Chapter 240 - 233: Primordial Flesh and Blood, 5th-Tier Talisman

Chapter 240: Chapter 233: Primordial Flesh and Blood, 5th-Tier Talisman

Bai Ling was also hit, her entire body engulfed in crimson flames.

But even after being chopped into several pieces, she could recover in the blink of an eye. Her regenerative ability was unbelievably powerful.

Amidst the raging flames, Bai Ling actually tore open her burning body—no, like a cicada shedding its golden shell, a brand-new body stepped out from within.

However, her face was pale, and her aura was also noticeably weaker.

But Jiang Zuo had expected this.

After unleashing the Flame Talisman, he had already taken out a fourth-rank Water Rain Talisman.

This Water Rain Talisman was enhanced with the Poison Rune Technique.

Bai Ling had just escaped the flames when a poisonous rain began to pour down.

A water rain’s destructive power wasn’t very high, but with the Poison Rune Technique, the effect was completely different.

When Bai Ling was burned by the flames, she had only thought their power was immense.

But this poisonous rain was like a maggot festering in her bones.

As soon as Bai Ling’s body was covered in a layer of the poisonous rain, her expression changed drastically.

She had a strong feeling that even with her regenerative abilities, if she stayed in this poisonous rain any longer, there would be dire consequences.

Without another word, she crushed a Talisman in her hand, and her body transformed into a streak of light, vanishing instantly from Jiang Zuo’s sight.

’What kind of Talisman was that? It let her escape so quickly.’

Jiang Zuo couldn’t help but frown.

However, he currently didn’t have many good ways to deal with Bai Ling.

He didn’t know if the Talismanic Daoist Holy Land did it intentionally or by accident, but almost all the Talisman inheritances available for Learning were attack-related.

There were almost no other types of Talisman inheritances.

’But once I can create a fifth-rank Talisman, we’ll see where you run then!’

Jiang Zuo didn’t pay it too much mind.

Unless this Demoness could use methods of the Dao Fruit Realm, she posed no threat to him.

And if she had such methods, she would have used them long ago, not waited until now.

As for fifth-rank Talismans, Jiang Zuo already had a clue.

According to the information he had gathered, there was an area in the wilderness of the Celestial Talisman Institute that housed a large number of fourth-rank Talismanic Dao Beasts. It was said that if one could venture deeper, there were even fifth-rank Talismanic Dao Beasts.

Jiang Zuo planned to stock up on some Talismans and then go check it out.

Once he killed a large number of Talismanic Dao Beasts, comprehending how to create fifth-rank Talismans would only be a matter of time.

Walking forward, Jiang Zuo absorbed the Divine Sense Jade Stones left behind by the two Mouse Demons.

’These two Mouse Demons seem to have secretly killed many human Cultivators. Their Talisman inheritances are no weaker than those of human Cultivators.’

’Unfortunately, these Talisman inheritances are no longer of much use to me.’

After absorbing the Talisman inheritances within, Jiang Zuo shook his head.

「Elsewhere.」

After fleeing back to her residence, Bai Ling immediately circulated her energy to purge the poison from her body.

It took a long while before she finally cleansed the poison and her body recovered.

’What a potent poison. If it were anyone else, it would take at least several months to half a year to purge it.’

’That guy surnamed Jiang... how does he have so many tricks up his sleeve?’

’His powerful physique is one thing, but his attainments in the dao of Talismans are not something that can be achieved just by plundering Talisman inheritances.’

’And that furious shout... why did it feel like the Soul Capturing Sound Skill?’

’But in the Cultivation Realm, the Soul Capturing Sound Skill should have been lost to time.’

Bai Ling frowned.

She had attacked Jiang Zuo repeatedly, only to fail more spectacularly each time.

’This guy is definitely strange. Even if he’s not the one I’m looking for, he’s hiding a huge secret!’

’But unfortunately for you, there’s no way you can escape the murderous calamity of this Talismanic Daoist Holy Land.’

’Hmm, I could go find that Secret Realm spirit first and negotiate terms with it.’

