On Kou Chongxue’s platform in the Beyond Heavens Pavilion, Ji Wenlong stared at him and asked after Shang Xia had left. “Aren’t you rushing things a little? It sounds like you’re making things difficult on him on purpose.”   

“Hmph, there’s no need to underestimate that brat. He called out all the difficulties here in order to fish for benefits from the both of us.” Kou Chongxue snorted as he reached into the void beside him to pull out 5 rank four talismans.

If Shang Xia was still present, he would definitely be able to recognize that those were the talismans that he gave away to the other 3 great clans, Zhang Haogu, and Ge Qingzhu.

“You should send these talismans and the Abyssal Firmament Fate Dipper over to that place…” After speaking, the talismans flew over and landed in Ji Wenlong’s hand.

With a deep frown on his face, Ji Wenlong muttered, “What’s wrong? Are things not going well there?” 

“All of us arrived a little later and a lot more hurriedly than anyone else. Our preparations cannot be compared to the others! Those that enter later would usually be suppressed by those who came before them and the situation is definitely worse than we think. This batch of rank four talismans is extremely important to the Martial Extermination Realm experts of our institution. They will be able to save their lives when the situation calls for it!” Kou Chongxue sighed.

…

Originally, Shang Xia thought that Kou Chongxue summoned him to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion to cultivate. It was that or he would be sent to the foreign continent beyond the heavens. Who would have thought that Kou Chongxue and Ji Wenlong managed to gather 30 pieces of rank four talisman papers for him to craft talismans?

Thinking about it, Ji Wenlong and Kou Chongxue were Martial Dipper Realm experts. They were monsters who stood at the peak of the power pyramid in the Azure Origin World. It wasn’t a stretch to gather a batch of rank four talisman papers.

When he returned to his straw hut, Shang Xia felt a wave of helplessness slamming against his heart. However, he also knew how important the talismans were and he had to start as soon as possible.

After adjusting his condition for several days, Shang Xia felt that he had basically fused with the space around him. He was ready to start crafting talismans!

This time, he brought out an inkstone from his Spatial Pouch with an extremely serious look on his face. It was made from the boulder that sealed the Abyssal Blade before and because he got a craftsman from the Tongyou Institution to turn it into an inkstone, it managed to reach the standard of a mid-grade treasure! It had an amazing property of gathering spiritual qi in the air and it could distribute it evenly to the ink it contained. It could be considered an exceptional piece of equipment for crafting talismans!

Next, Shang Xia took out a chunk of rank three talisman ink he had been given by Kou Chongxue and Ji Wenlong.

Speaking of talisman ink, they were usually classified under 2 different amounts. A small bottle would contain enough ink to craft 5 talismans while a big bottle would contain enough ink to craft 10 talismans.

Regardless of the quality of the ink, it would only be enough to craft 10 talismans in total. 

Whatever the case, Shang Xia took out a cup of spiritual water he obtained from the spiritual vein under the Changfeng City before pouring it onto the ink slab to dilute the ink. Lightning up a stick of incense, Shang Xia started to personally grind the ink. It was an intricate process, but it also helped him get ready for the process of talisman crafting.

When he was done, Shang Xia dipped his Purple Bamboo Brush into the ink to test it out a little. He discovered that it was much smoother than before and the extermination qi that flowed through it was a lot more well distributed.

Unlike before when he had to craft new talismans, there would be no huge fluctuation of success rates. It was a true test of his skills.

In the days he took to adjust his mental condition, he thought of which talismans he should be crafting.

As Kou Chongxue said, there was no need to craft all sorts of talismans. He just had to craft those he was familiar with. 

One of those he chose was the Golden Sun Inferno Talisman. Even though it wasn’t exceptionally powerful out of all the rank four talismans he could craft, it was good enough. It was mainly used as an area of effect attack as its effects were huge. In a battle between experts of the same level, it was the best talisman they could use to escape from encirclements or being trapped by their enemies.

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As he crafted a bunch of them in the past, one could say that it was the talisman he was the most familiar with. His brush flowed like water and it didn’t take long for him to craft his first talisman.

It didn’t take long for him to use up 8 pieces of rank four talisman paper. He managed to craft 4 Golden Sun Inferno Talismans in total, and his success rate was a terrifying 50 percent. However, he didn’t seem too pleased with himself.

Shang Xia was sure that if he continued crafting Golden Sun Inferno Talismans, his success rate would continue to increase. Unfortunately, he only had 30 pieces of rank four talisman papers to work with. He couldn’t possibly only craft Golden Sun Inferno Talismans…

The next talisman he chose was the Spiritual Protection Substitution Talisman. The difficulty of crafting it was a little higher than the Golden Sun Inferno Talisman, and Shang Xia used 7 pieces of rank four talisman paper to craft 3 of them. He managed to barely cross the requirement of 40 percent given to him by Kou Chongxue.

Only then did Shang Xia feel his improvement from the previous time he was crafting talismans in the Tongyou Mysterious World. At the same time, he confirmed whatever Ji Wenlong said. The effects of the Dao Comprehension Incense were long-lasting indeed and it also affected the way he crafted talismans.

Using up half the rank four talisman papers given to him, Shang Xia planned to craft 2 other types of talismans with the rest of the talisman paper he had.

The third talisman he chose was the Mist Concealment Dissipation Talisman as it was one of the easiest talismans to craft of the 11 rank four talismans he knew. The talisman didn’t possess any offensive or defensive properties when used in battle, but it allowed cultivators to conceal themselves from everyone else. Regardless if they were setting up an ambush or running away, the Mist Concealment Dissipation Talisman would play a huge role in what they wanted to do.

