Chương 101: Chapter 100: Five Talismans

The talisman collection of the library was considerably more expansive than he remembered. He pulled manuals after manuals from the shelves and worked through them methodically, setting aside anything too specific or too advanced and reading the rest with genuine attention. The range was extraordinary.

There were talismans for every conceivable situation, some useful in obvious ways and some in ways he could only imagine becoming relevant under very specific circumstances, and some so absurd that they made him stop and stare at the page for a moment before moving on. A talisman to make the users farts smell like flowers. A talisman that caused flowers to bloom in the user's footsteps.

He put that book back and wondered, not for the first time, what kind of person had considered these things worth the time to develop. He had no doubt both had their admirers. He was simply not among them. Most of the talismans were useful in principle, just useful for situations too specific to be worth spending his time on.

He was looking for something more generally applicable, something that would satisfy Elder Bai Jing Ting's requirement for a specialised defensive talisman while also being of actual use to him as a cultivator and worth his time perfecting it. After working through dozens of manuals he had narrowed his choices to five. The Qi Pressure Talisman. The Lightning Shield Talisman. The Air Purification Talisman. The Poison Barrier Talisman. And the Frost Resistance Talisman. He read through each description carefully.

The Qi Pressure Talisman was immediately compelling. Powerful cultivators using their qi to suppress lower realm practitioners was one of the most common hazards he had read about, and beyond that there were entire areas, secret realms, trial grounds, that applied ambient qi pressure to test or restrict those who entered.

According what he read, it may have even been useful and allowed him to if not complete then at least go further on the Azure Sword Sect entrance trial, at least in theory, he doubts the top sect of the world hasn't thought and applied measures against cheating. Even if the talisman was not specific enough to satisfy Elder Bai's requirements, it would be useful enough that he would want to make it regardless. He copied the inscription into his notes.

The Lightning Shield Talisman he set aside before he had finished the first page. The inscription was beyond his current cultivation realm, which was already strained by the Heavenly Diversion. He could see where it would be extraordinarily useful once he had advanced, particularly given that lightning tribulations were among the most common obstacles waiting for cultivators at higher stages of breakthrough. He copied the inscription anyway and marked it clearly as future work.

The Air Purification Talisman stopped him. He read through its description twice. The talisman purified the air drawn into the lungs, filtering out pollutants, drugs, and substances delivered through the olfactory system that altered behaviour or mental capacity. Minor poison gases included. The keyword was olfactory. It only protected the airway. Anything that entered through skin absorption was a different problem entirely. He knew this talisman.

Not in the sense of having made it before, but in the deeper sense of having spent years understanding the underlying logic that produced it. The card he had developed in the Cardwright World, the one that had taken him the longest and given him the most satisfaction to solve, was built on exactly these principles. He had read about air purification in the context of the barrier card and worked from there.

Seeing the talisman version of the same concept sitting in a library manual in his own world felt like running into an old acquaintance unexpectedly. Even though it wasn't as encompassing as the card he created it did have many aspects of that card. Making the barrier card of his into an actual talisman would be the highlight of his life as a talisman creator. He copied the inscription with great care. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The Poison Barrier Talisman covered what the Air Purification Talisman did not. Where the purification talisman protected the airway, this one created a barrier against poison regardless of delivery method. Gas, contact, direct injection, it did not matter. As long as the cultivator had the awareness and the time to activate it before the poisoning took place, this talisman would stop it. The two together formed a more complete defensive system. He copied this one as well.

The Frost Resistance Talisman he read through with less enthusiasm. It did exactly what its name suggested. His own body, shaped by years of consuming beast cores, had a considerable natural tolerance for temperature extremes that most cultivators at his level would not have. He was not certain he needed additional frost resistance on top of that.

He did pause briefly thinking on the question of whether the talisman might allow him to endure cold beyond what his body could naturally tolerate, which would extend his tolerance rather than just shore up a weakness he didn't have. An interesting theoretical question. But personally he did not find it compelling enough to prioritise and he left it before moving on. That left three active candidates. The Qi Pressure Talisman. The Air Purification Talisman. The Poison Barrier Talisman.

The Air Purification Talisman was useful but it was not truly defensive. It filtered and protected but it did not defend against attack. He did not think it would satisfy Elder Bai Jing Ting's stated requirement. He would make it for himself regardless, but he would not present it as his answer to her assignment. Between the Qi Pressure Talisman and the Poison Barrier Talisman, the choice was straightforward.

The Qi Pressure Talisman had broader application but the Poison Barrier was more specialised, and Elder Bai had specifically asked for specialised. He would work on the Poison Barrier first. If he managed to produce it to a satisfactory standard before the next class he would turn his attention to the Qi Pressure Talisman next. All inscriptions he intended to learn were at the upper threshold of his current abilities.

The Lightning Shield aside, none of them were beyond him, but none of them would be as simple as the talismans he had been making and selling. Any way if he plans to advance his talisman skills to match his card creation skills he needs to constantly challenge himself. Constantly working on the same level of talisman would hardly improve his skills. He looked up from his notes and realised the light coming through the library windows had shifted entirely. It was almost night. He had been here the whole day.

He placed every manual he had taken from the shelves, checked that he had copied all four inscriptions correctly, and made his way out. The food hall was fully occupied when he arrived, the evening meal in full swing. He filled his tray quickly with a bowl of soup, a stew with rice, and a few side dishes and found one of the few empty seat available at a table already occupied. He nodded at the person beside him as their gazes met, ate without hurrying, stacked his tray once done, and left.

Outside the sky had opened up into a clear night and a full moon was sitting high above the floating peaks of the sect, the silvery light catching the edges of the mountain formations and turning them pale and clean. He walked slowly, taking it in, and let his thoughts settle into what was ahead of him. Cultivation was still the priority. The Heavenly Diversion was improving, the channels widening session by session, but it was still a long road. Beyond that, the talisman competition.

He needed sponsorship from an elder or a core disciple to participate and he had to be realistic about his options. Elder Bai Jing Ting was rather cold, and she had seen his work today. But she had only just met him. She had no reason to sponsor a completely unknown outer sect disciple on the basis of a single class, regardless of how his talismans had looked.

He would continue attending her classes and see how the class with Senior Song Yi goes, but he held no strong expectation that either would lead to sponsorship at least not soon enough for him to take part in the competition. That left Elder Fu Ming. The only one who had seen him develop from the very beginning, from the first illumination talisman in the beginner class, through everything since. Elder Fu Ming knew his skills in a way no other teacher at the sect did.

If there was anyone likely to consider sponsoring him it was Elder Fu Ming. He needed to find a way to get in front of him before the competition timing became a problem. He reached the cave entrance and went inside. He cleaned himself, changed his robes, and settled onto the meditation platform and began practicing the Heavenly Diversion.