Chapter 4: Creating Insect Talismans (Part 2)

Guo Shier said, “It’s simple. Abnormal insect talisman worms find it hard to grow when they’re young. To other mutated insect talisman worms, they are delicious—even their parents can’t resist eating them. If they don’t, once the young grow up, it will be their parents’ turn to be eaten. That’s why very few abnormal insect talisman worms survive.”
Eagle Demon said with a wry smile, “No wonder.”
Monier asked, “What’s the next step?”
Guo Shier replied, “It needs to grow further, ideally to the level of a fourth-grade mutated insect talisman worm. Only then will its essence be a bit more concentrated… It will take at least a few more days. Once this Blade Shadow Mantis advances, we can extract its essence to craft the insect talisman.”
They waited for seven days, far longer than originally planned, but no one grew impatient. They waited patiently until, on the seventh day, the Blade Shadow Mantis in the talisman basin began to molt. Guo Shier praised, “Hmm, it’s equivalent to a fourth-grade mutated insect talisman worm. I think this Blade Shadow Mantis has already become abnormal, with at least the strength of a first-grade abnormal insect talisman worm.”
Monier asked, “Should we start crafting the insect talisman today?”
Guo Shier said excitedly, “Yes. This is the first insect talisman I craft on my own. Whether it succeeds or fails, it holds historical significance.”
The Blade Shadow Mantis was unaware that its doom was near. It was eating its shed exoskeleton, whose runes had completely changed—dense blood-red runes covered its entire body. The blade-like shape of its forelimbs was clearly visible, with two bright red lines at the blade edge.
Guo Shier grew more and more satisfied as he observed. He didn’t rush to act but continued watching. For half a day, he sat almost motionless. The others also waited quietly, knowing Guo Shier was still thinking. No one disturbed him; they all hoped he would succeed.
Finally, Guo Shier stood up and said, “Alright, I’m going to start crafting the insect talisman. Grandpa Nanshan, Uncle Eagle Demon, keep watch for me. My wife, please help me.”
Monier nodded. “Okay, tell me what to do… I’ll do it!”
Guo Shier nodded. He threw out a blank insect talisman, making it hover in the air, then said, “I’m releasing the Blade Shadow Mantis. My wife, you must bind it immediately. Be careful—it’s as fast as a seventh-grade mutated Blade Shadow Mantis.”
Monier said eagerly, “No problem. Go ahead and release it!”
Guo Shier cast a spell with his hand. A flash of white light appeared, and the Blade Shadow Mantis appeared before them. Monier moved swiftly, shooting a series of purple virtual runes from her fingertips that quickly wrapped around it. Only then could everyone clearly see the Blade Shadow Mantis.

It still had a three-foot-long body, but it was slender in build, with a snow-white shell covered in bright red rune spots. Upon closer inspection, those spots turned out to be composed of countless tiny runes. It had a triangular head with a pair of red compound eyes that were extremely beautiful, and a pair of blade-shaped forelimbs that appeared razor-sharp, especially with that blood-red line on them, which was truly terrifying.

Qi Nanshan couldn’t help but exclaim, “What a beautiful insect!”

The Blade Shadow Mantis screeched frantically, trying to break free from Monier’s restraint. But Monier, at the level of a Saint, found it effortless to deal with this Blade Shadow Mantis, which was only a Level 4 mutated rune insect. She laughed and said, “What strong strength! Hehe, if it grows another level, I might not be able to hold it back.”

Guo Shier smiled and said, “As long as I pull out its essence, I can accurately determine whether this Blade Shadow Mantis has become corrupted. Hehe, wait a moment—don’t let it escape.”

He took a deep breath, released his life rune ball, and shook his hands violently. In an instant, countless hand shadows appeared, like flowers blooming, creating a stunning sight. Virtual runes burst forth and quickly entered the Blade Shadow Mantis’s body. The insect let out desperate screeches, seemingly realizing disaster was imminent.

Guo Shier paused twice, then the hand shadows reappeared, followed by another pause. This rhythm was extremely pleasing to watch. Monier’s eyes were filled with awe—when had this child grown to such a level? He was simply amazing.

Guo Shier’s expression turned grave. As thousands of spells were cast, countless threads emerged from his life rune ball, connecting directly with the virtual runes and gradually penetrating into the Blade Shadow Mantis’s body.

Monier remained silent, firmly restraining the insect so that its struggles wouldn’t disrupt Guo Shier.

The threads extending from the life rune ball slowly pulled out a virtual image from the Blade Shadow Mantis’s body. The image was covered in tiny virtual runes—these were all sent by Guo Shier and had already firmly trapped the insect’s essence. Since the Blade Shadow Mantis was still weak, its essence was relatively weak as well.

Amidst his busy actions, Guo Shier reached out and lightly tapped the floating insect rune. The blank rune immediately emitted a silver-white glow, shooting straight at the essence of the Blade Shadow Mantis, which was trapped by the virtual runes. Guo Shier then recited a spell, and along with it, the essence of the Blade Shadow Mantis gradually flew toward the blank rune.

Qi Nanshan’s eyes were filled with astonishment; it was his first time witnessing the creation of an insect rune.

