Chapter 413: Shang Xia’s Confidence

“You’re overestimating yourself!” Fan Yuanhui couldn’t help but snap at Shang Xia, “Kid, I know that you managed to craft a few rank three talismans by relying on your luck, but you better not speak without thinking! It’s possible to craft 16 pieces of Formation Talisman with the resources we have ordinarily, but we’re in a rush right now! Do you think we have the luxury to take our time when crafting talismans?”

Facing Fan Yuanhui’s angry response, Shang Xia seemed completely unaffected. He waited for Fan Yuanhui to be done before chuckling softly, “It’s difficult for the two of you to complete the 16 talismans required, but I’m here now.”

“You?” Fan Yuanhui sneered in response. He was too lazy to follow up with more insults and chose to remain silent.

At the side, Gong Hang added, “It’s good for youngsters like you to be confident in yourself. However, you need to be realistic. It’s not difficult for a rank three Talisman Master to craft a rank three talisman successfully and quickly with a little luck, but the real problem lies in your true success rate. It also depends on how much inner qi and divine sense you exhaust when crafting rank three talismans and how long you take to recover. Also, if you can maintain the same state when crafting talismans after you recover.”

“With the large amounts of rank three talismans we’re crafting, we might not be able to recover to our optimal condition after every talisman. Even so, we need to maintain our success rate and it’s extremely difficult to do so!”

Gong Hang looked at Shang Xia and said earnestly, “After all, every time you cut off a portion of your divine sense, you need a lot of time to recover. It’s extremely taxing to craft a rank three talisman!”

Even though Gong Hang didn’t put it as bluntly as Fan Yuanhui, he was obviously disguising his ‘teachings’ to look down on Shang Xia.

Zhang Haogu might be knowledgeable and knew a little about talisman crafting, but he wasn’t a true talisman master. Seeing as the two of them were trying to dissuade Shang Xia from starting with the rank two talismans, he felt that he had to take their views into account.

A soft laughter emerged from Shang Xia’s lips suddenly and he took out a few pieces of rank three talisman paper. “Why don’t you give me a chance? I have 6 pieces of rank three talisman papers here. I’ll use them to complete 3 Formation Talismans. If I fail, I’ll give these to the Talisman Hall.”

“Young Master Shang, are you really planning to give it a shot?” Gong Hang muttered in a low voice. He wasn’t willing to see Shang Xia waste his own talisman papers for the sake of the Talisman Hall, but he didn’t wish to offend Shang Xia even further now that things had come down to this.

Moreover, Gong Hang’s relationship with Shang Ke wasn’t bad to begin with. He was the one who crafted the Suspended Spear Talisman Shang Ke requested in the past.

Fan Yuanhui didn’t seem too convinced but he eventually broke the silence. “Let him do as he wishes. After all, it isn’t difficult for him to bring out 6 pieces of rank three talisman paper with the Shang Clan’s foundations. He’ll give up after he fails.”

“Since you wish to try, go ahead and enter. However, I’ll have to let you know that due to our tight timeline, you’ll need to complete the talismans in a month.” Gong Hang gestured to one of the secret chambers and sighed.

Entering the secret chamber, Shang Xia heard Gong Hang’s voice behind him. “This is the secret chamber I use to craft talismans. Everything you need should be in here. If Young Master Shang would like to use your own equipment, that would be great. Otherwise, feel free to let me know of any other requests you might have. I’ll get someone to prepare anything else you need.”

Gong Hang brought Shang Xia around and introduced the place to him.

Looking around, Shang Xia laughed happily, “This is amazing! It’s much better than when I tried crafting talismans. If there’s nothing else, I’ll start right now.”

Gong Hang stared at Shang Xia in shock as he didn’t think that Shang Xia would be ready so quickly. He might be a little concerned, but he took his leave nonetheless.

Watching the entrance seal up and the restrictions on the walls activate, Zhang Haogu, who was outside, frowned. “How many talismans do you think he’ll be able to make?”

Gong Hang sighed softly, “Mister Zhang, we’re not trying to make things difficult for him, but this isn’t the time to nurture talents by letting him use all the resources he wants.”

“Heh, I’m quite confident in the kid’s abilities. He might actually be able to complete 3 talismans in a month.” Zhang Haogu added when he heard how neither of them had dared to give a response.

Shaking his head, Gong Hang muttered, “Actually, he doesn't need to complete 3 talismans. As long as he manages to finish 2, I would gladly welcome him to assist us. After all, we will need to complete 49 talismans in the second batch…”

“2? Hehe, I’ll admit that I was wrong if he manages to complete a single one.” Fan Yuanhui snorted in disdain. “Luckily for us, even if he fails, our progress won’t be too affected. After all, he’ll be returning the talisman papers he wasted. Then again, if he completes a Formation Talisman, he’ll actually make our lives easier. However, this secret chamber…”

Gong Hang chuckled in response, “It’s alright. A secret chamber can be built in 3 days or so. We’ll just give him this one. No matter what, he’s a rank three talisman master now. It’s perfect timing as I need some time to recover from all the talismans I made in the past few days. Our progress won’t be affected at all.”

