The Power of Talismans

A faint, almost imperceptible sweet rain sprinkled down on Shi Xuan, instantly clearing his mind. He struck the token again, and both lightning and golden light flared, striking the tiger-headed monster and preventing it from attacking, forcing it to focus solely on defense. Unfortunately, even with the altar's power, Shi Xuan could only activate two talismans at once. If he could have unleashed four or five, he might have broken through the monster's defenses.

The current situation was disadvantageous for Shi Xuan. He didn't have many talismans left, and most of them weren't for direct offense or defense. He had one Soul Sealing Ghost Summoning Curse talisman, one Righteousness and Evil Resistance Incantation talisman, one poison removal talisman, and one Universal Salvation Sweet Rain Incantation talisman. For direct offense and defense, he only had one Qi Induction Thunder Talisman drawn by Old Daoist Xu, two Golden Light Soul Breaking Talismans, two Earth Armor Talismans (one of which he drew himself), and one Fire Burning Talisman.

Although the tiger-headed monster was expending a lot of energy controlling the black banner and attacking with its pale wind blades, appearing exhausted, Shi Xuan lacked the confidence that his remaining few talismans could break through its defenses and defeat it.

Shi Xuan gritted his teeth and made a decision. While trump cards were important, his life was more precious!

He struck the token, and a yellow earth armor formed on his body. With another tap, the Disaster Aversion and Blessing Incantation was quickly cast with the altar's aid. This spell allowed Shi Xuan's energy to recover rapidly, making him even more clear-headed.

Next, while the tiger-headed monster was focused on defense, Shi Xuan performed the Yu steps, channeling his soul power according to Old Daoist Xu's method. Finally, he painfully bit his tongue, spraying a mouthful of blood onto the token, which immediately emitted a faint red glow.

At this moment, the tiger-headed monster had shattered the incoming lightning and golden light. Seeing Shi Xuan casting a spell, it understood that something powerful was coming and hurriedly gathered all its strength. One of its heads continuously spat out two pale wind blades, attempting to interrupt Shi Xuan before he finished casting. The other head fully activated the black banner, casting countless strands of black light to protect itself.

Seeing the wind blades approaching, Shi Xuan didn't dodge. He shouted, "Hurry!" while tracing a specific path with the token before slamming it onto the table.

Suddenly, the four candles flared several times brighter before dimming. Four small banners rose, hovering half a foot above the table. In the center of the table, on the Zhen position of the Eight Trigrams, the Ancient Cloud Seal Script on the Great Unity Sky Thunder Talisman lit up in a mysterious sequence, finally transforming into ancient, profound cloud seal characters floating between the small banners. The cloud script resembled strands of golden-green lightning intertwined with each other.

The wind blades struck Shi Xuan, relentlessly wearing down his protective yellow earth armor. Compared to the earth wall, the armor formed by the Earth Armor Talisman was stronger, but it couldn't completely block the two full-power wind blades from the tiger-headed monster. The last sliver of the wind blades broke through the earth armor, leaving numerous gashes on Shi Xuan's upper body.

The yellow earth armor vanished, and the wind blades were depleted. Shi Xuan's Daoist Robe was in tatters, revealing countless wounds where it was torn. His entire upper body was bloody. However, Shi Xuan's actual injuries were not as severe as they appeared. The wind blades were at the end of their power, and his upper body only had minor wounds.

After unleashing the wind blades, the tiger-headed monster saw the strange phenomenon of Shi Xuan's talisman and knew it was not to be trifled with. It didn't intend to stand and take the hit. It summoned a black wind and flew into the air, intending to evade this wave of attack.

The cloud script lightning formed by the Great Unity Sky Thunder Talisman suddenly contracted, then expanded explosively. A massive golden-green lightning bolt struck towards the tiger-headed monster. The lightning was incredibly fast, and Shi Xuan had locked onto the monster's aura when he used it. It was quickly catching up to the monster's black wind.

Seeing that it couldn't evade, the tiger-headed monster became ferocious and spat a mouthful of blood onto the black banner. The banner immediately doubled in size, becoming over ten feet tall. The evil ghost heads on the banner's surface bled from their eyes, and the black light they emitted was mixed with red, appearing even more evil and bloody, but also more resilient and radiant.

When the golden-green lightning bolt struck the black light, there was no sound or ripple. The black light simply melted away like snow under the scorching sun. The lightning bolt struck the black banner directly without any obstruction.

The evil spirits on the black banner let out ear-splitting screams and then exploded. Under this immense impact, the black banner revealed a massive evil ghost head with two horns, which collided with the lightning bolt.

With a BOOM, a violent explosion suddenly erupted. Black, tattered fragments fluttered down like falling leaves. In the explosion, the black wind controlled by the tiger-headed monster was blown to smithereens. The tiger-headed monster fell to the ground like a stone, entangled with only a tenth of its former size of golden-green lightning.

During the short fall, Shi Xuan saw the tiger-headed monster first revert to its original form—a giant tiger with two heads—within the lightning. Then, the tiger turned black and charred. Afterward, the soul of the two-headed tiger emerged, and finally, with a mournful howl, it completely vanished into the lightning.

