Chapter 725: World Ascension: Substitution Talisman
In the room Shang Xia used for crafting talismans, his brush danced about as he completed a rank four talisman in a short period of time.
Everything happened in accordance to his expectations. After entering the Martial Dipper Realm, his ability to craft talismans experienced a sharp increase.
The most obvious sign that he managed to improve his craft was the fact that he required a lot less time to create a single rank four talisman.
The institution provided 8 rank four talisman papers in total and Shang Xia used them to craft the strongest and most difficult rank four talismans he knew. In the end, he ruined 2 pieces of rank four talisman papers and his success rate surpassed 70 percent.
Actually, if Shang Xia chose to craft weaker rank four talismans, it was possible for him to not fail a single time.
Those talismans were quickly retrieved by the members of the Talisman Hall. They were split evenly among those who were stationed in the north and east.
If one looked at the bigger picture, the number of Martial Extermination Realm experts of the institution and the You Continent was severely limited. Even so, they were able to gain the upper hand in the battlefield between the two worlds. One had to know that the 3 Races of the Liao Continent had joined forces with the Changbai Holy Land. Even so, the Tongyou Institution managed to gain an advantage in their battle for territory.
How were they able to achieve what they did?
The simplest reason was the sheer number of talismans they expended. Rank two, three, and four talismans that had been collected by the talisman hall for a long time were brought out and used against their opponents in order to gain the upper hand.
It wasn’t as though the Changbai Holy Land didn’t have their own Talisman Grandmaster. However, their Talisman Grandmaster was far too lacking when compared to Shang Xia.
That was also why the Tongyou Institution dared to pour a huge amount of resources into the Talisman Hall. Shang Xia’s freakishly high success rate and efficiency in crafting talismans would allow them to make the greatest use of their resources!
With the support of the institution, Shang Xia’s many talisman inheritances, and his personal demonstration in the Talisman Hall, the number of Talisman Masters in the institution shot through the roof. They produced 3 new rank three Talisman Masters and it basically doubled the number of rank three Talisman Masters in the Talisman Hall. There were 8 new rank two Talisman Masters and a whole bunch more rank one Talisman Disciples.
The number of craftsmen also increased. Grand Craftsman Ren Huan even managed to grasp the method of crafting rank five talisman paper and if several rank three Ink Craftsmen worked together, they would be able to produce a certain amount of rank four talisman ink. Even though the amount they produced wasn’t over the top, it was more than enough for Shang Xia to keep crafting talismans.
The Talisman Hall also worked with the Weapons Hall to produce 2 mid-grade brushes. It was a shame crafting a high-grade brush involved extremely intricate work and no one dared to give it a shot.
All in all, Shang Xia single handedly raised the standard of the Talisman Hall. Their improvements in recent years could be said to be visible to the naked eye.
Now that he had experience of crafting rank four talismans and having run through the process of crafting a rank five Substitution Talisman in his head countless times, he was convinced he wouldn’t make any major mistakes. When he finally returned to his peak state, Shang Xia decided to start the crafting process.
Before he did, he specially headed over to the Tongyou Paradise to ask Chu Jia for a breakdown of the current situation in the You Continent.
According to her observations, the new world seemed pretty calm for the time being. However, she couldn’t shake off the feeling that it was just the calm before the storm.
Because of the ‘accident’, the Tongyou Institution managed to sever their connection to the World’s Will. Not too long after that, the various factions also noticed what was going on. They started to cut off their provision of origin essence to the World’s Will to save a little more for themselves.
Shang Xia shook his head and chuckled bitterly. They weren’t the only smart ones out there… There were many others who weren’t lacking either.
Returning to his room, Shang Xia’s attention returned to the rank five talisman. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to step into his special state of mind.
It was a shame he couldn’t craft the talisman in his special state as that would increase his chances of success, but that didn’t matter. His main goal was to evaluate his current abilities at crafting a rank five talisman.
He didn’t find a chance to fix his White Bone Brush ever since it was damaged during the crafting of his first Abyssal Emptiness Talisman and he could only borrow the Purple Bamboo Brush from the Talisman Hall for the time being.
He had a little rank five ink left from his previous attempt but he only had enough to craft a single rank five talisman.
Shang Xia requested for the Talisman Hall to start collecting rank five talisman ink a long time ago but it was easier said than done. Rank five talisman ink wasn’t something they could find wherever they went, and they hadn’t been able to collect even a single portion. Luckily, they were able to produce a steady supply of rank four talisman ink. With a few trades here and there, they were eventually able to get enough rank four talisman ink for him.
Dipping the Purple Bamboo Brush in ink, his Five Elements Dipper Qi was evenly distributed into the brush as he calculated the location and time his brush was supposed to touch the talisman paper by tapping the fingers of his left hand together.
His calculations were quick and when he was finally confident his judgment was correct, his brush landed on the rank five talisman paper. It flowed seamlessly on the piece of paper as he continued to make his calculations on his left hand.
