Chapter 629: Taihang Alliance

After hearing that the gifts came from Ji Yu and Liu Zhidao, Shang Xia had a general idea of what was going on. His heart trembled slightly in excitement “Since Fifth Grandpa gave the order, we’ll just accept them! Why don’t you bring it out so that we can see what they are?”

Shang Quan had long since been prepared. He opened the first case in his possession. A pebble the size of an egg laid within.

“Liu Zhidao sent this item over. Do you know what treasure it is?” Shang Quan asked. Even though he had been in charge of managing the Shang Clan’s businesses and had vast knowledge of treasures and artifacts, he couldn’t recognize what was in the case. After all, his cultivation was limited. He hadn’t come into contact with many high-grade spiritual treasures in the fourth rank and above.

Shang Xia took a deep breath. He didn’t seem too familiar with it either, but he slowly reached out to hold it. The second he did, several words appeared on the surface of the Crimson Soul Tablet. “Flowing Stream Cascade Rock. Rank four earth attribute spiritual treasure.”

Seeing as Shang Xia was keeping quiet, Shang Quan asked, “What’s the matter? Is there a problem with this treasure?”

Gasping softly, Shang Xia chuckled, “There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just that the name of the treasure is a little strange. It’s called the Flowing Stream Cascade Rock and it’s something I need.”

“That’s perfect then! Take a look at this. See if it’s also something you can use.” Shang Quan brought out the other box.

Opening it carefully, Shang Xia smiled, “If these treasures were sent over by the Ji and Liu Clans, they should be useful…”

A light blue colored piece of metal laid in the case and when Shang Xia touched it, the tablet gave its evaluation. “Singularity Origin Black Metal. Rank four metal attributed spiritual treasure.”

“Is this also something useful?” Shang Quan asked.

Barely containing the joy in his heart, Shang Xia nodded. “Indeed!”

Just like that, Shang Xia gathered all the rank four spiritual treasures he needed! There was the Singularity Origin Black Metal of the Metal element, the White Bone Grass of the Wood element, the Origin Essence Dew of the Water element, the Lava Fire Jade of the Fire element, and the Flowing Stream Cascade Rock of the Earth element.

Even Shang Xia didn’t think that he would collect all the rank four spiritual treasures required in several short days!

They might be mere rank four treasures that were much easier to find than rank five spiritual treasures, but it was enough cause for celebration for Shang Xia.

Shang Quan and Shang Tai were also happy for him after seeing his reaction.

“Little Xia, are you going to start crafting talismans immediately now that you’re back?” Shang Quan asked.

“Yes. I plan on taking part in a trade fair of a massive scale and Patriarch Kou informed me to prepare several types of talismans. They might come in handy during the trade fair itself.”

Even though he didn’t reveal the scale or location of the trade fair, he didn’t hide its existence from them.

Shang Quan and Shang Tai shot each other a glance before Shang Quan took out several items.

Shang Xia stared at them in shock and he gasped, “Rank four talisman paper? Rank three ink? Uncle Quan, have you entered the ranks of a rank three talisman ink craftsman?”

A bitter smile appeared on Shang Quan’s face. “I’m truly ashamed of myself. I wasted so much time and resources before finally crafting several slabs of solid rank three talisman ink. Well, these talisman papers were obtained by your Second Uncle and Sixth Aunt…”

Shang Xia nodded in response. “Uncle Quan, it’s great that you can craft rank three talisman ink now. I don’t know about the others, but in our You Continent, talisman ink is much rarer than talisman paper. Having been a rank four Talisman Grandmaster for so long, I’ve always been lacking in rank three talisman ink.”

Shang Quan sighed, “Yeah, we knew about that. If you managed to get your hands on suitable talisman ink and a proper brush, your success rate should increase by quite a bit.”

“Well, enough of this!” Shang Xia waved his hand and laughed suddenly. He turned to Shang Tai and asked, “Uncle Tai, is there something you wish to tell me too?”

