Jiang Xiaochuan wanted to become Xu Changshou's senior brother, so he eagerly went into secluded cultivation.
Meanwhile, Lin Xian'er, Han Zong, Zhang Feixian, Shi Wantong, and Qian Yuanbao, who had all received Barrier-Breaking Pills, also prepared to enter seclusion.
Xu Changshou was in no hurry to do the same. Senior Sister Liu had said that blindly persisting in secluded cultivation was not a good strategy when facing a bottleneck. He needed to balance work with rest.
Over the next few days, whenever he had nothing to do, Xu Changshou rode the Public Flying Boat and wandered around, stocking up on large quantities of food along the way.
That was right-he, too, was preparing to cultivate in seclusion.
This time, he intended to refine all his Qi Gathering Pills and reach the seventh level of qi refining in one decisive push.
Otherwise, once Jiang Xiaochuan and the others broke through, he really would go from senior brother to junior brother.
Three days later.
Xu Changshou began his secluded cultivation, taking care to hang a sign on his door that read, "In seclusion. Do not disturb."
Two days later, Jiang Xiaochuan emerged from seclusion. Having broken through to the seventh level of qi refining, he excitedly came looking for Xu Changshou, only to return in disappointment when he saw the sign on the door.
"Xu Changshou actually went into seclusion? Damn it! I'll come find him once he's out. No matter what, I'm going to be his senior brother."
Several days later.
Li Xian'er, Han Zong, Zhang Feixian, Qian Yuanbao, and Shi Wantong emerged from seclusion one after another.
"Congratulations! Congratulations on taking your cultivation another step higher, Junior Sister Lin."
"Congratulations, Senior Brother Han."
"Congratulations to you, too."
"By the way, where's Junior Brother Xu?"
"Junior Brother Xu!"
At the mention of Xu Changshou, everyone perked up.
They had all broken through to the seventh level of qi refining. Surely Xu Changshou could not have broken through so quickly, so they all had the same idea as Jiang Xiaochuan.
They all wanted to hear Xu Changshou call them senior brother.
Lin Xian'er started toward the second floor. "I'll go find Junior Brother Xu."
Jiang Xiaochuan said, "Don't bother. Junior Brother Xu is in seclusion."
"In seclusion?"
"Could he be hiding from us?"
"Oh, right! Let's find Junior Brother Li."
They rushed to Li Linhao's room, only to discover, to their surprise, that he had also broken through to the seventh level of qi refining.
"There's still Su Mo."
Unwilling to give up, they had no choice but to look for Su Mo.
Unfortunately, Su Mo had gone into seclusion as well.
A month later, Su Mo emerged, having also broken through to the seventh level of qi refining. Their hopes came to nothing.
Everyone pinned their hopes on Xu Changshou, wishing that he would not break through.
Over the course of that month, Xu Changshou had refined three Qi Gathering Pills and was refining his fourth.
As his cultivation improved, he refined pills much faster. He could now refine one every ten days.
Time slipped quietly away.
Another twenty days passed.
Boom...
Xu Changshou's body shuddered. He suddenly felt an acupoint within him open, and the spiritual energy in his body surged instantly.
At his origin pass point, the golden vortex had now grown to the size of a duck egg.
"The seventh level of qi refining! I finally broke through!"
Xu Changshou opened his eyes, channeled spiritual energy into his palm, and struck through the air at a stool nearby.
A terrifying blast of energy shot from his palm, smashing the hard locustwood stool to pieces.
"So this is releasing spiritual energy outside the body. What overwhelming power!"
Xu Changshou marveled inwardly. Only now did he realize that there was a fundamental difference between the seventh level of qi refining and the qi refining sixth layer.
If cultivators at the qi refining sixth layer fought one at the seventh level, even a hundred of them would be no match for that single opponent. Once spiritual energy could be released outside the body, it possessed terrifying offensive power.
And that was without even using spells.
"Oh, right-the Bloodline Jade Talisman."
Xu Changshou immediately took out the Bloodline Jade Talisman. With a movement of his finger, wisps of spiritual energy flowed into it.
The Bloodline Jade Talisman trembled slightly, emitting rays of red light.
The little jade talisman slowly faded and disappeared into his palm, finally leaving a Red Mark behind. This Red Mark was the ancient character on the front of the Bloodline Jade Talisman.
Xu Changshou did not recognize the character, but after pondering it for so many years, he felt that it was probably the character for "talisman."
