Chen Xi was still pondering deeply in the room within the inn. Even though he’d already been planning to stay temporarily in Maple Leaf City and work hard to improve his cultivation, he kept having a slightly uneasy feeling in his heart, as if this decision had gone against his own will, and it caused him to feel a dispirited sentiment from inside out.

Exactly, it was a dispirited feeling.

Since the moment he decided to flee when facing the threat of the Sikong Clan, the calmness and firmness in his heart were no more, and he felt a dispirited, anxious, and heavy feeling. He was thinking about how to avoid and flee at all times, and not to bravely face it.

Have I lost my determination to keep forging ahead and my fearless courage?

No!

All of this is because I’ve gone against my Dao Heart!

My Dao is to blaze to all obstacles bravely and fearlessly, it’s to wield my sword against the world while acting in an upright manner. It is to master the Grand Dao and soar into the sky!

𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

My Dao is one that never feels dispirited or dejected, and it’s one that never hides or feels fear...

The heavens can’t cover my eyes.

The earth can’t hold down my body.

The boundless mortal world and everything in the universe are unable to shroud my heart.

All the evil and dangers in this world are unable to obstruct my footsteps that seek the Grand Dao.

This is my Dao!

Bang!

At this moment, even his soul seemed to be trembling and cheering as if he’d become suddenly enlightened from a sharp warning and his mind became clear, and it caused his thoughts to become unimpeded. His eyes became resolute once again, his thoughts became pure and flawless, and his Dao Heart remained unmoved even if wind assaulted it from all sides.

A wisp of the light of wisdom flickering and sparkling between his brows could be faintly seen.

“Mu Kui, we’re not fleeing anymore. Since the Sikong Clan is pressing down on us like this, then we’ll play with them.” Chen Xi sent out a voice transmission to call Mu Kui over to his room before speaking indifferently.

“Master, you should have done this since the beginning!” Mu Kui rubbed his fists together with excitement. As a demon that possessed the bloodline of the primordial divine beast, Lunarwood Wolf, he innately possessed fervent feelings towards battle, and he utterly didn’t care about life and death.

“Hmm? Master, you seem to have changed. You’re slightly different than before.” Mu Kui raised his eyes to look at Chen Xi, and he kept having the feeling that this Master of his seemed to have attained rebirth. His Master’s lofty and extraordinary bearing faintly possessed a trace of wisdom and illumination that was deep like the ocean and towering like mountains, and it seemed as if no one in the world was capable of shaking his Master’s heart any longer.

“I’ve just figured out some things.” Chen Xi smiled, and then took out the spiked club Magic Treasure he’d bid for in the auction today and passed it to Mu Kui. “Some secrets are stored within this Magic Treasure, and it’s related to the inheritance treasure vault of the Dark Reverie’s Ironflag Sect. You have to take good care of it, as this might be a great fortune for the both of us.”

After he returned from the Treasure Heaven Pavilion, Chen Xi had carefully inspected this top-grade earth-rank Magic Treasure. Sure enough, he noticed that there was a trace of peculiar aura within the spiked club, and concealed within it was actually a treasure map. This surface of the treasure map reflected a line of blood red talisman markings that formed a line of words. “The Dark Reverie, Mount Langria. The Ironflag’s treasures await the fated one!”

This allowed him to instantly understand that the fundamental reason Sikong Hen favored this treasure extremely during the auction was probably because of this treasure map.

“The Dark Reverie? It’s an extremely beautiful world. Supposedly, it’s a continent that’s closest to the Immortal Dimension. This Ironflag Sect is actually in the Dark Reverie, it’s truly unbelievable!” Mu Kui was shocked greatly, and his voice couldn’t help but tremble. Obviously, he’d heard of the numerous legends of the Dark Reverie as well.

“Yes, but the entirety of this secret can only be understood after we enter the Dark Reverie,” said Chen Xi.

“This won’t do. I can’t take this treasure. What if I lose it? Wouldn’t it delay Master’s affairs?” Mu Kui’s expression went serious as he spoke solemnly.

“I ask you to take it, so take it. It’s only a purely visionary treasure map. So what if it’s lost? So long as you like this treasure, then you don’t have to care about anything else.” Chen Xi smiled.

In the end, Mu Kui accepted this fierce and overbearing weapon, and he didn’t disturb Chen Xi any longer as he’d returned to his room excitedly and started to bind this treasure.

Swish!

Right when Mu Kui had just left, Chen Xi casually withdrew a pile of materials from the Buddha’s Pagoda, and they were coiled with the aura of treasures as they piled into a small hill on the ground, and all of them were precious and rare materials with immeasurable value.

