I will be stronger after the remake

"It's not that I can't find someone, it's that I don't want to. I'm always out and about, and I don't want to hold people back."

"Since you know all this, why do you still do such a dangerous thing? Even if you can't give up your journalism job and don't want to retire, how about staying at home and becoming a self-media creator? Now is the time when self-media is developing the fastest."

"Forget it, I don't like sitting in an office, clicking a mouse to complete a news article. It's easy, but there's no sense of accomplishment. In this case, only by investigating personally can the truth be revealed."

The two chatted like peers and friends as they entered the room, where they met the room's owner, a middle-aged man nearing fifty.

After observing for a while, Tang Ping noticed that the other person had a noticeably overweight body. Judging from the condition of his skin, he clearly worked in an office for long periods of time. He seemed listless and lacked energy. The skin on his round face was loose and had a dull tone. His eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses were bloodshot and his gaze revealed unease.

In short, this is a typical image of a government employee who is suppressed by his superiors.

The middle-aged man was also observing Tang Ping, then his expression turned somewhat unacceptable. After a moment's hesitation, he said to Tang Zheng, "Reporter Tang, is this the reliable helper you mentioned? Isn't he too young, and he looks a lot like you?"

“He is my son. Don’t worry, he has real skills. When he gets serious, even ten or more big men can’t get close to him.”

Seeing that the middle-aged man still looked worried, Tang Zheng changed his approach: "Think about it from another perspective. If I didn't really have confidence, how could I let my own son take such a risk?"

This explanation was very convincing, and the middle-aged man became skeptical. He then said, "Please understand, Reporter Tang. It's not that I don't trust you. Without your help, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to get the evidence. But the other side is now on guard and has even sent people to guard my home. You know their methods; they are truly lawless. The lives of my entire family are in your hands."

This statement may seem like moral blackmail, but Tang Zheng can understand it, since the person being investigated this time is indeed capable of murder to cover it up.

He reassured her, "Don't worry, we will make sure your whole family gets out safely."

Tang Ping glanced at her and said, "You didn't explain the situation clearly on your phone. I thought you would learn from your experience in Liangshan and wouldn't make the mistake of standing under a dangerous wall again."

“The situation is different. Before, we were dealing with wealthy people who had no power. Now we are dealing with high-ranking officials. We can’t catch the tiger cub without going deep into the tiger’s den. And if we catch the tiger cub, it will definitely arouse the other party’s vigilance.”

Tang Zheng briefly introduced the subject of this investigation, a television station director who abused his power for personal gain, formed cliques, engaged in power-money transactions, acted as a "two-faced person," and served as a "protective umbrella" for organized crime, committing every imaginable wrongdoing.

"This man also has a capable henchman surnamed Miao, who is also a reporter. He has repeatedly threatened local businesses under the guise of supervision, coerced local officials by threatening to report negative information, and even set up a reporter's office in his self-built private residence. He also illegally possesses firearms and ammunition, illegally hires gangsters as thugs, and has repeatedly let his dogs injure people and refused to pay medical expenses. He is so wicked that he is more typical than the villains in novels!"

Perhaps because they were both journalists, Tang Zheng disliked this reporter Miao even more than the station director.

Then, he introduced the middle-aged man: "Director Jiang refused to collude with them and was retaliated against. He was not only stripped of his position but also had his salary suspended. He was even beaten by that reporter Miao and his gang of thugs, sustaining minor injuries. It was through my cooperation with him that I was able to collect evidence of their crimes."

Tang Ping was very polite: "Director Jiang is of noble character, I admire him greatly."

The middle-aged man smiled bitterly and said, "How can I talk about being of noble character? If they hadn't kept pressuring me, I probably would have just turned a blind eye and pretended to be blind to get away with it. Half a year ago, Reporter Tang contacted me, hoping that I could be a witness to expose their crimes, but I was too timid to do so and refused. Now I'm being forced to the point where I can't survive, so I'm shamelessly asking Reporter Tang for help. Please don't laugh at me, I'll be extremely grateful."

