Chapter 15 Chapter Fifteen — Drawing Talismans in Blood

Beneath the night sky, Li Daoxuan crouched in the shrine, the paralyzed ghost bride standing right beside him — yet he paid her no mind, and with a ruthless bite broke the skin of his middle finger!

Blood flowed. Li Daoxuan drew a deep breath, then used blood as ink, tracing one mysterious talisman-pattern after another upon the yellow paper.

Of the blood in a man's body, three kinds hold the strongest yang energy: heart's-blood, tongue-blood, and fingertip-blood — all with the power to drive off evil and break killing aura. Among fingertip-blood, the middle finger's is best.

Li Daoxuan drew with fingertip-blood; the talisman's might would exceed one drawn with cinnabar!

Now that the Heaven-Thunder Talisman had risen to Tier Two, his talisman-craft grew yet deeper. His finger moved like a dragon or serpent — in one unbroken breath, exquisite to the finest detail.

In barely a dozen breaths, one Five-Thunder Talisman was done!

But Li Daoxuan did not stop. He bit his finger again, letting the clotted blood keep flowing, and began a second talisman…

Beyond the shrine.

The elders' souls had met the old woman in the burial robe in battle. They threw themselves forward without heed for life, seizing the old woman's hands and feet, tearing at her yin soul with teeth all but fallen out, trying to bar her steps.

One elder was but a mayfly shaking a tree — yet when dozens of elders swarmed at once, even the vengeful ghost old woman began to buckle.

She walked with difficulty; each step cost her much time.

The old woman suddenly halted. Her burial robe grew viscous again; faces upon faces emerged, biting at the elders.

Many elders had their shoulders bitten through, even their heads swallowed whole — yet still they clutched her fast, spending their last shred of strength to hold her!

The Hundred-Ghosts Robe, though a mighty fetish, under the elders' death-defying effort began to fail; many ghost-faces vanished, and its deep black seemed much faded.

But the elders paid a terrible price.

Within the shrine, the spirit tablets burst one after another.

Crack! Crack! Crack…

The crisp sounds came without cease. Behind each sound was an elder's dissolution; before long, few remained.

Li Daoxuan listened to the unbroken noise, and his heart was moved.

A nameless emotion welled up. At this moment, the reason he kept drawing was not only to slay the vengeful ghost and claim the reward, but for these venerable elders.

A moment later, Li Daoxuan stilled his finger.

His head swam — the loss of too much yang energy — and all ten of his fingers were bitten bloody.

But the effect was marked: within that one quarter-hour, Li Daoxuan had successfully drawn five Tier-Two Five-Thunder Talismans!

He rose and looked at the shrine — the once-dense tablets were all cracked now, a floor of ruin.

They had kept their word, staking everything to hold for one quarter-hour.

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Li Daoxuan said nothing. He brought his palms together and bowed deeply to the shattered tablets on the ground.

Creak — the shrine's great door was pushed open.

The old woman in the burial robe stepped in. Yin energy wound about her, ghostly and chill — only that fearsome Hundred-Ghosts Robe now showed some ruin, baring rents and tears.

Li Daoxuan turned to her; in his eyes seemed to gather some force, like a storm incoming, thunder about to be born.

"Five thunders, five thunders, hasten to Huang Ning; mist and change, roar of lightning and thunder; at my call you come, swift send the yang sound — swiftly, swiftly, as the law commands!"

Li Daoxuan had finished the incantation, and pinched the Heaven-Thunder Seal.

Boom!

A chopstick-thin bolt fell and struck the old woman — but was blocked by that robe, unable to harm her.

Li Daoxuan's gaze grave, he drew another Five-Thunder Talisman and struck again!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three talismans in a row, yet none could touch her; the old woman was nearly upon Li Daoxuan.

Gritting his teeth, as if gone reckless, Li Daoxuan not only did not flee, but pulled out yet another Five-Thunder Talisman and kept casting.