Gradually, the spirit of the Blade Shadow Mantis merged into the insect talisman. A blinding white light flashed, and the faint image of the Blade Shadow Mantis on the talisman gradually became more solid—what had once been like a sketch now resembled a vividly colored oil painting.

The Eagle Demon asked, “Is it done?”

Guo Shierou shook his head. “Not yet! Masteress, you can release the restraint now.”

Monier heard this and retracted the purple virtual talisman, smiling. “It’s up to you from now on. The masteress can’t help.”

Guo Shierou smiled. “The next step isn’t difficult, but it is rather tedious.”

He took out the Ancient Sealing Pattern Talisman again, extracted the blood-red runes from the Blade Shadow Mantis’s body, and then transplanted them onto the insect talisman for transformation. Transforming the runes was a complicated process—requiring the removal of inappropriate runes and the addition of altered ones, a task that took a lot of time.

It took four full days, leaving Guo Shierou pale. Creating such talismans demanded immense effort. After all, he was only a junior holy master, so crafting such advanced talismans naturally proved challenging for him. Fortunately, his soul was extremely powerful, which was sufficient for creating insect talismans.

After completing all the repairs, Guo Shierou spat out a purple talisman flame and began burning the insect talisman, fusing its spirit with the rune shell. This was the final step—the higher the quality of the talisman flame, the better the fusion effect.

Suddenly, he sensed a disturbance in his soul. The purple talisman flame flared brightly, twinkled once, and then disappeared. Guo Shierou cried out in frustration, “Ah? Damn it… It absorbed the talisman flame! Damn! That was the best talisman flame!”

Monier stared at the insect talisman in surprise and asked, “Was it absorbed by the spirit inside?”

Guo Shierou smiled bitterly. “I don’t have much talisman flame left. That was the best purple talisman flame. I never expected it to be absorbed by the Blade Shadow Mantis.”

Monier smiled. “It’s okay. My master and I obtained many good talisman flames in the Yanhu Secret Realm. When we return… I’ll give you some. Actually, purple talisman flames aren’t the best… You should know what the best ones are—they must be recorded in the legends; you just haven’t paid attention.”

Guo Shierou shook his head. “I know. It’s the Ancient Spirit Flame. It’s extremely rare. If one can obtain even a trace of it, they can use it to cultivate and strengthen talisman flames. But that thing only appears in legends.”

Qi Nanshan said, “That’s not necessarily the case. If you’re lucky, you might encounter it in some secret realm. Be careful not to miss it… Many people act in secret realms, but limited by the knowledge passed down, they don’t recognize many things. Even if they encounter something, they don’t know what it is. So it’s still beneficial to learn more of the inherited knowledge.”

Guo Shier said, “I understand.” He stretched out his hand and retrieved the Ancient Capture Pattern Talisman and the Insect Talisman.

On the snow-white Insect Talisman was a lifelike Blade Shadow Mantis, its body covered in red runes. On its forelimbs, which resembled blade edges, a bright red line stood out sharply. Very satisfied, Guo Shier said, “Let’s see how it goes.” With that, he released his hand, allowing his Life Talisman Ball to absorb the Insect Talisman.

After closing his eyes and sensing for a moment, Guo Shier tapped his Life Talisman Ball. A beam of white light shot out, revealing the figure of the Blade Shadow Mantis in the air. It then silently landed on the ground, its movements slightly stiff at first, but it began to become more agile after a few seconds. The Soul Insect ignored everyone else and spat out a stream of blood, which landed on its own corpse.

That stream of blood flowed into the insect corpse, quickly turning it into a mass of white mist, which was then sucked into the Soul Insect’s mouth. The Soul Insect’s body, which had been somewhat illusory, immediately solidified and became clearly visible.

Guo Shier laughed, “It worked! Haha!”

Monier said, “Mm, perfect. Now it’s just a matter of whether it’s an Abnormalized Blade Shadow Mantis. That can only be determined through further progression.”

Qi Nanshan asked, “Shier, what do you think of its strength?”

Guo Shier replied, “Its strength is roughly at the peak of a fourth-level mutated talisman insect, much weaker than the Dark Winged Demon Scorpion…” By then, the Blade Shadow Mantis had already recognized its master. With a slight movement, it appeared beside Guo Shier at incredible speed, unnoticed by anyone. Eagle Demon was surprised and said, “Is this teleportation?” He had been standing beside Guo Shier and saw the Blade Shadow Mantis suddenly appear in front of him.

The Blade Shadow Mantis gently touched Guo Shier’s arm with its forelimb and then stood still obediently, looking wary.

Monier’s eyes lit up as she said, “Wow, the Soul Insect inside this newly created Insect Talisman already has consciousness. It’s rare that it’s even a low-level insect. Hmm, I think it’s very likely an Abnormalized Talisman Insect.”

Guo Shier said, “We can’t use it yet. It needs to be nurtured inside the Life Talisman Ball.” He then took out a Soul Pearl, the one from the Blade Shadow Mantis he had killed earlier, and placed it near the insect’s mouth, letting it suck it in. After that, he put the Blade Shadow Mantis back into the Insect Talisman and said, “We can leave now. We’ve been delayed too long.”

Quack! Boom! Strange cries and a loud roar came from afar. Qi Nanshan said, “Someone is fighting!”