“Having the courage to fight to the death already puts you ahead of many people,” Tang Zheng said with emotion. “I have seen many people, most of whom are the kind of people who, even when forced into a desperate situation, dare not resist and will only die a cowardly death.”

Tang Ping waved his hand and said, "Don't waste time sharing your experience. Quickly tell me what you plan to do next."

Tang Zheng said, "I already have irrefutable evidence of those two people's crimes, and I've asked a few friends to confirm that they don't have any higher-ups to back them up. As long as the evidence is submitted, they're finished. The key is to get Director Jiang and his family out safely. Otherwise, if the news leaks out, they might take a desperate gamble and go crazy before they die."

Tang Ping said dismissively, "That's easy. The whole family can take a car and leave overnight. As long as they escape to another province and find a rural village to hide in, even if the other party uses their connections to get the police to arrest them, it will be too late."

Director Jiang interjected, "It's not that simple. They've already sent people to watch me, not giving me a chance to leave. They've become suspicious. If I dare to drive away, I might get into a traffic accident on the way and lose my whole family."

Tang Ping said, "If you're talking about those four guys who were stalking around the dormitory building, I knocked them out when I arrived."

Director Jiang's mouth dropped open: "Huh? This?"

"If you're worried, you can go downstairs and check. The four people are still unconscious. From my observation, there are no other people watching them."

Tang Zheng had absolute confidence in his son's skills and immediately said, "Then what are we waiting for? Your whole family should get moving. No need to bring luggage, just take the cash and go. Drive on the national highway, not the expressway. Once you get to another province, take the high-speed rail. If you think Lin'an is too far, you can go to Jiangcheng. I have many good friends there, so I can guarantee your safety."

"Oh, oh!"

Director Jiang immediately went inside to wake up his family.

Tang Ping said in a low voice, "This doesn't seem very safe. If the other party reacts quickly or has a contingency plan, they might still be able to stop him. After all, you just said that the other party injured Director Jiang and did not receive any punishment. Moreover, they openly colluded with criminal gangs and put 'I am the law' in the open. It is clear that they have enough ability to mobilize the police."

Tang Zheng glanced at him sideways and said, "What good idea do you have?"

"I suggest we strike first and kidnap that station director. Without a leader, their first priority will be finding him, and they won't have the energy to care about this. Anyway, what we need to gain is this time difference. Of course, the premise is that this guy is definitely doomed and no one will stand up for him, otherwise we risk being wanted by the police."

Faced with his son's "lawless" suggestion, Tang Zheng did not immediately refute it, but thought about it seriously. After a while, he asked, "How confident are you?"

"It depends on how confident you are that you know where the other person lives now."

"Ha, don't underestimate your father's intelligence gathering ability, it's definitely top-notch."

"Then I also have ten points."

The father and son, both madmen, exchanged a knowing smile.

After Director Jiang and his family got into the car, Tang Zheng said, "You go first, we'll try to buy you some time."

"Okay, okay, thank you for everything, Reporter Tang."

Director Jiang was very nervous. Without asking Tang Zheng how he planned to buy time, he stepped on the gas and drove away.

"Let's go too."

Afterwards, Tang Zheng drove the rented car with Tang Ping to a well-known villa area in the city. He parked the car outside and said, "There are security guards. Unregistered vehicles cannot enter. I can only leave the rest to you. Remember, it's the last house in the first row."

Tang Ping made an OK sign, then tore off a corner of her clothes and used it as a cloth to cover her face. After getting off the bus, her body trembled slightly, accompanied by a "clunking" sound. She suddenly shrank by five centimeters, and her shoulders became broader.

Although it wasn't the first time Tang Zheng had seen it, he still couldn't help but marvel, saying, "With this ability to change shape, you can come and go freely even if you're wanted by the police."

"Don't say anything unlucky."

Taking advantage of the darkness, Tang Ping found a spot without cameras, scaled the wall, and quickly located the target building.