Bai Ling thought with a hint of regret.

In the entire Secret Realm, only she knew the Secret Realm spirit’s objective, and only she was unaffected by its methods.

As for that guy surnamed Jiang, no matter how powerful he was, he was doomed to a dead end.

She had been in a hurry to find Jiang Zuo and make him surrender, partly because she was worried the Secret Realm spirit would act before she could.

But now, she was completely powerless against Jiang Zuo. Her only option was to find the Secret Realm spirit and negotiate.

...

The Celestial Talisman Institute possessed a vast complex of buildings.

Cultivators generally didn’t stray too far.

But after the rules changed, some Cultivators couldn’t resist exploring outward, hoping to find a way to leave.

After some searching, the Cultivators discovered that most areas were sealed off by an Array, making it impossible to venture deeper.

The only place they could enter was a valley to the east.

But at the very entrance of that valley, there were large numbers of fourth-rank Talismanic Dao Beasts.

Unless someone organized two or three hundred Cultivators, going in was no different from committing suicide.

Some Cultivators had their Spirit Beasts sneak inside, only to discover that not only was there no exit, but there was also a suspected fifth-rank Demon Emperor present.

Hearing this news, all the Cultivators gave up the idea of exploring deeper.

These Cultivators who had once wanted to escape the Talismanic Daoist Holy Land could now only quietly follow the Secret Realm’s rules, waiting for the day they could finally leave.

’So many fourth-rank Demon Beasts!’

When Jiang Zuo arrived at the valley entrance and saw the large number of Demon Beasts milling about, his spirits lifted.

If he had come earlier, he wouldn’t have had a good way to handle this alone.

But now, the fourth-rank Talismans he created, infused with the Poison Rune Technique, could be used for mass extermination.

Jiang Zuo walked toward the valley entrance, and the Demon Beasts immediately charged at him in a rage.

"Poisonous Water Rain!"

Jiang Zuo unleashed a fourth-rank Poisonous Water Rain, and a vast torrent of the toxic rain fell from the sky.

The toxic rain landed on the Demon Beasts, creating a SIZZLING sound and sending up plumes of acrid, green smoke.

But the Demon Beasts paid it no mind, single-mindedly trying to catch up and kill Jiang Zuo.

There were too many Demon Beasts, and Jiang Zuo could only dodge them, looking a bit ragged.

Many of the fourth-rank Demon Beasts used magical attacks. Being chased by a pack of them, it was impossible to dodge everything completely.

Jiang Zuo was periodically struck by Magic, and his body was constantly being injured.

With Jiang Zuo’s physique, the damage a single magical attack could cause was limited.

But after taking multiple hits, Jiang Zuo’s injuries would gradually worsen.

However, getting injured was also the effect Jiang Zuo was currently seeking.

Over the years, Jiang Zuo had nearly reached Great Success in the first stage of the Body Freedom Technique, Spiritual Power Body Tempering.

The second stage of the Body Freedom Technique was Primordial Flesh and Blood, and Blood Rebirth.

After transforming his physical body into Primordial Flesh and Blood, he could cultivate Physical Divine Techniques and achieve Blood Rebirth!

And Primordial Flesh and Blood could only be discovered after reaching Great Success in the first stage and then continuously getting injured and recovering.

According to the Body Freedom Technique, there were a total of nine sources of Primordial Flesh and Blood in the human body.

As long as one was discovered, he could begin to cultivate it.

However, the Primordial Flesh and Blood of the human race had long since grown extremely weak, hidden deep within the body.

It could only be activated after cultivating one’s physical body to an extremely powerful state and then repeatedly undergoing injury and recovery.

What Jiang Zuo needed to do now was activate his Primordial Flesh and Blood.

But this kind of thing couldn’t be rushed; it could only be achieved slowly, through persistent effort.

Jiang Zuo’s main goal at the moment was still to kill Talismanic Dao Beasts and obtain their Talisman inheritances.

As he used one Poisonous Water Rain Talisman after another, after the better part of a day, the large pack of Talismanic Dao Beasts finally fell, one by one.

