Starting Cultivation During a Trip-Chapter 59: Four Extremes of Talisman Dao, Nine-Fingered Talisman Demon
Yujing City, Zijin Mountain.
The Five Spirits Rainbow Light cruised along the winding, endlessly long mountain road, lush greenery flashing past both sides of the car window.
"Zhang Fan... you’re not really into Jiang Lai, are you?"
Jiang Hu was driving, asking without even turning his head.
"Don’t talk nonsense." Zhang Fan shot him a glance. Of course, he wouldn’t tell him about his connection to Jiang Lai at Zhenwu Mountain.
"I advise you not to... office romances are a disaster." Jiang Hu said earnestly.
"Why?"
"Have you ever watched a movie?" Jiang Hu suddenly changed the topic, asking instead.
"What movie?"
"You know... that one, about the company boss threatening an employee’s wife!" Through the rearview mirror, Jiang Hu’s eyes sparkled with wild imagination.
Zhang Fan was momentarily stunned, then asked with a strange look, "Is it the kind with a super simple setting, just two or three people acting?"
"Exactly, exactly..." Jiang Hu’s tone instantly lifted, as if he’d found a soulmate: "You’ve seen it?"
"..."
Zhang Fan narrowed his eyes, formed a seal with one hand, four fingers curled, only the middle finger erect, aiming it at Jiang Hu, overflowing with vigor.
Daoist Seal, International Edition!!!
"Why do all these cultivation clans love living in mountains?" Zhang Fan looked out the window, unable to help saying.
Wanting to live in a place like this is not something money alone can buy.
"Every mountain, river, and sea has its own Dragon, riding the wind and crossing the moon to seek Immortal traces... The world’s mountains and rivers mostly depend on Dragon Veins, let alone famed mountains like Zijin Mountain, brimming with spiritual energy—naturally a cultivation paradise!?" Jiang Hu replied without looking back.
Legend has it, back in the day when King Wei of Chu, Xiong Shang, annihilated Yue, he buried a Golden Bell on the high mountain outside Jade Capital City to stabilize royal fortune, thus the mountain was called Zhong Mountain.
Later, during the Jin Dynasty when the ruling class moved south, Emperor Yuan of Jin often saw purple qi coiling atop this mountain, and so it became known as Zijin Mountain.
"The Shen Family is a Talisman-Making Family, so their chosen cultivation ground is naturally different... Only Yujing’s spirit-nurturing Dragon Vein can sustain such prosperous incense worship."
"Talismans..." Zhang Fan mused. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
Talismans are one of the main tools of Daoist priests, comparable to Skills, Secret Curses, and the like.
Zhang Fan hadn’t been cultivating for long, so he’d yet to delve into this field of study.
"Gourd, you’re from the Talismanic Sect, aren’t you..." Zhang Fan looked at Jiang Hu, who was driving, and asked, "Just how powerful are these things?"
"Talismans are the contracts made with Heaven; the myriad spirits heed their call!" Jiang Hu thought for a moment, then spoke.
So-called talismans are contracts Daoist priests make with Heaven and ghost gods, allowing them to command the powers of supernatural beings and nature.
The Supreme Cave Mysterious Scripture says: Talismans, in the name of ghost gods, assist true teachings, summon the host of spirits, govern life and death, stabilize fortunes, and safeguard the five directions.
"A formidable talisman can be no weaker than a complete Northern Emperor Technique—maybe even stronger." Jiang Hu said seriously.
Right now, Zhang Fan had only just mastered [Celestial Pig Fang], which was only a minor Skill in the [Northern Emperor Technique]. The complete [Northern Emperor Technique] was a Supreme Great Method, on par with the [Five Thunders Righteous Method].
Even so, a powerful talisman—sometimes just a single one—could stand against them.
"That powerful? Then why not just always use talismans?" Zhang Fan’s eyes lit up.
If you carried a bunch of powerful talismans, couldn’t you swagger around wherever you wished?
