Chapter 91
“……” Sun Daoyu fell silent for a moment before finally speaking, “I’ll go talk to your senior brothers again. We’re all from the same lineage, and it’s not good to let things get too tense. Also, let me give you one more piece of advice, junior brother: no matter how impressive you think Zheng Fa’s talisman skills are, the teachings of our master are secrets that cannot be passed on! If you share them, I won’t be able to help you anymore!”
“I’ve already consulted Master. He said that the ‘Dongxu Lingyan’ can be passed on to him.”
“This… Master actually compares him to Senior Sister Zhang?” Sun Daoyu’s expression was one of confusion. “Yes, Zheng Fa is the best in talisman arts for ten thousand years, and I acknowledge his skills! But ‘Dongxu Lingyan’ is a secret passed down by Master. He’s only twenty, has been in the door for just two months, and is a dual spirit root… How could Master even consider him?”
It was he who had passed ‘Dongxu Lingyan’ to Senior Sister Zhang, so he understood what it meant for Master to pass it to Zheng Fa—was it too much to ask for a call of ‘Master’?
Zhou Qianyuan glanced at Sun Daoyu, knowing that he probably thought Zheng Fa’s qualifications were a bit lacking—he just didn’t want to say it outright because of Master.
……
At Zheng Fa’s home.
As soon as the Ningyuan Dan entered his mouth, it melted into a warm current that flowed down Zheng Fa’s esophagus and into his abdomen.
Zheng Fa focused his consciousness on his dantian, beginning to control his spiritual power, trying to condense it into a perfect upright shadowless talisman.
He felt a bit nervous.
According to the ‘Talisman Foundation Building Method,’ this step was the most challenging part of condensing the talisman diagram.
After all, the spiritual consciousness of a Qi Refining stage cultivator is weak, and their ability to control spiritual power is limited.
Drawing talisman diagrams in the dantian was quite difficult for them.
Even a genius like Senior Sister Zhang had expressed frustration at this step, saying she had experienced moments when her consciousness was exhausted, and the talisman diagram completely collapsed.
If he failed this step, the Ningyuan Dan would be wasted.
That was a full twenty spirit stones!
But when Zheng Fa tried—huh? Is that it?
He looked at the nearly perfect upright shadowless talisman in his dantian.
Feeling his still abundant spiritual consciousness, he couldn’t help but feel a bit proud—hmm, why shouldn’t I be considered a genius?
Once the upright shadowless talisman was condensed, it automatically settled in his dantian.
His dantian was quite lively now.
Not to mention the spiritual power.
There had previously been a mass of Qingyang Qi residing there.
Now, there was an additional upright shadowless talisman.
The Qingyang Qi had always been aloof, completely ignoring the other two.
But the upright shadowless talisman, being of the same origin as the spiritual power, was now very intimately nestled against it.
According to the records in the ‘Talisman Foundation Building Method,’ the upright shadowless talisman he had just condensed was not stable.
If he relied on this talisman diagram without talisman paper to draw talismans, it would consume not only spiritual power but also the talisman diagram itself.
After three uses, it would dissipate—though there were ways to remedy this. As long as he didn’t use it more than three times and allowed the not-yet-fully-dissipated talisman diagram to absorb spiritual power during cultivation, it could self-repair.
To be able to cast spells without talisman paper like Senior Sister Zhang, one would need to establish a foundational talisman path.
After condensing the upright shadowless talisman, Zheng Fa truly felt the power of the ‘Talisman Foundation Building Method’—
When cultivators practice, their spirit and soul naturally extend outward, and Zheng Fa was no exception.
This was nothing unusual, but now the upright shadowless talisman was absorbing the corresponding talisman diagrams within the range of his spirit.
These talisman diagrams entered his dantian and transformed into spiritual energy.
Zheng Fa estimated that his cultivation speed had increased by nearly ten percent!
If he could establish a foundational talisman path, wouldn’t his cultivation speed double?
Zheng Fa finally understood why Senior Sister Zhang was said to be the fastest at foundation building in the Hundred Immortals Alliance—she was cheating!
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Chapter 104: Carrots
But the three of them had more to consider.
First, they needed to determine whether the Yin-Yang Five Elements classification method was feasible, and whether all talisman diagrams could be categorized this way, before exploring their essence. “It would be best to use a computer,” the old man Bai glanced at Zheng Fa and said this before falling silent.
Zheng Fa understood his meaning; handling such a large amount of data, a computer was indeed the best choice—but that would mean exposing the secret of cultivation to another person.
“However, the author of this ‘Talisman Foundation Building Method’ has indeed validated one of my previous doubts,” Old Bai suddenly said, “The Yuan Talismans you showed me before—there were too many.”
