Chapter 141: Exploring New Talents, Analyzing the Source of Talismans

Chapter 141: Exploring New Talents, Analyzing the Source of Talismans

Ten days later, at Qingxi Zong...

Xin Wuyao sat within his cave abode, his face as gloomy as the depths of a dark pond. His plan to obtain the Spirit Plant could be considered a complete failure; the one he had managed to get his hands on had flown away. The attempt to have a Qi Refining disciple break through to the Foundation Establishment stage and sense the location of the Spirit Plant had also been ruined by the Yin Demon Sect. Now, several Qi Refining disciples had been taken away by the sect.

The only glimmer of hope he had left was in the actions of the elder, Yang, who wore a green robe. But at this moment, even that last shred of hope was slowly crumbling.

"Master, we truly couldn't find any trace of Chu Ning. Ever since the sect's defensive formation was sealed, no one has entered or left. But even after searching the entire sect high and low, we still couldn't find him."

He Litiao stood in the middle of the hall within the cave abode, reporting to Xin Wuyao with a face filled with dread and confusion.

Hearing this, Xin Wuyao gave him a cold glance. "To think that you couldn't even keep an eye on a mere Qi Refining disciple. Hmph!"

Although his words were filled with anger, there was also a hint of bewilderment in Xin Wuyao's eyes. In fact, he had just used his spiritual sense to search the entire sect but had come up empty.

It was simply unbelievable that a Qi Refining disciple could hide within the sect for ten whole days without being discovered. There was only one possible explanation for this.

He was being protected by a Core Formation cultivator.

Perhaps Xin Wuyao hadn't considered the possibility of Chu Ning leaving the sect. With the sect's defensive formation activated, no one but Core Formation cultivators could enter or exit. There was no way a Qi Refining disciple could have left on their own.

If he had left, there was only one possibility—a Core Formation cultivator had helped him!

As this thought crossed his mind, the usually gentle expression on Xin Wuyao's face turned uncertain. The faces of the three Core Formation elders flashed through his mind.

He Litiao, who was standing below, saw the change in Xin Wuyao's expression, and his own face grew more fearful. Having followed this sect master for a long time, he knew all too well how ruthless his gentle-faced master could be.

However, to He Litiao's surprise, Xin Wuyao simply waved his hand to dismiss him. He Litiao immediately took his leave as if he had just been granted a reprieve.

Alone in his cave abode, Xin Wuyao soon murmured to himself, "Who could it be?"

...

Yuhua City was a moderately sized city in the mortal world of Yan Country. Famous for its production of jewels and jade, it enjoyed a good reputation among the neighboring countries, attracting many jade merchants. It was one of the more prosperous cities in the area.

At this moment, in a bustling restaurant called Yuelai Ju within the city, Chu Ning sat dressed in a sturdy martial artist's attire. Naturally, he was unaware of the events that had transpired back at Qingxi Zong.

After spending a few days flying out of the Qingxia Mountains, Chu Ning had traveled east for several more days before finally arriving at Yuhua City. Along the way, he had not only purchased many items commonly used by mortals but had also specially hunted down an ordinary wild bull to make a large leather bag. He had then placed his storage bag and spirit beast bag inside.

At this moment, Chu Ning's body emanated no aura of spiritual power. Dressed like an ordinary martial artist, he had a giant sword placed beside him. Anyone who saw him would assume he was a mortal martial artist and not a cultivator.

The giant sword was, of course, one of the items Chu Ning had acquired. In truth, it made no difference to him what kind of weapon he used in the mortal world. Choosing such a weapon was simply because he didn't know any mortal martial arts, but he could still rely on his strength to break through any clever techniques.

As Chu Ning ate, his ears perked up, capturing snippets of conversations from the various guests around him.

"Have you heard? The Qingxi Sect in the Qingxia Mountains is recruiting disciples all the way in the neighboring city of Black Stone."

"Why would such a major sect go so far to recruit disciples?" one middle-aged man asked another.

A younger man, probably in his twenties, then chimed in, "Forget it. Who cares about those major sects? I have a relative who just returned from Qingxi City yesterday. He said that the Qingxi Sect couldn't even protect their own disciples and had to hand them over to the Yin Demon Sect as an apology."

