Half a month later.
Clap, clap...
In Qingfeng Valley, a young man dressed in a blue robe stood on a large stone. Holding a twig about a meter long and the size of his index finger, he repeatedly thrust it forward, slashed diagonally, swung upward, and cut horizontally. Every time the young man swung the twig, a faint sound of wind breaking echoed. As his speed increased, the sound intensified, resembling firecrackers exploding on the stone.
At one point, the young man's eyes narrowed, and he threw the twig toward a large tree in the distance. The twig shot forward so quickly that with each passing moment, the faint sound of wind breaking grew louder. In just two breaths, the twig, which had traveled over ten meters, reached the tree.
Boom...
The twig pierced through the root of a massive tree, requiring three people to hug it, then continued through a second tree. After passing through five trees in total, the twig finally stopped at the sixth tree.
Looking at the small holes in the trees, the young man muttered, "With the energy stones and pulse-nourishing pills from Elder Qian, along with my faint golden energy continuously tempering my body, my physical strength has improved countless times! It's just a shame, all ten energy stones and pulse-nourishing pills are used up."
The young man was naturally Yang Ye. Over the past half month, he had spent almost ten of the twelve hours every day cultivating. Through such effort, not only had he advanced to the sixth level of the Xuan realm, but he had also perfected the basic sword technique of the Sword Sect.
The Sword Sect's basic sword technique wasn't anything rare. Every outer sect disciple had a manual for it. This basic technique was so common that, aside from Yang Ye, no other outer sect disciple bothered to practice it. After all, no matter how strong a basic sword technique was, it couldn't compare to those sword skills with ranks.
Yang Ye had once thought the same. However, after being demoted to a servant disciple, he had no choice but to practice the basic sword technique. After two years of training, with his realm and physical strength constantly improving and becoming more skilled in the basic sword technique, Yang Ye began to realize that this sword technique wasn't as useless as everyone thought.
This set of sword techniques was simple: chopping, stabbing, lifting, sweeping, slashing, and thrusting. But after two years of continuous practice, these simple moves no longer seemed so simple. Like just now, each swing of his sword produced a faint sound of wind breaking—an effect that even some Yellow-tier sword techniques of the Sword Sect couldn't achieve.
So, Yang Ye decided to continue practicing hard. He wanted to see the limits of this basic sword technique!
Looking up at the sky, he saw that it was noon. He clapped his hands and murmured, "Today, I must successfully create a powerful talisman!"
In the "Five Elements Rune Decision" that Bao'er had given him, the method for crafting a powerful talisman wasn't too complicated since it was just a basic talisman. But for Yang Ye, who was a beginner with no guidance, it was quite complex. In the past half month, he had failed every time, mostly because he had been too eager at the beginning.
With the failure experiences of the first half month, Yang Ye had become smarter this time. For the past week, he had not attempted to create the talisman directly but instead studied the method carefully. He had memorized all the steps and the important details.
After recalling the steps for creating the powerful talisman, Yang Ye sat down on the stone and took out the talisman paper and brush Bao'er had given him. He also took out the spiritual herb juice and the beast blood. Once everything was ready, Yang Ye changed his posture and lay down, calming his mind. After a while, his faint golden energy slowly flowed into the talisman brush. He then began drawing carefully according to the method in his mind.
Holding the talisman brush, Yang Ye carefully moved it across the talisman paper. His faint golden energy flowed through the brush and onto the paper. As each line of golden energy entered the paper, it moved like little worms. Seeing this, Yang Ye quickly guided the brush to form various strange shapes.
During this process, Yang Ye didn’t dare to make a sound. He focused entirely on guiding the brush on the paper. About fifteen minutes later, a faint golden flame began to take shape on the paper. After another fifteen minutes, Yang Ye stopped the brush, revealing a faint golden flame fully formed on the paper.
Seeing the flame take shape, Yang Ye let out a sigh of relief. Of course, the task was not finished yet. This was just the first step. The second step, which was even more crucial, was to "infuse spirit!"
Infusing spirit meant adding the spiritual herb juice and the beast blood into the talisman paper, using the energy from both, combined with the natural energy, to give the talisman a spirit. This step was the most difficult, and it was where Yang Ye had failed the previous half month. He had to simultaneously infuse the beast blood, the herb juice, and his faint golden energy to redraw the flame.