At the valley entrance, Divine Sense Jade Stones floated in the air.

Jiang Zuo followed the same procedure, and the Talismanic Dao Beasts at the valley entrance gradually turned into inheritances in his mind.

After clearing the entrance, what came next was much simpler.

Jiang Zuo lurked in the valley, silently killing Talismanic Dao Beasts and reaping their Talisman inheritances.

However, because he needed to use a large number of Talismans, Jiang Zuo couldn’t just bury his head in the sand and ignore the outside world.

Every time he stopped to create Talismans, Jiang Zuo would control his Blood Qi Avatar to take a look around elsewhere, and also check if Zhao Chengjun or Bu Yuehua had left him any messages.

Jiang Zuo also had his Blood Qi Avatar scout out the situation inside the valley.

Just as the rumors said, there was indeed a fifth-rank Talismanic Dao Beast in the deepest part of the valley.

Although he didn’t know its exact strength, Jiang Zuo believed it wasn’t as powerful as a fifth-rank Demon Emperor.

The most obvious reason was that although it had the power of a fifth-rank being, its intelligence was only slightly higher than a fourth-rank’s.

It couldn’t compare to a true Demon Emperor.

But even so, Jiang Zuo couldn’t afford to provoke it right now.

「In the blink of an eye, another year passed.」

Over the past year, Jiang Zuo had hunted an unknown number of Talismanic Dao Beasts in the valley.

In this one year, Jiang Zuo had walked a path that would take other Cultivators countless years to complete.

Jiang Zuo’s mastery of fourth-rank Talismans had already reached an extremely profound level.

Compared to a year ago, Jiang Zuo’s efficiency in creating Talismans had more than doubled.

Now, Jiang Zuo could create over twenty fourth-rank Talismans in a single day.

If word of this got out, it would make countless Cultivators in the Cultivation Realm who practiced the dao of Talismans question their lives.

Not only that, but Jiang Zuo could even feel that his breakthrough to fifth-rank Talismans was just around the corner.

In that same year, the situation in the Celestial Talisman Institute had also been gradually deteriorating.

Perhaps feeling that things couldn’t go on like this, that just waiting around would eventually lead to a dead end.

Many had already guessed that the situation was related to the Secret Realm spirit.

There were rumors that no one could leave the Secret Realm until the number of Cultivators inside dropped to a certain level.

Other rumors said that someone needed to gather enough Talisman inheritances to unlock the final trial and leave the Secret Realm.

Therefore, over the past year, the killing among Cultivators had skyrocketed.

A year ago, there were about eight hundred Cultivators in the Celestial Talisman Institute.

A year later, the number of remaining Cultivators was just over five hundred.

Jiang Zuo had no time to pay attention; he began to enter seclusion for his breakthrough.

He informed Zhao Chengjun and Bu Yuehua, telling them to come find him in the eastern valley if they needed anything.

Time passed, and Jiang Zuo’s understanding of fifth-rank Talismans, and even the Dao Fruit Realm, grew deeper and deeper.

’Fifth-rank Talismans are ten, even a hundred times more complex than fourth-rank ones!’

’To create one successfully requires an extremely strong Divine Sense, and the requirements for Spiritual Ink are also exceedingly high.’

’The amount of Spiritual Power needed is even more astonishing; fourth-rank Talismans can’t compare at all.’

’With a fourth-rank Talisman, you can still infuse it with a large amount of Spiritual Power during its creation, so it only needs to be activated when used.’

’But you can’t do that with a fifth-rank Talisman. It also requires a large amount of Spiritual Power during creation. But because it’s so complex, the moment it’s fully charged with Spiritual Power, the Talisman’s effect will activate.’

’Therefore, a fifth-rank Talisman must be infused with a large amount of Spiritual Power at the moment of use to activate it.’

’Even a late-stage Three Flowers Realm Cultivator would have one-third of their Spiritual Power drained in one go.’

’Consuming so much Spiritual Power, the might of a fifth-rank Talisman is naturally no small matter!’