Chapter 209: A Lifeline at a Critical Moment

The diagram seemed to be clearly etched in Qin Haoxuan’s mind, yet it was not entirely distinct. But he did not hesitate in the slightest. No longer fearing that a single misplaced element would ruin the entire effort as he had before, he began to command the small Spiritual Imprint Arrays to fall into place.

With this bold and decisive approach, it did not take long for a spiritual sense array, which was similar in spirit but not in form to the one Xing had drawn, to appear in the jade slip.

The moment the array formed from the countless Spiritual Imprint Arrays took shape, it suddenly transformed into a vast wave of qi, like an ancient exotic beast swallowing the heavens and the earth. Its majestic and ancient aura rushed out, and in an instant, it destroyed the inscriptions of the second layer’s restriction with the force of a landslide, completely unstoppable.

With the second restriction broken, a cyan light emanated from the jade slip. If Xing had not been at a critical point in his cultivation of the Dragon Demon Golden Body, he would have surely been so shocked to see this that his jaw would have dropped. In just two days, Qin Haoxuan had broken the second restriction. In his estimation, even with his previous intense focus, it would have been considered good if he had managed to open it within three months.

After the second layer of The Great Art of Talismans was opened, Qin Haoxuan quickly browsed through it. The first layer had contained four talismans, but the second only had three. He casually glanced at their names, and his eyes landed on one of them.

Mortal Talisman: When used, it can completely conceal a cultivator’s aura, making them seem like an ordinary mortal. An essential spiritual talisman for avoiding enemies and concealing one’s presence.

Qin Haoxuan then looked at the refining conditions for the Mortal Talisman. It required nothing more than some common materials that could be bought in the secular world. The only thing that couldn’t be bought was the talisman body, and he happened to have a piece on him. He then looked at the spirit stone requirement: three thousand spirit stones.

In an instant, he was as excited as Xing had been when he saw the Dragon Demon Golden Body, his face flushing red.

In the dim military tent, the faint light of the oil lamp flickered in the gentle breeze, as if it would be extinguished at any moment, yet it burned on tenaciously. Qin Haoxuan scanned the three spiritual talismans in the second layer of the art and, after seeing the Mortal Talisman, it took him a long time to calm down from his excitement.

“How did I succeed just now? It was such a wonderful feeling; I succeeded without even knowing how,” he thought. He calmed his mind and tried to recall everything that had just happened, but it was all a blur. He then tried to simulate the Spiritual Imprint Array in his sea of consciousness again, but to his surprise, he, who had just succeeded, now failed.

“It seems that at that moment, it was a stroke of genius, as if a god had possessed me,” Qin Haoxuan, who had vaguely grasped something but had not fully understood it, had to give up and turn his attention to the Mortal Talisman. “According to the description, if I can refine one, then even if I don’t hide in the army camp, Master Chi Lian will never be able to find me.”

Having refined the Thousand-Mile Talisman and personally experienced its power, he had no doubt about The Great Art of Talismans. If the Thousand-Mile Talisman could give him, at the Fourth-Leaf, a speed that surpassed the Spirit Tree Realm’s Master Chi Lian, then the Mortal Talisman would surely be just as described, and not even a Spirit Tree Realm cultivator would be able to sense his aura. After refining the Mortal Talisman, he could just blend into any crowd, and Master Chi Lian would never find him.

“But this Mortal Talisman is quite expensive to use. It costs five hundred low-grade spirit stones for just one day of use,” he lamented softly. “To refine one only costs three thousand, which I can afford with my current five thousand. But to activate it once only lasts for a day, and it costs five hundred stones. I can afford to make it, but I can’t afford to use it! The Thousand-Mile Talisman only costs one hundred and fifty stones to activate, but this one costs five hundred a day!”

Lamentations aside, he was determined to refine this talisman. But he had to hurry. While the army’s killing aura was still masking his own, and before Master Chi Lian found him. Once he was found, it would be difficult to escape again.

After all, the speed of the Thousand-Mile Talisman was only on par with Master Chi Lian’s. If he were to discover him and give chase desperately, once his spirit stones ran out, he would be captured. But the Mortal Talisman was different. Once activated, it could completely conceal his aura. There were thousands upon thousands of mortals in the secular world; could he really check them one by one?

Immediately, Qin Haoxuan summoned Su Wu and gave him a list of the materials for the Mortal Talisman, telling him to have his men procure them at once. Besides the talisman body, the other materials were very common and could be bought in the secular world.

Su Wu’s efficiency was quite good, and he soon brought the materials back. He looked at Qin Haoxuan with surprise, wondering what a High Immortal would need with black dog blood, cinnabar, poisonous snake gall, human hair, and body grime. Of course, this was not his concern. After presenting the materials, he suppressed his bellyful of doubts and left.