"Is that true?" another man asked, his tone filled with skepticism.

"Of course, it's true," the young man replied.

At this point, the other middle-aged man spoke up, "Never mind, never mind. We mortals shouldn't concern ourselves with the affairs of those cultivation sects."

"Yes, yes. Let's talk about something else. I heard that this batch of jade has a high yield. Many merchants are looking for helpers these days, so we might be able to take on another delivery job soon."

...

After sitting in the restaurant for a while, Chu Ning had gathered quite a bit of information before finally getting up to leave.

"Escorting jade deliveries, huh?" Chu Ning thought to himself. "That's not a bad idea."

In fact, he had already decided on his next move, so his stop in Yuhua City was merely a brief layover. Even though the city was already over a thousand miles away from Qingxi Zong, Chu Ning still felt it was too close.

After all, this area was lacking in spiritual energy, and there were no other cultivation sects nearby, so it was still technically within the sphere of influence of Qingxi Zong. It was said that the royal family of Yan Country was once a cultivator family that had been affiliated with Qingxi Zong.

Disguising himself as a mortal martial artist and helping to escort jade deliveries out of Yuhua City would be a relatively inconspicuous way to leave. From there, he could then proceed to his actual destination, or perhaps even find someone heading in the same direction.

During the past few days, Chu Ning had been constantly studying various geographical materials within the sect, gaining a clearer understanding of the world he now inhabited. He had also already decided on his next stop.

Leaving the restaurant, Chu Ning headed toward the east gate of Yuhua City.

As Chu Ning made his way there, he indeed saw a gathering of people not far from the exit of the city. There were people like him, observing the martial artists, as well as many others holding up cloth banners with various messages.

"Recruiting two martial artists to escort jade to Yongsheng Fu."

"Recruiting four martial artists to escort jade to Luofeng City, round trip."

...

Chu Ning perused these messages, some for destinations near and far, but most were for nearby towns.

Naturally, these nearby places held little appeal to him.

"Hmm?"

Just then, Chu Ning noticed a steady-looking man with a short beard, probably in his thirties, holding up a cloth banner.

"Recruiting six martial artists and ten helpers to go to Feiyan Manor."

Unlike the other recruiters, who had people stopping by to chat, many martial artists who saw this banner simply shook their heads and walked away.

"Feiyan Manor is too far away."

"Yeah, and that place is not far from the land of immortals. What if we encounter a cultivator on the way... It's a tough job."

...

Next to the bearded man stood a middle-aged man dressed like a merchant, who appeared to be in his forties.

Seeing the martial artists' reactions, he looked slightly anxious and tried to initiate conversations several times.

"Sir, why don't you go back to the inn and rest? I can stay here and wait."

But the merchant sighed and said, "I'll just wait here with you. We've already lost a lot of time on the way here. If we don't find enough people to transport the goods, we'll miss the opportunity."

Although their voices were not loud, Chu Ning, with his keen spiritual sense, could hear every word clearly.

Feiyan Manor? Chu Ning's eyebrows furrowed slightly as he walked over.

"May I ask if this Feiyan Manor is the Feiyan Manor between Yan Mountain and Hushan Lake in the north?"

Hearing this inquiry, the middle-aged merchant's eyes lit up, and the bearded man spoke up, "Indeed it is. Are you willing to go there, sir? I assure you, the compensation will be to your satisfaction."

Upon hearing this, Chu Ning feigned hesitation and said, "That place is almost a three-month journey away."

"The journey is indeed long, but we have horses, so it won't be too tiring. If you're willing to go, I'm willing to offer this amount."

The merchant seemed afraid that Chu Ning wouldn't be interested, so he quickly offered the compensation.

"Fifty taels of silver is indeed a lot," Chu Ning muttered softly, then looked up at the merchant and said, "Alright, I agree."

"Wait!" The merchant was about to respond when the bearded man interrupted in a low voice.

Chu Ning turned to him, and the man continued, "Sir, this journey is long, and we need some capable friends. May I ask if you are up to the task? I, Li, would like to test your skills."

Hearing this, a smile appeared on Chu Ning's face.

"Oh? How will you test me?"

"Naturally, we will spar." The bearded man, who introduced himself as Li, glanced at him and continued, "Please wait a moment, sir. I still need to recruit a few more people. Once I've gathered enough, we'll find a place to test your skills."

