The Many Marvelous Uses of Shikon Shards!

The Shikon Jewel could do more than simply give a massive, brute-force boost to a demon's Demon Power or a human cultivator's magical power.

It could also enhance external objects.

Examples included the Banryu Great Spear from the original story, as well as the protagonist Inuyasha's Tessaiga.

To prevent the Shikon Shards from affecting his mind, warping his will, or even controlling him outright, Li Xia cautiously chose to use their power to enhance his talisman brush and the spiritual ink needed to draw talismans. Through this indirect enhancement, he could greatly improve the quality and power of the talismans he drew.

Besides, trying it once or twice would not cost him a piece of flesh.

He spent half an hour calming his mind.

He brought himself into peak condition.

Then Li Xia picked up the talisman brush he regularly used from his desk.

He did not know whether he was imagining it, but the instant he picked it up, he felt that the brush was a little heavier than usual. After dipping it in spiritual ink, he felt an even more distinct, indescribable weight.

"Shikon Shards, don't let me down."

Li Xia murmured a few words, then focused his mind. He mustered what little magical power he had and poured most of it into the talisman brush in his hand.

His magical power flowed along the patterns on the brush into the spiritual ink coating its tip, actually making the red cinnabar ink gleam with a brilliant radiance.

At the sight, he was both surprised and delighted. It really worked!

He immediately set the brush dancing, its strokes flowing fluidly across the paper as he attempted to draw a basic Strength Talisman in one swift, uninterrupted sequence.

To his disappointment, however, the pressure at the brush tip briefly became uneven at one point during the drawing process, causing the unfinished talisman to turn into a layer of ash with a soft puff.

Mistakes like this were unavoidable when drawing talismans.

Besides, the brush weighed more than usual today, making it slightly awkward to use. That only made the first attempt more likely to fail.

Li Xia put down the brush and began regulating his breathing.

Drawing that Strength Talisman had already consumed more than half his magical power.

That was right!

Right now, he really was that pathetic!

His aptitude really was that unremarkable!

If cultivators were divided into realms such as qi refining and foundation establishment, then his previous ten years of arduous cultivation had brought him to roughly half of the first level of the qi refining stage.

He did not even qualify as being at the first level.

His recovery was also extremely slow. It generally took an hour or two for him to return to full strength.

This was the main reason he had to stop and recover his magical power immediately after drawing even the lowest-grade Strength Talisman, whether he succeeded or failed. It was also one of the main reasons he had only accumulated a hundred or so talismans after studying the Li Family's Talisman Way for nearly ten years. It was why he had been unable to use spells against the Flesh-Bodied Human Face, and a major factor behind his desire for the Shikon Shards' power.

His goal in this supernatural world was longevity-eternal life.

Yet if he could only manage a pitiful average of one low-grade talisman a month, how could he possibly achieve longevity, let alone eternal life?

"Since heaven gave me a chance to transmigrate and be reborn, since it brought me to this supernatural world, I have to experience what eternal life feels like, no matter what."

"And mastering the Talisman Way is my first step toward longevity. Only when I have plenty of powerful talismans will I have the strength to protect myself, make others listen to reason with my fists, and fight for the things that benefit me."

And so...

"To draw talismans, I spent ten years practicing calligraphy and painting."

"To draw talismans, I kept tracing those strokes over and over, even in my dreams."

Talismans were the source of his confidence.

For him, right now, they were the foundation of everything.

While regulating his breathing, Li Xia drank a Spirit Fluid made using a secret family recipe that could speed up the recovery of his magical power.

This lightly fragrant Spirit Fluid was refined from a mixture of Spirit Spring water and various herbs.

The spiritual spring water with these properties came from a special Spirit Spring. Across the entire peninsula, only four such special Spirit Springs, each with a legacy stretching back over a thousand years, remained. One of them was controlled by the Li Family, practitioners of the Talisman Way.

This was also one of the main reasons the Li Family had endured.

