Hong Yi recalled the brief description of thunder talismans in the Daoist Classic. The Taoist's spirit was incredibly tough. Though the Yaksha King had stabbed him, the wound wasn't serious. Hong Yi, on the other hand, had felt as if his whole body had been nearly smashed to pieces, his soul scattered. Yet the moment he dispersed, he had immediately pulled himself back together. Then the Yaksha King he had visualized appeared out of thin air once more and swooped toward the Taoist, thrusting with his fork.
"Six Ding and Six Jia? The Yaksha King!"
Although the Taoist had taken a thrust, he showed none of the signs Hong Yi had when his soul was nearly scattered. His body merely swayed slightly. With a wave of his hand, another Dingjia Divine General appeared and sliced the Yaksha King in half.
This kind of gunpowder was extremely rare, and making it was very dangerous. Many Fangxian Dao Taoists had lost control of the heat while crafting it, causing their pill furnaces to explode and their great halls to be blasted into dust.
While Hong Yi was turning this over in his mind, the Taoists had already split up. Four of them leaped up and swiftly scaled the tall walls of the Marquis Mansion. They hooked their hands over the top and dropped down without making a sound, three times as nimble as cats climbing trees.
"The Sect Leader bestowed the 'Explosive Flame Talisman Sword' upon us. The talismans on this sword were written in Purple Thunder Gunpowder, secretly refined by Fangxian Dao. The Sect Leader used his immense divine power and a stroke that could pierce metal and stone to inscribe them on the sword..."
At the same time, Hong Yi understood what the Taoists intended to use against Hong Xuanji: Fangxian Dao's Purple Thunder Gunpowder.
The Taoist was shocked!
Their eyes met!
Hong Yi "saw" his own body being hacked apart and realized that if he scattered this time, his soul would truly be lost. Fortunately, he had some experience. In an instant, he focused his thoughts and visualized himself sitting in the Void, entering the state of Past Amitabha.
The Taoist's body was still sitting on the ground. The figure holding the sword was his spirit, which was why it could fly through the sky.
His spirit had reached the realm of Object Manipulation!
Hong Yi visualized Past Amitabha, and his spirit gathered together. With a turn of his thoughts, another Yaksha King appeared and pounced on the Taoist, thrusting its fork into his chest.
It was like two men sparring: you cut me, I cut you, but when one of them was struck, the wound healed at once.
Just as the Taoist's spirit, sword in hand, flew toward the main residence, it suddenly stopped in midair. His eyes swept sharply around, and he spotted Hong Yi.
Suddenly, a bright golden light filled Hong Yi's vision. Within it appeared a divine general clad in golden armor, gripping a golden axe, mighty as a celestial warrior. He charged at Hong Yi and brought the axe down on his head.
Once a thunder talisman was complete, its power could be activated with a thought. Like firecrackers, it could erupt in a loud blast and a flash of flame, inflicting tremendous damage on a Yin Spirit.
"What a capable Marquis Wuwen! His senses are so keen that he actually discovered them. We can't wait any longer."
The sword was even shorter than a dagger and completely useless for killing an enemy, but its blade was covered in densely packed purple writing.
Hong Yi saw clearly that as the sword flew up, a figure emerged from the Taoist's head. The sword was in the figure's hand.
There were five Taoists in all. As four of them approached the main residence, the fifth closed his eyes and sat quietly in a corner, calmly directing his spirit.
The Taoist took a thrust from the fork, and his spirit immediately dropped to the ground. Clutching his chest, he waved a hand and visualized a Dingjia Divine General, who hacked the Yaksha King to pieces.
"These four are all experts!"
"Hmph!"
That was also why many Taoists left the pill furnace unattended while they refined pills, having a few young attendants watch the fire instead—so an explosion wouldn't blow them to pieces.
Hong Yi saw the Taoist's spirit take up the sword and fly away. It wasn't as fast as an arrow shot from a powerful bow or crossbow, but it was as swift as a galloping horse. Hong Yi considered it and knew his own spirit could never move that fast.
The Taoist sitting with his eyes closed suddenly opened them and muttered a few words. His whole body tensed, then he abruptly shut his eyes again.
