Chapter 310: The Yellow Court Seal, a Top-Tier Talisman

Chapter 310: The Yellow Court Seal, a Top-Tier Talisman

"The power of this spirit sword is the strongest among the four!"

Without any cultivation and refinement, its power is already comparable to the other three spirit swords!"

At this moment, as he looked at the golden spirit sword, Chu Ning's eyes lit up.

The fire spirit sword's power was no slouch either, having fused with some of the Fierce Sun Spirit Bird's soul essence.

However, the fire spirit sword from before didn't have the complete soul essence integrated.

Whereas now, the golden spirit sword had perfectly fused with the Golden-Silver Bird's soul.

Even if its soul was of a lower grade, it was still an eighth-grade soul.

This greatly enhanced the overall power of the golden spirit sword.

Chu Ning casually pointed a finger, and the sword immediately flew up.

At the same time, Chu Ning opened his mouth and spat out the other three spirit swords.

The four spirit swords formed a circular matrix in the air, emitting a heart-palpitating aura.

With a pinch of his fingers, the four spirit swords in the air merged into one.

They transformed into a giant sword that was larger than before.

Various brilliant lights flickered on its surface, dazzling to behold.

"The power of this giant sword has increased by nearly fifty percent!"

Chu Ning felt the boost in the flying sword's might, and a smile appeared on his face.

This improvement wasn't merely a quantitative increase.

He could already foresee that if he could awaken the water-attributed spirit body later on and successfully refine the Five Elements Spirit Swords, forming a sword formation.

Then its might would definitely double or even triple.

Chu Ning casually manipulated it with his thoughts, and after a swirl in the air, the giant sword was sucked back into his mouth.

The other three spirit swords had been cultivated for many years, and the power of the golden spirit sword would further increase with cultivation and refinement.

Having expended quite a bit of magical power, Chu Ning decided to meditate on the spot to recover.

It took him half a day to restore his magic completely, and then he stood up and left the alchemy room.

First, he checked on the Snow Crystal Herb and the Spirit Illuminating Fruit, the two spiritual plants.

"Oh? The Snow Crystal Herb has condensed spirit liquid."

It had been half a year, so it was about time. Chu Ning immediately took out a small jade bottle and collected the spirit liquid.

During this period, he had mainly focused on refining the earth vein's pure fire, slightly slowing down his cultivation.

But from now on, his priority would be cultivating his martial arts.

This spirit liquid would definitely come in handy.

When Chu Ning examined the Spirit Illuminating Fruit, he found that there weren't any significant changes.

He continued to cast the Mysterious Youthful Spring Technique to help the fruit gather spiritual energy.

Chu Ning couldn't help but mutter,

"I wonder when Little White will finish his breakthrough. If he were here to help speed up the maturation process, it would be much faster.

I can sense that the little guy seems to be just a step away, but for some reason, he hasn't been able to break through yet."

Chu Ning's gaze shifted slightly towards the direction of the spirit beast room where Little White was located.

He walked over to take a look.

Seeing Little White still cultivating with his eyes closed, Chu Ning's eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"Could it be that Little White hasn't absorbed enough spiritual energy, and that's why he's just a step away?"

At this moment, Chu Ning had a vague guess.

With that in mind, Chu Ning hesitated for a moment before entering the spirit beast room.

He searched through his storage bag and apart from the Snow Crystal Herb's spirit liquid, there didn't seem to be any other spiritual pills particularly suitable for Little White to consume.

However, with Little White currently in a state of slumber, he couldn't even feed him the spirit liquid.

At this moment, Chu Ning's attention landed on an item—a cyan-white jade bead exuding a chilling aura.

This bead was obtained from Tan Daisong's storage bag, and since Chu Ning didn't recognize it, he hadn't touched it.

"This thing has an astonishing icy spiritual energy. Since Little White is an ice-attributed beast, I wonder if it'll be effective for him?"

Chu Ning wasn't sure, but he figured it was worth a try.

He took out the cyan-white jade bead, guided it with his spiritual sense, and placed it in front of Little White.

Immediately, a thin strand of white cold light emerged from the jade bead and entered Little White's nostrils.

"It actually works!"

