Heavenly Dao Talismans: Heavenly Dao Retrospection Talisman!

He had not told his younger brother the true conditions for recognizing an owner. He knew his brother too well; if his brother found out, he would definitely hide it from him and charge into the secret realm, or use other means to earn Spirit Stones for him.

But his younger brother was dull by nature, and his strength was ordinary. How could he contend against those who treated deceit and scheming as everyday fare?

Ever since he had fled with grievous injuries, he had been poisoned by the Bone-Eroding Poison and had no combat strength left, only a few opportunistic tricks.

"..."

The scholar remained silent. He simply sat cross-legged where he was, gazing at the clouds rolling and unfurling in the sky. He had once had two or three close friends; if he went to them and relied on his former reputation, he might be able to borrow three thousand Spirit Stones.

But first, the risk was too great. He was not sure whether his former friends would report him. The bounty on his head was no small sum.

Second—

He had once been Great Xia's foremost sword cultivator.

He had his own pride.

He did not wish for those who had once known him to see him in such a wretched state.

If not for his younger brother, he would rather die standing than sit like a cripple at the cliffside of Heaven-Question Market like a piece of trash, watched by passersby coming and going.

Haggling with the factions trying to recruit him.

"Enough."

The scholar glanced at his younger brother beside him, whose face was anxious as his mouth kept opening and closing without producing a single word, then softly said, "I have a plan. Don't worry."

His younger brother was somewhat dim-witted and had no concept of how many Spirit Stones were worth. He thought most people could easily afford the price he wanted, and that as long as they crouched down to speak with him, he would recognize them as his owner.

But in reality—

Three thousand Spirit Stones was a sum many factions within a hundred-mile radius could not produce.

Those who could afford that price did not think much of him.

Nor did he dare tell others that his teleportation range was two hundred miles. A Golden Core Realm cultivator proficient in movement techniques could travel a hundred miles in ten breaths at full speed, so a hundred miles was often regarded as the immediate strike range of Golden Core Realm cultivators.

More than two hundred miles meant he had already surpassed the immediate strike range of two Golden Core Realm cultivators.

The factions he attracted then would be no small matter, and those factions knew him.

Even though he had changed his appearance, certain ingrained habits that could not be changed would always expose him, dragging his younger brother into danger with him.

If he claimed it was ten thousand miles—

Then Great Xia's imperial family might be the ones to come.

Unfortunately, when he fled with grievous injuries that day, all his spirit treasures and storage rings had been taken. Only this natal spirit treasure, which had accompanied him for so long, remained. As his cultivation had fallen, it too had become an ordinary Yellow Grade, Middle Class spirit treasure.

It was not worth much.

Back then—

When Qingfeng left its sheath, who did not recognize his white robes!

Within three breaths, where under heaven could he not go!

How could those have been child's play? How could they have been empty boasts?

And now, all those past glories remained only in the picture book he treasured in his bosom. It was a picture book drawn by a scholar with him as its protagonist, back when his name shook the world, recording all his mighty deeds.

Its title was "White-Clad Sword Cultivator."

What it recorded was not his entire life, yet it was his life as fleeting as an epiphyllum bloom.

Meanwhile, Chen Qiu at the bottom of the canyon kept striking the ground with his blade, drawing the attention of the Human-Faced Spiders within the stone caves. The caves in the rock walls were exceedingly cramped; he could not possibly crawl inside to fight, as that would put him at an extreme disadvantage.

Very soon—

Countless pairs of pale blue eyes slowly appeared at the mouths of the caves along the rock wall. Before long, the first Human-Faced Spider crawled out and climbed onto a transparent strand of web hanging in midair.

Its eyes stared fixedly at him, its eyeballs constantly rolling.

It looked utterly hair-raising.

The spider was fully three feet wide, with the face of an infant embedded in its head. It continuously gave off cries like a wailing baby that drifted wantonly through the depths of the canyon, as though driving them away.

Then the second and third Human-Faced Spiders crawled out as well.

Only then did Chen Qiu discover that transparent spiderwebs covered the area around the stone caves in the rock wall. Even beneath the sunlight, they were nearly impossible to distinguish with the naked eye.

"Phew."

Chen Qiu slowly drew a breath and waved his right hand, releasing every vengeful spirit he had stored. In an instant, the surroundings turned chilly. Ten vengeful spirits at the Sixth Level of the Qi Refining Realm, one at the Eighth Level of the Qi Refining Realm, and the demonic beast vengeful spirits he had killed in Heaven-Question Market all charged toward those stone caves at once!

They wildly destroyed the webs and provoked the Human-Faced Spiders.

These Human-Faced Spiders were all rather highly cultivated, and they loved to swarm their prey. He did not dare let down his guard in the slightest.

"Vengeful Spirit Summoning" was merely a green trait, yet it was exceptionally useful. Living creatures killed by his vengeful spirits could likewise be transformed into his vengeful spirits. He had no idea why such a useful trait was only green.

He felt it should at least have been yellow.

But he had no time to dwell on that now.

Provoked by the vengeful spirits, the Human-Faced Spiders had already let out shrieks like crying infants and rushed straight toward them.

"Good!"

Chen Qiu gripped Huang Shikai by the collar with his left hand, held his blade in his right, and bent his knees slightly. When the first Human-Faced Spider charged before him, he suddenly shouted low and used Huang Shikai to block the spider pouncing through the air, then slashed out with his long blade!

