Chapter 433 - 407: Blood Token

Chapter 433: Chapter 407: Blood Token

Li Yuan did not rush to leave White Mirror Market.

He had already obtained the method for making the Spirit Detective Talisman, and he had the materials on hand as well.

He might as well make the talisman in the Artifact Refining Room. With his current skill level, he didn’t need any special external conditions.

Li Yuan took out the jade slip detailing how to create the Spirit Detective Talisman and quickly scanned the process.

The Spirit Detective Talisman was a Tier Two reconnaissance-type talisman. Its body was inscribed with twelve Sensing Patterns drawn in Spiritual Ink, and its core Array Hub was a miniature Spirit Gathering Stone. Once activated and attached to a target area, it would passively collect information on Spiritual Power fluctuations within a thirty-zhang radius, storing the data in the Spirit Gathering Stone to be read with one’s Divine Sense upon retrieval.

In terms of difficulty, it was considered low-to-mid-range among Tier Two talismans. The paths of the twelve Sensing Patterns were fixed, with no variables requiring on-the-spot adjustments. The primary demands on the talisman maker were the precision of the Spiritual Ink and the stability of the Array Hub’s placement.

With his Talisman Making Skill at Tier Two Minor Achievement, stacked with permanent perks like "Spiritual Ink Enhancement" and "Talisman Making Insight," this kind of talisman posed no technical challenge for him.

He dipped the talisman brush in ink.

The first Sensing Pattern landed on the talisman paper, the Spiritual Ink blooming into an extremely faint halo of light on its surface. Li Yuan used his Divine Sense to precisely control the ink’s penetration depth, ensuring each stroke stopped exactly at the interface between the paper’s surface and middle layers.

He drew all twelve patterns in one fluid motion, taking less than ten minutes from start to finish.

Next came embedding the Array Hub. The miniature Spirit Gathering Stone was secured in the center of the talisman’s body with Spiritual Power Threads, its ends connecting one by one to the twelve Sensing Patterns. After infusing it with Spiritual Power, the surface of the Spirit Gathering Stone glowed with a soft light, creating a stable resonance with the Sensing Patterns.

The Spirit Detective Talisman was complete.

He touched the talisman’s body.

A panel popped up.

[Detected equippable item: Spirit Detective Talisman (Complete)]

[Equipment Perk Preview: Spirit Detective Perception (Green)]

[Effect: Increases the effective range of reconnaissance-type magic by 30%. Certain spells may yield more information.]

[Permanence Condition Preview: Successfully perform reconnaissance with reconnaissance-type talismans 50 times (0/50)]

’A green perk.’

’The condition for making it permanent is to use it fifty times. It’s not difficult, but it will take time.’

Li Yuan placed the Spirit Detective Talisman into his storage bag, choosing not to equip it for now.

After packing away his talisman-making tools, he walked out of the quiet room.

The sun was shining brightly on the main street of White Mirror Market, and the teahouses and taverns were filled with resting Cultivators. Li Yuan walked along the street toward the city gate, slowing his pace as he passed a two-story teahouse.

Four or five Cultivators were seated by a window on the second floor, their voices drifting down.

"What do you all think is going on over in Liangzhou? The Celestial Peak Sect lost something, and it’s caused such a huge ruckus that the Primordial Yang Sect has been completely humiliated."

"What can the Primordial Yang Sect do? The other party is a Nascent Soul Sect. A mere Golden Core Sect like them wouldn’t even dare to breathe too loudly in their presence."

A raspy voice interjected.

"What I’m curious about is why our three sects of Jingzhou haven’t reacted at all."

"What’s there to react to?" another voice sneered. "The Bitan Sect, the Cyan Rock Sect, and the Yunxiao Sect combined wouldn’t be a match for a single one of the Celestial Peak Sect’s hands. Besides, they’re so far away. What could sending a few Foundation Establishment disciples over there accomplish? Serve themselves up as cannon fodder?"

The raspy voice wasn’t satisfied.

"But they can’t just do nothing, can they?"

"Doing nothing is the best thing to do. The Celestial Peak Sect is watching. If the three sects of Jingzhou dared to meddle in Liangzhou, all it would take is a single word from a Nascent Soul Ancestor and they’d have to crawl right back. You think the three sects don’t want to? They don’t dare."

The group upstairs fell silent for a moment before someone sighed.

"In the end, it all comes down to a lack of strength. The gap between a Nascent Soul Sect and a Golden Core Sect isn’t something that can be bridged by numbers."

Li Yuan had already walked past the teahouse, replaying the conversation in his mind.

’The three sects of Jingzhou weren’t getting involved in Liangzhou for a simple reason: they lacked both the strength and the courage. As a Nascent Soul Sect, the Celestial Peak Sect exerted an all-encompassing pressure on the surrounding Golden Core Sects. Even if the three sects of Jingzhou were dissatisfied with the Celestial Peak Sect’s actions, they could only grumble about it on their own turf.’

