Chapter 366: Shang Jian’s Intentions

A few days had passed since the gathering Shang Xia attended and ever since he returned to the Shang Clan Manor, he had been cultivating quietly to strengthen his inner qi.

He might have reached the grand completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm and looked like there was nothing left for him to do other than to break through to the Martial Extermination Realm, but that wasn’t true.

There were many things he could do to strengthen his foundations. It was true that other people who had reached the grand completion stage of the Martial Intent Realm had nothing to do other than to wait for a breakthrough, but he advanced too quickly! As he strengthened his foundations, he was also getting into his peak state to craft a rank three talisman.

Even though he had been hiding in the Shang Clan Manor in a state of semi-seclusion, the situation was different from the time he was in the Changfeng City. In the Shang Clan Manor, Yan Qi would return from time to time to report to him things that were happening throughout the city.

Speaking of which, Shang Xia found things to be a little weird. Wu Tingfang and Huo Wuji might have subtly released the news of the Tongyou Institution’s plan to reopen the spatial tunnel, but the undercurrents he expected to rock the city didn’t happen.

After taking some time to think about it, Shang Xia discovered why that was the case.

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One was the fact that being able to enter the battlefield between the two worlds was a great opportunity. Those who learned about it wouldn’t go around spreading the news like wildfire! They would only tell those in their faction or some close friends.

Next, it wouldn’t be easy for anyone to receive the institution’s permission to enter the battlefield between the two worlds. Only those who were at least in the Martial Extremity Realm had the qualifications to enter!

The second condition was more than enough to stop 80 percent of those who wanted to enter the battlefield between the two worlds.

The only problem they had was that no one knew when the Tongyou Institution would reopen the spatial tunnel.

Also, Shang Xia was technically still a student of the Inner Division in the Tongyou Institution. Even though his cultivation level had long surpassed many seniors in the institution and he could be considered an unparalleled existence under the Martial Extermination Realm, his status in the institution couldn’t even be compared to Sun Haiwei and Tian Mengzi! In fact, any Upper Division disciple would be given more responsibility than him.

As an Inner Division disciple, Shang Xia was naturally not privy to information like the opening of the spatial tunnel.

Because of that, Shang Xia went to fish for more information from Shang Ke. Even so, he failed to gain much knowledge on the matter. Shang ke didn’t seem to be clear about what was going on either.

As such, Shang Xia could only attempt to guess the institution’s intentions by looking at their battle preparations. At the same time, he had to prepare himself to the best of his abilities.

Shang Xia’s plan to obtain rank three talisman papers didn’t stop at the gathering Tian Mengzi brought him to. He requested for Shang Quan to look for rank three talisman papers back in the Changfeng City and Shang Quan had been doing it ever since.

It was a pity the Tongyou Institution was the greatest supplier of rank three talisman paper. They were also making their own battle preparations, and there was no way they could provide Shang Quan with much.

With the Shang Clan operating at full capacity to look for rank three talisman paper, they mobilized their power within and outside the Tongyou City to gather seven pieces in total. Shang Quan passed them all to Shang Xia in the manor. The amount Shang Quan obtained couldn’t even be compared to those Shang Xia traded!

Moreover, the rank three talisman paper Shang Quan gathered for Shang Xia were counted as resources provided by the clan. After he succeeded in crafting the talismans, he would have to contribute a small portion of them back to the Shang Clan!

The condition of contributing a small portion of the talismans he created was already a great bargain the Shang Clan gave to Shang Xia. That was because they knew he had just become a rank three talisman master and his success rate of crafting rank three talismans was low!

The institution didn’t remain idle either. The master of the Hundred Professions Pavilion came over to invite Shang Xia back to the institution to craft talismans.

They obviously knew that Shang Xia had already become a rank three talisman master after receiving information from their sources.

