The flying boat stopped deep in the jungle. Ye Fan and the others were swept down by a strong wind and fell into the jungle.
Ye Fan and the others were all at Foundation Establishment, so if they were caught off guard and fell from such a height, they would not be seriously injured.
Ye Fan rubbed his butt without any pain and looked at the surroundings curiously.
Deep in the jungle, a settlement had been established. Ye Fan saw several warehouses filled with talisman materials.
Scarface put his hands behind his back, looked at the few people coldly, and said impatiently, “You will each find a cave residence to live in later.”
”You two, come here.” Scarface pointed at Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi.
Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi walked to Sheng Zhihao nervously.
”Have you two cultivated body refining techniques?” Sheng Zhihao asked.
Ye Fan nodded and said, “We have cultivated a bit.”
”You look quite strong. I hope you can hold on a little longer and not be blown to death easily. Although errand boys are not hard to find, I’m tired of looking for them again and again.” Sheng Zhihao frowned and said unhappily.
Ye Fan lowered his brows and said nothing.
Scarface threw a jade slip to Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi. “There are materials on it and methods for how to process them. Everything you need to do is written in it. Once the materials are processed every day, you two can rest.”
”What if the materials aren’t processed well?” Ye Fan asked.
”Then don’t sleep. I’ll give you a month. If you can’t adapt to it in a month, you can die,” Scarface said fiercely.
Ye Fan: “…”
Bai Yunxi had no idea about talismans and didn’t know whether the workload assigned by Sheng Zhihao was large or small, but Ye Fan knew.
Ye Fan felt that Sheng Zhihao was a pervert. He didn’t pay them and still arranged such a heavy workload. If there was a labor arbitration committee here, this guy would definitely be complained about to death.
…
Scarface turned to look at Princess Jiaojiao and Wang Chenxiao, and said, “You two are already spiritual-level talisman masters in the Foundation Establishment stage. Your talents are quite good.”
Wang Chenxiao smiled awkwardly and said, “Senior has overpraised.”
Wang Chenxiao had a guilty conscience. His real ability was actually not yet a spiritual level talisman master, but there was no way. Situ Jiaojiao was extremely talented. If Wang Chenxiao was too far from Situ Jiaojiao, he would inevitably be looked down upon by others. So, during the Talisman Masters Association’s assessment for spiritual-level talisman masters, Wang Chenxiao bribed the examiner and passed the assessment. At that time, his master also tacitly acquiesced.
In fact, after he was certified as a spiritual-level talisman master, the spiritual-level talismans he took out were all made by his master.
Situ Jiaojiao held her head high and said, “I am a genius.”
”Genius is not determined by words,” Scarface said expressionlessly.
”You two find a way to complete the talisman diagram. If you can’t do it, don’t think about leaving. Just die here,” Scarface said coldly.
Situ Jiaojiao said with some dissatisfaction, “Senior, the environment here is too bad. If you want to study talismans, you must prepare a few decent talisman rooms.”
Situ Jiaojiao had her own talisman room since she was a child. Later, she studied under the president of the Talisman Masters Association, and the things she used were all excellent.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Although a talisman master was not as good as an alchemist in terms of status, a good talisman master would never be not short of money.
Scarface looked at Situ Jiaojiao, snorted coldly, and said, “The environment here is like this. You can’t be picky.”
Situ Jiaojiao said angrily, “If the environment is not good, I won’t have any inspiration.”
”If you don’t have inspiration, just die! Please figure out your situation quickly. I don’t care if you are a princess or not. In my territory, you have to abide by my rules. I don’t raise useless people. If you don’t want to die, don’t let me think you are useless,” Scarface said coldly.
Situ Jiaojiao suppressed her blush, and her face turned blue and white for a while.
Ye Fan couldn’t help but say, “Senior, can you give me a copy of that talisman diagram? I’m also very interested in studying talismans.”
Scarface looked at Ye Fan for a few moments, nodded, and said, “Okay.”
