Chapter 146: Level 2 Talisman Room

For Ji Yuan, Foundation Establishment was merely a matter of time.

Making the taste of those three jars of liquor better was also a matter of time.

Likewise, becoming Master Yaoyue's disciple was also a matter of time.

Since that was the case, it was naturally necessary to understand her network of connections in advance. If she was on the side of the Grand Elder, then it would be a cause for celebration—everyone would be considered insiders.

If she was on the Sect Master's side, that wasn't much of a problem either. At most, he would just switch allegiance along with her when the time came.

But if she was with the Third Elder, that would be a bit tricky.

"Her, huh."

The Island Lord of Iron Hammer Island naturally knew this Martial Aunt.

"She's different."

The Island Lord of Iron Hammer Island shook his head.

"Different? How so?"

Ji Yuan asked in confusion.

"She has strength. Though only at the mid Golden Core stage, she can still kill others at the same stage. No one dares to force her to take sides. Even the Grand Elder and the Third Elder treat her with courtesy."

Hearing this, Ji Yuan immediately felt relieved.

As long as she wasn’t on the Third Elder's side, it was fine.

"As for the Sect Master's side—"

The Island Lord of Iron Hammer Island leaned in a bit closer, then, using a tone and voice fit for gossip, whispered,"Actually, among these Golden Core Elders, no one really takes the Sect Master seriously. Because according to an unwritten rule, every generation’s Sect Master is the weakest among the Golden Core cultivators."

"What?!"

This "inside story" genuinely surprised Ji Yuan. He had assumed that each generation's Sect Master, even if not the strongest, couldn’t possibly be the weakest.

"Think about it, what’s good about being the Sect Master? All matters big and small within the sect have to be handled by the Sect Master. If there were real authority, then fine. But whenever a major matter arises, it’s still the Elders’ Council that decides."

"Not to mention, there's still a Supreme Elder above them."

"The position of Sect Master—anyone with a bit of ability won’t take it. Like the Corpse Herding Mountain to the north—they’re even more casual. They directly pulled a Foundation Establishment cultivator to be the Sect Master—way less hassle."

As a veteran Foundation Establishment cultivator, the Island Lord of Iron Hammer Island was very familiar with the inner workings among these cultivation sects.

Ji Yuan, walking beside him, was thoroughly stunned by what he was hearing.

But regardless, as long as Master Yaoyue wasn’t with the Third Elder, it was fine. As for the rest, once he succeeded in establishing his foundation and becoming her disciple—

Factions?!

Naturally, he would side with his master. If anyone had a problem with that, they could fight his master!

"Alright, I’ve told you everything. Where’s your liquor? Take out two jars to quench my thirst."

The Island Lord of Iron Hammer Island stretched out his large hand.

Thus, Ji Yuan, who had just claimed to Hua Yaoyue that he had no more liquor, took out a jar of wine from his storage pouch once again.

He hadn't even formally become a disciple yet and was already lying—very much in Ji Yuan's style.

Two days later.

Ji Yuan had returned to his loyal Misty Island.

Ever since that incident where Pi Fangzhi dug a tunnel, Ji Yuan no longer even trusted Hatchling Dragon Island.

He only trusted his Misty Island.

Upon returning this time, he had even less to worry about.

Foundation Establishment Pills——he already had three.

The Millennium Illusory Spirit Grass was already en route.

The cultivation technique for after Foundation Establishment was also secured, and it even reached all the way to the Nascent Soul stage.

He had even picked out his post-Foundation Establishment master in advance.

Everything was ready.

Only the Millennium Illusory Spirit Grass was lacking.

Ji Yuan decided that for the time being, he would stay on Misty Island and wait. Aside from the occasional trip back to the sect,

he wouldn't go anywhere else.

To avoid stirring up trouble.

His cultivation had already reached the Peak Qi Refining stage. Without achieving Foundation Establishment, no amount of training would change anything.

Thus, he devoted more time to alchemy and inscribing talismans.

As for pills, with the credit-purchased Mid-Second-Tier Crimson-Blood Tripod, along with his upgraded Level 2【Pill Refining Room】, refining pills became twice as efficient.

As for second-tier pill recipes, Ji Yuan only had Water Spirit Pill, Spirit Gathering Pill, and Foundation Establishment Pill.

Since he couldn’t refine the Foundation Establishment Pill, he simply focused heavily on the Water Spirit Pill and Spirit Gathering Pill.

In any case, these two pills were hot sellers in the Water Dragon Sect and never lacked demand.

In terms of talismans, when Ji Yuan previously drew the second-tier"Copper Wall Talisman", he had already become a Second-Tier Talisman Master.