Even though he ran through the process several times in his mind, every single piece of rank five talisman paper was unique. The timing of his strokes would be different and he would have to adapt to the changes as he went along. As such, he would have to change his strokes during the process and that was why crafting talismans was so difficult.
Shang Xia might have entered the Martial Dipper Realm and could control his inner qi and divine will at a level difficult for others to reach, his first attempt at crafting the Substitution Talisman failed without much suspense.
Shaking his head lightly, Shang Xia waved his hand and scattered the broken pieces of the rank five talisman paper before him.
Even though he failed halfway through the crafting process, he only used 3 short days. From what he experienced when he crafted the Abyssal Emptiness Talisman with Kou Chongxue, he would need close to 6 days in order to complete a rank five talisman. As he got more familiar with the process, it was possible to reduce the time taken to make one.
Compared to the time he was in the Martial Extermination Realm when crafting the Abyssal Emptiness Talisman with Kou Chongxue, Shang Xia found it much easier to craft rank five talismans at his current level.
With only 5 rank five talisman papers left, Shang Xia naturally became a lot more careful.
He took 3 days to restore his inner qi to its peak state before taking 2 more days to run through the crafting process in his mind. After learning from his mistakes, he started his second attempt.
This time, the crafting process lasted for 5 days. A good portion of the talisman was complete before it was ruined due to a slight imbalance in the energy flowing about its surface.
Shang Xia wasn’t dispirited by his second failure either. Instead, it allowed him to grasp the key of balancing the energies between the connection of the runes he had drawn.
There were 3 key connection points between the runes and they were the key to the embodiment, substitution, and death replacement aspects of the talisman.
Taking 5 more days to restore his condition, Shang Xia summarized his mistakes before starting again.
He was pretty assured of his success when he started the third attempt, but reality proved that he had overestimated himself. The difficulty of the Substitution Talisman obviously surpassed the Abyssal Emptiness Talisman.
With half of his rank five talisman papers wasted, Shang Xia was starting to feel the pressure.
After all, he didn’t know when he would be able to gather enough rank five talisman papers to craft rank five talismans again.
Under such circumstances, Shang Xia understood that remaining calm was all the more imperative. Otherwise, the situation would just become worse.
This time, it took him 7 days before he restored himself to his peak state.
When he picked up his brush for the fourth time, a strong premonition filled his mind. He was certain he would be able to craft the Substitution Talisman!
With the brush in hand, Shang Xia observed the tip of the brush carefully and noticed that it wasn’t really damaged even after 3 attempts to craft the Substitution Talisman. He finally heaved a sigh of relief.
It seemed as though one’s cultivation played a key part in the whole operation.
During his fourth attempt, not a single thing went wrong. Everything flowed perfectly and on the sixth day, Shang Xia completed his final stroke. A Substitution Talisman was successfully made!
That was the second rank five talisman Shang Xia ever made. At the same time, it was the second type of rank five talisman he created. With its creation, Shang Xia could be said to have grasped both rank five talisman inheritances he owned.
“It’s a shame this talisman was made with rank four talisman ink. It will definitely affect the strength of the talisman and its lifespan.” Shang Xia looked at the complicated runes on the talisman as he revealed a look of regret. The runes on the talisman were so complicated that weaker Martial Extermination Realm experts might damage their soul if they looked at them.
With a rank five Substitution Talisman in hand, Shang Xia no longer needed to suppress his gradually panicky heart. He entered a state of tranquility.
Resting for several days, he started his fifth attempt of a Substitution Talisman.
Perhaps it was because he succeeded once before and he no longer had any worries, but he worked a lot better. The time required decreased significantly.
Seeing as 5 days were about to pass and Shang Xia was about to complete his second Substitution Talisman, he was interrupted by a sudden burst of world origin.
The fluctuation came without any warning and the talisman paper exploded when he was distracted for that one second. However, he didn’t have time to feel any rage as he discovered powerful auras emerging from 3 different directions that shot straight through the Heavenly Screen of the new world into the depths of space.
He felt the same thing when the Tongyou Island returned to the Azure Origin World back then but in the past, he was in the Four Constellation Realm. He wasn’t able to feel it too clearly. This time, the feeling was much clearer.
Sixth Order of the Primary Realm… Or more accurately, a power that was comparable to one emerged once again.
Placing the Purple Bamboo Brush down, Shang Xia barely stepped out of his room before an indifferent voice rang in his mind. “The experts of the Spirit Abundance World are here. This concerns the existence of our world and I hope everyone who has reached the Martial Dipper Realm can gather thirty thousand miles above the Heavenly Screen to face the enemy together!”
The sentence was barely complete when another aged voice rang in his mind. “Your Tongyou Institution has a total of 4 Martial Dipper Realm experts. Please send at least 2 of them to battle!”
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