After all, besides being used to refine Spirit Fluid that helped cultivators recover their magical power, the water from these Spirit Springs had many other miraculous effects. For instance, drinking it over a long period helped cultivators maintain their bodies in their most youthful, vigorous condition and could improve their constitution to a degree. It was even said that several centuries ago, before the End of Dharma Age arrived and the Spirit Springs deteriorated, anyone who could monopolize a special Spirit Spring had a very real chance of becoming an immortal.

Becoming a local mountain god or earthly immortal with a long lifespan would have been well within reach.

Sadly, the End of Dharma Age had brought that glorious era of cultivation to an end.

After drinking a cup of Spirit Fluid, Li Xia immediately felt his recovery speed increase by thirty percent.

"Unfortunately, low-ranking cultivators in the family like me are only supplied with three flasks of this Spirit Fluid made from Spirit Spring water each month."

Three flasks amounted to roughly six liters.

A pitifully small amount.

He normally had to use it sparingly.

Then he thought of the talented members of the main branch, who received half a cubic meter each month, and bitterness welled up inside him.

How he envied them.

"Wait. If the Shikon Shards can improve the quality of Cinnabar Ink, could they improve the quality of this Spirit Fluid too?"

At that thought, Li Xia immediately grew eager.

The problem of recovering his magical power had always been a constant headache.

His slow recovery after expending magical power made practicing all kinds of spells far less efficient.

After all, those with greater cultivation aptitude cultivated faster, had higher cultivation levels and more abundant magical power, and recovered much faster too.

As a result, they could cast dozens of spells a day, accumulating experience and improving their proficiency through repeated practice.

He, by contrast, could exhaust himself budgeting every last bit of power and still cast fewer than ten low-grade spells a day. Naturally, he lagged far behind those more talented people when it came to accumulating experience.

He had no way to improve his aptitude in the short term.

But he could use external aids to compensate for his limited magical reserves and poor recovery efficiency.

Once he realized this, Li Xia hesitated no longer.

He removed several Shikon Shards from the talisman brush and embedded them in a bamboo flask.

The flask held the Spirit Fluid that helped restore magical power.

One point needed clarification: the Shikon Shard he had left for the young girl Kagome was the one from the Flesh-Bodied Human Face's forehead. The seven he had taken away were clean shards that Kagome had spent a long time purifying.

In other words, within these Shikon Shards, the "relatively benevolent" Naohi completely suppressed the "absolutely evil" Kagari. As long as he did not greedily stuff the Shikon Shards directly into his own body, there would not be too many hidden risks.

The sentient ink created by that painter in the original story, who could practically be called Magic Brush Ma Liang, offered some evidence of this.

The painter's sentient ink had initially shown no intention of turning on its master. On the contrary, it had taken the initiative to protect him several times. Only when greed drove the painter to let the ink absorb his own blood did he bring about his own death.

The same principle applied here.

Uncorrupted Shikon Shards showed no signs of backlash when embedded in Tessaiga or the Banryu Great Spear.

Still, to be safe, Li Xia had someone find a few white mice and ran several tests. Only after discovering that the mice showed no harmful changes, and instead seemed to be undergoing a beneficial transformation, did he feel reassured enough to try a couple of small sips.

"The fragrance in this Spirit Fluid is much stronger than before."

The moment a small mouthful of Spirit Fluid reached his stomach, Li Xia's eyes widened.

"This..."

He stood rooted to the spot for a long time, silently marveling, utterly dazed.

The Spirit Fluid's restorative effect had undergone a qualitative transformation. It was thirty to fifty times better than before!

"A single Shikon Shard can multiply a low- or mid-level demon's Demon Power several times over in a short period. I never imagined that the combined effects of these seven shards would improve low-grade Spirit Fluid by dozens of times."

"I've struck it rich! I've struck it rich!"

"If I sold this Spirit Fluid to the family's higher-ups..."

"No, no, no! A man may be innocent, but possessing a treasure makes him a target! Until I have the strength to match it, I absolutely cannot let anyone see something this valuable!"