Chapter 626: I Need Guidance Please

“What? Why?!” Liu Zhiyuan cried out in shock.

His reaction was a little unexpected, but Yun Jing didn’t bother too much with it. Instead, she started a patient explanation. “Your Fourth Uncle’s grandson, Shang Xia, has already reached the grand completion stage of the Martial Extermination Realm. He’s preparing the resources he needs to enter the Martial Dipper Realm and our clans have always been supporting each other. If your Liu Clan has any suitable spiritual treasure, you should send it over to trade it for a favor in the future. You can strengthen the bond between our clans and repay your Fourth Uncle for his support in the past while you’re at it.”

“What?! Do you mean to tell me that Shang Ze’s kid has already entered the grand completion stage of the Martial Extermination Realm?!” Liu Zhiyuan asked again. He clearly failed to contain his shock.

Yun Jing sighed in response, “Exactly. Right now, that kid has the highest hope of breaking through to the Martial Dipper Realm next among all of us.”

Liu Zhiyuan remained silent as he tried to digest all the information he was fed.

Yun Jing didn’t try to rush him as she quietly awaited his answer.

After some time, Liu Zhiyuan took a deep breath and broke the silence. “My Liu Clan can most definitely give him the spiritual treasure… I recall that my clan has a rank four jade-stone type treasure. I wonder if he can make use of it.”

Yun Jing nodded contentedly and a gratified smile was starting to appear on her face.

However, she was interrupted the next moment as Liu Zhiyuan growled softly, “Aunt Yun, it’s just that…”

Seeing the look of hesitation on his face, Yun Jing asked indifferently, “What do you want to say?”

Liu Zhiyuan could obviously hear the tone of warning in her voice, but he gritted his teeth and continued, “Don’t you feel that Fourth Uncle Shang’s clan is growing too strong?! They have already reached an extremely dangerous level of power…”

Since he decided to speak. Liu Zhiyuan chose not to hold back. He added, “Fourth Uncle Shang has stepped into the Martial Dipper Realm, and his brother, Shang Ke, is also an expert in the Martial Extermination Realm. Shang Jian of the second generation of the Shang Clan, and Shang Pei who’s acting like a bandit out there have also broken through to the Martial Extermination Realm. Now, even the third generation of the Shang Clan produced an expert who’s about to break through to the Martial Dipper Realm!”

“Even though we’re known as the Four Great Clans of the You Continent, from what I can see, the Shang Clan is the strongest among all of us.”

“If Fourth Uncle Shang’s grandson is truly successful in his breakthrough, the Shang Clan will possess 2 Martial Dipper Realm Ancestors alone. When that happens, wouldn’t Patriarch Kou have to reconsider even if he wishes to deal with them?”

Yun Jing stared at him and muttered, “Since you can see that happening and chose to speak out, you should have thought of a plan, right?”

“If not for Patriarch Kou’s support back then, the Shang Clan would still remain a nobody in our Tongyou City! How would they be able to reach their current heights?”

“Moreover, the Shang Clan can’t compare with my Liu Clan, your Yun Clan, or the Ji Clan in terms of foundations!”

“At the end of the day, the Shang Clan is just a bloodsucker who obtained too many resources from the institution that doesn’t belong to them! As long as…”

Yun Jing raised her hand to stop him from speaking further. Liu Zhiyuan had no choice but to stop, but the look of astonishment in his eyes never faded.

She pinched her glabella and sighed, “I’m starting to regret not bringing you to the Manyu Continent. Anyway, have you visited Liu Jikun ever since he came back?”

Liu Zhiyuan’s expression sank further. “Aunt Yun, you know what happened back then. Liu Jikun and my father have never seen eye to eye. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been kept in the dark after he followed Patriarch Kou to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion back then. All the while, I thought that he had died. “

Yun Jing finally snapped and she lashed out at him. “What the hell do the grudges of the previous generations have to do with you?! If you show up with a proper greeting and ask for him to impart some knowledge to you, do you think he’s going to throw you out?!”

Liu Zhiyuan was at a loss for words. No one knew what thoughts were running through his mind but Yun Jing didn’t bother waiting for him to respond. She sighed, “It’s not possible for huge clans like ours to be perfect. Back then, many members of the second generation of the Shang Clan left. Today, they’re back here in the You Continent. We can’t keep living in the past. We have to plan for the future and work towards it.”

“Many thanks for Aunt Yun’s teachings!” Liu Zhiyuan maintained his respectful attitude before her.

She shot a glance at him and muttered, “I don’t know if you can understand what I’m about to say, but I’m going to say it anyway. I won’t repeat myself and what you do with it is up to you.”

Pausing to collect her thoughts, she started to ramble off. “Firstly, the fusion of our Azure Origin World and the Azure Spiritual World has already begun. It will take 3 years at most, and if the progress is accelerated, it might be done in a year. We will ascend to become a new world, and when that happens, there will definitely be a period of chaos. The Tongyou Institution needs to strengthen ourselves in order to fight for the most benefits during that period of time.”

“Secondly, I’ll let you know right now that both worlds have factions that managed to turn themselves into an Elysium. They possess existences at the Sixth Order of the Primary Realm.”

“Thirdly… A superior world might invade us at any time!”

Yun jing threw out 3 massive bombs at once, causing Liu Zhiyuan’s eyes to widen in shock. He didn’t know how to respond.

Yun Jing released a sigh after she was done. “As the patriarch of the Liu Clan, you have the qualifications to learn about these. I hope that you can consider the big picture. Stop limiting yourself to our tiny city. Perhaps, you need some time to properly think about all these matters…”

Waving her hand, Yun Jing signaled for him to leave.