How could he open the Bloodline Jade Talisman?
Xu Changshou frowned and instinctively pressed his palm against his forehead. Something strange happened.
His consciousness slowly grew hazy, and the room around him gradually faded. When his awareness cleared again, he found himself in a space filled with mist.
Directly ahead of him stood a stone door.
Xu Changshou walked over and gave it a gentle push. The stone door swung open.
Beyond it was a room ten meters square, with another stone door directly opposite.
Thousands of characters were engraved on the opposite stone door. In addition, countless talismans covered the walls. At a glance, there were hundreds:
Sharp Gold Talisman, Wood-Binding Talisman, Water-Binding Talisman, Fireball Talisman, Thick Earth Talisman, Windwalking Talisman, Five Elements Talisman, Thunderstorm Talisman, Wind-Thunder Talisman, Gold-Thunder Talisman, Wood-Thunder Talisman, Water-Thunder Talisman, Fire-Thunder Talisman, Earth-Thunder Talisman, Yin-Thunder Talisman, Yang-Thunder Talisman, Twin Lightning Talisman, Triple Lightning Talisman, Quadruple Lightning Talisman, Five-Thunder Talisman, Lightning-Attracting Talisman, Spirit-Gathering Talisman, Invisibility Talisman, Earth-Escape Talisman, Wall-Piercing Talisman, Flight Talisman, Soul-Seizing Talisman, Demon-Sealing Talisman, Demon-Subduing Talisman, Corpse-Breaking Talisman, Illusion-Breaking Talisman, Voice-Transmitting Talisman...
Beneath each talisman were densely packed lines of tiny writing, explaining its effects and how to draw it.
Xu Changshou began studying them carefully.
Fireball Talisman: instantly unleashes a fireball capable of burning all things, with ten times the power of the Fireball Spell.
Thunderstorm Talisman: contains a bolt of lightning with astonishing destructive power.
Invisibility Talisman: grants invisibility, preventing detection by cultivators of the same rank.
Windwalking Talisman: contains wind spiritual energy, providing inexhaustible propulsion and allowing travel of three thousand li a day.
Soul-Seizing Talisman: specifically attacks the soul, with exceptional effects against spirit bodies and nascent souls alike.
Corpse-Breaking Talisman: specifically counters the corpse refining lineage.
After skimming a few, Xu Changshou was inwardly astonished. The talismans here were far more complex than he had imagined.
As far as he had known, there were only two or three kinds of talismans: Windwalking Talismans, Fireball Talismans, and Earth Shield Talismans.
Of these, Windwalking Talismans were for fleeing, Fireball Talismans for attacking, and Earth Shield Talismans for defense.
Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that true talismans came in so many varieties.
Contrary to what Ye Shanhua had said, talisman attacks were not necessarily inferior to Magic Artifacts. Some talismans absolutely surpassed Magic Artifacts in offensive power.
For example, a Thunderstorm Talisman contained a bolt of lightning. Even the lowest-ranked first-grade Thunderstorm Talisman could blast a cultivator at the qi refining twelfth layer into dust.
Of course, that was assuming the cultivator at the qi refining twelfth layer used neither a Magic Artifact nor any defensive measures.
When immortals fought, they did not rely solely on their own combat strength.
They competed with spells, divine abilities, pills, and Magic Artifacts.
Within the talisman attack system, lightning-based offensive talismans accounted for a large proportion. The Thunderstorm Talisman was merely the simplest, most basic lightning attribute talisman.
There were also Wind-Thunder Talismans, Gold-Thunder Talismans, Wood-Thunder Talismans, Water-Thunder Talismans, Fire-Thunder Talismans, Earth-Thunder Talismans, Yin-Thunder Talismans, Yang-Thunder Talismans, Twin Lightning Talismans, Triple Lightning Talismans, Quadruple Lightning Talismans, Five-Thunder Talismans, and others, all stronger than Thunderstorm Talismans.
For example: Wind-Thunder Talismans, Gold-Thunder Talismans, Wood-Thunder Talismans, Water-Thunder Talismans, Fire-Thunder Talismans, Earth-Thunder Talismans, Yin-Thunder Talismans, and Yang-Thunder Talismans.
These lightning talismans all had dual attributes. Each talisman contained two attributes, producing greater power once detonated.
More formidable still were Triple Lightning Talismans, Quadruple Lightning Talismans, and Five-Thunder Talismans.
In short, the more attributes stacked together, the greater the offensive power.
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