Chapter Nine: Talismans and Charms

  This talisman is the memory of Ding Yan's past life, used by Qi-refining cultivators when facing enemies. Qi-refining cultivators, due to insufficient yuan force in their bodies, cannot display high-level spiritual powers, which is why talismans appeared.

  It is said that the creator of talismans was not a great divine being, but a low-ranking cultivator who barely established his foundation. Under the premise that he had no hope of breaking through to the Golden Elixir, this cultivator painstakingly studied the Taoist methods and finally invented talismans before falling.

  The existence of talismans is to compress the yuan force that has been prepared in advance into a small talisman, and when facing an enemy, it bursts out suddenly, playing a role in defeating the enemy. The principle is similar to putting the cultivator's yuan force into a storage bag, of course, what the talisman stores is not items, but yuan force full of destruction.

  Later, the Fu Talisman underwent many improvements. After tens of thousands of years of development, by the time Ding Yan was alive, the types of Fu Talismans were almost countless. In his past life, as a Tribulation Cultivator, he had only seen a few thousand kinds, and this number was like a drop in the ocean compared to the total amount of Fu Talismans.

  In Ding Yan's memory, there were many Xiu Zhen schools based on talismans in his past life. When fellow cultivators of the same rank fought against each other, talismans often played a huge role. Imagine two cultivators with equal cultivation fighting each other, and one of them suddenly releases over a hundred talismans, each with the power equivalent to their full-strength attack. The other person would likely be directly blown to smithereens by these talismans.

  In the half year of seclusion, he spent less than three months to recover his cultivation to the 9th layer of Qi Refining, which was the peak cultivation of the original owner's physical body. This recovery speed was really astonishing. It is worth noting that this physical body had suffered a fatal injury at the beginning, and even the soul of the main body was severely injured and disappeared.

  In the following months, Ding Yan tried to refine many talismans, but most of them failed to condense into shape. Only the last one, a Five Elements Talisman, barely managed to condense two pieces.

  Looking at the talisman in his palm, a flash of green light flickered across Ding Yan's pupils.

  Suddenly, another brown talisman appeared in his palm, two talismans, rotating in opposition to each other, like yin and yang, complementing each other.

  "Mokuroku, be born!"

  Ding Yan suddenly turned around and slapped a palm towards the cave behind him.

  In his palm, the two spiritual symbols that were originally rotating suddenly stopped and flew out! The brown symbol gradually faded away during rotation, while the other green symbol became brighter and brighter, finally transforming into a half-meter-high symbol, printed on the original closed cave of Dingyan.

  Cuckoo...

  A soft blue-green light spread out, and a thriving vitality emanated from the cracks in the ground. On top of those shattered stones that had been shocked by Ding Yan's words, a faint blue-green glow began to emerge, until finally, they transformed into seed after seed, from which numerous vines burst forth, enveloping the entire area.

  "The power of this wooden spirit symbol is barely sufficient. With these two talismans, I'll have some assurance when facing enemies in the future." Dispersing the talismans in his hand, Ding Yan thought to himself.

  With his current cultivation of nine layers, it should be no problem to refine this talisman, but for some reason, many talismans will lose energy balance in the last moment of condensation and fail to refine.

  "It seems I only have about two years left, looks like I'll be returning to the village to refine my elixirs." DIng Yan withdrew his thoughts and casually waved his hand.

  The surrounding energy gradually dissipated, leaving behind only the cave that had been completely shrouded in vines.

  "Ding brothers, you're out of the pass!"

  As Ding Yan was about to set off, Xu Zhengyang ran over from the other side of the mountain at a steady pace. He must have heard the sound of the giant boulder shattering when Ding Yan left the valley earlier. Behind him, the white-striped tiger demon followed slowly and steadily.

  "Xu Dage, why are you still on the mountain?" Ding Yan asked in surprise.

  As he guessed, in half a year's time, the ginseng king that the tiger demon swallowed should have been digested.

  "I'd like to, but this person behind me doesn't agree." Xǔ Zhènyáng said helplessly.

