Chapter 144 Explosion Talisman

A fireball resembling an Angry Bird flew in from a tricky angle, forcing Ji An to dodge, and he was hit amidst a deafening explosion.

Like a bullfighter being charged by a bull, his body lost its balance and flew into the air before crashing into the rocks, with a fiery magical weapon poised near his neck.

The direct damage from the spell was absorbed by the protective aura of the Earth Spirit Orb and the Rock-Solid Technique. He appeared disheveled but was actually unharmed.

Despite using magic to seal his eardrums, the sound waves from the explosion still made him dizzy, and the intense heat made his face turn red, like Guan Yu.

Ji An calmed himself down from the shock and shouted:

"Senior brother, let's try again."

Through continuous battles, he has found a suitable rhythm, enabling him to withstand attacks for a relatively long time and launch effective counterattacks, rather than simply being passively beaten.

He now has a deep understanding of the offensive power of magical artifacts. Taking the Fiery Golden Wheel as an example, it only takes one all-out attack to break through the protective aura provided by the Earth Spirit Orb.

However, in a life-or-death struggle, it remains to be seen who will emerge victorious between him and Liu Yu.

After he is covered in various defenses, the opponent needs to inflict multiple effective damages in a short period of time to truly kill him.

Spiritual artifacts possess a certain degree of sentience. If a spell is cast to attack the artifact itself, it will dodge like a human, thus 'tricking' the opponent and buying more time for the user.

Ji An felt that if he obtained the defensive magical artifact, the Apricot Yellow Flag, he would have a very good chance of defeating his opponent.

Liu Yu shook his head and chuckled:

"Come again? No, I'm not coming! I don't have much magic left."

Although the magical artifact can attack autonomously, it still needs him to input mana to 'charge' it. In previous battles, he would try to compress the time as much as possible, and it would never take this long.

Through the battles of this period, he discovered that his junior brother was able to quickly adjust his combat state, and his attacks and defenses were more methodical, clearly showing that he also had talent in combat.

"Junior brother, judging from your current combat strength, you should be able to deal with a mid-Foundation Establishment stage demon beast on your own."

It would be perfect if we could practice a spell that slows down enemies.

The demonic beast, with its flesh and blood body, was no longer able to resist the opponent's explosive fireball, which had reached the perfect level.

If it hits head-on, few monsters can withstand its powerful damage.

Liu Yu was puzzled. When he first met the other party, the other party displayed the talent of the Minor Cloud and Rain Technique. After cultivating the Green Wood Everlasting Spring Technique for ten years, he was able to comprehend the divine meaning of the technique. He must also have a high talent for wood-elemental spells.

In addition, the explosive fireball at the perfect level means that the opponent has a strong comprehension of the water, wood, and fire elements.

Water nourishes wood, and flourishing wood fuels fire; the other person's talent is likely to be a minor talent.

"Thank you for reminding me, senior brother. I thought so too, but there's too little time, so we can only take it slowly."

Ji An said that in order to plant five thousand acres of spiritual trees on Crimson Flame Peak, he had to consume a lot of magic power and energy every day, and did not have much time to practice spells and comprehend the meaning of the law.

Things will get better in a few years. By then, the planting spells will have reached the Great Perfection level, which will increase the effects and reduce the mana consumption.

Moreover, as his cultivation level increases, his internal mana will become more abundant, giving him more time to practice other spells. At the same time, the spiritual energy absorbed by the stone tortoise can also be used to quickly improve his understanding of spells.

He paused, then asked:

"Senior brother, based on the timing of the last three sects' competition, it should be held again in four years. Why is there still no news about it?"

As is customary, the sect is now about to begin the selection process.

Liu Yu pondered for a moment and said:

"I heard from the deputy hall master that the current situation is special, and the competition selection may be held in a different form. I haven't heard anything about how it will be held."

The three sects' advance in the Ten Thousand Mountains has stalled at the Mingfeng Mountain line, and they are currently planning a major operation.

Once the preliminary preparations are complete, a large number of cultivators will be mobilized to launch a fierce attack.

Ji An nodded slightly. It was better to hold the selection later, as the later it was, the more prepared he could be.

Once a cultivator in the early stages of Foundation Establishment achieves enough victories in the Three-Party Tournament, the sect will reward them with a large number of spiritual items that complement their cultivation techniques, which can almost cover the entire cultivation process in the middle stages of Foundation Establishment.

The generous rewards also fueled everyone's enthusiasm for participating in the competition, with almost all cultivators with combat talent joining in.

Ji An put down his tools, patted the cut animal hide hard, and let out a soft sigh.

The hides of demonic beasts in the late Foundation Establishment stage are exceptionally tough; it took most of the day just to cut them.

It is said that some late-stage Foundation Establishment demonic beasts, known for their defense, can withstand attacks from spiritual weapons by relying on the toughness of their outer skin. Unless the same spot is hit repeatedly, it is difficult to kill them.

Xia Yuhan entered the stone house and put down the spiritual tea on the tray:

"Uncle-Master, please have some tea. Is there anything I can do to help?"

She wore a dark belt that accentuated her slender waist, and her eyes were bright and lively, like a pool of autumn water.

Ji An picked up the spirit tea, took a few sips, and smiled:

"Stir the talisman ink thoroughly, ensuring that there is no sediment at all."