Afterward, with the help of the Level 2【Enlightenment Room】, he successfully comprehended the method for the Thousand Sword Talisman.

This added yet another avenue for earning a living.

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.

During this time, he hadn’t forgotten the promise made with Han Feiyu and Dong Qian.

The four of them met once again at Han Feiyu’s home.

At this meeting, both Han Feiyu and Du Wanyi clearly stated their intention to go to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven.

Ji Yuan also clearly stated his stance.

He wasn’t going.

Absolutely not.

Du Wanyi already knew this and didn’t react much.

However, Han Feiyu still tried to persuade Ji Yuan.

He said things like "If you don’t go now, you won’t get another chance," and "With the four of us together, we can fight even Foundation Establishment cultivators."

Dong Qian was still undecided and hadn’t given a definite answer.

As for information, Ji Yuan shared everything Li Changhe had told him and warned the three of them to be cautious.

Du Wanyi and the others also shared the intel they had obtained.

Among them, Han Feiyu had even found out that when the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven was about to open, all those who had registered would receive a jade slip issued by the sect.

Inside were basic pieces of information about the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven—what kinds of heavenly treasures grew where, and what kinds of dangers lurked in which areas.

These were all insights gained by predecessors of the Water Dragon Sect through risking their lives.

This was one of the benefits of joining a sect. Loose cultivators had a hard enough time accessing the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven, let alone obtaining such comprehensive information.

Since that meeting, Ji Yuan had also made his stance clear. He said he probably wouldn’t attend the next gathering. He wasn’t planning to go to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven, so there was no point in going, and he couldn’t be bothered to gather any further intel.

Later, about two months afterward, Ji Yuan happened to run into Dong Qian while selling talismans and pills at Everything Island.

She told Ji Yuan that she also wasn’t planning to go to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven.

This news—was somewhat unexpected to Ji Yuan, but thinking it through, it actually made sense.

Having experienced an outing together previously, Ji Yuan had come to understand that Dong Qian was inherently a cautious person. So it was reasonable for her to avoid the extremely dangerous Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven.

The unexpected part was that Ji Yuan hadn’t thought she would be able to resist the temptation of Foundation Establishment.

The saying "False Spiritual Root cultivators can’t establish foundation unless they enter the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven" might sound blunt, but it wasn’t wrong.

Given that, the difficulty for Dong Qian to achieve Foundation Establishment had likely just skyrocketed.

But Ji Yuan didn’t have the capacity to worry about all that. He himself hadn’t even established foundation yet, much less help others.

He had to feed himself first.

During this period, he also took time to visit the Island Lord of Iron Hammer Island and repaid his debt. Along the way, he also called on Old Master Xu.

The three of them had another round of food and drink.

As for Master Yaoyue, after giving Ji Yuan that spiritual wine, she seemed to have forgotten all about it.

Even when Ji Yuan returned to the Water Dragon Sect, he would always seek out the Island Lord of Qinghe Island and entrust him to deliver a batch of wine to honor his Master Yaoyue.

Now things were different.

Previously, Ji Yuan would offer three jars at a time. But now——Ji Yuan had calculated it carefully: one jar every two days.

It wasn’t that he was unwilling to give one jar a day. Ji Yuan simply thought that drinking too much wine wasn’t good—it would be bad for Master Yaoyue’s health.

But regardless of how Ji Yuan paid his respects, there was never any word from Hua Yaoyue.

Yet even so, Ji Yuan didn’t stop making offerings.

After all, he wasn’t giving wine to curry favor—he just very sincerely wanted to honor his master.

Time soon arrived at the day of Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven registration.

For that, Ji Yuan had made a special trip back from Misty Island, going to the main island of the Water Dragon Sect, Water Dragon Island, to witness the event from a distance.

One had to admit—the number of registrants was immense.

It was the first time Ji Yuan had felt the true depth of the Six Immortal Sects of Eastern Shang.

Even though the qualifications had been limited to Peak Qi Refining, the crowd of registrants was still a vast sea of people. And there were just as many spectators.

There were even some Foundation Establishment seniors who had come to watch the spectacle.

Some of them were discussing it at length, seemingly reminiscing about the time they themselves had gone to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven.

Too many people.

Among them, Ji Yuan only spotted one familiar face who came to register—Feng Yichen.

It was because when he appeared, everyone around greeted him, and some even made way for him. That’s how Ji Yuan spotted him.

Ji Yuan saw him, but he didn’t see Ji Yuan.

Because from beginning to end, Ji Yuan stood like an outsider, outside the crowd, quietly watching—as if admiring a landscape.

He was looking at the view.

But the one admiring the view—was also being watched in turn.

