Daoist Competition-Chapter 194 - 66 Talisman Bag 5 Gates, Erosion Text as the Foundation_2

The beginning of the book records an overview and general outline of the talismanic script, with the specific methods of talisman crafting detailed later. After reading for a short while, he stood up, nodded to himself, and said, "A thousand years ago, the Guangyuan Sect truly lived up to its reputation as a great Daoist sect. It had the foundation to establish itself."

According to the book, the talisman crafting methods of Guangyuan Sect were divided into five gates: Holding Door, Fighting Gate, Life Gate, True Door, and Refining Gate.

However, after a great upheaval a thousand years ago, several elders either perished or achieved final transcendence, and the Sect Leader disappeared without a trace. As a result, the most profound and mysterious Refining Gate and True Door techniques were both lost, causing Guangyuan Sect to fall into decline and never recover its primordial vigor.

Currently, the Life Gate talisman is practiced only by the Sect Leader’s disciples. Therefore, this book only contains the methods and spells for crafting the Holding Door Talisman and Fighting Gate Talisman.

The Holding Door Talisman is governed by four decisions: "Seal, Lock, Guard, Release."

The Fighting Gate Talisman similarly comprises four decisions: "Sword, Weapon, Drive, Attach."

The types of talismans are vast and varied. Upon detailed examination, this Daoist book alone contains over a hundred types; as for those unrecorded or lost, their numbers are incalculable.

Every talisman is paired with its own specialized spell and accompanying talismanic script. To aspire to master all of them is foolishly ambitious. It appears one must select just one or two for cultivation.

However, after flipping a few more pages, Zhang Yan realized that unless a disciple becomes a True Disciple, those practicing this method will be confined to dealing with ghost talismans for their entire lives. freёwebnoѵel.com

Only after becoming a True Disciple can one be taught the spell for refining a "Lifebound True Talisman." After acquiring it, talisman paper and incantation drawing are unnecessary. One can evolve talisman seals within the Lifebound True Talisman itself, absorb Five Elements Divine Sand, and unleash the spell to engage opponents.

The more powerful the Lifebound True Talisman, the more talismans it can effectively drive. At such a level, Dharma Treasures and talismans are virtually indistinguishable.

The book even briefly mentions that a senior master of Guangyuan Sect once refined a Lifebound True Talisman into a Heavenly Talisman to ascend to the Heavenly Que.

Upon reading this, Zhang Yan shook his head and smiled. Every talisman requires the assistance of Five Elements Divine Sand. The greater its power, the higher the quality of Divine Sand needed, potentially consuming large quantities of Cloud Sand. Even selling an entire sect may not be sufficient to refine this so-called Heavenly Talisman.

Moreover, the Lifebound True Talisman can only be practiced by Hua Dan Cultivators. Even Shen Yuefeng, who once fought Zhang Yan, could not achieve this.

Nonetheless, Guangyuan Sect, with its thousands of years of inheritance, developed an ingenious Dharma technique: harnessing the power of a "Primordial Talisman" to condense talisman imprints within it. During combat, these imprints, paired with Five Elements Divine Sand, can be infused directly into talisman paper, proving even more effective than pre-drawn talisman seals by three measures. The only concern is the excessive expenditure of Divine Sand.

Although this method is excellent, only disciples from Guangyuan Sect’s direct lineage have access; even if others know of it, they wouldn’t have a Primordial Talisman to utilize.

Zhang Yan thought to himself, "So this is the true application of the Primordial Talisman. In that case, I only need to cultivate proficiency within the Primordial Talisman before purchasing some talisman paper and Divine Sand to employ this method."

He flipped further, preparing to delve deeper into the talisman crafting methods. Unexpectedly, upon closer inspection, the talismanic script in the book seemed oddly familiar.

After scrutinizing it several times, he was astonished—this talismanic script was actually based on Erosion Text! But to wield it in combat requires the interplay of specialized spells and Divine Sand talisman paper to unlock its power.

At this realization, Zhang Yan’s spirits were uplifted. Erosion Text was his forte, and he began pouring over the text with relish.

The more he read, the more he felt the book’s main text to be concise yet profound. In contrast, Shen Yuefeng’s annotations were riddled with errors. Many of his supposedly refined insights were mock-worthy; where a single talismanic script would suffice, Shen Yuefeng had unnecessarily fragmented it into multiple scripts, reducing its power and complicating it needlessly.

Zhang Yan simply disregarded Shen Yuefeng’s annotations and focused solely on the Daoist book’s main text.

As he continued reading, he shook his head repeatedly. As a disciple of Guangyuan Sect, Shen Yuefeng had forsaken such an exceptional Dharma technique to pursue Sword Cultivation—what a waste of heavenly gifts! In truth, mastering the "Sword" and "Weapon" spells within the Fighting Gate Talisman would yield power on par with Flying Swords.

However, Shen Yuefeng failed to recognize that talismanic techniques are not comprehensible to everyone. For Zhang Yan, deciphering them seemed easy solely because of his Erosion Text expertise.

Learning talismans requires first studying Erosion Text for years. After Guangyuan Sect’s great upheaval, its disciples grew scarce, leaving little time for such dedicated study.

Consequently, only disciples with innate talent in the field of Erosion Text were selected to inherit this method, while the others shifted to cultivating faster-progress, more potent techniques.

Even then, in the past, Guangyuan Sect Lower Institute excelled at Erosion Text ceremonies. Had Zhang Yan not intervened, they might have overwhelmed the Mingcang Sect Lower Institute.

Shen Yuefeng, believing himself exceptionally gifted, sought to revive his sect’s talismanic arts. Yet after many years of practice, his progress was negligible, and his personal cultivation lagged. Ultimately, concluding his efforts futile, he reluctantly abandoned this path, writing his annotations to pass on to his junior sister—only for them to land in Zhang Yan’s hands, who scoffed at them.

After finishing his review, Zhang Yan closed his eyes for a long time, seemingly digesting the content. When he opened them again, a calm and confident expression emerged on his face.

Although the talismanic techniques appeared profound, for someone well-versed in Erosion Text, they were merely a matter of persistence—if once is insufficient, try twice; twice fails, then try four times; four doesn’t work, then ten; and if that still doesn’t succeed, then try a hundred, even a thousand times!

With only eight or nine days left before his departure for Three Pools, he firmly believed that, with focused cultivation within the Broken Jade, six to seven days would suffice for him to reach at least the proficiency Shen Yuefeng had achieved.

With that in mind, he smiled slightly, retrieved the Broken Jade from his sleeve, and immersed his heart and spirit into it.

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...(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation and monthly votes. Your support is my greatest motivation.)

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