"The stronger the talisman, the more profound cultivation you require..." Jiang Hu shook his head.
All talismans have writing, yet ordinary people cannot comprehend them.
For example, the main scripts used in talisman painting number at least eight, like Cloud Seal, Phoenix Seal and Dragon Seal, Bright Chapter, and so on—some even involve star maps and divine statues.
Each script drawn forms different runes, which may represent different ghost gods or ancestral masters being summoned, with varying functions—Du Wang, longevity, calling thunder, and so forth.
So, invoking a talisman doesn’t just require recognizing the meaning of every rune—it also means memorizing the corresponding spells.
These runes are like circuit diagrams; the talisman practitioner must deeply understand them to inject their own True Yang through the right channels and create a circuit.
"So, every Talisman Master is put through immense trials—only grueling cultivation can forge one."
Jiang Hu glanced back and chuckled, "Talisman making, talisman painting, talisman walking... they’re all required lessons. Truly mastering their essence is even harder than learning a single Skill..."
The Elixir Book says: If you don’t understand the trick to talisman painting, you’ll only make ghosts and gods laugh. If you know the trick, you’ll scare them out of their wits.
"Even with the [One Character Talisman], you’d have to repeatedly observe and practice for a long time."
The so-called "One Character Talisman" is a talisman consisting of a single rune character, the simplest and most fundamental.
Some powerful Talisman Masters can even, in a split second, draw a [Hundred Character Talisman].
"A Hundred Character Talisman!? How do you even fit that many on such a small piece of paper?" Zhang Fan gave him a look of surprise.
"That level of master... is beyond anything you can imagine." Longing appeared on Jiang Hu’s face.
Though he usually scoffed at the way of talisman, at that moment Zhang Fan glimpsed a spark in his eye through the rearview mirror.
"Hundred Character Talisman Masters... Some people may never encounter one in their entire lives. Some of them have even created their own unique talisman." Jiang Hu sighed in awe.
"Their own unique talisman?"
"Exactly—from nothing into something... To create a talisman truly your own, that’s the ultimate dream of every Talisman Master." Jiang Hu’s voice was low, but it trembled slightly.
True self, one-and-unique—the greatest dream for every Talisman Master is to create their own personal [True One Talisman].
"Have you ever seen one?" Zhang Fan couldn’t help but ask.
"I haven’t... but I’ve heard of one..." Jiang Hu was still driving, but his eyes grew distant in reminiscence as he looked at the mountain road.
Within the Daoist Sect, there are countless Talisman Masters, each temple and sect dabbling in the art.
But ever since Jiang Hu was little, he’d heard tell that among all these masters, four were held to be matchless—they each, before the age of thirty, had created their own [True One Talisman].
These four were called the [Four Extremes of Talisman Dao].
Jiang Hu had grown up on the mountain, listening to the legends of these four, but among them, the one he admired most was...
"Who?"
"Do you know what’s special about a human’s ten fingers?"
As he spoke, Jiang Hu raised his hands, flexing all ten fingers nimbly.
"Damn it, keep your hands on the steering wheel, would you?" Zhang Fan panicked, hurrying to say.
"Ten fingers connect to the heart, the heart connects to Heaven..."
"A Talisman Master, by nature, is someone who bridges Heaven, ghost gods, and themselves through their own power—so our fingers are our lives." Jiang Hu said with gravity.
Whether you’re making, painting, or walking talismans... none of it can happen without these ten fingers.
"But..."
"Among the Four Extremes of Talisman Dao, there is one whose fingers are incomplete..."
As he spoke, a frightening glint flashed in Jiang Hu’s eyes.
To reach the summit with a maimed body, to lord over the world with the way of talisman... That man, even among the [Four Extremes of Talisman Dao], was an utter anomaly. His means, his fierce reputation, were like a blazing beacon, lighting the way for untold numbers of Talisman Masters to forge onward...
Jiang Hu was certainly among them.
"His name is..."
"The Nine-Fingered Talisman Demon!!"