High above the clouds, two stunning women were seated atop a massive purple-gold wine gourd. One of them wore a snow-white dress and was notably tall—even though she was leaning drunkenly against the gourd, her extraordinary build was still evident.

The other wore a fiery red dress, her legs dangling freely off the edge of the gourd. Her snow-white legs swayed back and forth, giving off a playful energy.

Had Ji Yuan been there, he would have instantly recognized them.

These two—one was his Master Yaoyue, the other was Feng Zhi Tao, with whom he had once shared a room.

"Master, I really am fated with this little junior! Let me tell you, the courtyard I used to stay in—"

As Feng Zhi Tao rambled on, she suddenly found her mouth closing involuntarily.

The seemingly drowsing Hua Yaoyue had raised a finger."This is the fifth time you’ve repeated that since we came out."

"Isn’t it just that with this little junior joining, I’m no longer the youngest? I’ll finally have someone to boss around."

Though her mouth had been forced shut, Feng Zhi Tao still transmitted her voice telepathically.

"What’s the rush? I haven’t even said I’d take him as a disciple yet."

Hua Yaoyue remained lazily sprawled."If that’s true, what are you doing watching him then? Hmph, afraid he’ll go into the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven and you’ll be left without wine—ouch ouch ouch, Master let go!"

Feng Zhi Tao quickly covered her ears as she spoke.

Hua Yaoyue hadn’t moved, only lightly blew out a breath. Feng Zhi Tao immediately felt the sting in her ears vanish. She let go—

Her ears were bright red.

She had learned her lesson and didn’t say another word.

After a moment of silence between master and disciple, Hua Yaoyue casually asked,"Do you think he’ll go to the Nine Nether Grotto-Heaven?"

"Ninety percent he will. Reaching Peak Qi Refining at that age, he’ll be eager for Foundation Establishment——the younger they are, the less they can wait."

Talking business, Feng Zhi Tao stopped playing around and seriously analyzed.

"Makes sense."

The younger one was, the more impatient they usually were. Such people couldn’t wait. In contrast, those who had lived longer understood that survival was the prerequisite to everything.

"Master, should I go give him some advice?"

Feng Zhi Tao turned to look at her master.

"No need. If he goes, he goes."

Hua Yaoyue replied offhandedly.

"What if——he dies?"

"Then he dies."

Hua Yaoyue still showed not the slightest emotional fluctuation.

Feng Zhi Tao said no more. She knew Hua Yaoyue was telling the truth. There were too few things that could stir her emotions.

The only reason she had come today to catch a glimpse of her future little junior was entirely because of the wine he sent day after day, night after night.

Feng Zhi Tao lowered her head once again to look, but in just the short while they had been speaking, she realized—Ji Yuan had vanished!

She hurriedly scanned the crowd several times but found no trace of him. Only then did she turn to Hua Yaoyue and said,"Ma—————ster, he’s gone."

"Gone?"

The previously listless Hua Yaoyue seemed a bit surprised."He didn’t register?"

"No."

"Got it. Let’s go back."

Naturally, Hua Yaoyue didn’t care whether Ji Yuan would return in a few days to register.

To her, she had come on a whim and was now leaving contentedly—that was the best outcome.

"Alright then, Master, you’re not allowed to pull me into drinking again."

..=

Ji Yuan, of course, didn’t know that his future master had come to see him. If he had known, he would have flown up without hesitation to offer Hua Yaoyue several jars of spiritual wine.

During this time, he had collected quite a lot of good wine on Everything Island.

And had processed it in the【Wine Cellar】.

Because of this, he even took time to prepare to upgrade the【Wine Cellar】to Level 2, although brewing spiritual wine was somewhat troublesome.

He spent two middle-grade spirit stones to purchase a recipe called "Drunken Flower Plum Wine."

Brewing it wasn’t difficult, but it required a lot of time to ferment.

There was no shortcut.

Ji Yuan estimated that once the【Wine Cellar】was upgraded to Level 2, and if he had already formally become a disciple by then,

Hua Yaoyue would likely take better care of him.

After watching the grand spectacle, Ji Yuan went to Everything Island to sell the Thousand Sword Talismans and Copper Wall Talismans he had drawn recently.

He also purchased some second-tier talisman papers.

Upon returning, he planned to attempt mastering the Five Element Talismans.

Once he succeeded in this, the【Talisman Room】could be upgraded to Level 2, and then he could automatically obtain the talisman script for the"Shapeshifting Talisman".

One day later.

Ji Yuan returned to his【Cave Dwelling】on Misty Island. He first headed to the【Wine Cellar】to process the dozen jars of spiritual wine he had brought back from his trip.

