Qi Refining Stage Five

"No."

Glancing at the area with the Ancient Jade Boxes, Su Yu shook his head. He had not sensed anything unusual. Under normal circumstances, he would not touch such things.

Last time had been an accident because of the Azure Wood Age Wheel Art and the Spirit Infusion Art, not because he could see through Ancient Jade Boxes.

Without hesitation, Su Yu turned and walked toward the bookshelves. "Let me look at these."

After searching through this area and relying on his memory of browsing before to find the approximate spot, Su Yu soon picked up one of the few remaining ancient talisman inheritances.

It contained incomplete inheritances for three special talisman diagrams, with a portion missing.

That missing portion had turned this inheritance into waste paper.

However, Heavenly Script Pavilion had found relevant information on these three ancient talismans and written it here.

Five Elements Thunder Fire Talisman: one of the common Five Elements thunder art talismans in ancient times. This inherited talisman was Rank 1 High-grade and required Rank 1 High-grade fire-attribute monster beast essence blood and talisman paper.

Fire Dragon Talisman: an ordinary ancient talisman, Rank 1 High-grade, requiring Rank 1 High-grade fire-attribute monster beast essence blood and talisman paper.

Fire Thunder Sword Talisman: suspected to be Rank 2.

Having found it, Su Yu turned and went to the counter to pay the old man.

For fifty Low-grade Spirit Stones, Su Yu obtained the entire incomplete inheritance, then left Heavenly Script Pavilion.

The old man at the counter, having collected the spirit stones, watched Su Yu's departing back with a genial smile. Once Su Yu had gone far away, his eyes gained a touch of depth and surprise.

The old man sniffed, catching the exceedingly faint scent of pills in the air, and murmured in a voice only he could hear, "The scent of Perfect Pills. So many kinds."

"None are high-grade Rank 1, but there are many mid-grade Rank 1 and low-grade Rank 1 Perfect Pills."

"Damn, how did this kid do it?"

Analyzing so much from that faint, nearly imperceptible pill scent, the old man was deeply shocked.

It was not as though he had never seen pills with perfect Pill Patterns.

But a young alchemist in his twenties, merely mid-grade Rank 1, who could refine multiple kinds of Perfect Pills—that left him somewhat dumbfounded.

Across the entire Great Moon Prefecture, not even over the past thousand years had such a freak appeared.

Thinking of the incomplete talisman inheritance Su Yu had just taken away, the old man pondered secretly and muttered, "Could it be that he wants to cultivate the talisman path too?"

He did not think that waste paper was of any use, but if Su Yu displayed the same terrifying talent in the talisman path as he had in alchemy—

Then—

"Heavenly Script Pavilion does like freaks. Still, we should watch a little longer. This kid's cultivation talent is, well, fucking terrible beyond belief—like heaven and earth apart." The old man shook his head and sighed softly.

Though that unexpected discovery had revealed a freak whose alchemy talent seemed terrifying beyond measure, that was still not enough.

A cultivator's foundation was cultivation. Alchemy, talismans, formations, and all the rest were merely green leaves.

Without cultivation talent or cultivation, one was nothing.

Thinking of Su Yu's utterly dreadful cultivation talent—already in his twenties and only at the fourth layer of Qi Refining—the old man sighed softly. The people of Heavenly Script Pavilion were all freaks; most possessed Heavenly Spirit Roots, so requirements could be relaxed somewhat for special talents.

But a Low-grade Spirit Root... the old man shook his head.

Su Yu returned to the Alchemy Pavilion and took out that incomplete ancient talisman inheritance to study.

Over the past year or so,

his attainments in the talisman path had already reached the peak of mid-grade Rank 1. He had raised the proficiency of the dozen or so talismans recorded in the inheritance he had won at the auction to perfection.

He had also studied the remaining five High-grade Rank 1 Talismans for some time.

If he prepared everything properly and made a few more attempts, he should be able to draw High-grade Rank 1 Talismans.

However, he was not very interested in ordinary talismans. That was why he recalled this incomplete talisman inheritance in Heavenly Script Pavilion. Though it was impossible to reproduce the talismans in this inheritance exactly as drawn,

he could use them as reference and see whether he could make the talismans he had mastered more powerful, or even create new talismans.

That was something worth looking forward to.