Just then, Xing also opened his eyes. Although he had not yet mastered the first level of the Dragon Demon Golden Body, when he activated it, a faint, transparent, hard substance would appear on his body. This was the materialization of air, but not yet at the level of becoming armor. It was clear that the genius demon had also encountered a bottleneck. The Dragon Demon Golden Body, one of the ten great protective arts of the Netherworld, was not so easily practiced.

Seeing Qin Haoxuan take out a talisman body and a pile of strange materials, Xing’s eyes widened. “The second restriction of The Great Art of Talismans, you broke it?”

Qin Haoxuan nodded with a calm expression.

“Yo! You’re good! A bit interesting,” Xing said, his eyes growing even wider. He circled Qin Haoxuan as if looking at a monster. In his mind, he had thought it would take him at least three months to succeed, and that was with his extremely strong perseverance. He then asked, “What powerful talismans are in the second layer?”

“They’re all powerful. Two of them require a fifty-thousand-spirit-stone infusion array. That condition alone is beyond our reach, and the materials are even rarer than those for the first layer.”

Xing blinked, slightly disappointed. “Then what about the other one?”

Qin Haoxuan pointed to the materials in front of him. “This one is called the Mortal Talisman. It can conceal my aura. Once I activate it, not even a Spirit Tree Realm cultivator will be able to see that I’m a cultivator. And it only requires a three-thousand-stone infusion array to refine, and the materials are simple. Everything I need is right here.”

Xing glanced at the materials and said with surprise, “Hey, the materials are indeed very common. These are all considered filth in the secular world. I guess the Mortal Talisman works by refining the filth from this filth, then implanting it into the talisman body and using the spiritual energy of the spirit stones to conceal a cultivator’s aura, making the user emit the exact same aura as a mortal. A brilliant, truly brilliant concept!”

After praising the Mortal Talisman, Xing’s brow furrowed again. “This talisman is an absolute must-have for escaping. With this thing, Master Chi Lian will never find you. But I guess it’s very difficult to refine. Don’t look at the low spirit stone requirement; the refining process is surely more troublesome than the Thousand-Mile Talisman. You must be extremely careful.”

Reminded by Xing, Qin Haoxuan, who had thought refining it would not be difficult, had a sudden realization. “The materials for the Mortal Talisman are common, and the spirit stone requirement is low. On what grounds is it placed in the second layer, alongside those two fifty-thousand-stone talismans? The difficulty of refining it must be great!”

At this thought, his expression gradually grew grave. “It seems this Mortal Talisman is truly not simple. Each activation requires five hundred spirit stones, and its effect only lasts for one day. To use it again, you have to spend another five hundred.”

Xing shrugged. “Well, spirit stones are a big problem, but at a critical moment, it can save your life. You should prepare and begin. It would be best to succeed on the first try.”

Qin Haoxuan nodded solemnly and sent his spiritual sense into the jade slip, carefully studying the inscriptions he would have to carve. Time was short. He had to be fully focused. It had been twenty days since he had escaped from Master Chi Lian. He might be searching for him one by one through all the possible locations right now. He had to speed up.

But no matter how tight on time he was, he decided to spend half a day studying the inscriptions. Sharpening the axe does not delay the work of cutting wood. Carving the inscriptions was the first step, and unlike last time, he did not have enough black iron to practice on. He had to succeed on the first try. If he failed, he wouldn’t be able to refine the talisman, because he only had one talisman body.

Fortunately, he had some foundation from refining the Thousand-Mile Talisman last time. He no longer needed to practice the basic carving techniques. It was just that the inscriptions for each talisman were different. As long as he memorized them and was bold yet careful during the carving, he could surely succeed.

Qin Haoxuan slowly closed his eyes and sent his spiritual sense into the jade slip on the table, holding a carving knife in one hand and the talisman body in the other. He began to simulate carving the inscriptions in the air, comparing them to the shapes he sensed with his spiritual sense, carefully correcting the subtle differences.

Watching him so engrossed, Xing silently retreated to the side, for fear of disturbing him. He knew that refining such an obviously high-level talisman was extremely difficult. Although the materials and spirit stone requirement were low, its other requirements were surely high, such as the complexity of the inscriptions. He secretly observed the carving knife in Qin Haoxuan’s hand and was inwardly shocked. The inscriptions on the Thousand-Mile Talisman had not been that numerous, only about three hundred, and they weren’t that complex. But the inscriptions for the Mortal Talisman were more than ten times as complex.

To carve three thousand tiny inscriptions on a talisman body one finger long and two fingers wide, and to arrange them in the correct way, was simply impossible without more than ten years of carving experience and an incomparably stable Dao Heart. Qin Haoxuan also felt it. The difficulty of the Mortal Talisman lay in the carving.