed low.

"You'd better keep your beast still." Guan Jinyue didn't look at Baobao, her eyes fixed on Chen Guan. "A third-stage mutated variant. It couldn't last a single move against me. You should know that."

Due to some reasons, Guan Jinyue didn't want to clash with demonic beasts, especially this rare mutated variant.

Baobao was bewildered. Third stage? Me?

Bewildered, it forgot to growl.

"It won't move."

Chen Guan reached out and pressed down on Baobao's head, pushing it firmly. Still that same line. Right now, Baobao was worth more than him.

"Be good. Lie down."

Chen Guan let go, gripped the hammer tight, and looked through the mask at the silver-haired woman in front of him.

Jade Shield's power was already flowing through his body. A thin, dense layer of protection covered his skin's surface. From bones to muscle fibers, to capillary walls, every tissue was uniformly reinforced, like coating his entire body with an invisible film.

He couldn't punch Guan Jinyue. At least not as He Chenguan. Otherwise, taking borrowed stock from the White Tiger, his lenient superior would inevitably find something to pin on him.

With this thought, Chen Guan moved.

The iron hammer swung from low to high, relying purely on strength and speed to hurl this common iron tool.

Guan Jinyue sidestepped. The hammerhead brushed past the hem of her clothes, stirring a faint breeze. It didn't even touch a strand of her hair.

"Too slow."

Guan Jinyue's assessment was curt, almost indifferent. But she didn't counterattack. She just stepped back half a step, her black pupils fixed on Chen Guan's next move.

Chen Guan ignored her. The second hammer came down immediately, but this time it veered off course. Not aimed at her face, but at the carriage floor beneath his feet.

The iron plate dented. The whole carriage sank in one spot. The vibration traveled up from the soles of his feet. The baton Feng Wu had left jolted up, but Guan Jinyue easily dodged it by turning sideways.

Chen Guan had a rough understanding of Guan Jinyue's strength. Then he swung the third strike.

This one was faster than the first two. The iron hammer shot through the air, heading straight for Guan Jinyue's left shoulder.

Guan Jinyue finally moved. She reached out with her right hand, two fingers pinching the hammer's handle.

Chen Guan's force transmitted through the handle, but it was deftly undone by those two fingers. Like punching cotton. All the strength dissipated completely.

"Your power level is roughly third-stage. You're no match for me."

Guan Jinyue shook her head lightly. If she could help it, she didn't want to have a major fight with someone from the Demon of Entertainment.

There would be a lot of trouble afterward.

She was still in debt to the Demon of Entertainment and couldn't afford to offend it. Moreover, Guan Jinyue knew Baal must be peeking at this situation.

If He suddenly stepped in...

It would probably be hard to wrap things up.

After all, He only wanted to watch the show. He wouldn't care about her.