The prepared talisman ink will have a slight sedimentation. It must be stirred for a long time before use, otherwise the spiritual energy in the talisman will be unevenly distributed.

Stirring requires no skill; all you need to do is be careful. It's perfectly fine to leave it to someone else.

Since the two women moved into Crimson Flame Peak, he has been served by people at all times, and he doesn't have to do many trivial things himself. This feeling is quite good.

The two sisters had just turned twenty, and it was a delightful sight to have such vibrant young women serving them.

“Yes,” Xia Yuhan placed the tray aside and began stirring the talisman ink.

Ji An finished the spiritual tea and, taking advantage of this brief moment, closed his eyes to rest, recalling the steps and techniques for creating the explosive talisman in his mind, and began to create the talisman with his 'intention'.

With his current talisman-making skills, he doesn't need to copy talismans beforehand; he can draw them directly.

Low-grade materials simply cannot withstand the spiritual power of the explosive talisman, and there is no other material available for practice, so high-grade materials must be used directly for drawing.

Every wasted material is a huge loss, but these losses are unavoidable; all we can do is prepare as well as possible.

As he mentally drew the fifth explosive talisman, a soft whisper reached his ear:

"Uncle-Master, Fu Mo has been adjusted to his optimal state."

In her spare time from raising spirit fish in Biyue Lake, Xia Yuhan does some work such as making talisman paper and mixing talisman ink to supplement her cultivation. She is quite skilled at the work she just did.

Ji An got up and observed Fu Mo's condition, praising him generously:

"very nice."

He took out his talisman brush, dipped it in talisman ink, and drew a blazing fire talisman on the talisman paper to improve his feel for the talisman ink and get a sense of the rhythm of mana output when using high-level talisman ink.

At first, his usually skillful drawing of the Blazing Flame Talisman failed repeatedly. But starting from the fourth talisman, he adjusted his rhythm and his success rate returned to normal.

Once he got a feel for it, Ji An picked up the cut animal hide and probed it with his divine sense, carefully sensing the texture of the leather.

In his eyes, an illusory bursting talisman appeared on the animal hide, with each talisman node in the right place.

He took a deep breath, picked up the talisman brush, dipped it in talisman ink, and began to write on the animal hide.

As magic power was channeled in, the ink on the brush tip shimmered with tiny specks of crystalline red light.

With swift and fluid strokes, Ji An completed the talisman in one go.

"It's done! Was it that easy?!"

Ji An picked up the Explosion Talisman with some surprise. He saw that the talisman was shining with red light and full of spiritual energy. He probed his divine sense to feel the smoothness of each node.

Suddenly, he felt the spiritual energy within the talisman become disordered.

Ji An's face twitched, and he threw the talisman out of the house.

The talisman shone brightly, bursting into a fireball. Half of the animal hide was burned and drifted in the wind, scattering black ash.

Xia Yuhan's eyes widened, and she covered her mouth with her hand as she began to calculate in her mind how many spirit stones she had burned.

The loss from the damage to such high-end materials is probably equivalent to her monthly income.

Ji An grinned and said self-deprecatingly, "I knew it wouldn't be this easy."

The drawing just now was an accident. Normally, failed talismans are simply due to insufficient spiritual energy or incomplete runes that cannot lock in the spiritual energy; they would not self-destruct.

He closed his eyes, carefully recalling the details of the drawing process, and pondering where the problem lay.

After a moment, he calmed himself down, picked up the talisman brush, and began to draw again.

Whether the talisman was successful or not, he would stop to review and summarize his experience after each one was drawn.

Ji An spent the day making talismans. When a ray of sunlight shone into the stone house through the window, he finished drawing the talismans.

He felt dizzy and lightheaded at that moment, as making talismans was more energy-consuming than casting spells.

A month passed quickly, and Ji An used up all the animal hides to draw forty-five top-grade explosive talismans.

"Time flies! I need to get back to the Enforcement Hall to report for duty."

"Junior brother, I've noticed you've been drawing explosion talismans. What quality are you managing to achieve?"

Liu Yu said with lingering enthusiasm, "The spiritual energy concentration at the top of Crimson Flame Peak has reached the middle grade of the second rank, and is not far from the upper grade of the second rank. The environment here is more suitable for pure magic power than his cave."

"They are all top-grade level 1, which should be comparable to the full-force attack of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator who practices fire-element techniques."

Ji An replied that his success rate in making talismans was about 25%, which theoretically resulted in a loss.

The main problem was that he failed too many times in the early stages, which lowered his overall success rate. In the last few days, his success rate was close to 40% when making the talismans.

He was quite satisfied with the success rate of making the Explosion Talisman on his first attempt.

Is it for sale?

Liu Yu asked, "There are always unexpected events during battle, and it is very likely that one will be exhausted. Cultivators always stockpile some talismans in case of emergency."

“I can sell twenty-five copies.”

"The price of a top-grade explosive talisman fluctuates around fifty spirit stones. I'll buy it at that price. Junior brother, do you think that's feasible?"

"Can."

After the money and goods were exchanged, Liu Yu bowed and took his leave.

"Goodbye, junior brother. The next time I see you, I should be able to eat fresh mulberries."

"Senior brother will definitely be able to eat to his heart's content!"

(End of this chapter)