Wall-Breaking Divine Talisman!

West City Alley.

Master Tao was meticulously drawing talismans in his own courtyard.

A knock suddenly sounded at the door.

"Who is it?" Master Tao asked. He set down his talisman brush and walked behind the door, but heard no reply. Curious, he opened it, only to find a young man standing outside. Against the wall across from him, an old man leaned weakly, his face drenched in cold sweat.

Master Tao's expression changed drastically. "You... you're Mr. Xiao?!"

The Man surnamed Xiao frowned and asked, "You know me?"

Master Tao said, "I heard someone was searching for a man born in an yin year, yin month, yin day, and yin hour. This matter was only circulated among novice celestial masters. Whoever found him would receive a handsome reward, along with the greatest resources available to celestial masters. The man's surname was Xiao, and he carried a rather distinctive sword, so naturally he was recognizable at a glance."

The Man surnamed Xiao nodded. "Master Tao's reputation around Hun City is considerable. I hadn't expected you to have heard of it as well. I happened to pass through Hun City, and I had originally intended to ask Master Tao for help. What a fortunate coincidence."

Master Tao gave an awkward laugh. "It is only an empty reputation. May I ask whether Mr. Xiao's promise is true?"

The Man surnamed Xiao said, "Naturally, it is true."

He looked into the courtyard and smiled again. "Master Tao borrows Monsters to draw talismans. That is a lesser path. If you become tainted by too much demonic aura, I fear it will breed many troubles out of thin air."

Master Tao said awkwardly, "Even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice. Mr. Xiao has seen something laughable."

Feng Linghuai, standing outside the courtyard gate, looked somewhat nervous. Mr. Xiao was saying so much at this moment; this must be an extremely important matter. Could he even be listening to it?

But the Man surnamed Xiao showed no intention of avoiding him and asked, "Does Master Tao have any clues?"

"Well..." Master Tao looked deeply hesitant.

The Man surnamed Xiao smiled. "Then let me give Master Tao a meeting gift."

He extended a finger and lightly traced it across the ground. Glimmering lines immediately appeared, and in the blink of an eye, the Qi of heaven and earth gathered within them.

Then he beckoned again toward the talisman paper in the courtyard. A blank sheet flew over, the pattern imprinted itself upon it, and it slowly drifted down into Master Tao's hands.

The Man surnamed Xiao said, "This talisman gathers an immense amount of heaven-and-earth Qi. Its power is enough to severely wound a Cave Nether Realm cultivator."

Master Tao was utterly shocked.

He had never seen such a method of drawing talismans!

And the grade of this talisman...

"It is actually an almost perfect Wall-Breaking Divine Talisman!"

A Wall-Breaking Talisman was a powerful talisman that only a true Old Master could create.

At the end of the day, celestial masters were still mortals. Yet this talisman could shatter the boundary between man and heaven, allowing a mortal body to contend against "gods"!

When the talisman exploded, depending on the celestial master's ability and the amount of Qi they had stolen, at its weakest it could slaughter Wangliang and heavily injure a Third Realm Martial Artist. At its strongest, it could restrain Monsters at Ao Yin's level. As the Man surnamed Xiao had said, with this talisman in hand, one need not fear even a peak Cave Nether Realm cultivator in the slightest.

Although this Wall-Breaking Divine Talisman was not truly perfect, to Master Tao, it was already a divine artifact.

It was a talisman he could never draw in his entire life.

"Mr. Xiao is also one of our kind?"

Looking at the Man surnamed Xiao, who appeared so young, Master Tao did not dare be certain.

There were rumors of talismans that could make one Return to Simplicity, but he had never seen one with his own eyes. Judging solely by the Man surnamed Xiao's method of drawing talismans, he likely already stood at the summit of the celestial master world. Perhaps looking young was only natural.

The Man surnamed Xiao said, "Though I understand talisman drawing, I am not a celestial master."