Actually, Shang Xia wanted to choose the Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman for his third talisman. Not only would the talisman increase an expert’s flight speed and ability to tear through space, but it could also shatter restrictions and formations in their way. Moreover, it was the key to comprehending the rank five Abyssal Emptiness Talisman.

Unfortunately, Shang Xia did not possess any rank four Abyssal Ink and after thinking about how many talismans he could successfully make, he chose the Mist Concealment Dissipation Talisman.

The crafting process went exceptionally smoothly. Even though Shang Xia was more familiar with the Golden Sun Inferno Talisman and the Spiritual Protection Substitution Talisman, the lowered difficulty of the Mist Concealment Dissipation Talisman made it much easier to succeed. With 7 pieces of rank four talisman paper, Shang Xia managed to craft 4 Mist Concealment Dissipation Talismans, surpassing a success rate of 50 percent!

When he was done, he used 22 pieces of rank four talisman papers to craft 11 rank four talismans. He merely needed to complete another one to hit the target Kou Chongxue set for him! With 8 more pieces of talisman papers in his hands, it seemed as though he would definitely be able to surpass the requirements.

Since completing whatever Kou Chongxue had set out for him was basically set in stone, all he had to do was to see how many pieces of rank four talismans he would be able to keep for himself!

With his final 8 chances, Shang Xia surprisingly chose to craft Divine Restraint Talismans. The choice was obviously not the best if he wished to maximize the number of talismans he completed. Not only was the Divine Restraint Talisman the most difficult talisman of the 11 he knew, but it was also one of the most difficult talismans to craft among all the rank four talismans out there!

Now that his task was basically complete, Shang Xia didn’t plan to craft as many talismans as he could so that he could keep some for himself. Instead, he chose to craft the most difficult talisman he knew so that he could increase his proficiency!

Moreover, Shang Xia could tell that the Divine Restraint Talisman was exceptionally powerful. Facing any ordinary Martial Extermination Realm expert, all one had to do was to use the Divine Restraint Talisman and the battle was as good as over!

“Eight pieces of rank four talisman papers… Even if I only manage to craft 2 Divine Restraint Talismans in total, it would mean that two enemies at the Martial Extermination Realm will die. Shit, this is basically free profit!” Shang Xia muttered to himself as he took out another chunk of solidified talisman ink. This time, he was using rank four talisman ink.

The ink he crafted was known as Blood Guidance and it contained some sort of essence blood. Shang Xia couldn’t help but guess if the talisman ink came from the Azure Spiritual World. After all, the cultivators there were bloodline cultivators and it made sense for the valuable treasures they possessed to contain essence blood.

Not only was Divine Restraint Talisman extremely difficult to craft, but it was also extremely taxing on the creator. It would take him a long time to craft the talismans. Every time Shang Xia completed one of them, he would have to take a long break to recover.

When Shang Xia used up 22 pieces of rank four talisman paper previously, he barely used 100 days. However, using up the last 8 pieces to craft Divine Restraint Talismans ate up close to 50 more days of his time. The Divine Martial Calendar trudged on relentlessly and the 846th year crossed over to the 847th year…

In the end, Shang Xia managed to complete 3 Divine Restraint Talismans. Even though the success rate wasn’t exceptionally high, it exceeded Shang Xia’s lowest estimate of 2 talismans.

Now that he completed 14 talismans in total, he was touching on the 50 percent success mark. According to the agreement he had with Kou Chongxue, he could take 2 talismans for himself.

Sighing helplessly, Shang Xia chose a Mist Concealment Dissipation Talisman and a Divine Restraint Talisman before getting ready to hand the rest over to Kou Chongxue.

In the face of absolute power, one had to submit! Shang Xia could bitch all he wanted, but Kou Chongxue was a Martial Dipper Realm Ancestor and he was also the one who provided the resources! Shang Xia had to hand 12 rank four talismans in no matter what!

If they agreed on the regular success rate of a rank four Talisman Grandmaster, Shang Xia would at least be able to keep 4 talismans for himself…

If the Talisman Grandmaster was a stingy bastard, they would probably keep 6 to 7 talismans for themselves. No one would be able to fault them for it! That was the power and authority a Talisman Grandmaster possessed! Unfortunately, Shang Xia was no ordinary Talisman Grandmaster and the person watching over him was no ordinary expert asking him to craft talismans…

Now that he was done, he was in no rush to head over to the platform to hand the talismans over. Instead, he needed to rest to recover his inner qi. After all, crafting talismans non-stop was an exhausting process.

It took 5 months for him to use up all 30 pieces of talisman papers and even though he had been focused on talisman crafting the whole time, he spent any extra time he could find on perfecting his secret art.

Now, the time taken to complete one cycle of inner qi circulation had shortened a little more. He only needed to take a small step before reducing the time needed to 4 hours or less. When that happened, his secret art would finally be considered a complete product.

…

When Shang Xia was finally done, he went over to the platform to hand the talismans over. Both Kou Chongxue’s true body and Ji Wenlong’s clone were present and they listened intently to Shang Xia’s explanation of the effects of the 4 types of talismans Shang Xia crafted.

Actually, they understood the effects even without Shang Xia’s explanations. They were ‘listening’ intently because they were absolutely gobsmacked by Shang Xia’s higher-than 40 percent success rate.

It was especially so for Kou Chongxue. He basically watched the entire process of Shang Xia crafting talismans and knew that Shang Xia actually had 2 more rank four talismans on him.