Chapter 298: Chapter 49 Li Mo Fights Feihong
Although Qi Yun had only achieved Perfect Core Formation, his ability to stand firm in Five Shrine Town was no simple matter. His mastery of Spirit Talisman Techniques was seamless and adept.
The Talisman Treasure could unleash power comparable to the Nascent Soul Stage.
The cultivators watching initially believed Li Mo was bound to meet a grim fate at Qi Yun’s hands. Yet, when the two exchanged blows, Qi Yun couldn’t even activate the Talisman Treasure in time.
What kind of situation was this?
Countless eyes scrutinized Li Mo, with forces from all sides uncertain of his true strength.
The shadow at Li Mo’s feet was elusive and indiscernible. Not just Qi Yun, even most Nascent Soul cultivators failed to detect the aura emanating from the shadow.
Added to this was Xinfang Hermit’s ambiguous attitude toward Four Seas Commerce, leaving the onlookers unsure whether to probe deeper into the organization.
Bing You Daoist took a deep glance at the tightly sealed Spirit Talisman Shop.
"Interesting. But if Four Seas Commerce truly begins selling Corpse Wine, Elder He Guo won’t let them infringe upon his interests."
"It’s going to be quite a show."
Bing You Daoist slowly returned to his shop, and order was gradually restored in the town center.
When the sun rose high in the sky, more trading caravans began appearing at the gates of Five Shrine Town, hurriedly delivering resources to the shops of various factions.
They didn’t dare linger long—the looming threat of Feihong was terrifying.
In Five Shrine Town, the afternoons were usually safer. Staying past the arrival of the next day, however, risked incurring Feihong’s wrath.
A known taboo was that Feihong killed three people daily, but sometimes the number exceeded thirty.
What puzzled the factions was that Four Seas Commerce had not rushed to open their wine shop. Its doors and windows remained firmly closed, with not a single sound emanating from within.
As a disruptor, Four Seas Commerce had stirred up undercurrents in Five Shrine Town.
Inside the wine shop.
The association’s cultivators sat gravely in the main hall as Tang Wu explained the state of affairs in Five Shrine Town and the situation regarding Feihong.
Li Mo stood against a wall with his arms folded across his chest.
In his hand, he fiddled with three Talisman Treasures—all scavenged from Qi Yun’s Storage Bag. In addition, he had retrieved around a hundred Spirit Talismans.
Qi Yun died an unjust death.
Facing Li Mo, he didn’t even have time to use his magic. Before he could fully activate the Talisman Treasure he had just pulled out, he was caught off guard and swallowed whole by the Ghost Tiger.
"A Talisman cultivator? No, not quite."
The Qianlin Sect, to which Qi Yun belonged, was a small Immortal Sect reportedly affiliated with a larger one. Its cultivation system appeared rather antiquated.
Li Mo had already dealt with Qi Yun cleanly.
His Golden Core was transformed into Spirit Stone Veins; his brain was fed to the Mountain Spider; his useful organs were used for wine brewing; and his corpse was burned to ashes and analyzed for its magic techniques.
Through this, Li Mo gained insight into Qianlin Sect’s spells, discovering that their main cultivation technique was a very common Qi Cultivation Method, primarily focused on absorbing and refining spiritual energy. Nothing particularly special.
The Talisman Making Technique seemed somewhat interesting but still incomplete.
"It feels like the founder of Qianlin Sect merely acquired a superficial inheritance of the Talisman cultivators."
Li Mo shook his head slightly, examining the Talisman Treasure between his fingers. Although it resembled jade, who would have thought it was nurtured from flesh and blood?
Why say Qianlin Sect’s inheritance was incomplete?
Primarily because the Talisman Making Technique Li Mo had analyzed from Qi Yun’s corpse involved Talisman Treasure manufacturing, which was restricted to flesh-and-blood Magic Treasure Fragments.
The Qianlin Sect implanted Magic Treasure Fragments into a pregnant woman’s womb.
As the fetus grew, the Magic Treasure Fragment would absorb the innate essence and repair itself. With some minor intervention during this process, they could cultivate a Talisman Treasure.
The babies born alongside these treasures were mostly congenitally deformed.
Few survived the Fetal Stage Death Illness.
Li Mo frowned slightly, muttering to himself, "The incompleteness is frankly severe..."
He had browsed tens of thousands of spells, and with the influence of the Primordial Dao Seed, he possessed a unique understanding of various cultivation systems.
In Li Mo’s view, the terror of orthodox Talisman cultivators far exceeded that of Qianlin Sect.
The babies born alongside Talisman Treasures might lose out on the innate essence transformed in the womb but would inherit part of the spiritual patterns of the Magic Treasure.
This would form a unique Acquired Dao Body.
A Talisman cultivator’s method for mass-producing Dao Bodies had to surpass even that of the Sub-Device Sect.
Li Mo shook his head once more. If not for his disinterest in Talisman Making, delving deeper might have led to uncovering the cultivation system of Talisman cultivators.
The Primordial Dao Seed absorbed Qianlin Sect’s Talisman Making Technique, causing a transformation in the Divine Skill [Bone Talisman Script] imprinted from the Corpse Dog Soul.
Li Mo silently used the Bone Talisman Script.
[White Bone Talisman Treasure]
[Offer a white bone-based Magic Treasure as sacrifice, alongside the skeleton of a Nascent Soul cultivator, buried deep within a Yin Vein for over thirty years, to yield seventy-five White Bone Talisman Treasures.]
"The Talisman Making techniques gathered are too few. The Bone Talisman Script still feels somewhat underwhelming."
While Talisman Treasures could exert 30 to 50 percent of a Magic Treasure’s power and consumed little spiritual power, in practice, no one would willingly use Magic Treasures as materials for Talisman Treasures.
"It’s said there’s still a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Qianlin Sect in the True Word Secret Realm. Perhaps he holds some useful Talisman Making techniques."
Li Mo wasn’t intent on seeking Talisman Making techniques in the True Word Secret Realm, but if he encountered the Nascent Soul cultivator, he wouldn’t mind gaining some additional benefits.
He closed his eyes, calming his spirit, while casually transmitting the basic Talisman Making Technique to Zhang Guo as a reward for the Plant and Tree cultivators’ offerings to the No-Life God Statue.
What the Plant and Tree cultivators chose to do afterward had nothing to do with Li Mo.
By midday, the preparations inside the wine shop were complete. Row upon row of shelves were stocked with Corpse Wine, its faint aroma spreading into the air.
Tang Wu interrupted him, saying, "Shopkeeper, I’ve informed them of all the precautions in Five Shrine Town. When should we open?"
"Tomorrow."
Li Mo motioned for everyone to rest, then sat cross-legged in the main hall himself.
Tang Wu was puzzled, but then heard Li Mo say, "Once tomorrow passes, we will truly have established ourselves."