If he failed during this process, the talisman would fail completely!
Taking a deep breath, Yang Ye tried to calm himself. After a moment, he picked up a jade bottle and poured a drop of herb juice onto the talisman. Then, he quickly grabbed another jade bottle and poured a drop of beast blood onto it. The two liquids dropped onto the paper, and Yang Ye immediately circulated his energy, forcing the two liquids to merge.
With the faint golden energy surrounding them, the two drops of liquid merged with ease. Yang Ye quickly grabbed the brush and guided the newly mixed liquid along the flame’s outline.
This process was difficult because Yang Ye had to use his energy to wrap the liquids. This required precise control over both his spiritual power and energy. If he wasn’t careful or couldn’t complete the task in one go, the talisman would fail!
Drops of sweat began to form on his forehead. Yang Ye dared not blink, afraid that even a moment of distraction would ruin his work.Carefully and cautiously, after about another fifteen minutes, a smile gradually appeared on Yang Ye's face, and the excitement in his eyes was hard to conceal. Another fifteen minutes passed, and Yang Ye suddenly stopped his brush. As soon as the brush left the talisman paper, the flame on the paper seemed to come to life, emitting a faint golden flame. The entire flame on the paper became vivid, almost like a living creature!
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"I've finally succeeded! Finally succeeded! I, Yang Ye, am now a first-grade talisman master! Haha..." Seeing the flame on the talisman paper, Yang Ye couldn’t help but laugh excitedly.
From the basic talisman crafting guide Bao'er had given him, Yang Ye learned some basic information about talisman masters. Like Xuan practitioners, talisman masters were also ranked. The first to fifth grades were for engraving talismans, which meant the creation of basic talismans. After the fifth grade, there were spirit talisman masters, earth talisman masters, sky talisman masters, immortal talisman masters, and divine talisman masters.
The first to fifth grades were for engraving talismans. As long as one could successfully create one type of talisman, they could be considered a first-grade talisman master. If someone could make five types of basic talismans and integrate all five attributes, they would reach the fifth grade. Yang Ye had now successfully made a powerful talisman, so he could already be considered a first-grade talisman master!
Suppressing his excitement, Yang Ye picked up the powerful talisman from the stone and examined it for a while. A hint of surprise appeared in his eyes as he muttered, "Talisman grades include inferior, medium, superior, and supreme. This powerful talisman, with its flame almost alive, should be considered superior, but didn't the guide say the chance of creating a superior talisman was very low? Could it be because of my faint golden energy?"
From the basic talisman guide, Yang Ye had learned that talismans also had different qualities, and the effects of talismans of different grades varied. An inferior-grade powerful talisman could increase the user's strength by up to fifty percent, a medium-grade by about one time, while a superior-grade could increase it by three times. As for the supreme grade, it could increase strength by six or seven times or more.
Although the effects of superior and supreme talismans were astonishing, their difficulty was immense. The success rate for superior-grade talismans was extremely low, but he hadn’t expected that his talisman would be superior-grade. Could it be that I truly have exceptional talent? Yang Ye felt a little puzzled.
"Looks like I'll have to ask Bao'er about this!" Yang Ye didn’t dwell on the issue further. He glanced at the powerful talisman in his hand, the corner of his mouth lifting in a sly smile. In the future, if he fought someone of similar strength, suddenly using this talisman on himself would definitely make his opponent feel utterly frustrated.
Thinking of this, Yang Ye's smile grew wider, a smug look appearing on his face. After a moment, he carefully put the powerful talisman away and quickly walked toward the entrance of Qingfeng Valley.
After leaving Qingfeng Valley, Yang Ye arrived at the martial arts training ground. As soon as he reached the training ground, a young man in a green robe blocked his path. The young man, who appeared to be around seventeen or eighteen years old, had the character "外" (outer) engraved on his left shoulder, marking him as an outer sect disciple!
Seeing the young man in front of him exuding killing intent, Yang Ye recognized him as Du Xiu's cousin, Duan Jun, a Xuan practitioner at the eighth grade.
