Chapter 34: The Talisman Cave

The sun shone brightly; it was noon. Suddenly, in the deep gorge between Black Tiger Mountain and Golden Lion Mountain, surrounded by white mist, something changed. At a certain point in the air above the gorge, as if someone had cast a spell, a straight path appeared from the sky down to the bottom of the gorge, unobscured by any mist. The sunlight streamed directly through this path to the bottom of the gorge, and reflections from the bottom illuminated the path, widening it to about the width of two people. Now, the entire path had turned into a beam of light, as if a divine ray from the heavens had pierced into the gorge.

Qu Yi and Qing Wugui were standing on the top of Golden Lion Mountain. Of course, Qu Yi had already told Qing Wugui what the Artifact God had said, and they had waited on the summit until noon.

“Qing Wugui, let’s go down together,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

“Okay,” Qing Wugui replied, concentrating.

Then, the two flew down from the mountain top and landed directly in the beam-filled path, falling swiftly. Inside the path, Qu Yi used his spiritual sense to imprint the surroundings in his mind. As the Artifact God had said, various talismans floated around the path, along with faint fluctuations of arrays. If they had fallen into the misty gorge from elsewhere, they would surely have triggered attacks from the talismans and arrays.

Soon, Qu Yi and Qing Wugui safely reached the bottom of the gorge. The bottom was brightly lit, as if it were daytime, with all the scenery clearly visible. The surrounding cliffs were made of green stone, with no grass, trees, or precious herbs in sight. Only one place stood out. On the open ground lay a red stone table, with a stone scabbard on it, seemingly shaped like a sword scabbard.

Qu Yi and Qing Wugui sensed that this stone table held some mystery, so they immediately flew over to it and examined it closely. At that moment, the voice of the Artifact God rang out, “Qu Yi, tell Qing Wugui to insert his black sword into that scabbard—it will open the Talisman Cave.”

Qu Yi was stunned. He glanced at the scabbard and finally understood. “Qing Wugui, hurry! Insert your black sword into the scabbard,” he shouted immediately.

Qing Wugui blinked and looked at the scabbard, realizing it was indeed made to fit his black sword. With a clang, the black sword slid into the scabbard. Suddenly, the stone table moved upward. From all directions, countless rays of light shot out and converged where the table had been. Boom!

A crackling sound was heard, and soon a red door appeared on the ground. The door opened quickly, revealing a tunnel. “Haha, so the Spirit Talisman Cave is hidden here after all,” Qu Yi laughed, as he had already sensed the presence of spiritual sand in the tunnel. To create spirit talismans, special methods were needed—after producing spiritual sand, one could draw talismans on materials like sandpaper, animal skins, or ritual instruments to create a spirit talisman. Naturally, spiritual sand also possessed spiritual energy, which Qu Yi could sense. “Let’s go in,” Qing Wugui said excitedly. With that, he jumped into the tunnel and entered the Spirit Talisman Cave. Qu Yi followed immediately. The tunnel was originally a dark place, but once Qu Yi and Qing Wugui entered, red light filled the space, as if they had suddenly stepped into a world of red sand. After walking about ten meters, they arrived in a spacious hall. Inside, there was a red stone table with a black jade slip and a spirit talisman on it. There were also ten ritual altars, each containing cinnabar with strong fluctuations of spiritual energy. “The Spirit Talisman Manual!” Qing Wugui spotted the jade slip on the table at once, exclaimed excitedly, and went over to pick it up. As his spiritual consciousness entered the jade slip, he quickly scanned its contents, his face filled with excitement. “Qu Yi, this jade slip contains the content of the Spirit Talisman Manual. I’ve obtained the secret method for making spirit talismans,” Qing Wugui said happily, looking at Qu Yi. Qu Yi nodded and pointed at the spirit talisman on the table, smiling. “Qing Wugui, try activating this spirit talisman. I think it’s a message left for you by your master, San Mo.” Qing Wugui nodded and immediately picked up the spirit talisman, channeling his spiritual energy to activate it. Suddenly! The spirit talisman disappeared, and before Qu Yi and Qing Wugui, a tall figure appeared, smiling as it looked at Qing Wugui.

“The Sound and Symbol Activation indicates that my successor has received my inheritance. Hello, I am Dugu Fu. On the surface, I am a spirit talisman master, but in truth, I am a demon cultivator who practices the path of Asura. My successor, you obtained my Asura Demon Scripture and thus my Asura Sword on Liupan Star. To test you, I deliberately placed the Spirit Talisman Cave here on Tianfeng Star, so that you could endure hardships and thus be exposed to blood, forging an Asura heart. Good, now that you’ve come, you have received all of my inheritance. Finally, I’ll give you a hand by eliminating the remnants of my will within the Asura Sword.”

The floating figure spoke loudly, explaining the reasons behind it all.

In an instant, the black sword originally sheathed in its stone scabbard—the Asura Sword—flew into the hall. Then, the floating figure disappeared abruptly, transforming into a beam of light that entered the Asura Sword.

Buzz!