  In the past six months, he had also tried to sneak back, but every time he hadn't even run down the mountain before being caught by the tiger demon and brought back. After a long time, he became lazy and stopped trying to escape. Fortunately, the tiger demon only restricted him from going down the mountain, but didn't limit anything else.

  Ding Yan furrowed his brow and asked, "Has the village head never come here?"

  For some reason, Ding Yan always felt that the village chief with only a cultivation base of five layers was not as simple as he appeared on the surface.

  "I guess he hasn't returned to the village yet." Xu Zhengyang said helplessly.

  "Ding brother, have you made a breakthrough in your cultivation?"

  "It's settled then." Ding Yan nodded and looked at the tiger demon behind Xu Zhengyang, saying "Brother Xu, you should head back to the village first. It's been half a year, Doggie must be missing you very much."

  Xu Zhengyang smiled wryly and said "I'd like to, but... is this going to work?"

  As they spoke, he gestured slightly towards the tiger demon behind him.

  "Hand it over." Ding Yan smiled and walked towards the tiger demon behind Xu Zhengyang.

  As a demon beast, the tiger demon's spiritual intelligence was naturally not low. Feeling the danger on Ding Yan's body, it kept emitting waves of low growls. In half a year's time, the tiger demon had digested that ginseng king and its cultivation had also improved significantly, equivalent to the peak of the sixth layer of Qi refining for human cultivators.

  This cultivation, placed on this barren stone mountain, can also be called the king of hegemony. However, encountering Ding Yan's completely restored cultivation is another matter altogether.

  Roar!!

  The tiger demon let out a loud roar. This roar was full of warning implications.

  "I suddenly understand a bit about how the cultivation system of this world works." Ding Yan stared at the tiger demon and suddenly said something inexplicable.

  Half a year of seclusion, Ding Yan also increased his contemplation. Why the original world's kung fu couldn't be cultivated here, at first, he just attributed it to the differences between the two worlds. However, when he saw the tiger demon, a flash of insight suddenly crossed his mind.

  "Alright, I'll try again..." Xǔ Zhènyáng didn't notice Dīng Yán's words, glanced at the tiger demon with a fierce gaze, quietly took a few steps back, dropped a sentence and ran down the mountain without looking back.

  Away from home for more than half a year, Xu Zhengyang really missed his family. Although he didn't know what methods Ding Yan had, he was still willing to try again. At worst, he would be taken back by the tiger demon in the end, but the tiger demon wouldn't hurt him anyway.

  Watching Xu Zhengyang escape, the tiger demon let out a low growl, as if it was about to give chase.

  "Leave me behind!" Ding Yan took a step forward and slapped his right hand out with a loud crash.

  On the palm of the hand, a whirlpool-like air vortex is formed above the acupoint, and the color of the gas is earthy brown.

  One palm suppresses!

  A brownish-yellow symbol coalesced from the center of the whirlwind.

  "Earth-shape seal, suppress!"

  This brown talisman is one of the two talismans that Ding Yan has refined after closing his door for half a year. At the moment when the talisman is struck, all the yuan force in his body will be released instantly, and at the same time, a large amount of earthy yuan force will surge out from the ground under his feet, rushing into his seven meridians and eight veins to make up for the lost yuan force.

  The tiger demon let out a loud roar and tried to escape.

  But Ding Yan's talisman, which took half a year to condense, was not so easy to dodge.

  The brown seal was like a small mountain, emitting an enormous pressure, and with the tiger demon's strength, it was actually unable to move even half an inch.

  Roar!!

  The tiger demon let out a reluctant roar, but as the pressure of the talisman on its head grew heavier, it was actually pressed to the ground.

  Ding Yan saw the situation and slightly raised his palm.

  He walked over, stretched out his right hand, and pressed it on the tiger demon's head. He closed his eyes, and his spiritual sense flowed through his palm into the tiger demon's body. The reason he didn't kill the tiger demon was that Ding Yan still wanted to verify a conjecture, a conjecture about this world's cultivation system.

  The tiger demon trembled slightly, wanting to get up, but before it could move, the brown talisman on its body flashed again, causing it to completely give up its resistance.