Chapter 631: The Fair Approaches

Shang Xia could clearly remember the time before he left for the Manyu Continent. He had 35 pieces of rank four talisman papers back then and he managed to craft 14 rank four talismans. His success rate had barely reached the 40 percent mark.

Even so, the achievement shocked the Tongyou Institution!

When he presented the talismans he crafted to the institution, the Talisman Hall made it such a huge event. Even the Tongyou City was stirred up because of it. The news of the Tongyou Institution producing a Talisman Grandmaster started to spread and it even reached the other continents!

In less than 3 years, Shang Xia managed to raise his talisman crafting success rate to a terrifying 60 percent!

One had to know that at his current level, every bit of improvement could be considered a major breakthrough. Now, Shang Xia made a massive leap and increased his success rate by 20 percent! If news of that were to leak into the outside world…

Shang Xia thought about it for a second and decided that it was best if he remained low-key for the time being.

As he slowly recovered his inner qi and divine perception, he casually opened the intricately made invitation he received from Kou Chongxue. He saw a row of words appearing on its surface.

“Scheduled for 7 days later, the trade fair for the Azure Origin World and Azure Spiritual World held on the Three Unity Island will commence. Please grace us with your presence!”

The changes to the invitation happened 7 or 8 days ago, but Shang Xia was still fully focused on crafting his Divine Restraint Talisman then. He couldn’t pay attention to anything else, and he tossed the invitation to the side so as not to affect the crafting process.

Back then, he scanned the invitation and vaguely recalled it saying that the trade fair would take place in 15 days. Now that the wording changed, Shang Xia was slightly surprised to discover that it had an inbuilt countdown function.

When he finally recovered back to his peak state, there were only 3 days left till the start of the trade fair. Shang Xia decided to distribute the talismans he made before heading over.

Of the 21 talismans he made, there were 2 Golden Sun Inferno Talismans and Thousand Yang Sword Talismans each. He had 8 Abyssal Void Shattering Talismans, 3 Spiritual Protection Substitution Talismans, 2 Thousand Mechanism Extermination Guidance Talismans, 2 Extermination Lightning Attracting Talismans, and 2 Divine Restraint Talismans.

Summoning Fan Yuanhui, Shang Xia handed over a Thousand Yang Sword Talisman, an Abyssal Void Shattering Talismans, a Spiritual Protection Substitution Talisman, a Thousand Mechanism Extermination Guidance Talisman, and a Divine Restraint Talisman for a total of 5 talismans.

No one could deny that the Talisman Hall gave him the most support, and he had to repay the favor.

Next, he handed an Extermination Lightning Attracting Talisman to Ren Huan who came along with Fan Yuanhui. As soon as Ren Huan got his hands on the talisman, a wide smile appeared on his face.

One couldn’t think that those talismans Shang Xia crafted were ordinary just because he managed to make so many of them.

Every single rank four talisman was a powerful trump card in the hands of a Martial Extermination Realm expert. A perfect example would be when Shang Xia first arrived in the Manyu Continent and repelled the attack from the native experts of the Manyu Continent.

Back then, Shang Xia came to their rescue with a ton of rank four talismans. He killed several Martial Extermination Realm experts one after the other and basically helped the Tongyou Stronghold to escape disaster.

Because of Shang Xia, the Tongyou Institution’s Talisman Grandmaster with a frightening success rate when it came to crafting talismans, the experts of the institution no longer felt that rank four talismans were mysterious and rare. However, that didn’t affect their views on the incredible power each talisman held.

After giving away 6 talismans in one go, news of Talisman Grandmaster Shang Xia crafting another huge batch of rank four talismans started to spread among the high-leveled experts in the institution.

However, Shang Xia didn’t plan to reveal his success rate this time. He already came up with a narrative to turn anyone who came asking away and no one managed to learn anything.

After the Tongyou Institution, Shang Xia had to inform his clan that he was done crafting talismans. He thought that Shang Quan or Shang Tai would head over to retrieve them, but surprisingly, Shang Xi came personally.

“What are you surprised about? Did you forget that you are in the Tongyou Mysterious World? How are they supposed to come in here?” Shang Xi knew what he was thinking as soon as she saw the look of shock on his face.

An awkward smile appeared on his face and he lightly slapped his forehead. “My brain is getting a little slow after crafting talismans for so long. I completely forgot where I was…”

Seeing the casual expression on Shang Xia’s face, Shang Xi chuckled and asked, “How was it? Did everything go smoothly?”

“Of course it did. I crafted 21 talismans this time and my success rate reached a nice 60 percent!” Shang Xia boasted. Shang Xi was one of his closest family members and he wouldn’t hide anything from her. He even looked extremely pleased with himself when speaking to her.

“How… How many… ?! 21?! 60 percent success rate?!” Shang Xi’s eyes widened as she looked at her nephew. She sucked in a cold breath before snapping back to reality. She suppressed her voice the best she could and growled, “Have you told anyone else about this?!”

“Aunt Xi, right now, you’re the only one who knows about this.” Shang Xia laughed.

Nodding slowly, Shang Xi was extremely pleased with Shang Xia’s performance but she had to fulfill her duties as his elder to warn him, “You can’t tell anyone about this! You can’t reveal anything no matter who asks you about it! Damn… A success rate of 60 percent.. If experts from the other factions learn about this, even their Martial Dipper Realm ancestors will look for ways to head over to our You Continent to kidnap you!”

