Chapter 59 - 51: Talisman Skill, Buffing Up Before the Boss Door

Chapter 59: Chapter 51: Talisman Skill, Buffing Up Before the Boss Door

On the second floor of the Sword Pavilion, facing Lu Chen’s inquiry, Fang Heng pondered for a moment before finally locating the memories of the Purple Mist Health Cultivation Technique in his mind.

"Fellow Daoist Lu, if I remember correctly, the one who promoted this cultivation technique throughout the entire sect back then was Spirit Fire Daoist Jing Gong of Danyang Peak.

"Because this technique was easy to learn and had the effect of improving one’s Talent, it was passed down for generations.

"However, many people soon discovered that the effects of Purple Mist Body Refining varied from person to person. Only a rare few could achieve minor success in a short time. The vast majority could spend their entire lives on it and only manage to reach the entry-level, struggling to make any real progress.

"Therefore, in the days that followed, the sixth Sect Leader, Master Jian Daoqi, no longer forced disciples to cultivate it, letting them practice it as they saw fit.

"Since I lost my child’s body in my early years, I never cultivated this technique.

"May I ask why you are inquiring about this, Fellow Daoist Lu?"

"It was just a sudden thought, Fellow Daoist Fang. There’s no need to pay it any mind."

"Do you have any other questions, then?"

Lu Chen thought for a moment before asking, "Fellow Daoist Fang, do you know where the descendants of the Spirit Fire lineage went? After all, as far as I know, Master Ji was not considered a standout among the Spirit Fire Daoist’s disciples in his early years. Why was he the one to inherit the position of Peak Master in the end?"

After reminiscing for quite some time, Fang Heng replied, "It seems to be because a major incident occurred within the Spirit Fire lineage in its early years. As a result, its disciples either died or left. Only Master Ji stayed behind, eventually rising to become the seventh Peak Master of Danyang Peak. However, I can no longer remember what that specific incident was."

"So that’s how it is..."

Hearing this, the doubts in Lu Chen’s heart were largely resolved. It now seemed that the game world within True Cultivation truly existed. The reason Fang Heng hadn’t heard of his name was likely because he was one of those Spirit Fire lineage disciples who had either died or left the Cyan Cloud Sect.

"Death, or leaving the Cyan Cloud Sect?" he mused.

At this thought, Lu Chen’s mind gradually calmed down. Given his inherently cautious nature, he definitely wouldn’t recklessly undertake anything overly dangerous in the future. Therefore, Fang Heng being unaware of his existence likely meant that his past self had left the Cyan Cloud Sect early on. Although he couldn’t currently fathom the reason why he would do so, he felt this was the most logical deduction.

"Not bad," he thought to himself. "As long as I didn’t die, it’s fine."

Just as Lu Chen wanted to ask Fang Heng about other secrets regarding the Cyan Cloud Sect, he noticed the man’s condition turning peculiar. His previously calm face gradually began to contort, and his body trembled involuntarily. Furthermore, the Outer Demon Body below his waist began to thrash about, seemingly trying to break free from Fang Heng’s control.

"Fellow Daoist Fang, what’s wrong?"

Watching Fang Heng’s increasingly grotesque expression, Lu Chen silently touched the black ring on his right hand.

Fang Heng struggled to control himself, speaking with great difficulty. "I-it’s nothing, Fellow Daoist Lu... I wonder if you could... answer one question for me?"

"Please go ahead."

"Is the current Cyan Cloud Sect... still around...?"

Lu Chen thought for a moment before answering earnestly, "Right now, besides myself, I haven’t seen any other sect disciples."

"Is that so..."

Fang Heng lowered his head, falling silent for a long time. Seeing him like this, Lu Chen stood up completely and activated his Cyan Lotus Flower Pupil.

Something was wrong—terribly wrong.

At this moment, Lu Chen instinctively sensed danger. With the aid of the Cyan Lotus Flower Pupil, he clearly saw the aura around Fang Heng start to warp. A power entirely different from Spiritual Power was gradually taking over his entire body, swallowing up his remaining sanity.

"Fellow Daoist Fang?"

Fang Heng seemed overwhelmed with drowsiness. A long while after hearing Lu Chen’s words, he finally replied in an exhausted tone, "Fellow Daoist Lu... please leave first... I’m... a bit sleepy..."

With that said, Fang Heng’s head slumped down completely. But just as Lu Chen was about to do something, a dark shadow flashed past at an astonishing speed.

