There were no screams, no thunderous roars, not even the sound of clashing.
In the garden, now blanketed in white, all sounds were drowned by the whistling drone of Cold Gleam slicing through the air, becoming the only embellishment to the eerie spectacle unfolding before them.
As the distortion at the garden's edge grew more severe, the cultivators from the Heavy Weapon Sect had adjusted their formation. Two advanced, three held the center, and four guarded the rear, forming a Tower Formation, ideal for concentrated attacks on a single target.
Yet, in the instant that Cold Gleam swept across, the two leading Armored Cultivators were cleaved into four. The abruptly activated Protective True Evil and Glyph Light Wall were utterly useless. The spears they had thrown earlier were likewise cut into several sections. Cold Gleam tore through the corpses like a hot knife through butter, without any pause, piercing the entire formation along its original slant—anything in its path was bisected, without exception!
Elder Ma, positioned in the center, saw nothing but a world dyed in blood-red. It was the abundant life-force of his companion, unprepared and unrestrained, spraying out and staining his black Heavy Armor the same color. Even through the thick layers of metal, he seemed to feel the scorching heat, accompanied by a bone-piercing Sharp Cold Intention.
Cold Gleam grazed the edge of Elder Ma's armor, bisecting another unfortunate soul behind him, and continued forward until it vanished into the distant void.
"Ah, ah..."
He opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say. A sense of absurdity gripped Elder Ma; he couldn't comprehend. Even when tearing a piece of paper, there should be rough edges, some resistance, but that Cold Gleam, moving at the same speed from start to finish, made the bodies, armor, and thrown spears it cut through seem like insubstantial phantoms. Wherever Cold Gleam passed, there was only disintegration.
He began to understand, sharpness, sharpness, the irresistible sharpness was the only attribute of Cold Gleam.
He should feel fortunate that Cold Gleam had moved at an angle, significantly deviating from the ground level. Hence, the corpses on the ground were in eight pieces, not eighteen!
"He can't unleash a second strike!"
The female cultivator with the face of Thunder God was just behind him, emitting a frantic howl. "He has stolen the power of the Talisman Seal, risking the small for the big. He can't have any strength left..."
Elder Ma came to his senses. Beside him, the female cultivator had transformed into a bolt of lightning, shooting forward.
However, the distortion in the void ahead made even the fastest speed useless. The lightning that the female cultivator had transformed into slowed down. At this moment, Elder Ma also rushed forward, his bronze face mask still smeared with blood. With a flick of his wrist, another Thrown Spear appeared, whistling as it tore through the air.
The Rune Patterns on the Thrown Spear displayed a potent corrosive force. If it hit its target, it could corrode it into a wisp of blue smoke in an instant—then Yu Ci really turned into a smoke-like state!
The Thrown Spear pierced through his body without any obstruction. He just gave a toothy grin to the two Cultivators rushing towards him, then disappeared without a trace.
"She's merged into it!" The female cultivator stared at the gradually fading figure amidst the flickering, murmuring to herself, "It's not a break-in, nor control, but a fusion. No, this is the precursor of the Control Talisman Seal. We need to notify the Clan Leader!"
Elder Ma didn't understand the rest, but the last sentence was clear: "Then quickly..."
His voice abruptly cut off. To convey information to the Clan Leader in another void, even a Golden Elixir cultivator or one of Vacuum Walking Standard would find it challenging, relying solely on the Combined Rune Formation. The formation was originally distributed on everyone's armor, and it could be activated with the combined efforts of six people, but now...
He and the female cultivator stared at each other, momentarily at a loss.
"Who's right? Who's wrong?"
"..."
"Stop dawdling, are we not men!"
"Who knows!"
Finally, there was a response, and the answer was laughably absurd. Yu Ci laughed once, but it abruptly stopped. Blood splattered from his facial features and orifices, his entire body resembling a cooked shrimp, the result of the tiny blood vessels under his skin bursting simultaneously.
His deeper muscles and bones, Five Viscera and Six Bowels, were also twisted and reversed. Yu Ci felt like he was being hammered on a large anvil hundreds, even thousands of times. Regardless of the anvil's condition, the massive counter-shock power was all borne by him.
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One more hit and I'll die! Yu Ci concluded. After taking a few Medicine Pills, he entered the Inner Void of the Heart, temporarily blocking out physical sensations.
In the void, the Life Death Talisman accurately reflected his bodily condition. Not only were some peripheral Talisman Pattern Fractals disordered, but the central Life Death flipping Core Talisman Pattern was also somewhat distorted. However, these were slowly recovering, especially when Yu Ci focused entirely on the Life Death Talisman and visualized with his mind. His physical spirit naturally merged as one, and the recovery speed increased significantly.
But, there was another presence in the Inner Void of the Heart that couldn’t be ignored. Once his condition stabilized, Yu Ci quickly ended his visualization and shifted his attention to the peripheral void, amidst the vast Talisman Pattern Fractals.
At this moment, a "great cycle" had just ended. The central "seal" Rune Patterns flickered for a moment, then a sharp and clear Sword Light shot out, circling the sky. This was not random wandering, but a smooth tracing on the complete Imprint of the Talisman Pattern Fractal.
Upon closer inspection, the sequence, weight, and reality of its interior and exterior all conformed to the actual Imprint Rune Patterns, without the slightest error.
