Chapter 263 – Inscribing Divine Talismans
Chen Xi sat cross-legged in the world of stars. This sky here was extremely magical, it was as if a layer of invisible ground had been laid on in the sky, and there wasn’t the slightest bit of discomfort when he sat on it.
Before him was an ancient and simple sword base.
After a long time and once not a trace of distracting thoughts were within his mind, Chen Xi’s hands moved abruptly. His fingers fluttered about as the tips transformed into layer upon layer of images in the air, and they seemed like butterflies that flashed past through the flowers and possessed an unparalleled speed.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
The sound as if a swarm of bees was flapping their wings sounded out, whereas, Chen Xi’s fingers were coiled by circle after circle of misty glows that seemed like layer upon layer of circular shaped ripples that had appeared in a lake, and they were extremely beautiful.
This was the equipment refinement technique that Ji Yu had passed down to him, and its effect was extremely simple: it would open up a space that was sufficient to inscribe a Divine Talisman in the sword base.
Numerous profound seals were imprinted into the sword base, causing a space to be gradually opened up within the sword base, and if one’s mind immersed itself into this space, one would notice that this space was 3km wide and completely empty. Yet when looked at from the outside, the sword base was still only 1m long.
Its theory was similar to the placement of large objects in tiny objects, like the technique utilized when refining storage Magic Treasures, and all of them developed a large space within a tiny area.
The Azurewood Divine Talisman is capable of nurturing the intelligence of the blade when within the sword base, so I’ll start from here. Chen Xi took a deep breath before once again recalling the structure of the various talisman marking contained in the Azurewood Divine Talisman, and then he drove his Divine Sense to gush into the space developed within the sword base.
This was a completely empty space. Chen Xi sized it up for a moment before circulating the True Essence in his body and converging it into a line that was fine like the hair of a cow, and under the control of his Divine Sense, this line slowly moved to inscribe this space.
This method of inscribing talisman markings was actually exactly similar to utilizing a talisman paper and brush to draw a talisman. Just that the Divine Sense had replaced his hands, True Essence replaced the ink, and the space had instead replaced the talisman paper.
Hiss~ Hiss~ Hiss~ Hiss~
At the instant that profound and vivid talisman markings appeared in this space, they were tainted by a green and luxuriant glow that gradually concealed itself along with the talisman marking. These azure colored talismans marking lines that had emerged started to twist together into different structures, yet it wasn’t the slightest bit disorderly and revealed an orderly sense of beauty instead.
When looked at from afar, the talisman marking that was gradually being inscribed within the space was like a small sapling that was stretching out its long, thin, and dense branches as it made great efforts to spread towards the surroundings, and then bunch after bunch of leaves and numerous azure colored flowers grew out. The entire process was very natural, profound, and graceful, and it didn’t possess the slightest mark of artificial work.
This was merely a single talisman marking’s structure in the Azurewood Divine Talisman, and there were at least a few hundreds of thousands of talisman markings with a structure like this in the entire Azurewood Divine Talisman, causing it to simply be extremely dense, complicated, and vast as the sea.
Fortunately, after experiencing the Myriad Convergence Sword Scripture, Chen Xi’s deduction ability had attained an extremely formidable extent. Moreover, he possessed an extremely high attainment in talisman crafting. Otherwise, merely looking at these talisman markings would cause one’s vision to become blurred, let alone being able to distinguish the difference and use of each of them.
But even then, Chen Xi had to be careful, and his mind was unprecedentedly concentrated. Even though he was only inscribing the talisman marking structures of the Azurewood Divine Talisman, so long as the slightest mistake appeared, he would have to start inscribing it from the beginning, and an outcome like that was something he was absolutely unable to accept.
Just think about it, a single Azurewood Divine Talisman’s markings structure required five years to inscribe. If mistakes appeared successively, then how much time would that waste?
So Chen Xi had made up his mind since the beginning that he could only succeed and would absolutely not allow failure!
It was precisely because of the presence of this pressure that his entire mind would be so concentrated, and there wasn’t even a shred of distracting thoughts in his mind. Only the numerous profound talisman marking structures that traveled along graceful paths remained within his eyes. At this moment, even if an ordinary person approached Chen Xi, he would probably entirely not notice the person’s arrival.
“Hmm?” After six hours, sense of familiarity suddenly suffused his heart when he looked at the talisman marking pattern that he’d inscribed in the inner space on the sword base.
This talisman marking pattern converged 100 types of talisman marking structures. When looked at from afar, it was like a green and luxuriant leaf that swayed with the wind, and the veins on its surface were in extreme detailed and revealed a sense of overflowing vigor.
Where exactly did I see it?