This Starstripe Grained Wood is sufficient to endure the energy of a treasured talisman’s markings when crafted into talisman paper. The combination of Crimsonsun Snowdew and the blood of a Greenfur Nine-tailed Mink concocted into ink would instead be capable of channeling Water Dao Insight and bring out the entire might of a treasured talisman. As for the talisman brush, I’ll refine it from Seven Leaf Rainbow Herb and 10,000 year old Pine Core Wood. In this way, the tip of the brush would be able to attain the sharpest state, and the ink absorbed by it would be full like a drop of water and be condensed together without dispersing, causing the talisman marking structures drawn by it to be uniform, full, smooth, and flawless... As he pondered, Chen Xi selected the materials he needed from the pile, he was meticulous and had a concentrated expression, and he seemed to have returned to the days he’d served as a talisman crafting apprentice numerous years ago.

When he decided to go head on against the Sikong Clan, he’d already decided to bring out all the skills he possessed and play a great game with the Sikong Clan, whereas talismans were one of the skills he possessed.

Actually, since he’d walked out of Pine Mist City until now, he hadn’t crafted a single talisman, nor had he utilized talismans in battle. Now that he thought of it, it was simply a waste of his battle strength.

In the battles of the cultivation world, the battle strength of a Talisman Formation Master wasn’t inferior to a sword cultivator, saber cultivator, and other cultivators that took professions that were suitable for battle. It was even to the extent that the amount of strength a Talisman Formation Master could bring out in a battle was even more terrifying than other cultivators.

The reason was extremely simple. Before a Talisman Formation Master entered the battlefield, he would be entirely capable of setting up a formidable formation and waiting for someone to walk into his trap. Even if it was close combat, a Talisman Formation Master was able to take out stacks of a variety of talismans and toss them out, causing his enemies to fall into endless bombing and feel despair.

Any cultivator that went against a Talisman Formation Master in battle would have the feeling that they weren’t facing a single person, but were instead facing an army, whereas, they themselves were pitiable people that were under siege.

Of course, Talisman Formation Masters had a weak point, and it was an extremely obvious weak point. Their number was too few and their comprehension in the Dao of Talismans was generally low, and those that could attain the rank of Grand Talisman Formation Master or Talisman Formation Grandmaster were absolutely scarce like phoenix feathers and qilin horns.

Moreover, there was also a piece of perception in the cultivation world. Amongst 10,000 plus Talisman Masters, only a single person was capable of becoming a Talisman Formation Master, whereas if one wanted to attain the height of a Grand Talisman Formation Master from a Talisman Formation Master, the probability was one in a million. As for becoming a Talisman Formation Grandmaster, its probability was even tinier and also depended on luck.

It was common knowledge that talismans were divided into nine grades, spirit talismans, treasured talismans, dark talismans, heavenly talismans, and the Divine Talismans of legend.

One who was capable of refining a ninth-grade talisman could only be called a Talisman Master. One that was capable of refining spirit talismans and treasured talismans was already at the level of Talisman Formation Masters instead. One that was capable of crafting dark talismans was a Grand Talisman Formation Master without exception, whereas heavenly talismans required the strength of a Talisman Formation Grandmaster to be crafted. As for Divine Talismans, it was a realm that was even higher, and it had already exceeded the scope of a Talisman Formation Grandmaster.

Even though Chen Xi’s knowledge in the Dao of Talismans had already attained an extremely high level, yet with his strength, he was only capable of crafting high-grade treasured talismans, causing his strength in talisman crafting to be at the peak of Talisman Formation Masters.

If he wanted to attain the ranks of Grand Talisman Formation Master, he still had a long way to go.

But with his age and cultivation, it was extremely rare that he was capable of crafting high-grade treasured talismans, and if it publicized, he would surely be looked at like a freak.

The reason was extremely simple. With his cultivation at the Golden Hall Realm, he was capable of crafting high-grade treasured talismans that were equivalent to the full forced strike of an advanced-stage Golden Core Realm cultivator. There was probably no one in the entire Darchu Dynasty’s cultivation world that was capable of achieving this, and even if it was throughout history, there was rarely any similar rumor, so his achievement could be said to be unprecedented.

Chen Xi took a deep breath and started crafting the talisman brush. He first brought the Seven Leaf Rainbow Herb and 10,000 year old Pine Core Wood before his eyes. The Seven Leaf Rainbow Herb was only the size of a palm with branches and leaves that were fine like hairs and extremely tough and pliable, to the point blades couldn’t severe them. The seven leaves of the herb revealed seven different types of colors. When looked at from afar, it was like a cluster of multicolored feathers were gathered together and swaying about, causing them to seem extremely beautiful.

