Primordial Waters Talisman Canon

Void Mirage Realm, Heavenly Craft Tower.

[Fire Arrow Talisman, low-grade offensive talisman, price: one Dao merit]

[Aura-Concealing Talisman, low-grade special talisman, price: one Dao merit]

[Waterglow Talisman, low-grade defensive talisman, price: two Dao merits]

[Mist Sword Talisman, low-grade offensive talisman, price: one Dao merit]

[...]

Lu He's gaze swiftly swept across several hundred kinds of low-grade talismans. He discovered that in the blink of an eye, the Waterglow Talisman from moments ago had suddenly vanished from the display counter.

It had clearly been bought.

Seeing this scene.

"A single low-grade defensive talisman costs two Dao merits now, and they're still in short supply?!"

A flicker of astonishment and excitement passed through his eyes.

Since he had already decided to use the talisman inheritance to evolve his second innate Dao Diagram.

Lu He naturally began paying attention to the talisman market and its overall costs.

Twenty sheets of blank talisman paper for drawing low-grade talismans cost one Dao merit.

A tael of low-grade spirit ink cost three Dao merits and could be used to draw twenty talismans.

By that calculation.

Materials worth one Dao merit were enough to draw five low-grade talismans.

So long as one succeeded, the cost would be recovered. Two would be pure profit, and if they were defensive talismans... it would be a bloody fortune!

Going out to take Dao merit missions and hunt the Demon Race not only took an extremely long time, but the gains also had to be split among a group of people. In the end, the Dao merits one received were pitifully few.

Going alone, meanwhile, was far too risky.

Compared to that.

Talisman-making... once one achieved success in cultivation, it was practically no different from snatching Dao merits!

"The cheapest talisman-making inheritance, the Primordial Waters Talisman Canon, requires eighty-seven Dao merits. Among the methods for drawing the five low-grade talismans it contains is the Waterglow Talisman. A low-grade talisman brush of roughly comparable quality sells for around fifty Dao merits."

"One hundred and thirty-seven Dao merits!"

At this thought.

Lu He's breathing faintly grew heated as he lowered his head to look at the identity jade tablet in his hand—

There were only three Dao merits left on it!

Passing two Demon Passes, together with the reward for the Scorching Sun Golden Ranking being finalized, should be just enough!

In truth.

This was the main reason Lu He had just accepted Deng Huo's invitation.

To save up for the Primordial Waters Talisman Canon and a talisman brush.

For the next dozen or so days, unless he was about to fall out of the top two hundred on the Scorching Sun Golden Ranking, he did not plan to spend any extra Dao merits on cultivation, just to be safe.

Rather than idling in his cave dwelling, he might as well go out and earn some extra money.

"Ancient Demon Pass..."

As though he had thought of something, Lu He's eyes flashed, and he directly left the Heavenly Craft Tower.

The mist dispersed.

Lu He appeared in a desert. Beneath his feet stretched a desolate ancient road, vast and boundless, with no end in sight.

"Interesting!"

A ripple passed through Lu He's calm eyes. Without the slightest hesitation, he followed the ancient road beneath his feet and slowly walked forward.

Storms raged in all directions, sweeping up yellow sand that smashed wildly toward him.

Yet the instant every grain of windblown sand came within several feet of Lu He, it was erased into nothingness by a layer of dark black mist.

Time trickled by.

At a certain moment.

In midair, Lu He took several rapid steps in succession. Ripples of light flashed beneath his feet as his body soared several zhang upward, narrowly evading the savage pounce of a wolf-type demon.

Immediately after.

He turned his palm and pressed lightly downward.

In an instant, the White Ape Dao Diagram within his eyes spun ceaselessly, while the Myriad-Dharma Marvelous-Insight Treasure Wheel behind his head abruptly erupted with dazzling five-colored spiritual light.

The dark black mist suffusing the entire battlefield rose up and instantly solidified. It transformed into a colossal hand of immense weight in midair, then crashed down upon the thirty-two demon wolves gathered below.

Boom! Boom!