Master Tao had no intention of getting to the bottom of it. Solemnly, he said, "I do indeed have some clues. It was also a chance coincidence. The Young Marquis of Hun City's Xunyang Marquis Manor is the person Mr. Xiao seeks. His eight characters fit exceedingly well."

"Jiang Wang?" The Man surnamed Xiao raised his brow slightly.

He took a book from his robes and said, "This records several steps for drawing talismans, along with some of my own insights. It differs somewhat from ordinary talisman-drawing methods, but it is more powerful. So long as Master Tao can master it, you will certainly have a place in this world."

Master Tao was overjoyed. His hand trembled as he accepted the book. Written upon it were the words—Compendium of Talisman Formations.

After leaving West City Alley, the Man surnamed Xiao stood with his back to the bustling City God Temple Fair and stared at the marquis manor on Qixia Street. He murmured, "Though I have found a suitable person, his character must still be carefully weighed. If he is not a worthy man, I can only seek another method. I absolutely cannot make do."

Feng Linghuai followed behind the Man surnamed Xiao like a servant.

The shock in his heart was beyond measure.

With just one sword strike, he had defeated Xie Wuxing, Sword Pavilion's true disciple. He possessed medical skills that had reached a miraculous pitch, and he was even proficient in talisman drawing. Mr. Xiao was simply capable of anything!

Jiang Wang lay on a wicker chair and looked at Xie Wuxing. "Did you recognize that man from earlier?"

Because the Man surnamed Xiao had suddenly vanished without a trace, Xie Wuxing was feeling greatly frustrated. Hearing this, he shook his head. "I only know that his surname is Xiao, and his cultivation is extraordinarily high. In the Sword Pavilion, aside from my teacher and martial uncle, I fear no one is his match."

Xie Wuxing strongly suspected that the man surnamed Xiao was a great cultivator of the Snow-Washing Realm.

Jiang Wang frowned, unable to help feeling that Xie Wuxing was exaggerating.

"Brother Jiang, do you know of a man named Liu Pian?" Xie Wuxing leaned closer and asked in a low voice.

Jiang Wang silently raised his saber, pressed it against Xie Wuxing's head, and shoved him away. He said flatly, "Speak openly if you have something to say. Do not get so close to me."

Xie Wuxing said in embarrassment and anger, "I do not have that sort of fetish! How many times do I have to explain it?!"

"Liu Pian?" The Old Butler's expression turned grave. "The Jianli who became famous in Longchan?"

Xie Wuxing turned to him and said, "Liu Pian is an extraordinary person from the Sui Kingdom. He suddenly appeared ten years ago, and no one had ever heard of him in the years before that. He never forged a Yellow Court, yet he possesses exceedingly profound cultivation. That Man surnamed Xiao also has no Yellow Court. Though he explained that his Yellow Court was elsewhere, I still harbor great doubts."

The Old Butler glanced at his young master.

Because Hundred Days Foundation Establishment relied purely on willpower, unless one had been born with a forged Yellow Court, it was actually difficult to tell one's aptitude at a glance.

However, when cultivators established their foundation, as soon as they sensed Qi, they could draw Qi into their bodies. This was how one judged whether they possessed the qualifications to become a cultivator.

If Qi merely clung to the surface of one's skin, one was a martial artist. If one possessed no Qi themselves but could borrow Qi to draw talismans, one was a celestial master. So long as one came into contact with Qi, there would naturally be corresponding traits.

A Qi practitioner merely possessed the qualifications to become a cultivator. Those who moved external phenomena and forged a Yellow Court had their aptitude judged by the number of Yellow Courts they possessed.

The upper Yellow Court was in the brain, the middle Yellow Court in the heart, and the lower Yellow Court in the spleen. Ordinary cultivators could only forge a lower Yellow Court. Those who gained a middle Yellow Court were absolute geniuses.

Those born with a forged Yellow Court possessed all three Yellow Courts. It was as though others had only just begun walking, while such people were already lying at the finish line.

The truth was that Jiang Wang had only one Yellow Court, and it was the upper Yellow Court. Under normal circumstances, it could not be detected at all, and there was not even a trace of Qi within his body.

