Splitting the Heavens

Chapter 931: Improving Again

Chapter 931: Improving Again

Other than the 22 sheets of rank five talisman paper Ren Huan had given him, Shang Xia had 3 more in his stash. It was something he obtained after killing so many experts from the Spirit Abundance World.

With a total of 25 rank five talisman papers, Shang Xia was finally able to act like a prodigal Talisman Master after reaching the fifth rank...

In the past, his success rate of crafting rank five talismans was in the 30 to 40 percent range. However, his cultivation improved a lot since then and he received tons of inheritances from the Azure Flame World and Spirit Abundance World. His skills improved once again and with so many rank five talisman papers, it was his best chance to craft talismans and learn how much he progressed.

Of the rank five talisman inheritances Shang Xia had, he was best at crafting Abyssal Emptiness Talismans, Substitution Talismans, and Teleportation Talismans. All of them were talisman inheritances he provided to the institution.

After his adventures and many battles, he managed to obtain the inheritances of 3 other rank five talismans. They were the Illusion Talisman, the Concealment Talisman, and the Lava Eruption Talisman.

The Illusion Talisman came from Huang Yu, and it was what he used to pretend to be a third element Martial Dipper Realm expert. Its effects could work on any expert in the Martial Dipper Realm and below and they could hide their cultivation realms as whatever they want.

When Huang Yu used it back then, his fellow companions didn’t suspect a thing. Even Martial Void Realm experts couldn’t discover anything off about him if they didn’t inspect him carefully! It was clear that the talisman was really amazing.

As for the Concealment Talisman, Shang Xia obtained it after killing a Martial Dipper Realm expert from the Spirit Abundance World. He could use it to hide in the void and erase all traces of himself. Even with his powerful divine will, he couldn’t sense the person who used it. One had to know that Shang Xia had been strengthening his soul with the Man and Heaven Synergy Chapter since he was in the Triple Command Realm. A treasure that could allow one to avoid being detected by him was definitely not ordinary.

The final Lava Eruption Talisman was the only offensive talisman Shang Xia learned. He obtained it from the Yanlin Clan back in the Azure Flame World, and once it was used, the talisman would transform into a massive river of lava that could harm even Martial Dipper Realm experts.

After evaluation, Shang Xia discovered that it was pretty ordinary in terms of offensive strength. Even though the lava river it summoned was pretty strong, it wouldn’t be easy to direct it to harm a Martial Dipper Realm expert.

Using Shang Xia as an example, if someone used the Lava Eruption Talisman on him, not only would it be completely useless, they might even allow Shang Xia to take control of their lava river.

With the exception of newly-ascended Martial Dipper Realm experts, the Lava Eruption Talisman wouldn’t be able to really threaten Martial Dipper Realm experts in a head-on battle.

At the very least, Shang Xia felt that the Lava Eruption Talisman was far from comparable to the Illusion Talisman or Concealment Talisman. There wasn’t even a need to compare it to the Substitution Talisman or the Teleportation Talisman!

Whatever it was, the Lava Eruption Talisman was still a rank five talisman inheritance. Even though it had limited uses in the hands of Martial Dipper Realm experts, things would be completely different if used against a Martial Extermination Realm cultivator.

In actual combat, cultivators of the same level would rarely use talismans of the same rank to kill their enemies. At best, those talismans would be able to assist them in battle. However, in the hands of lower-leveled cultivators, a talisman like that would probably be able to decide the outcome of any battle!

High-level talismans like those could allow someone to challenge experts who were a little stronger than themselves, and it was what they were normally used for!

After carefully going through every talisman inheritance he knew and adjusting his mental state to its peak, Shang Xia entered his secret chamber and prepared to start crafting talismans.

He had 6 different types of rank four and rank five talisman ink, and there were 25 sheets of rank five talisman papers of different properties. He was using the Purple Bamboo Brush which had reached the level of a high-grade artifact and the White Bone Brush which reached the level of a pseudo-divine artifact after it was repaired with the bones of rank five spiritual beasts.

Lighting a spirit calming incense that was specially produced by the institution to allow one to focus on their task at hand, Shang Xia first picked up the Purple Bamboo Brush. He carefully calculated the spot where he should start. He even calculated the exact strength of his brush stroke. After dipping his brush in some ink and making a few test strokes on a precious ink slab nearby, his brush finally made its first stroke on the talisman paper before him.

He planned to craft an Abyssal Emptiness Talisman, the first rank five talisman inheritance he got his hands on.

