Chapter 630: A Terrifying Success Rate
Now that he was crafting talismans again after close to 3 years of not doing so, he managed to complete 2 Golden Sun Inferno Talismans in 3 attempts. It was a great start and Shang Xia’s confidence immediately ballooned.
Throughout the crafting process, Shang Xia could clearly feel the changes his higher cultivation brought. His divine perception was much sharper than before, and it was a lot more stable. His inner qi was abundant and it flowed through his body at a much stronger rate. He was also able to recover a lot faster than when he crafted talismans back then.
Everything he had experienced pointed to one thing. Shang Xia’s art of talisman crafting had progressed and he was starting to approach a higher level. After consolidating what he learned, he might be able to take the next step.
Now that he successfully crafted 2 Golden Sun Inferno Talismans, Shang Xia didn’t wish to change the pace of whatever he was doing. He took a break for a few days to adjust his condition before picking up his White Bone Brush again. This time, he planned to craft the Thousand Yang Sword Talisman.
It was also a talisman that would resonate with the fire attribute of the White Bone Brush, and Shang Xia felt that he managed to grasp the rhythm of the qi flowing through the brush. He focused and tried to fuse it into the Thousand Yang Sword Talisman.
Like before, he succeeded twice out of 3 attempts. 2 Thousand Yang Sword Talisman sat on the tablet before him.
A massive grin appeared on Shang Xia’s face all of a sudden. He seemed to have discovered the best way to make use of his high-grade White Bone Brush.
Without any reservations, Shang Xia brought out the rank three Abyssal Ink Shang Quan made and prepared to craft the main objective of his entire session. He had to craft as many Abyssal Void Shattering Talismans as he could!
Of all the rank four talismans Shang Xia knew how to craft, the Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman was of the above average difficulty level. Even though it was less complicated than the Divine Restraint Talisman, Needle Extermination Light Talisman, and Extermination Lightning Attracting Talisman, it was still considerably difficult to craft. At the very least, it was more difficult than making a Spiritual Protection Substitution Talisman.
He failed on his very first attempt, but Shang Xia seemed to become even more confident after that. Proceeding on with the crafting process, Shang Xia managed to craft 2 Abyssal Void Shattering Talismans despite his initial failure.
Taking several days to restore himself to his peak state, Shang Xia suddenly felt a rush of power. He felt that he could control everything and do anything he wanted and he didn’t hesitate to start crafting even more Abyssal Void Shattering Talismans.
It was a shame luck wasn’t on his side this time. He made a mistake on his very first attempt, wasting a piece of rank four talisman paper. Fortunately, he succeeded on his second try but his third attempt also ended in failure.
With the next batch of rank four talisman papers, Shang Xia only managed to craft 1 Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman.
The sudden failure came as a bolt from the blue and shocked Shang Xia. However, he managed to clear his mind thanks to the wake up call. He became a little more rational, but he maintained the confidence he built up before.
After some reflection, Shang Xia discovered that he completely controlled the unique property of his White Bone Brush. The feeling of extreme focus he had experienced in the past also returned.
This time, he didn’t wait to return to his peak state. He immediately brought out some resources to continue crafting Abyssal Void Shattering Talismans.
With another batch of 3 rank four talisman papers, Shang Xia completed 2 of them.
Instead of stopping, Shang Xia opened the bottle of rank four talisman ink. Not stopping to take a break, he continued to craft Abyssal Void Shattering Talismans. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to stay in his special state forever, and he wanted to make the most out of it.
Holding his brush in his right hand, it didn’t tremble in the slightest as it made fluid motions on the talisman paper. His left hand didn’t remain idle as he continuously calculated the best time, position, and strength of his next stroke. Of course, the amount of inner qi he would be using was also included in the calculations.
The way he was crafting talismans was something he created, and through his constant use, he was perfecting it.
With his fourth Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman complete, the fifth was also created without a hitch. Only when he began crafting his sixth Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman did he realize that he hadn’t taken a break in more than 10 days!
According to how he had planned things out, Shang Xia would take some time to rest after using up a batch of rank four talisman paper. He would consolidate everything he had learned before adjusting his condition to its peak before starting on the next batch of talismans.
Because his cultivation had reached the grand completion stage of the Martial Extermination Realm, his divine perception was terrifyingly strong. Regardless of the quantity or its recovery rate, they were much higher than before.
Every time he used up a batch of talisman papers, the consumption of his divine perception wasn’t serious enough to exhaust him. Because of that, Shang Xia had the ability to craft multiple rank four talismans in a row. In the past, he would rest after every attempt. Now, he only took a break after 3 tries.
The change served to prove how confident Shang Xia was in his abilities. He knew that no matter what, he would succeed once in every batch.
Because of the sudden burst of inspiration that caused him to enter a special state of mind, Shang Xia started another batch without much rest. He was forced out of his special state after succeeding twice in a row. However, he couldn’t possibly stop on his third attempt. He forced himself to continue.
Eventually, the third Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman in a row was complete. Shang Xia actually made 6 crafting attempts in a row, and he didn’t fail a single time in his final 3 tries.
In summary, he used 6 pieces of rank four talisman paper to craft 5 Abyssal Void Shattering Talismans…
If they considered those 6 attempts alone, Shang Xia’s success rate had reached a horrifying level.