It was an extremely luxurious villa, exuding an air of nouveau riche just by looking at its exterior. The two heavy iron doors were tightly closed at the moment, and the intricate patterns carved on the doors looked like distorted ghost faces in the shadows.

The trees surrounding the villa are lush and leafy, rustling in the breeze. Their branches intertwine like countless waving arms, adding to the already eerie atmosphere of the building and making it seem even more dangerous.

Tang Ping, skilled and daring, was unaffected. He closed his eyes and sensed the situation briefly: "Hmm, there are three large dogs. Sorry, I'm not a dog lover."

He bent down, picked up three stones at random, placed them in his palm, and easily scaled the courtyard wall.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Before the three massive, vicious dogs could even register what was happening, they were killed by three stones that came hurtling through the air.

After observing for a moment, Tang Ping noticed that the second-floor window was not closed and laughed, "It seems that not having to break the lock saves me a lot of trouble."

He immediately used the wall for leverage, opened the window, and climbed in. He glanced inside and saw that it was the bedroom, with a man and a woman of vastly different ages lying on the bed.

"There is no sign of any other living person, this must be the station director."

Tang Ping stepped forward and delivered two swift chops, knocking the two unconscious. He then went into the bathroom, found some towels, tied the young woman's hands and feet, gagged her, and then carried the middle-aged man out the window like a chicken, quickly returning to his car.

The whole process took less than five minutes.

Chapter 158 Promotion to Novice Monk

Tang Zheng had a photo of the station director. After confirming that he hadn't tied the wrong person to the wrong place, he drove to an area of ​​unfinished housing developments, randomly picked a house, dumped the person inside, and left.

The car was borrowed from a rental company through an intermediary. Theoretically, with a little effort, it could be traced back to Tang Zheng. However, his purpose was to create a time gap, add more steps to the police investigation, and delay the matter until the station director was arrested, at which point the case would naturally be dropped.

So, after returning the car to the middleman, the father and son went to the train station together and swaggered off on the earliest train.

"Kidnapping is defined as the act of taking advantage of the kidnapped person's close relatives or other people's concerns about the kidnapped person's safety, and using violence, coercion, or drugging to abduct or control another person by force with the aim of extorting money or satisfying other illegal demands."

While on the bus, Tang Ping was bored, so she checked on her phone and wondered, "We're just kidnapping someone, we don't intend to extort money or make any illegal demands, so it shouldn't be considered kidnapping, right? Maybe it's considered restricting personal freedom?"

Tang Zheng hadn't slept all night and was feeling tired. He yawned and said, "Small cases are about the law, medium cases are about connections, and big cases are about politics. This case is somewhere between a medium case and a big case, so it doesn't matter which law we violated. If that station director has connections everywhere, even if we're speaking up for the people, we'll have to flee abroad. On the other hand, if he's dealt with according to the law, then we're just using special means in special times to fight against tyranny, and naturally someone will come forward to vouch for us."

Tang Ping said slyly, "Dad, you don't even say you'll surrender, you just keep talking about fleeing abroad. You're definitely a lawless outlaw!"

"What outlaw? This is called chivalry!" Tang Zheng snorted. "A chivalrous person uses force to break the law; a righteous person does what is right, rewarding the good and punishing the evil, in order to achieve merit and accomplish great things. Chivalry is about upholding justice by breaking the law. If everyone obeyed the law, the Qing Dynasty would not have perished."

"The hero can't get a government job; all those who do are henchmen of the imperial court. Be careful not to interfere with my civil service exam."

Tang Ping instinctively replied, but when he thought about his undercover identity, he was unsure whether he was now considered a lackey of the imperial court.

If he didn't know that ordinary people would forget about things related to psychic powers, he would have wanted to tell his father.

"That's the end of this matter. You don't need to get involved anymore. Go back to your studies and focus on your studies," Tang Zheng instructed.

Tang Ping had given up hope for her student life, but still nodded in agreement.

……

A momentous event that happens in one place may go unnoticed outside the province, and sometimes it may even have no impact outside the city.