"Spar?" Chu Ning smiled and suddenly reached out to grab the cloth banner that Li was holding.

Li watched as Chu Ning's hand reached out, not particularly fast. He flashed a gleam in his eyes and pulled the banner back with his left hand while grabbing for Chu Ning's wrist with his right.

His movements were swift, and he assumed he could easily grasp Chu Ning's palm.

But to his astonishment, when he grabbed, he caught nothing but air.

The next moment, Li's face changed drastically.

The cloth banner he had been holding in his left hand was now in Chu Ning's hand, and he hadn't even had time to react.

"Too slow!" Chu Ning chuckled inwardly.

To him, the movements of these mortal warriors were like slow-motion replays, so how could they possibly evade his attack?

However, at that moment, Li's heart was filled with shock and bewilderment.

He prided himself on his martial skills, but in this one grab, he hadn't been able to put up any resistance at all.

"So fast!"

"Such remarkable martial skills... This..." Li hesitated slightly, unsure of what to make of Chu Ning's abilities.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged merchant's eyes lit up as he looked at Chu Ning. Although he hadn't seen the process clearly, he had witnessed the result.

He was well aware of the skills of his head guard, so when he saw that Chu Ning seemed even more skilled, he exclaimed, "Excellent! May I ask your name, sir? If you join us, I'll add another ten taels of silver."

"Chu Ping," Chu Ning replied casually, making up a name on the spot.

Since there were many people with the surname Chu in the nearby cities, he didn't bother to change his surname.

"Chu Xiake, come, come, let me take you to the inn and get you settled.

Once Li Song has recruited enough people, we can set off together."

Li Song opened his mouth as if to say something but ultimately remained silent, his eyes fixed on the backs of the merchant and Chu Ning as they walked away. His eyebrows furrowed slightly.

Chu Ning's senses were sharp, and even without deliberately extending his spiritual sense, he could sense Li Song's actions.

Smiling to himself, Chu Ning pretended not to notice and continued chatting with the merchant.

From the merchant, whose name was Cheng Jinhe, Chu Ning learned that he had come from Feiyan Manor and originally had a team of guards with him.

However, on their way here, they had encountered a group of bandits. Although they had managed to protect the goods, several guards had been injured or killed.

That was why they needed to recruit more martial artists as escorts for the return journey.

When the merchant asked about Chu Ning's background, Chu Ning simply said he was from a nearby village and made up a vague story.

Only after receiving Chu Ning's promise to participate in the escort did he happily return to his own room.

At this moment, Chu Ning, who had entered his room, casually threw out a talisman, isolating the entire room.

This Control Spirit Talisman was a low-grade intermediate talisman that Chu Ning had learned from the Mysterious Talisman Manual.

Not only did this talisman have a soundproofing effect, but it could also prevent spiritual power fluctuations from being sensed from the outside.

Thinking that he might need it in the mortal world, Chu Ning had taken the time to learn how to create it.

For Chu Ning, this low-grade intermediate talisman was extremely simple, and it didn't take much time for him to create quite a few.

After activating the Control Spirit Talisman, Chu Ning reached into his spirit beast bag and released two little guys.

One of them was Ling Xiaobai, and the other was the baby Ironrock Beast.

When Chu Ning first obtained the baby Ironrock Beast, he had no idea what to do.

After all, when he first got Ling Xiaobai, she was already grown up.

She also knew how to express what she wanted to eat.

But the Ironrock Beast was different; it didn't understand anything.

Fortunately, Chu Ning remembered that when he killed a few Yin Demon Sect disciples in the Spirit Domain, two of them were from the Spirit Beast House.

They had some jade slips with them that introduced various spirit beasts, so he immediately took them out to check.

Sure enough, there was an introduction to the Ironrock Beast among the jade slips.

This beast was easy to raise; all it needed was soil.

Of course, ordinary soil would only fill its stomach, but if he wanted it to grow well and quickly, he would need spirit soil.

So, before leaving the Qingxia Mountains, Chu Ning dug up two storage bags' worth of spirit soil, which should be enough for the Ironrock Beast to eat for a while.

At this moment, after releasing the Ironrock Beast, Chu Ning took out some spirit soil from his storage bag and fed it to the beast.