The Asura Sword suddenly made a sound, and Qu Yi as well as Qing Wugui sensed that its aura had changed, seemingly rising from a top-tier treasure to a lower-tier spiritual artifact.

It turned out that the Asura Sword had never been able to fulfill its true purpose, a plan orchestrated by Dugu Fu himself, aiming to force Qing Wugui to face endless dangers.

After hearing Dugu Fu’s words, both Qu Yi and Qing Wugui stood there in stunned silence for a long time.

Dugu Fu was a legend in the cultivation world—the only one who, by crafting spirit talismans, continued to cultivate until reaching the Mahayana stage before ascending to the demon realm.

Qing Wugui never expected that the Scattered Demon Cave he had obtained belonged to Dugu Fu, and that he himself had become his disciple, receiving his inheritance.

Qu Yi realized that Dugu Fu had two identities: one as a talisman craftsman and the other as a practitioner of the Asura path, indicating he was also a man with great scheming skills.

“Qing Wu, congratulations! You’ve received Dugu Fu’s inheritance,” Qu Yi said with a laugh.

Qing Wugui smiled faintly, unable to hide his pride, then glanced at the ten altars in the hall.

“Qu Yi, according to the records in the jade slip, these ten altars store five different kinds of spiritual sands, which can be used to craft five powerful spirit talismans. However, I’m not yet proficient in making talismans, so I don’t need these cinnabar sands for now. I’d like you to store the altars inside the Inch Realm Sphere,” Qing Wugui said earnestly to Qu Yi.

“Qing Wu, of course there’s no problem. With the Artifact God around, they will be safely preserved, and the spiritual power of these cinnabar sands won’t be lost,” Qu Yi said immediately, slapping his chest.

As soon as he spoke, the Tiny Realm Ball flew out of Qu Yi’s soul and swiftly swept away the ten magic altars. With all the magic altars taken by the Tiny Realm Ball, Qing Wu Gui finally felt relieved. Then he smiled and said, “Qu Yi, let me show you this Spirit Talisman Treasure Manual Jade Slab. How about you also start crafting spirit talismans from now on?”

Qu Yi immediately thought that he already had to scan arrays, practice five different cultivation methods, and learn artifact crafting—how could he have time to make spirit talismans? However, he realized that crafting spirit talismans also involved understanding energy, which would be very helpful for his own cultivation. Maybe it could even come in handy in the future.

“Okay, I’ll scan the entire Spirit Talisman Treasure Manual. But I might not get the chance to craft spirit talismans as a beginner,” Qu Yi said with a smile.

Qing Wu Gui smiled faintly and immediately threw the black jade slab at Qu Yi. Qu Yi’s spiritual consciousness entered the jade slab and quickly engraved its contents into his soul, though he didn’t go through them in detail.

“Haha, Qing Wu Gui, now it’s your turn to learn. I never expected that crafting spirit talismans requires so much knowledge—it’s not any easier than learning arrays,” Qu Yi said with a laugh after finishing scanning the jade slab.

Qing Wu Gui’s expression darkened. After scanning the knowledge about spirit talismans in the jade slab, he realized that crafting them was indeed not simple. Cinnabar, talisman brushes, talisman patterns, talisman artifacts, spiritual energy—everything was incredibly complex.

From now on, in addition to cultivating the “Asura Demon Manual,” Qing Wu Gui would also have to delve into the “Spirit Talisman Treasure Manual.” He had a lot on his plate.

“Yes, things won’t be easy from now on. But my cultivation of the Asura Demon Manual helps me understand energy, which is very useful for learning spirit talismans. I think I’ll spend most of my time cultivating the path of Asura,” Qing Wu Gui said calmly.

Qu Yi nodded.

“Since we already have the Spirit Talisman Treasure Manual, let’s leave this place and return to the Hundred Demons Mountain Range,” Qu Yi said.

Qing Wu Gui nodded as well.

Then, Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui flew out of the tunnel and arrived at the bottom of the canyon. They planned to use the light beam passage to fly out of the canyon.

Suddenly, the Voice of the Artifact God rang out, “Qu Yi, you idiot! Why leave so quickly? Don’t you remember the various spirit talismans floating above the canyon? And those arrays too?”

Qu Yi immediately pulled back Qing Wu Gui, who was about to take off, and sent a message to the Artifact God through his spiritual consciousness, “Artifact God, how can I get those spirit talismans?”

“Sigh, Dugu Fu has left another trick behind, wanting to test the comprehension of his disciple. Go and put that floating stone table back in its original position to cover the tunnel, and you’ll gain control of this ‘Cloud Control and Light Seizing Array’. Then you can take any of the spirit talismans and arrays you want,” said the Artifact God indifferently.
It was actually this simple. Qu Yi immediately flew up, pressed the floating red stone table down, and sealed the tunnel again.
Suddenly, the clouds and mist above the entire canyon disappeared, and all the floating spirit talismans landed on the stone table—over a thousand in total.
On the cliff faces, there were also hundreds of arrays set up. Qu Yi quickly flew over and took away all the components needed to assemble those arrays.