The Old Butler guessed that Jiang Wang had encountered some sort of fortuitous opportunity. If the rumors that Liu Pian lacked a Yellow Court were false, and Liu Pian was instead like his young master, then he had every reason to suspect that Jiang Wang's sudden entry onto the path of cultivation was connected to Liu Pian.

He said calmly, "Though the Yellow Court is a cultivator's foundation, it is also the most mysterious thing. Perhaps someone has forged a fourth Yellow Court; that is not impossible. Liu Pian's case can only show that he possesses exceptional talent. Ancient texts mention the dantian, proving that ancient cultivators did not necessarily cultivate the Yellow Court."

Xie Wuxing said in surprise, "Liu Pian found an ancient method?"

The Old Butler said, "Though the Qingxuan Bureau has failed to find Liu Pian's trail, they have surely studied his situation extensively. If there truly were anything strange about it, how could they stop searching merely because they could not find him?"

"Not to mention that current cultivation methods were all improved from ancient ones, even if there are some lost secret arts, they may not necessarily be any good. Even if one need not forge a Yellow Court, one must still lay a solid foundation. Otherwise, no matter how fast one runs, a single stumble means death. What use is that?"

Xie Wuxing fell into deep thought.

He felt that he was ultimately still too young.

Even if there truly were only one Liu Pian in the world, the great figures would certainly consider many things. So long as there was even the slightest possibility, people throughout the world would spare no effort to find Liu Pian.

Even so, Xie Wuxing remained very curious about the Man surnamed Xiao.

Over the following days, the City God Temple Fair continued as scheduled, while those seeking immortals began moving on a large scale. Qixia Street consequently became incomparably lively.

Cultivators streaking through the skies above Qixia Street had already become the most ordinary of sights.

Jiang Wang was currently wandering around the Divine Kingdom. Since his battle with Dong Chongyang, a mountain had risen from the ground within the Divine Kingdom, along with flowers, grass, and streams. He could now enter the Divine Kingdom directly with his consciousness.

He climbed to the mountaintop and looked down over the Divine Kingdom. Apart from this mountain, everything within his field of vision resembled an abyss, like the chaos before heaven and earth had been born.

He lightly raised his hand, and wind sprang up. When his hand lowered, the wind ceased.

Jiang Wang rubbed his chin and exclaimed, "I am practically a god here."

The Night Roaming God lay sprawled on their back in the grass and mocked him. "Look at you, like you've never seen the world. When you can bring outsiders in here, then you will truly be invincible. If you want someone dead, they die. If you want them alive, they live. Right now, no matter how you summon wind and rain, you can only show it to yourself. It is useless as a hair."

Jiang Wang ignored them, thinking that it was only a matter of time.

He lay down directly on the soft grass as well, feeling that even the air was sweet.

Then he suddenly grew somewhat melancholy. Turning his eyes toward the Night Roaming God, he said, "There is a very serious problem. I still have not truly cultivated. If I cannot become a cultivator, I cannot increase my lifespan. Once the Divine Kingdom grows stronger, will I not be drained dry?"

The Night Roaming God happily kicked their legs and said irritably, "You are going to become an immortal. Can you broaden your horizons a little? If you were the same as ordinary cultivators, what would the Divine Kingdom even be for?"

Jiang Wang patted the grass. "Explain in detail."

The Night Roaming God sprang upright like a carp and strolled with little steps. With lofty spirit reaching the clouds, they said, "Cultivators either forge a Yellow Court or are born with one. You belong to the latter. Though you have only one upper Yellow Court, your Yellow Court conceals the Divine Kingdom."

They faced Jiang Wang. "To put it simply, you skipped Hundred Days Foundation Establishment entirely and were born already in the Cave Nether Realm. Do you still need to cultivate?"

"It is only because you are not a true immortal that the Divine Kingdom needs to draw upon your lifespan in order to remain stable. If you had not been born a cultivator, the lifespan the Divine Kingdom requires would have drained you dry the instant you were born. How could you possibly have lived until now?"