As soon as he was done, the final bit of inspiration disappeared. Lethargy battered against his mind in giant waves, and the familiar ache of exhausting his divine perception arrived. He felt as though all his inner qi had left his body. At that moment, Shang Xia experienced true burnout.
Moving his body slightly, he tossed himself into the soft mattress at the corner of his hut before falling asleep immediately.
Just like that, he slept for 3 days straight. When he finally woke up, he felt the world spinning around him. The state of weakness remained for 3 more days before he finally regained some sort of clarity.
With his divine perception recovering and his soul nourished, Shang Xia circulated his inner qi to recover. By the time he finally restored himself to his peak state, yet another 3 more days had passed.
The feeling of utter exhaustion after making 6 attempts without rest actually frightened him. Fear lingered in his heart and he didn’t dare to start crafting talismans right away.
Meditating and regulating his state for another 3 days, he felt his divine perception becoming a little sharper than before and his soul was slightly strengthened. His inner qi started to return to its original state and he could finally heave a sigh of relief.
Currently, he used 18 of the 34 rank four talisman papers he had.
Of the talisman ink he had, he used a portion of rank three talisman ink prepared by the institution, a slab of Pine Smoke Purple Scale Ink, and all 3 slabs of Abyssal Ink Shang Quan made. A bottle of rank four ink was also used to craft the Abyssal Void Shattering Talismans.
He was left with 2 bottles of ordinary rank three talisman ink, 2 slabs of Pine Smoke Purple Scale Ink, a portion of rank four Blood Ink from the Azure Spiritual World, a stick of rank four talisman ink, and another slab of ink that was also of the fourth rank.
Also, a slab of ink, a stick of ink, and a bottle of ink were considered a single portion and they could be used to craft 3 talismans in total.
After taking stock of everything he had and completing his preparations, he decided to start crafting talismans again. Even though he was no longer in the wondrous state of mind, he felt that he managed to step through a certain bottleneck because of his past experience. He made a few changes to his talisman crafting method and instead of making 3 attempts, he would craft 4 talismans in each batch.
Shang Xia wasn’t overestimating himself when he decided to do that. Instead, it was a conclusion he came to after consolidating his experience after his past attempts. Continuous crafting would allow him to maintain the quality and success rate as long as he didn’t go overboard.
It also went without saying that Shang Xia’s foundations would have to be strong enough to sustain the consumption of his divine perception and inner qi throughout the entire process.
That was why cultivation was the most important factor no matter what.
Making a quick calculation, Shang Xia realized that the rank four ink he had wouldn’t be enough for him to craft 16 rank four talismans. As such, he took out a portion of the Pine Smoke Purple Scale Ink and carefully ground it into liquid ink before attempting to craft Spiritual Protection Substitution Talismans. He also swapped his White Bone Brush for the Purple Bamboo Brush he used back then.
Crafting a Spiritual Protection Substitution Talisman might be slightly easier than the Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman, but it was still a precious defensive rank four talisman at the end of the day. Shang Xia felt that the offensive and fire properties of the White Bone Brush weren’t as suitable and decided to make the switch.
Starting with his first batch of 4 rank four talisman paper, Shang Xia actually succeeded thrice!
He took a break after the talismans were complete, and after a few days of rest, he decided to craft some Thousand Mechanism Extermination Guidance Talismans. The Thousand Mechanism Extermination Guidance Talisman was slightly more complicated than the Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman but even so, it didn’t possess much offensive or defensive qualities. It served to assist cultivators in searching for extermination origins which was pretty important to many cultivators.
After 2 attempts, Shang Xia changed the ink he was using to rank four Blood Ink.
Perhaps he wasn’t too familiar with crafting Thousand Mechanism Extermination Guidance Talismans, but he only managed to produce 2 of them despite using 4 pieces of rank four talisman paper.
Shang Xia didn’t give up his usual practice of taking a break after finishing a batch of talisman paper, and during his rest, he decided to craft Extermination Lightning Attracting Talismans next.
He was still using rank four talisman ink, but he swapped his brush back for the White Bone Brush. He eventually managed to craft 2 Extermination Lightning Attracting Talismans.
The Extermination Lightning Attracting Talisman was much more complicated than the Thousand Mechanism Extermination Guidance Talisman, and it was pretty impressive for him to have achieved such a huge success rate.
With his last batch of rank four talisman paper, Shang Xia decided to craft the most complicated talismans out of those he knew. He wanted to make Divine Restraint Talismans.
Swapping back to the Purple Bamboo Brush, Shang Xia used the last of his rank four ink and successfully created 2 of them!
Shang Xia’s success rate when crafting talismans seemed lower when he used his last 16 pieces of rank four talisman paper. However, every talisman he made was of a higher quality than the last!
When Shang Xia used up the last of his talisman papers and talisman ink, regret filled his heart.
That was because he obtained a talisman inheritance back on the Manyu Continent and he hadn’t tried crafting any of it. There was a rank four talisman called the Clone Talisman that he wanted to try his hand at.
After all, the Clone Talisman was part of a complete rank five talisman inheritance Shang Xia obtained from an expert from the Spirit Abundance World.
Well, whatever the case, he ran out of talisman paper and there was no need to think about it anymore. Looking at all the rank four talismans he crafted, Shagn Xia found it slightly unbelievable.
He used 34 pieces of rank four talisman papers in total and managed to craft 21 rank four talismans!
His success rate had crossed the 60 percent mark!
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