Shang Xia was a student of the Tongyou Institution and it went without saying that they were allowed to ask him for help, but that was it. Since he didn’t use the institution’s resources to reach his current level nor did he request the institution’s help, they couldn’t force him to do their bidding. Instead, they went over to the Shang Clan to cordially invite him over to assist in their efforts.

Requesting for his uncle, Shang Quan, to pay him a visit, Shang Xia handed his uncle a small bottle the moment he arrived.

“Uncle Quan, do you think you can study this bottle of rank three talisman ink and craft higher ranked talisman inks in the future?” Shang XIa asked.

“Is this a bottle of Endless Red?” Shang Quan identified it instantly. He gasped softly, “Where did you get this?”

Shang Xia gave him a rough description of what happened the other day when Tian Mengzi brought him to the gathering of Martial Intent Realm cultivators.

Thinking for a moment, Shang Quan muttered, “It might help me a little, but it will only serve to give me some inspiration. After all, these can’t be considered some sort of advancement medicine. It will be quite impossible for me to re-create this even if I have a sample. I will need to carry out countless experiments and waste god knows how much resources in order to make better talisman ink.”

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

After some negotiations, Shang Quan retrieved a small tube of the ink with Shang Xia’s permission.

Looking at the amount Shang Quan took away, Shang Xia discovered that there was probably about 80 percent of the ink left.

That would be enough to craft around 4 rank three talismans.

Watching Shang Quan leave the courtyard, Yan Qi suddenly entered with a strange expression plastered on his face. He bowed slightly as he gestured to welcome someone else.

“Second Uncle, why are you here?” A trace of surprise flashed across Shang Xia’s face and he hurriedly called for someone to serve some tea.

The relationship between the two could be said to be extremely awkward, but none of them felt any malice for each other.

Shang Jian was a lot more well-versed with the world than Shang Yang and he helped Shang Xia out many times in the past. Other than a little bit of awkwardness left between the two of them, they were actually pretty chill.

When Shang Xia went missing the other time, he tried his best to locate the kid. He even looked for Shang Xi and Yan Qi to see if they had any news of him.

After Shang Xia spoke to Shang Pei during his stay in the Changfeng City, almost all the hostility he had for those uncles and aunts who had some beef with the clan dissipated. Those long-lost aunts and uncles who might have left the clan because of some nasty incident in the past seemed to have already received some form of forgiveness from those of the older generation. Shang Ke didn’t seem to be the only one who was pushing for their return. Shang Xia could tell that even Shang Bo had given his implicit permission for them to come back.

With the increase in his cultivation realm, Shang Xia seemed to be able to see the situation a lot more clearly. He could tell that a huge change was coming and it might happen in the coming years.

When that happened, not a single faction would be able to stay on the sidelines. The opportunity that would befall their clan would depend on how strong they could become before then.

As Shang Xia and Shang Jian sat in the courtyard sipping their tea, Shang Jian finally broke the silence. “I heard that you’ve been gathering rank three talisman paper. I’ve been roaming the world for a long time and I managed to form some connections out there. I managed to obtain 3 rank three talisman paper after looking around and I hope you don’t think they’re too little.”

After he spoke, he placed a small wooden box on the table between them. There were exactly 3 rank three talisman papers in it.

Shang Xia didn’t reject the gift and he chuckled happily, “Second Uncle, I won’t stand on ceremony then!”

In the past, Shang Xia heard from Shang Quan that ever since he requested for rank three talisman paper, Shang Jian went looking for Shang Quan to confirm that Shang Xia had actually become a rank three talisman master.

For close to 20 years, Shang Jian had been living outside the You Continent. His connections in the clan and in the Tongyou City wouldn’t be better than Shang Quan and it wasn’t likely for him to be able to gather 3 pieces of rank three talisman paper with his network in the city. As such, he definitely expended a lot of effort to obtain them.

Shang Jian felt a trace of joy in his heart when he saw Shang Xia accepting his gift.

