Talismans

In the small courtyard behind the Library Pavilion.

Qin Lian leafed through a volume of notes on cultivation insights.

These had been left behind by a Chunyang predecessor who had specialized in the Great Void Visualization Diagram.

He had read through them several times, with little to show for it.

"The benefits of 'discussing the Dao' with Sect Master Li are diminishing by the day. Clearly, I've already absorbed most of his understanding and 'conception' of the Great Void Visualization Diagram... There's no hope of maxing out the Great Void Visualization Diagram and reaching second grade within a month or two."

Qin Lian pondered.

Until he reached second grade, he was unwilling to descend the mountain and fight to the bitter end against an expert capable of defeating even a Heaven Ranking Grandmaster, all for five or six hundred thousand taels in revenue.

Especially when the Heavenly Martial Bureau was suspected of fanning the flames behind the scenes.

For all he knew, once he defeated Gao Qianchi, an even stronger opponent would immediately come calling.

He had read plenty of books: beat the young, and the old would come.

If third grade would not do, send in second grade.

Nothing could be more normal.

"I'll do as Sect Master Li and the others suggested. If necessary, we'll abandon Taibai Mine Mountain."

Qin Lian sighed inwardly.

The holding he had only just acquired would be gone before he had even warmed it in his hands.

For now, he focused his attention on his cultivation methods...

[Rising Sun One-Qi Formula (major accomplishment 19/100), Liuhe Duzun Sword Art (major accomplishment 3/100), Wind-Chasing Sun-Pursuing Movement Art (major accomplishment 12/100), Great Void Visualization Diagram (minor accomplishment 77/100), Great Void Sword Qi (not yet initiated 64/100)]

The Great Void Visualization Diagram and Great Void Sword Qi shared a single origin and were intimately connected.

As his progress in the Great Void Visualization Diagram rose, his Great Void Sword Qi improved remarkably as well.

Of course, the fastest progress was still in the Rising Sun One-Qi Formula, Liuhe Duzun Sword Art, and Wind-Chasing Sun-Pursuing Movement Art.

Unfortunately, those leaps and bounds had come from downing ten portions of Enlightenment Tea.

And those ten portions had consumed most of Purple Cloud Peak's stock. He would have no further chance to enjoy the exhilaration of advancing a thousand miles in a day.

"Perhaps I could bring it up with the sect master and see whether Purple Cloud Peak can squeeze out another portion or two of Enlightenment Tea?"

Qin Lian was tempted.

Just then, a voice came from outside.

"Teacher Qin, your student Tang Yao has come to visit."

"That 'why' girl?"

Qin Lian frowned.

Why had she followed him all the way to his residence?

Qin Lian pretended he was not home.

He continued leafing through the predecessor's notes.

Over five hundred years had passed since Patriarch Chunyang founded the Pure Yang Sword Sect, and no small number of Divine Intent grandmasters had mastered the Great Void Visualization Diagram.

Among them were first-grade great grandmasters who had used the Great Void Visualization Diagram to manifest phenomena and momentum.

Reading these notes and comparing them against himself could not match the thousand-mile-a-day progress of his initial "Dao discussions" with Li Wangxu, but it was still somewhat faster than burying himself in solitary cultivation.

"In Chunyang today, aside from the sect master, only Hall Master Lu, Hall Master Mu, Peak Master Yan, and Peak Master Xie possess second grade Divine Intent. But Hall Master Lu and Hall Master Mu cultivate the Northern Darkness Visualization Diagram, while Peak Master Yan and Peak Master Xie cultivate the Purple Cloud Visualization Diagram..."

Qin Lian shook his head.

They were not a match.

However...

"Chunyang also has two supreme elders. One goes by Daoist Shan Hui. Though he's over ninety, with dim, aged eyes and little fighting strength left, he was once a first-grade great grandmaster who cultivated the Great Void Phenomenon."

At that thought, Qin Lian rose to his feet.

Daoist Shan Hui lived on Forget-the-World Peak...

He had long yearned to see Forget-the-World Peak anyway. He might as well go there in person today.

He prepared a gift suitable for an elder and headed out...

But the moment he stepped outside, he saw Tang Yao standing at the gate.

She had actually stayed?

Had it not been four to six hours since she announced her visit and he gave no response?

"Teacher."

Seeing Qin Lian emerge, Tang Yao showed none of the embarrassment of someone who had been given the cold shoulder. Instead, her eyes lit up, and she hurriedly offered him a booklet. "Teacher, I spent a whole day and night pondering the Heaven-Tier Cultivation Method you mentioned yesterday, and I've finally found a lead. Please have a look..."

"Hmm?! A lead?"

Qin Lian was startled. "You understood it?"

"It's only a conjecture. Teacher, those symbols you left behind are Secret Transmission Talismans, aren't they?"

She pointed at the booklet. "I once studied the way of talismans, and they bear quite a resemblance to the symbols you left. Could I ask you to translate a little for me, Teacher?"