Seeing this, Chu Ning's curiosity grew. What exactly was this cyan-white bead?

However, since it was placed together with the Yellow Court Seal and its manipulation technique, it was likely an extraordinary item as well.

Chu Ning glanced at Little White, who would probably need a significant amount of time to absorb and refine the icy energy from the bead.

So he left the spirit beast room and took out the jade slip that recorded the manipulation technique for the Yellow Court Seal from his storage bag.

He began to study it intently.

During this period, Xi Menxia came to deliver spiritual pills once.

Chu Ning inquired about the outside world, and after learning that there wasn't anything special going on, he accepted the pills.

He gave her a few instructions before letting her leave.

With Little White at a crucial stage of his breakthrough and the Spirit Illuminating Fruit and Snow Crystal Herb already planted, it wasn't convenient to have her stay any longer.

The manipulation technique for the Yellow Court Seal was indeed profound.

Especially for a Golden Core cultivator like Chu Ning, attempting to drive it was no simple task.

Chu Ning first studied the technique to erase the imprint on the seal.

Then, he took out the Yellow Court Seal.

He formed a series of hand seals, and a white light descended from his fingers onto the seal.

As he continuously channeled his magic into it, the imprint on the seal gradually faded.

After a full day, the hidden imprint on the Yellow Court Seal completely disappeared.

A smile appeared on Chu Ning's face as he witnessed this.

"Now, even if I don't store it in that special storage bag, or even if I take it out and use it, Tan Daisong won't be able to sense it through that secret technique."

As he muttered softly, a glint of anticipation flashed in Chu Ning's eyes.

"Next, as long as I follow the instructions recorded and use the secret technique to imprint my own magical mark on it...

At the same time, far away in the Illusion Spirit Sect, Tan Daisong's expression suddenly changed.

"What's wrong, Song'er?"

A middle-aged cultivator, bearing a resemblance to Tan Daisong, noticed his expression and asked.

Tan Daisong's face twisted in displeasure as he replied, "The spiritual imprint I left on the Yellow Court Seal has been erased."

"Oh?" A sharp glint flashed in the middle-aged cultivator's eyes at Tan Daisong's words.

"So, the Yellow Court Seal really has fallen into the hands of another cultivator."

Tan Daisong nodded slightly, his teeth clenched as he said, "And since this person was able to erase the imprint left by the secret technique, there's a high possibility that they also obtained the jade slip I dropped in the Snow Mist Valley."

"How could it be such a coincidence? And didn't you say that the person you fought was a mid-Golden Core cultivator? The ones deep in the Snow Mist Valley are all late-Golden Core cultivators." The middle-aged cultivator's eyebrows furrowed.

"With your cultivation, a late-Golden Core cultivator shouldn't be able to fight you on equal grounds while concealing their strength. So, there's another possibility..."

"Dad, what possibility?" Tan Daisong asked hastily.

This person was none other than the head of the Illusion Spirit Sect, Tan Daiming.

Tan Daiming's face turned gloomy as he said, "That the Yellow Court Seal and that item have fallen into the hands of the demon race."

"The demon race?" Tan Daisong exclaimed upon hearing Tan Daiming's words.

"How could the demon race obtain our human cultivators' cultivation techniques?"

Tan Daiming sighed and said, "Don't forget that the demons in the sea include completely transformed tenth-rank demons. Such demon beasts are no different from human cultivators at the late Nascent Soul stage. Although, strictly speaking, only when they advance to the Spirit Transformation stage can they truly understand human cultivation techniques. But for less complex cultivation techniques, they can also master them.

For these demon beasts to reach the tenth rank, do you think they rely solely on their instincts to absorb the heaven and earth's spiritual energy? And at the tenth-rank level, they can even forcibly erase your imprint without the need for that secret technique.

You should know that it's the Yellow Court Seal that's powerful, not your spiritual imprint."

Hearing Tan Daiming's words, the anger on Tan Daisong's face turned into annoyance.

"That's right. That item fell into the sea, and the one who entered the Snow Mist Valley came from the sea as well. If it really fell into the hands of the demon race, then there's probably no chance of getting it back."

Tan Daiming nodded and patted his son's shoulder, "Forget about the Yellow Court Seal for now. Although ancient treasures are hard to come by, there will be other opportunities.