“?”
“If they can be classified using the Yin-Yang Five Elements, then it’s highly likely that Yuan Talismans are still not the most essential aspect of talisman diagrams.”
“Yuan Talismans can be classified?”
“Exactly, that’s the most straightforward explanation.” Old Bai nodded.
This was one of Zheng Fa’s speculations as well—but now the question was how to verify this hypothesis.
The three discussed it and still felt that to solve this problem, they would have to rely on topology.
On the other hand, to process such a large amount of data, they still needed someone knowledgeable in computers.
As they talked, Zheng Fa noticed Old Bai’s head nodding off.
“Are you okay? Didn’t sleep well last night?” he asked curiously.
“……I got a bit too absorbed in studying last night and stayed up late,” Old Bai explained, rubbing his face with both hands.
Feeling a bit embarrassed about dozing off while studying, he shifted the blame, “And this thing—it’s so boring! Just looking at it makes me want to sleep!”
He pointed at the ‘Talisman Foundation Building Method’ on the table.
“Boring?”
“Wasn’t that human electricity you showed before exciting?” Old Bai scoffed, “Biological electricity, rotating magnetic fields, a punch that explodes stars!”
“Wait, what did you study last night?”
Zheng Fa felt something was off, eyeing the old man sideways.
“Ahem, comics!”
“……”
“I just saw you were charged with electricity and thought you were showing us those things, so I got curious and searched online,” Old Bai admitted a bit sheepishly, “I have to say, those comics are pretty good!”
“You’re quite trendy!”
“Of course!” Old Bai proudly tilted his head back, then added with a hint of dissatisfaction, “But looking at this book, it’s all just those talisman diagrams, nothing flashy at all!”
“……”
Zheng Fa glanced at Tang Lingwu, who didn’t seem sleepy but also didn’t look as excited as before.
After all, reading a book like the ‘Talisman Foundation Building Method’ was indeed a bit dull for both of them.
“Why don’t you zap me again?” Old Bai suddenly said with anticipation, “Let me experience the wonders of cultivation once more?”
……I suspect you’re using the name of cultivation to satisfy some of your unmentionable quirks.
But Zheng Fa understood what Old Bai meant—they had some more beautiful and magical imaginations about cultivation, rather than just an ordinary book.
In simple terms, the carrot wasn’t enticing enough, and the donkey was a bit tempted to go on strike.
Zheng Fa focused his thoughts, and the upright shadowless talisman in his dantian trembled slightly.
“Hmm?”
Old Bai and Tang Lingwu watched in astonishment as Zheng Fa, who had been sitting beside them, suddenly vanished, leaving only an empty chair behind.
“Zheng Fa?”
Old Bai jolted, completely startled awake.
Tang Lingwu’s eyes sparkled with curiosity as she reached out her finger toward Zheng Fa’s former seat, poking around.
“Don’t touch that!”
Zheng Fa revealed himself, gripping Tang Lingwu’s finger in alarm, looking helplessly at her flushed face.
This girl, why does she seem so overly curious?
“Zheng Fa! This is…”
“The boring stuff you mentioned.”
“Where’s the boring part?”
“It’s not as flashy as in the comics.”
“Not flashy, but it’s practical!” Old Bai exclaimed excitedly, “When I was young, I always thought how great it would be to be invisible!”
“How so?” Zheng Fa looked at Old Bai, who seemed overly excited.
“When I was young and poor, I thought if I could be invisible, I could go across the ocean and become a great thief!” Old Bai fell into a daydream, “Those bank vaults would be mine for the taking!”
“Across the ocean?”
“Of course, I wouldn’t go to the domestic ones!”
Zheng Fa’s tone was a bit complicated, “Although you want to be an outlaw, you’re quite patriotic.”
“Actually…” Old Bai’s face turned red, suddenly feeling a bit embarrassed, “When I was young and unmarried… you know, young people have a lot of energy. I also thought that if I could be invisible, I’d sneak into the women’s bathhouse…”
Tang Lingwu’s eyes widened, and she couldn’t help but shift her chair a bit further away from Old Bai.
“I was just thinking!”
“The bathhouse across the ocean?” Zheng Fa asked.
“Domestic! What’s so interesting about the ones abroad!”
Zheng Fa nodded, sincerely complimenting, “You’re indeed quite patriotic.”
……
Slap!
Tang Lingwu slammed her bank card on the table.
“I want to learn this!” Her eyes sparkled.
“You also want to sneak into the bathhouse?”
Zheng Fa was taken aback; this person didn’t seem to lack money, right?
“Sometimes, I want my mom not to see me…”
(End of this chapter)
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Chapter 105: Value
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