Ling Xiaobai sat beside him, chirping softly and curiously.

"Little White, look, this little guy can grow up just by eating soil, while you, who eats spirit fruits all the time, are still so small."

Chu Ning teased Ling Xiaobai through spiritual transmission, causing the little guy to become anxious.

Chu Ning couldn't help but want to laugh out loud.

However, the Ironrock Beast did grow quickly. In just ten days, it had grown noticeably bigger.

Its eyes were now open, and it would occasionally glance at Chu Ning and Ling Xiaobai affectionately.

After letting the two spirit beasts out for some fresh air, Chu Ning put them back into the spirit beast bag.

Then, he sat down cross-legged and began cultivating the Blazing Fire Divine Wood Art.

There was spiritual energy in the mortal world, but it was extremely sparse.

So, while Chu Ning could cultivate, his progress would naturally be slow.

Fortunately, Chu Ning had already decided to focus on consolidating his cultivation base during this period, so he wasn't in a hurry.

At this moment, Chu Ning was still in the stage of refining his cultivation after switching to the Blazing Fire Divine Wood Art.

By cultivating this art, he could absorb fire-attribute spiritual energy from the heavens and earth, transforming the wood-attribute spiritual power in his dantian into a combination of wood and fire attributes.

However, if there was no spiritual energy available, he could still use the art to generate fire from wood, gradually accumulating dual-attribute spiritual power.

The latter method would be slower, but for Chu Ning, who had progressed too quickly in the early stages, it might not be a bad thing.

So, even though he had fire spirit crystals in his storage bag, he didn't take them out to aid his cultivation.

On the one hand, the spiritual energy in the fire spirit crystals was too rich and might be easily sensed by other cultivators.

On the other hand, Chu Ning intentionally wanted to "slow down" his progress.

After a few revolutions of his qi, Chu Ning slowly opened his eyes, feeling the slight increase in his wood-fire dual-attribute spiritual power, and nodded in satisfaction.

While his proficiency in the art didn't increase much with this slow cultivation, he didn't mind.

Instead, he took out a talisman from his storage bag.

It was the Sealing Sword Talisman, a low-grade high-quality talisman that Chu Ning had obtained from a Yin Demon Sect disciple's storage bag.

After his proficiency in the third layer of the Azure Wood Eternal Spring Technique had reached maximum and his hidden talents had been refreshed, Chu Ning had taken the time to browse through the hidden talents of his various spiritual bodies.

However, he hadn't had the time to truly explore them.

Not only had he not had the chance to cultivate the recently acquired Blazing Inferno Art, but he also hadn't tried to understand the hidden talents of his Talisman Source Spiritual Body and True Talisman Spiritual Body.

Now, he could finally give it a shot.

"Analyze the talisman patterns, comprehend the principles of the talisman..."

Chu Ning muttered to himself as he focused his gaze on the Sealing Sword Talisman, studying the talisman patterns intently.

At first, he didn't sense anything, but as he continued to trace the patterns with his eyes, imagining himself inscribing the talisman, something began to happen.

Gradually, Chu Ning felt as if beams of light were shining from the talisman, as if he were inscribing it himself.

Then, these beams of light came to life, forming symbols that flowed into his mind.

"So that's how it is!"

After an unknown amount of time, Chu Ning emerged from his focused state, a look of realization on his face.

He had understood a large part of the principles behind the Sealing Sword Talisman.

At the same time, Chu Ning noticed that a significant portion of the hundred drops of spiritual essence in his Niwan Palace had been consumed.

"This analysis of talisman patterns and exploration of the talisman source is indeed profound.

With my current spiritual sense, I've only understood a small part of it, and yet I've consumed more than half of my spiritual essence."

Although Chu Ning thought this, a smile appeared on his face.

At this rate, it would only take three to five days for him to fully understand the talisman patterns on the Sealing Sword Talisman.

What about intermediate talismans, then? Chu Ning's eyes lit up as he closed his eyes and began cultivating the Spirit Refining Art.

Cultivating the Spirit Refining Art after using spiritual sense to inscribe talismans or analyze talismans not only restored his spiritual sense but also helped to strengthen it.

Perhaps the same was true for analyzing talismans.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end