Swish!

A wisp of spirit flames gushed out from Chen Xi’s palm, it seemed almost translucent and had a low temperature, and it emitted a wisp of bone piercing coldness instead, causing even the air to have a layer of ice frozen on it.

This was a type of flame he’d utilized one of the talisman marking structures in the Crimsonfire Divine Talisman to condense, and it was cold Netherice Spirit Flame. Using it to refine the Seven Leaf Rainbow Herb would effectively maintain the spiritual properties, toughness, and pliability of it, and it wouldn’t injure the herb in the slightest.

Actually, there were a myriad of talisman marking structures contained within the Crimsonfire Divine Talisman, and it was extremely vast. Every single talisman marking structure taken out alone was a type of fire talisman marking, and when it was inscribed onto a talisman paper, it would be able to produce Yin flames, Yang flames, ice flames, nether flames, and so on and so forth. It was capable of producing numerous different fire attribute flames, and the Netherice Spirit Flame was only one of them.

Of course, these flames weren’t material and were produced from profound talisman markings instead. With Chen Xi’s current grasp of the Dao of Talismans, he was capable of casually executing it without the need of the tedious work of inscribing it onto a talisman paper to be used.

In next to no time, the Seven Leaf Rainbow Herb’s moisture was evaporated under the drying of the Netherice Spirit Flame, and its branches and leaves that were fine like hairs had become fine, pliable, and suffused with a gentle sheen, causing it to seem extremely similar to the feathers of animals.

After two hours.

Chen Xi had refined 100 plus Seven Leaf Rainbow Herb before gathering a sufficient amount to refine the hairs at the tip of the talisman brush, and he carefully tied these Seven Leaf Rainbow Herbs into a bunch before starting to forge the shaft of the talisman brush.

If it was said that the tip of the brush crafted from Seven Leaf Rainbow Herb was capable of fully absorbing ink to the point it was like a drop of water within it and not cause collision between the attributes of talisman markings, then the function of the shaft of the brush was to contain the influx of True Essence of Divine Sense while causing it to flow smoothly and unimpeded.

This piece of 10,000 year old Pine Core Wood was extremely suitable to be crafted into the shaft of a talisman brush. It was completely dark green in color and filled with vitality, and the grains on its surface were hard, smooth, and capable of allowing True Essence and Divine Sense to flow flawlessly within it.

For the sake of not allowing the qi of metal to harm the quality of the Pine Core Wood, Chen Xi utilized his Second-Wood Shaman Energy and condensed it into a green colored tiny blade before carefully carving the 10,000 year old Pine Wood Core. In the end, it formed into a brush shaft that was 15cm long, thick like an index finger, and completely dark green, glossy, round, and covered in markings.

Finally, he started to bond the tip of the brush crafted from Seven Leaf Rainbow Herb and the shaft crafted from 10,000 year old Pine Wood Core with Azurejade Chalcedony Liquid.

Azurejade Chalcedony Liquid was a material used commonly during equipment refinement, and it was capable of allowing two different materials to combine flawlessly. Moreover, they wouldn’t conflict with each other, causing the refined item to be able to bring out its optimum might.

15 minutes later, Chen Xi heaved a long sigh of relief as he brought the talisman brush he’d finished crafting before his eyes. When the dark green talisman brush that possessed smoothly flowing grains was held in his hand, it had a grainy texture. The hairs at the tip of the brush revealed a color that was snow white like silver now. Only when True Essence was poured into it would a seven colored bright light emerge from its surroundings, and it revealed an extremely wispy and nimble feeling.

When he poured a little bit of Divine Sense and True Essence into the talisman brush, a peculiar feeling suddenly gushed into his heart. He felt as if his True Essence and Divine Sense were flowing in the talisman brush like a stream, and they flowed extremely smoothly to converge at the tip of the brush in the end. This feeling was as if he was moving his own arm, and it seemed as if the talisman brush had become the hand of his True Essence and Divine Sense, causing them to have a closely united connection between each another.

This brush was refined for the sake of going against the Sikong Clan, so I’ll call it Sky Annihilation Brush [1]. Chen Xi finished sizing it up before putting down the Sky Annihilation Brush and started crafting the talisman paper.

Chen Xi was entirely unaware of how great a stir this Sky Annihilation Brush he’d named hastily would cause in the talisman formation world after an eternity.

[1] The ‘Kong’ in the surname Sikong is the character ‘空’ which is also used in the name of the brush to emphasize its reason for being created, to annihilate the Sikong Clan.