“Hehe…” Shang Tai chortled under his breath and took out 14 pieces of rank four talisman paper. Under Shang Xia’s shocked expression, he also took out a bottle of rank four talisman ink.

One had to know that 2 years ago when Shang Xia was planning to leave for the Manyu Continent, the institution only managed to collect 11 pieces of rank four talisman paper.

Shang Xia didn’t have to ask when Shang Tai started his explanation. “Of these 14 pieces of rank four talisman paper, 2 of them were collected personally by your Third Aunt. The rest came from various strongholds and powers in the Taihang Mountains. They passed them to her and hope that you can craft talismans for them.”

Taking some time to organize his thoughts, Shang Tai continued, “Your Third Aunt received their requests and I’ll quote her in the message she wants to relay to you. ‘The exchange rate will be set at 3 talisman papers for a rank four talisman. Do your best and you can keep the leftover talisman papers’!”

Shang Xia’s eyes widened slightly and he took a deep breath. “Third Aunt actually has such wide connections in the Taihang Mountains! That’s a place with crouching tigers and hidden dragons indeed. They actually managed to gather so many pieces of rank four talisman paper!”

Shang Tai broke into laughter. “We’ve been responsible for communicating with your Third Aunt for the past 2 years and we gained quite a good understanding of the situation in the Taihang Mountains. A good portion of scattered cultivators from the You, Ji, Bing, Yan, and Si Continents have gathered there. If not for the fact that the Taihang Mountains is nearly ten thousand miles long and the powers there aren’t united, with the exception of the Si Continent, none of the rest would be able to stand against them if they gathered together. After all, there are tons of experts there. They will be able to form an enormous power if all of them banded together.”

Shang Xia nodded in understanding. He had been to the Taihang Mountains in the past and he understood the situation there. He knew that Shang Tai wasn’t exaggerating.

All of a sudden, he seemed to have thought of something and he asked, “I recall that the Sixth Pass of the Taihang Mountains created a new alliance back then called the Five Mountains Alliance with Yin Wanxiang as their leader. Third Aunt seemed to have entered their alliance back then…”

“The Five Mountains Alliance have already changed their title to the Taihang Alliance. Yin Wanxiang has entered the grand completion stage of the Martial Extermination Realm and he’s an existence whose reputation has spread past the Taihang Mountains. Even the Ji, Bing, and Yan Continents are wary of him.” Shang Tai mentioned. “From reports your Third Aunt sent back to the clan, the Taihang Alliance didn’t just unify the experts of the Sixth Pass. They took down the Seventh Pass and a good half of the powers in the Eighth Pass. It’s not an exaggeration to say that they have unified a third of the Taihang Mountains.”

“Currently, the Taihang Alliance has 14 experts in the Martial Extermination Realm. There are rumors going around that Yin Wanxiang found a way to break through to the Martial Dipper Realm and is currently making his preparations.”

“Among the talisman papers your Third Aunt sent back, a good chunk came from the Taihang Alliance for you to craft talismans for them…”

Shang Xia listened to Shang Tai’s report seriously before exhaling a long breath. “Looks like Third Aunt is in a pretty good position in the Taihang Alliance…”

Shang Tai nodded and continued, “Even though the Third Lady didn’t reveal much, rumors have been spreading around that the Taihang Alliance is supported by our Tongyou Institution. The Third Lady might be the institution’s representative in the alliance.”

Grunting once, Shang Xia knew that those rumors weren’t actually baseless. It was true that Shang Pei was representing the Tongyou Institution.

…

After a 3 day break in the Shang Clan Manor, Shang Xia returned to the Talisman Hall.

Unlike the previous time, he didn’t stop for long. He took a bunch of rank three talisman paper he would use as warm up before heading into the Tongyou Mysterious World. He got ready to enter seclusion to craft talismans.

As he didn’t know when the trade fair would be held, he could only make full use of his time to complete the production of his talismans.

After returning to the wooden hut that was surrounded by a line of fences, Shang Xia took out everything he had and carefully took stock of them. He had 18 pieces of rank three talisman paper and 34 pieces of rank four talisman paper.