Spending fifty Low-grade Spirit Stones to buy an incomplete template for reference was not a loss.

"Thunder arts, Fire Thunder Sword... this diagram is truly profound. I wonder just how powerful these talismans would be in their complete form." The more Su Yu studied, the more shocked he became.

These three incomplete ancient talismans were far more powerful than the High-grade Rank 1 Talisman Inheritance he had obtained at auction.

It was roughly the difference between a defective product and a fine one.

As stars shifted and the sun and moon cycled, the uproar outside had nothing to do with Su Yu. Every day, he steadily cultivated the Azure Wood Age Wheel Art and Crocodile Demon's 108 Forms Body Refining Technique.

His mana and body refinement improved by a tiny bit each day.

That feeling of strength with no end in sight, no bottleneck, and cultivation progressing every day made Su Yu feel very comfortable and secure.

In the spare time he had while improving his strength, Su Yu also studied pill formulas and talismans.

Though his cultivation was insufficient and he could not continue refining stronger pills and talismans, he was not satisfied with pill formulas and talismans created by others.

Though he was merely a minor Qi Refining cultivator, if he did not even have the courage to try, then he was unworthy of mingling among transmigrators.

Another half year passed.

Inside the Alchemy Pavilion,

Su Yu's cultivation had changed. A month ago, the Azure Wood Age Wheel Art had broken through from the First Cycle Fourth Turn to the First Cycle Fifth Turn. Another layer of annual rings had appeared on his body, and his cultivation had risen to Qi Refining Stage Five.

He was already twenty-four years old.

After breaking through in cultivation, Su Yu began attempting to refine high-grade Rank 1 pills and draw High-grade Rank 1 Talismans.

At this moment, Su Yu was attempting to draw a new High-grade Rank 1 Talisman.

More than an hour later,

Buzz!

As the talisman paper refined from Rank 1 High-grade fire-attribute monster beast hide erupted with a dazzling blaze-colored radiance, a flicker of joy appeared on the sweat-covered Su Yu's face.

"Did it work?" He set down the talisman brush and looked expectantly at the talisman, whose aura had already withdrawn.

Picking up the talisman, he entered the adjacent room and activated a layer of defensive formation.

Su Yu infused a thread of mana into the talisman to trigger it, then threw it out.

Boom!

The talisman burned away in midair. A crimson flame transformed into an arrow that appeared from nowhere, instantly smashing into the defensive formation barrier and tearing it apart directly.

Looking at its power, Su Yu said happily, "It worked. The Fire Cloud Arrow Talisman—its power rivals a full-force strike from Qi Refining Stage Nine!"

This was a new talisman he had created using the Cloud Piercing Arrow Talisman as a template and drawing inspiration from the Fire Dragon Talisman and Fire Thunder Sword Talisman.

The fire attribute's violent force, combined with a trace of the profundity of ancient talismans, had increased the power of the "Cloud Piercing Arrow Talisman" by at least fifty percent.

After his excitement subsided, Su Yu returned to meditate and recover his mana, spirit, and energy.

A few days later,

news arrived from the family.

Su Yu looked at Su Jingbang before him in surprise. "What? The Chen Family wants to join forces with our family, offering thirty percent of the profits from the Purple Gold Sand Spirit Mine as the condition?"

Su Jingbang nodded. "Fifth Elder agreed. We will join forces with the Chen Family to drive back the Maple City Bai Family."

Su Yu fell silent. In his view, the Su Family should be keeping its head down and cultivating now. With the newly acquired resource site, it could at least support the emergence of one, perhaps even two, Foundation Establishment stage cultivators.

It could also nurture dozens more cultivators.

At such a time, joining forces with the Chen Family to deal with the Maple City Bai Family for the so-called thirty percent profits from the Purple Gold Sand Spirit Mine was an unnecessary complication and highly inappropriate.

But—

This was the family's decision. As a junior, there was nothing he could say.

Su Jingbang continued, "The Chen Family has decided to marry their Cloud Sword Sect novice disciple, Chen Sisi, to Qing Yi. That is the main reason Fifth Elder agreed to the alliance."

Su Yu was slightly stunned as he listened.

Chen Sisi and Su Qingyi... a marriage alliance?

"Well, I truly didn't see that coming," Su Yu muttered.