Chapter 325: Refining the Binding Talisman

Grinning, Fang CHen preached, “The Dao of Talismans is easy as long as you practice diligently.”

“Easy, huh....” Fang Ao laughed bitterly on the inside. When he was younger, he had the exact same thought. However, an ordinary Divine Movement Talisman had cost him a month’s time of effort, and so he had given up on that path.

If a Divine Movement Talisman had been that challenging to make, then the Purple Lightning Talisman would be even more so...

“The Purple Lightning Talisman... was it passed down to your family by Ancestor Tingyuan?” asked Fang Ao tentatively.

If the inheritance of the Purple Lightning Talisman had been passed down to Fang Chen by Fang Tingyuan, then it had to have originated from that first-tier empire’s dao sect. Problem would be, Fang Chen wasn’t a disciple of that sect, so if Fang Tingyuan had passed down the dao sect's techniques without their consent, it could bring the Fang Family a whole lot of trouble that they couldn’t handle.

With that in mind, Fang Ao's expression became even more solemn.

“Ancestor Tingyuan did not pass down to us anything that’s related to cultivation,” Fang Chen shook his head slightly and said, “The Purple Lightning Talisman was taught to me by an elder from my sect.”

Fang Ao heaved a sigh of relief, but he couldn’t help but grow wary at the mention of a sect that possessed the inheritance of the Purple Lightning Talisman. After all, even the Fang Family didn't know how to craft such a talisman.

“What's the name of your sect? Perhaps I know something about it.”

“I'm just here to practice. According to the rules of my sect, I cannot casually reveal its name. Please don't take offense, Elder Fang Ao," replied Fang Chen with a smile

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“I see...” Fang Ao nodded slightly and said, “Nevermind then. I’ll leave you to rest while I leave to attend to some matters.” After which, he turned and left, exiting the courtyard.

Not long later, a Foundation Building Realm cultivator met up with Fang Ao and asked, “How is it? Is his Purple Lightning Talisman related to Ancestor Tingyuan?”

“He said it was taught to him by his sect. If what he said is true, then we cannot underestimate his sect. Let's keep this under wraps lest the news spreads too quickly," muttered Fang Ao.

The Foundation Building Realm cultivator nodded lightly with a sigh. “He’s Ancestor Tingyuan’s descendant, no doubt about it. He must have excellent talent for him to be taught the Purple Lightning Talisman. He might have an aura concealing treasure on him, too. I can’t discern his cultivation level.”

Fang Ao nodded in agreement. “Yes, even I could not tell what stage of the Qi Refining Realm he is in.”

“It's not important though. What matters is the attitude of the Head toward him. He doesn’t seem that he’s planning on nurturing him, and he’d rather keep him hidden.”

“It's hard to say. Let's treat him as an ordinary disciple of the family for now. If the Head has any further arrangements, we'll naturally be informed.”

“Alright.”

After their conversation, both of them went their separate ways.

Simultaneously, at that very moment, Fang Chen's divine soul returned to his body.

It had been clear from their conversation that they weren’t suspicious of Fang Chen’s cultivation level, and only thought of him as an ordinary Qi Refining Realm cultivator. In the empire, only Xia Ji, Master Chanyuan and Wu Ruochou knew about Fang Chen’s cultivation level, which was undoubtedly a good thing, as it allowed him to secretly make talismans and accumulate the spirit stones needed to purchase spiritual treasures at the trade conference. Fang Chen was hoping that Little Sword would be able to reach the third rank of the sword body with the help of these spiritual treasures.

The several young men that were at Fang Chen’s service were naturally close, but seeing that he was seemingly deep in thought, they remained quiet.

Fang Chen glanced at them and casually asked, “Do all of you work for Elder Fang Ao?”

“We work for the third branch. Elder Fang Ao occasionally assigns us some miscellaneous tasks,” answered one of the young men in a low voice. He seemed to be the youngest among the group, but his martial cultivation seemed to be the highest of them all.

“What's your name and cultivation level?” asked Fang Chen with a smile.

“I am Li Cang. I recently advanced to the third level of the Heaven Profound Stage, the Royal Qi Stage,” replied Li Cang hurriedly.

Fang Chen nodded with a smile before turning to enter his courtyard. “I only need one person to stay with me. You may stay. The rest of you can go about your business.”

The other young men instantly cast Li Cang envious looks.

"Brother Li Cang, you're in luck this time. This person doesn't seem simple. If you can cultivate alongside him, you might be able to advance to the Imperial Qi realm, becoming a martial emperor,” one of them said.

Although martial artists were considered inferior to cultivators, a martial emperor would be treated with great respect by ordinary cultivators and would hold important positions in the Fang Family. The Fang Family had around twenty to thirty martial emperors, who were all highly valued by the elders, and they were assigned important tasks to undertake.

Li Cang was secretly excited, but he humbly replied, “Don't flatter me, brothers. I was just lucky.”

After exchanging pleasantries, Li Cang bid farewell to his colleagues and immediately entered the courtyard after Fang Chen to sweep and water the plants.

In the quiet room, Fang Chen took out the talisman materials. He was planning on crafting the Binding Talisman now. According to the manual he had found stashed in Demon King Tianfeng’s cave dwelling, the Binding Talisman was the most difficult out of the three talismans. Fortunately, he had made the Illusion Talisman before, so he was mentally prepared for the high difficulty of the mid-grade, yellow-rank talisman.

Several days later, as the final stroke landed, the spiritual energy in the surroundings continuously poured into the talisman. Fang Chen was long prepared as he used his spiritual energy to envelop the quiet room, preventing the external world from sensing this abnormality. The abnormality lasted for a short duration before the aura on the talisman gradually stabilized. Fang Chen gently picked it up and examined it closely.

It was his first time making a Binding Talisman, so he couldn't determine its quality. However, at the very least, he could use this talisman to deal with those early-stage Foundation Building Realm cultivators. If its quality was slightly higher, it could also be effective against mid-stage Foundation Building Realm cultivators.

“I have depleted my spiritual energy thirty-one times, failed four times, and lost some spiritual materials in the last five days,” murmured Fang Chen. Losing spiritual materials wasn’t that big of a deal. On the other hand, to an ordinary person, after depleting their spiritual energy, they’d need quite a bit of time to recover their reserves. However, Fang Chen was able to skip this step altogether. Since his spiritual energy reserves would recover after they were exhausted, he had a significant advantage when crafting talismans. It even allowed him to gain a lot of hands-on experience, much more than what other cultivators would be able to gain in months or years.

“Looking back on these past few days, I’m still not skilled enough where I could craft Binding Talismans with the same level of familiarity I have when I craft Purple Lightning Talisman. I need to practice more,” he muttered to himself. He put away the Binding Talisman and took out a blank yellow talisman paper to work on it.

Time passed quickly, and half a month went by. During this time, Fang Chen occasionally left in his divine soul to check on Xia Ji and Lord Tiger.

As for the Binding Talisman, Fang Chen became increasingly skilled in crafting it. From initially failing two or three times to failing just one time now, he had gradually reached a point where failure was almost nonexistent. However, crafting one Binding Talisman required his undivided attention for three days and three nights without any distractions. It was different from when he was making the Purple Lightning Talisman, where he could simultaneously practice the Five Element Controlling Technique.

During these days, Fang Chen managed to create four Binding Talismans in total. However, the quality of the last three was the same as the first one, showing no improvement.

In front of the courtyard, several young men and women arrived. Their expressions were somewhat grim, and one of them sneered, “Even my older brother couldn't have this courtyard, but now Elder Fang Ao has actually given it to someone? I want to see what kind of person he is to receive such favor from Elder Fang Ao.”