Chapter 1438: Brute Force 101

With 38 sheets of rank six talisman paper in hand, Shang Xia would do what he normally did and start with easier rank six talismans with higher success rate. Formation Talismans, True Space Restriction Palm Talismans, Abyss Prison Emptiness Talismans, and Ice Ruins Talismans were good enough to boost his confidence and bring him good luck for the rest.

However, he chose to craft the Void Capture Talismans this time. He practiced the lower-leveled talismans in order to get a feel for it.

In the past, he had run through simulations in his mind on how to craft those talismans and after entering the level of Extreme Harmonization, he experienced an all round increase in abilities. He was confident he would be able to craft a Void Capture Talisman.

He chose 4 sheets of talisman paper that were closest to the properties of the Void Capture Talisman and some ink that would be useful. His Silver Branch Star Splendor hit the paper and he completed half the talisman without a break. Throughout the process, his movements flowed like water.

With a calm mind, Shang Xia continued slowly. The talisman was ranked slightly above average, and in the past, Shang Xia wouldn’t even dream of being able to do something like that.

It was a shame he failed to complete it on his first try. He completed three quarters of it before failing.

Instead of finding it to be a pity, Shang Xia was pleasantly surprised. He maintained an expression of confidence and he was prepared to start his next attempt immediately.

In his next 3 tries, he succeeded twice, reaching an impressive 50 percent success rate.

One had to know that crafting a Void Capture Talisman wasn’t as easy as it looked. For him to reach such a terrifying rate of success was a shocking feat.

It was only his first 4 attempts to craft Void Capture Talismans, and if he continued, his success rate would only increase.

Whatever it was, rank six talisman paper was too difficult to come by. He didn’t plan to use them all to only craft the new talismans he got his hands on.

He decided to craft a Secret Void Brilliance Talisman next, and with the experience he had earlier, he felt that he had enough talisman papers to give it a shot.

The Secret Void Brilliance Talisman was adept at breaking formations, and it was something Shang Xia was great at doing with his Six Direction Qi. There was something similar about his inner qi and the talisman and he felt it would be much easier for him to craft it.

His first attempt was a success, quickly verifying his conjecture.

He failed twice in success following his initial success, but he succeeded twice right after. Using 5 sheets of rank six talisman paper, he completed 3 Secret Void Brilliance Talismans, achieving a success rate of 60 percent.

Done with the talismans, Shang Xia felt that it was time for his Silver Branch Star Splendor Branch to take a break. He brought out the Greenwood Wolf Bristle Brush he obtained from the envoy.

It was the first time he was using the brush, and it was also the first time the brush was used since its creation.

Shang Xia might have determined the brush to be a divine artifact that surpassed the Silver Branch Star Splendor Brush, but because he was crafting talismans for the first time earlier, he wanted to use a brush he was more familiar with.

Now that he was using a completely new brush, he decided to start with the most elementary of rank six talismans, Formation Talismans. He was confident he would be able to craft them easily, but his first attempt ended in failure.

Understanding that he was rushing things a little, Shang Xia used the brush to craft several rank four and rank five talismans. When he was done, he finally returned to rank six talismans. He eventually succeeded in crafting a rank six Formation Talisman with his new brush.

He attempted to craft 2 types of variant talismans, succeeding once in his attempts. He also made 2 attempts to craft the True Space Restriction Palm Talisman which ended without failure. Next came the 3 attempts to craft Abyss Prison Emptiness Talismans where he only managed to craft 1.

With that, 18 sheets of rank six talisman paper were used. He made 10 rank six talismans from them, achieving a success rate of 55 percent.

He used the Greenwood Wolf Bristle Brush 9 times to craft a total of 5 talismans, achieving the same rate of success with the Silver Branch Star Splendor Brush.

After 9 attempts, his understanding of the brush grew deeper and he found it much easier to control. His success rate when crafting talismans with them would only rise and the brush would become something he used a lot in the future.

Because of his terrifying success rate when crafting rank six talismans, the Silver Branch Star Splendor Brush had been used too much in recent years and it suffered many small fractures which might have damaged it slightly. It was no longer as powerful as before.

After resting for a period of time to adjust his state of mind, Shang Xia started to craft rank four and rank five talismans. He ordered for someone to hand them all to the Talisman Hall before he started crafting rank six talismans again.