In that instant, Hong Yi realized that this golden-armored, golden-axe general was the divine general from the Daoist "Dingjia Visualization Method." Like the Yaksha King, it could be visualized during a clash of spirits and used to harm an enemy's spirit.
Hong Yi saw the Taoist's gaze, and his heart jolted.
"Hmm?"
Taoists with supernatural abilities used gunpowder as ink to write on paper. As they wrote, they focused their entire being, concentrating their spirit on the tip of the brush and driving the powder deep into the talisman paper. That was how a thunder talisman was made.
Fangxian Dao's specialty was refining pills. Its Taoists also smelted saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal, and other ingredients in pill furnaces to produce all kinds of powerful gunpowder.
"Damn! How could I forget? When the other person's spirit leaves the body, he can see me too."
The Taoist's spirit was stronger than Hong Yi's, but even it couldn't withstand such a drain!
Vwoom!
A sound like a dragon's roar seemed to come from the Void. Hong Yi saw a short sword at the Taoist's side suddenly leap from its sheath, its purple light flickering.
"Go."
The "Explosive Flame Talisman Sword" these Taoists spoke of was probably a kind of thunder talisman. But since it was a sword, it was made of metal, and its power would be especially great. It was not to be underestimated; no mortal strength could withstand it.
Both visualizations happened extremely quickly. As the Dingjia Divine General struck Hong Yi, the Taoist was also hit by the Yaksha King's fork.
In that instant, Hong Yi visualized a Yaksha King too, sending it pouncing toward the Taoist.
The other's spirit was powerful.
"The Yaksha King!"
The purple writing seemed engraved into the sword's surface, raised like carvings, but Hong Yi couldn't make out the characters. They looked like little flames.
Hong Yi immediately recognized it.
About the time it takes an incense stick to burn, torches suddenly blazed within the main residence. Iron armor clattered, long blades slid from their sheaths, and crossbows were drawn.
After the Taoist's summoned general hacked the Yaksha King to pieces, it pointed at Hong Yi, leaped in front of him, and brought its axe down again, scattering him.
The gunpowder refined by Fangxian Dao was nothing like the powder used in ordinary fireworks and firecrackers. It was immensely powerful and could be used to blast mountains and quarry stone. The Great Gan Dynasty used it in its copper, silver, and gold mines.
"Fast! As fast as a Lightning Chaser!"
The Daoist faith had divine thunder talismans designed to subdue demons and ghosts. But this divine thunder wasn't lightning amid wind and clouds—it was an explosion of gunpowder. In an instant, the body that had scattered like smoke gathered together again, its spirit still strong.
"His spirit recovered so quickly? How could that be? Impossible!"
The axe struck home.
A lump of this Purple Thunder Gunpowder no bigger than a fist could blow up an entire house.
Hong Yi turned over the Taoists' words in his mind and gradually understood what kind of thing the "Explosive Flame Talisman Sword" was.
"Thunder talismans have three grades of power: gold and jade are best, wood is next, and paper comes after."
In the violent explosion of gunpowder, the blinding light, raging flames, and shock waves would blast even a Yin Spirit into oblivion, let alone a mortal body. None could survive.
The figure holding the sword floated into the air and struck a sword stance, about to surge toward the main residence like a celestial being descending from beyond the heavens.
The most powerful gunpowder was "Purple Thunder Gunpowder." Its powder was purple, its color vivid and brilliant.
The Taoist gave a cold snort and waved his hand.
"Fangxian Dao's Purple Thunder Gunpowder? That stuff is extremely powerful. Didn't its method of manufacture get lost long ago? How can it still exist? And what exactly is the Explosive Flame Talisman Sword?"
Hearing their conversation, Hong Yi knew these men were members of the Wusheng Dao and Zhenkong Dao heretical sects, the sort who had come to assassinate his father, Hong Xuanji.
The four Taoists quickly approached the main residence of the Marquis Mansion, then stopped at the perimeter and went no closer. They had narrowly avoided Hong Xuanji's keen awareness and now lay in hiding.
Moreover, when Hong Yi had read the Daoist Classic, it had clearly stated that the secret formula for Purple Thunder Gunpowder had been lost. The court had also forbidden Fangxian Dao Taoists from making it, since doing so defied the natural order. None of them would risk their lives to create something so dangerous.
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