Flying Flame Talisman, Cai Shu

"She intentionally made it so I couldn't see the second type of herb that Martial Uncle Ming Hao conjured."

Luo Bei immediately realized that he had no idea why the beautiful young woman had done that. However, Ming Hao had already conjured the appearance of a third herb using the Qi Condensation Talisman Drawing technique. Luo Bei didn't dare to look back at the young woman, fearing he would miss the subsequent herbs.

"This is the Water Chestnut Fruit. Look carefully this time." Ming Hao conjured the image of a vine with leaves like iron threads, bearing yellowish-green fruit.

"This is Liudan Wood..."

"This is Xishen Leaf..."

Including the second type, Ci Tong Grass, which Luo Bei hadn't seen, Ming Hao had conjured illusions of five strange plants in total.

"Alright, your cultivation practice today is to search for these five herbs on Tianzhu Peak."

"Senior Brother Lin Hang, what does the second type of Ci Tong Grass look like?" Luo Bei's heart suddenly raced upon hearing this. He turned to ask Lin Hang, but before the words could leave his mouth, he heard Ming Hao say, "Listen carefully, everyone. We have something more important to see next. Get up and follow me outside."

As Ming Hao spoke, he walked towards the hall's exit. Seeing everyone eagerly standing up to follow, Luo Bei had no choice but to quickly follow them out.

"What's the rush? You won't miss anything by being two steps slower." At the entrance of the main hall, Luo Bei wasn't paying attention and bumped into a youth. The youth was strong, and the collision made Luo Bei take a step back. The youth let out a cold snort and walked out without even looking at Luo Bei. It was the same youth with his hair tied in a bun, a face like jade, and handsome features, who had looked at Luo Bei coldly when they first met.

Luo Bei wasn't a particularly competitive person. He didn't take the collision or the cold snort to heart. He followed behind and walked out. After stopping on the bluestone ground outside the hall, Ming Hao, standing in the open space, said, "If you can't remember the appearance of those herbs, at most you'll fail today's practice. But if you don't pay close attention to this, your life might be in danger."

Ming Hao's voice was very serious, causing the young men and women following him out of the hall to feel a shiver. "Watch carefully!" Ming Hao flipped his left hand and threw out a fiery red talisman. As soon as it was thrown, it instantly turned into a red light, shooting straight into the sky and exploding.

"So beautiful!" As the red light exploded, it scattered dozens of colorful rays, like a fiery tree and silver flowers, very dazzling. The older of the two young women, with a round face, couldn't help but exclaim softly.

"This is a Flying Flame Talisman, but it's not just for show." Ming Hao's gaze swept over Luo Bei and the others present. "The forests on Tianzhu Peak are dense, with many snakes, insects, and wild beasts. Each of you will get one Flying Flame Talisman. If you encounter danger, use it to call for help."

"Cultivation at Shushan is indeed different from Luofu. The elders take great care of us. However, this might make some people lose their drive to advance bravely," Luo Bei thought to himself. Ming Hao then said, "Among you, who is willing to come up and demonstrate the Flying Flame Talisman?"

"Martial Uncle Ming Hao, I will."

"Xuan Wuqi. Good, then you do it."

"So his name is Xuan Wuqi. I wonder what the name of that Senior Sister who deliberately made me miss the second herb is," Luo Bei thought as soon as Ming Hao finished speaking. Someone nearby answered clearly. Luo Bei saw that it was the cold and arrogant youth who had bumped into him earlier. However, while thinking this, Luo Bei didn't know that the arrogant Xuan Wuqi had already considered him a rival. The reason he answered so quickly was that he felt Ming Hao's gaze fall on Luo Bei when asking the question.

"It's just a simple matter of throwing a talisman. I saw it clearly, can't I do it? Besides, practicing it now will prevent me from fumbling if there's real danger later."

Thinking this, Xuan Wuqi, with his hair tied in a bun and a face like jade, glanced at Luo Bei and then proudly stepped in front of Ming Hao, taking the fiery red talisman handed to him.

However, to his immediate dismay, he heard Ming Hao say to everyone, "I can only activate this Flying Flame Talisman by infusing a trace of Dao essence, but you haven't cultivated any magic yet, so you can only trigger it with your own Blood Essence. Xuan Wuqi, bite your fingertip and drip a drop of blood onto the Flying Flame Talisman, then throw it."

"Biting my fingertip... it'll hurt! Will my hand look ugly?" The round-faced young woman was the first to exclaim.

"Mo Yanran, if you can't endure this little pain, then you don't need to cultivate!"

Xuan Wuqi also felt that biting his fingertip wasn't a pleasant thing. But under Ming Hao's reprimand, he gritted his teeth, bit the tip of his middle finger, and dripped a drop of blood onto the fiery red talisman.

The fresh blood vanished in a flash. Xuan Wuqi felt a warmth in his hand, and the web-like runes on the fiery red paper glowed intensely. He hurriedly threw it. With a "whoosh," the Flying Flame Talisman left his hand and turned into a red light, shooting into the sky and exploding.