"Translate?"

Qin Lian looked at the booklet she held out.

He had merely memorized those formulas and symbols by rote. How would he know how to translate them?

Especially the booklet she had offered...

The talismans on it were like a heavenly script to him.

He could not even understand what he was looking at, much less translate it.

"I have important business to attend to. We'll discuss it when I have time."

Qin Lian brushed her off.

Tang Yao looked a little disappointed, but still dutifully gave a disciple's salute. "Then I'll visit you again tomorrow, Teacher."

Seeing how earnest the young girl was, her eyes brimming with a thirst for "knowledge"...

Qin Lian sighed inwardly.

"In truth, I wrote those things on a whim. They aren't any supreme spell."

He told her honestly.

"Teacher, you've forgotten that besides Beast Gathering, Bird Tuning, and the Illusory Form Technique, I also have some ability in Divination. According to my divinations, the 'Heaven-Tier Cultivation Method' you gave me contains profound truths of the Great Dao."

Tang Yao answered in all seriousness, "It's simply that my learning is shallow and my abilities inadequate, so I cannot comprehend its mysteries."

"All right, study it if you want. Consider it an exercise for your brain."

Qin Lian paid her no further attention.

"Teacher, please help me translate it as soon as possible... Your student would be endlessly grateful."

As Tang Yao spoke, she refused to withdraw the booklet.

Qin Lian ignored her and swiftly departed, heading straight for Forget-the-World Peak.

Forget-the-World Peak was the most unusual of the Chunyang Six Peaks.

Most elders advanced in years would come to Forget-the-World Peak to cultivate the Dao and refine their spirits.

Martial artists of the Qi Refining lineage began to suffer declining vitality at thirty-five. But if they could refine qi into spirit in time, gather spiritual sense, then use that spiritual sense as a foundation to hone magical power and cleanse their mortal bodies, they could generally live to seventy or eighty.

Daoist Shan Hui, for instance, had failed to cultivate a Yin Spirit and become a True Person, but the foundation laid by his Divine Intent had given him robust spiritual sense and refined magical power. He was now ninety-three.

He was only a few years younger than the former peak master, Tang Yue, who had successfully cultivated a Yin Spirit.

Qin Lian had not gone far up the mountain when a voice tinged with surprise and delight reached him from above.

"Qin Lian? Is that you?"

Qin Lian looked up.

It was Yuan Tianhe, peak master of Cloudmist Peak.

Like those former peak masters and elders, he too had come to Forget-the-World Peak.

"Master."

Qin Lian cupped his hands.

"You've come to Forget-the-World Peak to...?"

"I've come to seek the supreme elder's guidance on the mysteries of the Great Void Visualization Diagram."

Qin Lian replied.

Of the Pure Yang Sword Sect's two supreme elders, one spent year after year in seclusion, seeking to transcend the ordinary and enter sainthood.

The other...

Yuan Tianhe knew whom he meant at once.

"I'll take you there. The supreme elder usually has some free time around now."

"All right."

Qin Lian agreed and followed Yuan Tianhe straight up Forget-the-World Peak.

Compared with the other peaks, whose disciples easily numbered in the hundreds, Forget-the-World Peak had fewer than a hundred residents. Most were elderly and preferred stillness to activity, leaving the entire mountain remarkably quiet.

Noticing Qin Lian's gaze, Yuan Tianhe smiled. "Forget-the-World Peak... It truly is a fitting place to spend one's twilight years. No strings or flutes to assail the ears, no official documents to weary the body. When the sun is three poles high, everyone sits together in groups of three or five, sipping fine tea, playing plain zithers, reading golden scriptures..."

Listening to Yuan Tianhe's description, Qin Lian felt a little envious.

Now that was living.

But considering that this world had Martial Saints and Yang Spirits...

He ultimately intended to strive a little longer.

If he truly wanted such a leisurely life, he would wait until his qi made him a Martial Saint and his intent coalesced into a Yang Spirit.

"Supreme Elder Shanhui's case is truly a pity. When he condensed his Divine Intent, he had a slim chance of forming a Yin Spirit and attaining the body of a True Person. Unfortunately, Supreme Elder Song Huangting had not yet reached first grade then, and the sect still needed Shanhui to hold the fort, so he kept putting off refining qi into spirit..."

Yuan Tianhe sighed with feeling. "By the time he refined qi into spirit, it was too late. Even now, he remains at the Night Wandering Realm, with no hope of attaining a Yin Spirit."

Refining qi into spirit...

Without a Dao body, a cultivator who wished to develop magical power first had to cultivate spiritual sense.

And spiritual sense came from the secret method of refining qi into spirit.

Burning the vital essence and qi throughout the body to kindle a spark of spiritual sense.

Then using spiritual sense to cleanse vital essence and qi, as well as primordial qi, and transform them into magical power. Once magical power was formed, it could in turn cleanse the body, prolonging life.