Chen Xi’s brows knit tightly. A flash of recollection suddenly appeared within his mind, allowing him to instantly recall. Isn’t the Second-Wood Shaman Marking on my back exactly in the shape of this leaf?
No wonder it’s so familiar. This Second-Wood Shaman Marking is actually a type of talisman marking pattern. Moreover, it’s contained within the Azurewood Divine Talisman. Could it be that Senior Fuxi had drawn reference from this Divine Talisman to create the Universe Starslayer Bodyforging Arts? Or perhaps it’s because of the Second-Wood Shaman Marking that Senior Fuxi comprehended the Azurewood Divine Talisman? Chen Xi vaguely felt that it wasn’t just the Azurewood Divine Talisman and the other four types of Divine Talismans were probably greatly related to the Universe Starslayer Bodyforging Arts.
Perhaps, since I’ve mastered the essence of these five Divine Talismans, it will be able to give rise to an unexpected beneficial effect towards my body refinement cultivation… Chen Xi didn’t continue pondering and once again immersed himself into the inscribing of talisman markings.
Time flowed by bit by bit, and an entire seven days had passed by unknowingly.
During these seven days of time, Chen Xi was like a stone that didn’t have the slightest perception towards the outside world, and he’d concentrated his attention of the inscribing of talisman markings and work completely tirelessly. Only when the Divine Sense in his sea of consciousness dried up and the True Essence within his Dantian ran dry did he instantly awaken from his concentrated state.
Without the slightest delay, he started cultivating while sitting cross-legged to recover his strength. Fortunately, there was ample spirit liquid within the Buddha’s Pagoda, and it was sufficient for him to recover his True Essence in a short period of time, whereas, the recovery of the strength of his soul only required him to meditate and visualize the Fuxi Divine Statue.
In seven days of time, I’ve inscribed less than 2,000 types of talisman marking structures. According to this speed, so long as nothing unexpected happens, I’m indeed capable of successfully inscribing the Azurewood Divine Talisman within five years… After a few hours, Chen Xi awoke from his meditation, and he felt the strength of his soul and True Essence had already recovered to its optimum state. There was no discomfort in his body and mind, so he once again immersed himself in the inscribing of the talisman markings.
Chen Xi completely didn’t notice that along with the amount of talisman marking structures he inscribed increased, his knowledge and deduction ability in the Dao of Talismans was unconsciously advancing by leaps and bounds.
Perhaps when he completed the inscribing of these five types of Divine Talismans, his grasp of the Dao of Talismans would be able to attain an unbelievable height.
Amongst the numerous Grand Daos in the heavens and the earth, the Dao of Talismans could be said to be the vastest and most diverse Supreme Grand Dao. To comprehend the Dao of Talismans, one required extraordinary comprehension ability, formidable deduction ability, and to carefully understand and grasp the various talisman marking structures. Those without a firm character were absolutely unable to attain any accomplishments in the Dao of Talismans.
Of course, even though the Dao of Talismans was obscure, difficult, and extremely complicated, its uses covered a wide number of things, like equipment refinement, pill refinement, puppet crafting, setting up grand formations… All of them required the Dao of Talismans to support them.
Take equipment refinement for example. Only possessing a furnace and materials wasn’t sufficient, and it also required the cooperation of various talisman formations and the inscribing of various talisman markings before it could be refined into a first class Magic Treasure.
In the cultivation world, a formidable equipment refinement grandmaster would surely be proficient in talisman formations, but a talisman formation grandmaster was capable of being a competent equipment refiner, alchemist, and other various professions.
But equipment refinement grandmasters and grandmasters in alchemy were extremely few. For example, in the Darchu Dynasty, there were only a mere ten plus people that were slightly formidable equipment refinement grandmasters, and could be said to be rare like phoenix feathers and qilin horns. But it was precisely because of their scarcity that equipment refinement grandmasters possessed an undoubtedly lofty status and received deep respect from the cultivators in the world.
Under ordinary circumstances, there was utterly not a single person that was willing to offend a great figure of the same class as an equipment refinement grandmaster. After all, everyone was living in the cultivation world, and one couldn’t avoid lacking some suitable Magic Treasures and equipment. If they offended an equipment refinement grandmaster, then who would refine a Magic Treasure for them?
It was precisely because the Dao of Talismans covered a wide range that it would seem so densely complicated and contained everything in the world.
Time passed, and unknowingly, three years had passed.
During these three years, besides inscribing talisman markings, Chen Xi was meditating and cultivating. Even though his cultivation didn’t obtain a great increase, his Divine Sense had obviously advanced. Presently, the strength of his Divine Sense was sufficient to compare with a Rebirth Realm cultivator, and when it extended, all the movement within an area of 500km would be clearly reflected in his heart.