The golden-green lightning bolt, with its remaining power, struck the ground along with the two-headed tiger's corpse. With a loud BANG, the ground was blasted open into a pit half a person high and over ten feet wide. Only then did the lightning slowly dissipate.

Although Shi Xuan had an extraordinary Dao heart, he was still astonished. The power of the Great Unity Sky Thunder Talisman was far greater than he had imagined, and it even possessed the mysterious ability to lock onto an aura.

This power was not something a cultivator at the Qi Induction and Soul Tempering realm could leave behind, he mused inwardly. It must have been at least at the Spirit Soul Union realm. He glanced at the large pit again, his mouth twitching slightly. If this tiger had flown overhead just now, wouldn't its falling power have sent him straight to the afterlife? Of course, that scenario was unlikely, as the tiger was trying to escape, not attack.

After letting out a sigh of relief, Shi Xuan felt the pain and discomfort in his body. He was utterly exhausted and weary. He quickly struck the token, activating the remaining Universal Salvation Sweet Rain Incantation talisman, bathing himself in the sweet rain. His wounds gradually stopped bleeding, shrank, and scabbed over. Finally, Shi Xuan lightly brushed them, and the scars fell off, leaving no trace.

After activating the Great Unity Sky Thunder Talisman, three of the four candles on the temporary altar were extinguished. The remaining one flickered precariously and almost went out when Shi Xuan activated the Universal Salvation Sweet Rain Incantation talisman. The four small banners returned to their original positions, but the banners on two of them had torn large holes. Although they could still be used, the altar's effectiveness was greatly reduced.

The worst off was the token. After being fueled by Shi Xuan's blood, it now looked like an ancient artifact centuries old, dim and worn. Shi Xuan estimated that it would be completely depleted after one or two more uses.

However, this was to be expected. Using such a powerful talisman beyond his level would naturally come at a cost. Back then, Old Daoist Xu, who was in the late Soul Departure stage, had used this talisman and was still severely injured by the backlash. It was entirely normal for Shi Xuan to sacrifice half of his altar's components, which couldn't even be considered Magic Tools.

Standing there and recovering some energy, Shi Xuan picked up the remaining talismans from the temporary altar and placed them in his sleeve. He then slowly walked to the edge of the large pit, carefully observing his surroundings. If anything seemed amiss, he would immediately use a talisman to supplement.

However, the power of the lightning was unimaginably immense, leaving no trace of life for the two-headed tiger. In the pit, slightly to the left of the center, lay the tattered black banner, struck by lightning. The two-headed tiger's corpse was scattered in a circle around the banner. Shi Xuan could tell at a glance that the body had been blown into countless pieces.

Jumping into the pit, Shi Xuan walked to the black banner and squatted down to examine it closely. The strings of bone human heads hanging from the sides of the banner were long gone, blown away somewhere. The eerie patterns on the banner's surface had a large hole in the middle, with several tears of varying sizes around it. The flagpole was broken into three pieces.

Shi Xuan sighed inwardly. He had lost all his savings this time just to get this broken Magic Tool. He would have to go to the tiger's lair later to see if there was a way to repair Magic Tools.

After securing the black banner and flagpole and collecting the remaining fragments of the banner, Shi Xuan climbed out of the pit. As soon as he stood firm, he heard Ding Mingde's distant call: "Heavenly Master! Brother Zi'ang! Is the monster dead?"

"It's alright, you two. Just do some strenuous exercises on the spot and then come over," Shi Xuan replied, still needing the two to clean up the battlefield while he was utterly exhausted.

In two corners of the courtyard, the figures of Ding Mingde and Yan Jujian slowly emerged. Yan Jujian was practicing a sword technique, while Ding Mingde was performing movements similar to the Five Animal Frolics.

Seeing their invisibility effects disappear, Shi Xuan waved to them, signaling them to come over.

"Brother Yan, Brother Mingde, this humble Taoist has killed the monster. Please go down and collect its corpse. Such a large tiger, hehe, it will make for good ingredients. I still need to tidy up this altar," Shi Xuan explained what he needed them to do.

The two had witnessed the entire battle. They were utterly awestruck by the power of Shi Xuan's final blow, and the large pit was even more terrifyingly indicative of the power than the black light from the sky and the massive explosion. They were still too shocked to speak much, merely nodding to Shi Xuan before heading towards the pit.

The appearance of the tiger-headed monster had also left a deep impression on them. If not for the final earth-shattering blow, Ding Mingde's nightmares would surely have featured this monster. Now, however, the swift and decisive killing of the two-headed tiger by the final blow had shifted Ding Mingde's thoughts towards the unparalleled power of Daoist magic. Yan Jujian, despite his extensive experience in the Jianghu, had never seen a monster with a tiger's head and a human's body before, and he couldn't help but feel a secret fear.

As they carefully collected the two-headed tiger's corpse, both felt as though they were dreaming.