Chapter 118
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Chapter 118: Ascending the Island
“You mean the Blood Banana Leaves on the island can be used as natural talisman paper?” Li Hui couldn’t contain his excitement and quickly asked.
“Hey, I swore an Oath! Why don’t you believe me? We are good brothers who stick together through thick and thin. Very few of the practitioners who came in before knew about talisman-making. Even if they knew the leaves could be used, what would it matter? They would find them too hard to even use for cleaning up! There’s a huge forest of bloody leaves on the Artifact Mountain that will make your head spin.”
“I don’t doubt you; I’m just overwhelmed and shocked!” Li Hui suddenly shifted the topic, “You live on Artifact Mountain. Can you craft artifacts?”
“Shit, I can’t craft artifacts! My strength lies in controlling Fish Schools. When I have nothing to do, I just swim around a few spots in the sea. If you go there, you’ll see what Artifact Mountain is really like.” Qian Duohai sighed, “Sigh! Such a skilled artifact master, yet because the island’s resources are so poor, even a clever woman can’t cook without rice. Until I die from sleep, I haven’t completed the artifact for connecting the teleportation array.”
Li Hui nodded and walked around the black iron box.
He learned from Qian Duohai that there was indeed something wrong with the box; opening it carelessly would lead to misfortune. However, the rewards were quite good, usually providing five top-quality blood stones, five medium-grade Miao Jade, and five top-tier artifacts.
Top-tier artifacts! Some practitioners just entering the Condense Essence Stage were still using them. Li Hui pondered slightly and said, “Help me open the box. The blood stones and Miao Jade are mine, and the artifacts belong to you.”
“What? Brother… you mean you’re giving me all the artifacts from the box?” Qian Duohai was deeply moved, almost thinking he had misheard.
“Exactly. You’ve treated me sincerely, while I tried to outsmart you. In fact, our Jade Symbol Sect has been gone for two months already, so consider these five artifacts as a token of apology.” Li Hui spoke firmly, but he wasn’t feeling guilty; he was just being cautious.
Many ancient texts emphasized that Oaths could be a trap and should not be made lightly or used to reveal too much. If necessary, one could deny the Oath themselves. If the other party accepted, it would greatly weaken the Oath’s binding power.
Qian Duohai was momentarily taken aback, then his face flushed with embarrassment as he said, “I actually made a mistake too. I had bad intentions, always thinking about how to take your talismans, and I really was eyeing the things in the box. What I said was all true, but I didn’t say it all; the top-quality blood stones are very helpful for breaking through the blockade and activating the teleportation array.”
“Hahaha!” Li Hui laughed, and Qian Duohai joined in, both feeling a sense of mutual respect despite the coldness each felt inside.
“Alright, it’s indeed a rare fate for us to meet in this vast sea of blood. You can have two blood stones, and I will take three blood stones and the Miao Jade.”
Li Hui was unexpectedly generous, making Qian Duohai very pleased as he pointed out, “Two of you go and open the box. Try to get down to the bottom of the sea and don’t let the vibrations give away our position and attract that bunch of bastards on the island.”
Soon, a giant carp swam out, carrying the black iron box into the sea. After about half a tea’s time, the surface of the sea began to bubble up with “glub, glub” sounds.
Once the surface calmed down, Qian Duohai sent down a few fish to retrieve the items. Just as Li Hui grew impatient waiting, the fish finally swam back up to the surface.
He received five medium-grade Miao Jade shaped like tiles and three glossy blood stones. The qualities of Miao Jade should go without saying; blood stones could replenish and stimulate blood energy and served as materials for creating blood talismans in the Jade Symbol Sect.
Upon receiving the artifacts, Qian Duohai took a special glance at Li Hui, not noticing anything unusual, yet he felt a storm of emotions surging within him, unsure of Li Hui’s depth.
“Old Hai, take me to tour the island. I need plenty of materials for talisman-making, and I’ll rely on you to gather them.” Li Hui stored away the Yin-Yang head and jumped on the back of the large carp, looking somewhat impatient.
“Okay!” Qian Duohai smirked, and the fish swam forward like stars encircling the moon.
After two hours of traveling, they finally saw a change in their surroundings. In the distance, three black islands came into view, and as they got closer, their immense size became apparent; just looking at the coast made it seem like solid land.
At this point, Li Hui couldn’t help but ask, “Are we inside one of those Floating Corpse Islands? Why is there a maze, a sea of blood, and such large islands?”
“Maybe? I’m not sure. Perhaps this is the legendary cave paradise.” Qian Duohai grew cautious, waved for the fish to scatter, and chose a very secluded spot to land on the island. Lowering his voice, he said, “Brother, you’re in the Gathering Spirit stage, right? We can only stay on the Human Island. The Earth Island belongs to the Condense Essence Stage, while the Sky Island is for Bosa stage practitioners.”
“What? Besides the Condense Essence Stage, there are also Bosa stage practitioners?” Li Hui was shocked.
“Isn’t it a surprise? Don’t mention Bosa stage, I’ve heard even those in the All-Manifestation Realm have been here. The Human Island has the most practitioners and the least resources. Some troublemakers give up on breaking through and then break the jar and let it break, so it’s best to be cautious. Let’s go to my place first; just tell me what you need.” Qian Duohai was indeed aiming to take over the talisman makers, which made Li Hui feel disdainful. However, his injuries needed rest, so he suppressed his anger and didn’t bother to argue with him.
The two walked slowly, almost as if entering a deep mountain.
The ground was black, but the trees were red, with banana trees everywhere, their large red leaves frightening in size. Li Hui broke off half a leaf, folded it repeatedly, sniffed the crease, then tore off a bit of the leaf vein and chewed it. After some contemplation, he nodded, then shook his head, saying, “It can indeed be used as talisman paper, but there are quite a few limitations. It’s most suitable for drawing blood talismans and yin talismans; drawing thunder talismans and yang talismans would be difficult.”
“Ah? There’s such a limitation?” Qian Duohai was a novice and didn’t understand these intricacies.
“It’s fine. Even so, it’s still significant!” Li Hui insisted, “But we need to hurry and gather all the materials. At least a hundred or more people from my Jade Symbol Sect came in. We must prepare before them, or we’ll be out of luck!” Li Hui wasn’t worried about Qian Duohai being passive.
“What?” Qian Duohai staggered as if struck by lightning, murmuring, “Over a hundred? The Jade Symbol Sect sent over a hundred people? There can’t be true disciples or elders among them, right?”
“There are seven true disciples and probably about two elders,” Li Hui said nonchalantly, causing Qian Duohai’s expression to collapse.
He had initially believed he was the only one in this business, only to turn around and find over a hundred competitors! Especially with those giants inside, his mood could easily be imagined.
The two continued up a winding mountain path, taking half an hour to reach a poisonous pond of clear water. Qian Duohai pointed to a stone house built on the opposite cliff, saying, “There it is. Talisman-making requires a quiet environment, and the old man I knew built a stone mill specifically for grinding those artifact and treasure fragments!”
“Artifact and treasure fragments?” Li Hui’s expression changed as he quickened his pace, saying, “I also need artifact and treasure fragments. If resources are scarce, I can extract materials for talisman-making from them.”
“Ah? You can do that?” Qian Duohai was a bit pleased, not expecting that artifact fragments couldn’t be counted on, but there were a lot of artifact fragments and they were quite cheap.