With that single slash, the Human-Faced Spider was grievously injured and fell to the ground.

He stepped forward again and finished it with another slash. Streams of white light floated from the Human-Faced Spider's corpse and entered his body. Before he could celebrate this small gain, more Human-Faced Spiders were already screaming as they rushed toward him.

"Die!"

Just as Chen Qiu, drenched in blood, once more killed a Human-Faced Spider charging at him, he held his blade in his right hand and instinctively swept his gaze around, seeking his next target. Yet—

There was no longer a single living creature standing in the entire canyon besides him.

Human-Faced Spider corpses carpeted the ground beneath his feet, their scarlet blood splashed throughout the depths of the canyon.

Fat Dragon had also collapsed limply to one side, gasping for breath without pause. For him, the intensity of the battle had been absurd. Neither of them had suffered much injury; Huang Shikai was very useful, and nearly all the blood on them came from the Human-Faced Spiders.

And just as he killed that final Human-Faced Spider—

He suddenly felt a hot current surge through his body. With a thought, he looked inward and saw another panel shrouded in mist emerge above his dantian.

"Your cultivation has surged greatly. You have officially entered the Eighth Level of the Qi Refining Realm."

"Please choose from the three random traits below within ten breaths."

1:

"Trait Name": Every Blade of Grass and Every Tree.

"Trait Grade": White.

"Trait Effect": Each time you break through a minor realm, you may obtain three Spirit Stones.

2:

"Trait Name": Start Over.

"Trait Grade": White.

"Trait Effect": The quality of your Foundation Establishment will increase slightly. Each time Foundation Establishment fails, your cultivation realm will fall to the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm.

3:

"Trait Name": Never Lose Heart.

"Trait Grade": White.

"Trait Effect": When your Foundation Establishment fails and your cultivation falls, the cultivation progress you gain from killing demonic beasts within the Qi Refining Realm will increase a hundredfold.

"..."

Chen Qiu looked at the three traits that had appeared before him. His mouth involuntarily fell slightly open, pain flashing through his eyes as his face twisted somewhat. The veins on his right hand, which gripped the long blade, bulged prominently.

Taken separately, each of these three white traits was basically quite ordinary.

They were the sort that had some use, but not much.

For ordinary people without lofty ambitions in cultivation, the first trait was absolutely comparable to a seven-colored trait. The three Spirit Stones obtained with every minor breakthrough were enough for an ordinary person to live a prosperous life.

The second trait could only increase the quality of Foundation Establishment slightly, but after failing Foundation Establishment, one would have to start over from the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm.

As for the third trait, it was practically better than nothing. Even if Foundation Establishment failed, one's cultivation would only fall to the Early Ninth Level of the Qi Refining Realm, just a step away from Great Perfection. Even if cultivation progress from killing demonic beasts became a hundred times faster during that period, it would at most mean returning to Qi Refining Great Perfection a few days sooner and preparing for Foundation Establishment again.

But—

If he could possess all three of these traits at once, then with just a little starting capital, it was simply too unimaginable!

As long as he had enough time, and if there was no limit to the number of Foundation Establishment attempts, the number of Spirit Stones he produced daily might exceed even what a Spirit Stone mine yielded!

If breaking through again after his cultivation fell allowed him to obtain another trait, then he would truly soar into the heavens. But merely thinking about it, he could roughly guess that was unrealistic.

But why?!

Why could he only choose one out of three traits? Why could he not choose them all?!

He did not make his choice within the ten breaths. Instead, with a pained expression, he turned his head and looked at Fat Dragon with his last shred of hope. "Fat Dragon, are there any heavenly treasures that can let someone choose traits they previously discarded?"

For everyone in this world, when they first obtained a trait at the First Level of the Qi Refining Realm, there was no chance to choose. Whatever they were given was what they used; if their luck was bad, they could only accept their misfortune.

But after the Foundation Establishment Realm, the traits obtained with every major realm breakthrough came with a choice of one from three.

There was enough room for choice to let cultivators combine the traits best suited to themselves.

"I think there is."

Though Fat Dragon did not understand why Chen Qiu had suddenly made such an expression, he quickly frowned in thought before answering, "There definitely is. I saw it on the list of auction items at an auction in Heaven-Question Market. There's a type of talisman that can only be produced in the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm, called the 'Heavenly Dao Retrospection Talisman.'"

"It allows cultivators to choose again from traits they previously discarded."

"But the price is not low. Nothing that comes out of the Heavenly Dao Secret Realm is cheap, and it can only select traits discarded during the previous one-out-of-three choice."

"For example, if you were a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator, then after using this item, you could only choose from the remaining two traits discarded when you broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm. You could not choose traits discarded when you broke through to the Golden Core Realm."

"If, after breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm, you encountered other opportunities and gained another one-out-of-three trait choice, then you could not even choose the two traits discarded when breaking through to the Nascent Soul Realm. You could only select traits discarded during your most recent one-out-of-three choice."

"As for below Foundation Establishment—"

"The Qi Refining Realm has no one-out-of-three choices at all. You use whatever you're given."

"At most, you can choose one discarded trait at a time. If you want both discarded traits, then you have to buy two."

"What's wrong?"

Fat Dragon looked at Chen Qiu in confusion. "Brother Chen Qiu, why are you suddenly asking about this?"