The reason he had so little rank three talisman paper was because of the Swallow Race. The day before he returned, Yan Ming, the young clan leader appeared to trade rank three talisman paper for a slab of rank four Blood Ink.

Shang Xia was initially afraid that he wouldn’t be able to make use of the rank four talisman ink due to the difference in cultivation systems between the worlds, but after a series of tests when crafting rank three talisman paper, he discovered that there wasn’t a serious discrepancy.

He would be able to make use of the rank four Blood Ink, and even though it wasn’t ideal, it was much better than rank three talisman ink.

In total, he gathered 3 slabs and 1 bottle of rank four talisman ink. He also had 3 bottles of Abyssal Ink and 3 bottles of Pine Smoke Purple Scale Ink. They were crafted by Shang Quan and they were ink with special qualities. Other than that, he also had 3 bottles of rank three talisman ink prepared by the Talisman Hall.

Shang Xia became a little spoiled for choice when it came to brushes. He had his high-grade White Bone Brush, and the Talisman Hall also prepared their high-grade Purple Bamboo Brush in case he needed it.

Nearly 3 years had passed since he crafted 10 or so rank four talismans in a single session of seclusion. That was the last time he crafted talismans.

It wasn’t often a Talisman Master would go so long without practice, and even though Shang Xia had been running through simulations of talisman crafting in his mind, nothing could be compared to the real thing.

His cultivation might have reached the grand completion stage of the Martial Extermination Realm, but he needed some time to translate the increase in his cultivation into an improvement in his skills in crafting talismans. He also needed a period of time to adapt to his increased strength.

That was precisely why he chose to craft rank three talismans as warm up.

The earliest rank three talisman he crafted was called the Golden Lightning Spear Talisman. It could be considered one of the talismans he was the most familiar with and understood the most about.

With his powerful divine perception, Shang Xia crafted 5 of them in one go. In the past, his divine sense would be greatly exhausted because of the consumption. Now, he didn’t feel the least bit tired. The amount of divine perception he used was nearly negligible. That wasn’t all. He didn’t fail a single time when crafting the Golden Lightning Spear Talismans!

When he was done with them, Shang Xia decided to craft some Tranquil Water Screen Talismans. The Tranquil Water Screen Talisman was a defensive rank three talisman, and it was a lot more difficult to craft compared to the Golden Lightning Spear Talisman.

Like before, he attempted to craft 5 of them without rest. Because he pressed his brush down a little too hard during one of his attempts, it ended as a failure. In the end, he only managed to craft 4 Tranquil Water Screen Talismans.

Only after he was done did he feel slightly tired. However, the sharp instincts and familiar feeling he had for crafting talismans were starting to return.

After resting for a day, Shang Xia returned to his peak state and continued crafting rank three talismans.

This time, he planned to craft the Void Breaking Bamboo Talisman which was of the highest difficulty among all the rank three talismans he knew. Like before, he attempted to craft 5 of them in one go, but he ended up with 4 of them after failing once.

Feeling confident that he was ready to craft rank four talismans, Shang Xia used 2 whole days to adjust his condition before he started crafting them.

According to how he had been crafting rank three talismans, he planned to craft the easier talismans before slowly progressing to the more complicated ones. His intention was to use 3 rank four talisman papers to craft Golden Sun Inferno Talismans which he was the most familiar with.

The only difference between the previous time he crafted them and his current attempt was that he planned to use the White Bone Brush, instead of the Purple Bamboo Brush he was a little more used to.

During the process of crafting rank three talismans, he discovered that the White Bone Brush was a little more inclined to fire attribute as it resonated a little more when he poured fiery qi into it.

Because of that, and maybe some extra luck, it didn’t matter that he hadn’t been crafting rank four talismans for a long time or the fact that he was using a new brush. He managed to succeed twice and the completed Golden Sun Inferno Talismans sat on the table before him. It was an amazing start to the entire process.