After a short discussion, Shang Jian finally brought up the true reason he was looking for Shang Xia. “Little Xia, your cultivation increased by leaps and bounds since we last met but your cousins… Those two brats are still stuck in the Martial Extremity Realm. They might also be walking down the way of the sword, but the way they train is different from me. I don’t really have a way to help them myself…”

Shang Xia nodded and chuckled in response, “I left seven sword arts in our clan from my insights. They can take a look at them and see if any of the sword arts suit them.”

A wide grin appeared on Shang Jian’s face in that instant. However, he regained his composure and thanked Shang Xia sincerely, “Your second uncle will have to thank you in their stead then! Many thanks!”

Shang Jian had seen Shang Xia’s sword art when he was in the Martial Extremity Realm and discovered that the various sword qi he had fused perfectly together. When he unleashed his Seven Laceration Sword, it was able to contend with Martial Intent Realm experts!

If they could learn a thing or two from Shang Xia’s sword techniques, Shang Jian was certain that the two of them would be able to smoothly enter the Martial Intent Realm in the future.

After Shang Xia sent Shang Jian away, he turned to look at Yan Qi whose expression was fluctuating wildly. It seemed as though he was contemplating whether or not he should say something to Shang Xia.

Seeing the look of discomfort on Yan Qi’s face, Shang Xia broke out into laughter. “Seventh Uncle, why do you look so constipated? With our relationship, is there a need to keep secrets from each other?”

Heaving a sigh of relief, words shot out of Yan Qi’s lips like bullets out a machine gun. “Young master, don’t you know about the strand of extermination origin the institution rewarded our clan with? The Second Master has been looking for the patriarch really often recently to ask for it!”

Shang Xia didn’t stop laughing. “I am far from advancing into the Martial Extermination Realm. As a matter of fact, I don’t think that extermination origin is suitable for me in the first place.”

After obtaining eight rank three talisman paper or equivalent from the gathering, seven from Shang Quan, and three from Shang Jian, Shang Xia managed to gather 18 rank three talisman paper in total! It was more than enough to keep him busy for some time!

Unfortunately, he only had a small portion of the Endless Red ink left. Shang Quan didn’t bring him any rank three ink, and he could only use rank two talisman ink once he ran out. It would slightly affect the power contained in the talisman slightly but it was something Shang Xia had to accept.

After all, even in the Hundred Professions Pavilion in the Tongyou Institution, there wasn’t enough rank three talisman ink to go around.

Done with his preparations, Shang Xia was in no hurry to start the crafting process. Instead, he crafted more than a dozen rank two talismans to familiarize himself with the Flying Goose Brush.

The Flying Goose Brush was of the same rank as his Thorny Brush, but the Flying Goose Brush was evidently better than the Thorny Brush in all aspects. Regardless of the way it was crafted or the smoothness of the brush, the Flying Goose Brush put the Thorny Brush to shame.

When he was familiar with the Flying Goose Brush, Shang Xia regulated his qi again and he discovered that he was in a pretty amazing state to be crafting talismans. Taking out a piece of rank three talisman paper, he started his first attempt.

The first rank three talisman paper was used to create the Golden Lightning Spear Talisman that he was familiar with and with him already succeeding twice previously, he was confident of successfully crafting a third.

Even though he wasn’t in a special state of enlightenment like he was the first two times, he was still extremely focused. He managed to split his divine sense off and complete the talisman in three short days.

Without a doubt, succeeding on the first try was a great confidence booster for Shang Xia.

After he took a short break, Shang Xia didn’t bother cultivating to return to his peak state as he wanted to ride on the familiarity he had with the brush. He started on the second piece of talisman paper and soon, the third.

In less than fifteen days, he managed to compete three rank three Golden Lightning Spear Talismans!

Compared to his previous success rate, he was on a roll! One could say that he improved a ton since then. At the very least, he was able to craft Golden Lightning Spear Talismans with a pretty high hit rate now.