Scarface threw a jade slip to Ye Fan, and Ye Fan took it happily.
Situ Jiaojiao looked at Ye Fan’s cheerful look, with a bit of contempt flashing in her eyes.
Looking at Ye Fan, he looked like a frog in a well who was overestimating his abilities.
Wang Chenxiao’s eyes were more reserved, but he didn’t take Ye Fan seriously either.
…
After Sheng Zhihao arranged things, he went into his cave residence and disappeared.
Situ Jiaojiao saw that Scarface was nowhere to be seen, and said gloomily, “What’s there to act arrogant about? It’s just a bereaved dog being chased by Tianyi Sect.”
”Your Highness,” Wang Chenxiao called out in shock.
Situ Jiaojiao gritted her teeth and looked at Wang Chenxiao looking in the direction where Scarface had disappeared, with a worried look on his face, and said impatiently, “Okay, okay, I won’t say it anymore.”
Situ Jiaojiao looked at Ye Fan and said, “You are very courageous! You actually asked for a jade slip from that old monster. Do you understand talismans? If you don’t understand, why would you ask for a jade slip from that old monster?”
Bai Yunxi didn’t wait for Ye Fan to speak, and said, “He just wants to take a look. There’s nothing to lose anyway.”
Situ Jiaojiao snorted coldly and said, “Talismans are not that simple. If you want to reach the sky in one step, you are just daydreaming!”
Ye Fan: “…” This dead girl!
…
Ye Fan followed Bai Yunxi into the work room.
”Yunxi, that princess is really looking down on others. I am the real genius,” Ye Fan said.
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “Yes! Yes! You are a genius, but you, a genius, need to be low-key now. You should try to be as low-key as possible.”
Ye Fan shrugged and said, “Okay, I’ll listen to you.”
Ye Fan carefully looked at the list of talisman materials in the jade slip and the daily workload. He couldn’t help but frown, and couldn’t help but wonder if Scarface’s former assistant died of exhaustion.
”This damn old man has assigned too many tasks. According to this, we can’t even practice dual cultivation,” Ye Fan said.
Bai Yunxi: “…forget about the dual cultivation.”
Ye Fan said unhappily, “How can I forget about dual cultivation? If we can’t dual cultivate, I simply don’t want to live anymore.”
Bai Yunxi: “…”
Bai Yunxi closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, “That old man doesn’t seem to be easy to deal with. Let’s resolve the matter first and then consider other things.”
Ye Fan nodded and said, “Okay.”
Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi adjusted themselves and entered the work room.
Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi’s work room was next to the warehouse where materials were stored, and all kinds of materials were scattered around randomly.
”So many talisman-making materials can be exchanged for a large amount of spirit stones. In this way, that senior is still a rich man,” Ye Fan said.
Bai Yunxi said in confusion, “Where did he get so many talisman-making materials?”
Ye Fan shrugged and said, “I don’t know.”
Bai Yunxi looked at the jade slip and walked toward the bucket with fire sandstone on the side. He wanted to pick up the fire sandstone, but was stopped by Ye Fan.
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan and said, “What’s wrong?”
Ye Fan frowned and said, “This thing is corrosive and cannot be touched with bare hands. Many things on this jade slip are unclear. Don’t do anything yet. Watch me do it first before you try.”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “Okay.”
Bai Yunxi watched Ye Fan take action and listened to Ye Fan’s explanation of precautions, only to realize that many details on the jade slips had been ignored. Many materials were toxic, many materials were corrosive, and many materials should not be mixed together. At the same time, many materials were similar in appearance. If they were not handled properly, it could easily lead to accidents. If one didn’t have a foundation in the art of talisman making, it would be really difficult to complete these tasks.
With Ye Fan’s guidance from the side, Bai Yunxi’s progress was very fast.
”You seem to be very interested in the talisman diagram that the old man gave to the princess. Why?” Bai Yunxi asked casually.
”Because I have seen some of the rune structures in the talisman diagram before,” Ye Fan said.