…

When Gong Hang left the secret chamber, Shang Xia looked around the place again before getting ready to craft the rank three Formation Talisman.

Along with the activation of several low-leveled talismans, the restrictions within the secret chamber were fully activated and he could start the process without fear of being distracted.

Even though he hadn’t crafted a Formation Talisman before, it was recorded in the Zhu Family Talisman Scripture. He had studied it again and again, and he was pretty familiar with it.

Of course, that didn’t mean that the Formation Talisman recorded in the Zhu Family Talisman Scripture was the exact same one he was going to be crafting. After all, he needed to ensure it complemented the core of the formation laid down by the Formation Hall.

Regardless, the principle of crafting the Formation Talisman didn’t change. As long as there wasn’t too much of a difference, many Talisman Masters would be confident enough to make one.

The example of the Formation Talisman provided by the Tongyou Institution might be slightly different from the one recorded in the Zhu Family Talisman Scripture, but Shang Xia felt that it wouldn’t be too difficult to make one.

Also, he wasn’t kidding when he said that Formation Talismans were much easier to craft than other talisman types. That was also one of the main reasons he dared to try his hand at them.

Looking at the mid-grade brush that was held on a brush holder above the jade platform he was supposed to do his crafting on, Shang Xia knew that it belonged to Gong Hang.

The brush might be of a higher grade than what he was using, but he didn’t plan on touching it.

One needed time to get used to the brush they used and with only one month to craft 3 talismans, Shang Xia couldn’t waste a second. As such, he quickly pulled out his Flying Goose Brush.

The 6 pieces of talisman paper provided by the Talisman Hall were extremely ordinary and he placed them on the table beside him.

The only thing he was surprised by was the pine-soot ink stone that Gong Hang left behind. After he ground it into ink, it would be of the third rank. With rank three ink at his disposal, Shang Xia felt a lot more confident.

There were also many pieces of auxiliary equipment all around him.

At the end of the day, Shang Xia had to admit that the secret chamber Gong Hang allowed him to use had surpassed his expectations. At the very least, it didn’t seem like Gong Hang was making things hard for him.

However…

Shang Xia’s gaze eventually landed on a censer not too far away. The incense that was burning inside was barely passable to Shang Xia.

Retrieving a jade box from his Embroidered Cloud Case, Shang Xia tossed its contents into the censer to let it burn.

That was the Intent Guarding Incense Shang Xia got the recipe for a long time ago. It was one of the treasures he used when breaking through to the Martial Intent Realm, but he discovered that it had many other helpful properties. It could allow one to focus a lot better and when used during the talisman crafting process, it would allow him to remain at his most optimal condition.

The only problem was that the Intent Guarding Incense wasn’t cheap to create. It ached his heart whenever he used a portion of it.

After a period of research by Shang Xia, he swapped out several precious ingredients and simplified the crafting process. Even though the effects were reduced, it allowed the incense to be produced at a much more sustainable rate.

He revealed the simplified recipe to Shang Quan a long time ago and the money-making uncle immediately saw the benefits it could bring. At the moment, the Shang Clan had been producing all they could and were even starting to separate them into batches with different qualities.

As the smoke filled the air, the entire chamber entered a state of tranquility.

Shang Xia didn’t stop there. He poured a little liquid from a gourd onto the ink slab beside him and pure waves of heaven and earth qi filled the air.

“Huh?” Shang Xia’s eyes lit up when he felt the change. He didn’t expect the liquid to be diluted Spring Water! Was it possible for it to be Inexhaustible Spring Water? One had to know that he needed a pot of Hundred Year Old Inexhaustible Spring Water to create his advancement medicine!

It seemed as though he would have to ask Zhang Haogu about it when he was done with the crafting process.

Adjusting his state of mind, Shang Xia started to analyze the template of the Formation Talisman provided by the institution.

Grinding the pine-soot ink stone, Shang Xia could feel that he was starting to reach his peak state. His Flying Goose Brush tapped lightly on the surface of the ink slab and he placed all his concentration on the talisman paper before him. He muttered something to himself as he immersed himself in the process of crafting the Formation Talisman.

Very quickly, he entered a mysterious state under the faint incense smoke and his brush danced ferociously in his hands. The feeling wasn’t foreign to Shang Xia at all as he experienced something similar when crafting his previous batch of rank three talismans.