Moreover, along with the increase of the number of talisman markings he’d inscribed, Chen Xi’s understanding of the Azurewood Divine Talisman grew deeper and deeper, and the speed he inscribed the talisman marking structures grew swifter and swifter as well.
This also allowed him to understand the words Ji Yu spoke that day. Refining the Talisman Armament was the most direct method of cultivating the five Divine Talismans, and it was also the fastest method to master the five Divine Talismans.
During this period of time, Ji Yu came to the world of stars on numerous occasions to visit Chen Xi, and when he saw Chen Xi disregarding meals and sleep to inscribe the talisman marking and completely didn’t notice the movement in the outside world, Ji Yu felt extremely gratified in his heart and admired Chen Xi more and more.
It could be said that during the past one million years, Chen Xi was the only person that had been acknowledged by Ji Yu. Moreover, Ji Yu seemed to have already taken Chen Xi to be the inheritance disciple of his Master in his heart.
As for the other people who’d entered into the Manor, most of them didn’t obtain the Manor’s acknowledgment, and even if it was traversing the 18 levels of the Heavenpeak of Trials, there had never been a single person that had succeeded.
Time flowed by like a shuttle flashing in the sky, and unknowingly, another two years had passed swiftly.
On this day, after Chen Xi awoke from his meditation, he didn’t anxiously start inscribing the talisman marking structures, but he instead took a deep breath and silently rested his mind and soul.
Only the final talisman marking structure remained in the entire Azurewood Divine Talisman, and it was also the most difficult talisman marking structure. It required Chen Xi to instantly complete the inscribing of 108 talisman markings to form a new talisman marking structure. Thereby it would act in cooperation with the other talisman marking structures to flawlessly fuse into the entire Divine Talisman, and at this point, the Azurewood Divine Talisman could be said to be successfully completed.
This feat of instantly completing the inscription of 108 talisman markings possessed an extremely harsh requirement towards Chen Xi’s Divine Sense and True Essence. The energy of his Divine Sense had to instantly grasp the pathways of the 108 talisman markings, whereas, his True Essence had to be separated equally into 108 portions to draw the talisman markings at the same time.
All of this wasn’t difficult, and the difficulty lay in completing it instantly. If an accident happened in any one of the steps, the entire Divine Talisman would collapse, and the outcome would be that all the hard work he’d put in for five years would be wasted!
“Do you want to rest for a few days?” Suddenly, Ji Yu appeared by Chen Xi’s side, and his gaze swept the sword base and seemed to have already seen through Chen Xi’s current situation.
“There’s no need. I’m at my peak state now. The only thing I have to do is completely release this state in this moment.” Chen Xi shook his head as he spoke.
Ji Yu acutely noticed that Chen Xi’s disposition was so calm that it had far surpassed his estimations. It felt as if Chen Xi was completely confident and had everything in his control since long ago, and his calmness revealed an extremely strong confidence.
Ji Yu didn’t advise Chen Xi anymore, and he stood at the side with his hands behind his back as he waited for Chen Xi to complete the final step.
After 15 minutes passed, Chen Xi once again sat cross-legged on the ground with a relaxed and indifferent expression, and his eyes were clear and deep like the starry sky, whereas, his Divine Sense and True Essence had instead transformed into 108 lines that were fine like a strand of hair at the same time before stretching into the space within the sword base.
At this moment, that space wasn’t completely empty any longer, and it was instead covered with a layer of talisman marking patterns that were dense like the starry sky. Misty azure glows flowed endlessly and they seemed a raging green that overflowed with vitality. Only the end of the pattern still had a remaining trace of emptiness that was difficult to find with the naked eye, and it caused the entire pattern to become slightly incomplete.
Swoosh!
The 108 strands of True Essence and Divine Sense seemed like the countless agile tentacles of an octopus. At the instant they appeared in this space, they practically didn’t hesitate in the slightest before following along the pathways that seemed to have been measured long ago, and they drilled into the trace of incomplete blankness.
This series of moments merely occurred in an instant, and it simply seemed as if it utterly never occurred.
Om!
Within the entire space, the talisman marking pattern that was dense like the starry sky was abruptly suffused with numerous dazzling and resplendent green lights that glowed like a waterfall, and it seemed like a deathly silent ocean surface had suddenly surged as the talisman markings flickered.
A wisp of intelligence had suddenly appeared on the pitch black and simple sword base, and it was like a wooden puppet that had a soul, causing it to resound with a chilly and melodious sword howl.
Obviously, the Azurewood Divine Talisman had been successfully inscribed!