For the next three days, Tang Ping lived a peaceful life, as if he had never been to Inner Mongolia or kidnapped anyone. Occasionally, he would feel restless and search online, but he could not find any relevant information until he received a call from his father, which made him realize that the incident was real.

The phone call was simple: the disciplinary inspection department had intervened, the station director had been placed under investigation, and because the evidence submitted was strong enough, the case had been classified, and the next step was simply to follow the procedures.

Tang Ping wasn't thinking about this matter, because Zhou Canglan contacted him and told him that he had acquired the Dao Seed of the Monk and could advance that day, so he couldn't wait to rush over.

When he arrived at his destination, he found Zhou Canglan, along with two other men and two women, presumably the rest of the group. However, Zhou Canglan made no attempt to introduce them, instead taking out a stone and saying, "There is no spiritual energy in the mortal world. The advancement ceremony must be held in the Illusionary Realm. Are you ready?"

Tang Ping said decisively, "Let's go, I can't wait any longer."

Zhou Canglan chuckled and activated the effect of the Illusion-Breaking Stone, teleporting the group to the Realm of Illusion.

Tang Ping looked around and felt that it was extremely desolate, with a sense of post-apocalyptic wasteland. Although it made people want to explore, that was not the main event today.

"Take it, the Dao Seed is inside," Zhou Canglan handed a wooden box to Tang Ping. "The method of use is very simple, just swallow it. As long as your spiritual factor meets the standard, you can advance. There is no difficulty. But you need to think carefully. Once you choose your spiritual rank, you can't change it. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Are you sure you want the monk-type spiritual rank?"

"I'm just an ordinary person, how can I be picky? A monk's spiritual rank is fine."

Tang Ping took the Dao Seed out of the wooden box and, without hesitation, quickly put it into his mouth.

In an instant, an indescribable power exploded in his chest, like an ancient chant resounding, shaking his very soul.

Then, his brain was forcibly filled with a bunch of knowledge, he sensed the existence of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and perceived changes in his body through introspection.

The Dao Seed he had ingested also contained spiritual energy, and its concentration was far higher than that of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. At this moment, it was slowly dissolving and being absorbed by his cells. In the process, his body was also being transformed.

"If someone without spiritual aptitude takes the Dao Seed, they will be unable to absorb the spiritual energy within it. It seems that the so-called spiritual factor is the expression of a certain gene that can absorb spiritual energy."

While pondering this, Tang Ping controlled her body to accelerate the absorption of spiritual energy.

The transformation of psychics by the Dao Seed has three parts: soul, spiritual power, and body.

Ordinary people can only passively accept the transformation and can't do anything, but Tang Ping, as a martial arts master who has cultivated Dan Jin, has already reached a level of control over his body that is comparable to inserting nanobots. He actively guides the transformation of spiritual energy, focusing on the internal organs and meridians.

In addition, during the process of resolving the Dao Seed, some spiritual energy will inevitably be released out of the body before it can be absorbed. After all, spiritual beings are all novices before this and have no relevant experience. Even if they receive reminders from their seniors, they do not know exactly what to do. Moreover, during the advancement, their minds will be in a daze and they will not be able to concentrate on other things.

Tang Ping's will had already been tempered in the practice of martial arts, so he was only slightly dazed at the moment of his initial advancement, and then he quickly recovered, locking the spiritual power emitted by the Dao Seed firmly in his body without wasting a single bit.

Perhaps because of his monastic lineage, the spiritual energy released by the Dao seed was relatively gentle and was easily tamed by him. With each transformation, a warm current surged within his body, just like the compassionate light of Buddha, nourishing his body and mind.

To outsiders, Tang Ping's body quickly changed; her skin became increasingly fair and radiant, faintly emitting a soft golden glow, as if she were draped in a layer of Buddha's light.

Zhou Canglan observed, "His muscles haven't increased, and his body hasn't become stronger. It seems he's been promoted to 'novice monk,' not 'warrior monk.'"

