If it had been any other time, with a strike like that, Zhao Tiji's arm would definitely have been left slightly numb from the impact.

But this time, Zhao Tiji didn't budge an inch.

The moment the back of the blade made contact with the shield's surface, that layer of deep blue water-light suddenly rippled outwards, just like a stone thrown into a lake. That fierce, violent impact force followed the ripples, rapidly spreading to the very edges of the shield before finally dissipating into nothingness.

"Holy shit!"

Zhao Tiji cursed, looking at his own arm with an expression of utter disbelief. "No feeling? It really doesn't shake my hand at all!"

Old Liu was also stunned, touching his own blade. "This talisman... is godly."

"The defensive power hasn't decreased, but this kind of vibration sensation has been reduced by at least thirty percent." Zhao Tiji couldn't stop fondling the shield, his gaze more affectionate than when looking at the girls of Cuihong Tower. "Brother Su, how the hell did you come up with this? With this one paste, this dead hunk of iron instantly came to life!"

"The main thing is saving effort." Su Ming smiled. "On the battlefield, saving a bit of effort means you can get in one more slash."

"Right! Exactly right!" Zhao Tiji slapped his thigh hard, his face flushed red with excitement all the way to his neck. "Brother Su, do you have more of these talismans? Make me a few more! From now on in Bing Battalion, if anyone dares to bully you, I'll wring their head off and kick it like a ball!"

The commotion here quickly attracted the attention of the others in the barracks tent.

When those few old soldiers personally tried out that "enhanced" shield, the look in their eyes when they turned to Su Ming instantly changed.

It was the look of a starving wolf spotting fresh meat, a bachelor seeing a potential wife.

"Little Master Su! Make one for me too! My heart protector mirror grinds painfully against my chest every time it gets hit!"

"Brother Su, my boots are too heavy, can you also paste one of those force-dispersing talismans on them? I could run faster when retreating too!"

"Scram, scram, what's the point with boots! Master Su, look at my blade first, the handle shakes my hand too much, the Tiger's Gate cracks after too much chopping!"

The originally quiet corner was instantly surrounded by a crowd of burly, rough men, packed so tightly not a drop of water could leak through.

Su Ming, squeezed in the middle, not only showed not the slightest impatience, but smiled like a shopkeeper.

"Everyone, don't rush, come one at a time."

Su Ming pulled out a stack of blank talisman paper from his storage pouch. "Materials are limited, and drawing these talismans also consumes quite a bit of divine sense..."

"We get it! We all get it!"

Chen Chuan squeezed in from behind the crowd, directly slapping his own identity token in front of Su Ming. "Fifty points of Military Merit, exchange for one pasted on my sword hilt. That reforged sword of yours is good, but I've been killing too fiercely these past few days, my wrist can't quite take it."

With Chen Chuan taking the lead, the others quickly caught on.

"I'll transfer too! I have thirty points!"

"I'll give fifty! Do mine first!"

"Master Su, I have a piece of cold iron essence I captured last time, can that offset Military Merit?"

Su Ming refused no one.

He didn't make outrageous demands, charging only thirty to fifty points of Military Merit per talisman, or equivalent materials. This price was practically a steal for these old soldiers who licked blood off their blades.

After all, this was good stuff that could save lives, save effort, and make battles last longer.

For a whole afternoon, Su Ming never stopped writing.

Lin Yu helped him calculate the optimal spiritual energy ratio in his Consciousness Sea, while Su Ming was responsible for turning this theory into tangible talismans.

By the time the dinner horn sounded, Su Ming rubbed his sore, swollen wrist and glanced at the number on his identity token.

Six hundred and thirty points.

And that didn't even include the piles of cold iron, beast hides, and spirit ore heaped at his feet.

"Tsk tsk, earning money this way is faster than robbery." Lin Yu sighed. "Disciple, do you understand now? In the cultivation world, the primary productive force is always technology. Rather than going outside to risk your life fighting demon beasts, it's better to sit in a room and earn money from those who are risking theirs."