Before leaving the city, Li Yuan visited a materials shop in the East Market and purchased a large batch of Tier Two talisman-making materials and artifact refining auxiliaries. He filled an entire storage bag with Spiritual Ink, talisman paper, Spirit Gathering Stones, Spirit Pattern-setting fluid, and various elemental mineral powders.

The gates of White Mirror Market closed behind him.

Li Yuan started his return journey toward Liangzhou, following the path he had come from.

With the travel speed of a Golden Core Stage cultivator plus the Earth Escape Technique, he could normally reach the market in less than half a day. However, he chose a route further south than the one he had taken to get there, taking a detour through a stretch of rolling hills.

The Spiritual Qi in the hills was very thin. Loose Cultivators and Demon Beasts were rarely seen, making it a gray area on the border between the two prefectures.

As he reached the middle of the hilly region, the passive sensory net of his Dark Evil Insight detected an anomaly.

About two hundred zhang to his front right, four auras were rapidly approaching from behind a ravine.

One was at Late-stage Foundation Establishment, and three were at Mid-stage Foundation Establishment.

Demonic Qi.

The four made no attempt to conceal their presence. With their auras fully unleashed, they moved with extreme speed, spreading out in a fan formation to encircle his path. They were clearly coming for him.

Li Yuan paused.

’My current disguise is that of a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Loose Cultivator,’ he thought. ’I have no sect markings, and my storage bag is bulging with freshly purchased materials. In the eyes of Demon Cultivators, I must look like a juicy target.’

’They’re probably a team of highwaymen who were lying in wait outside White Mirror Market. They must have targeted some Loose Cultivator returning with a full haul, tailing me all the way to this deserted hilly area before making their move.’

Four figures shot out from behind the ravine, landing fifty zhang in front of him.

The leader was a tall, dark-complexioned Demon Cultivator at Late-stage Foundation Establishment. He carried a curved blade with several bloodstains still visible on its edge. The three Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators behind him fanned out in a semicircle, blocking his escape to the left, right, and rear.

"Fellow Daoist." The dark-faced Demon Cultivator grinned, revealing a set of yellow teeth. "Hand over your storage bag, and I’ll leave you an intact corpse."

Li Yuan glanced at him.

Void-Rending Slash.

A gray fissure shot from his fingertip, its speed far exceeding the reaction limit of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator. The fissure sliced horizontally across the dark-faced Demon Cultivator’s torso, passing through his body before he could even begin to raise his curved blade.

The dark-faced Demon Cultivator looked down at the gash running across his chest. His mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. His body split in two at the waist and fell to either side.

The faces of the three Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Demon Cultivators instantly turned deathly pale.

Their leader hadn’t even survived a single move.

The one on the far left reacted the fastest, turning to flee. Li Yuan made a phantom gesture with his right index finger, and a condensed bolt of Spiritual Power shot across thirty zhang, striking the back of the man’s head.

The one on the right was still frozen in shock when the second Void-Rending Slash arrived.

The last one’s knees gave out, and he knelt on the ground, his lips trembling as he tried to speak. A third bolt of Spiritual Power ended it all.

It was all over in less than three breaths’ time.

Four bodies lay scattered across the gravelly slope of the hill.

Li Yuan knelt and began going through their storage bags one by one.

The four of them had a combined net worth of less than eighty Mid-grade Spirit Stones, and their Magical Artifacts were all low-quality Tier One items of little value. The only thing of note was a palm-sized token sewn into the inner pocket of the dark-faced Demon Cultivator’s undergarments.

The token was dark red, made of some kind of bone material he didn’t recognize. A twisted sigil was carved on its surface, while the back was smooth.

Li Yuan held the token and used his Divine Sense to perceive the frequency of the Demonic Qi upon it.

The Demonic Qi’s waveform wasn’t much different from the standard issue of the Evil Slaying Sect, but there was a subtle deviation in its underlying harmonic characteristics. He had seen this kind of deviation before.

The skinny, dark Demon Cultivator at the third transit station had mentioned a special communication method used by the Abyss Sect’s outer forces: a continuous, unsegmented wave of constant frequency.

The Demonic Qi harmonics on the token exhibited the exact characteristics of a continuous wave.

’This isn’t the standard Evil Slaying Sect model.’

’It’s more like something held by the Abyss Sect’s outer forces, or by lower-level personnel in contact with them.’

’At the very least, one thing is certain: the Abyss Sect’s secret network is no longer just gathering intelligence and making probes. Its tendrils are likely already extending into the borderlands between Liangzhou and Jingzhou.’

’This small team of Demon Cultivator highwaymen might not be directly under the Abyss Sect’s command. It’s more likely they’re stragglers sent out by a family affiliated with the Abyss Sect’s outer circle. They carry an Abyss Sect-style token but engage in the dirty work of robbing travelers. This suggests the Abyss Sect’s reach has extended to the Jingzhou-Liangzhou border, but their methods of infiltration are still crude, operating at the lowest levels.’

Li Yuan put the Blood Token into his storage bag.

After incinerating the bodies and erasing all traces, he continued on his way with the Earth Escape Technique.

Half a day later, he returned to the market.