When the servant disciples nearby saw Yang Ye being blocked by Duan Jun, they shook their heads and sighed. Because of Yang Ye, the servant disciples in the servant peak no longer had to suffer under Du Xiu and his group. Therefore, these servant disciples had a favorable impression of Yang Ye.
Now that Du Xiu's cousin had returned from the secular world, Yang Ye’s fate was foreseeable.
Duan Jun was also observing Yang Ye, his eyes flashing with cold killing intent. After returning from the secular world today, he discovered that both Du Xiu and Steward Xu had been sent to the Star Mine Mountain, and the one responsible was the servant disciple in front of him. Everyone in the Sword Sect, including some outer sect disciples, knew that Du Xiu was his cousin and Steward Xu was his person. This person in front of him was openly slapping his face!
Moreover, Du Xiu and Steward Xu paid him tens of thousands of gold coins every year. With this money, he could buy more cultivation resources, but now, this source of income was lost because of the person in front of him! Tens of thousands of gold coins were his main source of wealth, and his heart felt like it was bleeding.
With this thought, Duan Jun’s eyes narrowed. "Trash, how dare you bully my cousin. Die!" he said, before swiftly moving, slapping his palm toward Yang Ye's face.
Seeing Duan Jun act so quickly and with lethal intent, Yang Ye's face darkened. He let out a low shout and threw a punch toward Duan Jun's palm.
Boom!
The fist and palm collided. Yang Ye staggered back three steps, and Duan Jun also staggered back three steps.
In their first exchange, it was a draw.
Seeing that he had been pushed back by Yang Ye, Duan Jun’s eyes flashed with surprise. After sizing up Yang Ye for a moment, he said, "You’ve already reached the Xuan realm? But so what? Just now, I only used one-tenth of my strength. Now, die!" He said, his energy surging as he prepared to strike again.
"Wait!" Yang Ye took a step forward, his eyes flashing with killing intent. The man in front of him knew that Du Xiu and the others had been demoted by Elder Qian, but he didn’t dare to confront Elder Qian directly, so he came to find him. And when he made his move, it was to kill—Yang Ye was furious this time.
"What? You want to beg for mercy?" Duan Jun sneered, "If I had known this would happen, why would I have acted like this? Although my cousin is just a servant disciple, he's not someone like you, a trash, can bully. Now, kneel and kowtow a thousand times, shouting 'I was wrong,' then roll out of the Sword Sect, and I might consider not killing you!"
"I challenge you, on the Life and Death Stage!" Yang Ye fixed his gaze on Duan Jun, his voice firm.
Silence. Dead silence. The surrounding servant disciples and Duan Jun himself were stunned.
A servant disciple challenging an outer sect disciple? And on the Life and Death Stage?
* Xuan practitioners (玄者): In the context of this novel, this refers to individuals who practice a specific form of internal energy manipulation and martial arts, often divided into grades or ranks (e.g., Xuan Practitioner at the 6th grade or 8th grade).
* Talisman Master : A practitioner who creates talismans, which are magical items used for various purposes, such as enhancing strength or casting spells. The term “master” refers to someone skilled in this craft, with ranks ranging from first-grade to higher levels.
* Spirit Talisman Master ， Earth Talisman Master , Sky Talisman Master , Immortal Talisman Master , Divine Talisman Master : These are higher levels of talisman crafting masters, beyond the basic first to fifth-grade talisman makers.
* Life and Death Stage : A stage or arena where martial artists can engage in a life-or-death duel, often to resolve conflicts or challenges between individuals. It’s a formal challenge, with significant consequences for the loser.
* Sect : Refers to a martial arts or magical organization. In this case, "Sword Sect" (剑宗) is the name of the martial sect to which the characters belong.
* Inner Sect vs Outer Sect : In many cultivation or martial arts sects, there are different levels of disciples, with the inner sect being higher in status and more skilled than the outer sect.
* Talisman Paper : Special paper used for drawing talismans. It’s often made from specific materials that help channel energy or magic.
Golden Xuan Energy (): Refers to a particular type of internal energy used by Yang Ye, symbolizing his cultivation level. "Xuan" (玄) refers to a mysterious or deep level of energy.
* Steward ): A managerial position within the sect, responsible for overseeing various matters, such as the management of resources, assignments, and sometimes the distribution of rewards or punishments.