The Abyssal Emptiness Talisman could assist one when traveling through the void and it was an amazing support-type talisman. Its use was extremely simple as well and Shang Xia was familiar with its crafting process.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t been crafting talismans for a long time. He didn’t seem to be performing too well and when drawing one of the runes, he made a huge mistake. He was supposed to push a heavy brushstroke, but he messed up and moved too gently. Every single rank five talisman had high requirements on the infusion of energy and with that mistake, the talisman paper turned to scrap paper.

Placing his brush down, Shang Xia slapped his forehead in a state of annoyance. He ran through the entire process of crafting the talisman in his mind once again, taking note of his mistake. He decided to take a short break before starting again the next day.

On his second attempt, his brush flowed much more naturally. He basically completed it in one go and an Abyssal Emptiness Talisman was formed.

If it was the old Shang Xia who just entered the Five Element Realm, crafting a single rank five talisman would render him out of breath and extremely tired. Even if it was the lowest grade rank five talisman, that would be the case. He would exhaust a lot of mental energy and he would need to meditate for several days in order to restore himself to his peak state.

Now that he was merely a step away from the Six Direction Realm, he had an ungodly amount of inner qi compared to cultivators in the Martial Dipper Realm. Crafting a single rank five talisman was nothing too difficult.

Using a single day to adjust his condition, he quickly started to craft another rank five talisman.

This time, he didn’t plan to craft his most familiar talisman, the Substitution Talisman, or the Teleportation Talisman he came up with. Instead, he planned to work on the Lava Eruption Talisman.

The reason he chose it was extremely simple. It was because the Lava Eruption Talisman was easy to craft!

In terms of complicated runes, it was merely a little more complex than the Abyssal Emptiness Talisman.

His attempt quickly proved how accurate his evaluation was. Even though he was crafting it for the first time, he quickly completed the talisman.

Since he crafted one, he decided not to craft another. That was because of how easy it was and how useless it would be for him. He would rather save his talisman paper for the more complicated rank five talismans.

He chose to craft Substitution Talismans next.

He used the only one he had during the battle and crafting a few more of them was necessary as they could protect his life at a critical moment.

A Substitution Talisman was much more complicated than the other talismans. It was even harder to craft than the Teleportation Talisman he came up with. He only succeeded once after attempting it thrice. Actually, he succeeded on his second attempt and he wanted to chase his win but was humbled when he failed his third attempt due to a slight error.

His sense of reasoning eventually suppressed his impulse. He used several days to adjust his state of mind and calmed himself down before restarting his process of crafting talismans. He didn’t continue attempting Substitution Talismans. Instead, he decided to start making Teleportation Talismans.

According to Kou Chongxue’s arrangements, Shang Xia would have to head over to the Land of Star Origin soon. However, his true goal should be to infiltrate the Spirit Abundance World.

He should meet with Huang Yu in the Land of Star Origin to use him as a guide to enter the Spirit Abundance World, but entering any world requires passing through the heavenly screen. Because of the suppression of the World’s Will, one would definitely cause a huge commotion to tear a hole in the heavenly screen. It was extremely likely he would be discovered and someone would try to stop him.

However, things were different now that he could craft a Teleportation Talisman. Based on his tests, his Teleportation Talisman had the amazing effect of bypassing a heavenly screen without being detected. It was definitely something he needed to prepare for his infiltration. The Teleportation Talisman might even be more useful than a Substitution Talisman under such circumstances.

In order to go in and out of the Spirit Abundance World, Shang Xia needed at least 2 Teleportation Talismans.

He might have the experience of crafting Teleportation Talismans, but Shang Xia didn’t get complacent. He swapped out the Purple Bamboo Brush for the higher-grade White Bone Brush. The White Bone Brush was much more suitable for crafting Teleportation Talismans, and Shang Xia wasn’t stingy either as he swapped out the ink for superior rank five Essence Feather Ink.

The production of Teleportation Talismans was pretty average as he made 2 of them in 4 attempts.

Concealment Talismans came next. It was a talisman purely used for hiding oneself. It wasn’t too complicated and despite making it for the first time, he succeeded in 2 tries.

The only talisman he hadn’t crafted was the Illusion Talisman Huang Yu got his hands on. The Illusion Talisman didn’t refer purely to producing illusions. Instead, it could allow one to show whatever cultivation realm they wished.

The talisman was pretty difficult to craft as its function was fundamentally different from the Concealment Talisman. It could even fool Martial Void Realm experts...

After failing twice in succession, Shang Xia finally succeeded on his third try.