"Good, that's how it's done. There should be no problem." Ming Hao clapped his hands with satisfaction and flicked his wrist. More than a dozen fiery red talismans shot out, floating like living things, one in front of each person. "Although this Flying Flame Talisman is not a rare magic treasure, refining it takes time. One per person, keep it safe." As Luo Bei obediently reached out, the fiery red talisman suspended before him gently fell into his palm.

It felt heavy in his hand. Although it looked like just a red-dyed piece of paper with complex incantations drawn on it, it wasn't as light as he expected. It felt as heavy as a piece of iron.

As he carefully examined the talisman in his hand, Luo Bei could also feel some faint fluctuations of magical power rippling within it.

"Luo Bei."

"En?" Just then, Luo Bei suddenly heard Ming Hao call his name. He looked up in surprise and saw Ming Hao nod slightly at him, saying, "For today's practice, you'll be in pairs to search for herbs on Tianzhu Peak. You arrived the latest, so you're considered the youngest junior brother and can choose a Senior Brother or Senior Sister to be your partner first."

"Hmph!" Hearing Ming Hao say this, the extremely beautiful young woman snorted coldly in her heart. She thought that this arrogant Luo Bei, to show off his uniqueness, might choose the stuttering and limping Lin Hang to be his partner. Tianzhu Peak is within the Shushan sect's territory. Besides Shushan disciples, no one else can enter. The mountain is sparsely populated and wild. If you bring this limping burden, let's see if you can find all five herbs today.

But to the girl's disbelief, her eyes widened as she saw Luo Bei point at himself. "Martial Uncle Ming Hao, can I be paired with this Senior Sister?"

"Paired with Cai Shu?" Ming Hao was stunned for a moment, then smiled. "Luo Bei, you have good taste."

***

Tianzhu Peak is a towering peak tens of mountain ranges away from Tianyu Peak. Its body is round, resembling a giant candle reaching into the sky, which is probably why it got the name Tianzhu (Heavenly Candle).

This peak occupies an even larger area than the nameless peak on Luofu. The entire peak is lush and covered by dense mountain forests. Some of the trees are clearly ancient, each like a giant green canopy. Midway up the mountain, iron chains as thick as an adult's arm are connected to form suspension bridges, linking it to other surrounding peaks.

"Why did you choose to be paired with me?" In the forest by the chasm-like suspension bridge on Tianzhu Peak, Cai Shu, the beautiful young woman with a stern face, stared at Luo Bei for a long time before finally asking, "Why did you choose to be paired with me?"

"Senior Sister Cai Shu, when Martial Uncle Ming Hao was teaching, you made those gestures at me. What were you trying to say?"

"You... you're not trying to ask what I wanted to say, are you, that's why you chose to be paired with me?" Cai Shu looked at Luo Bei in disbelief.

"No," Luo Bei shook his head and said sheepishly, "It's because I didn't see clearly the illusion of the Ci Tong Grass that Martial Uncle Ming Hao conjured. I thought you must have seen it clearly, so I chose to be paired with you."

"I..." Cai Shu almost fainted. Her not-yet-fully-developed but exquisite chest beneath her light-green robe heaved violently. "Then why didn't you choose Lin Hang? Don't you like being with him? Aren't you afraid that if you don't help him, he and others won't be able to find the herbs?"

"It should be fine. Senior Brother Lin Hang has been at Shushan for several years, so he might have gone through this kind of training before. He'll probably find them quickly. His legs are inconvenient, and I don't want him to find them and then help me find them."

While explaining this, Luo Bei had another reason he didn't mention: he felt that Cai Shu, who could even discern the technique of Qi Condensation Talisman Drawing, seemed to have extraordinary insight. Perhaps he could learn a lot by being with her. "You despicable guy, you must be deliberately getting revenge on me! You've really ruined me! How are we supposed to find the Ci Tong Grass this time? See how I'll teach you a lesson!" However, what Luo Bei didn't expect was that Cai Shu, who was so angry she was grinding her teeth, was in the same situation as him – she hadn't seen the Ci Tong Grass that Ming Hao conjured at all. When she had successfully tricked Luo Bei and was feeling smug, she had thought there was no rush, as she could ask others what the Ci Tong Grass looked like if she couldn't find it. But she never expected to be paired with this Luo Bei.

What made her even more furious, almost to the point of jumping up and biting Luo Bei, was that Luo Bei then earnestly asked her, "Senior Sister Cai Shu, what does the Ci Tong Grass look like?"

"I don't know!" Suppressing the urge to hit him, Cai Shu glared fiercely at Luo Bei before turning and walking into the mountain forest.

"This Tianzhu Peak is so big, and everyone else is scattered. I wonder if I can meet anyone else to ask what the Ci Tong Grass looks like."

"Hmph, it's so wild here. I'd like to see if this guy is scared."

While angrily thinking about the appearance of the four herbs she remembered, she carefully scanned the various plants in the dense mountain forest.