Feeling an intense surge of pain, Lu Chen looked down in shock. A Blood Sword exuding a crimson aura had pierced right through his chest without him even realizing it. Its speed was so great that not even his Cyan Lotus Flower Pupil could catch its movement. This Blood Sword was astonishingly formed from the bizarre Outer Demon Body that made up Fang Heng’s lower half.

"Hahaha! This idiot is finally dead! I’m free!!!"

Having said that, Fang Heng immediately yanked out the Blood Sword impaling Lu Chen’s body, tilted his head back, and burst into maniacal laughter.

Lu Chen collapsed into a pool of blood. On the verge of death, the last thing he saw was Fang Heng’s twisted, maddened face. He didn’t have time to wonder why Fang Heng had undergone such a drastic change.

"Why was Fang Heng’s sword... so fast?" he thought as his life slipped away.

[You have died]

...

In front of the doors to the Sword Pavilion’s second floor.

Upon resurrecting, Lu Chen began to summarize the cause of his death, just as he did every time he explored the dungeon.

"Fellow Daoist Fang has a half-human, half-demon body. It seems his previous sanity was entirely sustained by his own willpower. The one that attacked me in the end must have been the Outer Demon Body seizing control of his flesh. Launching a sneak attack without a word... that really fits the style of the Evil Demon and Heretic Dao..."

Lu Chen reviewed the details of his recent death, pondering how he should guard against the Outsider Sword Demon’s elusive sword strike upon re-entering.

As the saying goes, in the world of martial arts, there is no defense that cannot be broken, except for absolute speed. Lu Chen had to admit that Fang Heng’s final strike was simply too fast. It was so fast that even though he was prepared and had activated the Cyan Lotus Flower Pupil early on, he still couldn’t react and was slain in a single strike.

This was undoubtedly bad news for him. If he couldn’t even see when Fang Heng drew his sword, let alone figure out how to fight against him, victory would be impossible.

"I have to find a way to restrict its fast sword, or at least boost my own speed to keep up with it..." he muttered.

Achieving either of these two options gave Lu Chen quite a headache. With his current arsenal of skills, he really didn’t have any good solutions.

"I should review my previous gains and see if I can find a way to break this deadlock," he decided.

Lu Chen opened his Storage Pouch, trying to find something that could help him turn the tide. After some rummaging, he actually found something useful.

[Ten Thousand Talisman True Understanding - Fragment (1/3)]

[Entry Conditions: Basic Talisman reaches Mastery, 500 Experience Points]

[Effect: Allows mastery of the Drawing Talismans in the Air technique, as well as partial talisman crafting methods.]

The Ten Thousand Talisman True Understanding - Fragment was a Special Skill Lu Chen had acquired earlier when he defeated Ye Chenglin. However, because he had focused all his energy on the Purple Mist Health Cultivation Technique at the time, he had temporarily stored this Technique Secret Manual in his Storage Pouch. If he hadn’t just searched through his pouch, he might have forgotten that he had obtained this talisman secret manual altogether.

The reason Lu Chen felt the Ten Thousand Talisman True Understanding - Fragment could be the key to defeating Fang Heng was due to the unique nature of talismans. After all, compared to ordinary Cultivators, the greatest feature of Talisman Cultivators was that they could prepare in advance!

Although Lu Chen couldn’t find any Talisman Paper to prepare talismans within the dungeon right now, once he learned the Ten Thousand Talisman True Understanding - Fragment, he would be able to perform Drawing Talismans in the Air. Therefore, he could easily stack a bunch of support talismans on himself at the doorway before entering the second floor, temporarily boosting all his attributes. With that, he might just be able to keep up with Fang Heng’s astonishing Sword Skill.

Now armed with a strategy, Lu Chen immediately took action.

[Immortal Alliance Five Elements Basic Talisman: (Entry-Level 50/200)]

[You have consumed 150 Experience Points; Immortal Alliance Five Elements Basic Talisman has been upgraded to ’Proficient’...]

...

[Immortal Alliance Five Elements Basic Talisman (Proficient 1/500)]

[You have consumed 500 Experience Points; Immortal Alliance Five Elements Basic Talisman has been upgraded to ’Mastery’...]

...

[Immortal Alliance Five Elements Basic Talisman (Mastery 1/1000)]

[Current Experience Points: 2292]

"Now that the Basic Talisman has reached Mastery, it’s about time I learn the Ten Thousand Talisman True Understanding..."