This was precisely the most frequent act of the foreign sword technique after it had broken into the Inner Void of the Heart - to proclaim its existence, to boast about the power of the Talisman Seal, and of course, to assert the correctness of its established perspective.
It was not surprising, after all, the author of the Talisman Seal had arrived!
However, now, Yu Ci had already defeated it with reality:
"Why are you still clinging to this erroneous old method? You've seen it, it's not the time before the Five Thunderbolt Tribulation, the 'Layered Orifice Combination' approach is the right path, the power of the Talisman Seal won't diminish a bit! On the contrary, according to your thinking, a cultivator like me, if I use a talisman, if I don't become a dried corpse, I would be killed by the Counteractive Power of heaven and earth, it's completely impractical! You've seen it, if it weren't for my insistence on incorporating optimized Rune Patterns, I could be having tea with your master right now…"
"…"
The Sword Light moved even faster, repeatedly tracing the Rune Patterns, while the voice that was previously loud and unyielding was no longer heard.
An Old Antique from before the Five Thunderbolt Tribulation, who also had a childlike temperament, Yu Ci was truly headache-inducing. This one had actively sought to discuss the Talisman, his own strength was extremely formidable, if he truly angered him, Yu Ci could be chopped into pieces in an instant. He had no choice but to "convince with reason".
"Mister Xuan Huang, give me a clear answer whether you're going to do it or not. But I'm warning you in advance, if you agree, we can discuss everything later, if not, This Humble One doesn't have so many lives to accompany you to your death!"
Yu Ci once again recalled the scene in the garden, facing the pressure of Mister Xuan Huang, he held his ground, replacing the original ones with several already simplified Talisman Pattern Fractals such as sensing, control of vital energy, evolving sword intent, etc., using the Secret Method taught by Xuanhuang, extracting power from the First Layer Talisman Seal, catalyzing the Talisman, substituting his body for the Talisman, and wielding that Dazzling Sword.
Although it was extremely imposing, what was the difference between substituting the Talisman in this Secret Domain and substituting his body for heaven and earth?
The massive flow of Primordial Qi not only brought its own pressure, but also amplified the counteractive forces of the outside world during the evolution of the Rune Patterns by hundreds of times - an originally dust-collision-like force could be amplified into the consequence of a giant rock smashing on the head.
Elder Ma and the others felt that the Cold Gleam was unrivaled and invincible, but they didn't know that even a slight rebound would cause thousands of times more damage to Yu Ci, which was also the cause of Yu Ci's serious injury.
In the final analysis, it was still because the power gathered by the Talisman Seal far exceeded Yu Ci's power, and there was a lack of an effective operating center in the middle, otherwise, with the natural "weak overcoming the strong" nature of the Talisman, it would never have been so devastating.
Finally, the original author, with a hard-to-move heart, said a sentence: "Do you really have to do this?"
"This Humble One's life may not be worth much anymore, but it shouldn't be destroyed under the Talisman Seal you, Mister Xuan Huang, personally made, right?"
"If it weren't for the fact that you are from the Lichen Sect..."
There was an inevitable touch of chagrin in the other's response, but the right to adapt was finally handed over: "There's not much time left, can you hurry up?"
You also know that time is pressing? Thinking about this one who is throwing a childish tantrum, having already shattered the half-formed simplified Rune Patterns hundreds of times, Yu Ci felt a headache coming on.
However, having this one by his side was ultimately beneficial. No matter how limited this person's Accomplishment in Talisman Techniques was, and how rigid his thinking, his understanding of the Secret Domain Talisman Seal was unparalleled in the world. Especially when it was set up initially, the various design ideas fully revealed the mysteries of the Talisman Seal to Yu Ci, without any concealment.
Yu Ci didn't leave the Inner Void of the Heart, and after two full hours, he finally simplified millions of Talisman Pattern Fractals and billions of Key Points into a practical number of eight thousand. Although this is a ridiculous number in the current Charm Script System, it can at least be counted, right?
During this process, even though Yu Ci no longer contemplated the Life Death Talisman, his injuries were visibly improving at a noticeable speed, especially when Yu Ci's thoughts became clear, the Life Death Talisman spun more cheerfully. This was the wonderful part of the "Primordial Root Qi Method", Drawing Qi to Form Talismans, controlling Qi with Talismans, the true Qi of the Talisman was as one, and had the effect of understanding by analogy, which other innate Qi methods in the world did not have.
The simplified First Layer Talisman Seal is still a very irregular shape. Some Key Fractals are nearly complete, but some still need to be carefully deduced to be formed...
Just then, the stricken Xuan Huang issued a warning:
"Be careful, there's a 'shadow' coming."
"Hmm?"
Yu Ci suddenly opened his eyes, and due to the Qi Drawing Secret Method, his blank vision had slightly improved, like a thick gauze printed with Rune Patterns was covering his eyes, and he could finally see the surrounding environment.
Then he realized that after penetrating the First Layer Talisman Seal, the Secret Domain had undergone earth-shaking changes. Between heaven and earth, the clouds gathered and dispersed unpredictably, as if there were palaces suspended in the clouds, and behind the gathering and dispersing clouds, a violent sword intent rolled over like thunder from outside the sky.
...