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan with some surprise and said, “Have you seen parts before? Where have you seen them?”
”En, that teleportation formation,” Ye Fan said.
”Didn’t you say before that the formation art and talisman art are separate and distinct?” Bai Yunxi said in confusion.
Ye Fan shook his head and said, “I don’t know. It is said that in ancient times, alchemy, talisman making, and formations were not so clearly divided. Alchemists, talisman masters, and formation masters were collectively called art masters. It’s only been in the past tens of thousand of years that the cultivation world has clearly separated these things.”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “So that’s how it is.”
”The previous teleportation formation contained hundreds of sub-formations. I think the structure of this talisman is somewhat similar to one of the sub-formations.”
Bai Yunxi looked at Ye Fan and said, “Then can you draw it?”
Ye Fan looked at Bai Yunxi and said, “A slight mistake will mean it is a thousand miles* from the original. If you can’t understand it, the things you draw will only be similar in appearance and have no practical value.”
Bai Yunxi nodded and said, “That’s fine.”
Ye Fan worked in the talisman work room for five days and gradually became familiar with all the work.
During this period, Scarface came to pick up the materials once. After getting the materials, he left very satisfied and didn’t care about Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi anymore.
…
Pill Capital.
Several alchemists were sitting in a tea room, drinking tea and chatting.
”There are so many experts coming to Pill Capital recently!”
”It’s all to find that Ye Fan.”
”Have you heard the rumor?”
”What rumor?”
”The cultivators in the secret realm say that Ye Fan was the one who climbed to the twelfth floor of the Pill Pagoda and lit up the twelve pill diagrams.”
”Impossible, that guy Ye Fan is only at Foundation Establishment!”
”He is a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but it is said that he can refine spiritual-level medicinal pills. He also obtained the heavenly fire, which is amazing!”
”Ye Fan got the heavenly fire?”
”The major sects still want to hide it, but how can they hide it?! Why would a Foundation Establishment cultivator be pursued by all the sects? He must have a treasure! What is the most valuable thing in the Heavenly Wood Secret Realm? Isn’t it the heavenly fire?”
”But Ye Fan could actually subdue heavenly fire when he is only at Foundation Establishment?”
”That’s right! For a Foundation Establishment cultivator to possess heavenly fire, how can others be convinced? The various sects have been looking for him for so long, but still haven’t found him. I don’t know if this Ye Fan has been killed by others.”
”It’s possible!”
”Besides Ye Fan, something else happened recently. The lunatic who ranks first on the bounty list has shown his face again. As soon as he appeared, he kidnapped Princess Jiaojiao of the Situ royal family.”
”This guy is really not afraid of death! He has already offended Tianyi Sect, and he actually came out to offend the Situ royal family.”
”Back then, Tianyi Sect sent out a Nascent Soul-level expert, but failed to capture him. If he runs out again and stirs up trouble, it will be unsafe!”
”Who doesn’t think so? However, most of the disciples of Tianyi Sect are arrogant. It would be nice to have someone like this to keep them in check.”
…
Ye Fan and Bai Yunxi were safe in the jungle, and they didn’t know that people outside were going crazy looking for them.
***
T/N: Dealing with some real life stuff this week, so there won’t be an update on Thursday. Next update will be Saturday.
So before this, talismans were simplified and mostly made with just talisman paper and drawing with a talisman pen (so like the paper talismans you see in anime), but that would make them way too cheap to produce and not on the same level as the other arts, which require more materials, so the author has expanded the art here to clarify that complex talismans require more than just paper and pen.
Love Sheng Zhihao’s tough attitude lol – stupid princess claims to be a “genius”, but says she has no inspiration because of the environment… just bullshit excuses because she has no real ability.
*The character used is 里 (li), which you may have seen in other webnovels. A li is a traditional Chinese unit of distance and is roughly equivalent to a third of a mile and in modern times, has been standardized to half a km. The li is also known as the Chinese mile.