In a few years, I'll go to that place again. You focus on cultivating, and once you reach the Nascent Soul stage, you'll naturally have your own ancient treasure."

Hearing Tan Daiming's words, Tan Daisong's eyes lit up.

"However, we can't rule out the possibility of those cultivators being involved.

From now on, have people from the sect keep an eye on them. If they dare to use the Yellow Court Seal, humph!"

Tan Daiming coldly hmphed.

Chu Ning, who was in the Iceland Immortal City, had no idea that the father and son duo in the Illusion Spirit Sect had come up with so many speculations because he had erased the imprint.

After erasing the spiritual imprint, Chu Ning spent another five days adding his own spiritual imprint to the Yellow Court Seal.

At this moment, Chu Ning looked at the Yellow Court Seal in front of him, his face filled with anticipation.

He quickly set up an array formation in the cultivation room, then channeled his spiritual power into the Yellow Court Seal.

The next moment, the Yellow Court Seal became like a huge black hole, rapidly devouring Chu Ning's spiritual power.

At the same time, the seal grew in size, soon reaching three feet in length.

An overwhelming might emanated from its surface.

"This might is truly terrifying."

Chu Ning could clearly sense that if he were to unleash this seal, even this cave abode might not be able to withstand it.

The next moment, Chu Ning's expression changed, and he quickly made a hand seal.

The Yellow Court Seal immediately shrunk in size and was then stored back into his storage bag.

At the same time, Chu Ning felt a powerful spiritual sense sweep past.

"The might of the Yellow Court Seal was too strong just now, and it was sensed by a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Longkong Temple.

I wonder if they discovered anything."

Chu Ning's face twitched as he had already set up an additional array formation to conceal his actions.

He hadn't expected the might and aura of the Yellow Court Seal to be so overwhelming that even with the array formations, it couldn't be hidden.

However, after the spiritual sense swept past, it didn't linger in his cave abode.

Chu Ning could vaguely guess that in such a short time, the other party probably hadn't sensed anything clearly.

Indeed, this was the case. At that moment, in the Longkong Temple,

A confused look flashed across Shang Song's face as he said, "I seemed to have felt a powerful might coming from the Immortal City just now.

But when I carefully investigated, I didn't find anything. Could it have been my imagination?"

Shang Song shook his head and didn't think too much about it.

There were many solitary cultivators in the Iceland Immortal City, and the place was generally chaotic, with all sorts of strange things happening from time to time.

Treasures were also common.

If it had been a continuous release of might, he would have worried about whether it would affect the Immortal City.

But if it was just an occasional release of a treasure's might, they usually wouldn't interfere too much.

"It seems like this Yellow Court Seal can only be used as a last resort. Firstly, it consumes an exorbitant amount of spiritual power; with my current level of cultivation, it drained eighty percent of my spiritual energy. If I were to continue using it, my spiritual power would be further depleted.

It's highly likely that after a single strike, my spiritual power would be entirely exhausted.

Moreover, this artifact's might is too conspicuous. If I were to use it, there's a good chance that it would be recognized, and the cultivators of the Illusion Spirit Sect would become aware of it."

With these cautious thoughts in mind, Chu Ning had already decided that unless his life was at stake, he wouldn't take out the seal to use it.

"Actually, with the Golden Spirit Sword and the power of the earth vein's pure fire, my strength has already increased considerably.

And, I can still forge another treasure!"

As these thoughts ran through Chu Ning's mind, he once again entered the alchemy room.

Upon arriving at the alchemy furnace, Chu Ning now held an additional item in his hand—the tail feather of the Golden-Silver Bird, its spirit soul already refined.

Initially, when Chu Ning wanted to obtain the tail feather, his primary purpose was to forge a brush that could be used to draw top-tier talismans.

It was meant for drawing the Ice Shadow Sword Talisman.

But later, because the Golden-Silver Bird's spirit soul still needed to be contained within the feather, he hadn't refined it.

Now that the spirit soul had been refined, he could naturally forge the brush.

As for the other materials, Chu Ning had already prepared them in advance.