The ground trembled violently before abruptly collapsing inward, kicking up dust that filled the sky.

Amid the miserable wolf howls rising and falling one after another.

Seeing this scene.

Lu He stood in midair, his expression still as grave as water.

In his perception, the auras on the demon wolves below had only weakened slightly. They had not suffered serious injuries.

Sure enough.

Before the dust had even dispersed, countless needle-fine hairs saturated with dense demonic qi flew toward Lu He like a torrential downpour.

At that moment, the air became a sieve.

There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to evade.

Left with no choice, Lu He waved one hand. The mana in his body, nearly exhausted already, surged once more as the remaining dark mist around him rapidly gathered, condensing into a thick, pitch-black shield more than half a man tall before him.

He curled his body behind the shield.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Amid a continuous barrage of terrifying metallic clashing, the shield lasted only three breaths before shattering with a bang.

Lu He's body scattered away with it.

The next moment.

His figure reappeared not far from the Demon Pass. He cast a brief glance at the thirty-two demon wolves guarding the fourth Demon Pass.

"Does it really have to be this insane?"

The corner of Lu He's eye twitched slightly.

From the first Demon Pass to the fourth one before him, the demons guarding each pass were all at the first level of Qi-Feasting, yet their strength had clearly grown ever more terrifying.

Even more fatal was their rapidly increasing number.

It was no exaggeration to say that with every Demon Pass one cleared, the difficulty ahead rose by geometric multiples.

"For the fourth Demon Pass, I'm afraid quite a few people will need to reach the second level of Qi-Feasting before they can pass."

Lu He pondered this, then looked directly at the Scorching Sun Golden Ranking before him.

[One hundred and seventeen, Lu He (Third Demon Pass)]

[Time remaining until rankings are finalized: thirteen days]

"One hundred and seventeen..." Lu He muttered thoughtfully, his gaze sweeping downward.

All the way down to one hundred and seventy-nine, the annotation afterward changed from 'Third Demon Pass' to 'Second Demon Pass.'

"With thirteen days left, the top two hundred should be secure."

Lu He murmured inwardly. At the same time, he glanced at the forty-three Dao merits on his jade tablet and could not help letting out a breath of relief.

As for the top hundred...

His gaze unconsciously fell upon the one hundred and third place on the Golden Ranking. The words 'Sixth Demon Pass' were glaringly marked there, instantly extinguishing the thought.

There was an enormous gulf between that person and everyone behind them, including Lu He.

"These one hundred and three people should all be core disciples from the major powers of Everharvest City, like those seven from the Inner Garden. Still, the gaps between them seem rather large too."

Lu He clicked his tongue softly.

At this moment.

As though he had suddenly recalled something, mana circulated around his fingertips and flowed into the identity jade pendant.

A line of small characters abruptly appeared.

[Year 1734 of Yuande, eleventh month, fifth day, second quarter of the Hour of the Rabbit]

There was no alternation of day and night in the Great Wilderness, making it difficult for low-realm cultivators to discern the time on their own.

Thus, when the Celestial Crafts Pavilion crafted identity jade tablets, it installed a special timekeeping formation within them. By channeling in mana, one could see the exact time.

It was quite convenient to use.

"The Hour of the Rabbit... Is it almost time for the appointment?"

Lu He's figure instantly vanished from the Void Mirage Realm.

A moment later, the doors of his cave dwelling rumbled open. With ripples of light beneath his feet, Lu He shot into the air in the form of an afterimage, fleeing toward the Celestial Crafts Pavilion.

Before heading to the Dao Merit Tower to accept a mission.

He first needed to go to the Heavenly Craft Tower and buy twenty jin of spirit gold.

The terrain of the earth-vein lava caves was complex, demonkind abounded, and circumstances were unpredictable.

With sufficient spirit gold in hand.

The innate spells inscribed upon Lu He's Myriad-Dharma Marvelous-Insight Treasure Wheel could switch freely between the Summon Mist as Soldiers Art and the Wave-Treading Body-Escape Art, giving him one more layer of protection in any case.