Lover Liu Lingling smiled and said, "It should be. Actually, a 'novice monk' would be better. We don't lack psychic users who are good at fighting, so having another 'martial monk' wouldn't make much difference. On the contrary, having a psychic user who is good at healing would be of great benefit to our overall strength."

He Fengsheng withdrew his gaze from Liu Lingling and said, "'Shnāmi' is not good at fighting and must cooperate with his companions to exert his strength, so he dares not leave at will."

A moment later, the anomaly subsided, and Tang Ping successfully completed her advancement. Feeling the surging spiritual power within her body, she experienced a wondrous sensation that was difficult to describe.

As a martial artist, and one who once believed in the existence of the Otherworld, he naturally fantasized about the existence of true qi and internal energy, but unfortunately he never encountered them. After mastering the Hua Jin (化劲) technique, he completely gave up on such thoughts, thinking that this was a world of traditional Chinese martial arts. Unexpectedly, he got his wish in a different way today.

However, based on the known information, spiritual power can only be used to assist in the use of spiritual energy and spiritual arts. Whether it can be combined with martial arts to play a stronger role and thus deduce the martial arts in martial arts novels still needs further research.

He focused his mind, sensing his own spiritual abilities.

[Person: Tang Ping]

[Lingge: novice monk]

[The budding of good karma: Enhances your ability to learn virtuous practices, and conserves spiritual energy when performing virtuous deeds]

【Miraculous Dew: Can grant additional effects such as detoxification, healing, and blessing to one's own spiritual spells】

【Three-Eyed True Star: The third eye of the Horse King contains the fire of true yang, capable of seeing through the truth and falsehood of things, and discerning the sincerity and deceit of others' hearts】

Upon seeing the third psychic ability, Tang Ping immediately realized something was wrong. At the psychic training base, the instructor had said that a first-stage general-purpose psychic rank only has two psychic abilities, and even a unique psychic rank is just a psychic ability that is unique to oneself on top of a first-stage general-purpose psychic rank.

The other party has no reason to lie, and the country has collected so much data over the years; it's impossible for them to make such a basic mistake.

Furthermore, this "Three-Eyed True Radiance" is clearly incompatible with the previous two spiritual powers. The description explicitly states that it is the spiritual power of "Lord Ma," but it does not resemble the style of a unique spiritual power.

So, is this also a perk for time travelers?

Do I also have a special talent in psychic abilities?

Just as Tang Ping was deep in thought, Zhou Canglan asked about the name of the spirit rank. Seeing that he did not receive a response, he assumed that Tang Ping was unwilling to reveal it, so he explained, "There is no need to keep the first-rank spirit rank a secret. There are only two types of monk spirit rank, and their styles are very different, so it is obvious at a glance. In fact, everyone has guessed that your spirit rank is 'novice monk'. What really needs to be kept secret is the third-rank spirit rank. When a spiritual energy user advances to the third rank, various different branches will appear, and different spiritual energy will be obtained. At this time, information can play the greatest role."

Tang Ping snapped out of her daze and said, "I'm sorry, I was distracted just now. It's the first time I've experienced such a strange feeling, and I'm having some trouble controlling myself. Mr. Zhou, you guessed right, my spiritual level is indeed 'novice monk'."

Liu Lingling said, "Don't mind Lao Zhou. He's been out of touch with the grassroots for too long and has forgotten the mindset of a low-level psychic. When I was promoted, I stood there in a daze for a while. But I'm curious about something. I heard that psychics who are promoted to the monk level all go bald. Why haven't you lost any hair?"

Tang Ping touched his head and mumbled, "Maybe everyone's constitution is different."

He did feel a strong itch on his scalp when he was promoted, and he had an urge to become "brilliant". Fortunately, he managed to control his body as a martial arts master and forcibly tie his hair back.

“Generally speaking, we would send newly promoted psychics to fight monsters to quickly familiarize them with their abilities and understand the effects of their own psychic powers. However, the ‘novice’ is a purely support-oriented spirit, so there is no point in sending you to fight.”