Testing Talismans

Shen Luo did not know whether it was because he had held his horse stance for too long or because he had held his breath too many times, but his entire body ached and his head felt heavy and swollen, as though he had spent the whole day doing hard labor.

"I can't go on. I need to rest quickly, or tomorrow's training will be delayed." Shen Luo hastily tidied the items on the table, gathered the talismans he had written and put them away, then climbed back into bed and fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.

He did not even pull up the blanket before soft snores began to sound.

At dawn, birdsong gradually rose through the mountains, clear and pleasant as tinkling spring water.

Although Shen Luo had not fully recovered from his exhaustion, his strong self-discipline still woke him at the same time as usual.

After getting up, he looked at the talismans on the table and felt a faint stir of excitement. He carefully tucked them into his robe.

Shen Luo got dressed and went outside. After scooping water from the mountain spring pool that had been channeled down from the cliffside to wash up, he headed uphill toward Jade Emperor Hall.

No matter what happened, he could not delay his morning training.

Three hours later, Shen Luo finished cultivating the Minor Transforming Yang Art for the day.

He rose from before the huge boulder, but instead of heading to the dining hall, he took out a few pieces of dry rations and wolfed down a few bites before turning toward the back mountain.

He wanted to see whether these talismans truly possessed the miraculous effects described in the book.

Shen Luo soon arrived at the back mountain. He followed a narrow path deeper into it for some distance, moving far from the main peak, before stopping in a secluded valley.

He had not received permission from the sect. If someone discovered him testing talismans and assumed he had stolen the teachings, he would be in serious trouble.

Shen Luo listened closely and carefully surveyed the surroundings. Only after confirming that no one was nearby did he take the talismans from his robe and lay them on the ground.

Then he rummaged through his robe again and took out six grayish-white jade stones the size of pigeon eggs, carefully setting them aside.

The stones were translucent, and white vapor could be seen circulating within them. They were the Yuan Stones Bai Xiaotian had previously given him to activate talismans.

"The white vapor inside must be the key to activating talismans. I wonder what it is. This is rather exciting."

Shen Luo muttered to himself for a moment, then suppressed his curiosity. He took a talisman and spread it atop a relatively flat boulder before him, then placed a grayish-white Yuan Stone on it.

He lowered himself into a slight crouch, formed a hand seal with his left hand, pressed his right palm against the Yuan Stone, and slowly began circulating the Minor Transforming Yang Art.

A faint warmth rose from his lower abdomen, forming a small current that spread upward through his meridians, passing through his right chest and arm before finally reaching his right palm.

As the warm current flowed into his right palm, it gradually reddened.

Shen Luo did not dare hesitate. He continued circulating his cultivation art, drawing the Yang Hardness Force from his lower abdomen and channeling it into his palm.

After repeating this more than ten times, his right palm finally became somewhat crimson, with tiny currents of heat faintly flowing between his fingers and across the heel of his hand.

Fine beads of sweat formed at the tip of Shen Luo's nose as he did his utmost to keep his right hand from trembling.

This was the first time he had formally activated the Minor Transforming Yang Art since mastering it, yet he was using it to trigger a Yuan Stone.

It was not that he did not want to practice beforehand, but he only had these six Yuan Stones in total. Bai Xiaotian had likely gone to considerable effort to obtain them, so he could only proceed carefully while learning from experience.

He tried to gradually gather the tiny heat currents in his palm at a single point, then forced them out of his palm bit by bit.

Before long, a faint red filament less than three inches long condensed in his palm and flowed into the Yuan Stone below.

The previously dull Yuan Stone immediately changed. A faint red glow appeared on its surface, spreading from the outside inward. In an instant, the entire stone seemed to have been dyed pale red and became somewhat translucent.

The small cluster of white vapor within also changed from its previously slow circulation and began churning violently.

Then, with a crack, the Yuan Stone shattered into several pieces, and the white vapor inside turned into a small ball of white light.

Though it took a while to describe, from the moment the red filament entered the stone to the Yuan Stone's explosion, only one or two breaths had passed.

Shen Luo stared fixedly at the ball of white light, smaller than the tip of his little finger and glowing like a firefly, his heart filled with excitement.

He had actually succeeded in triggering the energy hidden within the Yuan Stone on his first attempt. He really was lucky!

Through the trace of spiritual perception awakened after the Minor Transforming Yang Art had reached the introductory stage, Shen Luo could vaguely sense the energy contained within that ball of light. It felt extraordinarily pure.

Shen Luo knew that he had only succeeded halfway so far. The true crucial point had only just begun.

After leaving the Yuan Stone, the ball of white light immediately seemed to have been set free. Rather than sinking into the talisman below, it tried to drift away. Fortunately, Shen Luo's faintly reddened palm seemed to possess some restraining force, preventing it from escaping for the moment.

The white light darted rapidly between his palm and the talisman.

Only by guiding it into the talisman below could he use it to ignite the talisman core and activate the talisman.

Shen Luo took a deep breath and continued circulating the Minor Transforming Yang Art. Another faint red filament condensed in his right palm.

Trying to use that faint red filament to move the ball of white light was like asking a child to shift a large bucket of water. It was truly strenuous.

Still, Shen Luo managed to grasp a small trick. When the white light neared the center of his palm, he gave a low shout. The faint red line suddenly flared brightly and flashed through the white light.

The white light immediately connected with the red line, which slipped with a hiss into the Minor Thunder Talisman below.

Drawn by the red line, the ball of light also touched the talisman.

The talisman seemed to be a sponge, swiftly absorbing the white light into itself. The area containing the talisman core immediately lit up.

The light spread along the rune patterns of the Minor Thunder Talisman toward both ends, and soon the entire talisman became somewhat luminous.

But the change stopped there.

The light merely flickered twice before dimming, and the talisman returned to its former appearance.

"Did it fail?" Shen Luo murmured, disappointment washing over him.

There should have been nothing wrong with how he had activated the Minor Transforming Yang Art just now. He had watched every step of the process, and it was almost exactly as Bai Xiaotian had described.

It seemed, then, that the problem lay with this talisman.

Either he had drawn it incorrectly, the materials he used were wrong, or the talisman itself was simply nonsense and possessed no power at all.

Shen Luo was dejected for a while, but quickly rallied.

"Activating the Yuan Stone should not be a problem as long as I am careful. If I cultivate the Minor Transforming Yang Art more deeply, the whole process will be even more reliable. Although this talisman was not successfully activated, the rune patterns on its surface were truly triggered."

Shen Luo stroked his chin and muttered to himself for a while. Feeling that he had not failed completely, he replaced the previous talisman with another and continued circulating his cultivation art to activate it.

With another crack, the Yuan Stone shattered, and the ball of white light emerged.