Whether illusion or not, Li Daoxuan fancied he saw a flicker of mockery in her eyes?

A moment later, the talisman in his hand turned to ash, and a great dark cloud drifted in the sky; with a tremendous boom, a bolt fell and split the night in two!

This bolt was as thick as an arm — several times the might of the thunder Li Daoxuan had summoned before!

This one was the Tier-Two Five-Thunder Talisman!

Boom!

Electric light streamed over the old woman's burial robe; her step froze in an instant, pain flashed in her eyes, and the yin energy around her melted like snow and ice.

A smile touched Li Daoxuan's lips.

The first three talismans had been Tier One — limited in power — cast deliberately to lull her, drawing her near before unleashing the Tier-Two!

Seeing the old woman's body caught in brief rigidity, Li Daoxuan's eyes flashed — now!

Working Shrinking the Earth, Divine Striding, his figure flicked and appeared before the old woman; he flicked his hand, and four Tier-Two Five-Thunder Talismans stuck to her body.

This ensured precision, that the thunder would not miss.

But just as Li Daoxuan prepared to retreat and call the thunder, the old woman suddenly moved. She reached out and seized — that pallid hand clamped onto Li Daoxuan's wrist, black nails nearly piercing his flesh.

Curse it!

Li Daoxuan felt his body turn ice-cold, as if plunged into a frozen vault, unable to move.

But fortune did not abandon him — warmth spread from his bosom, a gentle heat flowing to his four limbs and hundred bones, and he came round, wrenching free of the old woman's grasp.

It was the ancient jade Zhang Qianyang had given him!

Li Daoxuan retreated at speed, in a blink twenty-odd yards away, and only then breathed easy. He looked at his wrist with lingering dread — upon it a very clear green fingerprint!

"Five thunders, five thunders, hasten to Huang Ning; mist and change, roar of lightning and thunder; at my call you come, swift send the yang sound — swiftly, swiftly, as the law commands!"

Boom-boom-boom!

Four thunderclaps rang at once; heaven and earth blazed bright. Green bolts, like four divine swords leaping from their sheaths, struck the old woman's crown together; the violent current flung away countless grasses, trees, and bricks, blinding the eye.

…

Outside Li Family Village, on a barren hill.

The place was a scene of ruin; the hilltop had half collapsed, as if an earthquake had just passed.

Zhang Qianyang, one foot planted on the demon Daoist's corpse, drank his strong liquor.

"Exhilarating! This Daoist has not crossed arts with anyone in so long — how I missed it!"

So saying, he deftly searched the demon Daoist's body for fetishes and valuables, hefted the shriveled purse, and sneered. "Pah. Pauper — not even enough for a pot of wine!"

No sooner had he spoken than he jerked his eyes upward, to the sky.

In the next breath, four arm-thick green bolts fell at once, and heaven and earth quaked.

Zhang Qianyang's mouth fell open.

"Tier-Two Five-Thunder Talisman? How has that boy's talisman advanced again?"

"Boundless Heaven — is he a reincarnated immortal? Such thunder-gift is a veritable prodigy. Should he one day learn my Mount Longhu's Shenxiao Orthodox Five-Thunder Rite… tsk, tsk — formidable, truly formidable!"

No wonder Zhang Qianyang marveled. Among ten thousand arts, thunder is mightiest, and hardest to cultivate; of ten thousand men, scarce one can master it.

Zhang Qianyang himself had been heaven-blessed talent, yet even he had spent near ten years to learn the Tier-Two Heaven-Thunder Talisman!

"Blast — this Daoist's love of drink has done it; the boy must have met a fierce foe. Don't let him die!"

With that, he stamped the ground and rose upon the wind; his bright-yellow Daoist robe snapped and billowed, and the whole man, like a streak of golden light, shot through the air.

It was the highest realm of Shrinking the Earth, Divine Striding — Riding the Wind!