Su Ming pasted the last talisman onto Old Liu's leg guard, watching the other man run off joyfully to try it out, a faint smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Master, this isn't called earning money."

Su Ming put away his token, his gaze sweeping over the old soldiers in the barracks tent who looked at him with gratitude and awe.

"This is called making plenty of friends."

Here at Iron Wall Pass, Military Merit was certainly important, but these old soldiers, each owing him a favor and using his equipment, were his real protective talismans.

"Brother Su! Time to eat!" Zhao Tiji walked over carrying two huge bowls, piled high with steaming stewed meat. "The mess hall has spirit-horned mutton today, I specifically fought for a leg for you! Nourish your brain!"

Su Ming took the bowl, smelling the rich aroma of meat, feeling the exhaustion of the entire day dissipate quite a bit.

"Thanks, Brother Zhao."

He took a bite of the mutton, his mouth full of savory juices.

......

The night was as dark as ink. Inside Stone Hut Number Seven of Bing Battalion, only a bean-sized spirit fire flickered.

Su Ming sat cross-legged on the stone bed, playing with that bronze fragment in his hand. Deep blue water spiritual energy coiled and extended from his fingertips like spider silk, attempting to probe into the obscure, ancient patterns within the fragment's interior.

"Master, I think I'm starting to get a rough idea of what Elder Mo meant by 'momentum'."

Su Ming's fingers trembled slightly, the spiritual energy threads tracing a distorted arc in the air. "Before, when I set up formations, I always thought about how to use spiritual energy to 'collide' or 'block'. But after seeing these 'Star Attraction Lines', I understand now. True control is 'guiding'."

"Starting to get it." Lin Yu's voice sounded in the Consciousness Sea, carrying a hint of laziness. "It's like... ahem, like Tai Chi push hands in the mortal world. Brute force flying bricks is the work of a brute, using four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds is skilled work. The core of these 'Star Attraction Lines' isn't creating a black hole to suck people in, but altering the local gravitational field. Even a tiny adjustment can be a fatal deviation for a high-speed moving object."

Su Ming nodded thoughtfully.

He poured out a pile of junk from his storage pouch.

There were over a dozen low-grade "warning disks" scavenged from the scrap heap, and a stack of standard-issue "sinkhole talismans".

These were the cheapest consumables from the military supply depot. The warning disks had low sensitivity, going off at the slightest rustle of grass; the sinkhole talismans had weak power, at best tripping up a demon beast.

But in Su Ming's eyes, this trash was the best building blocks.

"Using the vibration sensing of the warning disks as 'eyes and ears', the sticky force field of the sinkhole talismans as 'hands and feet', and then using simplified 'Star Attraction Lines' as meridians to connect them all together..."

Su Ming muttered to himself, but his hands moved extremely fast.

He didn't use expensive spiritual ink, but instead used water spiritual energy as a guide directly. He disassembled those warning disks, extracted the core sensing spirit stones, and peeled off the talisman cores from the sinkhole talismans.

Deep blue spiritual energy threads intertwined in the air. Su Ming carefully injected an extremely faint trace of the "star attraction" concept into the connection points.

This was difficult.

The Star Attraction Lines were too domineering. Even a simplified version was more than ordinary spirit materials could bear. Su Ming tried over a dozen times, ruining seven or eight warning disks, before barely finding that balance point.

It was a structure similar to a "spider web".

It didn't pursue sturdiness, but pursued extreme sensitivity and conduction.

One hour later.

A strange-looking "web", appearing tattered and patched together, connected by over a dozen extremely fine spirit threads, lay on the stone table. It didn't emit any astonishing Spiritual Pressure, even its spiritual light was dim and obscure. Thrown on the ground, probably no one would give it a second glance.

"It's done." Su Ming wiped the sweat from his brow. "Let's call it the 'Spirit Response Spider Web'."

"Pretty lame name, but practical." Lin Yu evaluated. "Spread this thing out, and as long as the ground within a hundred-zhang radius trembles, even if it's just a mouse passing by, the feedback from the gravitational fluctuations will let you know whether it's male or female the first moment."