Shang Xia naturally knew that something like that was likely to happen if news were to spread. However, that was only if news of his super success rate could actually get out. Moreover, anyone who planned to head over to the You Continent to try to grab Shang Xia would have to be strong enough to stand against the 3 Martial Dipper Realm ancestors of the institution. Not to mention the fact that one of them, Kou Chongxue, was a fucking crazy asshole who had tyrannical strength.

Seeing how Shang Xia was starting to turn serious, Shang Xi grinned, “What’s the matter? Are you starting to feel afraid?”

“Aunt Xi, I will definitely heed your warning…” Shang Xia forced a chuckle.

“Alright, just hurry up and break through to the Martial Dipper Realm. When you become a rank five Talisman Grandmaster, no one will try to mess with you!” Shang Xi continued.

Staring at her in shock, Shang Xia didn’t know how to respond.

Seeing his reaction, Shang Xi muttered in amusement, “Alright, I’ll stop joking around now. How do you plan to split those talismans anyway?”

Now that they were back on topic, Shang Xia turned serious again. “The Swallow Race sent 3 pieces of rank four talisman paper in exchange for 1 talisman, and I could give him any talisman out of all those I made. However, they also sent a bottle of rank four Blood Ink over and I have to give them something better because of the sincerity they showed.”

“That’s easy. You definitely created some rank three talismans along the way and you can just give some to them to show how grateful you are.” Shang Xi chortled.

Shang Xia nodded in response. “That's what I was thinking too. However, I plan to give them this talisman…”

Shang Xia then handed it over to Shang Xi.

“Is this… Is this an Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman?” Shang Xi gasped. She might not know much about crafting talismans, but she somewhat understood how many talismans Shang Xia knew how to craft. Naturally, she could recognize the Abyssal Void Shattering Talisman.

“That’s right. This talisman is pretty average among those I crafted, but once I bring them to the trade fair, they might be worth a lot more…” Shang Xia explained.

Shang Xi might not have entered the Martial Extermination Realm, but as one of the core members of the Shang Clan, she learned about the trade fair that would take place on the Three Unity Island. Of course, that was all she knew. She didn’t know all the details regarding it.

Shang Xia nodded in response. “Other than the Swallow Race, you need to deal with Shang Pei’s side…”

Shang Xia didn’t seem bothered by the way Shang Xi addressed Shang Pei, and he replied simply, “The Taihang Alliance provided 12 pieces of rank four talisman paper. I plan to give them 4 rank four talismans in return and neither of us will owe each other anything.”

After he spoke, he retrieved 4 talismans from a sealed spiritual case. 2 of them were Golden Sun Inferno Talismans, and the other two were a Thousand Yang Sword Talisman and a Spiritual Protection Substitution Talisman.

Of the remaining talismans he had, those were the cheapest he could find.

Next, Shang Xia took out another sealed spiritual case and handed it over to Shang Xi. “Third Aunt is acting alone in the Taihang Alliance and she doesn’t have a strong backing there. She needs some treasures to strengthen herself. There are 2 talismans in here. Please pass them to her on my behalf.”

There was a Thousand Yang Sword Talisman and a Spiritual Protection Substitution Talisman contained in that case and she could use one for offense and one for defense. It should be enough to deal with trouble that might come her way.

Keeping the case with an indifferent expression on her face, Shang Xi muttered, “Sure. Your success rate when crafting talismans is shockingly high. As long as you’re willing to give them away, I’ll pass them to her.”

Shang Xia sniggered under his breath before bringing out an Extermination Lightning Attracting Talisman. “This talisman is pretty strong and ordinary Martial Extermination Realm experts won’t be able to block the strike that it releases. I’ll have to trouble you to put this back in the clan so that it can be used in times of need.”

Before Shang Xi could reach out to grab the case, Shang Xia took another one out. “... And this is a Thousand Mechanism Extermination Guidance Talisman that I prepared for you.”

Finally, Shang Xi’s expression eased up and she snorted softly, “Hmph, at least I didn’t dote on you for nothing… About this Thousand Mechanism Extermination Guidance Talisman…”

“This talisman is used to gather extermination origins. It’s really effective and seeing as you’re planning to enter the Martial Extermination Realm, this talisman might come in handy at the crucial moment.” Shang Xia explained.

…

After sending Shang Xi off, Shang Xia finally calmed his heart and started to look at his remaining talismans. The talismans that remained belonged to him and him alone!

He had 7 talismans left over, and 6 of them were Abyssal Void Shattering Talismans. The last talisman was a Divine Restraint Talisman that he kept for himself.

Having gone through the entire process, Shang Xia realized how terrifying a rank four Talisman Grandmaster was! It was even more so when he boasted such a shocking success rate.

Throughout the entire process, Shang Xia didn’t have to come up with a single piece of talisman paper. Even the talisman ink he used was provided by others. Even one of the brushes he used belonged to the Talisman Hall.

After he went through the entire process, Shang Xia still had 7 rank four talismans leftover after repaying all the favors he was given.

One had to know that he had been extremely generous when giving out talismans. Otherwise, he would have been able to keep a lot more.

…

Time passed quickly and Shang Xia quickly made his way over to the Beyond Heavens Pavilion through the Tongyou Mysterious World. When he arrived, he discovered that there were quite a lot of people who were planning to head over to the Three Unity Island.