This time, he was going to start crafting Ice Ruins Talismans.

The difficulty of crafting them was comparable to Abyss Prison Emptiness Talismans, but if he used talisman paper and ink were of the same element, the difficulty of crafting Ice Ruins Talismans would be lower.

There wasn't any suitable talisman paper, but he managed to get his hands on Mysterious Yin Ink from Song Zhen, who bought it from the Ruined Market of the Sea of Stars for a high price, and it was perfect for crafting the talisman.

Shang Xia used the entire bottle of ink, making 6 attempts in total, succeeding 4 times.

After that, he refined his brush with his inner qi, expelling the frosty qi before starting to craft other talismans.

With Ice Ruins Talismans completed, he moved on to Six Direction Teleportation Talismans.

From a standpoint if they purely compared the difficulty of crafting each talisman, the Six Direction Teleportation Talisman was only easier compared to the Myriad Tinted Cloud Talisman and the Golden Phoenix Leaving Flame Talisman. However, it was a talisman he came up with and he put in a lot of effort in its research. His success rate when it came to crafting them wasn’t low.

However, he only allocated 4 tries to the Six Direction Teleportation Talisman where he only created 2, achieving a success rate of 50 percent.

Next came the Golden Phoenix Leaving Flame Talisman. It was the rank six talisman he obtained, or rather, scammed, from the Phoenix Cry Sect in exchange for assassinating an envoy. In terms of pure offensive might, it could be considered the strongest talisman under the seventh rank!

However, because he didn’t practice it much, he only created 1 after trying 3 times.

Expelling the excess energy from his brush, Shang Xia looked at the remaining 7 sheets of talisman paper and fell deep into thought.

They were sheets of special talisman paper the Wanyun Association provided. It was a shame after they abandoned him back then to fend for himself, with a slight intention of malice, their relationship broke down completely. Those talisman papers were the only ones he had since their last trade.

After thinking for some time, Shang Xia made up his mind. He started to craft Myriad Tinted Cloud Talismans. However, he only used 4 sheets of the special talisman paper to succeed twice. The success rate was passable, but not the best.

He didn’t intend to use the final 3 sheets to craft Myriad Tinted Cloud Talismans. Instead, he prepared to use them for other purposes.

Pouring his inner qi into his Greenwood Wolf Bristle Brush, he decided to craft Variant Talismans.

His main goal wasn’t to craft 1 of them. Instead, he wanted to attempt to fuse several Variant Talismans together in a single sheet.

𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

He tried it many times in the past, but he never succeeded.

Ever since Shang Xia heard about Star Devouring Silkworms from True Immortal Qiu of the Essence Ming World and their uses, he had been trying to get his hands on their silk through every means possible.

It was a shame the silkworms were pretty much wiped out, leaving several dozen in the Star Origin Dao Field.

Shang Xia got Feng Ziying to look for them, but he failed to get any information even after such a long time.

For cloth made from the silk of Star Devouring Silkworms, Shang Xia knew that they might be rare in the sea of stars, but the members of Song Zhen’s caravan had seen them occasionally. Even True Immortal Qiu sold him a few pieces, but after he gave them all to Ren Huan to research, True Immortal Qiu refused to sell him anymore no matter what price he was willing to pay.

After failing to get his hands on any, Shang Xia started to look for alternatives. He wanted to try to fuse all the Variant Talismans into a single sheet of talisman paper to see what would happen.

Having failed every single time before, he felt that with the improvements in his skills, he might be able to eventually succeed.

He had become a sixth tier True Immortal, and his achievements in the dao of talismans rose accordingly. He had been practicing, and it was time for him to see the fruits of his labor.

Too bad for him, it ended in failure again. He made 2 attempts where the talisman paper exploded into a pile of stardust before him.

Looking at the final sheet of special talisman paper he had, Shang Xia wore an uncertain expression. However, he eventually made up his mind and dipped his brush into the ink beside it.

This time, he decided to only fuse 2 types of Variant Talisman. Even though he made many mistakes, he managed to suppress the effects with his special Six Direction Qi. After lowering the bar, he succeeded, but he had no idea what effects the completed talisman had.