When he was finally gone, Ji Wenlong’s voice rang in her mind. “This kid looks like he’s walking down the wrong path… I hope he understands what you just said…”

“He’s no longer a kid. I said everything that should be said. He will have to choose how he wishes to proceed. As long as we didn’t do anything to disappoint Second Brother, there’s nothing more we can do.”

…

“This…” Shang Xia stared at Fan Yuanhui and Lou Zizhang in fright. They brought along a group of Talisman Masters to greet him, and Fan Yuanhui even presented 3 pieces of rank four talisman paper the moment he returned. A strange atmosphere lingered in the Talisman Hall.

After passing the talisman paper to Shang Xia, Fan Yuanhui chuckled, “Mister Gong isn’t here at the moment. He turned his focus to giving lessons in the institution instead of putting his attention on us. However, he has always been reminding us that we have to make up for all the salary you missed.”

Gesturing to the talisman papers, Fan Yuanhui smiled, “There you go!”

Shang Xia was lying if he said he wasn’t taken aback. His intention when he came over was to ask how much he was owed, but he didn’t actually mean it. It was more of an attempt at banter than anything else.

He didn’t think that someone in the Talisman Hall would have paid attention to the matter and prepared everything before his arrival.

From the time he entered the Talisman Hall, more than 3 years had passed. Now that they had given him 3 pieces of rank four talisman paper, wouldn’t that mean that his wages were worth one piece of rank four talisman paper a year?

“Is Teacher Gong… Is the elder doing alright?” Shang Xia asked after indicating for everyone else to leave. Only Fan Yuanhui and Lou Zizhang the 2 rank three Talisman Masters, were left.

Fan Yuanhui sighed. “About that… Mister Gong… Age is really catching up with him. His condition has been deteriorating and his hands aren’t as steady as before. He can’t craft rank three talismans anymore…”

Shang Xia’s eyes widened in shock, but he eventually released a soft sigh.

Adjusting his composure, Shang Xia continued, “Let’s keep everything running as per usual. The two of you can discuss among yourselves about what we should do. I came back on Patriarch Kou’s order and I plan to continue crafting rank four talismans. Why don’t you give me a short summary of the situation? How many rank four talisman papers do we have at our disposal?”

Looking at each other, Fan Yuanhui eventually stood out to make the reply. “Ever since Grandmaster Shang left, the Talisman Hall received the help of the institution to gather rank four talisman paper. We managed to gather 11 rank four talisman paper and 2 different types of rank four talisman ink. Each type of talisman ink should be able to craft 3 rank four talismans…”

Shang Xia’s eyes lit up and he cried, “You actually managed to gather 11 pieces?! Wouldn’t that mean that there are 14 pieces if you add up those I have? Is it really that easy to obtain rank four talisman paper now?”

Lou Zizhang took over and explained, “Changes happened in the battlefield between the two worlds in the past 2 years. Many spiritual beasts left their territory and some of them were killed after our experts joined hands. Their hides were sent back to us and our craftsmen managed to turn them into talisman paper.”

“So that’s the case…” Shang Xia nodded. Soon after, he started to discuss matters of talisman crafting with the 2 of them.

Even though Shang Xia wasn’t able to craft talismans on the Manyu Continent, he never stopped practicing the art of crafting talismans.

Both rank three Talisman Masters learned a lot from Shang Xia be it his experience or techniques. They gained quite a lot in that short exchange.

As the only Talisman Grandmaster of the Tongyou Institution, he received the salary he was owed. Therefore, he had to give it his all and complete his responsibilities.

With requests made by both Fan Yuanhui and Lou Zizhang, Shang Xia held an assembly in the Talisman Hall that lasted for several days. He personally demonstrated the act of creating lower-leveled talismans.

At his current level, he would hardly make a mistake when it came to crafting talismans of the third rank and below.

The assembly he held didn’t just affect the Talisman Hall. It roused the entire institution and news of it even reached the rest of the city.

Because of that, many cultivators made use of their connections and special methods to run all the way over to the Talisman Hall just to observe Shang Xia’s teachings. One could say that the Talisman Hall was so crowded that not a drop of water could trickle through it.

5 days later the assembly was finally concluded. The Talisman Masters and cultivators who came to watch left quickly in order to enter seclusion. They had to digest everything they learned, and Shang Xia finally found some time to relax.

…

A slight disturbance caused Shang Xia to leave the Talisman Hall. He ran straight for the Formations Hall while thinking back to things that happened in the past. He recalled the beef both halls had with each other in the past. The problem stemmed from the conflict between Chu Jia and Shang Xia, but at the end of the day, Shang Xia knew that Chu Jia was considered half his teacher if they took into account their seniority.

This time, he was personally visiting the Formations Hall and no one had a reason to stop him. They quickly directed him to Chu Jia.

Seeing as Shang Xia had arrived, Chu Jia immediately sneered in contempt. “I heard you’ve been basking in the limelight the past few days… Grandmaster Shang, why aren’t you crafting talismans in your Talisman Hall? Why did you run all the way over to our quiet Formations Hall?”

After their interaction from the time he stepped foot onto the Manyu Continent, Shang Xia basically understood Chu Jia’s personality. He wasn’t annoyed by her sarcastic tone and he chuckled, “I’m here because I have something I need to ask you.”

Shang Xia maintained the attitude of a student when he addressed Chu Jia.

Snorting once, Chu Jia grunted resentfully. Despite her tone, she didn’t turn him away. “Is there something I can help you with? Is there something the great Grandmaster Shang doesn’t know?”

Unaffected, Shang Xia asked, “Have you heard of a spiritual treasure that contains many different elemental attributes?”