After half a day, Chu Ning emerged from the alchemy room, now holding a brush imbued with spiritual essence.

Unlike the brushes used for drawing intermediate and high-level talismans, which were similar to ordinary brushes due to the need to draw on paper, this brush in Chu Ning's hand had a different purpose for its soft-haired tip.

Instead of dipping it in ink, the soft tip was meant to gather and condense spiritual power.

On the other hand, the hard tip at the base of the brush was meant for inscribing on the ice-condensed jade.

When crafting jade talismans, one couldn't use ordinary jade; it had to be vein-dark jade.

If one could find vein-sinking jade of the same attribute, the success rate and power of the talisman would be even better.

The Ice Shadow Sword Talisman and the ice-condensed jade were a perfect match, so Chu Ning had purchased some from Frost Pavilion's Wu Lingwei beforehand.

Chu Ning carefully cut the ice-condensed jade to the appropriate size for crafting talismans.

Then, he took out the Ice Shadow Sword Talisman once again and used his Analyze Talisman Source talent to further decipher and understand its talisman source.

Only then did he pick up the newly forged brush and begin the formal process of inscribing.

Top-tier talismans usually absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth through the talisman seals inscribed on them; unless they are special talismans, they don't require any ink.

At this moment, Chu Ning infused his spiritual power into the brush, causing it to gather and condense at the tip.

His spiritual sense synchronized and converged on the same spot, and in the next moment, Chu Ning began inscribing on the ice-condensed jade.

This was Chu Ning's first attempt at crafting a jade talisman.

The difficulty of crafting a top-tier talisman was indeed far beyond that of a high-level one.

Without the use of ink, the control and manipulation of spiritual power became even more demanding, requiring the craftsman to condense their spiritual power into threads, serving the function of ink.

As Chu Ning guided the brush across the surface of the ice-condensed jade, his spiritual power seeped into it, condensing into one talisman seal after another, invisible to the naked eye.

Before long, the first layer of talisman seals was completed.

Chu Ning immediately probed it with his spiritual sense, fixing and solidifying the layer.

Without any hesitation, he continued inscribing the second layer of talisman seals.

By the time he reached the sixth layer, the ice-condensed jade in front of him suddenly trembled violently, and the extremely hard jade shattered into powder.

It signaled Chu Ning's first failure in crafting the talisman.

"This Ice Shadow Sword Talisman has a total of thirty-six layers of talisman seals, and I only managed to inscribe up to the sixth layer this time..."

Chu Ning shook his head; although he had spent a lot of time analyzing and researching the talisman beforehand, gaining a wealth of theoretical knowledge, the process of crafting a top-tier talisman was far from easy.

Even with his talent, he couldn't succeed on his first try.

However, this attempt had given him valuable insights and a deeper understanding.

Picking up the brush once more, Chu Ning began his second attempt.

This time, he managed to inscribe up to the thirteenth layer.

On his third try, he reached the twenty-first layer.

The fourth attempt took him to the thirty-first layer.

And on the fifth try...

As Chu Ning inscribed the final layer of the Ice Shadow Sword Talisman, a profound and mysterious layer of talisman seals appeared on the ice-condensed jade.

Blue and white lights flickered, and in the next moment, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth began to converge onto the talisman! This process lasted for nearly an hour before finally coming to an end.

And in front of Chu Ning, a brand new Ice Shadow Sword Talisman had taken form!

Holding this top-tier talisman that he had crafted for the first time, a gleam flashed in Chu Ning's eyes.

Previously, when he had used the Ice Shadow Sword Talisman, he had only unleashed a fraction of its full power.

Even so, on one occasion, he had managed to hold off an elder from the Yin Demon Sect in the Thousand Lakes and Islands.

And in Wolf Valley, he had directly slain a Golden Core cultivator from the Great Luo Sect.

But now, Chu Ning could finally experience its true, unabated power!

"If this Ice Shadow Sword Talisman is fully activated, it can surpass the full-force strike of a cultivator in the late peak stage of the Golden Core realm!

It might even rival the strike of a Nascent Soul cultivator!

If I carry a few of these talismans with me and fully activate them at a critical moment..."

Without any hesitation, Chu Ning began the process of crafting more of these top-tier talismans.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end