But just as he stepped through the door of the【Wine Cellar】, he caught a strong whiff of wine aroma.

The fragrance was so potent—just one sniff made Ji Yuan feel intoxicated.

Ordinary wine certainly didn’t have such power. The only ones capable of such an effect were naturally the three jars of spiritual wine given to him by Hua Yaoyue.

Because of this, Ji Yuan had stacked all other wines around those three jars, hoping they might absorb a trace of spiritual essence.

After finishing this task, he moved next door to the【Enlightenment Room】to attempt mastering the Five Element Talismans.

The Five Element Talisman script Ji Yuan purchased was the Fivefold Protection Talisman.

It was divided into five parts and could be drawn separately.

Once all five talismans were completed, during "activation," they could be combined into a single talisman array. Therefore, when drawing the talisman corners, a hook needed to be left behind to ensure they could form a complete formation.

Ji Yuan had already thoroughly memorized this talisman script.

So once his state of mind stabilized, he took out the second-tier talisman brush he had bought two months ago.

The talisman brush was named "Xiao Yue," named so because it was crafted from the whiskers on the neck of a late-stage second-tier monster beast called the Xiao Yue Azure Wolf. It significantly enhanced the drawing of second-tier talismans.

It both enhanced spiritual energy flow and smoothed out the strokes—minor errors could be automatically corrected.

It had cost Ji Yuan nearly 60 middle-grade spirit stones.

But it was worth it. Just like now, Ji Yuan, drawing the second-tier talisman"Water Protection Talisman"for the first time, succeeded effortlessly on the first try.

Holding the talisman radiating a bluish glow, Ji Yuan did not relax.

Among the Five Element Talismans, Ji Yuan had drawn the most water-based talismans, so a first-try success was expected.

But for the"Metal Protection Talisman"that followed, he failed three times before barely succeeding on the fourth. He planned to try again, but the fourth attempt failed, and the fifth finally succeeded.

As for the remaining"Wood Protection Talisman"and"Fire Protection Talisman", Ji Yuan failed four times each before finally succeeding.

Just these four talismans had taken Ji Yuan an entire day.

The final"Earth Protection Talisman"was the hardest for Ji Yuan because he lacked an Earth Spiritual Root. Drawing earth-element talismans required the aid of external materials.

For example, special talisman ink.

The "Earth Dragon Blood Coagulation Ink," infused with earth spiritual energy, was one such second-tier talisman ink and extremely expensive—just one qian cost one middle-grade spirit stone.

Even so, Ji Yuan still bought five qian.

All for today.

He deliberately rested for a few hours, fully restoring his spiritual energy before attempting the"Earth Protection Talisman". It was even harder.

Even with talisman ink assisting him, he failed eight times.

On the ninth try, he finally succeeded.

One success was all he needed.

【Enlightenment Room】stepped back, and【Talisman Room】took over.

Level 1【Talisman Room】only provided a 5% boost for second-tier talismans, but that was still a boost.

Ji Yuan spent three days preparing three complete sets of Fivefold Protection Talismans. Then he returned to the【Enlightenment Room】for the final activation.

Whether it was good luck or true skill—

Just when Ji Yuan thought he’d have to waste two sets of talismans to get one successful set,

he was surprised when the first set succeeded immediately.

Holding the slowly spinning talisman array radiating five-colored light, Ji Yuan could not possibly deny his joy.

The Five Element Talisman Array provided body protection—if cast by an early Foundation Establishment cultivator, it could withstand a spell from the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

This effect was undoubtedly excellent.

Though he didn’t yet know the price, Ji Yuan planned to upgrade the Talisman Room to Level 2 and focus on drawing these Fivefold Protection Talismans in the future.

It would both enhance his own power and serve as a source of income.

Then he activated the remaining two sets of talisman arrays.

One succeeded, and one failed.

The failed one—five talismans all turned to ash, which made Ji Yuan feel a bit heartbroken.

He opened the panel and looked at the【Talisman Room】section.

【Upgrade Requirements: Middle-Grade Spirit Stones ×20, Mica Crystal Cluster ×10 jin, Scarlet Marrow Thunder Jade ×1, Successfully Draw One Set of Five Element Talismans (Achieved)】

Spirit stones were available, and Ji Yuan had bought the mica crystal clusters from the Hundred Treasure Pavilion.

The Scarlet Marrow Thunder Jade had been acquired at an auction.

Now that the Five Element Talismans were completed, it was time to upgrade the【Talisman Room】.

Ji Yuan also wanted to see what effects the"Shapeshifting Talisman"would have.

As he activated the upgrade with a single thought, a stream of unfamiliar memory immediately surfaced in his mind.

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